K1 Panda Class

Hello parents & carers ☺  My name is Brenda, and I'm the PYP curriculum coordinator here at Hillside. Thank you to you all for having been so supportive from the beginning of school transition period, all the way through to half term! A strong partnership between home and school is vital for supporting your child's overall development and learning. Your commitment to checking in with the class blog regularly ensures you are well informed of what, and more importantly, how your child is learning at school. You may already be very familiar with the class blog- Frankie will be posting regularly, while I and our Chinese teacher, Yammi Lao Shi will guest post to share other relevant information about the children’s learning. The K1 children well into the year-long unit Who We Are by settling into school routines and exploring different learning materials. Now that they are comfortable and familiar with their own classroom, they're ready to discover new play and learning s...

Dear Panda Class Families, We hope you are all keeping well! The children are becoming much more used to our class routines, and many of them are enjoying exploring the other classrooms during open play, and even making initial connections with their peers. In the Monkey Class the children have been exploring an exciting role-play area consisting of a kitchen, pretend food, dolls, a washing line, an ironing board and a washing machine!  The Dolphin Class has been hosting sensory play using small-world animals - the children have been dipping them in paint and creating footprints on large paper. They have been exploring colour mixing and various shapes/sizes as a result! The Frog Class has been an area of block building and construction using wooden shapes and blocks and visual cards as prompts & inspiration.  Panda Class is the Music & Movement venue where the children have been dancing and performing using ribbons, scarves and instruments. We have been focussing on ou...

  Dear Parents and Caregivers, I hope you had a wonderful Mid-Autumn Festival and a relaxing holiday. Over the past two weeks, we have explored traditional activities associated with this special celebration, focusing on customs, lanterns, and songs through the stories "We Had a Good Time" (我们玩得很开心) and "中秋节" (Mid-Autumn Festival). During arrival playt ime , the children enjoyed making paper plate moon and lantern crafts, which provided them with valuable practice in fine motor skills. To further enhance their cultural experience, we held a dress-down day last week, where the kids delighted in sharing their lanterns with one another! We are also excited to announce a Chinese Webinar for parents on Friday, 27th September at 1:00 PM . We look forward to seeing you there! Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/5178730989 Thank you for your continued support! Please feel free to contact me at yammi.cheng@hillside.edu.hk Class Blog:  Panda Chinese Albums: Panda AM        ...

Dear Panda AM & PM Class Families, We hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine! We certainly did yesterday, when both Panda Classes were able to visit our playground for the first time! We had lots of fun with the large parachute and sang songs as we learnt to handle the parachute together. A huge well done to the children for doing so well in the past couple of weeks! We continue to be impressed by their resilience and independence as they navigate Open Play and venture into new classrooms to explore and play in new settings.  Some of our Panda friends prefer to stay in our classroom for Open Play, which is absolutely fine, and they'll branch out as and when they are ready.  As you can see from our photo albums, the children are exploring music and movement, sensory activities and role play during open play!  On Monday, we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister,  and are currently learning the song ' The More We Get Together '. During our Circle Times, w...

Dear Parents and Caregivers, I am thrilled to share that the children have settled wonderfully in class! We began our journey by learning how to greet and say goodbye in Mandarin, using the songs 你好歌 (Hello Song) and 再见歌 (Goodbye Song). As part of our Unit of Inquiry "Who We Are" (我们是谁), we explored the theme of going to school through the stories "第一天上学" (The First School Day) and "上学去" (Going to School). The children also enjoyed learning about body parts with the song “ 头肩膀膝和脚 ” (Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes), especially as they confidently sped up their singing. You can find these resources on our learning slide . Looking ahead, we will be celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节). We will discuss the food, decorations, and activities related to this traditional festival. To enhance the festive spirit, we will have a dress-down day on Friday, September 13th. Children are encouraged to bring their lanterns or make one to share. Thank you for your ...