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 spaces through an hour of unstructured Open Play every day. Children can choose where to play, with many learning areas set up across the K1 floor. Activities are purposefully planned and set up to develop different skills and understandings relevant to the Unit of Inquiry.
Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are
To learn more about the current Unit of Inquiry, here is a 3 minute video explaining the key curriculum information relating to this unit (please press full screen for more easeful viewing):
Play is how young children make sense of the world, as they interact with each other, with materials, and with new experiences. It is not frivolous, nor an add-on to "serious learning". Play is what helps their growing brains make connections, embed understandings into long-term memory, and transfer skills across different areas of learning and life.
Play is inquiry in the PYP. Play is fundamental to health and the development of skills needed to function in society. Play eases young learners’ transition from dependence to independence and from adult supervision to self-regulation (Yogman et al. 2018).
Children are keen to share with you what interests and passions they have in their school life; however, simultaneously, they're also in the process of building vocabulary and developing the processing skills required to share a coherent learning story with you! Let's support them to express themselves by giving helpful prompts and questions, narrowing down from a possibly overwhelming "How was your day?" (imagine your child's thinking: I did a million things! How can I possibly explain to you what I did in 3 hours?!"
We encourage you to access the class blog with your child, look through the photos and use them to activate conversation and wonderings together 🤔 Let your child tell you more their play, there's no need to rush through this, be patient, feel free to simply nudge your child by pointing to a picture and say "tell me more about this". If your child is not yet ready to share, a simple "I love seeing all the things you're doing at school. I really enjoy this special time when I can look at pictures with you" is a stepping stone that conveys the message to them that their school life matters to you, and there is no judgment or pressure involved :)
If you ever have any wonderings or would like to further your understanding in anything related to curriculum, learning & teaching, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. You can reach me at 📧 brenda.yuen@hillside.edu.hk.
A fun fact: I'm an avid children's book collector, and am always keen to recommend books to support children's interests, passions, and areas of growth! 📚
Dear Panda Class AM & PM Parents, Welcome to our first Panda Class blog of the term! The children have been doing so well and we are very happy to see them settling in day by day! 🎉 I will keep you updated once we start delving into our first Unit of Inquiry, but for now, we are focussing on settling in, building our class communities, learning new routines and having lots of fun with various learning engagements such as playdough, painting, music & movement and new toys! We recently visited our neighbours, the Frog class, and enjoyed playing with their toys and meeting new friends. We will soon be exploring the sand pit, and we'll venture to the outdoor playground for the first time, too! Here is our daily routine for each AM & PM session for your reference: Friendly Reminders: *We will be starting Library Day next Monday . Please ensure...
Dear Panda Class Families, We hope you are having a good week so far! The children are very excited about dressing in their choice of outfits tomorrow (Thursday 31st October)! Please note that we are continuously encouraging independence in terms of toileting and in general, so it would be helpful if the children don't wear one-piece outfits or 'onesies', to make it easier for the children to manage. We would like to wish you all a Happy Halloween for tomorrow! Diwali is also tomorrow, so we are also sending Happy Diwali wishes! There's lots to celebrate at the moment! Thank you to those of you who joined the Parent Teacher Conferences last week, it was great to meet with you. This week, the children have been observing our plants. The grass is growing very well, and we are delighted that the beans are sprouting. The lemon and tomato seeds are still a work in progress, but we are hoping that they might start to grow soon! The children have been discu...
Dear Panda Families, We can't believe this is our final blog post, as we mark the end of Term 3. It has been a fantastic K1 year! We have loved teaching your children and are so impressed by all they have achieved! We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our Art Day! The children are welcome to express their unique style and personality through their own outfit choices! The Pandas are showing they are ready and raring for a summer holiday, and also that they're ready to embrace their new learning adventures and journeys in K2! Thank you for supporting them, and us, every step of the way! Some of our Panda friends are leaving Hillside, so we'd like to take this opportunity to say: it's not goodbye, but see you soon, and please stay in touch with us, we will miss you! The children have been very resilient with our open play plans due to the weather (heat and rain), and have adapted to the changes well! We've been enjoying marbling in the Frog Class, ...
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