TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

                What do people need to consider when using transportation systems?

                How do transportation systems meet the needs of different communities?

                Why do transportation systems change over time?

                How are transportation systems around the world alike and different?

As a community embedded in the heart of Tokyo, a city with one of the largest metro systems in the world, this unit is particularly relevant in our second graders' lives.

Building on our background knowledge of the system in Japan, we have been unpacking how and why communities make efforts to create transportation systems that meet their needs (central idea).

After we have investigated features of transportation systems, we will be discussing the various factors that guide our decisions involved in using transportation systems. Throughout our unit we will be making global connections by comparing & contrasting our own systems to the those of other communities. Finally, we will further develop our understanding by inquiring how transportation systems respond to changing needs (lines of inquiry).

WAYS TO HELP AT HOME

• Visit transportation related centers such as the Railway Museum (Omiya), The Mitsubishi Industrial Museum (Yokohama), or the Museum of Maritime Science (Odaiba)
• Encourage your daughter in planning a family outing and discuss the benefits of one mode of transportation over another
• cost, speed, distance, safety, or environmental impact
• In your mother tongue, expose your daughter to some of the terminology associated with transportation systems (please see below)

                                 VOCABULARY

Stories that Communicate Meaning and Express Values

Fractured Storytelling

As a part of their inquiry into how humans express themselves, Grade Two has been learning how to engage their audience through stories that communicate meaning and express values.

With the goal of refining their narrative skills, Grade Two has been focusing on writing fractured folk and fairy tales. Basing their stories off of well-known tales, the girls are learning to infuse their own meaning into these tales by developing slightly fractured interpretations. Their wide range of stories incorporate different problems and resolutions, distinct characters, and unique dialogue. 

"I am doing well because I put dialog in my story... My next step is to put more adjectives in my story because I didn't put adjectives well."
- 2A student, reflecting on her fairy tale






"Heroes: 'Jasmin, Quinn, Jifar'
Villains: 'Aladdin'
Setting: 'At the castle'
Problem: 'Trying to steal Jasmin's crown'"
-2B student, planning her tale

Field Trip to the Earthquake & Fire Safety Center

Grade Two re-emphasized out last Unit of Inquiry by visiting the Earthquake and Fire Safety Center in Ikebukuro.

The firemen and women taught us how to quickly and safely respond to fires and earthquakes. We learned about a few natural disasters that have happened in the past. The girls then had a chance to practice safety maneuvers by crawling through a smoke room and experiencing an earthquake simulator.

Connecting Ideas

Perhaps the Grade Two girls can recall what we learned at the center. 

• What should we do if there is a fire and smoke is filling the room? 
• What if we are underground?
• What should we do as soon as we feel an earthquake?
• What should we do if there is no table to get under?

Going Further

We encourage parents to sit down with their daughter, and in their mother tongue supplement their child's understanding of sudden earth changes. This would be a good opportunity to develop a family action plan in the event of an emergency.

For further information on fire and earthquake preparedness, please visit the Tokyo Fire Department website (multilingual).
English, 日本語, 한국어, 中文, ภาษาไทย, Pilipino

Interactive Storytelling with Mr. Lewis

Can only the author of a book decide a character's fate?

Grade Two visited Mr. Lewis' classroom and experienced how stories can be told through technology. They explored two "Create Your Own Adventure" (CYOA) series on Youtube and learned about the different ways stories can develop. At the end of each interactive video, the audience (Grade Two students) could choose the fate of character. Depending on which path was chosen, the characters encountered entirely different story endings. The girls noticed that not all stories had a happy ending!

Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for teaching us a fun activity!

Try it at Home!

Do you remember all the story endings? 

Click on the links below to see if you were able to catch all the endings.

Ninja Boy and the Haunted House

Berry Adventure

                     

Grade 2 Mathematics

Peak Into Grade 2 Mathematics

Last week, Mr. Hughes and Ms. Sandra visited us in 2A and 2B and taught some fun addition activities for learning addition number bonds.
2A learned how to play an interactive iPad game called "Hit the Button," while 2B learned how to play a game called "Make 20." 

In "Hit the Button," 2A raced against the clock to find the matching number bond to 10, 20 and 100.

"Make 20" was a dueling game in which two players turned around and quickly circled the matching pair.

Many of girls had so much fun in either activity that they continued playing even after the lessons were over!

Join in on the learning!

Try asking your daughter about one of these games and practice number bonds together at home!

Also, feel free to check out the link below for a "behind-the-scenes" of how a lesson like these are planned. At Seisen we follow a Primary Years Programme  guided through a Solo Taxonomy framework.

HTB/ Make 20 Lesson Plan  

So what's next in Grade 2 mathematics?
We will be learning how to...

• Develop strategies for memorizing addition numbers facts
• Estimate sums and differences
• Add numbers with up to three digits, using formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction
• Use manipulatives, drawings, tools and notations to show strategies and solutions

Guest Storyteller: Buddy the Frog!

On November 25, the second graders met a puppeteer from Brazil named Juan Alberto Uribe (and his friend Buddy the Frog). He taught us how to use puppets effectively. We will be starting a new Unit of Inquiry about storytelling soon, and Mr. Uribe gave us some great ideas about how to use our voices and puppets to tell stories! He has been doing workshops and performing puppet shows throughout Asia. 

Inquirers in Science: Conducting Fair Tests

Why is it important to study fair tests?

As a part of our Earth Changes Unit, Grade 2 is learning how to conduct fair tests. They are investigating about fast and slow changes and observing how different variables affect the experiments.

In one of our fair test experiments, we simulated how earthquakes affect buildings using a scale model. 

What do I predict will happen (hypothesis)?
What will I test?
What are the independent & controlled variables?
How will I make sure it will be a fair test?

Our budding scientists recorded their observations and reflected on their conjectures.

What are other classes learning about how the world works? Click on this link to see a short video of Grade 5's Science Fair.