May was the last full month of school at QISS, and the students did some of their best work of the entire school year. May began with the opening of the first ever QISS Lower School Olympics. Grade 2 worked hard to do their best in every game and competition, and they earned a second place finish in the QISS LS Olympics! I am very proud of their outstanding effort. You can find another blog post about the QISS LS Olympics here. May also brought Mismatch Day to QISS, where students and teachers wore mixed up socks, backwards pants and shirts, crazy hair, and all sorts of other silly combinations of clothing! It was a great day that also included the Lower School Student Council's Healthy Sharks Snack Bar. The students continued updating their bar graph of the daily weather throughout Unit 4 at QISS, and they began analyzing the data they collected. As May came to a close, the class dedicated their efforts to preparing for their Unit 4 Key Assignment presentation. Grade 2 spent time in the Lower School Science Lab building a working volcano. The students did a great job following instructions and working together to safely prepare this awesome experiment. Check out more pictures from May below, and click on the pictures to make them bigger.
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May has been an exciting month in the QISS Lower School. PE teacher Mr. Krakowski organized the first ever QISS Lower School Olympics! The students have been competing in different events throughout the month of May, and showing great vitality as they work hard to do their best. Mr. Page led the students during the opening ceremony with the official QISS Olympic torch. Each class chose a different country and made flags to carry during the opening procession. Grade 2 chose Brazil, and they did a great job making their flags! You can see them proudly marching as a class in the picture above. The students have been competing in PE every week, but there have also been competitions in other classes. The Chinese teachers held their own competition, and the students also earned special ESLR tickets for displaying great intelligence, vitality, courage, sensitivity, and compassion. These tickets were earned outside of the classroom from grade level teachers other than the students' homeroom teacher. Many students earned these at recess, in the cafeteria, and through daily interactions in the hallways. The QISS LS Olympics came to a close at the end of May, and the students are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the final scores. No matter which place Grade 2 finishes in, I am proud of their outstanding effort and the wonderful display of their mindful hearts!
April was an incredible month for Grade 2! The students enjoyed another session of Skype Inspires Literacy where they learned a cool math trick using cookies! The class also had a very exciting beginning to their Unit 4 inquiry. They arrived at school to find that their Mindful Hearts ESLR Train Cars were missing! In their place were several coded clues. The students had to work together to crack the code, and then decode the clues. After lunch, the students had to use their map-reading skills to follow a path around the QISS campus. With a combination of the map and the clues, the students were able to track down their missing Train Cars! It was a terrific day of fun and cooperation for the class. The students also celebrated Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day in April, which was an awesome way for everyone to have fun together. Grade 2 had some very cool pajamas! Last but not least, the QISS Talent Show was held in April as well. Min Xuan and Yurim both performed in front of the entire school! They showed excellent courage, and they did an outstanding job with their performances. Min Xuan's piano piece was beautiful, and Yurim's dance with her sister was so cool! The Talent Show featured performances from every grade level in the school. QISS is truly a talented school! Click here to see more pictures from the Talent Show on the QISS home page. Click on the pictures below to make them bigger.
Earlier this month the Lower School had another session of Skype Inspires Literacy organized by Grade 3 teacher Mrs. Kumbier. Skype Inspires Literacy is a program run by the Internet video chatting service Skype, where published authors read their books to children around the world. Click here to read the blog post about the first session at QISS with Paul Czajak. This time author Ann McCallum met with us to talk about being an author, why she loves math, and to answer several questions from QISS students. You can see Charlie asking a question in the picture below. Ann McCallum also taught the students how to use a piece of string, a ruler, and some math to find the area of a cookie! The students loved this activity, and they had an awesome time interacting with another published author. Ann McCallum is the author of Eat Your Math Homework and several other children's books. You can learn more about the author and her books at her website - http://annmccallumbooks.com. A big thank you to Mrs. Kumbier and Ann McCallum for this wonderful event!
March was an exciting month of school at QISS. The Grade 2 class was able to interact with Grade 3 on multiple occasions, including the first Skype Inspires Literacy session with author Paul Czajak. Grades 2 and 3 also had a lot of fun playing a predator vs. prey game out on the soccer field that helped them understand the interactions between the two groups within a habitat. The Grade 2 students finished the unit by creating food chain mobiles displaying the transfer of energy in various habitats. March ended with an awesome surprise! Thanks to PE teacher Mr. Krakowski, the Lower School attended a presentation from a local fencing club. Grade 4 student Lucas' father is a member of the fencing club, and Lucas is a competitive fencer as well. The students learned about fencing equipment, and some students were able to go on stage and learn some standard positions. Two members of the fencing club then treated everyone to an impressive duel! It was an impressive display of skill and athleticism. To end the presentation, Lower School principal Mr. Page and Upper School principal Mr. Thorpe had a duel of their own. I'm not sure who won, but they had a lot of fun! This was a great opportunity for the students to see a unique sport, and it showed the students that there are tons of different activities that they could join here in Qingdao. Thank you to our guests, and to Mr. Krakowski for organizing the event! Enjoy many more pictures below, and click on them to make them bigger.
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Mr. AntonioQISS Grade 2 Teacher Archives
June 2015
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