This week we worked on creating some essential agreements for our class. As this is the first time the children have done something of this nature it needed some guidance and preparation. We spent one day looking at a variety of stock pictures of children engaged in different types of behaviours. For example, in one picture two children were seen fighting over a toy and in another, two children were pictured sharing toys. We asked the children to look at each picture and decide if they thought it represented a good choice, or a 'not good' choice. They then sorted the pictures into two corresponding groups. They enjoyed signaling with a thumbs up or thumbs down if they felt each choice was a good one or not. After sorting we talked about how we want our class to be one in which everybody feels happy and safe. We asked the children whether, given this aim for our class, we wanted to be the kind of group with the behaviours seen in the 'not good choice' set of pictures, or if we wanted to opt for behaviours as seen in the 'good choices' set. Naturally, everyone decided they would prefer that we make good choices. The next day we reminded the children of the way they had sorted the pictures, before asking them to come up with some suggestions for agreements we could follow in school. Following a discussion, we came up with five agreements. We made posters using photos of children modelling each essential agreement. These posters are now on display in our room. The five agreements can be seen below (captions are displayed at the bottom of each). It would be very helpful if you could take some time to discuss our agreements with your son or daughter in your home language. Saving TreesSaturday, 21st September, is designated as United Nations' International Day of Peace. Next Friday at TIS we will be finding ways to both celebrate and carefully consider this important day. This year's theme is 'Climate Action for Peace' and, with the aim of creating an achievable goal, we decided to focus our attention on reducing the amount of paper-towel usage in our building. We wanted to begin the conversation in advance of the actual day, and with this in mind the teachers chose to hold an assembly for the PS1 and PS2 classes focusing on the theme of reducing our use of paper towels. We first looked at a picture of the earth from space. Some of the children were able to identify it as 'the world' and knew enough to be able to say that 'people live there'. When I wondered aloud what the green parts might be, several children explained that it was 'grass, trees and plants'. As a visual provocation we had asked Ms Hulkar to save the paper towels used for drying hands in our building for two days. We tipped the paper out onto the floor, so that everyone was able to see the huge number we had used. There were gasps from several of the children when they saw the big pile. The provocation appeared to be working! We asked if anyone had any idea where paper towels come from. One or two students were able to explain that paper comes from trees. We showed the children a short animated video which demonstrated how trees are cut down and taken to a factory, where they are chopped into tiny pieces before water is added along with bleach and resulting in paper pulp. The children saw how the water is then squeezed out of the pulp by rollers, and the paper is dried and cut into pieces. In the final slide below, the children can be seen looking at a photograph of a recent delivery of paper towels to school. Some of the children were keen to explain to the others that we need trees to breathe (we didn't go into the details of this!) and that we, as well as other animals, eat the fruit that grows from some trees, and also that many animals use trees as their home. In other words, trees are important to us, and we need to try to reduce the need to cut them down. I then demonstrated how to use only one paper towel to dry hands, instead of two or three with this simple technique (seen here in a Ted Talk).
The children had a great time helping to count as I shook my hands twelve times. We tried it several times over just to be sure we had the hang of it, and tried to remember the routine with this slogan; Shake, Fold, Dry! After assembly, the children had the opportunity to each practice the new routine as they washed their hands before snack. We will continue to work on practicing until it becomes second nature to us all. It would be fantastic if you could not only talk about this at home, but also put it into practice when you find yourselves using paper towels when you are out and about. It is also, fortuitously, an excellent way for the children to practice counting in order from one to twelve for an authentic purpose! See the children in action below!
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