WE 24.06.16.

Dear Parents,

We hope you enjoyed looking at the trip photos.  We had a lovely time and the children behaved and played so well!  Thank you for your support over the year.  It has been amazing to be part of our children's learning and growth this year.  We are extremely proud of how much each and every child has developed over the year!  

As you may be aware, this is my last year at TX.  I will remain in HCMC but will be teaching at AP1 in F3.  I am very sad to be leaving TX but I hope I will still see you from time to time around the city!

Thank you for your support over the year.  A successful partnership between parents and teachers helps our children to be the best they can be!

Party photos to follow...

Have a wonderful, safe, relaxing holiday!

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team.

F2 Trip Photos

Please have a look at this week's TX newsletter for more information and photos about our trip.

Thanks,

Gurvinder

WE 17.06.16.

Dear Parents,

What an eventful penultimate week it has been!  Here is a round up of what we have been up to

-F2 visited their new F3 classroom on Tuesday.  They were all very happy playing upstairs and spent some time with their new teachers!

-On Wednesday and Thursday the children ate their morning snack and lunch in the big canteen.  Our children adjusted really well to the change in environment.  They were good at asking for more food if they were still hungry and as usual were encouraged to eat their vegetables!

-Our F2 children had another successful session in the big pool today.  This time it was led by Mr Chau.  We have made some videos of the different activities and exercises the children were involved in.  These have been uploaded on a separate post.  My apologies for the video that is upside down!

-We have been talking about alliteration this week.  We have been thinking of words that share the same initial sound as each child's name, for example, Lovely Laisha Loves Lions or Samara Cinderella smelled some sweets.  This is an activity that you could follow up with your child with in English or your home language.

Our last week will be very busy!
-On Monday we will be going on our end of year trip to Playtime in District 11.  Please ensure your child arrives at 8 am.
-On Tuesday, the children will spend some more time in F3.
-On Wednesday and Thursday, the children will have their snack and lunch in the canteen.
-On Friday, we will have our class party.  Please look out for the food requests which will be sent out on Monday.  All parents and carers are very welcome to join us at 11 am.  All children can come to school on this day dressed in their party clothes!

Thank you for all of you who were able to come to the Transition Meeting and to our open afternoon.  Your support and time is always valued!

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team.

Big Pool Video Clips

WE 10.06.16.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for all of you who were able to attend our EOY 'Fundinos in the Sun' performance.  We hope you enjoyed it!  We thought our children were amazing!  Please have a look at the videos below. We will let you know once the photos taken by Mr Adam are available.





Big Pool
Today was the first of two sessions in the big pool.  The children were divided into three groups. They learnt to use the ladder safely to get in and out of the pool.  The children also focused on learning to getting in and out using the edge of the pool.  The children moved around the pool in different ways and played 'Salmon Says' (Simon Says) to build their confidence in the water.  Ms Precious and I are really pleased with all our children responded to being in the TX big pool for the first time.

Next Week
Next Week is a very busy week for our F2 children.  Please have another look at the timetable Ms Precious posted earlier this week.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team

F2: dates to remember this month

Newsletter WE 3rd June 2016

Dear Parents,

This week has flown by!  We have been practising almost everyday for our EYFS EOY concert and our children are doing so well!  We have also been busy making decorations for the gym.  F2 have been making special summer bunting comprising of all our favourite activities in the summer.

I have uploaded three videos taken in the big playground today to share what the children have been doing there.




Preparing for F3
You will receive a letter in the next few days explaining how we will be supporting the children to prepare for F3 next year.  Ensuring a smooth transition between F2 and F3 ensures our children stay happy and continue to progress in their new environment.  One of changes in routine in F3 is that they will be using the big pool.  We will be going to the big pool on Friday 10th and Friday 17th June to support this transition.  This will take place in small groups with adult support from the F2 teachers, TAs and Mr Chau, our swimming instructor.



Notices
-Big Pool Friday 10th June.  No splash pool.
-EYFS Summer Concert Thursday 9th June  All children should come to school dressed in black clothes on this day.

-Transition meeting Wednesday 15th June Multi Purpose Room (MPR) at 1.30 pm.

Have a lovely weekend!

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and Precious and the F2 team.

EYFS Summer Performance 2016

Newsletter W.E. 27.05.16. Updated with video working

Dear Parents,

It has been a really busy week!  We have been busy practising for our End Of Year (EOY) EYFS Summer Concert.  We also went to the gym to watch MP1's production 'The Selfish Ladybird'.  In the classroom, the children have continued to learn nursery rhymes and more rhyming words. The children have also continued to focus on superheroes.  They drew their own superheroes and decided what their super powers would be.  We were impressed with the children's ideas.  Here are some of them:

-A button on the belt to help superheroes fly or jump really high
-A red laser beam coming out of the eyes
-Ice and fire coming out of the mouth
-Being able to stamp on the ground really hard so it breaks
- A tiger man with lots of spikes


In the big playground, the children have been learning to bounce a ball continuously.

Please have a look at the video above showing what we were doing in the unit this morning.  The video is about three minutes long.

Notices
-Please come in and have a look at your children's mark making next week on Friday at 2.15 pm.  It will be displayed in the classroom.
-Please can we ask that toys and stickers are kept at home and not brought into school.
-The EYFS EOY Performance will be on Thursday 9th June.

Have a lovely weekend!

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team.

Newsletter WE 20th May

Dear Parents,

It's been a very busy week! Here is a round up of what we've been up to!

Children's interests

We have been focusing on our children's ideas and questions in relation to their interests.  At the moment most of the children are expressing an interest in looking after babies and superheroes.

The children are also interested in looking after babies.  We have recorded their questions on our 'Working Wall'.  There are also lots of photos and children's quotes here.  Please come in and have a look next week.  It is in the role play area.

Afternoon Groups

The children have been learning to identify rhyming words and have been making 'silly soup' with all the rhyming words they have been learning.  In Maths, the children have been learning to count objects in a group. In Ms Clarissa's groups the children have continued to focus on expressing their emotions constructively.

Physical Development

The children explored their super powers in the gym.    They jumped as high and as far as they could and ran as fast as they could!

In the big playground, the children asked to play on the Supernova and climbing frame and they also practised bouncing balls.

On Wednesday afternoons, we usually play parachute games.  Please have a look at the videos.  We all have so much fun!

Other Learning

In preparation for learning Phonics in F3, we have been reading and acting out lots of nursery rhymes this week.  We will continue with this next week.

How you can help at home

You could ask your children in the following questions:

-Do you have a favourite superhero?  What's his/her name?

-Why do you like...?

-What super powers does he/she have?

-If you were a superhero, what super powers would you have?

These questions can be asked in your child's home language.  Please could you let us know what your children say as we would love to add their responses to our working wall.

Notices

-Thank you for using sun block and providing protective swimwear for your children for splash pool time

-The EYFS end of year production will take place on Thursday 9th June (more details to follow soon)

-EYFS End of Year Reports will go home on Friday 10th June

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team.

Newsletter WE 13.05.16.

Dear Parents,

Here's what we've been up to this week...

Literacy
We have continued to focus on our mark making skills and have been learning to write our names this week using dotted lines as a guide.

This week in the library, we shared the story 'One Mole Digging a Hole' to further develop the children's understanding of rhyming words.  The children looked at the following rhyming pairs:

snake and rake
bear and pear
bee and tree

This focus is part of our preparation for learning Phonics in F3.

Physical Development
In the splash pool on Monday, the children practised immersing their heads in the water for a few seconds, blowing bubbles and kicking their legs.

In the big playground, the children continue to learn different ways of moving including jumping up, jumping forwards, hopping, making side steps and tiptoeing. I also challenged the children to practise balancing on one leg for 5 seconds.

In the gym, the children played 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?' 'Duck, Duck, Goose' and moved around an obstacle course we had set up.

Focus Groups
I continued to focus on prepositional language with the children including on, in, in front of, behind, next to, between and under.  Ms Precious focused on listening skills including rhyming words and Ms Clarissa shared the story 'When Sophie Gets Really Really Angry...'.  The children made suggestions for how Sophie could stay calm.

Other Areas
In our role play area, lots of children have been exploring a 'Use Me' box which contained amongst other things capes, masks, bags, scarves, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of boots.  This has led to lots of interesting conversations amongst the children and we will be sitting in groups next week to discuss their interests in these objects further

Notices
-Please have a look at the swimming groups as per the email sent out earlier today

Thank you for your continuing support.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 Team

Newsletter WE 06.05.16.

Dear Parents,

We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend!  The children came back with lots of holiday stories for our news groups.  Although it's only been a three day week, it's been a busy one.  Here's what we've been up to:

Literacy
We have been focusing on mark making.  This has included supporting the children to hold a pencil using a tripod grip and tracing patterns such as lines, circles and zig zags to support pencil control. Some children have expressed an interest in writing their names so they have been practising some letter formation.

Library
Ms Precious shared a story called 'Things You Never Knew About Dinosaurs' by Giles Paley Philips. The children enjoyed the story- it is available at the Fahasa bookshop on Le Loi.

Afternoon Focus Groups
I focused on rhyming words such as 'me' and 'see' and 'tree' and 'bee' through two stories:  'One Mole Digging a Hole' by Julia Donaldson and 'Monkey and Me' by Emily Gravett.  Our focus on rhyming words is part of our preparation for Phonics which the children begin in F3.  

Ms Precious led a Maths focus on prepositions this week.  The children consolidated and extended their repertoire of prepositions and now includes, in front of, behind, between, next to, in and on.  This can be quite a challenging concept for EAL learners and the children are mastering these concepts at their own pace.  

Ms Clarissa has been focusing on PSED skills.  The children recalled the story 'Angry Arthur' and talked about what makes them angry.  These were some of their responses:

“I am happy because I ate a lot today”

“I am happy because my friend played with me”

“I feel angry when a friend pushes me”

“I feel angry when I have to wait for a long time”

“I feel angry when I don’t want to sleep”

“I feel angry when I don’t want to brush my teeth”

“I feel angry when mummy says no to me”

Physical Development

In the splash pool, the children had fun playing with water balloons with Ms Precious.  In the big playground, we practised balancing and moving around in different ways such as jumping, tip toeing, making giant steps and side steps.  We also learnt to swing our arms as fast as we could in different directions!  We will continue with this playground focus next week.

Music

The children joined in with a story about animals and made lots of great animal noises.  They also enjoyed a 'guess the instrument' game in which one child shook an instrument and the others listened and guessed which one they had heard.

How you can help at home

Please talk to your children about how they feel and why in English and/or your home language.

If your child enjoys mark making at home, please try to provide regular opportunities for them to

draw and write.  We would love to see their writing and drawing at school and will be desgnating an area to share their work from home.

Notices

-Please note that children's individual blogs won't be updated regularly as both Precious and I are writing end of year reports.

-F2 will be holding an exhibition of our children's work in June and we are also hoping to go on a trip.  Details to follow soon.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team

Children's Blogs

Dear Parents,

Precious and I will be writing our children's end of year reports for the next month. Therefore, the children's blogs will not be updated as regularly as usual.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder

Newsletter WE 29.04.16.

Dear Parents,

It has been a wonderful first week of Term 3!  The children have come back refreshed and full of chatter about their holidays!  Please have a look at what we've been up to...

Physical Development
This week, every child had the opportunity to use a bike or trike, the Supernova or the climbing frame in the big playground.  In the splash pool, children used colanders to catch dinosaurs with Ms Precious on Monday and sang songs with me on Thursday.

Afternoon focus groups
Ms Precious supported the children to sequence events from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' story whilst I focused on a Maths activity in which the children used prepositions such as on, under, behind, in front, between and next to to describe where we had placed our hats.  This has been quite challenging for most of the children, so we will continue with it next week.  Ms Clarissa shared the story 'Angry Arthur' and the children talked about their feelings and how to help themselves feel better when they are angry.

Library
In the library this week continuing with the dinosaur theme from last term, I shared a story called Dinosaur Galore!  By Giles Andreae and David Wojtowyck.  We focused on the children's favourite dinosaurs: T Rex, Anklyosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Spinosaurus and Brontosaurus.  We will look at these dinosaurs in more depth next week using non fiction books.

Other actvities
The children have all had the opportunity to draw a dinosaur this week and even our most reluctant artists have loved it!  We will be holding an F2 Exhibition in the coming weeks to share our children's lovely we

How you can help at home
Please have a look to see if you can access www.cbeebies.co.uk.  There is a game called 'Dino Paws' which we have been playing on the computers.  This is also a  lovely British children's tv show.

Notices
-As you will have noticed, it is very hot and sunny.  All children must wear a hat in order to play outside.  Please check with your nannies/relatives that one is placed in your child's bag everyday.

-Please also ensure that your child has a hat/rash guard and or sunblock on splash pool days.  Please apply the sunblock in the morning before your child comes to school.

-This weekend id a long bank holiday so the first day back at school will be Wednesday 4th May.

Have lovely, relaxing long weekend!

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team.

Roar!

F2 enjoyed their dinosaur party!

Newsletter Friday 8th April 2016

Dear Parents,

What a busy final week it has been!  Here are the highlights:

F2 Trip to KizCiti
Please see yesterday blog post for photos and more details.

Dinosaurs
We visited Y3's Dinosaur Museum on Wednesday and were amazed by some of the things we saw! We also watched some short clips of a programme called 'Walking With Dinosaurs' which showed us how dinosaurs would have looked, moved and lived when they were alive.

Finally today, we had a dinosaur party.  Each of the children decorated a dinosaur of their choice and then we stuck it onto a headband,  Everyone had a dinosaur name.  For example, Hung chose to decorate a Spinosaurus so he was called a 'Hungosaurus' at our party.  We also made a dinosaur cake on Thursday which we shared during our party.

The children are still interested in our dinosaur theme so after the holidays we will be focusing more on what Palaeontologists do and also find out more about our favourite dinosaurs.

Library
Ms Clarissa shared a story this book called 'Nighty Night'.  It was a story about a dinosaur family in which the baby dinosaur didn't want to go to sleep.  This led to a discussion amongst the children about who they sleep with at home and whether they don't feel like going to bed sometimes and what happens!

Physical Development
This week in the splash pool the children enjoyed 'catching' dinosaurs with collanders.  We also sent some time in the big playground using the biked, trikes and scooters as well as using the climbing frame and SuperNova.

Things you can do at home
-Please share any dinosaur books you might have at home with your child.  Ask your child what their favourite dinosaur is and what it looks like and what it may have eaten.

Notices

-Term 3 starts on Monday 25th April

-Please can we ask that children wear shoes that cover their feet at school. No sandals please.

-It is now much sunnier during our splash pool time.  Please can we ask you to apply sunblock on your child in the morning and wear a swimming hat if they have one.

We hope you have a wonderful, safe holiday.  Thank you for your support.

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder and the F2 team

F2 Trip to KizCiti

F2’s Visit to KizCiti

The F2 children visited KizCiti in District 4 on Tuesday.  An amazing time was had by all as we explored the different areas in the venue.  We decided to focus on the beauty salon, fire station, airplane, bakery and hospital.  The children’s favourites by far were the fire station and airplane.  There was lots of excitement to be had by dressing up as fire fighters, jumping on a fire engine and putting out a fire.  We were also welcomed on board a Viet Jet Airways flight in which the children dressed up as pilots and flew the plane!  We packed in a lot of fun in one morning! 

Kind Regards,

Gurvinder

Please see below for photos of our trip.  Please also have a look at individual blogs for more photos.