Weekly News 10th - 14th November

The new Unit of Inquiry, “A World of Trade”, has started off at a great pace with the events of last week and will continue this week. This week students will be focussing on the history of money as part of the new Unit.

Reflections: 3rd – 7th November
Last week the children started work on the new Unit of Inquiry with an investigation of bartering. We looked at the Trobriand Islands (near Papua New Guinea) where the traditional communities still travel from island to island to barter goods. Interestingly a major force behind bartering was to maintain a stable and friendly relationship between the communities through the practice of bartering as well as bartering goods. Students enjoyed their bartering immensely as we role played being islanders with basic goods to trades, such as bags of vegetables, kula shells, knives etc. Last Friday we had an exciting afternoon with a small bartering fair where students traded items brought in from home. Some students traded services as well as goods and issued “credit notes” to their customers. Teachers will make sure students carry aou the services promised on the credit notes.

Unit of Inquiry
This week students will investigate the history of trading and money and design a new currency. The best currency design will be the one used for the currency at the trade fair to be held at the end of the unit. Students will also complete their evaluation of the bartering activities from last week.
Mathematics
Teachers have been impressed with the results of the Addition and Subtraction tests held last week. Students are progressing well in Maths. Let us all hope it continues. This week the students will start Multiplication. We will continue doing “problems of the day” to challenge the students to look at different ways to solve all sorts of problems. Students will also start investigating decimals, as used in currency transactions and elsewhere.
English
Students will focus on the language of commerce. We will be reading texts, fiction and non-fiction, which relate to different aspects of trading. In reading groups we will continue our reading and comprehension skills.
What can I do to help?
# Make sure your child is doing the required homework each night. If for any reason your child is unable to complete their homework, please write a note to the teacher in the class diary.
# The library has reported that some students are not borrowing many books. Please check that your child is doing regular reading at home. Students are allowed to borrow from the library any day, not only during special library lessons.
Upcoming Events, Reminders and Blog News:
# Keep checking the class blog for important information about our unit of inquiry and what’s happening at school. New stuff is always being added to the blog. Check out the new Library blog and Library Netvibes links. Netvibes will be used a lot by students during the Exhibition.
# PTA Meeting Tuesday November 11
# Holiday December 1
# Christmas Fair December 6

With thanks,
David Barrett, David Gocentas and Ms Isabel Costa Pereira