NUACHTÁN KINDER | January 2021
Language Acquisition in the IB Programme
The English team has been an active and constant part of the IB programme.
During the present cycle it has taken on a greater role establishing defined and enriching guidelines so that within the units of inquiry we could work hard in the acquisition of a second language.
The IB programme and the English Academic programme implementation are carried out in a parallel way. During the assessment meetings, the teachers contribute with significant activities that give continuity to what has been worked in Spanish class and in the other disciplines.
By making a link between the IB programme and the Cambridge programme throughout the different units of inquiry, vocabulary acquisition is more extensive and facilitates the use and understanding of it. This allows the language acquisition and its use in a variety of contexts and for different purposes.
Working the IB in a second language, within an environment that emphasizes the universality of the concepts that are learned, helps children internalize that these concepts apply globally, that they are not local, but are present all over the world, so they get tools that will serve them throughout their lives, wherever they go.
Being able to express themselves in English, a language that is constantly expanding and that allows our insertion in a growing number of countries, gives us the assurance that we are giving them the necessary tools so that in the future they can communicate assertively and with confidence.
Both programmes have many things in common. They are based on questions that are broad and impactful, that hold children’s interest and allows the development of vocabulary and grammatical structures and the familiarization with the second language in a natural way, while addressing the curiosity and innate need to learn.
It is a natural, fluent, relaxed and respectful way of learning processes, which increases the understanding of key concepts, explores ideas and topics of global importance though English.
We use and develop language skills to introduce our students into the world with a more valuable and profound knowledge.
The IB and Cambridge programmes are the perfect match for learning a second language.
Thanksgiving Day
To thank? How important is to know how to be grateful for what we have, what we experience or what makes us happy.
How does this celebration begin? The story goes back to 1620, when a ship with more than 100 English colonists docked to settle in the New World. The pilgrims settled in what is now known as the State of Massachusetts. The Wampanoag Indians offered to help, taught them how to grow other foods, hunt, and fish. In the fall of 1621, the English celebrated the generous harvest and this became known as the first American Thanksgiving.
Then, in 1863, at the end of a long civil war, Abraham Lincoln suggested to all Americans they should celebrate a Thanksgiving Day the last Thursday of November as a day to be thankful and since that date and in many places around world, the fourth Thursday of November Thanksgiving is celebrated.
As every year at Celta-Kinder, we shared the traditional Thanksgiving lunch, an activity where children and teachers become aware of what they have and how grateful they are.
On this occasion it was something very significant that was achieved despite the distance looking for a way to feel closer to the people who we appreciate and love.
At Celta Kinder we were grateful for simple or everyday things like food, toys and things as valuable as family or health.
We listen the children thank each other for their classes and their teachers. You could realize how from such an early age they understand the value of this action, which is the true essence of being grateful and valuing everything you have.
While listening to the children being thankful, it becomes clear that Celta students are empathetic and reflexive, attitudes that we know are a substantial part of the IB profile. We are thankful for having the opportunity to learn from the best life coaches…OUR STUDENTS, without a doubt, they are the ones that day by day teach us the importance of being grateful.
‘Robinson method’ a technique to motivate the development of learning at home
Throughout these times at home, we have faced many challenges, from making and keeping good habits to helping our children with the development of their learning skills.
I´ll share with you a method that brings you great results this method is called “Robinson Method”; it is a very useful technique for kids to acquire the tools they need to study by themselves. The benefits for the Robinson method are many, such as:
- It decreases study time for students
- It favors comprehension of what students must study
- It increases the ability to learn new concepts
- It develops the critical capacity of the child.
These learning strategies are based on 5 phases:
Exploring: gives a quick glance on the topic to be developed, if the child already knows how to read it is important to give a quick reading on what the topic is about and based on that, begin to encompass the topics related to the general theme.
Questioning: time to read for a second time, in a deeper approach, trying to understand as many concepts as possible. This is how we can help our children to make questions about what is still unclear and thus investigating in encyclopedias, Google, etc. Through this questioning, children will not memorize things or repeat them just because the book says so, but will reason, and it will be easier to them to assimilate the lesson in general. Besides, through the possible doubts that come out, the children critical ability will be put in use.
Reading: We go back to the book, but this time with pencil, highlighter, or pen in hand, to make a third reading of the subject in question. This phase is the favorite of many children because it is time to highlight the most important concepts of the topic to begin to have a clearer idea.
Reciting: after three readings, it is time to see which concepts have been able to be retained, it is important that the child does it in a place where he feels safe. Be careful, the objective is not for the child to recite word for word what the book says, but to tell in his own words what he has learned.
Reviewing: Not because it is the last phase it is the least important, and that is that the fact of reviewing increases the capacity to remember what has been seen so far and ensures a better assimilation of both the content reviewed and new content that can be seen in this fifth phase.
Remember that in order to have an ideal learning process it is necessary to have all the possible tools close at hand: books on the subject to be studied, paper or notebooks where to write or draw, encyclopedias or some electronic device to carry out research. In the same way it is important to have a space with adequate light, a comfortable chair, not to have distractors near, the feet should always be supported on the floor or on a bench or a chair.
Importance of IB in Art
Art is inherent to the human being and it is in early childhood the means by which children manifest all their creativity, which is in turn beneficial for their integral development. That is, art allows children to externalize everything that is inside of them. The importance of art in early childhood is that makes it easier for children to communicate their thoughts, emotions, opinions, desires, etc. Therefore, art in early education is a way of being and has countless benefits.
Therefore, the IB integrates Visual Arts into the programme. The IB celebrates the visual arts not only for the way we create images and objects, but also for the way we appreciate, enjoy and respect the artistic expressions of others from different parts of the world, as well as how we respond to them. In other words, the programme integrates in the best way the practical and intellectual field, thus allowing the development of motor skills, as well as neural development.
The theory and practice of visual arts are dynamic, changing and relating to various areas of knowledge and human experience through individual and collective exploration, creative production and critical interpretation.
Similarly, creativity is one of the fundamental elements that are developed in the IB programme. Creativity, as we know, is inherent in Art. Creativity is an attribute that is increasingly recognized as a decisive factor for personal, organizational and cultural success. It is also the basis for innovation, which is essential in the contemporary world. Now more than ever the world faces ever-increasing challenges, which are creatively sought to solve day by day and this is what the International Baccalaureate programme develops: creative thinkers, researchers, thoughtful, inquiry individuals, able to appreciate the expressive and aesthetic diversity of the world, thus becoming creators of intellectual property and critics of visual culture.
Visual Health
The situation that we are now living, the virtual world, forces us to consider how meaningful for us and our children is the visual hygiene, that is why, we must keep in mind the following:
-Being aware of the time we spend in front of the screen. It is a reality that, during the pandemic, those times lapses have increased, hence the importance of resting our eyes. Both the time spent in front of the screen and away from it should be the same, for example: if you spend 4 hours in front of the screen, you should spend 4 hours without technology, doing activities that avoid forcing the view, preferably outdoors.
– Keep the screen as far as the eye can see.
– Avoid rubbing your eyes. If you feel your eyes are tired, close them, rub your hands and place your palms on top of your eyes, you will feel the heat generated when rubbing.
– Have a good posture when sitting in front of the screen, to avoid stressing the visual system.
– We must avoid that students rest their head on the notebook or table, while writing or reading, to maintain good visual posture.
– If it is necessary for them to wear glasses, verify that they have the appropriate graduation, revisions are recommended once a year.
– Work in a place with good lighting and ventilation.
– Use a chair that is appropriate for the person’s height and the height of the table, in order to promote good visual posture.
– Teach children to only move their eyes when they want to see something that is close to them, it is not necessary to move the head or body, with the eye movement is enough, this strengthens the eye muscles. Activities in which the eyes do not remain static are recommend; it is important to exercise the movement; for our students we suggest:
1.- Make them lie on their back on the bed, without a pillow. Every time a sound is heard, they should move their eyes from one side to the other to see the 4 corners of the ceiling, without moving their heads. For the sound you can use the application «TEMPO»
2.- Bounce a sponge ball the size of your hand.
3.- Play with a balloon keeping it from falling.
4.- Bursting soap bubbles, made by another person.
5.- Play catch (ball, stuffed animals, sack, etc.)
6.- Walk ¨gallo-gallina¨ forward and backwards.
7.- Walk on your toes, on your heels, like a duck, jump, etc., to the rhythm.
8.- Stand next to the beginning of a line marked on the floor (chalk or tape), always having the end of it in front and jump from one side of the line to the other with both feet, forming a zigzag.
9.-Walk barefoot on the grass, run, play, make angels, play airplane, etc.
Lic. Jessica González
How do we learn math at Colegio Celta?
Mathematical knowledge is a basic tool for understanding and managing the reality in which we live, this learning in addition to last a lifetime, must start from an early age so that the child becomes familiar with its language, since from the very first months of life, numerical competence is present. Children can relate sets of 4 elements from the first year of their life, determining whether they are equal or not, around 14 months old they can represent the numbers and operate mathematically with them, at two years old numerical competition begins, children understand when there is more or when something is smaller. The first use that a child makes with the numerals is to indicate the cardinal, when he shows with his fingers how old they are.
That is why any situation can be used for the development of mathematical concepts. At Celta, mathematic is taught from a constructive approach, considering 3 key points:
1.- Teachers’ accompaniment:
Creating the didactic conditions that propitiate different moments where the children can develop some of the aspects of mathematical operations in the classroom. Activities where children discover the qualities of objects through manipulation. Activities where children discover the qualities of objects through manipulation. Such as comparing objects by their size, color, shape, function, grouping objects by their similarities, using geometric figures to make graphic representations. Among many other examples and didactic exercises that are carried out in the classroom to enrich the teaching of mathematics.
2.- Learning in life
Children are given the necessary tools starting from their surroundings, what they live and experience, from the point of view of real mathematics and thus making them attractive.
3.- Manipulative materials
Children are provided with creative materials that are attractive and can be manipulated for playful use and will also help them gain mathematical knowledge.
The constructive approach to math that we use allows us to ‘create a need in children to learn math’.
How?
By generating the need to quantify counting, not reciting, interest in knowing how many things there are in a certain place, calculating.
Also, generating the ability to anticipate in time, something that happens from a pattern, to predict.
For example, predict sequences of things and ask them to predict them first in a cyclical way e.g.: Tree, house, dog and then ask: What’s next?
And then in an infinite, increasing or decreasing way e.g. Green, light green, stronger green.
As children grow, they will work with a greater degree of difficulty, organizing patterns, they will discover if something is wrong or not, if they belong to the same group or not, etc. It is like changing the plot of a story.
We name the above mentioned, generating a need for variation.
Also, the metric need will be the one that will determine in mathematics how much things measure, between the ages of two and three years old, children will compare things, which one is longer, higher, bigger, heavier.
The need for geometry: locating and describing
Locate: what is above me, what is beneath me, what is in front of me, in front of her, in front of them, etc.
Describe: what does it look like? Round, square, smooth, etc.
Generating such needs in children is how they will begin to experience from their thinking and learn to think from mathematics and apply it in real life contexts.
Lic. Yolanda Aburto Porta, facilitator of the constructive mathematical method.
Dates to remember
JANUARY 11th | Back to School / ‘Clothing Gift’ Day
JANUARY 12th | Grade Reports are sent home
JANUARY 27th | Parents Making a Difference
January´s Birthdays
January 1st – Natalia González
January 2nd – Luciano Puente
January 4th – Israel Sebastián Infante
January 8th – Rodrigo Ponce de León
January 18th – Miss Ceci
January 20th – Prof. Abraham
