Sneak Peek at Year 2

School assemblies have a different meaning in the UK than they do in America. Here, it is a presentation that each class (grade) puts on to demonstrate the topics and skills they have been mastering during the recent term. It is a fabulous opportunity for both parents and students. The children get to participate in public speaking and showcase their accomplishments; the parents get regular insights into the progress their children are making at school. It is a brilliant idea and hopefully something that could eventually catch on in the USA.

Today was the Year 2 fall term assembly and Amy presented a short write-up about her experience opening the new school library with the Headmaster, Mr. Green:

Amy is currently interested in becoming a librarian when she grows up and was chosen to be the class librarian at school. She is responsible for re-shelving books in the correct place and making sure everything is neat and tidy. In the video posted above, she briefly described the colour-coding system they use. Some mornings, Amy also gets to work at the circulation computer, scanning the barcodes on books that children have borrowed the previous day.

Next, we have the class dance - one that they created themselves (with some help from the P.E. teacher). They even chose the music themselves.

Near the end, we were treated to a little demonstration of a "maths" game that they like to do. As you will see in the video clip below, there is a number drawn inside an 'egg.' Team leaders choose children to come up and create mathematical equations that equal to that number. In this case, the number was 20.

If a child creates an equation using addition, it = 1 point; subraction = 2 points and muliplication = 3 points. If the opposing team uses the same equation, they cancel out (like in the game Boggle) and no points are awarded. The teacher plays music for 1 minute whilst the children come up with equations, then they cancel out the duplicate equations and tally up the total points.

Amy's team won in this demonstration and although her equation was quite simple mathematically (20 x 1 = 20), it was quite clever and wasn't duplicated, so she earned 3 points for her team.

The previous video clip is interesting for another reason - I wonder if a similar population of American school children could all sing the lyrics to "Mamma Mia" with as much accuracy and enthusiasm as these kids do! (ABBA is still very popular in the UK!)

And finally, a little clip of Amy and her classmates singing the 'closing song' for the assembly with the rest of the school. Not only do I love the abundance of singing that these kids do at school, I also love that accent! They sound just like the children that sing at the end of "Thomas the Train" videos.