1 of 14

Back to School Night

2023 – 2024

J1

2 of 14

UNIS Mission Statement

Under the auspices of the United Nations and guided by its ideals, UNIS provides an inclusive and diverse learning environment in which rigorous international programs foster academic excellence, innovation, creativity and cross-cultural communication to educate and inspire its students to become an active force in shaping a better world: peaceful, compassionate and sustainable.

3 of 14

Meet the J1 Teaching Team

Speaker: Louise

I’m glad Colin looks super cute in this pic…guess it wasn’t my day ;) Just like we create essential agreements with our students, on behalf of the J1 team I’d like to share with you what we believe and what you can expect from us this year: The J1 Teaching Teams’ GUIDING PRINCIPLES (which are adapted from the Responsive Classroom) are, 1. Teaching social and emotional skills is as important as teaching academic content. 2. How we teach is as important as what we teach. 3. Great cognitive growth occurs through social interaction. Having parents back on campus tonight is a positive sign of us moving forward in this area! 4. How we work together as adults to create a safe, joyful, and inclusive school environment is as important as our individual contribution or competence. 5. What we know and believe about our students—individually, culturally, developmentally— informs our expectations, reactions, and attitudes about those students. 6. Partnering with families—knowing all of you and valuing your contributions—is as important as knowing the children we teach. We are thrilled to be apart of your family’s team!

4 of 14

Mother Tongue Teachers

French: Molida Khuon | Spanish: Maria Alcaraz

5 of 14

Student Support Team

Dana Marnin, Psychologist

Amy Iamundo, Counselor

Stephanie Clapes, Learning Support

6 of 14

J1 Learners

Physical | Social | Cognitive

Speaker: Erin

The stages of development have been widely researched. From that generalizable and predictable characteristics of children, from any given culture, at their different stages of development, can be drawn. Of course, children go through these stages at different rates. Children don’t suddenly change on their birthday! We will be sharing more information about these developmental milestones in the biweekly homerooms newsletters.

Key takeaways for 6-7 year-olds though

The bodies, minds, and social behavior of six-year-olds are changing dramatically. This = BIG/STRONG feelings which can be exhausting for them, you, and us!
Sixes have lots of energy, but also often take on “more than they can handle” and tire easily.
Willingness, curiosity, imagination, drive, openness and enthusiasm - all are at their peak in the typical six-year-old. Which is why Nance, Colin, and I are so honored to witness all that we do each and every single day.

Our aim is to tailor the learning in J1 to support and nourish this special age and time.

7 of 14

J1 Mathematics

#1

Addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction

#2

Whole number relationships and place value

#3

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

#4

Measurement and Data

#5

Reasoning about attributes of geometric shapes

#6

Representing story problems with models and number sentences

We develop our understandings of…

Speaker: Erin

We have a comprehensive Mathematics curriculum in J1. Our Math Workshop is Inquiry based, social constructivist approach to Math. As a community, we collaborate to create understanding of foundational concepts with special attention to the individual child’s method of understanding within the scope of what is efficient and sensible: What Works Best for Me. Concepts build upon each other to encourage creative and innovative problem solving and everyone’s perspective is valued. Here you will see the Big Ideas we will explore and learn about during Math in J1.

Our French Mother Tongue learners will explore each Math unit in their mother tongue with their French teacher. More information on this program will be at specialist evening.

Some Math tools you may hear your child discuss at home.

Various of models

Our understandings are balanced: we will tackle big ideas like story problems.

Reading infographics like

8 of 14

J1 Units of Inquiry

Unit of Inquiry Module #1: Peace Begins With Me -UN

Our roles and responsibilities are important for building peaceful communities.

Unit of Inquiry Module #2: Nature and Nurture - Governors Island

Unit of Inquiry Module #3: Where We Are On The Map

We shape the local environment, and the local environment shapes who we are and how we live.

Unit of Inquiry Module #4: Light, Sight, and Communication - Planetarium?

Conceptual Lens: Light helps us see things and communicate with others in many ways.

Speaker: Gulay

“Cheer Up Notes” in J1Barton. IB Learner Profile — discuss caring!

In J1 there are FOUR units of inquiry. Each unit has:

A generalization which sets the big picture goals of the unit
a set of concepts which drive the unit
a series of focus character traits which support the social/emotional growth of each child - IB Learner Profile
Content that is relevant, meaningful and engaging for UNIS students
a direct connection to our English Language Arts program.

Our Mother Tongue French and Spanish learners will explore each unit in their mother tongue with a specialist language teacher.

We also love guest speakers who are able to link in with our units and share their knowledge, talents and skills - please contact your classroom teacher.

Aligns to the standards.

Being

Content specific vocabulary.

Where we live in the world and how it affects us. Culture, Geography, NYC landmarks,

Our units of inquiry are the big picture ideas, they are the umbrella which shadow over the discipline areas. What this means is that the themes and concepts of the unit are drawn out, not only in humanities lessons, but during during language arts, mathematics and general classroom experiences.

There are three units in J1 with differing personal, social and civic themes.

Each class, whether in MT or with home room teachers, will explore the same understanding, concepts and character strands through a guided inquiry approach.

The guided inquiry approach has distinct phases which each class will travel through, what it looks like in each class for each child will be different, this is the nature of inquiry.

What will be the same is the culminating tasks and the standards we assess upon.

9 of 14

Writing

Writing: Speaker: Rasmus

Marisa- 3 units of writing throughout the year; each unit has a set of mentor texts, books that are used to teach skills related to each specific genre of writing. The first unit is small moment or narrative writing, where children write personal stories about important or memorable events from their own lives; 2- Opinion writing, where the children write opinions about their favorite book characters (ie; why the character is their favorite with facts and examples from the book to support their opinions; 3- informational writing, where children first study a variety of nonfiction texts to learn about the various features associated with this specific genre, and then write informational books about topics on which they are experts

Writing: The grade 2 writing curriculum is taught through 3 separate units. Narrative writing, Opinion writing and Informative writing. These 3 genres are developed from JA up to J4 and are vertically aligned. Students will also have other opportunities to write creatively and freely throughout the year through poetry, letters and free-choice writing. Writing is also heavily aligned with our reading curriculum, so this also adds further opportunities to write about books of interest, interesting characters and favorite parts of texts.

In our first unit, J1 students write narratives in which they will write personal small moment stories about their adventures and experiences. Students will work to include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, and provide a sense of closure. Students learn to revise with intent - and think how I’m creating an effect on the reader. They use craft moves in ways to make sense and also make thoughtful word choices using precise and beautiful language. Students will study how great authors write their stories and use these authors as mentors in their own writing. We call these books ‘Mentor Texts’.

In our opinion writing unit students dive deeper into uncovering their opinion about books. Writers study characters, favorite parts, pictures, titles, covers and lessons. In J2 we try to make it stronger, longer and more convincing. Students introduce their book, write their opinion, give reasons and evidence from the book, talk to their audience, add sections or pages to their writing, use juicy story words, back it up, refer to books to prove it and use quotation marks around exact words.

As Informational writers – We teach the reader about a topic. We learn to write like scientists.- ask questions about how the world works. Students learn to teach with labels and add details, and tell not only what to do, but how to do it. Another focus is working on conclusions, by reflecting, asking questions, giving explanations, and adding further information in our illustrations using comparisons through size, color, captions, arrows and definitions and descriptions.

10 of 14

Phonics

Reading

Understanding the relationship between letters and sounds
Automatic decoding and spelling
Smooth transfer of skills

Short Vowels

Long Vowels

Consonant Blends

(cl, cr, pl, fl, fr)

Digraphs

(ch, sh, th, ph)

Magic e

Vowel Teams

(ee, ea, ie, oo, oa)

“R” Controled Vowels

(ar, er, ir, or, ur)

To make real progress as a reader, you need 3 things (access to fascinating books, time and quality instruction)

1:1, partners, small groups, whole class, read alouds

11 of 14

J1 Home Learning

Suggested Learning Engagements can be found under the Parent Guidelines on the UNIS website.

12 of 14

Communication

Newsletters | Email | Report Cards | Seesaw | School Pass

Conferences: Parent-Teacher & Student-Led

Speaker: Louise

In J1 we will be sending bi weekly newsletters, detailing all that is happening in the J1 homerooms.

On occasion we will send emails detailing whole class items or information specific to your child. Please make sure the JS office has an up to date email.

Formal written report cards are sent out in January and June.

Parent teacher conferences are held in November

Student Led conferences are held in March

Seesaw is an app for students and teachers to blog about learning in the classroom and give families an insight to their child’s life at school. Here homerooms, specialists and your kids! will post photos and you will be able to see and comment.

Teachers will send access instructions which can even be shared with the wider family so that grandparents can connect too.

You can always reach us via email or if more pressing, pass on a message through the JS office. Furthermore, our door is always open. Drop an email so we can make a time to meet face-to-face.

13 of 14

Curriculum Specialists

Amy Morris: Math and Science Specialist

amorris@unis.org

Audra Robb: Reading, Writing, and Humanities Specialist

arobb@unis.org

14 of 14

Thank You!