INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SUV A PRIMARY
Issue 1
25 February, 2015
So what does it mean to be a Principled Person? The IBO defines a principled person as someone who „acts with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.‟ (ibo.org, 2009) Over the past two weeks, we have been exploring this focus learner profile through identifying and learning about being principled and what it looks like. Parents, if you observe your child being principled, please let him or her know! Your positive comments will help to reinforce this profile as well as to provide examples as good actions occur. Another good idea is to discuss some common phrases and what they actually mean. What does it mean to compromise your principles? What does it mean to stand up for your principles? Let‟s take a look at one of the most famous Dr. Seuss stories, „The Cat in the Hat‟. Students should identify that the fish was the principled character in the story. And at the end, when the boy speaks up and communicates, he is indeed acting with integrity. So reading to young or old, students should also be able to identify how a character is demonstrating that particular learner profile. All storybooks are a teaching tool for reinforcing our learner profile!
Our Primary Leaders for 2015 Congratulations to all of our new primary leaders for 2015. As a result of the leadership process, proficiently organised and run by our Year 5 team, we can now introduce our leaders. Our school captains are Ashleigh Singh and Theodore Strobel. Vice Captains are Jade Cave and Abbas Jiwanji. House Captains are: Iguana – Hiona Takimoana, David Immanueli, Jasmine Colling, Villliami Payne. Kiwi – Manoa Keteca, Carmina Manaog, Sidhant Singh, Typhaine Nervale. Eagles – Griffyn Ramsden, Elodie Khan, Nadeesh Daby, Aurora Sinclair. Kangaroo – Armand Davias, Katie McLean, Ceinwyn Robens, Sienna Harper. We wish them well on their leadership journey this year and beyond.
From the Head of Primary Bully. What does the word make you think of? For some people, it‟s that girl that always makes fun of them. For others, it‟s the biggest boy in the neighbourhood who‟s always trying to beat them up or take their things. Sometimes „bully‟ means a whole group of kids ganging up on someone else. No matter what the situation or form it comes in, bullying can make you feel depressed, hurt and alone. It can keep you from enjoying the activities and places that are part of your life. Each and every one of us has the right to feel safe in our lives and good about ourselves. There are different kinds of bullying including physical bullying. This is hitting, kicking, pushing someone or even just threatening to do it, stealing, and hiding or ruining someone‟s things or making someone do things he or she doesn‟t want to do. Verbal bullying is constant calling, teasing and insulting.
name-
Relationship bullying means refusing to talk to someone and spreading lies or rumours about someone. These are all examples of how one person can make another person feel hurt, afraid, or uncomfortable. When these are done to someone more than once, and usually over and over again for a long period of time, that‟s bullying.
1. Plan for Success 2. Sizzling Starts 3. Tightening Tension 4. Dynamic Dialogue 5. Show, Don‟t Tell 6. Ban the Boring Bits 7. Exciting Endings
Why would someone want to do this to another? When you make someone feel bad, you gain power over him or her. Power makes some people feel like they are better than another person and then that makes them feel really good about themselves. Power also makes you stand out from the crowd. It‟s a way to get attention from other children, and even from adults. If we try to look inside a bully‟s head, we‟d probably find reasons why he or she is acting that way. They may be having problems in other parts of their life, they may feel like they are not getting enough attention from parents or teachers, they‟ve watched older siblings or even parents get their way by being angry or pushing other people around, they are being bullied themselves, maybe by another child or sibling or even their parents or they may be exposed to a lot of violence in movies, TV or video games. What about the person who is always nice to you when he or she is alone but will join in when friends start teasing. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. There are many different types of bullies out there. The good news is that we can deal with all of them in the same way. Stay tuned to our next edition for how to do this.
Seven Steps to Writing Success Over the past few weeks, I have been enjoying my time back in the Year 3 – 5 classrooms as I work with them on ways to improve their narrative writing. The Seven Steps program is widely used around the world to provide students with techniques or strategies to improve writing skills and encourage enjoyment of
writing. It is an extremely simple program which chunks writing into seven steps. In this Primary Press, we will highlight Step 1 and Step 2 as it takes two weeks to complete a step.
At present we are working on Steps 1 and 2. Ask your children how to plan a successful story and how to „wow‟ the reader from the very first sentence. Next semester, I plan to work with the younger students in the very same way!
What’s New in ECH2 What a busy and exciting term it has been for the Whales and Dolphins! Our unit of Inquiry this term is “The Senses”. Our central idea for this topic is: “Humans use their senses to explore their surroundings to survive”. Each week, we have been focusing on a sense and doing many activities based around this sense. We used our sense of sight to look up at the sky and see what type of designs we saw in the clouds. We also used our sense of hearing and took a listening walk around the school and we drew pictures of what we heard. We were able to paint with vanilla essence and glue (which smelled great!) and made stained glass window paintings with tissue paper. We also were able to paint with watermelon and made masterpieces! Soon we will be looking at how our senses are connected to each other and we have been looking at ways we use our senses to survive. We have also been focusing on a letter every two weeks. So far, we have concentrated on the Letters S, I and T. Next week we will focus on the Letter F. A reminder to parents that we have Show and Tell every Fridays, so it would be great if the children could bring items in that start with our focus letters, or something related to our unit of inquiry. We also have PE on Mondays and Thursdays (please wear sports uniform), and Library on Wednesdays (please bring library bags). February 20th was a very busy day for the Early Childhood classes. It was Claire Rivier‟s 4th birthday, and we also had to sadly say goodbye to her and her family as they make their way back to the United States. We wish them a safe voyage back home. We will miss you, Claire! We also had our Welcome Lunch on February 20th. We had so much fun showing our parachute activities to our parents! We had an excellent turnout and thank all parents for coming and sharing lunch with us. We know we will have a fantastic year together!
Ms Jodee Skiba, Mrs Amanda Vaiteitei, Ms Sai Vula
PSPE AND PRIMARY SWIMMING So far in Term 1 the Primary Swimming Program has been in full swing. We started with the Year 2 and 3 cohorts who did a fantastic job at swimming, especially the beginner group who by the end of the second week were able to swim 3-4m unassisted! Was great to see! The Reception and Year 1 students are currently finishing up their 2 week intensive program, and again we have seen some huge improvements. The Year 4‟s and 5‟s will commence their program in week 7. A HUGE thank you to all of the parents and support staff who have helped out so far! These programs are a great success when we have such great parent support, so again thank you! th
Wednesday the 18 March will be the Primary Swimming Carnival where the students in Years 2-5 will be able to showcase their swimming skills that they have developed in the weeks leading up to this event. It should be a great day and if there are any parents who could assist on the day it would be greatly appreciated!!! (Please email if you are interested jhedditch@international.school.fj).
A-D-A-P-T-A-T-I-O-N! adapt to survive.
What‟s that spell? Adaptation! What does it mean? Over time, living things need to
Over the past six weeks Year 4 has been busy learning what it means to adapt. In UOI/ICT students are creating a new species and explaining the changes the new creature must adapt to in order to live in its habitat. Not only that, but we have been keeping an explorer‟s journal where we have been recounting our adventures, connecting it to our UOI by explaining how we had to change our eating habits, living conditions, climate and social interactions. We have also taken on a persona of an individual from Papua New Guinea or New York City and put that person in the other‟s environment. Next, we are making posters to represent the adaptations. In addition, all these lessons/activities are leading up to our summative, which most students are already on task and ready to submit.
Library Update Welcome to the Library Primary Press update. Our goal this term is to familiarize students with the library and introduce them to the many wonderful resources available. Our library skills classes focus on our children being able to locate information within the library using our library OPAC and Dewey classification system. All classes have a 45 minute library lesson each week. It is compulsory for students to bring their named library book bag and borrow books from a wide variety of grade level information and narrative texts during library classes. All classroom UOI‟s (Units of Inquiry) are integrated into library skill lessons through story time and research skill lessons. We hope you're visiting Brain Pop with your children. You‟ll now be able to access BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., BrainPOP Española and BrainPOP ESL at school or at home, 24 hours a day. Log in with the following username and password: Username: suva Password: iss The library also subscribes to Kids InfoBits and World Book. The username and passwords for these databases are available in the library webpage. Recommended kids friendly search sites are also available in our website. The library website address is: http://issfijilibrary.weebly.com/ We have also provided in our library website under the RESOURCES tab, free eBooks and audio books for you to enjoy with your children. Magazines The library subscribes to these magazine and a few more.
New Books New books are added to the library collection as soon as they arrive.
Library Class Update
Have you visited the library lately? Please remember that parents can borrow books too! Wishing you happy reading! Wakanisi Vaciloa Teacher Librarian Email: wvaciloa@international.school.fj
SIZZLING STARTS WITH YEAR 5S Just how do you write a „Sizzling Start‟ to a narrative (story)? Just ask our Year 5S students who have been busy this week writing their own. Sizzling Starts is the second step in the Seven Steps for Writing Success Program, coming after the first step, Plan for Success. A great story should instantly grab the reader‟s attention – and make them want to keep reading. There are lots of ways to create Sizzling Starts. Five suggestions include: 1. Start with a bang. „I wondered why the football was getting bigger. Then it hit me! 2. Make the reader curious. „Let me explain about the divorce, the beach house and the bacon. 3. Create a moment of change. „Everything was going well, until my Mum said she had a job in Australia.‟ 4. Use humour. „Never let your three year old brother eat ice-cream in bed.‟ 5. Dialogue brings characters alive. “It‟s just a rat,” I said breathing hard. “Rats don‟t growl,” snickered Mike. Starting with action is also a great way to begin your stories. Children can get locked into linear when it comes to writing. They always want to explain in great detail when they woke up, why they had the big dance competition and who they sat next to during the bus trip to the zoo. However, authors always want to start with action. They use a technique called „backfill‟ to fill in the basic background stuff. Let me give you an example.
Example 1: Snow Skiing Story Basic linear beginning: On the weekend, Mum and Dad took me snow skiing for the first time. We drove to the mountain and unpacked all the gear. The next morning we got up. Now see how the action AND the information can be given in a different way.
Action grab: The air was crisp, the snow was wickedly white and I was skiing fast down the mountain. Way too fast. “Look out!” I cried and the 300 people in the tow queue straight ahead ducked in fear. Backfill: Mum and Dad and I had gone skiing for the weekend, but the single lesson I‟d take that morning had neglected to teach me how to stop. Back to Action: Now suddenly it seemed like the whole mountain was flashing before my eyes. 5S students played the 5 minute fast start game this week and wrote the opening sentences to stories provided to them. So let‟s share some of these! Very good for their first time at it don‟t you think “Where is Barry?” “I don‟t know.” “I think I know where he is.” “Where? Where?” “The chocolate fountain in the center of the factory. Everyone knows that Barry loves chocolate.” (Ceinwyn) “You did what?” Kenny said. (Namaste)
“Arrgh!” I screamed as I sat up in bed, my hair standing on end and my body shaking all over. A shadow, very feint but there revealed a dog with only three legs. (Nell) Rampaging kids of different ages rushed through the door of the principal‟s office. Pages were being ripped and files dyed blue, all because of one person. (Ashleigh) “Yay! No teachers! Party time!” Everyone‟s celebrating, standing on desks. No learning today! (Emily) All of a sudden, the doors started slamming. I was scared. Where were all the teachers? (Jasmine) My ears felt like they were going POP! Woohoo! We were all glad that there were no teachers to tell us what to do! (Emma) “Where is Barry? Hey, what‟s that small thing over there eating all of the chocolate?” (Marcus) “Oh no! Where‟s Barry?” shouted Ms Fudge. A voice from out of the chocolate pool yelled, “Hi Ms Fudge, look at me!” (Abbas) “Will he bite us? I‟m scared!” Growl! “Jasmine, where are you?” (Alyssa) Waking in the middle of the night, I was relieved that it was just a nightmare. I went out to drink water and there was my dog. “Ahhh!” I screamed. My dog had three legs and his face was bleeding. (Sidhant) “Where‟s Ms Shan?” I wondered. It was morning tea and she hadn‟t arrived yet. I ran out and could see no teachers anywhere. (Jazy H) “Where‟s all the teachers?” I exclaimed. I looked around. “Psst!” whispered Annie. “I heard that there was a murder last night.” “What?” I shouted. (Hena) “Barry! Barry” Where are you?” Everyone was scared. Barry was missing. He was so small he could be in a chocolate machine or stuck inside a cookie. (Sebastian)
More Sizzling Starts from 5S…… Please help us!” I yelled at the policeman as he looked at the picture of my 3 legged dog. “My dog went missing yesterday and I think a ghost took her.” (Lena) “The teacher is missing! She is gone!” We raced to the office to check the CCTV. It revealed a shadow monster taking all of our teachers. (Dain) “Barry! “ Munch, munch, munch. “My chocolate!” He had stolen all of the chocolate. (Thomas) “Where‟s Barry?” screamed someone from behind me. (Viliame)
Here’s a challenge for all of our readers out there! Is your pen ready and your brain buzzing? Here’s your challenge. Write five fantastic story starts in five minutes. (Yes, it is possible) Here are your topics. Ready, set write! g
1. That new teacher who has just arrived can read minds. 2. Charlotte decided that life as a princess might not be so great after all. 3. You‟re getting ready for bed and suddenly there‟s a flash of light and sound. A famous actor is transported into your room. 4. You wake up to find that you have the biggest teeth in the whole world. 5. Perhaps going to that old house in the woods hadn‟t been such a great idea. How did you go? Did you use our „sizzling start‟ tips to help you writing a story starter that was exciting? Next edition, we will share some more from other year levels and talk about our next two steps. Karen (Head of Primary)
The soccer ball has been kicked onto the roof once again, the Year 5 students were ready to react and hurl accusations. But wait, whatâ€&#x;s this? They are sitting in a circle and closing their eyes. This is very strange. Upon looking closer, we find that they are engaged in meditation. They chose to think before reacting. Indeed, they have made superb connections with their unit of inquiry into their personal wellbeing and the complex balance of interconnected factors that it depends on. A significant area of focus in their learning has been changes to their current stage of growth. They have inquired into the physical, intellectual, social and spiritual factors that are interconnected and influence their happiness.
The key concepts for this unit of inquiry have been change, connection and responsibility. What better way to experience responsibility than to prepare for their leadership roles this year. Preparation involved inquiring into world leaders and their salient qualities, identifying personal strengths and leadership qualities, preparing video snapshots and speeches and taking positive actions to make a difference. Some other responsibilities that the Year 5 students have had to demonstrate are their self-management and communication skills, essential parts of the IB PYP transdisciplinary learning. The participants of the primary school choir and those students involved in the school production have shown noteworthy time management and organization skills as well as negotiation skills. PYP Exhibition The Year 5 students have commenced their Exhibition journey by reviewing some of the necessary skills, school-wide learner outcomes and attitudes they will require on this journey. By the end of this term, students will have unpacked the transdisciplinary theme which will guide their development of a central idea. To assist the students in their efforts, there will be information sent home to parents by the end of this term to inform parents of the PYP Exhibition.
Primary The year 4 students have been enquiring all about ‘Adaptation’ in their UOI and working collaboratively with ICT for this inquiry topic. They have been researching and looking at different species and how they adapt to their environment. With the Central Idea “Living things need to adapt to survive”, the year 4 students have been busy designing their new species. They have be investigating, organizing and creating their desired species. This has been really engaging and enjoyable as they were able to use a range of tools to help create their species.
Learning Support Corner-Primary Writing Writing is one of the ways in which we can express our ideas and creativity. Writing is also a tool to organize our life (lists, schedules, etc.). Handwriting builds a solid foundation to be able to use writing as a tool in the future. Here are some ideas for fun handwriting activities you can try at home.
Can be used with any word.
Also works fantastic with sand, shaving foam or hair gel. Eatable versions are with whipped cream, chocolate pudding or dough.
Rainbow writing Any word or letter is as many colors as possible.
Works great outside as well
Resource: Pinterest
Hindi Studies 2015 is a very exciting year for Year 3 and Year 5 students. Most of students are learning a new Language, Hindi Language and skills for the first time. They are learning the meaning of Namaste – Hindi greeting, Self - Introduction , learning to write their names in Hindi script, poems, rhymes and songs, numbers, days of the week, colours and learning about Hindi culture and Festivals.
Year 3 Unit of Inquiry –Conflict and Resolution In Hindi they have been learning about finite resources including “Water Conflict” (local and Global) Causes, resolution and management. They also learned about the importance of water in the Hindi culture and other cultures in the world.
Year 5’s next Unit of Inquiry “Ancient Civilizations,” will be further explored in Hindi for the next 6 weeks. During their intensive focus Hindi lessons, the students will be learning about ancient civilization in India and researching the Taj Mahal. On the 6th March, 2015 is a Hindu Festival – Holi Festival - Festival of Colours. This festival represents good overcoming evil. Happy Holi!
Namaste Subadra Chandra
Year 3 Year 3 started with a group of enthusiastic and bubbling 42 students in total. We also welcomed Ms. Torika, Mr Dasha and Ms. Shoma as new teachers to the year level. We’re now at the end of our first unit of inquiry on ‘Peace & Conflict’ where we have been learning about causes of conflict and more importantly, learning the skills and strategies on how to resolve conflict. This unit has proven to be very useful in that students are beginning to realize that they, as young individuals have a responsibility in helping to keep the world a peaceful place to live in. Next week we begin our inquiry into Tourism. Our Math focus this term is for students to understand place value up to ten thousand, to solve up to 4 digit computations in addition and subtraction and to know our multiplication tables of 2, 5, 10 and 11. Events we have had so far this term include swimming, Year 3 family breakfast, and parent evening and parent-teacher interviews. All were very successful. We’re also thankful for our liaison parents Gabriel and Lorraine who have started by sending home telephone trees and notes. We all look forward to a good year of learning and fun. Year 3 Team
HEAD LICE – Detection and Prevention It seems that we have had an outbreak of head lice of late, right throughout primary. It is important that we help the situation by making available accurate information about the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of head lice. We as a school will not screen for head lice and will only check when children demonstrate symptoms of head lice. Head lice are not a medical or public health hazard as they are not known to spread disease. Educating and supporting child and parent with factual, non-judgmental information is what we area bout. So here it is! (All information provided is from UK/US and Australian Health authorities, 2014)
Facts –
Head lice are small, six-legged wingless insects, pin head size when they hatch, less than matchhead size when fully grown and grey brown in colour. They are difficult to detect in dry hair even when the head is closely inspected. They very often cause itching, but this is not always the case, particularly when recently arrived on the head. Head lice cannot fly, jump or swim, but spread by clambering from head to head. Anyone with hair can catch them, but children, who have head to head contact, either at school or during play, are most commonly affected. Head lice feed by biting and sucking blood through the scalp of their host. The female louse lays eggs in sacs (nits) which are very small, dull in colour and well camouflaged. These are securely glued to hairs where the warmth of the scalp will hatch them in 7 – 10 days. Empty egg sacs are white and shiny and may be found further along the hair shaft as the hair grows out. Lice take 6 – 14 days to become fully grown, after which they are capable of reproduction. Head lice are not fussy about hair length or condition. Clean hair is therefore no protection, although regular (e.g. weekly) hair washing and combing sessions offer a good opportunity to detect head lice and arrange treatment if discovered. Lice hang on tight to the hair, usually close to the scalp where there is warmth, food and shelter from detection. Full grow lice take the opportunity to move from head to head during close contact. Younger lice tend to remain about 6 days on the head where they have hatched. Head lice need to maintain contact with a host in order to survive. Those lice that leave the host voluntarily, or fall off, are likely to be damaged or approaching death (their life span is about 3 weeks) and so unable to start a new colony. There is no need to wash or fumigate clothing or bedding that comes into contact with head lice.
Detection – The primary responsibility for the detection and treatment of head lice in a family lies with parents. Weekly checks, by ‘wet combing’ are the most effective method of detection. The comb must be fine enough to catch the lice. Chemists/Pharmacies should be able to recommend a comb for this purpose. If you do find head lice, all other family members should also be checked, and if necessary, treated. Checks should be continuing following treatment to ensure that it has been effective and to detect any reinfestation. Alerting the school that head lice has been detected is important as we then contact all parents in those year levels to also begin the process of detection and treatment. Wet combing – wash the hair using ordinary shampoo, then use a wide toothed comb to straighten and untangle the hair. It is easier to do this with wet hair, and using hair conditioner. Once the comb moves freely through the hair, without dragging, switch to a fine tooth comb. Make sure the teeth of the comb slot into the hair at the roots and draw down to the ends of the hair with every stroke. The comb must be fine enough to catch the lice – size indicated below – do not confuse lice or their eggs with clumps of dandruff or other debris.
Check the comb for lice after each stroke as you work through the hair section by section, so that the whole head of hair is combed through, then rinse out the conditioner and repeat the combing procedure in the wet hair.
Treatment – If you find lice, then there are two options. Whichever option you choose it is important to recognize that neither will protect against re-infection if head to head contact is made with someone with head lice at a later date. You may therefore wish to undertake occasional checks during hair washing sessions. Option 1 – Lotions Do not use lotions unless you find a living moving louse. Check all close family/friends by wet combing as described, and treat anyone who is found to have lice at the same time, to prevent reinfection. Ensure you have enough lotion to treat all those affected and follow instructions carefully. E.g. how long to leave the treatment on the hair to be effective, how often you have to apply the product, etc. The product may be capable of killing eggs, as well as lice, but there is no certainty of this. Check for baby lice hatching out from eggs 3 – 5 days after you use it, and again at 10 – 12 days. If the lice appear to be unaffected by the product (some lice may have developed resistance to a particular insecticide) or if the problem persists, then you should take advice from a pharmacist or GP who will be able to advise you on alternative treatments. Option 2 – The ‘Bug Busting’ treatment method (the best way to beat head lice and the only clinically evaluated method proven to work for detection and cure of an infestation) This aims at systematic removal of live lice by combing through the hair and physically removing any lice found. Success depends largely upon adopting a painstaking approach. It is four sessions over 2 weeks that is required to clear the lice, as long as the person does not catch more lice, in which case half-weekly sessions must continue. With a head lice comb and usual shampoo and conditioner, you can detect and clear head lice and remove nits successfully. Lice cannot become resistant to this method; it is safe as there are no pesticides used. Wash the hair in the normal way with ordinary shampoo. Rinse out the shampoo and put on lots of ordinary conditioner. Comb the hair with a normal comb to rid hair of tangles. When the hair is untangled switch to the head lice comb. Slot the teeth of the comb into the hair at the roots so it is touching the scalp. Draw the comb through to the tips of the hair. Make sure all of the parts of the hair are combed by working around the head. Check the comb for lice after each stroke. If you see any lice, clean the comb by wiping it on a tissue, or rinse it before the next stroke. After you have combed the whole head, rinse out the conditioner. You need to do the above routine at least four times, every four days. The number of sessions required depends on the last time you see lice: - The first combing session should remove all hatched head lice but does not remove the eggs. Therefore lice that hatch from eggs after the first session may still be present. - Subsequent sessions clear newly hatched lice. Keep doing the combing sessions every four days until you have had three sessions where no head lice are detected. Once you have had three sessions, where you do not see any lice, it usually means that you are then free of lice. The downside to this treatment is that is time consuming.
Myths – There is no need to disinfect clothing, cuddly toys, furnishings and the sharing of hats does not spread head lice. Lice that wander or fall off the head are dying. However, stray hairs left in brushes and combs should be cleaned. If you have any further questions or would like this information explained, please do come and see us at the primary office. Remember to let us know if you do detect head lice and we can play the very important role of asking all other parents to check their children. Thank you for your cooperation.
Bula vinaka saka, Fijian Studies learning experiences will be taken from Units of Inquiry with all year levels. Language skills will be taught in ECH 1 & 2, Reception and in Years 1, 2 and 4. Overall learning experiences will cover listening and speaking, reading and writing and presenting which are part of the three major areas of oral language, written language and visual language. Working with year one on their Unit of inquiry, Transdisciplinary Theme, „How We Organise Ourselves‟, we inquired into a Fijian Village Community. We planned a traditional Fijian village showing three main features: valelevu, vale ni lotu, rara and also found out about the different roles and responsibilities carried out by those who lived in a village. New vocabulary: valelevu, vale ni lotu, rara, turaga, turaga ni koro, matavuvale, tata, nana, gon. Below are some reflections shared by year one after six weeks of inquiry into “Different Systems of Organisation in our Communities – Na Koro Vakaviti.” I learnt that: In a koro vakaviti the house are built around the rara. When we enter a koro vakaviti we should be able to see valelevu, the chief’s house. The pastor looks after the church. The chief is called Turaga and he is the leader. Everybody in the village has special responsibilities.
Week 1
Week 6
February greetings from the Green Cottage! Thank you to all Early Childhood families, for your time and delicious food that was presented at our Early Childhood Picnic Luncheon. The fun and energy used trying to pop the corns out of the parachute, enhanced adult’s and children’s motor skills.
Congratulations to the Head Girls of Secondary and Primary, Litia Baleilevuka and Ashleigh Singh, who started their schooling at the Green Cottage. We welcome our new friends to the Green Cottage and International School Suva, community, Sonny Wyley to Discovery, Samuel Narawa and Zion Nabouta to the Vonu’s group. Thank you to our Parent Liaisons for 2015: Mr Myke Leahy for Discovery, father of Raphael. Mrs Katerine Starr for the Vonu’s, and mother of Sarah.
Mrs Shirin Ludher for the Vonu’s, and mother of Zara. A friendly reminder about our Green Cottage program hours. Discovery
8 am—11pm
ECH 1
8am—1pm
Respecting time at ISS demonstrates a respect for all learning opportunities to teachers and to other students.
Primary Visual Arts Collaborative Circle Art by Reception_______________________________________________________
Greetings from the NEW art room! The students and I are greatly enjoying the bigger and brighter art room, located in the former staff lounge. We are very grateful for the extra space to learn and create, and the abundant natural light that is so excellent for art making. Huge thanks to all in the school community who helped make this happen, and to Reception students for the gorgeous art at the entrance! Reception students are wrapping up an inquiry into community, with the central idea, ‘People work together to live together.’ It has been a privilege to co-teach the inquiry alongside Ms. Sangeeta and Ms. Chelsea. We have seen immense growth in our young students in the last six weeks, as they reach new understandings, and ultimately put their learning into action. Together, we have explored these ideas through collaborative learning experiences, and used visual art to help us construct and express meaning. The Visual Arts webpage is frequently updated with photos and information about current learning and art work. Please find us at issprimaryvisualarts.weebly.com. Don’t forget to bookmark and check back regularly. Lastly, I encourage students to wear art smocks during potentially messy art sessions. We have these in the classroom, but some students find it more comfortable to wear an oversized shirt from home. Please feel free to provide one for your child if desired. Also, thanks to those who are able to donate recyclables, particularly egg cartons and yoghurt tubs both large and small. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm for student learning in the arts! –
Music with Mr Tim Our Music journey this year kicked off with our year 2 students UOI focus on Relationships. We tied in this very important focus through Music with the concept of working together and formed a mini class orchestra displaying two different styles of Music. “Call and Response” is a shared piece of music performed by 2 groups either singing or using instruments, coming in at different entry points. We learnt how to play “Ol‟ Mas Charlie” which is a song that originated from Jamaica. We also studied “Ostinati”. Ostinati is a repeated pattern of beats. We practiced a Jamaican traditional song titled “Hill and Gully Rider”. Showcasing what we had learnt through this UOI, we concluded our unit performing for our parents at the Year 2 Family Breakfast this week.
The first 10 weeks of school this term was dedicated to singing throughout all primary year levels with exception of year 2. Our Primary choir kicked off with a record number of keen singers from Reception to Year 5 and performed in our whole school Youth assembly singing our rendition of “Brave” by Sera Bareilles. Looking forward to an exciting 2015, making music happen!
For the love of music! Mr Tim.
What’s New in Year 2? Year 2 Family Breakfast Our first unit of inquiry into „Who We Are‟ came to a close this week with a musical performance which we shared during our Family Breakfast. We have been learning about „Relationships‟ with the Central Idea of “Relationships are enhanced by learning about each other”. In class we discussed conflict and thought of as well as learned ways that we can solve conflict within our relationships. We realized that in order to solve conflict we need to be caring, open minded and reflective. We have learnt to cooperate and work as a team both in our classrooms and in our Music lessons. Mr. Tim has helped us understand the relationships that exist in Music especially those within an orchestra. We created class orchestras and learnt how important it is to work together when using the „Call and Response‟ and „Ostinati‟ techniques. We worked hard to perfect these techniques and were so proud to demonstrate all our learning for our parents at our Family Breakfast. What‟s next for us in Year 2? Next week we will begin our new unit of inquiry into „How the World Works‟. We will be finding out about the Solar System with the help of Mrs. Stice in the Art department. We cannot wait to find out about the planets, stars and all the fantastic and wonderful things in our galaxy that await our exploration.
Year One Year one have been working extremely hard this term to deliver some very impressive work! In our Unit of inquiry we have been learning about ‘How we organize ourselves’. The students have worked with making checklists, sequencing events, sorting items into categories, organizing themselves for swimming and understanding how communities and organizations have systems in place to prevent „chaos‟. We have looked closely into the organization that goes into the running of our day to day classroom activities for example: Why do we label our books? Why do we each have our own chair? Why do we use a timetable? And what would happen if we didn‟t have these systems in place? Students have also explored the physical organization of a Fijian Village and how people in the village have specific roles in order to maintain function. Our main numeracy focus has been Number and Place Value. One S students have been exploring numbers by modeling 1, 2 and 3 digit numbers using bundles, abacus‟ and MAB blocks and writing and reading numbers into the hundred‟s. Students were also partitioning numbers into one‟s, ten‟s and hundreds. One F has been learning about location, mapping and the points of a compass. We are constantly learning about number patterns and counting. We are currently learning how to skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s. We have come a long way since week one and I would like to commend the efforts of all our students for the progress they have made and to the parents who have been so supportive of the year one community. We also would like to wish Miss Shelly a speedy recovery! Thank you, Year One Team
Caring Lenny Wyley Jasmine Weerasinghe David Immanueli Olive Choe Connor Harris Michelle Jitoko Grace Vaciloa Sieun Park Talei Tikosaya Neriah Sun Maxime Reynaud Rimata Gina Hannah Chen Leamalie Jensen Toby Bower Christopher Sopin Nicholas Heuss Haleh Stice Yejoon Huh Hong Yu Mi (Mickey) Connor Redding Ma’ukakala Ofa Jenah Stice Matthew Abad Hannah Neuendorf Yunis Moustafa Natalia Kirk-Bennett Luna Reynaud Evie Crook Aakansha Nand Ethan Takimoana Noah Savou Dominic Abad-Vergara Jasmin Gillini Maximilian Carter
2015
Leilani Sprankle Armand Davias Yihan (Helen) Lou Matt Morrell Hannah Rivier Amalie Weerasinghe Denisha Kumar Hyun June Kwon Kaia Whitfield Luna Reynaud Toby Bower Christopher Sopin Abby Crook Ben Mackenzie Shivani Salter Talei Tikosoya Eloise Ryan Emmett Brenden-Dodson Matthew Abad Vergara Rimata Gina Eva Khan Angus Frost Hiona Takimoana Alfred Arunga Hashvath Vijay
Congratulations to our award winners for the learner profile attribute of caring! Well done everyone!