PRIMARY PRESS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLSUVA
ISS CYCLONERELIEF Thank you so very much for all of the support we have been receiving. A small group of staff have been meeting with members of our community to assess their individual needs following the cyclone. There are 5 staff members who need to rebuild or repair extensively their homes and we have ensured that these staff members have adequate funds and materials to do so. We have addressed the most pressing requirements of our school community and have now began discussions around what else we can do, working with already established links in Tailevu, Ra and Koro who have already reached out to us. Our fundraising efforts will need your help and support. Already we have had our first MUFTI and sausage sizzle which will enable us to start helping these communities and their most immediate needs. Rather than money, people are invited to bring in goods such as buckets, brushes, soap bars, tarps, pinch bars, hammers and nails. We are also collecting linen, bedding and other useful household goods. We are taking action to make a real difference in a very difficult time for many! Vinaka Vakelevu!
Please join us for our internet safety workshop on Wednesday, March 9 starting at 11.45am in the school's amphitheatre. We will discuss topics such as your child's access to inappropriate content, netiquette, passwords, pop-ups, meeting people online, cyberbullying, sexting and posting of personal information. We hope to see as many of you as possible there for this very important topic! Facilitator - Ms Kate Passin, Primary Counsellor.
WHAT'S HAPPENINGIN YEAR5 We spent the first two weeks working together to establish our essential agreement and set expectations for the new year. The students have settled in well and are responding positively to the challenges and expectations of Year 5. Our first Unit of Inquiry (UOI) was focused on understanding personal well-being as being dependent on a complex balance of interconnected factors (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual). We had PSPE integrated into our UOI with Mrs. Amele and Mr. Petero. For their summative task students worked in groups to design an activity to demonstrate their understanding of how different factors impact personal well-being and shared those activities with Year 3 and Year 4 students. To be successful they had to be effective communicators , practice their time management skills and be organized. They used their marking rubrics to peer-assess and self-reflect. Their next UOI will be focused on ?Where We Are In Place And Time? through investigating civilizations and how today?s society incorporates many aspects of past civilizations for the development of society. We will be co-teaching with Mrs. Chandra and integrating Hindi Studies into our learning. We would like to thank the students and parents for preparing the children's leadership videos as they were all outstanding! We would like to congratulate our School Captains Toby Bower, Papanui Liew-Masters, Isla Robertson, and Leamalie Jensen. We look forward to all the Year 5 student?s positive influence on the Primary School in 2016. Year 5 Team
We have had a great st art t o our year. Our f irst Unit of Inquiry t hat we have been l earning about is f ocused on 'Working t oget her'. We enjoyed our week of swimming l essons. We pract iced showing respect t o our inst ruct ors and worked wit h our year 1 f riends! We had f un making our 2D communit ies where we shared ideas and hel ped each ot her t o make our special mast erpieces. We have been pract icing being independent in t he cl assroom, being responsibl e and t rying t o compl et e t asks by oursel ves even if t hey might be hard we have not given up! We are l ooking f orward t o st art ing our new UOI next week .
LEARNINGSUPPORT
Sight Words Sight words, of t en al so cal l ed high f requency sight words, are commonl y used wordst hat young chil dren are encouraged t o memorize as a whol e by sight , so t hat t hey can aut omat ical l y recognize t hese wordsin print wit hout having t o use any st rat egies t o decode. At ISS we are using t he 300 Magic Words, al so cal l ed t he rainbow words and st udent s are pl aced on t he dif f erent col ors up t o year 2. There are pl ent y ways t o pract ice t he sight words at home. We f ound t hese great ideas f or you t o use at home on Pint erest .
MUSIC WITHMR.TIM Our Music journey t his year has come wit h a f ew changes t o our exist ing program. This year we wel comed Ms Bex Nabout a who has been working wit h our ECH 1/ 2 and Recept ion l evel and al so Mr Wil l iam Dansey who hel ps supervise and assist wit h our new very popul ar and f ast growing Guit ar Cl ub. Our Guit ar cl ub runs every Monday and Wednesday at l unch pl ay t ime wit h a group of 23 st udent s at t ending t hese sessions on bot h days. This cl ub mainl y t arget s st udent s in year 4 and 5 and it is aimed t o f urt her improve st udent s guit ar skil l s and knowl edge. The admission int o our cl ub is now cl osed f or t erm 1 however, we wil l rel ook at our int ake at t he beginning of Term 2. Our Primary choir st art ed t his year wit h t wo major perf ormances during whol e school assembl ies. Our f irst perf ormance was at t he ?Wel come Assembl y? in week 1 where we sang ?We are One?and our most recent perf ormance was during our ?Induct ion Assembl y? singing our own rendit ion of Mariah Carey and Whit ney Houst on's, ?When you Bel ieve? al ongside our year 5?s. Our choir meet s every Tuesday and Thursday during our l unch pl ay t ime and our numbers have grown f rom st rengt h t o st rengt h just as much as our l it t l e voices. Choir is open t o al l st udent s f rom Year 1- Year 5 and we are wel coming more st udent s t o join our group at t he beginning of t erm 2. Our UOI f ocus f or t he past 6 weeks has been wit h our year 2 st udent s wit h a unit on ?Rel at ionships?. Through t his UOI our st udent s st udied rel at ionships t hrough t he music l ens wit h musical inst rument s and engaging int o: ?ident if ying t he dif f erent musical f amil ies, cl assif ying inst rument s int o t heir respect ive f amil ies, dif f erent iat ing t ones of dif f erent inst rument s, merging inst rument s and bl ending t heir dif f erent t ones, expl oring why t hese dif f erent inst rument s make dif f erent sounds and al so creat ing our own l it t l e ensembl e wit h percussion, wind and st ring inst rument s in cl ass. The resul t s of t heir l earning wil l be perf ormed as part of our Year 2 assembl y present at ion on Friday of week 7. As we discovered new inf ormat ion t hrough our inquiry, our year 2 st udent s are now more knowl edgeabl e wit h t he t hree musical f amil ies t hat exist and t heir rel at ionships wit h each ot her. We wil l concl ude t his UOI wit h an excursion t o Nasese t o observe t he Fiji Pol ice Band wit h t he aim t o make connect ions and t ake act ion. Whil e our year 2 st udent s have been journeying wit h rel at ionships and inst rument s, our year 1 and year 3?s have been upgrading t heir Recorder skil l s and our year 4 and 5?s have been working on Guit ar skil l s at dif f erent iat ed skil l l evel s.
As we approach our new UOI?s wit h year 1 next week we l ook f orward t o an enriching remainder of t he t erm wit h our music journey across Primary.
For the love of Music, Tim Ulacake
MARVELLOUS1/2MNEWS What an amazing start to 2016 we?ve had in 1/ 2m! Our bright and enthusiastic students are inquiring into the Transdisciplinary theme ?Who We Are? and have been focusing on relationships and how we can connect and build better relationships by learning about each other. The children have come up with some wonderful ideas and we look forward to sharing these with you very soon . . . . . . . .(stay tuned!) In Mathematics we have been investigating numbers and the base 10 number system. We were fortunate to have year 2C and 2B join us to help make a human number line. We needed to work cooperatively with each other to place ourselves in numerical order, and then needed to decide what distance from each other we needed to be on the number line to make it correct. The children enjoyed working with the other year 2 classes and we endeavour to do more collaborative learning in the future. In Language we have been listening to and analyzing poetry in order to write our own poems. We read a very funny poem titled ?My Teacher Ate My Homework? and then we were lucky to have Mr Tim play some cords on his guitar for us while we put the poem into song. We are identifying syllables in each line of poems and searching for patterns, we are also looking at rhyming words and their patterns, and onomatopoeia's and their purpose in poetry. The students are eager to begin penning and performing their own poems. We have been developing our literacy skills of reading, writing and listening and will begin our speaking program soon. I am very proud of the achievements the children have already made with literacy and their hard work and determination to become better readers and writers. In weeks 3 and 4 we ventured out to the Aquatic Centre by bus for intensive swimming lessons. The students enjoyed the bus trip as much as the swimming lessons. I was impressed by the improvement in the swimming skills the students learnt and applied during these lessons and look forward to demonstrating their swimming skills at the swimming carnival. Personally, I?d like to specifically thank 1/ 2m parents for welcoming me to ISS and Fiji. I look forward to your continued support with your child?s education. Ms MacKellar
YEAR3
Year 3 started with a group of 37 enthusiastic students in total. We welcomed on board the year 3 team Miss Alexandra, Mr. Kasari Seru, Miss Lucy Otway, Miss Veniana Baledrokadroka (3/ 4) and Mr. Dasha Singh. 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 to keeping the world a peaceful place to live in. Next week we begin with our new unit of inquiry which is Tourism. Our focus in Math?s this term is for students to understand place value up to ten thousands, to solve 4-5 digit computations in addition and subtraction and understanding odd and even numbers up to ten thousands. For events so far, Year 3?s have had an exciting and enjoyable time attending swimming lessons at the Damodar Aquatic Centre.
?We must teach our children to resolve their conflicts with words not with weapons (Anonymous)?
LIBRARYNEWS We?ve hit t he ground running at ISS Library! Since t he beginning of t his year, more t han 5000 books have circul at ed t hrough our l ibrary. Congrat ul at ions t o st udent s and t eachers f or using your l ibrary resources. We st il l have more, so come and get t hem! Parent s are al so wel come t o check books out wit h t heir chil dren or borrow a book or t wo f or personal reading f rom our wide col l ect ion in t he Secondary Fict ion Sect ion. The l ibrary has been a hive of l earning and act ivit y dail y since we opened t his year. Our maker space sect ion is a huge hit wit h our st udent s as t hey come in t o expl ore t heir creat ivit y wit h Lego and ot her act ivit ies prepared f or t hem by t he l ibrary st af f at l unch t ime. Al l primary cl asses are schedul ed t o visit t he l ibrary f or l ibrary skil l s and Unit of Inquiry connect ed l essons f or 45 minut es each week. This t erm, t he l ower cl asses are t aught t he very basics in using t he l ibrary and it s resources t o l ocat e inf ormat ion whil e Years 1-3 are l earning t o use t he Super 3 research model wit hin t heir inquiry. In support of Year?s 4 & 5 summat ive assessment s and Year 5 exhibit ion, t he Big 6 research model has been incorporat ed int o t he l ibrary program t o hel p st udent s l ocat e inf ormat ion, eval uat e sources and answer quest ions. In addit ion, our st udent s read t ext t o make connect ions and responded t o a wide variet y of signif icant works of l it erat ure. Al l our st udent s are encouraged t o bring a bag t o l ibrary cl asses t o st ore t heir l ibrary books. Avail abl e soon in t he l ibrary wil l be Kindl es! Thanks t o PTFA, our l ibrary wil l soon have 20 Kindl es f or st udent s t o use l at er in t he t erm al ongside t heir XO l apt ops. The l ibrary st af f are excit ed and commit t ed t o making t he l ibrary your chil d?s f avorit e pl ace in school ! Our opening hours are 7.30 am? 3.50 pm (week days onl y). Parent s are wel come t o visit t he l ibrary wit h t heir chil dren f rom 2.30 pm - 3.50 pm dail y (Monday? Friday). Hope t o see you at t he l ibrary soon! Ms Sal u Vacil oa - Librarian
The Super 3 Research Model & the Big 6 Research Model used in primary!
DISCOVERYANDEARLYCHILDHOOD1 February Greet ings t o you al l ! Thank you, Vinaka Vakal evu, Dhanyavad, Merci Beaucoup, Gam Sa Han Ni Da, Arigat o and Chee Chee Nee f or giving so generousl y t o t hose in need at t his dif f icul t t ime. Discovery, Vonu?s and t heir educat ors have set t l ed and are very happy in t heir new cot t age. We are so grat ef ul t o t he many peopl e who made it possibl e. Birt hday Cel ebrat ions: Ahinoah St ice - 10t h January
Appreciat ing each ot her t hrough music!
El sa Canioga - 22nd February Amel ia Singh - 3rd March Grace Khl ean - 3rd March Pl ease be advised of t he f ol l owing import ant Green Cot t age dat e: Swim Fun Day- Wednesday 16t h March (Pl ease parent s, l abel chil dren?s cl ot hing). Ms Jacqui, Ms Fariah and Ms Josephine ECH
1 Vonu Team
A science experiment using microscopes t o examine an insect which prompt s much t hinking!
Enjoying l unch t oget her out side!
Threading and making pat t erns is f un!
YEARFOUR A gl impse t hrough t he l enses of ?Adapt at ion?and ?Survival ? The Year 4 and Year 3/ 4 st udent s are get t ing t heir heads around t he concept s of adapt at ion and evol ut ion in t he bid t o survive. The big idea is t hat ?Over t ime l iving t hings need t o adapt t o survive?wit h CHANGE as a key concept in order t o underst and t hat t his is one way t hat we share t he pl anet . St udent s commenced t he unit wit h a l ook at t heir physical real it y at ISS Primary and t he changes t hat it had undergone during t he hol idays. Basic connect ions were made as t o how st udent s, t eachers and parent s had t o adapt t o t hose changes. Those init ial connect ions were used as a pl at f orm f or st udent s t o t hen del ve deeper int o t he concept of adapt at ion and change. St udent s inquired int o how l iving t hings responded t o t heir environment al condit ions and circumst ances t hat l ed t o adapt at ions t hrough a number of ways. To provide a bal ance of scient if ic and human angl es t o t heir l earning, an excursion was organized t o Wail ea and Korova Set t l ement s in Suva f or st udent s t o observe how and why peopl e adapt ed t o t heir current circumst ances. For many st udent s, t his was t heir f irst experience visit ing a set t l ement in Suva cit y. They asked about t he circumst ances t hat made t he inhabit ant s of t he out er isl ands of Fiji move t o t he cit y and how t hey adapt ed t o changes. In our ef f ort s t o share t he pl anet , humans make many adapt at ions in t heir l ives. The l earning connect ions made f rom t his excursion assist ed st udent s in t heir research about habit at s and physical adapt at ions t hat animal s and pl ant s have t o make and t he dif f erent ways t hat t heir physical f eat ures evol ve over hundreds, somet imes t housands of years.
YEAR ONE LEARNING FREESTYLE
PSPE YEAR TWO LEARNING TO DIVE The Primary Swimming Program has started and already students are talking and preparing for the Swimming Carnival. The Year 1/ 2M, 2 & 3 were the first group to go swimming and they were led by the instructors on the basics of swimming which involved get t ing int o t he wat er, swimming using f l oat ers, kicking in wat er which hel ps t hem t o f l oat , breat hing whil e swimming, diving and f reest yl e swim. By the end of their 2 weeks, most of them did not only show improvement but have confidently swam into the deep water, some not requiring a floater anymore. Most were able to swim 3-4m without any help. Well done everyone!
SWIMMING CARNIVAL On Wednesday, 16 th March will be the Swimming Carnival day. Years 1-5 will take part on the day. This will help us identify students who are able to represent the school in the Nationals, but most importantly are for the students to be able to showcase their talents and put into practice what they have learned in the program. The Discovery, ECH and Reception classes will participate in their very own Fun Water Day program in school on this day!
RECEPTION KICKS AND BREATHES
We are so excited to start this year and welcome all our new friends and their families to ISS. So far we have completed a whole unit of inquiry, enjoyed two weeks of swimming and shared our experiences and ideas for taking action after Cyclone Winston. What a busy few weeks we have had here in Year 2! Finding out ?Who We Are?with a musical twist. 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 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. Mrs. Passin helped remind us how to deal with conflict using techniques from the ?Stop! Think! Do!?programme. 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 have been busy creating class orchestras and learning how important it is to work together when using the ?Call and Response? and ?Ostinati? techniques. We have worked hard to perfect these techniques and look forward to demonstrating what we have learnt in our Primary assembly in the next couple of weeks. 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 Ms. Kasatoka in the Languages 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. For more photos and information on things that we are doing here at school, please be sure to check the Year 2 web page on the ISS website.
PYPCURRICULUMCORNER ?To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe? Anatole France At ISS we are visionary, reflective, thinkers, inquirers, knowledgeable, communicators, balanced, principled, caring, open-minded and courageous. We have dared to dream, action, plan and believe that we can accomplish great things as an IB PYP school in the Asia Pacific region. Part of our school ethos is to develop a growth mindset in our school. In order for us as a staff to continue our journey as lifelong learners we are constantly reflecting on best practice, consolidating our understanding of inquiry and transdisciplinary learning. Our commitment to maintaining rigorous and high academic standards requires us to constantly review and refine the written curriculum (what we want students to know), reflect on the taught curriculum (how best students learn) and modify the assessed curriculum (what students have learned). This year we continue to bring alive this statement by Ignacio Estrada; ?If a chil d can?t l earn t he way we t each maybe we shoul d t each t he way t hey l earn.? This is evident in the differentiated learning experiences and the open ended assessment tasks designed to gauge student?s understanding of concepts, application of transdisciplinary skills, attitudes and student?s ability to take action applying their knowledge in school, at home and in the community. Today colleges and employers are not interested in what people know but what people are doing with what they know. This is why teachers put a lot of effort and time into designing authentic learning experiences. We are in the business of teaching children how to think and not what to think, hence the inquiry and transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, which provides ongoing opportunities for students to test their theories and apply problem solving strategies. Last year, our teachers were fortunate to participate in online professional development on Concept-based learning. This opportunity has added depth to our understanding and implementation of transdisciplinary learning, and rigour to our programmes. These new understandings have strengthened collaboration amongst both teachers and students resulting in authentic, engaging and challenging learning experiences and assessment tasks. It was also an opportunity for us to share resources that we have developed in our school. One of the workshop leaders requested information on how we timetabled our single subject teachers to co-teach with the homeroom teachers. He expressed how wonderful it must be to work in our school as teachers seemed to have a shared understanding of transdisciplinary learning which permeated in their responses. Indeed, we teachers do find co-teaching and collaboration through our units of inquiry to be an exciting and enriching experience for all involved. As life- long learners our commitment to learning is best portrayed in the words of Carol Dweck. Rosi Uluiviti
PYP/ Curriculum Coordinator
Chloe Manaog, Amy Howlett, Vaniya Prasad, Maira Du, Lucia Italiano, Emerson Sims, Alex Davias, Connor Redding, Elsa Caniogo, Calvin Carter, Amelia Singh, Coen Banks, Jaslyn Haer, Tasalei Jensen, Daisy Wild, Qusai Jiwanji ,Oscar Kennedy-Foran, Archie Wyley, Tahlia Atterton, Khushi Patel, Leona Douglas, Toby Bower, Seira Kokuba, Isaac Mackenzie, Christine Gubon, Nora Duncan, Sijin Park, Alfred Arunga, Kelly Cadle, Millicent MacKellar, Victoria Tagi, Saugat Bohora, Baylian Saberi, Faith Khelan, Maddison Kennedy, Angus Frost, Noa Becker, Telya Papavassiliou, Robyn Eastgate, Roviana Gina, Corbin Moussa, Nidia Singh, Tatsuto Setoya, Isla Ramsden, Clarissa Middleton, Maepeza Gina, Shanvi Naidu ,Pitiluca Matassa, Tara Marshall, Joshua Nili, Josateki Tagi, Denisha Kumar, Benjamin Mackenzie, William Murcott, Tiburon Legaz-Clua, Zara Ludher, Jetagon Matassa, Maximillian Carter, Tilliana Bohm, Adi Tui Vuniwaqa, Lenny Wyley, Samairah Koya, Yunis Mustafa, Jemma Westbury, Michael Asua, Camryn Jackson, Neriah Sun, Leamalie Jensen, Nicholas Heuss, Calvin Carter, Lucie Irrmann, Myah Stice, Aaliyah Chandra, Ludovico Tuccari, Yashan Patel, Isla Robertson, Aarav Sharma, Talei Cakaukeivuya, ChuChu Shao, Tiana Parshotam, Langitoutai Faka?osi, Dolly Karan, Helen Lou, Zac Nili, Asenaca Tagi, Lillis Ekbladh, Inigo Chavez ,Nanami Nakai .