ISB NEWSLETTER APRIL
Space Camp - Turkey PAG E 15
INEPO-EuroAsia Competition P A G E 11
2 013
ISB Murals PA G E 17
Nursery A
Nursery Pipera
T
he fourth half term has been a very busy period filled with diverse activities that nursery children enjoyed as: The Egg Hunt, the Puppets Show, Mother’s Day, birthday parties, so on. We have concentrated our attention on colour, shape and animals patterns. For this reason, in Numeracy, they learned to use opposites, to recognise numbers as well as to create patterns a pair of two different shapes instead of a simple one. ince the beginning of the term, the children are using both “Jolly Phonics” and “Phonics International” which is a child centered approach to teaching literacy in the primary years. In this literacy approach there are actions for each of the 42 letters sounds in the alphabet. Children are encouraged to use the actions to support them in learning the various letters. The letters are not taught alphabetically but are instead taught in a specific order that allows children to start building words very early on. he fifth half term brings with it not only a nice weather but knowledge about plants and living things. We will be learning about different kinds of living things and mini beasts, about the body parts of different insects and how they move. e are looking forward to coming back to school after the May holidays to enjoy our final term of learning and playing outside in the wonderful weather.
S
T
W
Nursery B
S
pring in Romania is always celebrated by giving a “Martisor” to your beloved ones. This is how we know that the 1st March – the first day of spring – is here. So, this is what Nursery B children did to celebrate the new season: “Martisoare” with red and white string meaning Love and Sincerity. he 8th of March was an even bigger event! They could show and share all their love and good thoughts to their mothers. We put everything down on a card, we added a smile and a hug and there you go! ursery B has also experienced lots of new adventures as we had the “ Egg Hunt” , “ Puppet Show” and ‚Sience Week” e are looking forward to have our trip to Mogosoaia where we’ll have a treasure hunt and many enjoyable games!
T
N W
Reception & Year1 News
Reception Pipera W N N
e managed to find our chocolate eggs in less than20 seconds, that’s how good we are! t brought us joy, laughter, energy and hope! un is up, enlightening our lives and our days ow, we developed a great interest in books as we with warmth and shiny moments. become better and better at reading which makes e have had plenty of special activities since the us happy and eager to learn more. first day of spring arrived... We celebrated the ew adventures are awaiting for us next week as we will be going for a fantastic trip to Mogosoaia: joy of this wonderful season by making “Martisor” for our friends and loved ones, we offered a touch of love yummy picnic, treasure hunt and a lot of fun for us and happiness to all our mothers on the 8th of March and our teachers in Pipera! and we had a terrific Egg Hunt on the last day before the holiday!
IS W
Y
ear 1 also took a trip to Carrefour Baneasa where they bought some seeds, soil and plants so that they could plant sunflower and cress seeds and to dehe first half of the spring term has been very busy sign their own fantasy garden. for Year 1 with many activities taking place. For Below are some pictures of Year 1 activities during Mother’s Day, Year 1 held a special Mother’s Day presthe first half of the spring term. entation, where they showed their Mothers how much and why they love them. Year 1 also had The Easter Egg hunt at the beginning of April, in which a special bunny left loads of mini eggs for us to find in the school garden.
Year 1 Pipera T
I
n topic Year 1 learnt about Houses and Homes, they had the chance to visit the Art Museum where they saw the works of Constantin Brâncușiand had the chance to feel different types of materials.
Nursery News O
ur Early Years show this year was as you can see a Jungle Animal theme. Who knew that Jungle animals could dance, sing, read, and talk? Well we certainly did in Nursery and Reception. The children practiced very hard and learnt the dances, songs, poems and their lines superbly and it paid off on the day of the show. We opened the show with a poem and then the Nursery classes showed their families how they could dance like their jungle animal personas. he animals then graduated to Reception and went to school and learnt all the things you learn when you go to school. The finale of our show was not the ending poem, rather it was the children dancing to ‘I Like to Move It, Move It’ which of course all animals like to do, ever since the Madagascar movies. How could we not end with this song? ongratulations and a job well done to all staff and students alike!
T
C
Reception News T
he Reception students have really enjoyed our Spring Term. Last week the Reception students were given parts of a shopping list and then they all went by bus to Cora where they had to find and weigh their fruit. Afterwards we made a fruit salad – it was delicious! The students loved paying for their items and they also enjoyed seeing the giant Easter egg in the Cora complex.
Year 1 News T
his week in Topic lessons, Year 1 are learning all about Road Safety. We are preparing for our show, which is on Wednesday 15th May. Our show is about Road Safety. We will teach an alien from Mars about wearing seatbelts, how to cross the road safely and safe places to play. Should you play on the street? No! Should you play on the driveway? No way! We have read some stories about road safety and talked about the important message in each story. n Monday we made some traffic light biscuits. We used Nutella and M&Ms to decorate a biscuit and turn it into traffic lights. We know that the red light means STOP, the amber light means SLOW DOWN and the green light means GO. We also know that when we are crossing the road at the traffic lights we have to wait for the green man before we cross the street. But we still have to STOP, LOOK, LISTEN & THINK every time! And don’t forget to hold someone’s hand. This is very important in order to keep children safe near traffic. We are also learning about
seatbelts. They keep us safe in the car in case there is an accident or we have to stop suddenly. We know that we should always put our seatbelt on before we start the car and that we should wear it across our heart to protect our body. Ask us anything about Road Safety and we’ll be able to answer. e think it’s cool to be safe near traffic!
W
O
Year 2 News
O
I
n Friday the 5th of April the Year 2 children n Gymboland, the children enjoyed climbing, slidwere treated to a day of fun. They had worked ing, crawling playing in the ballpool and bouncing really hard all term and had presented a fabulous around. The staff painted the children’sfaces and proProduction, which was titiled “Uncle Crumble’s Mad vided sweets and juice for all. Machine”,as well as all the learning that had gone on t the start of this final term teachers are anticipaton in the classroom and at home. Their teachers felt ing more good efforts, more progress and more that they truly deserved it. fun trips! he children went to Afi Palace shopping Mall in Cotroceni where they spent their time iceskating and in the soft play area called “Gymboland”. The teachers were very impressed with the children’s bravery on the ice. Many of the children had never been iceskating before or were novices, but they kept trying and all made evident progress. Even those who fell over on the ice numerous times, kept smiling and getting up again for another go!
A
T
Year 3 News T
he Year 3 children have just performed an amazing performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The factory and characters came to life through their magnificant acting, singing and dancing. Year 3 have been studying Roald Dahl in their Authors and Letters Literacy unit, linked to the Chocolate Topic unit of study too. This culmulated in a magical show of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on 28th March. The children had practised their lines, repeated their dance moves until they could almost do them in their sleep and sang the songs as if they were the latest chart smash pop record! It was the final countdown, the time had come to show their enthusiastic parents. ll the children were excitedly nervous, but those nerves disappeared as soon as the show began. Each scene added more depth to the story being told, eventually leading to the succesful conclusion of Charlie winning the competition for being the nicest child. With greedy Augustus, demanding Violet and unappreciating Verucca being lost throughout the story to some nasty and sticky ends, we realised we should all
Â
have a little bit of Charlie in us. He was friendly, polite and showed manners and intelligence beyond his years, whilst maintaining the childlike magic of creativity and inmagination. r Faruk thought the performers were Year 6 or 7 children as they performed so confidently, even with tricky dance moves using sticks, lollipops and umbrellas. huge congratulations goes out to the children for their delicious show.
M A
A
Y
ear 3 have had the best Topic unit, Chocolate. We looked at where chocolate comes from, the cacao beans and how it is made. A truly yummy topic, which was the inspriation for our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Production as well as a magical trip to the Heidi Chocolate factory. Many of the children have new future job desires now! o maintain our Healthy Eating philosophy though, we also looked at Teeth in our Science lesson, including a painless trip to the Dent Est surgery. We have discovered how humans have two sets of teeth, with adults having more than children. As well as recognising the importance of keeping our teeth healthy and clean by brushing twice a day, flossing and visiting a dentist regularly to prevent big problems from occuring.
T
T
hese were both topics that the children and teachers enjoying taking a bite out of!
Year 4 News
Y
ear 4 have been very busy in recent weeks completing a range of activities, challenges and performances. One of the main highlights was 4L’s assembly where they highlighted their PSHE work by performing the story of ‘The Cracow Dragon’ a traditional polish folk tale which teaches us to think before we act. A great time was had by everyone who came to see it! This was later followed by 4C’s assembly ‘The Friendly Pirates’ which again contained an important moral, not to judge people by their appearance. Unfortunately we don’t have any more Year 4 shows left this year as we have really enjoyed them! he children also worked very hard with our recent literacy work, creating some excellent stories set in historical settings and developing their understanding of fractions in numeracy. During our topic of Insulators and Conductors we were very
busy conducting a range of experiments to test which materials make good thermal insulators and conductors. e also had the opportunity to go and see ‘The Great and Powerful Oz’ on our recent cinema trip, which according to the children film reviews, was an experience they also enjoyed! We are looking forward to going on more trips in our final term and doing more activities outside of the classroom in the sunshine.
W
T
Year 5 News
L
ast week was the residential trip for Year 5. We set off on Tuesday 22nd April for a week of action and adventure in Constanta. After our arrival we had time to unpack our suitcases and then we went for a walk to explore the area. The beach was just a short walk away and the weather was beautiful! In the evening we had a talent show with acting, singing, dancing and even some juggling! n the second day we were given a tour of a military ship followed by a visit to the Naval museum. We also spent some time in the aquarium and visited a lovely park and played in the beautiful sunshine! In the evening we had a pajama party with dancing and games. n the third day we visited the dolphinarium and later we walked around the Micro delta visiting different animals. We also spent some time at the beach and in the evening we had a cinema night. n our final day we had to pack our suitcases and tidy our room ready for the teacher’s room inspection. We then headed back to school. We all had a fantastic trip and enjoyed all of the activities!
O O O
Year 6 News
Y
ear 6 have been studying factories this term. They looked at the processes of bread making and saw how production lines and mechanisation enable people to make products quickly and cheaply. he children then had a go at making bread themselves! f you would like to make your own bread at home, here is a simple recipe http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/12750/easy-bread-recipe-for-kids
T I
Primary - Open Afternoon S
miling faces all around and many favourable comments from impressed parents – those were the immediate results of the Open Afternoon on Tuesday, April 2.
U-12 & U-14 Football Training Camp, Potigrafu 18-20 April
O
ur U-12 and U-14 football teams enjoyed a 3 day against Mehmet Emin Chatzi (Year 6), 2-1. football training camp during the term break. eside the sport activities the friendship and the They had chance to practice maybe for the last time teamwork among the students was always present. ow both teams are looking forward to play for until the Lumina Football Cup. Trainings consisted ISB in Lumina Football Cup 2013. of Crossing, Passing, Shooting, Fitness and 2 friendly matches against Spectrum Ploiesti. In both games ISB had won 9-1 and 15-13. he camp also included a Fifa 13 tournament on PSP in which Omer Faruk Efe (year 6) had won
B N
T
Sweet Battery achieves a bronze in Dreamline, Ankara
O T C
ur 8A students Bogdan Dontu and Mohamed Atif participated to Dreamline International Project Competition. here were 150 finalist projects from 37 different countries and ISB team achieved a bronze medal with their Battery Recycling project, “Sweet Battery”. ongratulations!
“Little Prince” - Odeon Theater
T
he Little Prince: written by Antoine de SaintExupery is one of the most beloved stories for all ages, one that our students studied in Romanian first language classes. The hero of the book and the show, coming from a tiny planet, embarks on a long journey, which proves to be, finally, a journey of knowledge. As part of the “Languages week” program, the Romanian teachers from ISB Secondary school invited their students to Odeon Theater on Saturday, the 23rd of March. The aim of this cultural outing was educational, namely to get the students closer to the French culture, but also to the Romanian language. The play was presented in a modern environment, with projections and light effects, keeping close to the book.
Students from years VII and VIII, but also some of year X, as well as parents and teachers attended the show and encouraged Alexandru Chinu Birta, ”The Little Prince”.
INEPO-EuroAsia Competition
B
etween the 3rd and 8th of April, a student from our school (Mihaela Marinescu – year 10) accompanied by her coordinator teacher (Ms. Lavinia Andora) went to Azerbaijan to participate in the INEPOEuroAsia competition. NEPO stands for International Environment Project Olympiad and it represent the next step after our local FirStep competition. Mihaela won a gold medal in FirStep and therefore she went to Azerbaijan to represent our school with her environment project: “Biofuels”. e arrived in Baku on the 3rd of April in the evening and after a short city tour we went to the Qafqaz hotel where all the contestants where hosted. We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant together with the Malaysian contestants and our guide.
see the project. Mihaela told them about her project, that it was about an alternative fuel that we will use in the future and the steps of the project. Some juries had trouble understanding because they didn’t know English but with others it went well. aturday was only exhibition day but it was still exhausting. People kept coming on and on and some were just students from the local Universities just trying to practice their English. After lunch we had the award ceremony and Mihaela went on stage to get her bronze medal. n Sunday most of the contestants left and those who had their flight on Monday went to a local mall during the day. In the evening we had our dinner
I
S
W
O
T
in a nice restaurant outside Baku, on the shore of the Caspian Sea. verall it was an interesting experience for Mihaela who had the chance to make new friends and see some good projects. We hope that next year she will have a new and better project which will give her the chance to participate in another International Olympiad.
he next day we went for sightseeing throughout the city with the other participants and their teachers. We visited an Ekopark where we planted trees, a museum that was right under the world’s biggest flag and then the “Crystal palace” where last year’s Eurovision was held. The city was very modern but had many new buildings built in an old architectural style to match the older ones. ater that day, we went to the place where the competition was held, to put up our stands for the competition that started the next day: one stand for the project and one for our country presentation. n the 5th of April in the morning, Mihaela dressed up in a Romanian traditional costume and went to her stand where she stood almost all day long, explaining her project to many different people. It was a bit challenging because most visitors didn’t know English and there was no one to translate every time someone from Baku came along. That day was also the assessment day and about 6 judges came to
L
O
O
USA Trip
O
ur trip to the USA was very fun. First, we visited New York, where we stayed for most of our trip. We visited many things, including, on the second day, Madame Tussauds museum and the Museum of Natural History, the biggest in the world of its type. We shopped in Times Square. We went on a boat trip on the Hudson river, which flows through New York, and, on the second day, we saw the skyline of New York at night… it was very beautiful, and Manhattan was glowing with light. On the last day in New York, we climbed the Empire state building. We never had the chance to climb up the statue of Liberty, however we saw it many times, both from the boat and from
Brooklyn Bridge, the most famous bridge in New York. In my opinion, the best thing was Times Square – we went there for 2 nights in a row - and I am sure that everyone else enjoyed it too! All the major brands had shops there, and, for the first time, I saw a place where advertisements actually look good! or one day, we went to Washington. The tripwas long, however we saw the White House, the house of Obama, the Capitol Building, and even Obama’s car on the street! It was exciting and much less crowded than New York. The weather was sunny that day so we got to take a walk through the park in front of the Capitol Building.
F
USA Trip
A
fter that, we left for Los Angeles. The internal flight was 6 hours long! When we arrived, and for all the time in which we stayed, the weather was sunny and really hot… so hot, most of us got sunburned! On the first day, right after when we arrived, we visited the Hollywood Boulevard, with the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. Every single famous person had their name written on one of the pink stars, and there were also special stars, commemorating events or companies. There was another Madame Tussauds museum there, which was much better than the one in New York! We saw the Hollywood sign, which looks exactly like in pictures, and went to Beverly Hills, where all the famous people live. Beverly Hills was all white and clean – however, everybody was using a car!
O
n the second and third days, we visited Disneyland and Universal Studios. Both had cool themed rollercoasters, many attractions, simulations and shops… and they were so big, it took us a day to properly see both! I am sure everybody enjoyed themselves there. After that, we left for Istanbul. The USA is big, varied, and very amazing. If possible, I will return there soon.
French Institute A
very special day for Year 8 French groups of students. As part of the Foreign Languages Week at ISB and just before the International Day of the Francophonie, they were invited by their teachers to visit the French Institute of Bucharest. hat a pleasure to leave the school premises when everybody else is having lessons! Especially on such a lovely spring day! So we enjoyed the trip from the very beginning – we had some French on the way and also there, as the lady that welcomed us made the presentation of the library in both French and English. So many nice books, magazines, as well CDs with movies and music at the same place! We had to do something about it – so we had some reading there and then most of us registered and took as many of these at home. e all enjoyed this trip a lot! It was more than a visit, it was a real chance to start getting even closer to the French language and culture, as we are going to take books regularly and profit of all those ressources. A new adventure! houette!
W
W C
Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) week
B
eside some other activities students enjoyed different cultural design competitions. The 3-D designs made by students to represent some historical and important places from respective countries, the masks of popular people and the country flags created a colorful atmosphere throughout the school. The projects were displayed in the main gallery during the MFL week. Other than these a team from each year group competed for the quiz contest which contained questions from Spanish, French and Romanian cultures. All the events were real success and they ended with an awarding ceremony on the last lesson on Friday. Year 6 Spanish class, had an overnight Spanish cultural night at Potigrafu where they enjoyed the time with a guacamole contest, mini acting& singing contest and some other outdoor activities. On Thursday a guest speaker from Instituto Cervantes de Bucarest introduced our students the International Spanish Examinations (DELE) and the interactive Spanish courses offered by this center. ur KS3 students visited the French Institute and Cervantes Insititute also.
O
T
he Romanian teachers from ISB Secondary school invited their students to Odeon Theater on Saturday, the 23rd of March. The play was “The Little Prince” written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, one of the most beloved stories for all ages. The aim of this cultural outing was educational, namely to get the students closer to the French culture, but also to the Romanian language. The play was presented in a modern environment, with projections and light effects, keeping close to the book. s all the students enjoyed the activities, now they are looking forward for next year’s MFL Week.
A
Space Camp - Turkey I
really think the 4 day we were at Space camp was really fun. At first we met at the air port were we flew to Istanbul and then flew to Izmir. The first day at space camp we were told some things about space camp and the history of it. We also went on our first simulator called the 1/6 th gravity chair. This gravitational pull helps the astronauts. There were three types of moon walk the astronauts had the use on the moon the bunny hop, the side – to – side and the slow motion Jog. We did all three moon walks. We also did some touring around the building. It was really interesting. fter that we went to our dormitories where we were sleeping. We also met out amazing counselor Joe. He was our best friend the whole day. We also gat a name for our team, we were called The Sun team. The next day we went on more simulators such as Zero gravity wall and we also got to go on a space shuttle. We also got to try on our own space suits. We also learned the timeline of space, about the first man, woman and animal in space. We also played space games and did lots of team work, completed all our
missions. Days we spent on more simulators like five degrees of freedom and manned maneuvering unit. We also got to make our own hot tiles. We made our own hot air balloons and let it go up in the air, we also made our own space shuttle and tested it with gun powder. The last day we went our last simulator of the trip called multi-axis trainer. Finally, it was a very nice trip.
A
“Pretuieste Sanatatea” Foundation at ISB
T R T
his year, the Student Council focused on raising money for children who are in one of the most difficult situation: children who suffer from cancer. eady to give a hand and to bring a touch of sun and hope in their lives, the Student Council initiated a series of bake sales and an entertaining Talent Show. When the money raised was counted everybody had a pleasant surprise: 3 600 RON. he representatives of the Pretuieste Sanatatea Foundation Mrs and Mr. Nyvold together with Mr. Radu Cretu, Director of the foundation visited our school and collected the money this Thursday, April 4.
Comenius Project C T
Gerze workshop team: Esther Halal Mihaela Marinescu he last workshop from the Comenius internation- Fehmi Gul al project, A Short Movie from the Viewpoint of Yavuz Dundar Young European, took place in Gerze, Turkey, from 13 Carmen Zaharia to 21 March 2013. Students and members of the staff Maria Magdalena Rusen involved in this workshop met their colleagues from the other partner schools from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Greece and Turkey. The topic was The butterfly effect in education. Our students presented a short movie made under the coordination of their drama teacher, Mr. Ian McShane. nother activity was to paint on an outside wall. Our students, Esther Halal, Mihaela Marinescu, Fehmi Gul and Yavuz Dundar produced an amazing work that had been highly appreciated. omenius international project, a short movie from the viewpoint of young Europeans
A
 W
e spent some beautiful days on the Black Sea cost where the picturesque Gerze is located. We had a barbeque at the Erfelek waterfalls and we visited Sinop, another beautiful town from the Turkish Black Sea coast. e visited Cappadocia, a historical region in Central Anatolia, characterized by unique geological, historic, and cultural features. n Turkey we’ve been impressed by the worm people, excellent cuisine and fantastic landscapes. We all enjoyed the activities we took part in. his was another great experience that we cherish in our hearts.
W I T Y
ear 9 students are currently studying the geography of the USA and have learnt a lot about all of its 50 states from New York to Alaska and from California to Massachusetts. Our geography teacher Mr. Philip Craven gave us each a state, and our task was to find out about the important and famous places/ people of that state. e have all done a great deal of work and, as a part of our course work; we developed all the information about our state into an A4 sized poster. Each poster includes fascinating images and incredible facts you might not have known about before. Some of us were chosen to help put up a display about America, which included all the colourful and eyecatching posters we had done. We have worked hard and transformed a plain corridor wall into a master-
W
Off to the USA
piece of beauty. Each student has a work displayed up on the wall and so the display is made by the help of a whole year group. ou are more than welcome to come and visit our geography wall up on the 3rd floor and enjoy the pleasure of inspecting our creativity.
Y
ISB Murals T
he winning projects from the Mural Contest have been painted to the primary school staircase. Once again, we congratulate our students for their success. ere are the winners:
H
Year 1 - Faris; Year 2 -Bianca; Year 3 - Radu Lupi , Year 4 - Elishka; Year 5 - Ionica ; Year 6 - Marry.
Upcoming 01 May
Events
www.facebook.com/ISB.Romania
No School (Labor Day) www.twitter.com/isbro
02-03 May 06 May
No School (Public Hoiday) No School (Easter) http://www.youtube.com/user/romaniaISB
08 May
EYF&KS1 Sports Day
10 May
Lumina Football Cup U14/U16/Open
15 May
Residential Trip Year 4 (Potigrafu)
16 May
Infomatrix
17 May
KS2 Sports Day
24 May
Lumina Football Cup U8/U10/U12
17 May
End of Year Exams
01 June
Summer Fair
03 June
Primary Assesment Week
12 June
Year 6 Graduation
13 June
Residential Trip Year 3 (Brasov)
14 June
Year 13 Graduation
The International School of Bucharest Sos Gara Catelu, Nr.1R Sector 3 032991Bucharest, Romania
Tel:+4 (0) 21 306 9530 Fax: +4 (0) 21 306 9534 www.isb.ro