SummeRISe - Issue 96

89 Thursday, Thursday 12 November 21 May 2015 Issue 96 GENERAL GENERAL GENERAL

NURSERY

KG

PRIMARY PRIMARY

SECONDARY SECONDARY

PARIS SCHOOL CLINIC

GENERAL Years 7, 8 and 9 (Grades 6, 7 and 8) students final piece for this unit of work they have created artwork using

IMPORTANT DATES DATE

EVENTS NOVEMBER

Thursday, 12 November Sunday, 08 - Thursday, 12 November Sunday, 15 - Thursday, 19 November Monday, 16 November Sunday, 22 - Sunday, 30 November Tuesday, 17 - Wednesday, 18 November Thursday, 19 November Thursday, 19 November Thursday, 19 November Monday 23 - Thursday, 26 November

Staff Professional Development Day - noon dismissal KG2 Field Trip Anti-Bullying Week Grade 3 Field Trip KG1 Field Trip KG1 Planting Days GIVE Walkathon (Beach Run) Grade 5 Field Trip Blue Day - Nursery Art Exhibition

Tuesday, 24 - Thursday, 26 November Wednesday, 25 November Thursday, 26 November Thursday, 26 November

Grade 1 Field Trip IVEI Academic Olympiad at CAS Dental talk - Nursery National Day Celebration

DECEMBER Tuesday, 01 – Thursday, 03 December Tuesday, 08 - Thursday, 10 December Wednesday, 09 December Thursday, 10 - Saturday, 12 December Friday, 11 - Friday, 18 December Wednesday, 16 December Thursday, 17 December Thursday, 17 December Friday, 18 December - Saturday, 02 January

Martyrs’ Day and National Day Nursery Field Trip RIS Open Day - 9:00 - 10:30 am Cambridge World Schools Conference No school for students on Thursday, 10 December Ski Trip KG1 Winter Concert Nursery Reports End of Term and dismissal for Winter Break - Full day school Winter Break

JANUARY Sunday, 03 January

Students and Teachers Return to School

Sunday. 10 January

Football @ RWA U12, 14, 16

Wednesday, 13 January

Art Trip Grade 1 and Grade 2

Thursday, 14 January

Orange Day—Nursery

Thursday, 14 January

Grade 2 Field Trip

Monday, 18 January

KG1 Field Trip

Monday, 18 January

RIS Open Day

Tuesday, 19 January—Thursday, 21 January

KG 1 Field Trip

Thursday, 21 January

Nursery Sports Day

Sunday, 24 January

Cross Country at DIA U8-U18

Wednesday, 27 January

X-Factor at DIA (5 top performers—SS)

Message from the Principal Dear Parents, I have recently received the CIS Report and I am delighted with the observations, acknowledgement of achievements and good practice across the school. It is testament to your dedication and support as well as a tribute to our students, teachers, support staff and wider community. Below is an edited version of the letter received from the Director of CIS, Dr Graham Ranger and a Summary of the School’s Strengths and Recommendations.

May I take this opportunity to thank all the RIS community for their continuing application, dedication and service- it is a pleasure to be the Principal.

Subject: Award of Candidate Status for CIS Accreditation Dear Michael, On behalf of the Council of International Schools, the CIS Accreditation Service and its Advisors have now completed their consideration of the October 2015, Preliminary Visitors’ Report on your school. I am pleased to inform you that the report has been accepted, along with the recommendations it contains.

This means that Raffles International School has been granted candidate status for CIS accreditation. My congratulations go to you and your school community on this achievement.

The report comments on many positive school features which support the recommendation for accreditation candidacy, and the most important of these can be found listed in the conclusion of their report. Raffles International School should therefore proceed with the next stages of the accreditation process, following the timeline negotiated with the Visitors May I wish you, Michael, and the entire Raffles International School community, every success as you continue the drive towards CIS accreditation.

With my best wishes, Dr Graham Ranger Director of School Support & Evaluation Council of International Schools (CIS) The School’s Strengths The highly visible Guiding Statements, well understood and supported by the entire school community and entirely compatible with the school’s chosen curricula.

The pride shown by the school towards modelling its core values and respecting its wide diversity.

The overall commitment towards creating a school-wide culture of internationalism and global citizenship. The Governing Body and Advisory Board’s high support levels for the school’s Mission and on going school improvement measures.

The extensive leadership team that has been put in place to which the Principal has effectively delegated responsibilities and accountability for programmes and services across the school.

The school’s collaborative and purposefully engaged faculty who share a common commitment towards on going school improvement.

The respectful and caring interactions between faculty, staff and students across all Phases of the school.

The strong home-school links that have been fostered where parents are valued as partners in the learning process and actively contribute towards the life of the school.

The school’s engagement with and support of innovative pilot programmes and practices such as its unique ‘Circle of Culture’ programme.

The excellent student work, art in particular, on display in central areas of the school and in corridors that serve to bring a warmth and unique feel to the school’s environment and ethos.

The impressive Nursery Unit and KG department whose contribution to the overall reputation of the school is highly valued.

The school’s dedicated and efficient housekeeping team who ensure the facilities are kept in a clean, safe and hygienic state throughout the day.

Areas for Development Consider the development of a regular process of review and assessment of the school’s Guiding Statements.

Continue to develop the school’s definition of internationalism to reflect the unique context of Raffles IS. Further develop the documentation of the school’s curriculum across all sections of the school.

Continue to assess and develop teaching, learning and assessment practises including the use of technology.

Review the process in place to design, assess, modify and implement curriculum across all sections of the school.

Maintain the focus on review and development of the Arabic Language programmes.

Evaluate the school’s provision of resources and facilities as the school grows in size and extends the secondary school.

Explore opportunities for providing further in service training for faculty and staff on effective strategies for differentiation and supporting EAL in homeroom and subject classes.

Consider further strategies for optimising the potential of more able students.

Monitor closely all aspects of the provision of SEN and EAL support in light of the school’s growth and the extension of the secondary school programme.

Evaluate the provision of counselling services as the school prepares to graduate its first cohort of secondary school students.

Closing Remarks The Visitors would like to thank everyone at Raffles International School for the warm hospitality received and the thorough organisation and co-operation that was apparent both before and during the Visit. The school’s commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement is commendable. We wish you every success with the Self-Study and subsequent Team Visit.

Mr Michael William Principal

ICT @ Primary School All our students from Year 2 (Grade 1) to Year 10 (Grade 9) now have EDMODO accounts. EDMODO is an educational portal where students, parents and teachers can communicate and collaborate. Teachers are posting homework and assignments on EDMODO. All students from Year 4 (Grade 3) to Year 10 (Grade 9) have a school supplied Gmail account. This is an educational account and all admin rights are with the school. We have created these accounts mainly to introduce our students to email functions and mail etiquette. This is a part of the Cambridge ICT starters curriculum. Moreover some of the web based apps that our students will be using require an email to register.

Students of Year 4 (Grades 3) to Year 10 (Grades 9) have been receiving feedback on the assignments done in class through their Gmail. This is to encourage our students to keep track of their progress and to know what more do they need to do to show further improvement.

ICT @ Secondary School Year 7 (Grade 6) Students published their completed websites and reviewed each other’s web design. They had to comment on a few good features and suggest improvements that could be made to the website. The themes of the websites ranged from books to computer games, science to fashion, hobbies to personal websites.

Given below are links to few of the websites.

Year 8 (Grade 7) Students learnt to create a table and manipulate the table with table properties.

They also applied their understanding of creating hyperlinks to link a webpage to an image. www.egaminweebly.co www.top20.weebly.com Year 9 (Grade 8) Students applied various types of logical operators like AND, OR, NOT and BETWEEN in creating queries. They also applied their knowledge of creating a database to read data from a table after which they did a quiz on the same.

Year 10 (Grade 9) Year 10 (Grade 9) practiced on various types of spread sheet functions.

Students did research on application of various storage device s.

RIS TS R O P S

Netball The Netball tournament took place in RWA last week with both U12 and U14 RIS girls competing. It was a good challenge for the girls with a lot of beginners getting the first taste of competitive netball. The U12’s got off to a good start against RWA, scoring 3 unanswered points in the first half. However, RWA fought their way back in and finished winning on a score of 7-4. Again, RIS had a narrow defeat to DIA finishing 3-1 to DIA. Ellen, Alice and Martha played pivotal roles around the centre and in attack for RIS. The U14 girls had big challenges against the well experienced DIA and RWA but defensively held both teams to low scores. RIS girls found themselves conceding numerous fouls but fought extremely hard. Unfortunately, the scoring chances were limited due to lack of possession. Tasneem and Shahd were relentless in defensive while Esme worked hard around the centre of the court. The girls held a great attitude in the game making it very difficult for RWA and DIA to rack up scores. Overall, there were a lot of positives from the day, the girls learned quickly from fouls and penalties conceded and it was a fantastic learning experience for both teams.

Football The U8s and U11s football teams played Safa Private School on Thursday, 29 th Ocotber. The U8s played were up first and performed well against a very competent side. Akos played extremely well and was asked to play for the U11 team due to an injury. Akos did not show any fear and looked very comfortable playing against an excellent Safa team. Parents and pupils need to remember that boys playing football need to bring shin pads to both training and games.

The U11s showed a great attitude to come back from being behind by two goals early in the second half.

Akim scored twice with the second lobbing the goalkeeper from quite some distance. Matteo and Fedirico led the midfield and attack and a man of the match performance came from Maktoum who led the defence and made it very hard for the Safa team to break through. The U9s played against JESS Jumeirah in the second league game Miquel, Muhammad, Antonio, Jose, Ahmed, Felix, Taewang, Alejandro, Misha, Mischal and Akim. The U10s lost the game to a very well organised JESS team who are top of the league. The game finished 4-1 with Muhammed scoring a late goal for RIS. The B team played directly after and had a very evenly matched game that finished 1-1. The next two weeks is very busy for all football teams in RIS. Parents are advised to check the website for all fixtures in both primary and secondary.

Last Wednesday 28th October our U12 2nd team went over to play against CAS in a friendly. RIS went 1 – 0 down before half time. But with a great solo run by Yebsira CAS became under pressure from the restart. It was not long until RIS made a break through and levelled the game 1 – 1. CAS put the pressure back on but with Yousef in between the posts nothing was going past him. The game finished all level at 1 – 1.

Our U12 1st team were away to DESC on Thursday, 29th October in the Dubai League. The team took a while to get going and found themselves 3 – 0 at half time. At half time when the team got together they decided that it was time to stop letting the other team play football. RIS spent the whole second half in their half of the field with over 15 chances to score. Unfortunately, it was not to be our day as RIS hit the cross bar, post and some outstanding goalkeeping to keep us out of the game. A valiant display as this group of players are going from strength to strength.

Thursday, 5th November the U12 team played away against Jumeirah College in a Dubai league fixture. The game was very slow starting with RIS taking time to settle into playing on such a large field. RIS had most of the possession in the first half and were defending very well with Abdullah controlling the defense. It was not until the second half that RIS got the break through with some outstanding play between Pietro and Pablo in mid field. RIS finished the game strongly and created numerous chances with Luke going very close to scoring in the final minutes. Man of the matcher performance from Yousef who was outstanding in defense. RIS 2 – 0 JC. Our U14 football team had a recent fixture against a very well organised Emirate international School on Tuesday, 3rd November. The team has had a good start to the league with one win and one loss. EIS got off to a better start closing down everything fast and not allowing us to play our free flowing football.

Khalil had an outstanding performance in goal once again keeping RIS in the game for the first half.

Taeyeon worked very hard in mid field not giving the other team a second on the ball. In the end RIS with a couple of missed chances finished the game on the losing side. Our next game is against JESS Arabian ranches please come along and show your support.Overall it has been a very exciting introduction to the Dubai school football leagues playing 11 a side football. All students involved have shown great dedication and as a result out standards have been vastly raised. This time last year RIS only had 15 boys trying to for an U12 & U14 team. This year for the U12 on Wednesday’s we have over 22 boys training for places in the first team and over 20 in the U14 team. The U16’s are training away in preparation for the IVEI cup coming up in January. Keep up the great work and attitude boys.

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Dear Parents, Grandparents and Extended family, By the time this newsletter gets to you, we would have had our first Parent Teacher Conference for the academic year 2015-16.

Thank you for taking the time to come and meet your child’s teacher. I know for sure that there have been some very productive and fruitful conversations in the interest of our children. Please make use of the WOW notes given out and continue to share the joys of our children’s development.

We are more than half way through our first term, and what an eventful term this has been. As I walk around the classrooms and observe the children it is so nice to see the Montessori Cycle taking place. For a lot of our children this will be their first introduction to the Montessori Programme. The children are learning by exploring and manipulating specially designed materials in all the areas of the Montessori curriculum. All the while they are developing qualities with which they will approach every future challenge: autonomy, creative thinking, and satisfaction in a job well done.

In the last two weeks we have worked and had some fun times as well. We had an enjoyable Book Character Dress Up day- the children were truly in their element-holding discussions about the character they were dressed up as, sharing stories and role playing. Thank you to all the parents who sent in books to read. Our outdoor play area on the Thursday, 29th of October was a feast for the eyes-so many adorable little ones in their ‘fancy’ clothes.

A few reminders which will assist us in making the days better for our children:  Please remember that in order for children to take part in all activities safely they should wear sensible (flat) shoes.

Footwear not suitable for nursery includes heeled shoes and strappy sandals, which are potential safety hazards. Crocs are fun to wear, but not very safe for active play as they often cause children to trip and fall.  As the weather is cooling down we recommend that all children have sweaters in their bags so that it can be worn when outdoors. Please make sure to label the sweater with your child’s name.

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

Please leave all toys at home. The nursery will not take responsibility for any toys brought in from home. At drop off time we request parents to check and take home any toys that are brought into nursery.  Kindly label your child’s clothing.  A name on the washing instruction tag will suffice.

Thank you to all the parents who devoted their time in enriching the learning experience for our children by coming to class during the Community helpers topic this week. We are eagerly looking forward to your active participation through the academic year.

A very Happy Diwali to all the families that celebrate this festival of lights. We wish you good health, happiness and prosperity.

Garima Kapoor Nusery Coordindator

Music This unit develops children’s ability to sing and play music in two (or more) parts. They explore the effect of two or more pitched notes sounding together – harmony. They experiment group of pitched notes and discover the combinations. They also sing rounds and perform with accompaniment they invented.

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KG NEWS Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about the ‘sensitive period’ this is a term we use in a Montessori class room – but what does it mean?

Sensitive Periods of Development “A sensitive period is a [child’s] burning fire of interest in something, during the period of time that a child acquires a new specific skill.”

Put another way, sensitive periods are developmental windows of opportunity during which children have an especially strong interest toward a specific concept or skill. During these sensitive periods, children absorb the corresponding concepts easily and naturally. Each child will go through the same sensitive periods at approximately the same age. Knowing what to expect allows us (parents, teachers, grandparents, and caregivers) to anticipate and provide the necessary environment to fulfill the child’s needs.

The child has a creative aptitude, a potential energy that will enable it to build up a mental world from the world about it. He makes numerous acquisitions during the sensitive periods, which put him in relation to the other world in an exceptionally intense manner. ~Maria Montessori. The Secret of Childhood.

Maria Montessori was the first to identify and document the developmental sensitive periods of children.

Since that time (nearly 100 years ago,) study after study has substantiated her findings. Age of Montessori has created the easy-to-read graphic below to help illustrate these important concepts.

Movement, Emotional Control, and Math Patterns (Starting from Birth) The first thing you will notice when looking at the graphic above, is that three of the sensitive periods are active from birth: Movement, Emotional Control, and Mathematical Patterns.

Children are born with limited control of movement, but gain rapidly in areas of both gross and fine motor control. As they learn to use their bodies, children are also developing cognitive abilities. They literally learn through their hands and through movement.

Montessori also observed that young children learn early mathematical concepts through touching, stacking, sorting, and handling objects.

Additionally, these earliest years are a sensitive time for bonding with parents (or primary caregivers). Babies learn about relationships, communication, and emotional control through the responsiveness of their parents. When parents respond to baby’s attempts to communicate (through crying, cooing, and babbling,) the child develops a sense of self-worth. It may seem incredible to think that babies are born mathematical minds, but Dr. Montessori discovered that all human babies come into this world naturally hardwired to learn mathematics.

Montessori also observed that young children learn early mathematical concepts through touching, stacking, sorting, and handling objects. It is through this manipulation of various materials that children learn to recognize quantities, sequence, and patterns. This is the groundwork for basic mathematical principles.

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Special Epoch for Sensation and Letter Shapes and Sounds (Starting around age 2.5 years), Reading and Writing (Age 4.5 to 5 years.)

Montessori educators have a saying: never give more to the ear and eye than we do to the hand. In other words, children learn more easily and effectively through hands-on, physical sensation, than by just watching or listening to a lesson.

Children also become very sensitive to and interested in letter shapes and sounds. Between the ages of 2.5 and 5 years, children are drawn to activities such as tracing textured (sandpaper) letters with their fingers and correlating the sound of the letter with its shape. This spontaneous interest will ultimately lead to the sensitive periods for reading and writing (between 4 and 5 years old).

“The Letters are a stimulus which illustrate the spoken language already in the mind of the child.” ~Maria Montessori, Education for a New World.

Please read on to see what the children have been learning over the past fortnight.

Susie Mcshane KG Coordinator FS2 News “Education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.”

Maria Montessori The children, now confidently pick out material they wish to work with and complete the work cycle with little or no help. They are exploring different concepts and further enhancing their understanding of numerals, phonetics and their knowledge of the world.

Week 9 ended with a great bang, ‘Book character dress up day’. The children had a marvellous time showing off their costumes and sharing their books with one another. They were able to discuss books and various characters with their peers.

Parents please send in the money and the signed consent form for your child’s field trip within the next two weeks. Week 10 started on a positive note with PTC’s. This gave teachers and parents the opportunity to discuss a child’s holistic development and what the next step would be for the child.

We thank you for your constant support.

“All our handling of the child will bear fruit, not only at the moment, but in the adult they are destined to become.” – Maria Montessori The FS2 Team

Year 1 (KG2) News We are already in the eleventh week of school and both students and teachers are working hard on the teaching and learning in each and every lesson. Whilst we encourage a love of reading and books with our students at all times throughout the year, Book Character Dress Up Day is always a great opportunity to spend some time really celebrating a love of reading and providing the students with extra opportunities to be more involved with books. On the day it was nice to see the children’s excitement as they were showing off their costumes and books to their friends and trying to read the stories to each other.

In mathematics this week, we introduced the concept of doubles to at least 5 and read the time to the hour (o’clock). We also discussed the key times of day to the nearest hour. Telling the time is an important life skill that all children need to master. You can teach your child to tell the time from a young age by talking about routines that are carried out at different times of day. When your children are on time, CELEBRATE - You tend to get more of what you celebrate, and the feeling of doing things right and being recognised can build your child’s confidence. As a parent, you are your child's first and most important teacher. When parents and families are involved in their children's schools, the children do better and have a happier feeling about going to school.

From now on throughout the year we will be studying the countries of the students in the class to promote internationalism and to give the students a sense of the cultures around the world; we call this unit, ‘The Circle of Culture’. We hope to get a chance to study the country of every student. When children learn about other cultures, it helps them understand and have a sense of belonging as a citizen of the world. They become interested in how other people live, their cultural norms and values, different religions and languages. We look forward to your support in this unit.

Book Fair Our first Book fair conducted by Magrudy’s was a huge success. Every school and students have unique needs and book fairs are one of the best sources by which students get access to the best books for their reading levels and interest. We had Book characters entertaining our FS2 (KG1) and Year 1 (KG2) students for the opening ceremony which was conducted by our Principal, Mr. Michael William Clack and the Head of the Primary School, Zeba Khan. Our school library benefitted from the sales of the fair in the form of books and resources.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL Message from the Deputy Head of Primary School Year 1, 2 & 3 (KG2,G1 and G2) Dear Parents, It is a pleasure to write to you at this very exciting and busy time of the academic calendar. With the joint BSO and KHDA inspection starting Monday, 16th November, class assemblies, assessment of learning, field trips and preparation for the National Day celebrations, and of course no moment lost in the classroom, RIS has been buzzing. Staff, management and students have been preparing to welcome the joint BSO (British Schools Overseas) and the KHDA inspection in the week of Monday th 16 - Thursday, 19th November.

Please make sure that students wear the correct school uniform including the school jumper/sweater, and arrive to school on time. In case students are late on their assembly days, they should join the assembly before going to the classrooms.

RIS National Day celebrations will be held on Thursday, 26th November.

The school takes great pride in the quality of celebrations held each year. This has been possible because of parental support and involvement. The Events Coordinator, Ms. Emma Turnbull, has sent out an invitation to all parents to be a part of the organization and management of the celebrations. Many parents are working together to make the event a celebration and appreciation of culture, food, clothing and arte facts of the UAE, a great learning experience for our children and a fun filled day for the school community. We look forward to even more parent involvement and support for the event.

If you would like to volunteer your time and share your ideas, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Emma (emmat@ rafflesis.com).

On Tuesday, 3 November 2015 some students from Years 5 and 6 (Grade 4 and 5) , and members from the Student and Learning Council attended the Flag hoisting ceremony at the Creek park on the UAE Flag day. Hundreds of children from local and International schools gathered to show their appreciation and love to the UAE and for the leadership of HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum who hoisted the UAE Flag.

Four of our students had the opportunity to shake hands with HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum as they stood in the Honour line to cheer and greet his highness. It was a great moment for our children where they could show their appreciation towards UAE. Student Councils and Leaning Councils are being consolidated in the Primary School, and the Council members are impressive in their meetings. The Head Boy and Head Girl have been appointed after the voting by the Council members and teachers. Mateo Liz Soto Year 6A (Grade 5A) and Jia Popatlal Year 6 (Grade 5B) were elected Head Girl and Head Boy. Congratulations to them.

As always, I would like to remind and encourage parents to spend some time reading to and with your children. Your efforts now will make a difference - and it may be just the difference that your child needs in order to make better progress in all areas of the curriculum. Let us together improve the reading and writing standards and levels of our children by each one of us playing our part in the learning journey of our children. Below I have shared some ideas that may help you to make the reading sessions at home more effective and engaging.

Reading Tasks 1 - Fiction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading.

TASK A – Give your book marks out of ten and explain why you have given it that mark.

TASK B – Draw a picture of your favourite part of the story. Colour it in and explain what you have drawn.

TASK C – Write down any new words you have come across in your book and look them up in the dictionary. Record what each word means.

TASK D – Draw a picture of your favourite character in the book. Write down their names and what you have learnt about them from your reading.

TASK E – Write about your favourite part in the story and explain why you liked it.

TASK F – Write down 5 questions you could ask someone about this book to check whether they have read it carefully.

Reading Tasks 2 - Fiction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading.

TASK G – Draw a picture of one of the settings in the story. Where is this place? What happens there?

TASK H – Copy out 3 sentences or phrases you really liked in this book. Why did you like each of them?

TASK I – Draw a poster to advertise the book you have read. Make sure you write on the poster why people should read it.

TASK J – Find 5 – 10 interesting words in this book. Write down what each one means. Then use each word in a sentence of your own.

TASK K – Draw a picture of one of the characters in the book. Find and copy at least 3 things the writer says about this person.

Reading Tasks 3 - Fiction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading.

TASK L – Pretend you are one of the characters in the book. Who will you be? Write your diary for one day in the story.

TASK M – Draw a large picture of one of the settings used in the story. Label everything in the picture, using words and phrases from the book if you can.

TASK N – Which chapter or part of the story is the most important? Explain what happens in this section and why you think it’s important.

TASK O – Write a letter to your friend telling him or her a bit about this book. Explain why you think they ought to read it.

TASK P – Do you think the writer uses language (words) in an interesting way? Find 3 – 5 examples, copy them out and explain why you like them.

Reading Tasks 4 - Fiction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading TASK Q – Make notes about the story under these headings: *opening *build-up *dilemma *resolution.

TASK R - Make up a word search or crossword based on the book.

TASK S - Write about the main character in the story. Choose 5 – 10 words to describe his or her behaviour. Give an example for each one. E.g. Sally is foolish when she goes to the mill by herself.

TASK T – Pick a descriptive word from the text, write it down and use a thesaurus to find 5 words that mean something similar and 5 words that mean the opposite.

TASK U – Re-write a section as a play script. Remember to include the correct features of a play script, including setting, props, stage directions and names of characters.

Reading Tasks 5 - Fiction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading.

TASK V – Think of 5 questions you would like to ask one of the characters in your book. Then swap these with another person in your group and write the answers as if you were that character.

TASK W – Write an interview between you and the main character of your book. Be sure you write detailed responses for your characters.

TASK X – Which character in this book are you most like? Explain your answer. Which character do you like the most? Which character do you least like? Explain your answer.

TASK Y – Construct a timeline to show all the main events in the story in the order they happen.

TASK Z – Write a summary of the story in 50 words only.

Reading Task 6 - Friction Choose an activity to complete about the book you are reading.

TASK 1 – Make a list of as many adjectives and adverbs as you can from the book. Choose 5 and use a thesaurus to write other words that mean something similar.

TASK 2 – What do other characters think or say about the main character? Why do they feel this way?

TASK 3 – Write a poem describing a place or a person in the story you’re reading.

TASK 4 – Write a newspaper report about an important event including a headline, interviews with people involved and pictures.

TASK 5 – Imagine you are one of the characters. Draw a picture diary recording the key events that happened in the story. Add a comment about how you felt.

Year 2 (Grade 1) News In Year 2 (Grade 1), we have been looking at addition in Mathematics. We have been using our knowledge of place value, number bonds of 10 and doubles facts to add 1 and 2 digit numbers. The children are also becoming more familiar at solving word problems by using the technique CUBES (circle, underline, box, evaluate and solve).

In Science, we have been learning about different types of habitats. We studied the Arctic as a cold and icy habitat, the Arabian desert as a hot and dry habitat and the Amazon rainforest as a hot and wet habitat. We also learnt about many of the plants and animals that live in each type of habitat and what ways they need to adapt to survive there. The children performed an experiment to see how a Polar bear’s blubber helps to keep them warm in the ice cold water of the Arctic.

In English, we have covered instruction writing and acrostic poetry. In instruction writing the children learnt how to correctly order steps using the time connectives first, next, then and last as sentence starters. We have also been spending time on punctuation like full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. The children are now trying hard to make their writing more interesting with the use of adjectives to describe their nouns.

We had a book character dress up day on Thursday, 29 th October where we had the chance to talk about the different characters from the story books we like to read. We were invited to a ‘Recycling and Waste Management’ assembly where we learn about the importance of looking after the environment and how each one of us can help. We are now getting excited for our Ski Dubai trip where we will review our knowledge of the water cycle, cold habitats and states of matter.

Year 2 (Grade 1 Team) Year 3 (Grade 2) News Year 3 (Grade 2) had a very busy week this week. The students worked really hard and showed a positive attitude towards achievement. In English, they learned about synonyms and how to write a play script.

Students were taught how to plan a play script to include characters, scene setting and stage directions.

This was an exciting task for the children as they were able to act out the scenes they had created when they had finished. In Mathematics, students had to identify 3D shapes and discuss the key features such as faces, vertices and edges.

The children also learned some strategies to solve word problems. A lot of practical activities were used for these topics to give students a better understanding of the concepts. In Science, topics such as hearing and sight were introduced. A few experiments were conducted in the Science Lab where students had to identify their dominant eye and create a piece of braille writing. The children conducted a hearing experiment in which they had to investigate sounds of high and low pitch in the classroom and corridors.

In Social Studies, the children studied the UAE flag describing the colours and the symbolism of the flag.

The children also learned about markets in Dubai.

Year 3 (Grade 2) learned about the importance of recycling this week. Two children have been chosen to act as monitors for paper and plastic recycling. This week, it was the final call for the RIS Bag Appeal.

Thank you kindly to all those who contributed the items. It has been a huge success.

Year 3 (Grade 2) Team

Year 4 (Grade 3) News We had a wonderful day in Year 4 (Grade 3) on book character dress up day. While the teachers of Year 4 (Grade 3) dressed up as Willy Wonka’s the children blew us away with some fantastic costumes. On the day we spoke to the students about the importance of reading and we encourage parents to place an emphasis and importance on it at home too through use of our reading logs.

In English, we have focused on describing a setting and creating an atmosphere as well as describing characters with attention to both physical characteristics and personality traits. We have also completed a lot of work based on Newspapers where we have been busy creating our own articles based on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The students have been very creative with some wonderful headlines and paragraphs.

In Mathematics, we are working on different strategies and word problems in multiplication and division. We are encouraging students to continue to practice their times tables at home as often as possible.

In Science, we have moved onto habitats. Within this topic students have the opportunity to discover and learn about a variety of animal habitats. We have looked at many different animals and researched ways that these animals adapt to their habitats. As an introduction to the topic we gave the students a range of I can statements based on the topic e.g. “I can research an animal found within the U.A.E.� This helped students to understand their learning journey and what they are expected to have achieved by the end of the unit.

In Social Studies, students are learning about the U.A.E. We are looking at the Seven Emirates of the UAE and the different characteristics of each one. Students have done many activities in class related to U.A.E culture and clothing. The students from the UAE have been very helpful and happy to share their knowledge and experiences of their home country with their class mates.

Year 5 (GRADE 4) News Students have been very enthusiastic over the last few days as they begin to finalise their inventions for their subject of Social Studies. This is ongoing learning and the topic has also helped support students during their topic of Explanation text for English. Everyone is very excited and are looking forward to presenting their inventions in class.

Recently Year 5 (Grade 4) have enjoyed Character day and were able to share their favorite characters in class amongst their friends and teachers alike. Many students were able to express how thrilled they were to have been able to dress up as their favourite character and how this has made reading even more fun.

In mathematics, students have begun their topic of measurement and are closely learning about estimating and measuring length. Students will be able to use objects in and around the classroom to first estimate and then choose the correct unit of measurement to find its length. Students will have the opportunity to understand what is km, metres and cm. Students will then be able to explore converting length from one unit of measurement to another using 1 or 2 decimal places.

In Science, students have started their new topic of states of matter and will begin by closely learning about evaporation.

Students will be involved in critically thinking about how evaporation happens and why does a puddle dry up after the rain stops. There are many exciting and fun experiments students are looking forward to undertaking.

In English, students are learning to write persuasive text.

Students will be using their knowledge of chronological reports to observe information from brochures to create their very own advertisement for their school. Watch this space as we share more with you.

Year 5 (Grade 4) Team Year 6 (Grade 5) News On behalf of all the Year 6 (Grade 5) team, thank you to all the parents who were able to attend the parent/teacher conferences. It was a great opportunity to discuss the progress made in the year so far and identify targets for improvement. If you were unable to attend, can you please arrange to meet with the Homeroom teacher on their designated drop-in day or at another mutually convenient time. Year 6 (Grade 5) have been working steadily through each subject over the past few weeks. In Mathematics we have completed data handling by looking at line graphs, pie charts and linking to real life situations. It has also been great to see the pupils being able to utilize ICT facilities in Math and indeed all subjects, to assist with their learning in the classroom.

In English, the children having been getting their creative minds working with persuasive advertising and leaflets. Can everyone ensure that spelling homework is maintained and completed over a number of nights every week.

In Science, we have been looking at how humans can affect habitats, discussing carbon footprint and how to strive to make environment green. In Social Studies, we researched different aspects of Australia’s culture. We will now be focusing on UAE cultures and traditions in the lead up to National Day celebrations. The Primary School now has a Head boy and Head girl. Mateo Liz Soto from Year 6 (Grade5) and Jia Popatlal from Year 6 (Grade 5) have been elected to head the Primary School and all of us very proud of them.

Coming up is the Anti-Bullying week and the Beach run to raise funds for a school in Nepal.

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SECONDARY SCHOOL Message from the Deputy Head—Secondary School With a few days to go before the joint DSIB and BSO inspections, Raffles International School has been an incredibly busy and vibrant place. School inspections are a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the wonderful teaching and learning we have at RIS, as well as showcase all aspects of our truly international community.

Over the past couple of weeks, students and parents have been involved in many events across the Secondary school. The school basketball team continues to go from strength to strength continuing their winning streak, many students have had the opportunity to meet with the Principal and share their ideas about further school improvements, PARIS held their Annual General Meeting in the PARIS garden, over 30 students have now received RIS Core Value certificates for their hard work and dedication to their studies, Learning Journals are been used to help track progress in lessons and subjects and parents had the opportunity to discuss their child’s learning at the PTC’s.

Upcoming events include Anti Bullying week (November 15th – 19th), Diwali celebrations, RIS UAE National Day celebrations (26th November), IVEI Swim Gala, IVEI Classical Music Soiree, GIVE Walkathon, IVEI Academic Olympiad and Art Exhibitions. These are to name but a few of the events many of our Secondary students will be involved in.

I am very pleased to see further improvements to facilities in the Secondary School with the full installation of new desktop computers in the ICT lab. This addition will help tremendously with ICT lessons as well as free up additional laptops for students to use in other subjects. This is of high importance as we continue to emphasize the need for students to research and improve their independent learning skills.

I am delighted to welcome two new teachers to the Secondary Team. Mr. Phil Jones is our new full time Mathematics teacher and Ms. Agnes Lewoc joins us in the Music department. I am sure you will get an opportunity to meet with them more over the coming weeks.

As always, if you would like to communicate with me regarding anything related to the Secondary School at RIS, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail, give me a call or stop by the office.

Ian Plant Deputy Head of Secondary ianp@rafflesis.com

Secondary Students participating in the Flag Ceremony

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Year 7 (Grade 6) News “Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”.

Year 7 (Grade 6) reminded us of this fact during their assembly this week, where they had their fellow Year 7 (Grade 6) peers solving puzzles in teams – a thoroughly enjoyable, educational and energising start to the day. Over the past two weeks they have been studying the following exciting topics and learning a range of new skills: In French, they have been looking at what kind of activities they do when they are hanging out with their friends. Additionally, they have started to make sentences with different pronouns and look at how to change verbs according to who they are speaking about.

In Mandarin, they have begun to learn about professions and workplaces, whilst revising their use of verbs.

In mathematics, the Year 7 (Grade 6) have been completing work on sequences, both numerical and spatial. They have also embarked on algebra and they are finding it interesting to use letters to represent numbers in mathematics.

In English lessons they are currently reading the autobiography of the famous children’s author Roald Dahl, whilst writing a memoir of their own.

Hand in hand with the English department, the Arabic department has also been studying an autobiographical topic entitled ‘Myself and my family’, after which they will begin a topic entitled ‘My House’.

Keep up the good work Year 7 (Grade 6) Year 8 (Grade 7) News Year 8 (Grade 7) have enjoyed a busy few weeks in school. Year 8 (Grade 7) delivered an interesting assembly on ‘Collaboration’ to the Year 8 (Grade 7) year group. They used the game ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ to highlight the effects and benefits of teamwork. It was a unique assembly and thank you to Ms Yaghi for her time and efforts preparing the students of Year 8 (Grade 7). In lessons this week there has been a vast amount of knowledge learned and gained.

Humanities: Population has been the focus and there has been some really interesting discussion in class about the future of the world we live in and how they think it will change during their own lifetimes.

Mathematics: Students have been working on recognizing square, cubes and their roots. They have discussed how to estimate these types of numbers also. They have begun the topic of ‘Indices” and are learning and applying the laws of indices at present.

French: Students looked at different types of TV programmes, and interviewing each other about what they watched last night/last weekend. They revised time and opinions also.

Science: Students are still learning about Food and Digestion as part of Biology. At present students are learning the organs of the alimentary canal and their functions. They are also gaining an understanding into the function of enzymes as biological catalysts in breaking down food to simple chemicals.

Year 8 (Grade 7) will continue studying Biology for the next few weeks, moving on to the Human respiratory system after their upcoming end of unit test. The test will cover Food and Digestion (Biology) and the previous topic – Measuring motion (Physics).

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Arabic B: Last week students were revising the topics they had studied: “Myself and My Family”.

This week, they have started studying a new topic. It is “My house”. They are learning different kinds of houses and details of where they live in Arabic.

English: Students are thinking about the theme of heroism in relation to their novel, Heroes. They are learning skills such as writing in complex sentences & using sensory language ahead of completing a descriptive piece of writing.

ICT: Students learned about how to create a table and manipulate the table with table properties. They also applied their understanding in hyperlink to link a webpage to an image.

Grade 7 are looking forward to the art competition for Anti-Bullying week and are busy designing their homeroom doors.

Year 9 and 10 (Grade 8 and 9) News Another two weeks has flown by and November is already here. Both Year 9 and 10 (Grade 8 and 9) were busy across the curriculum with a lot of learning happening in the classrooms. Also, students have received their Progress Reports. The reports are intended to encourage early and ongoing communication between parents, teachers and students. Reports tell you how well a student is progressing and demonstrating the core values of our school.

The other day I was reading an article about motivation and I would like to share it with you. Motivation is important for good studying. When you are motivated, you will find it easy to stay focused over a period of time. When you are not motivated, you will not only find it difficult to stay focused, but you will find it difficult to get started in the first place.

Here are some ways to increase your motivation to study.         

Reward yourself for studying. For example, after a successful study session, have a treat like a nice big ice cream cone.

Study with your friends. Don not make it party time, but you can have fun as you do this.

Remind yourself of your long-term goals. Achievement of your goals likely requires educational success. Educational success requires studying.

Eliminate distractions. If you are surrounded by things you would rather do than study, you will probably do those things instead of studying.

Develop interest in what you have to study. This will make studying more enjoyable.

Take breaks. When you feel that you need to take a break, try to stop at a point where it is logical to stop. This will make it easier for you to resume studying after your break.

Establish a comfortable environment. You will be more inclined to study if you feel comfortable.

Establish reasonable goals for a study session. You probably won’t get very far if you look at your study session as "mission impossible."

Use a motivational poster. Place the poster where you can see it as you study. The poster should include positive words and a picture depicting success. You can buy one or even make your own. You can also read inspirational stories about real people who have achieved success through effort.

Just do it. Once you do, you will feel a lot better than if you are worried about getting it done.” [http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills-articles/motivating-yourself-to-study.asp]

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Arabic A Secondary students presented the second project Action: choose a friend – must be non-Arab – and then write his Autobiography Objectives: Convert Arabic language to practising not to studying.

Starting time:

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Monday 2/11/2015 The date of delivery of the project: Monday 9/11/2015 Criteria: 1-Writing free from errors in dictation, grammar Focus on the important events and sensory detail and accurately described the scenes-2 The use of description and narrative strategy-3 Organization and arrangement-4 Successful working conditions: cleanliness form and writing by student hand Arabic B The students in Arabic B lesson enjoying using ICT to improve their learning skills.

The students encouraged to speak and make dialogue and enjoy interactive games to learn and share ideas. They getting involved more in the learning process with critical thinking activities.

It is a free reading activity, the teacher brought different kinds of stories from the library. In mixed groups, the students started reading the story. In each group there was a clever student at reading who helped his classmates to read and understand. Besides, the teacher was facilitating the task by giving hints about the main points. After reading, each group wrote a summary about the story they chose. In fact some students preferred to read individually and completed their tasks perfectly.

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