THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL of IITA PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria Tel. Tel. 07008004482 Ext. 2593, 08039504372 Email: iitaschool@cgiar.org Fax +44 (208) 711 3786 Web site: www.iita.org/school Facebook: The International School of IITA

George Piacentini, Head Teacher

No. 19

Wednesday, 6 February 2019

MISSION STATEMENT

IITA International School aims to develop students who will create a better and more peaceful world through respect, intercultural understanding and lifelong learning. We strive to prepare our students for successful learning here and in schools

around the world through an international educational programme, with a comprehensive curriculum and rigorous assessment, in an environment which promotes confidence, caring, and understanding.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ASSESSMENT (ISA) TESTS

On the mornings of Tuesday, February 12th and Wednesday,

February 13th all our children, from Grades 3 to 7, will

participate in a set of global external assessments called the

International Schools’ Assessment (ISA). This Assessment is

an assessment programme designed by The Australian

Council for Educational Research (ACER) for students in

international schools. The aims of the Assessment include:

to measure students’ performance in relation to scales that

describe levels of proficiency in mathematical literacy,

reading and writing in relation to other international school

students at the same grade level.

VALENTINE’S DAY, FEBRUARY 14TH

On Thursday, 14 February, we shall be celebrating

Valentine’s Day.

You are very welcome to come and join us at 11.45 a.m. in

the School Hall. There will be some fun and games and, of

course, some dancing. Please could we also ask if some

snacks could be sent too … perhaps some heart-shaped

cakes and cookies?

The traditional colours for Valentine’s Day are red, pink,

purple and white, and we are asking the children to come

dressed wearing either one or a combination of these

colours.

Please post your beautiful cards in the pillar box outside G5

and if you have some dedications, please bring them to me.

Remember all the messages must be anonymous.

STUDENT COUNCIL INITIATIVE, HEALTHY SNACK DAY,

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8TH

The Student Council want to encourage everyone, both

students and teachers, to bring a healthy snack such as fruit

and/or salad to school on Friday, February 9th. This is a small

step towards healthy eating. Thank you to all the parents in

advance for their anticipated support.

COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS (CIS)

ACCREDITATION TEAM VISIT

I will be joining a team of Heads and Principals who will

spend a week, in an international school in Uganda,

evaluating the school to see whether it meets CIS standards

for Accreditation. I will be absent from school from Friday

March 8th to Saturday, March 16th. In my absence Mrs.

Edith Ekun will lead the school. I know we will all support

her.

ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATORS AND

SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA (AISEN) CONTINOUS PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

We are honoured to host a workshop for international

schools in the region on Saturday, March 23rd. The title of

the workshop is ‘Collaboration for Learning’ and will be led

by myself and Mrs. Helen Chatburn-Ojehomon, Deputy

Head of Ibadan International School.

SPORTS DAY

Due to a variety of circumstances we have decided to

present Sports Day on March 16th. Thank you, in advance for

your support and understanding.

PTA MEETING

Our first PTA meeting of 2019 was on Wednesday, 30th January at 1.00pm in the library.

Some of the points we discussed were:

The variety of events that have occurred since the last PTA meeting and we referred to events planned for Term 2

The support of the parents in their participation in the PYP Report Committee

The support of our parents in the journey to PYP Authorization

PTA events, past and events that are planned for the future

Progress of the Head Search

PYP Consultant’s visit and the role of parents in that process

Improving School

21st Century Learning o New web-site o New Interactive Whiteboards for

Playgroup, French and Music

Planned wall mural

Dr. Sanginga’s STEP programme

Forest School

Teachers’ Professional Development

Community access to school documents: o In the library o PYP Programme of Inquiry on web-site

.

TEAM POINTS

DRAGONS UNICORNS DINOSAURS 178 166 178

DATES TO REMEMBER

Healthy Snack Day Friday, 8 February

Valentine’s Day Thursday, 14 February

Spelling Bee Round 2 Friday, 15 February

ISA ACER Tests Tue-Wed., 12-13 Feb

Mid-Term Break Mon-Wed.,18-20 Feb.

School Steering Committee Thursday, 28 February

Stripies 1 Friday, 1 March

‘Back to the Past’ Day Friday, 1 March

Sports Day Saturday, 16 March

Senior Exams start Monday, 18 March

Stripies 2 Friday, 7 March

Student-led conferences Friday, 22 March

AISEN CPD Saturday, 23 March

Stripies 3 Wednesday, 27 March

Term 2 ends Friday, 5 April

Easter Monday Monday, 22 April

Term 3 begins Tuesday, 23 April

Yours sincerely,

George Piacentini, Head Teacher

Grade 7 Geography trip to IITA Weather Station

On Monday 28th January the Grade 7 Geography class

visited the IITA Weather Station to enhance what we have

learnt in Geography on the topic Weather. In class we had

learnt about instruments used to measure different

weather conditions. The visit made us see the exact

instruments and got how they are used with the

explanation we got from Mr Ekeke. It was interesting to

find out that the IITA Weather Station was established in

1973 as an Agro-based weather station. Mr Ekeke told us

that they observe the readings daily and that they keep

records for every day.

We were shown the anemometer, an instrument used to

measure wind-speed. The anemometers were placed in 3

different heights of 50cm, 1metre and 2 metres. The 2

anemometers which were constantly in motion were the

ones on 1m and 2m heights and we found out that it was

because there was nothing hindering wind flow on those

heights. The one on 50cm did not move as the wind was

obstructed by nearby features.

Mr. Ekeke showed us the different types of rain gauges

used to measure rainfall. These were the non-recording

type and the recording type. The non-recording type is the

one in which rain falls and later when it stops, the staff

must record the amount of rainfall received. They use

funnels and recording cylinders. The recording one; is the

one which does the recording in detail. It records the time

the rain starts, how it progresses, its intensity and the time

it stops raining. These rain gauges measure rainfall in mm.

During the visit, we were shown the Stevenson screen

which is a shelter for the instruments. Its function is to

shield instruments against precipitation and direct heat

radiation from outside sources, while still allowing air to

circulate freely around them. The Stevenson screen is

painted white and is built in a way that prevents rain water

or any form of destruction to affect the instruments kept

inside it.

Some of the instruments we learnt about include:

- the evaporimeter, an instrument used for measuring the

rate of water evaporation

-Pan Evaporimeter, the Open Type, that measures the rate

of evaporation of water into the atmosphere

-the Campbell–Stokes recorder which is a

sunshine recorder

-The All-in-one weather station, which is a combination of

all the instruments above and does the recordings

automatically and sends to the servers in different offices.

From the trip we learnt a lot and many thanks to Mr. Ekeke

who explained everything to us and Ms. Dzapata the

Geography teacher.

Grade 7 class

The Edo Culture

On Monday the 4th of February, Mrs. Ekun came to our class

to talk to us about the Edo culture. She came because we’ve

been looking at ‘Identifying Ourselves’ through Culture.

The capital of Edo state is Benin. The Edo State is called “The

Heartbeat of Nigeria,” because of their resources. The Edo

state has the most local government areas, and some are:

Akoko-Edo, Egor, Igueben, e.t.c. The governor of Edo state is

Mr. Godwin Obaseki. The main religions in Edo states are

Christianity, Islam and traditional worship.

In Edo there are a lot of tourist attractions: Ososo

has a tourist attraction. In Edo the traditional worshippers

have a shrine behind their homes. The traditional

worshippers have a goddess they pray to, and the name of

the goddess is Olokun which means “Goddess of the Sea.”

They believe that if you pray to Olokun all your wishes will

come true. They also have a god called Ogun, the god of war

and iron.

The Edo people are known for their beads called

“coral beads,” the coral beads can be in rubber or real coral.

The beads are mostly used for weddings. The groom wears

the beads and the bride too. The coral beads from Edo are

really expensive. All the eighteen local governments of Edo

state have a different language, that is why you mostly hear

the Edo people and the Delta people speak pidgin.

Delta and Edo were called Bendel state before they

split in 1991.

In weddings, the bride would be carried to the

father in-law and would sit on the father in-law’s lap 3 times

and the third time the father in-law would embrace the girl.

If he doesn’t want her, he doesn’t embrace her. Mrs Ekun‘s

local government eats pounded yam, egusi, bush meat and

mostly black soup. Mrs. Ekun’s husband’s area eats gbegiri

and egusi e.t.c. It is Edo state that has the most local

government in Nigeria. Delta and Edo state are also known

for their very good palm wine. In some of the local

government places they celebrate a festival called the “Ivue

Festival,” the festival is for the start of the year but they start

their year on the 26th of December.

I want to say a really big thank you to Mrs. Ekun for that

wonderful presentation on the “Edo Culture”

THANK YOU MRS EKUN!!! ARAMIDE OGUNTADE (Grade 5)

On the 4th of February 2019, Mrs. Ekun came to grade 5 to

talk about the Edo culture. The Edo people are found in Edo

state, Nigeria. Nigerians say Edo state is the heart beat of

Nigeria. There are 18 local governments in Edo state and the

governor of the Edo state is called Obaseki Godwin. There

are three main religions for the Edo: Christianity, Islam and

traditional worshippers. They have their traditional god

called Olokun (the god of sea) and Ogun (the god of iron and

war)

The Edo people have a special way of marrying. The bride

and groom have to wear a lot of coral beads and to show

that the father of the groom likes the bride; the bride will

have to sit on the groom’s father’s laps 3 times. Then the

father has to embrace the bride. The Edo people have many

languages but the formal way is to speak pidgin because

most people in Edo state know pidgin.

A lot people from Edo state celebrate their new year on the

26th of December.

The main foods of the Edo people are egusi, ogbono soup

and black soup. Thank you Mrs. Ekun. It was very

interesting.

Ahmed Rabbi (Grade 5)

A DRONE VISITS GRADES 4 AND 5

Mr Bode visited us from the Communications department.

He presented a PowerPoint about "Digital Media" to grade

4 and 5 students. Afterwards, he brought us all to the open

field to show us how the IITA drone works and how IITA

uses it in Agriculture. Though some students were familiar

with drones, they were all fascinated by the way it worked.

We were impressed with Mr Bode's professionalism. The

PowerPoint was age-appropriate. We were particularly

impressed with the way he rounded up the presentation.

He reminded the students of cyber safety and the fact that

all these different technologies should be used for the good

of humanity.

We all enjoyed the teaching and learning experiences that

Mr Bode's visit offered us.

Mr. Raphael Adesiyan (IT Teacher)