message from mr benson - international school of … · chris benson (head of primary ... can you...

I have always found the second term of the school year to be the one when the best learning takes place. Students have had the chance to settle in to new classes and teachers now know their students well and how to best help them.

Looking through this newsletter I am delighted to see the variety in learning that is taking place. Whilst we place a strong emphasis on the importance of language and mathematics, it is essential that students are provided with a broad education that enables them to discover new interests and hidden talents. Our students have been busy carrying out exciting Science experiments, creating oral and multimedia presentations, writing poetry, visiting the theatre, writing songs, producing beautiful art work inspired by great artists, performing on stage and demonstrating their sporting prowess during Sports Day.

Once again the students have excelled in their reading and Book Week presented them with the opportunity to meet children’s authors and learn how to write their own engaging stories.

On behalf of the Primary School team, I wish you and your families a very enjoyable and relaxing Easter break. We look forward to working together with you and your children to ensure that the summer term is a very successful one for all our students.

Best Wishes,

Chris Benson (Head of Primary School)

Primary Newsletter April 2017

Message from Mr Benson

Monday 24th – Friday 28th April – Year 6 Checkpoint exams

Monday 1st May – Labour Day – School Closed

Monday 8th – Friday 19th May – End-of-Year exams

Years 4 and 5 + French, Spelling and Science Year 6

Thursday 25th-Friday 26th May – School Closed – Grand Prix

Monday 29th-Friday 2nd June – Years 5/6 Classes Vertes

Year 5 Vinon-sur-Verdon

Year 6 Crans Montana

Monday 5th June – Whit Monday - School Closed

Monday 5th – Friday 9th June – Year 4 Classe Verte

Year 4 Réchastel

Thursday 15th June – Summer Fête 11:30 onwards

Wednesday 21st June – Year 6 Exhibition Presentations + Quiz – 18:30 - Cafeteria

Friday 23rd June – Year 6 Exhibition in classrooms

Tuesday 27th June – End-of-Year Reports sent out

Thursday 29th June – School year ends (midday 12:00)

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Independent Reading in the Primary School

Students in the Primary School continue to impress us all with their enthusiasm and motivation for reading. So far this year they have read and passed quizzes for 7,865 books, which works out as an average of 55 books per student!! 70% of students across the Primary School achieved their goal in both English and French reading with the following classes winning awards: A.R. Award for Whole Class A.R. Goal Achievement – 6A – 89% achieved their goal. Rallye Lecture Award for Whole Class Rallye Lecture Goal Achievement – 4A – 86% achieved their goal. Trophy Award for Best Combined A.R. and Rallye Lecture Goal Achievement – 6B – 82% achieved both goals.

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Total Quizzes Passed

Quizzes Passed

Having already passed 7,865 quizzes over the course of the first two terms, Primary School students are on course to beat last year’s record of 10,380 quizzes passed…just 2,515 quizzes to go!!!

A.R./Rallye Lecture Trophy

Independent Reading in the Primary School

Every term children are set goals based on the numbers of books they are expected to read and quizzes they are expected to take and pass in both English (Accelerated Reader) and French (Rallye Lecture). Congratulations to all of the following students who achieved either one (A.R. or Rallye Lecture) or both (A.R. and Rallye Lecture) of their goals.

4C


Elliot

Sammy Nereus Caliana Aidan

Alexander Michelle Dimitry Electra Laryah Ioseb

A.R. Only

Perla

Josephine

4B


Logan

Manolis Roman Alvaro Alexey

Margarita Freya Nader Tina Maya

A.R. Only

Anastasia Dominic

Rallye Lecture Only

Platon Daria Bobby

4A


Allegra Adam Maxim Felix

Dmitry Felipe

Alexander Maria s Maria T

Jacqueline Joelle

A.R. Only

Janibek Edison

Rallye Lecture Only

Nicole

Independent Reading in Year 4

5B


Gregory Michelle

Alba Sophie

Angelica Sofia

A.R. Only

Max

Christofer

Rallye Lecture Only

Stefan

5A


Yason

Etienne Isaac

Sophia Filippo

Gian Carlo Audrey Flavia

Daniela

A.R. Only

Tristan Lily-Rose

Isayah Konstantin Charlotte

5C


Ludovica Katarina Anaiis

Alexandra Richard

Lina Mikolaj Elona

A.R. Only

Gigi

Sophie George

Rallye Lecture Only

Mila


6A


Elizabeth

Clara Heléna Sveva Giorgio Iakov

Vladimir Basya Zlata

A.R. Only

Evelyn Enzo Amun

Emanuele Antonina

Alexander Andrey

6B


Alexandra

Loïs Anna

Martina Alexei Laura

Stephanie Benoit

François Gustavo James Micol

A.R. Only

David Theophanis

Raphael

Rallye Lecture Only

Maria

6C


Varvara Angelica

Erika Anastasia Michael

Aris Nikolay Tiffany Larissa Luna Alexis

A.R. Only

John

Savva

Rallye Lecture Only

Sofia


Micol and Alexis were the only pupils to reach 200% of their goal in both Rallye Lecture and A.R. Fantastic effort - congratulations

Year 4

In Year 4 we have really enjoyed our science topic about animals. We have learnt the different ways to classify animals into vertebrates and invertebrates and then we each chose an invertebrate to research at home. We made posters to show what we had found out and then we presented our projects to the class! We were very proud of our work!

S’initier à la présentation orale et mult imédia Les élèves de la classe 4B, au terme de leur étude sur les dinosaures, ont réalisé un exposé collectif lors de l’assemblée : à tour de rôle, ils ont présenté sans lire les notes à tous les élèves de l’école primaire les connaissances et recherches travaillées en classe. Auparavant, il a fallu organiser les connaissances afin de les présenter de façon claire et logique, un beau travail de synthèse ! Ils ont expliqué également le travail réalisé en Art avec Mme Brees sur le modelage de dinosaures. Puis, ils se sont entraînés à présenter en classe, devant leurs camarades. Chacun a ainsi bénéficié de l’évaluation de ses camarades avant le grand plongeon lors de l’assemblée… Ce travail a permis de comprendre que la présentation orale et multimédia est un défi : il faut tenir compte de sa posture, choisir de dire seulement les informations essentielles, regarder l’assemblée, etc. Bravo à eux !

L

After learning all about poetry and the variety of devices writers can use to create different effects, we discovered we definitely have some budding poets in Year 4! Starting with Kennings -‐ a type of riddle, popular in Old English, we then moved on to emotion poetry and learned about the power of using our senses in writing. We had fun learning about onomatopoeia, creating poems including lots of sounds, and took inspiration from Roald Dahl with our reading of the BFG, where we have seen how entertaining it can be to make up your own onomatopoeic words! Finally, we concentrated on rhyme through reading a story about Tara and Tyrone, an ‘intrepid duo’, and their journey discovering that, “Any adventure, from Beginning to end, Is always much better when You’re with true friends. (…) Whatever happens each day, And wherever you go, After any storm, there can Be sun and rainbows.” The children were really taken with the tale, producing some fantastic poems, which followed the author’s rhyming pattern and continued the story on after the ending. The author was so pleased to hear that her book had helped us learn about rhyme that she has requested to see copies of the children’s work! Come and see our brilliant poets’ writing on display in the corridors. Well done Year 4!

Animal kenning. Can you guess the animal being described?

Emotion poetry

Onomatopeia poem

Rhyming poetry

Year 5

Pendant la semaine du livre, la classe 5B a partagé un moment de lecture avec les classes 3. Tout d’abord, par équipe de deux ou de trois, ils ont choisi un album dans la bibliothèque. Ensuite, ils se sont entrainés à lire à haute voix et à montrer les images. Un exercice complexe qu’ils ont réalisé haut la main ! Pour finir, ils ont lu leur histoire aux enfants des classes 3. Les classes 3 étaient ravies de ce partage et nous aussi. Vivement l’année prochaine! J

Class 5B are very excited to be reading their new class text, the delightful story from Philip Pullman, ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’. They are following the main character’s quest to Mount Merapi to become a real Firework Maker and enjoying all the fantasy and rich description that this book offers. Each chapter is followed by detailed comprehension work in which the children can deepen their reading skills. The most exciting part is checking their knowledge using ICT! The children use the iPads to participate in a kahoot game, which enables them to compete with each other and check their understanding whilst having plenty of fun!

Year 5-‐ Science This term year 5 have been exploring states of matter in our Science unit. This unit has given us the opportunity to experiment the processes of evaporation, condensation, boiling freezing and melting. We have also evaporated a salt solution to produce salt crystals and a copper sulfate solution to grow copper sulfate crystals.

This Science unit culminated in a science project challenge, where pupils working with a partner had to find a way to obtain fresh water from salt water using a minimum of objects: a small bucket, a jam jar, a plastic bag and an elastic band. An essential survival skill if you are washed up on a desert island with no drinking water! …and more seriously a challenge for the future. The winners of the challenge were Konstantin Kirchner and Tristan Nouvion from 5A. Congratulations to these budding scientists who won 10 community points each for having fully succeeded!

Exposition des classes 6: LA NATURE

Year 6

Depuis quelques jours les élèves de classe 6 ont commencé leur travail pour préparer leur exposition de fin de primaire.

Cette année, le thème, est "La Nature" et les enfants vont faire des recherches sur les plantes, les animaux, la géologie ou encore les climats.

C'est un travail ambitieux et de longue haleine qui se terminera au mois de juin par une présentation aux parents ainsi qu'aux autres classes.

Year 6 English Language Class 6 have been busy preparing for their Cambridge exams next term, revising all work done since the beginning of the year. One area we are particularly enjoying is that of text genre and language analysis. Our class reader, Holes by Louis Sacher, firmly based in realistic fiction, is already showing more and more features of a mystery story, with its short sentences heightening tension, short chapters quickening the pace of the story and frequent shifts from past to present tense – a particularly effective way of keeping the reader in the dark about many events, revealing important details little by little…

Class 6 Letter-Writing As part of our Language programme last term, Class 6 studied letter writing. We investigated how the style of language needs to be adapted according to the purpose of the letter and its intended audience, and then practised writing a variety of letters in a range of different styles. One such activity involved writing a letter to a favourite author, telling them how much we enjoy their books and asking for information on the writing process and their forthcoming works. Once this work was completed, students were invited to copy out an improved draft of their letter so it could actually be sent to the relevant author. One student, George in Class 6A, enthusiastically embraced this idea, and soon his letter was on its way to the Head Office of JK Rowling’s Fan Club in London. Imagine his surprise, and that of the whole Primary School, when Mr Benson presented him with a reply to his letter in Assembly a few weeks later! I wonder how many more students will now be motivated to polish their letter writing skills and get that letter popped in the post box promptly!

Quel suspense ! Les élèves de classes 6 ont tous eu l’occasion

de lire en classe cet ouvrage policier, adapté à leur âge et recommandé par le Ministère de

l’Education Nationale. Quel plaisir de frissonner lorsque l’on sait que

l’on n’est pas en danger…

Thank you to everyone who brought in some copper coins.

We raised 612€35!

Thank you for your

generosity!

The Primary School Student Council has been, as always, busy behind the scenes with their various projects. In February, they organised a Copper Coin Collection to help raise money for children in hospitals all over France. The total amount raised was 612€35 – thank you to everyone who contributed. This money will go towards buying special medical equipment for hospitals, decorating hospital rooms to make them more welcoming and organising special activities and workshops for children who are obliged to stay in hospital for a long period of time. The Student Council representatives have also been working on creating a special menu for our annual Primary School lunch in May, a treat for all the hard work and effort that has been going on since September. Together, the representatives discussed and decided on a variety of starters, main courses, side dishes and desserts that they knew their classmates would enjoy. They then devised a questionnaire and asked their class to vote for their favourite foods. The results were collated, and the requests were sent to Mrs Ragi as Head of the Canteen Committee for her approval. We are all aware of the importance of having a healthy, balanced meal, so we provided a number of suggestions just in case! We are all looking forward to this delicious meal!

Student Council 2016-17

This year’s “Animaltastic” Book Week was held between 20th and 24th March and was, as always, a great success. Our visiting English author, Jane Clarke, explained what it’s like to be an author, shared some of her books with us and gave us some amazing ideas for our own story writing. We were also very fortunate to have Monsieur Nô, a famous French author and composer, spend two days with us, enhancing our musical talents and helping us create some marvellous songs. In addition to our regular Book Week events (English and French Book Fairs, Teachers’ Readathon, Guess the Teacher’s Book, Dress Up Day, Hub Treasure Hunt, 100 Word Challenges, Bookmark competition, special assemblies…), we also had some brand-new animal-themed activities such as an Animal Sounds competition, an Animal Quiz and a Mystery Animal competition. Lots of prizes and community points were awarded to students, and a great time was had by all. A very special thanks to Mrs Thompson and Madame Petit for all their hard work in organising this very special action-packed week!

Year 4 Procreate Landscapes Learning Unit: Landscapes using the iPad APP: Procreate March 2017 Year 4 landscapes were inspired by David HOCKNEY’s iPad ‘BRUSHES’ landscapes on the iPad. They used their imaginations to create their own landscapes using the ‘Procreate’ App.

Year 4: Tessellations Learning Unit: The Romans Tessellation patterns, inspired by M.C.ESCHER January – February 2017 Year 4 drew their own tessellation template, following the teacher’s instructions. They cut out their two ‘shaped clouds’ carefully (on two sides of their square template) and then TRANSLATED (slid) them, in exactly the correct place, on the opposite side of where they had been cut out. (This was not easy for the students as they had to estimate as accurately as possible where it should be placed). These ‘clouds’ were then joined to the template using sticky tape. Following this, they drew around their template, translating it across and around the paper carefully. Finally, after choosing their own design, the students decorated the tessellation pattern, being careful where to place the colours and line drawings!

ART

Nader 4B Dominic 4B Anastasia 4B

Maria S 4A

Aidan 4C

Margarita 4B

Year 5 The Spanish Mackerel March 2017 How did we draw and paint this fish using watercolour?

1. First we started to sketch using 2D body shapes (as an initial plan) such as: an oval for the body, a small rectangle from its body (showing the ‘caudal peduncle keel) to join its triangular tail (caudal fin) and a triangle for the head. The dorsal fins, finlets, pectoral fin, pelvic fin and anal fin were all drawn using triangular shapes.

2. Then all the lines and shapes of the mouth, tail, lateral line (that goes along its body), gills, eye and fin bones were added.

3. Finally we began to paint, using a continuous brush stroke (from the nose to along its body) of a blue/black mixed watercolour. This was allowed to ‘granulate’ (when the watery paint creates a feathered effect) as we painted its lower body. Care was taken to leave the bottom body section white, as this would help create its 3D effect, due to the contrast between its dark and light tones of colour.

4. When using watercolour, it is said that ‘less is best’ and so the students tried to restrict the number of brush strokes to get the desired effects.

5. Finally, having highlighted all of the fin bones, eye and elliptical yellow spots, it was completed!

Monaco Cityscapes February/March 2017

A Viewfinder The Year 5 students took photographs of the city of Monaco from the Early Year’s playground. Afterwards, they used a viewfinder to select an area of their photograph to draw and then paint using NEUTRAL COLOURS. Neutral colours, such as SKIN COLOURS, are mixed using: WHITE, YELLOW, RED, BROWN and BLUE or GREEN. Once finished, the students chose its paper background and mounting card.

Sasha 5C Richard 5C Katarina 5C

Diana 5C

Anaïs 5C

Juan 5C

Year 6 ‘Pop Art’ Learning Unit March 2017 Learning Objective: To recreate a photograph of a food type using pencil and paint in the style of Wayne Thiebaud.

Wayne Thiebaud (born November 15, 1920) is an American painter who paints objects like pastries, pies, cakes and toys. His last name is pronounced "Tee-bo." He started to paint in the 1950s, and was said to be one of the Pop Artists in the 1960s (although he denies this). He worked in a cafe when he was young, and has painted lots of pictures of bakeries and cakes in shop windows. Thiebaud uses bright colours and thick paint that sometimes looks like icing.

Varvara 6C

Chloé 6A Maria M 6B

Savva 6C

Caroline 6B

Rebecca 6C

Micol 6B

Tiffany 6C

Georgy 6A

Class 6 have been studying Material Changes. As well as looking at chemical and physical changes they have been carrying out various methods of separation. The classes particularly enjoyed using chromatography to separate ink.

Science with Class 6C Elephant Toothpaste

10th-19th March 2017 was British Science Week and Class 6C students had the opportunity to carry out a fun experiment to celebrate this important event.

Mixing yeast with water, then adding liquid soap, food colouring and hydrogen peroxide will cause a chemical reaction which produces a spectacular volcano effect when the yeast mixture rapidly removes the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide: the coloured foam oozing from the cylinder looks just like toothpaste being squeezed from an enormous toothpaste tube – perfect for elephants!

CABARET SHOW On Friday 7th April, the Théâtre des Variétés was filled with music, dance and drama from all sections of the school. Primary students provided a great selection of dance and music acts. Freya Banks-‐Clark sang a fantastic rendition of 'I Dreamed A Dream' from 'Les Miserables', Edison Cotterchio performed a powerful version of 'Fight Song', the streetdancers (feating wonderful solos from Aidan Connor and Edgar Anpilogov) showed us their moves and our Students vs Teachers really gave the teachers a run for their money with 'Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better'! Not to mention all of the students who took part in both the opening and closing numbers 'Something About This Night' and 'I Got The Music In Me'. With 29 performers from the Primary School, the students certainly did themselves proud with both amazing performances and excellent behaviour backstage. It has been a real pleasure to work with such a talented and committed group of students and I hope they enjoyed the night as much as the audience did!

Music/Dance

Sports day

message from mr benson - international school of … · chris benson (head of primary ... can you...

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