Primary Newsletter October 2017

Message from Mr Benson

And so we come to the end of a rather long first half-term. The beginning of the year is such an important time as students and teachers alike adjust to new classes. Quickly settling and getting off to a good start is essential if students are to achieve their very best over the course of the year. The teachers and I are very pleased with how the students have adapted to the many changes a new school year brings and much has already been achieved. Once again, students have made a great start to their independent reading, with many students having already reached their targets for the term prior to the half term break! For these students, the challenge now is to attain the bilingual reading certificate that is awarded to those students that achieve 200% of their reading goals in both English and French! On my regular classroom visits I have been very pleased to see just how engaged the children are in their learning and how they are becoming increasingly independent. Visitors to the Primary School are always very complementary about the students’ behaviour and enthusiasm for learning and this is very much reflected in the learning that has been taking place. In this newsletter we are only able to offer you a snapshot of what has been taking place in the Primary School since our return at the end of August, however, I hope this provides you with an overview of the many exciting and enriching things that have been taking place. On behalf of the Primary School team, I wish you and your families a very enjoyable and restful half-term break. Chris Benson Head of Primary

Classe 4 L

Learning in the Primary

School

Et si j’étais explorateur ou exploratrice … à

bord du Yersin ?

En géographie, nous avons débuté ce trimestre par l’étude des grands repères du monde.

Nous avons découvert comment il était possible de fabriquer des cartes du globe, de notre planète ronde. Nous avons aussi appris à localiser et nommer les océans et les

continents, les principales zones climatiques et les grandes métropoles mondiales.

Ce travail a été rendu d’autant plus fascinant que nous avons suivi le trajet du Yersin, le

navire scientifique parti de Monaco au mois de juillet dernier pour un formidable voyage

autour du monde qui va durer trois ans.

En fin, pour clôturer notre travail, nous nous sommes imaginés dans la peau d’un

scientifique explorateur et nous avons écrit nos propres récits d’expédition. L’écriture est aussi une belle manière de voyager autour du monde sans bouger de sa chaise !

Class 4A have had a successful start

to the year. The children have

matured and shown they can

successfully orientate life in year 4.

The children have learnt a range of

topics and are demonstrating

excellent Singapore maths skills.

In Science, the children have learnt

about animals and humans and have

carried out investigations to find

out how the skeleton works. The

children have good knowledge and

made their own models to

demonstrate how parts of the body

work. We were joined by a few

surprises along the way like the

puffer fish and full skeleton!

In English, the children have learnt

how to use verbs, adverbs and

adjectives effectively in their

writing. They can decide when it is

appropriate to use certain language,

to really create an image in the

reader’s mind.

YEAR 4

Year 4 have been enjoying our class reader ‘Bills New Frock’ which tells the story of a boy who wakes up as a girl and is then treated differently all day long! The theme of the book is about ‘gender stereotypes’, how boys are girls are sometimes not treated equally, which can be unfair! We learnt how this can sometimes be a problem because it can stop people from doing things they are good at, or perhaps makes them feel like they should think or act a certain way. Some common stereotypes are that ‘Only boys like football’ or ‘Ballet is for girls’, and in class we discussed whether we agreed or disagreed with these ideas. In fact, there are many fantastic female football players and of course male ballet dancers too, who have to be incredibly strong!

Investigating plant growth Doallplantshaveseeds?What’sinsideaseedandwhydoseedslookdifferentineach

fruit? These are some of the questions that sparked the students’ curiosity as we

embarkedonourinvestigationintoseedsandplantgrowth.

Closelyobservingavarietyofseedswasaspringboardfromwhichstudentsbeganto

devisetheirowninvestigations,applyingtheirknowledgetotesttheconditionsseeds

need to germinate andgrow.A conclusion fromone experimentoften led to anew

experimentbeingsetup,eachtimebuildinguponideasandhypotheses.Fromgroup

andclassdiscussions,thestudentsgainedagrowingunderstandingofthesignificance

offairtesting.Thepossibilityofchangingvariableswasendlessandhoworwhetherto

apply these to experimentswas often hotly debated; “We could change the type of

watersuchasseawater,tapwater,rainwaterorfizzybottledwater!”exclaimedone

studentexcitedly.

Manystudents enjoyed followinguponour inquiries athome,bringing inplantsor

photographs to sharewith the class and fromwhichwewere able to compare our

classroomresults.

Year 5 pupils have been captivated by this exciting adventure story as we follow Lila on her quest to win the Royal Sulphur from Razvani the Fire-Fiend. One of our writing tasks was to write a

letter in the first person from Lila or Lalchand expressing their viewpoint. Working on the idea that Lila and Lalchand “had become like strangers” and that “each of them had quite the wrong idea

about things” pupils expressed their ideas and feelings inspired by their reading.

Year 5 pupils have been captivated by this

exciting adventure story as we follow Lila on

her quest to win the Royal Sulphur from

Razvani the Fire-Fiend. One of our writing

tasks was to write a letter in the first person

from Lila or Lalchand expressing their

viewpoint. Working on the idea that Lila and

Lalchand “had become like strangers” and

that “each of them had quite the wrong idea

about things” pupils expressed their ideas and

feelings inspired by their reading.

Au cœur du Moyen Âge avec les classes 5

Les classes 5 ont travaillé sur le Moyen Âge, et plus particulièrement sur la société et les châteaux forts. Ils ont créé une histoire au temps des chevaliers et

nous avons visité la citadelle d’Entrevaux.

EnglishLanguageLessons

The students in Class 6 have made a very good start to the year in their English language learning. Our priority is, as always, a commitment to reading regularly and I am delighted to note that over half of all Year 6 students have already reached their target for this term – I hope to see the awarding of our challenging Bilingual Reading Certificate in the weeks leading up to the Christmas break. We have been refining our speaking, listening and writing skills initially through the study of autobiographies and biographies and, most recently, through the study of newspaper interviews and reports. Students were required to perfect their questioning skills to elicit more detailed and interesting responses from their interviewees. We have used a variety of media for our final product, including hand-written copies, word-processed documents and online Prezi presentations.

En histoire, les classes 6C

onttravaillésurleXIXème

siècle.

Pour illustrer cette

période,nousavonschoisis

d’étudier le récit de vie

d’une petite fille, Louise.

Les élèves ont ainsi

découvert, à travers

l’intrigue du livre, les

conditions de vie d’une

famille demineurs à cette

époque.

En parallèle, les élèves ont

présenté à l’oral, en classe, un

sujet sur cette période de

l’histoire:

Classe 6

Aviation,automobile,

photographie,vaccinationtéléphone,électricité

Lecture suivie en classe 6

Depuis quelques semaines, les

élèves de classe 6 découvrent

les légendes de la mythologie

grecque.

Après avoir fait connaissance

avec les principaux dieux de

l’Olympe, ils ont lu

“Jason et la Toison d’or”.

Il nous reste encore de nombreuses légendes à lire jusqu’aux vacances passionnés par ces récits où réel et fantastique se mélangent, et où, souvent, les héros doivent livrer des combats extraordinaires. N’hésitez donc pas à leur en parler.

Meetthisyear’sPrimarySchoolStudent

Council!

Front row, from left to right:

Anais and Camrose (4A), Margherita and Eva (4B), Charlotte and Anna Aurora (4C)

Middle row, from left to right:

Nader and Michelle (5A), Tina and Khaled (5B), Elliot and Freya (5C)

Back row, from left to right:

Jasmin and Sofia (6A), Michelle and Lily-Rose (6B), Mila and Emily (6C)

Mrs Duncan (at the very back) thanks Mrs Vard for taking this beautiful photo!

Elections for the Primary School Student Council took place at the end of September, and our first

meeting was held on Thursday 5th October. This took the form of a photo-shoot in the playground,

and involved both the representatives and their substitutes.

The representatives are all enthusiastic and eager to begin their work – see the following page for

some of their hopes and expectations for this school year.

Having presented, during assembly, the interesting and thought-provoking results of our initial

survey, “What does the International School of Monaco mean to you?”, the representatives are now

in the process of conducting a second survey amongst students and teachers in the Primary School

to find out what they understand by the term “international-mindedness”. This is a subject which is

at the very core of our school, but it is a term that is notoriously difficult to define – perhaps the

younger members of our school community can help shed some light on this multi-faceted and

diverse concept…

« J’aimerais organiser une collecte de bouchons de bouteille pour aider les personnes handicapées en fauteuil roulant. » Anais,

4A.

“I would like to have a theme for meals, such as a Christmas meal… I would like us to explore Monaco more so that we can learn more about where we live!” Margherita, 4B.

“I would like the Primary

School students to be able to

choose the canteen menu…

and to have field trips more

often.” Charlotte, 4C.

“I want everyone in the

Primary School to be happy,

and we can achieve that by

helping each other.” Nader,

5A.

“I would like to help improve

the Primary School as much

as possible… I would like to

organise ‘Meatless Mondays’

in the canteen.” Elliot, 5C.

« Je voulais faire partie du

Student Council pour le

bonheur des enfants de

l’école. » Tina, 5B.

“I would like to improve my

confidence in public

speaking… I would like to

have plenty of events so that

others are encouraged to

join the Student Council next

year.” Michelle, 6B.

“I hope to make everyone’s

voice heard throughout this

year. I would like to organize

many fundraisers for

charities to help enhance the

lives of children less fortunate

than ourselves at ISM. Jasmin

6A.

PrimaryArtatISMByMrRichards

Class 4 have been busy learning to use tone

(highlights, mid-tones and shadows) to depict parts

of the human skeleton using pencil, charcoal and

pastel. They investigated the work and techniques

of Leonardo Da Vinci and learned the importance

of his anatomical.

Class 4 – ‘Bones & Tones’

Final Piece

The children created photographic

compositions which they then scaled up to

produce an A3 tonal study. They chose a part

of the skeleton that they were interested in

and learnt to find a composition using a

camera.

The children self-evaluated their work and

learnt presentation skills to discuss their final

piece in front of the class.

Class 5

Class 5 have been learning what makes

a strong and interesting composition

using the rule of thirds.

Subsequently, they created their own

viewfinder and used this to sketch a

variety of compositions of plants.

They selected their most interesting

composition, scaled it up and created a

tonal painting. The children used black

and white paints to mix a variety of

different greys which they were able to

represent the different colors of the

plant.

StillLife

Class 6 have been developing their

typography skills by looking at the

street artists, Jon Burgerman and

Banksy for inspiration.

They learnt how to create 3D

letters and a variety of graffiti

effects. The children developed

their own tag, thinking of a

message they want to share with

the world. They then used

POSCA pens to create blends,

paint drips and outlines.

Class 6 GRAFFITI

Swimming Gala

AFRICAN DRUMMING

On Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th October, all of the Primary School

took part in African Drumming sessions with Ayo Nelson-Homiah.

Students explored a range of instrumental techniques, such as bass, tone

and slap on the djembé. They composed a short rhythmic piece involving

the newly learnt techniques and a range of different rhythmic devices.

The workshops were a great deal of fun and all students really enjoyed

themselves.

In the Primary School the children have had the opportunity

to learn a range of songs, ranging

from classical to rock styles.

Initially, the children were

challenged by singing as an

ensemble and tackling solo

performance. They also developed

their knowledge of music theory,

learning about pitch, tone, melody

and harmony.

To end the term, the children

performed a concert in front of the

other children and senior members of

staff. The concert was recorded and

the children are able to take home a

CD, after the half term holidays, so

parents can hear their wonderful

performance. It was pleasing to see

the children had worked hard to create

a polished performance. Luka Halozan

Bayley and Maria Duijndam, from class

10, and Ms Dina accompanied the

children during the performance,

which added to the atmosphere and

inspired the children.

The primary school choir is now

established and the children have

sang “Clocks” by Coldplay and are

currently learning “Hear the Wind.”

They will begin learning songs for

Christmas in the next term and will

have the opportunity to perform at

the ISM Christmas fair.

The children have had a very

successful start to the term in

music and Mr Lobley and Ms Dina are

sure their enthusiasm will continue

to grow throughout the year.

Activités extra-scolaires

Cette année dans notre programme extra-scolaire, nous vous proposons un panel d’activités artistiques, sportives, linguistiques et de soutien scolaire, afin que chaque enfant puisse s’épanouir dans l’activité qui lui correspond le mieux.

Clubd’échecCheerleadingClubDevoirs

Basket Ball Yoga Football

Que ce soit de la composition musicale, du dessin, du basketball ou de l’italien, depuis quelques

semaines, les élèves de l’école primaire participent avec enthousiasme à ces moments de

transition enrichissants entre l’école et la maison.

Il reste quelques places dans certaines activités. N’hésitez pas à me contacter : mona.nahjari@ismonaco.com

Tuesday 7th November – Return to School. Second half begins.

Friday 17th November 2017 – Red and White Day – Celebrating Monaco National Day

Monday 20th November - Monaco National Holiday (School closed)

Friday 8th December – Monaco Public Holiday (School Closed)

Monday 11th – Friday 15th December 2017 – End of first term exams (all Primary School classes)

Wednesday 20th December 2017 – Primary School Christmas Party

Monday 22nd January 2018 – First term reports sent to parents

Wednesday 24th and Wednesday 31st January 2018 – Parent/Teacher Conferences

Friday 27th of

October to

November 7th