The Great, The Bold and The Brave

Upper Primary's last IPC unit of work for the year involved learning some of the myths from Ancient Greece – and they loved it! Reading these fantastic stories was a great Entry Point to all the great learning that took place after that. King Midas, The Wooden Horse and Hercules and all the other stories we read – we just loved these amazing myths!

Year 4 pupils joined Upper Primary during Literacy and IPC lessons during these last weeks of school, it has been great getting to know each other - and all year 4 pupils now know that Upper Primary is also a fun place to be. Starting up next school year will be so much easier now that they know that it is not such a big step to move to the next class.

Pupils have really liked this unit, even though they sometimes found some of the things they learnt sad, upsetting or weird. Now they know more about life in Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire. They know about everyday life, houses and homes, Greek gods, some famous Greek philosophers, schooling, architecture, theatres, entertainment, armies, invasions, political systems and leaders. Learning about Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus was fascinating! Learning about all the slaves and how they were treated was sad and upsetting! Learning about theatres and art, including mosaics, was fun and pupils thought it was great to also make their own art in the classroom! Visiting the Art and History museum in Brussels was exciting! Upper Primary pupils could have continued learning about Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire for quite some time – and it was sad to wrap up the unit this last week of school. And one Upper Primary pupil concluded that maybe the people of these old civilisations would have been better off if they hadn’t aimed for more riches and power the whole time.

We've also done other fun activities these last weeks of school. All pupils in year 3-6 went on a fantastic Active Sports Day in Harelbeke. They paddled giant canoes, built rafts and catapults, climbed a 8 metre high wall and were involved in a team building activity. We also had a 'Good Cook healthy snack workshop' here in class (yummy!) and learnt more about fruits and veggies that are both local and seasonal. Pupils have celebrated birthdays and all ISG teachers were spoiled during Teacher Appreciation Day.

We had a session together to summarise our learning in both Literacy and Numeracy. Pupils concluded that these subjects can be quite fun, sometimes even super fun! The more the pupils learn, the more they see that new learning turns into Knowledge, Skills and Understanding! What used to be tricky when they started off, is all of a sudden easy to do. Creative writing classes with Miss Ana led to a fantastic end product – a book! Pupils are so proud of the result, some of them read the whole book the same day they got it!

Pupils are now saying good-bye to dear friends. Our Personal Goal in June was Adaptability – how to learn to deal with changes in life, and our adaptability is now tested! Shawn returns to India, Štefan to Slovakia, Allison to America – and Yashika still doesn’t know where she will end up and when she will move. Anyhow, we all wish our dear friends the best of luck with their next steps in life. And we will miss them dearly!

Next school year, new friends will join our class and we are already looking forward to meeting them, but first we will all enjoy our well-deserved summer holidays! See you in September, both returning pupils and new pupils joining Upper Primary! Enjoy the sunshine!

Ms Jenny