Upper-Primary - Ms Kelsey

UP Team and the Extreme Survivors!

It’s that time of the year again, Christmas Holidays! The last period went by so quickly. We only had 5,5 weeks between the Autumn Holidays and the Christmas Holidays, but we are happy to say that we managed to do a lot. There has always been a good spirit in Upper Primary, and with Christmas coming closer, it got only better. Pupils are supportive of each other, they are hardworking and they are happy! That’s how we like it!!

In those 5,5 weeks we managed to wrap up an entire IPC-unit. There are so many extreme places in the world, that we only had one choice: one extreme habitat per week. In this way pupils have studied deserts, the poles, deep seas, dark caves and high mountains. And, most importantly, they have studies the ‘extreme survivors’, the amazing animals that live in this world. Whether it was about the Saharan ant or the mountain leopard, the stoat or the Arctic fox, pupils carefully completed their research, wrote an explanatory texts and even drew detailed sketches of all these beautiful creatures on our planet.

In those 5,5 weeks, of course, we also continued learning Numeracy. Year 5 pupils have for example had fun with divisibility rules and they have started looking at prime and square numbers. Year 6 pupils have focused on keeping track of all the different rules and strategies they have learnt so far, sometimes even writing posters to keep track of how to multiply a fraction by a whole number, and how to find a fraction of a fraction. There are many things to learn still, but we are on our way!

What else did we do? Pupils in the bilingual program continued their weekly spelling, reading, numeracy and IPC lesson in Dutch. We are happy to see all the progress and that children are motivated to learn the native language of Belgium. They still love to play a language game at the end of class and, to the growing frustration of their teacher, they cannot stop saying the children’s word of the year, ‘Ma.. stoppeuuhh’. They have also written a text about ‘overlevers in extreme omstandigheden’ in Dutch, which they have added to their little booklet. And they promised to keep reading Dutch during the holiday!

The English group have enjoyed even more challenging verbal and non-verbal reasoning tasks, they have designed and produced posters of some of our IPC personal goals, ‘resilience’ and ‘enquiry’. They read, write, and collect words. They are supportive and kind to each other during both language lessons, numeracy lessons and IPC lessons. They also love to play a good board game every now and then, and they are starting to understand how all these different activities combined help them build knowledge, skills and understanding – and help their language evolve even more!

That will surely be everything for those 5,5 weeks, you say. Well, we also went on two trips, to the botanical garden and to Sea-Life. We celebrated Pedro’s birthday and Sarah threw a pizza party to celebrate her birthday back in August, we got a treat from Sinterklaas and we went to the swimming pool every two weeks. We recorded our Christmas songs and dances and we delivered Christmas cards to the school’s neighbours. We got to meet Emmalien, Mr Francis’ baby, something which everyone was looking forward to. And also, we managed to keep Covid out of the door, without it letting affect our positive vibe! Well done, everyone!

Before we end we would like to say a very warm ‘see you again’ (not a goodbye!) to three special people. Mirei and Yumiri have now safely arrived in Japan, but it feels as if they are still part of our group, and always will be… And Ms Laura has been such a fantastic teacher assistant. We really want to thank her for her contribution, her patience and her dedication, which has inspired us.

We wish everyone a special end 2021 and we are looking forward to more good moments together in 2022. Team Upper Primary!!

 

Goodbyes only mean we'll miss you until we meet again!

Happy Autumn holidays, everyone!

First, we share the good news that Mr Francis’s baby is here and that the whole family is doing fine! We are happy that baby Emmalien has arrived – and we cannot wait for covid restrictions to go away so that we can have a big meet and greet with her!

Upper Primary pupils end this first term back at school with a Halloween party – but also with a sad goodbye. We wish Yumiri and Mirei all the best when they return to Japan. We will miss you a lot and we hope we will meet again, one day!

It has been a busy term. We welcomed Henriette to our class back in September, as well as our big group of new year 5 pupils. Upper Primary pupils have now settled down in their new group. They have spent quite some time working on classroom rules and together deciding on the way they want to be treated and treat others. There is a lot of kindness, respect, and support around in this group. Pupils (and teachers) laugh a lot, sing, and dance every now and then, and – of course – learn many things!

We have just wrapped up our first IPC unit. Pupils have really enjoyed learning more about art and artists during this unit, "They see the world like this". The walls have been covered with beautiful art, all the way from impressionist self-portraits to abstract art, to cubist paintings, to prints. It has been lots and lots of fun. Pupils have also spent time researching famous artists and written biographies. Parents will be impressed when they understand how much pupils have learnt!

In literacy, the big focus has been on writing different types of recounts. Pupils have been focusing on a specific spelling and grammar focus every week and they have all improved on their writing skills. They practise presenting work in class in different ways and they share many thoughts and ideas with each other. Reading skills focus has been how to collect words to add to their own individual wordlists and they have also looked at different types of questions to ask to find out more about a book.

The first big Numeracy test showed that all pupils have made progress, that they have learnt new facts and skills and grown a bit more confident. Pupils never compete, the only interesting thing to observe is to see how much they have learnt since last time and how much more confident they are when they work on their tasks. Year 5 pupils have used compasses for the first time, and every new skill needs practise, practise, practise. It was a sweaty lesson, but they added new Numeracy vocabulary to their word list, and they did a great job! Year 6 pupils have started looking at both order of operations and algebra. They try to use different mnemonics to remember new learning. Pupils share their understanding with each other and explain ongoing learning to each other.

Pupils have done a great job! It really is time for holidays, and we wish that pupils rest, play and have lots of fun! We meet again in November! And, as we all know, ‘Goodbyes are not forever; goodbyes are not the end. They only mean I’ll miss you until we meet again!’

Take good care of yourselves, dear Upper Primary pupils, and friends!

 

Fond memories!

And so Upper Primary finally says goodbye… After a long and bumpy road we can say that we really have made the best of our last time together. With some more exciting memories to look back to, everyone is now finally ready for a well-deserved summer holiday. We have a lot of pupils starting new adventures, and while they are certainly ready for it, we also know that we will all miss each other a lot.

Luckily enough, we have been able to do more outside school again the last few months. As part of our IPC-unit, we cycled to a village near Ghent, Drongen, and we visited STAM, the city museum of Ghent, whilst further exploring the history and architecture of our beloved city. We also spent a fun sports day at the Blaarmeersen and at the end of the school year, UP participated in the all-school event, the ‘ISG Wacky Olympics’. We are so happy that we were able to do these things together!

In the classroom we have further investigated many aspects of architecture and city planning during the IPC-unit ‘Building a Village’. Pupils enjoyed making concrete, testing properties of materials (fair testing in focus) and researching different aspects about life in a village. They both looked more closely at remote villages as a part of their geography learning, and found out more about the history of Ghent. They had fun when they presented their history research in front of their classmates with a role play.

In Dutch class, pupils have prepared themselves as much as possible for the future. We wish all the best to the students starting in a Dutch school and for the students moving to another country, we hope that they will find a way to keep in touch with Dutch. In their assessment portfolio, pupils have a small booklet in which they look back at the Dutch class this school year: their classmates, teachers, their favourite class activities (Weerwolven!), etc.

At the end of the school year, all students have taken home their learning materials. Pupils have finalised workbooks and have also taken the end-of-year test in different subjects and handed in their last pieces of work for marking. They have their Assessment Portfolio with some important work and also the compliments they gave each other. It is really nice to browse these portfolios and see the progress since the start of the school year.

One of the last things Upper Primary pupils put in their Assessment Portfolios was a poem. Pupils chose to write different types of poems for this task. Some focused on writing rhyming poems, while others thought more about syllables and rhythm. Some chose to write their poems in the shape of a house, others again to write more symbolic poem where a house represents other things in life. Regina shared her poem during graduation at Senior Assembly, where her house poem encouraged us to use Adaptability when thinking about changes that await us all in the future. All year 6 participated in the beautiful graduation ceremony – decorating the hall, welcoming parents, hosting the event, playing the violin and making sure everyone could hear what was said. We mustn’t forget the presentation about the Pear Comics! All year 5/6 pupils sang in front of parents to wave off. Many things taking place, and there was an energizing buzz around the school that was lovely to see! We hope to have more of these events like this next school year!

We hope you enjoy the pictures attached. Again, we have so many fond memories of every pupil. Also for teachers, it is not easy  to say good-bye to so many special pupils, but we treasure all the good memories and hope to see you all in the future!

The Great, The Bold and the Brave

Upper Primary started the new year by welcoming two new classmates, Lucas from Brazil and Regina from the USA. We have also celebrated a few birthdays here in the classroom. Happy birthday to Riya, Lucas and Kyrell, our January and February birthday UP pupils!

We have had some dark and rainy days during the 6 weeks between the Winter Holidays and the Mid Term Break, but that didn’t stop us from being active and busy in class! We have still not yet wrapped up our IPC-unit, ‘The Great, The Bold, The Brave’, but we have already come across many interesting people and ideas from the ancient times. The IPC-books are filled with notes from different research projects, and pupils' models and displays are filling up the hallway walls and tables. We have investigated many aspects of the old Greek and Roman societies and have looked at the differences and similarities with modern day life. From religion to sport, and from family life to architecture, we have tried to investigate it all. The whole class combined the writing focus from last term, playscripts, with the new IPC-unit and performed plays during Assembly. They made any props and masks needed and helped each other to a really good presentation.

Children in the bilingual program have been doing research about the IPC-unit in Dutch as well. The group that just started learning Dutch is starting to make more and more sentences in Dutch, both in speaking and writing. The advanced group has worked a lot on spelling and they have re-written some old Greek myths into a play. During assembly the group has also presented a role-play and introduced themselves as the ‘Gods of ISG’, wearing a mask and bringing a prop to the stage.

These last few weeks, pupils have started to take a closer look at their individual learning styles, to know what they need to focus on and how they could work to improve on their knowledge, skills and understanding in different subjects or when learning new things. Pupils have just taken their mid-term test in Numeracy and by discussing their answers, they are learning to look at their own learning process and use any mistakes to learn and improve. Pupils have tried to set goals for their own work, they have looked at the result and assessed their own progress. They have given each other feedback on presentations in front of the class. They are investigating many different aspects of learning - and one of their home learning tasks this week is to interview a family member about their learning style.

The last two months we have also talked about a lot about our two values of the month, Morality and Thoughtfulness. Morality – ‘stop, think and do the right thing’ and Thoughtfulness – ‘think about the other and show that in your acts’, are similar to each other, but they are still challenging for our group. Some pupils are still working on becoming more open-minded and accepting of their differences. We see pupils showing an interest in developing new friendships, however, and that means a lot to us.

As we like to go out with a bang, we have celebrated a long anticipated Carnival on the last Friday before the holiday. Children had been super excited about it for weeks and finally the time had arrived to shine. Enjoy the pictures, enjoy the holiday and let’s all get ready for spring and for better times!

Happy Autumn holidays, human beings!

There are 17 pupils in Upper Primary this school year and they have all been very excited to be back at school after the Covid spring and the summer holiday. During the first two months, we have spent a lot of time on building routines and getting to know each other. It is nice to see that new pupils have been welcomed into the ISG family and have started to incorporate the ISG values at school, as well as the dedication to learning that we aim for at our school.

A lot of new learning has taken place, and it has been great to be back in the classroom. Pupils have been able to show the knowledge and understanding of both Numeracy, Literacy and our IPC-topic, learning about the Human body. Pupils have had PE-lessons, Music classes, Recorder group practises and much more. We have all appreciated being together at school again. We have had many Covid-safe birthday parties in our classroom since August and start of school year; Ms Jenny, Fiona, Mohana, Sarah, Mr Francis, Mr Romain, Alma, Lucia, Phoevos, Hamza have all turned one year older! Happy birthday!

We have wrapped up our first IPC-unit, ´Being Human´ in which we explored the different systems within our bodies. From the brain to the skeleton, and further down to the heart and the digestive system, we have explored it all, inside and out. At assembly, pupils have presented their learning to the whole school, and during an extended writing sample they have summarized - after plenty of drafts - the gist of their learning. On the last day before the holiday, the Queen of Internal Organs can say that she was proud of what the pupils achieved.

Unfortunately we were still somewhat constrained due to Covid-regulations (not much contact with parents, no trips and only one swimming lesson) but in comparison to a complete lockdown, this was nothing. We have been so delighted to see all pupils active, making friends, engaged in learning and developing themselves. It was also lovely that we had a chance to see our Upper Primary parents during Parent-Teacher meetings, it felt like it was a long time since we sat down together for a good chat.

In Upper Primary, there are 10 pupils following the bilingual programme. The Year 6 pupils are preparing for a possible transition to a local secondary school, learning about more complicated spelling rules, getting the word order of an ómdat-zin´right, learning numeracy vocabulary in Dutch, exploring their IPC-unit in Dutch, and so on. The group of Dutch beginners have looked at the alphabet and started to learn words and make basic sentences, so that all communication can be held in Dutch now.

During a normal school week, pupils following the English programme also focus on different subjects, and one of the favourite activities is when pupils sit down and focus on Verbal reasoning tasks and Non-verbal reasoning tasks. Pupils have improved their thinking skills, by challenging their brains with different puzzles, patterns and challenges!

After a busy first 9 weeks at school, pupils now deserve to rest and enjoy their free time during the Autumn Holidays. They are welcome back to school for more learning in November. A new IPC-unit awaits, as well as many new challenges in Literacy, Numeracy and other subjects. Every day is a chance to learn something new!

Exploring space

Upper Primary pupils have really liked the IPC-unit, ‘Mission to Mars’, and they have engaged in different activities with a lot of energy. They have learnt a lot about the harsh living conditions on the red planet. They have researched the atmosphere, geographical features and different ways to explore space, for example by using rovers and telescopes. They have looked at the history of space travelling, from the first manned missions to the exciting space missions that will take place this year. Pupils have researched different energy sources used here on Earth and tried to think what could work on Mars. Friday 14th of February, year 5/6 visited Cozmix in Bruges and got to use the telescopes, listen to an explanation of the first space mission to the moon as well as see a movie about space on a 360° screen. It was a marvellous school trip.

Pupils have also used their knowledge in different ways, for example by building a 3D diorama of a possible manned space station on Mars. They thought about the cold temperatures and the violent storms that their equipment would have to endure. Pupils used recycled resources to build space labs, shelters, rocket stations, wind turbines, solar panels, rovers, green houses etc. They have also tried to include these facts in the suspense story they wrote during the literacy lessons linked to this IPC-unit. Pupils have studied facts and showed their knowledge in a quiz and some pupils have also chosen to share their knowledge by sharing it with younger pupils here at ISG. Other pupils have walked past the displays out in the hallway and been very interested in what they have seen. Sharing knowledge with others is a great way to show one’s understanding of a topic.

During literacy lessons, pupils have looked at idioms related to space and they have made beautiful posters and they have also started using these idioms in class. “I’m over the moon”, “the sky is the limit” and “Houston, we’ve had a problem” are some of the phrases now heard in Upper Primary. They have also looked at onomatopoeia and similes. Some of them have included idioms, similes and onomatopoeia in their suspense stories.

Year 6 pupils have learnt more about average means, line graphs, conversion graphs and pie charts during Numeracy lessons. They have also looked at reflection and translation of shapes in a four quadrant co-ordinate grid. Year 5 have started learning how to write an improper fraction as a mixed number and also how to multiply a fraction by a whole number. It takes time to learn new things and some pupils have found these new Numeracy topics challenging. They have tried to be resilient.

Our Personal Values in January and February were ‘Morality’ and ‘Thoughtfulness’. Pupils have been trying to show these values during their break times and during lesson time. They are aware of the fact that we all together create the atmosphere we want to have in the classroom. There are lots of different ways of showing thoughtfulness and kindness to others! Pupils have welcomed a new classmate, Mohanashree from India who started in Upper Primary in January. Giulia turned 13 years old in February. Phoevos got the Headmasters Award during Assembly. They are now busy preparing the good-bye card to Aki, who is leaving ISG and returning to Japan. We will miss him dearly and we hope that he will make many new friends in his new school!

We end this part of the spring term with a Carnival party and pupils are excited to come to school wearing a costume the last day before the Mid-term holidays. We hope you enjoy our creative outfits and that we make you smile while looking at our photos.

Wrapping up!

Upper Primary pupils have spent the last few days finishing off tasks in the classroom. Assessment portfolios and reports are going home this week so that parents can take a closer look at different tasks from this term. Pupils should be proud of their progress! They have practised many new skills, memorised new knowledge and reached new understanding, they have learnt new methods and strategies and they have added more words to their vocabulary and so on and so on!

In Literacy, pupils have been working on their reply to their pen pals in California, they have written explanations in connection to our IPC unit ‘Out of Africa’ and they have checked their grammar skills and what they need to practise more. In Numeracy, they have started their new text book, after their end-of-term test and they have discussed their maths tests with their teacher – an excellent way to learn even more Numeracy and feel confident when they solve problems.

At the end of November, pupils went on a school trip to the Natural Science Museum in Brussels, to find out more about dinosaurs. Quite some dinosaur bones and fossils have been found here in Belgium and the museum has an impressive collection – a visit is warmly recommended!

In class, pupils have learnt more about DNA. Geffen’s dad visited Upper Primary and talked about his job at the University. Pupils were fascinated to learn more about both DNA and molecular biology. Pupils have also learnt more about the different pre-historic periods and have been able to see how evolution and adaptation has taken place. They now know more about classification and they have also studied how we all are linked to each other – going back some 10 000 generations we all are related to African Eve. So now the name of the IPC unit makes sense, we all come ‘Out of Africa’!

Pupils haven’t only worked with tasks in the different subjects these last weeks, there have been lots of fun extra activities here at school. In November, pupils saw 'The Neverending Story' during Movie Night. Upper Primary pupils participated in a story-telling workshop with Ms Catriona. Pupils also performed during our yearly Christmas show. Yumiri and Matheus did a great job as presenters. Upper Primary pupils performed a lovely song with both singing and body percussion and they showed that they can play different instruments – piano, recorder, ukulele, cello, double bass and violin. Some of them accompanied other pupils when they performed their songs. It was lovely to see them all do their best during the show! Pupils have also spent a December morning on the ice-skating rink in the city centre, having lots of fun together! In class, pupils have celebrated two birthdays – Geffen and Lujain have both spoilt their classmates with yummy cake and treats during birthday parties! We wish Javier a lovely birthday now already, since his birthday is on Christmas Day!

Mr Francis shares a comment from the Dutch programme:

The past month children following Dutch class have, as part of the textbook “Instroom”, talked about family and about grammatical points as zelfstandige naamwoorden (nouns) and bijvoeglijke naamwoorden (adjectives). As part of our IPC-unit we have examined several things related to evolution: characteristics of the first humans, ways in which animals adapt to their environment (e.g. butterflies that camouflage) and the speed with which a superbug could spread around the world.

During Dutch class, we don’t only study Dutch as a second language, but we also try to teach different subjects in Dutch: IPC, numeracy, home learning preparation, etc. It is nice to see that pupils are able to do this better and better -  that they don’t get discouraged when they don’t understand something. They are learning to cope within a Dutch environment and to solve problems independently, e.g. by asking a friend for help or by using a dictionary.

That children try to communicate in Dutch and are taking up the challenge to use no English is very important, because you only learn by trying! In this light it was also very nice to see all the pupils expressing their wishes and resolutions for the year 2020 in Dutch. Goed gedaan, iedereen!

Dear parents, pupils and other ISG-friends, enjoy the holidays! We also wish you all a Happy New Year! Prettige feestdagen en een gelukkig 2020! See you in January 2020!

Have you seen an Akisaurus before?

Upper Primary pupils have wrapped up their tasks and are now getting ready for Autumn holidays. It has been busy times in class and pupils have finished off many tasks and they have all worked really hard. It was a fun treat to wrap up this last week with both a birthday party and Halloween party on the same day! Happy birthday, Phoevos! It was a bit odd to have cake amongst clowns, wizards, skeletons, vampires and other characters - but great fun! If you look carefully, you will see an Akisaurus in the photos!

Since the last blog, some Upper Primary pupils have played recorder during Assembly, and a group of pupils also surprised their teacher by putting Miss Jenny's name in the golden box! She thanked them by letting them join her performing 'Yesterday' in front of everybody. Some pupils found it hilarious, others found it extremely embarrassing. Pupils in the Bilingual programme also taught their friends some words in Dutch and showed them that they have learnt a lot since they started the school year!

Parents have gotten an insight in the Upper Primary classroom world during Parent-Teacher meetings. Miss Jenny has enjoyed meeting them all and getting a chance to explain all the things we have worked with so far this autumn.

It is time for Upper Primary pupils to say good-bye to this first IPC unit, Express yourself. They have spent the last few weeks working on playground designs (Technology task) and emotion collages (Art task). Pupils visited an exhibition at St Pieter’s Abbey here in Ghent, and as part of their Art learning goals, they looked at art from three different perspectives – the artist’s, the subject’s and their own. They have also looked more deeply into the world of adverts and how different techniques make us want to buy certain things. They know what the acronym AIDA stands for and can explain it to anyone who is interested.

During Literacy lessons, they have finished off and published their friendly letters and we are ready to send our first letters to our unknown friends at Serendipity School in California, USA. Their writing samples will be kept in their Assessment portfolios as well.

Numeracy lessons bring different topics into focus here in class and Upper Primary pupils have spent the last week measuring angles (year 5) and calculating area, volume and perimeter of different shapes (year 6). Miss Jenny is very happy to talk about her dear friends, Katy Perimeter, Area Grande and Volumemort, to help the pupils remember how to calculate these different measurements!

Pupils in the bilingual program are showing good progress and are now trying to speak only Dutch in the classroom. They are continuing to learn with their book “Instroom” and are now able to introduce themselves in various ways. As part of the IPC-program, pupils have made the castle of IPC-values and have practised related vocabulary. Students have also started making homework in Dutch and taking a small test on Mondays, with good results. Finally, they have played several interactive games, of which the “weerwolven” game was probably the most popular. Goed zo!

Now it is time to wish you all a lovely week of holidays! Enjoy beautiful autumn days and see you in November!

 

Unique individuals! We are all different in Upper Primary!

Upper Primary pupils have spent the first weeks of school getting to know each other and the classroom routines. There are 16 pupils in Upper Primary this year – and we say a special welcome to our new ISG pupils, Guilia from Italy, Yaroslav from Russia, Fiona from the USA and Sofia from Australia! It is a lovely group of pupils – all 16 together - and pupils have already made new friends!

The Personal Value celebrated this month is Respect. Upper Primary pupils have also discussed what behaviour we find respectful in the classroom. Pupils wrote down their own classroom rules and made posters to put on display, to help remember what they all have agreed upon. They have drawn a self-portrait and expressed their personalities by sharing their favourite hobbies and things they like. It is important that all pupils feel that their different personalities are respected. They now learn about what type of games and activities they can play or do outside during break time – come rain or shine - to make sure everyone feels okay!

Pupils in Upper Primary can follow either a Bilingual programme or an English programme. During these lessons, where pupils spend time in two different classrooms, pupils focus on different aspects of language -  looking more closely at for example vocabulary, literacy, numeracy and IPC.

Mr Francis shares a bit more from his classroom: Children following the bilingual programme have started going to their daily Dutch class – that is, every day except Tuesday (niet op dinsdag). They have started learning basic phrases to talk about themselves (Waar woon je? Waar kom je vandaan? Welke taal spreek je? Hoe gaat het? …) and they have studied the alphabet and the sounds in Dutch (kat – maan, bed – eend, hond – boom, mug – muur, …) They also have started doing numeracy tasks (rekenen), their homelearning preparation (huiswerkroutine) and IPC tasks in Dutch. Finally, students that are already more advanced in Dutch have started to look at more complicated sentences and tasks.

Even though it is not easy to start learning a new language, we have been enjoying our learning together and it is great to see that pupils are taking responsibility (verantwoordelijkheid) for their work, for example by writing down the words of the week (woorden van de week).

In the Upper Primary class, the bi-weekly routines (blue week and red week) are becoming more familiar and pupils remember what weeks to bring swimming togs and what weeks they have two PE lessons. They are also getting familiar with home learning routines, classroom activities and responsibilities.

The first IPC topic this year is “Express yourself” and pupils are learning more about emotions and how to express themselves in a clear way. They have for example discussed bullying and what we can do at ISG to prevent this from happening here at our school. Pupils agree that everyone should be able to be who they are and that everyone here at our school should be treated in a kind and caring way! They are now trying to be good role-models on the playground and show younger pupils how to include others in games and have fun together!

Pupils also know that we all have days when we feel on top of the world, and other days when we might be sad, upset or home-sick. There are days when we have to be extra kind to each other. It is not always easy to express how we feel, though. Upper Primary pupils have made emotion thermometers and looked at how different emotions can be expressed in weaker or stronger ways. During science lessons, they have researched whether emotions come from the heart or the brain and whether animals can feel emotions or not. They know the difference between facts and opinions and use these skills when writing scientific answers, based on evidence. They look at learning goals and try to work towards these, based on year level and language skills.

During literacy lessons, pupils currently learn more about the text type ‘friendly letters’. They learn about the specific text features and how to write a letter to an unknown person. Upper Primary pupils will write letters to year 5 pupils at Serendipity School in Belmont, USA. Pupils are excited about this pen pal programme and more information about this exchange will come later!

Since the school year started, pupils have also had a chance to meet different teachers and participate in different activities during Swimming lessons, Music class, Recorder groups, Tag rugby lunch club, Choir and Assembly! A lot of fun things happening here at ISG! Pupils were happy when Lujain got the Headmaster Award during Assembly and they loved celebrating both Diya and Mr Francis’ birthdays! Birthday cake is a great treat!

Upper Primary pupils will soon come up with more updates from the classroom here in our blog, so keep your eyes open!

Spread your wings and fly away...

Let no-one steal your dreams... This is the time of year where teachers are writing good-bye messages to their leaving pupils. Miss Jenny sends the poem that UP pupils recited during the International Festival with every pupil leaving ISG. It is time to say good-bye to friends. It is never easy to see a dear friend leave and it is difficult not to know when we meet again. Upper Primary pupils take their good-byes seriously and they make sure that everybody leaving our class feels that they will be missed! Next year, Rita, Hanna, Ariadne, Aarshi, Vitor, Luka, Kavya, Ally and Jood are all starting the new school year in new schools. Upper Primary will be a different class then – new pupils will join us. We wish all our friends leaving ISG the very best! To really celebrate our year together, pupils had a great End-of-year fun activity – a very sporty End-of-year fun – during the last week of school. Pupils cycled to Blaarmeersen and there they climbed and challenged themselves on the high ropes course together with Mr Gilles and Mr Peter. Lots of fun! Tired, but happy pupils returned to school after this excursion!

The school year ends with a real heat wave! Pupils and teachers are sweating their way through the last school days of the year. Upper Primary pupils have made sure everything is finished off and wrapped up – pupils have completed end of term tests, published their last writing sample for the year (a traditional tale), typed their highlight of the year and sent it off to the year book preparations etc. There have been days when pupils have sighed and complained – it is not easy to finish off tasks when it is more than 30 degrees outside – but they have shown resilience and they have worked hard. Now they can be proud of the content in their assessment portfolios, the comments in their reports and all the information gathered in their notebooks - with notes from all the different tasks they have finalised throughout the year.

Upper Primary 2019: IPC units, Numeracy, Literacy, Spelling & grammar, Basic facts, different text types in focus, choosing time & students of the week, buddy class and break time fun with friends, problem solving in the class after fights, Personal values in focus, marbles, excursions, swimming, PE, Dutch, music class, choir, Bozar, Chiquita Fun Run, torrential rain, snow and scorching sun, Assembly, break time clubs and after school clubs, birthday parties, whole school activites like Halloween, Carnival and International Festival and lots of other things. Pupils summarised the year with many more words than this...

Upper Primary have also tried to sum up their learning in IPC, even though we ran out of time for a real Exit Point this unit. Pupils have learnt a lot about ancient civilisations far away – the Maya civilisation in South America and the Edo empire in West Africa. One of the lovely last IPC activities in class was an art activity, where pupils picked their favourite part of the Edo creation story about the creator god Osanobua, the wise toucan Owonwon and a snail shell. Curious? Ask one of the UP pupils more questions! Beautiful pieces of art will go home at the end of the school year!

Now there are only a few days left of this school year. We wish all of you a lovely summer! To the ones leaving us - please, stay in touch! To the ones returning in September - welcome back! To all of you, safe travels and don't forget to drink water if it is hot and sunny! See you next school year!