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!