Middle-Primary - Ms. Kelsey and Ms. Anelda

We're Back!

Welcome to Upper Primary! A big warm welcome to our new students, families and interns joining the ISG family this year. A special shout out to our considerate, kind and joyful intern Ms. Dominika who joins us this term from Slovenia. 

To kick off the academic year we spent the night in De Panne along with Middle Primary for an unforgettable experience at the coast. Students had the chance to explore the town with a scavenger hunt, roam the dunes with an expert guide and get caught up with friends old and new. 

Back at school we jumped into a classroom filled with bread! As part of our IPC unit of learning, ‘Bake it!’ students explored the appearance, texture, taste, purpose and rated breads from around the world. It was an exciting entry point into the science of states of matter. Click here to watch our video! https://fb.watch/grhjtTRRlF/. We have investigated solids, liquids and gases, looking at the role of yeast and how we know it’s alive. Students also tested for solubility and researched the role of bread in different cuisines around the world. Finally students brought their knowledge of Science and International together in an assembly research project, ‘Breads From Around the World’ and ‘How to Bake a Baguette’ - complete with particle diagram actors!

Through our Literacy studies we travelled to Sri Lanka, following Chaya in the book ‘The Girl Who Stole an Elephant’. Students prepared a Reader’s Theatre performance in groups and we were blown away by the commitment to the role of our fine actors! Well done! 

Students enrolled in the bilingual program had a nice start of the school year. We have two groups this year, one beginner / intermediate group and one near-native group. For some students Dutch is entirely new, but it is nice to see that they too are starting to use their first words in Dutch. This year we call the Dutch group the ‘weerwolven’-group, as they love playing this language game if they have some spare time!

Wishing you a safe and restful Autumn break and looking forward to seeing students on Monday 7th November.

 

Spread your wings and fly

Dear Upper Primary pupils, we wish you a wonderful Summer holiday!

What a year Upper Primary pupils have had! They have experienced that it is true that 'Together, Everyone Achieves More' when they work together as a TEAM. And they have done so many fun things together this year. Pupils have enjoyed learning through IPC. From the Art-based unit 'They see the world like this' they moved on to the Science-based unit 'Extreme survivors'.

Just before the Christmas holidays, they finalised their very own non-fiction books about animals. Rising Covid-numbers affected school activities just before and after the Christmas holidays, but that didn't stop Upper Primary pupils from learning. During an exciting ICT- and computing based unit, 'Switched on', pupils learned how to code using Scratch and Lego We Do. That unit was followed by a Geography-based unit, 'Going Global', and pupils moved on the last unit of the year, 'AD900', a History-based unit. 

Pupils have written auto-biographies and biographies. They have researched and written explanations. Upper Primary pupils have written exciting adventure stories with historically correct facts woven into the plot. And they ended the year by writing and illustrating Creation Myths (traditional tales) and presenting their stories using Kamishibai theatres.

Pupils have grown. They have exercised and built healthy habits during the whole school year. Thanks to the Swimming and PE programme at ISG, they have become faster, stronger and healthier! They have challenged each other to bring healthy snacks to school. They have also learnt about Online safety, what to do and what not to do online, and they have learnt many good lessons about how words can be misinterpreted in chats etc. Upper Primary pupils have therefore also learnt how to solve problems, and how to use words and actions to end conflicts, instead of making them worse. We believe they leave this school year behind a bit wiser and a bit kinder.

Upper Primary pupils really have enjoyed our school trips, to Sealife, to the Port of Antwerp, to the MSK-museum in Ghent etc. And of course, the School Camp to Mambaye in June was both exciting and lots of fun!

During Bilingual programme lessons, the Bilingual group has worked on vocabulary and grammar, reading and writing, talking and listening - all in Dutch. They have improved and they showed their Language skills both during Assembly presentation, a visit to a local school, and the exciting Kamishibai story in Dutch that they presented this last school week.

The last week of school this year, Upper Primary pupils had lots of fun. Monday was Art Day, Tuesday was Fun Run Day, and Wednesday was Marble Reward Day (= ice-cream and games in the park). The weather was lovely! Thursday was our Sad Day, saying goodbye to each other after a lovely year together. Year 6 pupils leave Primary behind and start Secondary School next year. Some year 5 pupils move away and some start year 6 at ISG in September. Upper Primary class will be a different group next year. Some pupils (and Ms Jenny) leave Belgium and move to another country. Goodbye and good luck! 

Saying goodbye is a hard thing to do, and there were many hugs before pupils left the playground for the last time this school year. And now they are off on Summer Holidays! Teachers and pupils will enjoy these lazy weeks off! Enjoy sunshine, books, beach life, games and play!

See you in September,

Kind regards,

Ms Jenny, Mr Francis and Ms Ana 

 

 

 

Time to switch on!

Due to the weather and covid, January and February were maybe not the most cheerful months, but UP has managed to keep up the good spirits. Pupils have enjoyed the IPC unit ‘Switched on’ in which they researched how information technology is used in our society. During programming lessons they have learned about some of the many commands and sequences to use, and later they have started to build and explore robots. Especially the programming on Scratch was popular, and when we were thinking about the future and careers, several pupils have stated that they would like to learn more about it.

Our IPC-values of the two past months were Thoughtfulness and Morality. Pupils have started to think about these two complex values. ‘Stop, think, do the right thing,’ sounds easy, but is sometimes not so simple.

During the last week we have also discussed Digital Wellbeing. We encourage pupils to be careful online and to talk with their parents about what they do online. When linking the personal values to our ongoing IPC-unit, most UP pupils realised that they need to show the same values online as IRL. Pupils discussed what they think is wise behaviour online, and what behaviour is not good at all. They also talked about how hurtful and embarrassing it is to feel that someone has tricked you – and why they therefore should not trick or prank others. Staying safe online is very important, without getting so careful and scared that we all miss out on all the great aspects there are with a world wide web (www). Without internet, pupils wouldn’t have learnt how to code online using Scratch.

Children in the bilingual program had the opportunity to go to our ‘wijkbibliotheek’ in Nieuw-Gent. We encourage all of them to keep reading their books, to watch Karrewiet, and to use Dutch as much as possible outside of school. Special mention to the pupils who tried their best at tackling the difficult spelling rules of verbs in Dutch (including ‘verleden tijd’ en ‘voltooid deelwoord’), because those are very complicated! Goed gedaan!

Pupils following the English programme continue focusing on different subjects in depth. Monday morning lessons with verbal and non-verbal reasoning are very popular. During these last few weeks, pupils have also started making their own crosswords, a great way to practise both vocabulary, spelling and problem-solving skills.

Monday 21/2 we celebrated International Mother Tongue Day by reading books in all the languages represented in our classroom. It was great fun to guess what the different texts were about. Tuesday 22/2/22 pupils agreed that there were too many twos in the air, it was a real 2sday! There were no birthdays during the last two months surprisingly, but luckily we were able to have a little party for Carnival before the holiday. We are now all longing for spring. We are already planning a few trips again so that will definitely be something to look forward to! Enjoy the Mid-term break everyone.

 

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!