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Welcome back to another great year of learning! The start of the school year is always a moment of great anticipation and excitement. We hope you have had an enjoyable summer. The children have certainly had lots of exciting stories to share.
First a warm welcome to our two new students, Izzy ( Y3) and Stefan (Y4). I hope you all settle in well here at ISG. Also a warm welcome to Miss Regina who will be helping us in Middle Primary.
To start the term, we have been reviewing some numeracy and literacy topics and most importantly we have been adjusting to our new morning and afternoon routines.
In Numeracy students have been looking at different tasks. Year 3 students have been learning their Number bonds, practicing different Adding and Subtraction strategies and Problem solving skills. Our Year 4 students have been learning their Multiplication Tables, Fractions, Time and practicing different Adding and Subtraction strategies and Problem Solving skills.
In literacy, Middle Primary has been learning about grammar rules, spelling rules and practicing our writing skills. This term we have been focusing on writing a NewsPaper article about a volcano eruption. I would also like to congratulate students for their amazing performance on their spelling tests. I am very proud to see so many perfect scores! Keep it up guys!
Our reading rotation mornings are now well established. Students get to read one on one with the teacher while the rest of the class is working independently on different tasks. There is a "task list" where the class keeps record of the tasks that are completed. This way every student is responsible for his or her own learning.
In IPC we have already learned a lot. In our unit: Active Planet we looked at how the Earth is formed, what a volcano island is and what causes an earthquake. In science we looked at what happens when a volcano erupts by conducting an experiment outside. See the photos.
Lastly, we would like to thank all the students for coming to school with such a positive attitude. We am looking forward to a wonderful year with every student.
To Finish of the term we had our Halloween dress-up and party. Thank you Year 3 and 4 for a wonderful term.
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday
Congratulations! A big 'well-done' is in order for all the students and families of Middle Primary who celebrated the end of the school year with us last week. To kick off the final week the whole school put on their creative hats (& aprons!) to create unique pieces of artwork. From tie-dye and seed bombs to weaving and murals there was something for everyone. The next day we took advantage of the sunny weather and Mr. Francis organised a Fun Run! After a quick warm up students completed as many laps as they could within 5 minutes - there were lots of cheers and Pre-Primary excelled with their 1-lap around the school! Finally it was the turn of the teachers and those with energy left chose their opponent - Ms. Julieta, Ms. Maija, Ms. Mia, Mr. Francis and Ms. Anelda were all up for the challenge! As usual, the end of the academic year is a busy time for all but we found space for our first overnight trip (together with Upper Primary) to Spa! We had an adventure packed 3 days with nature walks, ziplines and deep dark caves. For many children this was their first time away from home, this was an opportunity for them to be more resilient and independent - and for that we are super proud of them! It was wonderful to see the different year groups interact, support each other and was also a great way to say goodbye to the Year 6's.
It's been our pleasure to teach the middle primary students this year, we wish you all a fantastic holiday full of relaxation and fun! Good luck to those children leaving ISG and we look forward to watching those staying continue to learn and grow!
Anelda, Erica & Jamie
Dear friends and families,
This term has been all about islands! The children have been learning what it’s like to live on an island, their geographical features and the flora and fauna and biomes that exist on a variety of islands around the world. They have been expanding their geography skills learning about island formation, locating islands on a world map, learning all about rivers, the water cycle and mapping skills such as the points on a compass, using different symbols and a key to represent geographical features. To get a deeper understanding about island life and to develop their own interests, each child chose an island to learn about; they have been researching all about it and, using this information as inspiration, the children have been writing poems based on their island. They even got to design their own stamps for their island!
In literacy the class have been journeying across the seas to the sunny Caribbean! Using the beautiful poetry book A Caribbean Dozen, the children have been delving into the sights and sounds of Caribbean culture and landscapes and gaining a better understanding of these amazing countries far away. The children have been reading and responding to poems from poets hailing from a wide range of countries; from The Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana. Take a look through the images where you will see some of the beautiful artwork they have created in response to the poems: For Forest, Dancing Poinciana and I Am the One. The unit involved a class journal for recording whole-class discussions and responses, and initial ideas for writing poems, and individual poetry journals for children to record their own thoughts and to work on their own poems. We looked at the different poetic devices used by poets to help bring poems to life and create imagery e.g. personification, similes, metaphors and finally, armed with all these new skills, the children composed their own poems based upon a physical (natural) feature on their chosen island such as a waterfall, cliff beach or cave. It was a great joy to work with the children throughout this unit and listen to their ideas and hear the fantastic grasp they have on the English language and their use of it to describe and bring their natural feature to life!
We ended the term with carnival celebrations, what a day full of fun and laughter! Sadly, we have said goodbye to our intern Lydia who has been helping us since January, we wish her the best on her next adventure. With that, we wish you all a wonderful and fun-filled holiday.
Erica and Anelda
It’s been a great start to the school year, we have loved getting to know all the children and are enjoying learning about them and their interests. The children have settled in quickly and have formed a cohesive and inclusive group. It has been exciting to watch their learning this half term and we cannot wait to see where their creativity, resolve and interests take us this year.
In maths, Year 3 have been busy practicing their numeracy skills, working with place value, rounding, shape, time and word problems. As always, they learn while having fun; either working in pairs, small groups or as a whole class. The children enjoy learning with the interactive board; one example of which is our Abacus interactive programme that proposes different interactive activities. It is an excellent resource that stimulates problem solving and group discussions whilst teachers can check for understanding and provide immediate feedback.
In Literacy, we have been focusing on writing adventure stories. The children have been working hard at character development and have even created their own superheroes! Using these characters as inspiration they have created elaborate plotlines which they have turned into beautifully illustrated comic strips. Alongside this, they have been thinking carefully about setting, plot, main idea and supporting details of a story; skills they will continue to develop next half term in their creative writing task. We have been working hard establishing class routines, in reading rotation each child reads in a small group with the teacher while the rest of the class work independently on different tasks. This way every student is responsible for his or her own learning. Furthermore, they have been learning more about grammar and practicing their spelling skills. We would also like to congratulate the children for their amazing performance in their spelling tests. We are very proud to see so many perfect scores! Keep it up guys!
In IPC, we kicked off the year with the topic Brainwave; a journey into how we learn and the skills we need to support and develop our understanding. We talked about how having a positive attitude to learning and belief in ourselves helps us to meet the challenges we may find ahead. We also did a second mini unit this half term; Learning Effectively Online, where the children were encouraged to think carefully about what the internet is, how it works and how to use it safely and responsibly. The unit ended with a bang with the 2 Middle Primary classes working together to create a Halloween obstacle course for the Beebots to navigate through. This was the start of a week of fun Halloween activities which ended on Friday with our annual school halloween celebration. The MP classes designed and made bats out of a range of materials which they threw out of the window in a competition to see which one travelled the furthest! There were also some lovely moments with our buddy classes (the pre primary classes) - the children throughly enjoyed spending time together!
It was lovely to touch base with many of you for our parent teacher conferences, we hope they were helpful and informative and that we addressed any concerns you may have about your child or our routines in school. Needless to say, our door is always open and we can be contacted after school or via Seesaw to address concerns or queries. We thank you for your continued support and co-operation.
Last, but by no means least a huge thank you to our wonderful classroom support teacher Ms Alba- she has been an amazing help these last months and both the kids are enjoying getting to know her and grateful for all the help she provides and the warmth she brings to the classroom.
We wish you all a lovely Autumn break and look forward to seeing the children on our return to school! Happy holidays all!
Ms Erica, Ms Anelda and Ms Alba
Welcome to our final blog for the 2020-2021 school year! It has been a year of surprises, joy, learning, and growth for all of us in Middle Primary.
We recently welcomed a new student, Dhriti, into our classroom after the Easter holidays. Dhriti comes from India and has brightened up our classroom with her eagerness to help and share her knowledge from home. Welcome, Dhriti! Ms. Irene (Italy) and Ms. Veta (Greece) also joined us as classroom support in Middle Primary, and their assistance has been invaluable. The children are so welcoming to new faces in their space and Ms. Veta and Ms. Irene quickly made a positive difference in our classroom. We also said goodbye to our friend Minami, who moved to America with her family. We wish you well, Minami!
We have celebrated so many birthdays since February! Tess turned 10 in April, Gaja turned 11 in May, and Julia turned 9 in June. We are also looking forward to celebrating Berit’s 9th birthday next week. Avni and Misha have summer birthdays and we celebrated them during a class field trip to the Blaarmeersen, which was quite a highlight of this year. The children participated in organised frisbee and baseball games then had the afternoon to play and swim together in celebration of all of their learning and hard work. We even got lucky with warm (not rainy!) Belgian weather and enjoyed an ‘’uitstapje’’ with all of our Primary classmates.
In IPC, we wrapped up our beloved ‘’Do You Live Around Here?’’ unit with a pizza party and nature games in the woods. The children raised money for their pizza party by brainstorming lists of chores and tasks and negotiating with their families about how much each task could earn. They raised enough money for their pizza party through their housework at home – well done! Another highlight of our habitats unit was our field trip to the Ghent University Botanical Garden, where we scooped up and analysed pond life. The children discovered leeches living in the water – what a surprise!
We moved into our next unit, ‘’How Humans Work’’, which the children became fascinated by. Why do we have skulls? What happens when we get sick? What is the most important organ in our bodies? The children had many questions, which we answered as we progressed through our studies of the digestive system, cardiovascular system, and skeletal system. We used our new anatomical and biological knowledge to make detailed displays of body systems outside of our classroom, defining important body parts and showing our understanding of these systems in action.
To wrap up our year, we’ve moved into a study of the Olympics. The children have learned the origins of the Olympic games in ancient Greece and compared the ancient games to the modern-day Olympics. We’ve even created our own class Olympic motto: Keep the flame burning! We chatted over Zoom with a Paralympic silver medalist who sailed in the 2016 Rio Games and we had many questions for him about what the Paralympics represents and how he achieved so much. We will culminate our studies of the Olympics by participating in a whole-school end of year Olympics competition next week.
In literacy, the children have been learning how to format and write formal letters. We dove into a study of child activists and focused on how our own words can change the world. The children brainstormed a comprehensive list of world issues that they’re concerned about, then we began to investigate children who have made a difference. We learned about Greta Thunberg, Iqbal Masih, Louise Braille, Marley Diaz, and Malala Yousafzai, and how each of them has fought for what they believe in. The children then chose one world issue that spoke to them the loudest and wrote a letter to a world leader to express their concerns. They also addressed their own envelopes, many of them for the very first time. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, American President Joe Biden, and the Pakistani Ambassador to Belgium Zaheer A. Janjua have quite a few letters to answer these days! Our fingers are crossed that we get some responses in the mail.
As the year draws to a close, we are preparing to say goodbye to our friends Gabriela, Antonio, Berit, and Enrique. We will miss you so very much, but are confident that you will spread your wings at your new schools. Best of luck in Italy, Dubai, America, and the Nederlands!
It has been an absolute pleasure to lead this group of compassionate, creative, curious, bright children this school year. We are finishing the year with many memories of our days spent together, from big whole-school moments like Fudge’s Ancient Egyptian-inspired funeral to our smaller, day-to-day rituals like writing kind messages on the whiteboard for our dear cleaning woman, Cemile, and eagerly awaiting her replies in the mornings. The children have grown not just as students and intellectuals but as humans, developing their resiliency, communication skills, problem solving abilities, social skills, and empathy throughout the course of this year.
Middle Primary, we are so proud of you and all that you have experienced and achieved this year. Now, onward and upward!
Welcome to 2021! Our year started out on a bright note with two celebrations: Gabriela’s 10th birthday and Antonio’s 9th birthday. Happy birthday Gabriela and Antonio!
Since our last blog, we've had two IPC units of study: ''Gateways to the World'' and ''Do You Live Around Here?''. We flew into our ''Gateways to the World'' unit with an entry point inspired by travel. The children dashed around the sports hall, packing suitcases and pretending they were pilots flying a plane through turbulence and low visibility. Our Gateways unit was based on how travel connects us, and we focused on geography (mapping skills) and technology (designing and making products to meet specific needs). The children designed, mapped, and created their very own airport for our school Beebots, and then programmed the bots to move through the airport with different goals and stories. For example, Kred the Beebot snuck through security without a ticket and made it to the international terminal to board a flight. He was a very sneaky Beebot! We wrapped up our studies with an egg drop STEM project to see if we could design a vessel to protect an egg from breaking when we dropped it out of the school windows. The children used masking tape and cardboard to create their airborne contraptions…and we were all thrilled to watch two out of four eggs survive the big drop!
We began our next unit, ‘’Do you Live Around Here?’’, with a trip to the forest, where the children built survival shelters using found and foraged materials. Their structures were varied and creative, and they used ivy, sticks, branches, leaves, trees, and their imaginations to build. We’ve taken a local walk, mapped the area around ISG, catalogued the different types of homes around the school, investigated how home design is influenced by climate and culture, and talked about our various homes from around the world. In this unit we are focusing on science (carrying out investigations) and art (choosing materials and techniques appropriate for their task), and we are integrating geography, history, and technology as well. We are also tying our study of homes and habitats into writing non-chronological reports and using topic-specific vocabulary.
One of the most exciting aspects of our new IPC unit has been our mini habitats project. Every Tuesday afternoon we head into the woods to study small patches of ground that we have demarcated with string. Each child has their own habitat that they draw, observe, and make predictions about. Even though it’s winter here in Belgium, you wouldn’t believe how much the children’s habitats are changing every week! We are discovering feathers, tiny mushrooms, slugs, sprouting acorns, berries, moss, and more in our habitats. The children are so eager to get outside and check their special spots, and their observations and notes are full of life and detail. We recently found animal tracks in the snow and discovered that the snow revealed secret animal movements and trails to us that we wouldn’t have been able to see without it. We found a ‘’bird highway’’ right next to Enrique’s habitat! Back in the classroom the children have written mini reports based on the living things they’ve been finding in their habitats. We’ve all learned about moss, slugs, earthworms, beech trees, and ants, and practiced our skills writing reports and formatting text in Google Docs in the process. We’ve created Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting our habitat discoveries, photographed and taken samples to identify with field guides, measured, sketched, labelled, made predictions, and thoroughly enjoyed our moments in the woods. Our mini habitats project has been such a highlight of the unit and brought us closer to our natural environment and the ecosystems right here in Ghent.
During our Daily 5/Literacy time we have been delving into the world of fantasy! We have started reading a book called Nevermoor about a little girl who is selected to try out for the Wundrous Society in a magical realm that she has never heard of, filled with wondrous characters, animals and mischievous classmates. We have been working on finding new and interesting words and then finding new and creative ways of enhancing our writing. The children have been using a thesaurus to help them find alternatives for verbs and adjectives. We have also been trying our hand at creating our own Wundrous Society names, drawing Morrigans’s ever changing bedroom from the descriptions in the book and we are now writing questions for an interview with Jupiter North, Morrigan’s patron.
In Numeracy both Year 3 and 4 have been working towards their mid term tests and been doing very well. We have also started working on our times tables to see how many we can do in 60 seconds!
The students who arrive before school are also working on painting an amazing rainforest banner for the classroom and last week they started on a coral reef! They really are enthusiastic painters!
Our days are filled with scientific observations and walks in the woods, taking flight into fantasy worlds, approaching numeracy in creative and hands-on ways, and expressing ourselves through art and writing. The children remain eager and spirited learners, and it is a joy to spend our days together. Best wishes for Krokusvakantie!
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year in Middle Primary! We have eagerly been getting to know each other, welcoming new friends, and settling into our classroom and routines over the past few weeks. This year we have twelve children representing twelve different countries/nationalities, including Colombia, Finland, India, U.S.A., Venezuela, Lebanon, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Uganda, and Poland. We were thrilled to welcome Lara and Amelie, two Year 4 children brand new to ISG, who quickly became important members of our school community. We also recently celebrated Enrique’s 9th birthday with Roblox cupcakes and a little party. Happy birthday dear Enrique!
We began the school year by focusing on connections – the personal connections that link us as people, the international connections between the countries that we come from, and the biological connections inside of our brains that create learning.
After two weeks of settling in and sharing about ourselves and our learning, we dove right in to our first International Primary Curriculum (IPC) topic: Ancient Egypt. What a rich, fascinating, and energizing topic! We researched the role of the River Nile in Ancient Egyptian society, learned about how mummies were prepared and why, and wrote our own historical fiction stories based on pharaohs, mummies, cats, tomb robbers. The imagination and energy that the children captured in their writing and artwork was truly inspiring! The children designed and made their own cartouches out of clay, learning about hieroglyphics and scribes in the process. Then we created a tomb painting as a class by drawing and painting to scale, which was more challenging than we thought it would be.
During our Ancient Egypt unit, the children adopted a classroom pet: Fudge the housefly. Unfortunately, Fudge passed away very quickly…but the children leapt at the chance to prepare him for the after life…! We learned that very important pharaohs had large pyramids, so of course Fudge had to have his own very impressive pyramid. The children created canopic jars, a sarcophagus, tomb art, and many amulets to support Fudge as he transitions into his after life. We all hope that when Anubis, the jackal-headed god of embalming, weighs Fudge’s heart against the feather of truth, that he will proceed into paradise with all of the things we’ve prepared for him!
We’ve been enjoying using the Daily 5 structure for our literacy programme, as the children gain independence, choice, and time for their reading, writing, and spelling studies/word work. Many of the children can be found in the mornings tucked into small corners of the classroom, cosily reading by themselves for extended periods of time. They’ve also found great joy in their writing this year, and they can be found discussing dramatic plots, secret journal entries, and exciting story twists with each other at our communal work table. Any visitors to the classroom in the mornings notice a busy little hum with the children focused and concentrating on what they’ve chosen to work on.
In addition to our IPC, numeracy, and literacy programmes, the children participate in lessons in swimming, sport, Dutch, music, and choir. Some children are playing the recorder in small groups with our music teacher, Sterre, and one group recently played Ode to Joy together during an all-school assembly.
We have navigated a few transitions in our classroom, namely saying goodbye to our friends Amelie, who returned to the U.S.A, and Lara, who returned to Uganda. Both left with many new friends and memories. You are already missed, Lara and Amelie! We also welcomed Ms. Narissa back from her maternity leave. She began leading literacy and numeracy in October, with Ms. Sophie continuing to teach IPC. Welcome back, dear Ms. Narissa!
While walking around our beautiful Ghent recently, I stumbled upon a shop that had a quote reminding me of the Middle Primary children and the joy they find in learning, sharing, and being in school. In closing, I’ll leave you with this:
‘’Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’’ --Roald Dahl
Best,
Ms. Sophie
First I would like to share that I am very happy to be back at ISG and looking forward to teach your children for the remaining part of the year. My classroom is your children’s home away from home.
The first week back we used Lego Story Starter to write and tell our own stories. Story Starter helps the students to create stories in a natural way. It enhances speaking, listening, reading, writing, and comprehension skills. It gets students involved right from the start, motivating them to use their imagination to develop and create narratives, characters, and storylines. After building their stories students take turns to share their ideas. They can also use the computers to write their story, which enables them to combine words and images to resolve problems in storytelling that they would not be able to resolve using words alone.
In year 3 we’ve been busy practicing our numeracy skills, working with fractions, shapes and word problems. As always, we are learning while having fun, either working in small groups or all together as a single group. We also have a good time learning with our interactive board. One example is our Abacus interactive programme that proposes different interactive activities. It is an excellent way to learn Maths in the way that children can see different examples, solve problems and receive immediate feedback. Whiteboards help pupils absorb information easily and have groups discussions. For teachers it is a great teaching tool because we can integrate our lessons, pictures, graphs and make annotations quite easily.
Our reading rotation mornings are now established, children get to read one on one with the teacher while the rest of the class is working independently on different tasks. This way every student is responsible for his or her own learning.
In literacy, we have been looking at writing instruction, year 4 made there own cooking show while year 3 were making a cup of tea. EL children made a stop motion movie using imperative verbs. They did a wonderful job! Furthermore, they have been learning more about grammar rules, spelling rules and practicing their writing skills. I would also like to congratulate the Year 3 and Year 4 students for their amazing performance on their spelling tests. I am very proud to see so many perfect scores! Keep it up guys!
Lastly we finished our term with carnival celabratipons, what a lot of fun!
Have a super nice holiday.
Ms Anelda and Ms Maria
Hello dear families,
As the end of the year is fastly approaching, we would like to give you a little update on Middle Primary.
Our Entry Point to our last project of the year, ‘They Made a Difference’, was all about significant people in the past and the present. The pupils had to look at photos of significant people and try to find out who they were/are and then research about them. The pupils made some lovely posters about all these amazing people. We also researched a number of scientists who had made discoveries or inventions and matched them with pictures that represented each of their significant stories. Lastly, we focused on Antoni Gaudi, we looked at his architecture and sculptures and discussed their forms and use of colour. The children then made mosaics based on his work.
The Year 3 numeracy pupils are extremely hard working and love their maths class. They have worked hard on multiplication and division, addition and subtraction with three digits, problem solving and programming Blue Bobs. It is a joy to see how enthusiastic they are. Well done!!
We enjoyed an afternoon of acting individually and in pairs to Christmas themes, it was lovely to see how confident and fun the pupils are.
As a class we think and discuss a lot about how we can help others and what we can do to improve on ourselves. The pupils put together their own Resolutions for 2020 and it is heart warming to read about how they want to improve in different areas of their lives.
Mr. Francis has been doing an incredible job at teaching sport and the children are very enthusiastic about learning new skills and developing or strengthening other skills.
Birthday treats: Ying Ying, Zahra and I celebrated our birthdays. All of year 3 & 4 made some yummy chocolate buns and enjoyed eating them even more. Louise, Gabriela and Riya played happy birthday on the recorder and left me with the biggest smile. Thank you thoughtful girls!!
Movie night was a huge success and we must thank Lucia and Ying Ying for their fabulous drawing for the entrance to the cinema for 'Neverending Story'.
So much effort was put into our Christmas show and this was clearly evident when each child shone when singing and dancing. Well done everyone!!
Year 3 to 6 were treated to a morning of ice-skating at the Christmas market, it was such a lovely way to end the year.
As an International School pupils come and go, and the time has come for us to wish Zahra the very best of luck at her new school and to let her know that she will be greatly missed.
I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know how much you mean to me and how much I have enjoyed teaching your child and being part of this amazing ISG team. It have been the most incredible years here, which I will carry with me. But I will see you all in January!!
Till then,
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, love filled 2020.
Biggest of hugs Ms. Rebecca
Dear families,
Such an incredible month of learning in Middle Primary. The children have focused on lots of new learning and are proving to be a very solid class. They are very attentive and helpful to each other…this makes for such a happy classroom environment.
In numeracy the pupils have been challenged with fractions, but they have learnt to multiply and divide with fractions and their understanding of subtracting with 2 digits is becoming stronger. They have been learning to subtract and add money with a decimal which can be tricky but they have grasped this new learning.
We shared at assembly and in pairs the children acted out how it is to be poor and how easy it is to help others. During this time our class informed the school of how we are going to help those less fortunate by starting a collection of clothes and some toys for the refugees. We are very grateful for all the donations and after the break we will ensure that these items reach the NGO which will transport all these items to try to keep these people a little warmer this winter.
In IPC we looked at and discussed what it might feel like to be old and how best we can care for the elderly. We blindfolded and put some cotton wool in some children's ears and they were guided around the school and then they explained what it felt like to not see or hear properly. The pupils have put together some incredible writing samples about the lives of poor people in workhouses and they clearly have gained much knowledge about life 150 years ago. We ended our IPC unit with an excursion to the House of Alijn which showed how different life was in Belgium the last 80 years.
We have enjoyed different art tasks with the lead up to Halloween and our party was a huge success with Draculas, witches, skeletons etc. floating around. Halloween sports class was huge fun with lots of spooky moves!!! The children really enjoyed showing their costumes to the school on the red carpet and dancing to Halloween songs!!
We ended our last morning of this term watching Oliver Twist and enjoying some yummy snacks, which the children truly deserved after all their hard work. Well done to you all!!
We celebrated Lucia’s birthday with a delicious cake…thank you!!!
Wishing you all a lovely and relaxed autumn break.
See you soon.
Ms. Rebecca
