Primary eNews – February 28, 2020
Parents are asked to view upcoming events on the BIS Calendar of Events
Thank You For the Music
Our Preschool 3 to Grade 5 students will perform Thank You For the Music at 10:00 am and 5:00 pm next Tuesday 3rd March and 10:00 am next Wednesday 4th March.
Parents are welcome to join for any of the three shows, but we would like to have as many of you as possible join for the 5:00 pm show on Tuesday 3rd March. We have chosen to run a 5:00 pm show so that more of our working parents will be able to join so that the students can have the excitement of a late afternoon/evening performance and also to give them the chance to get home or out somewhere locally for some food before the show. We would also ask that all students and parents stay for the entire show out of respect for all performers and also because all of our students are due to perform in the show’s finale. Parents are asked to ensure their children are in the classrooms by 4:30 pm wearing their costumes so the teachers can have students organized in plenty of time for the show. The students will remain in the care of a teacher and ITP until the completion of the show. Please direct any questions to your child’s class teacher.
We will not have religion classes for Primary Students on Tuesday so all students can have a relaxing couple of hours prior to the show. If it is not practical to go home after school due to travel time, we suggest arranging a playdate with a friend who lives nearby.
Parent Information Session on Grade 5 – 6 Transition
Interested Grade 5 and 6 Parents are invited to attend a feedback session at 8:00 am on Monday, March 9 to feedback and share ideas on Grade 5 – Grade 6 transition for 2020/21. Grade 5 students will participate in a ‘Step Up Day’ on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 2 & 3, where they will join Grade 6 for two days of classes. To improve the transition process each year, we take feedback and suggestions from staff, parents, and students so that we can consider all perspectives as we plan to support our Grade 5 students make the step into Secondary School in August.
Student-Led Conferences
Primary Student-Led Conferences will take place on Tuesday 17th March. On this day you will have the opportunity to participate in a conference led by your child. Please note that this is not a regular school day and there are no classes during Student Led Conferences. The Primary Office will be sending out further details and pre-scheduled personal invitations next week.
Student-led conferences involve the student and the parent. The students are responsible for leading the conference, and also take responsibility for their learning by sharing the process with their parents. It may involve students demonstrating their understanding through a variety of different learning situations. There may be several conferences taking place simultaneously.
The conference will involve the students discussing and reflecting upon samples of work that they have previously chosen to share with their parents. These samples have been previously selected with guidance and support from the teacher and could be from the student’s portfolio. The student identifies strengths and areas for improvement. It enables parents to gain a clear insight into the kind of work their child is doing and offers an opportunity for them to discuss it with their child. The format of this conference will depend on the age of the student and all of the participants must understand the format and their roles prior to the conference. Source. Making the PYP Happen, IBO
Healthy Snacks & Lunches
We have recently seen an increase in sugary treats such as packets of Oreos, candies, and chips being brought to school by our students for snacks and lunches. I have included a few reminders from our Student & Parent Handbook which can be found in the Quick Links section of our school website.
- Primary students are asked to bring a healthy snack in a reusable container such as fruit, vegetables or nuts to snack on during their morning lessons.
- Please note that sweets/candies should not be brought to school.
- Students are encouraged to bring a healthy snack to be eaten at morning break time.
The Primary School has adopted the Pick N Mix 1 – 6 model to support our students in making healthy choices with their snacks and lunches. The website has lots of great ideas for healthy lunch box tips and recipes
Pick and mix one tasty option from each of the five core food groups to create a healthy lunchbox every day:
- Fruit (e.g. fresh, frozen, pureed and canned in natural juice
- Vegetables, legumes, and beans
- Milk, yogurt, cheese, and alternatives
- Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans
- Grain (cereal) foods
- Plain water
Click here to see full-sized pdf versions of the posters.
Computer Coding
A group of Grade 4 and 5 students have been participating in lunchtime Computer Coding activities with me over the past few months and I am also leading some activities in our upper primary classes in the coming weeks. We have used the Hour of Code website (https://hourofcode.com/) for these activities as the web-based coding platform means that they can be accessed on any tablet or computer platform at no cost.
I would recommend any parents wishing to try some coding activities with their child to look at the Hour of Code website and choose one of the many activities available for their grade level. I have enjoyed learning to code with the students (though some of the students are way ahead of me) and would encourage you to try this with your child.
Mr Marshall also has a number of books about computer coding available for loan.
Scratch Jnr is another wonderful platform to help young coders get started. The following is an excerpt from the Scratch Jnr website. ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves — then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life.
ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of young people (ages 8 and up) around the world. In creating ScratchJr, we redesigned the interface and programming language to make them developmentally appropriate for younger children, carefully designing features to match young children’s cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development.
ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets. For more information about ScratchJr, see scratchjr.org.
Older students, or even the younger ones who have mastered Scratch Jnr, may want to try using MIT’s Scratch. Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. For more information go to https://scratch.mit.edu/parents/
BIS Celebrates International Mother Tongue
Thank you to all of the BIS staff, parents and students who participated in our celebration on Tuesday. Here are some photos from the event (taken by Aurora Dwifhani)
Mr. Marshall
THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC
Oh, hello there! Do you know the play Thank You For The Music? No?! Well, keep reading and you will know way more than you do now. On March third and fourth, the whole primary is going to do a play,and each grade is performing a different scene, for example Preschool is doing the early humans and Grade 3 is doing a Metallica scene. Some grades have to sing some songs like Rock‘n’Roll and Scarborough Fair. At the end we all come out and sing Thank You For The Music. We are going to perform it three times, one for the parents, one for secondary and one for other schools. I hope you have enjoyed my story and have a good day.
By Evie in Grade 3
