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director's note
director's note
Dear Parents,
We bounced into the new Summer Term full of energy and good will. Our students have had a variety of engaging activities. On Monday, Ms Gulsah Dover, the Principal of National School, kindly invited all our International Primary students to take part in Children's Day. The event commenced in the Amphitheatre with a celebratory speech by Ms Gulsah. This was followed by a fully packed day of fun activities. I am sure all our students were exhausted by the end of the day.
This week we have Art Week, which our Head of Creative Arts, Ms Zoe Cosnett has been planning since January. We look forward to inviting you to view the fruits of our students' labour during the exhibition on the 8th of May. We trust you will find it an enjoyable and immersive experience.
With best wishes,
Natalia Ambridge
Children's Day Fun Day
Pastoral Care & Wellbeing
This month the students have been introduced to Yoga. We have looked at some simple poses and tried our first yoga flow with a SUN SALUTATION (Surya Namaskar) variations. Please use the links below to practice at home:
Yoga For Kids - The Sun Salutation
Hello Sun! A Yoga Sun Salutation to Start Your Day
Hello Sun Sequence | Cosmic Kids yoga posture of the week
Top Benefits of Yoga for Children
Our children, like us, live in a very busy world. They are bombarded with numerous expectations and constant stimulation. Through yoga, meditation, and mindfulness, children can learn how to slow down, regulate their bodies and reactions, improve their focus and concentration, and stay present, peaceful, and connected. Yoga is not only a physical practice but an opportunity to develop lifelong skills.
1. Helps with Self-Control
Self-control is an important part of a child’s development. Kids who can practice self-control are better at maintaining friendships, making decisions, and responding to stressful situations.
Studies show that kids who routinely practice yoga are also less impulsive and have more patience while waiting for positive rewards.
2. Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Children need stress relief tools, too! In fact, reports show that children’s anxiety levels may have doubled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yoga is a great tool for children to use to work through their complex feelings.
Yoga helps children practice breathing techniques to calm those anxious nerves. These techniques help kids soothe their minds, which in turn soothes their bodies.
3. Improves Focus and Attention Span
Concentration is a tough skill for many young children to master! While children need lots of room to let their curiosities run wild, it’s also important for them to practice maintaining their focus and attention span so that they can learn new things and interact with others.
Yoga encourages children to focus on one manageable task (or pose) at a time. After a while of practicing yoga, children develop the ability to concentrate for longer periods of time. This is a skill that will greatly benefit children when they enter school.
4. Trains Fine and Gross Motor Skills
We all know that childhood can be a bit wobbly! Similar to dance, gymnastics, and other sports, yoga helps children train their balance, hand-eye coordination, and other key movements with small muscles.
5. Builds Strength and Flexibility
That’s right! Routinely practicing yoga strengthens children’s growing muscles. A Chaturanga a day could help keep the doctor away! Along with the benefits of being healthy, strength and flexibility keep kids safe during physical activity and exercise.
6. Teaches How To Regulate Emotions
Yoga was created to find a balance between the mind and the body. Children go through a lot of different emotions in the span of a single day, they may feel: excited, angry, worried, jealous, happy, sad, and more! There is a yoga class for all types of emotions, whether your child needs to learn to calm down or generate more energy.
It’s a great resource to have as a tool for when your child identifies a particular emotion and needs a strategy for managing it.
7. Benefits Health
In addition to building strength and supporting mental health, there are many internal benefits that kids gain from doing weekly yoga. Yoga helps regulate bowel movements, reduces asthma symptoms, and boosts immunity.
8. Impacts Relationship with Parents
It’s no secret that your children want to spend time with you! They will look forward to doing their weekly yoga practice with you because it is a creative and meaningful way to spend time together.
9. Boosts Self Esteem and Confidence
Another incredible benefit of yoga is that regular practice helps children learn to believe in themselves and their own capabilities. They will feel proud of themselves when they master a new move and can demonstrate all the different poses that they know.
Plus, yoga also helps children develop a healthy relationship with their body, which will be key for when they eventually go through the changes of puberty.
10. Better Sleep
Nighttime transitions are tough on both children and parents. Doing yoga as part of your regular nightly routine can help children relax and have a deeper sleep. You don’t have to do a full yoga class before bed, sometimes just a few breathing exercises or stretches can help set the mood for sleepy time!
Lynne Jenkins, Head of Pastoral
Forest Site Developments
by Karen Lloyd
BISI’s L.3 Forest School Practitioner, Year 5 Teacher
From barren soil in our B.I.S.I Forest site, miraculous developments over the past few months have led to a conductive and attractive outdoor learning environment for students. It began with the building of an outdoor classroom, which has since become a quiet reflection zone for nature based learning activities to take place in. The classroom is equipped with a dual-fire-pit where outdoor cooking takes place, a water station for washing dishes, a boot and coat rack and tool benches for tools usage. Next came the production of a fenced mud-kitchen, derived from recycled sign posts and recycled furniture. Here our youngest children can explore and experience woodland materials in a ‘hands-on’ way. The site is developing all the time!!!
EYFS
Miss Lisa: EYFS1
Fish Class students have been exploring patterns with numbers and colours, and taking time to describe what they notice to a friend. Students worked together to make a class rainbow with objects we found in the classroom, and later in the week, made their own individual version. Their language and communication skills are really improving and Ms Melike and I are enjoying seeing the growth in this area. This week we are making final creations of artwork for the Primary School Art Exhibition and although it’s confusing as to why some of this work cannot go home yet, the students are learning a variety of new skills and techniques. We hope to see you at school soon to enjoy this work with us!
Miss Lauren: Reception
We've had a great time in Dragonflies! We've been busy outside enjoying the Botanical Garden. We've been practising reading and writing 'harder to read' and spell words. We've been making portraits using natural materials. We've learnt to weave using our outdoor space and printed using natural materials!
We loved Children's Day!
Year One
Miss Katrine: 1D & Miss Lizzie: 1S
In Year 1 we have been learning all about sounds. As a part of this, the classes have explored a variety of sound sources and taken part in a range of experiments to explore how sound travels. To round off our unit, the children worked together with a friend to make and decorate their very own instruments.
Year Two
Ms. Aycan: 2A & Ms. Verralls: 2V
Year 2 Zek - Out and about to monitor Green Places in Istanbul for Humanities.
This month, Year 2 Zek visited the Belgrade Forest for their Humanities unit called Green Places. We have looked at the importance of gardens and forested environments for city dwellers. We located green areas around the world and have compared different cities using satellite maps. In the field we are comparing natural environments and more cultivated gardens. Next we will visit the Ataturk Arboretum. Here are some comments from the students:
The forest made me feel calm.' - Naira 2V
'I like nature to play games in.' -Junwoo 2A
'It was an adventure because we explored a new place.' - Jion 2V
'The forest is great because I know it is a safe place for animals to live in.' -Delilah 2A
'It was good to make it to the top of the hill because then I got to see the beautiful lake and birds.' - Chan 2V
' I like the forest because it gives us oxygen.' Elturan 2A
'It was very exciting to be in the forest.' - Kiana
'It was great to listen to the birds chirping, it makes me feel peaceful.'-Frankie 2A
'I felt comfortable.' Aydin 2V
' The forest is a healthy place.' -Arden 2A
'I felt happy because I like to be in nature.' Ada 2V
Year Three
Mrs. Robbins: 3R
In Design Technology, 3R has been learning about bread from around the world. We have looked at how bread is made and how different people groups enjoy special bread for specific holidays and cultural events. Bread plays a special role in all of our cultures and we have enjoyed discovering this as a class. As part of our DT final project, the students had to design a sandwich, first starting with a specific type of bread and then filling it with yummy things. They had to think about what items were available in Turkiye and what flavors might work well together. After designing their sandwiches, the students made the sandwiches in class and then we all had a fancy lunch party with tables clothes and candles.
Ms. Adesanya: 3A
Year 3A have been working on varıous types of art work, in preparation for the art week. We used different types of materials to exhibit our capability in art. Above all the children have enjoyed participating and contributing to the art week and look forward to their work being exhibited in the art exhibition. Here are some of the children at work.
Year Four
Ms. Lincoln: 4L
At last we have completed our beautiful and cleverly designed pouches. Some were made for lipsticks, some for mobile phones and some were even made for dog biscuits! 4L have learnt running stitch, back stitch and blanket stitch. Well done to them for their care, concentration and hand work.
Ms. Newman: 4N
Year 4 children had the opportunity to investigate sculpture and collage. They worked in mixed groups for arts week, focusing on their own body forms to produce impressive foil sculptures. Then looking further into their own thoughts, feelings, close memories and much more to create their own mind masks. The children responded with enthusiasm, energy and a progress of both skills and thought behind their art work. Well done Year 4!
Year Five
Ms. Lloyd: 5L
Environmental Art
5L students gathered freshly fallen environmental materials from the great outdoors and sorted them into groups in preparation for Arts Week. As you can see in the photos, our aim was to be as creative as possible in generating group environmental art pieces. The stimulus for our discussion was “Portraits”. We are very proud of the results!
Mr. Fawcett: 5F
5F have been passionately taking part in the BISI Art Exhibition titled 'All About Me'.
Two of the main projects they have been working on are eye self portraits and outdoor environmental art. They are looking forward to showcasing their final designs to parents, students and teachers during the Exhibition Week.
Mr. Dennison: Music
If you have any questions about Music class, please email Mr. Dennison at s.dennison@bisistanbul.org!
Year 4 has been taking time to improvise, collaborate, compose, edit, then share during Music class. It’s a loud and messy process, but the rewards can be great!
Year 5 is doing a great job expanding their ukulele repertoire. They are quickly learning many new chords and techniques which will lead them to play new songs quickly.
Year 6 is constantly working to refine reading and playing techniques of all kinds. Group work is essential and staying focused helps everyone.
Languages
Mrs. Gwilliam: ESL
In between Fun Day and the Bayram Year 3 and Year 4 have worked hard on organizing their writing. After writing, they helped to make props for the Mother Tongue Drama. Year 3 planned and wrote about their experience of Fun Day. Then they read their writing to the class. Meanwhile Year 5 read Cinderella to familiarize themselves with the story for the Drama and practiced definite and indefinite articles.
Ms. Hatice: Turkish
Merhabalar!
This month we celebrated April 23 Children's Day. Atatürk dedicates this day to all children of the world. Y5 and Y6 prepared posters about Children's Day. Our young students learned about food and drinks. They played games. Y2 learned about food and drink. Children love to play "rock, paper, scissors" and "bingo" while practicing Turkish vocabulary.
Mr. Vincent: French
Bonjour à toutes et à tous.
Here find an update about what French students are up to lately:
Y3 students are working on indoor and outdoor sports and hobbies, Y4 students are practicing for their coming speaking exam on visiting a doctor, giving symptoms and finding the best matching treatment, Y5 students sat their end of Unit test on Family, finally, Y6 students, after designing their dream houses and bedrooms are about to complete their end of Unit test.
Au revoir
Monsieur Vincent
Dear Families,
I am pleased to announce that the Annual Summer Fete is back.
This event will be taking place on Saturday 10th June from 10 am until 2 pm in our Zekeriyakoy Forest School Botanical garden.
All parents and students from all of our schools are invited to experience a traditional style British fete.
There will be booths and stalls with activities for all ages; coconut nut shy, hoopla, hook a duck, quoits, hair braiding, mini golf, face painting, ring toss, fortune telling, target games, tin can alley and many, many more.
For refreshments there will be traditional afternoon teas, ice creams, a lemonade stand, strawberries and cream and a BBQ too.
There will also be an amazing raffle with the chance to win some fantastic hampers.
As this is our annual fundraiser, all profits will be going to our chosen charity TIDER
Temel İhtiyaç Derneği. Please click on the link to see the wonderful work they do.
Tickets will be on sale for 100 tl, which includes all activities and games, popcorn and candy floss as well as a raffle ticket. There will be a charge for other refreshments on the day as well as the chance to purchase extra raffle tickets.
We look forward to seeing you all there for a day of family fun!
Please do not hesitate to contact me at l.jenkins@bisistanbul.org should you have any questions.
Lynne Jenkins
Head of Pastoral
Reminders & Upcoming Dates
Monday 1 May: No School, Labour Day
Week of 8 May: Primary Art Exhibition
Tuesday 9 May: Mother Tongue Drama performance
Friday 19 May: No School, Youth and Sport Day
Friday 26 May: 12:00pm Student Dismissal, Secondary Graduation Ceremony
Saturday 10 June: Summer Fete 10:00-14:00 in the Botanic
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