the british international school

EYFS & Primary Newsletter

march 2024

Dear Families,

March was a busy month of learning in Primary School. The students participated in a Kindness Challenge and enjoyed a variety of hands-on learning activities. This included preparing for the Science Exhibition, demonstrating the work our students have been learning as part of the Cambridge Science Curriculum. Our EYFS and Reception classes visited a local library as part of their Let's Explore topic. We also welcomed our parents into school for our second round of Parent-Teacher interviews. Our KS2 swimming cycle came to an end and our students loved our new pool! We are looking forward to the KS1 swimming cycle starting after the Spring holiday.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support and cooperation during this term. We look forward to a happy and successful Spring term.

Kind regards,

Alison Jones

director's note

Pastoral Care & Wellbeing

I was so pleased to get several entries for our Kindness Challenge.

They were so varied and showed that we really do have a student body that is so kind, at home as well as at school. All participants received a certificate and the Winners from each Key Stage received a cool t-shirt. Watch this space for more Wellness challenges next term! We celebrated the International day of Happiness on 20th March. The children talked about what made them happy and most of the answers were their family and school (as well as ice cream and chocolate). We took some photographs in one of our favourite places at school, The Botanical Garden.

IDEA in Primary

It's been a busy month of learning during IDEA lessons! Our IDEA Committee met and designed some beautiful IDEA posters to be enlarged and hung around the school.

Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6 students explored the relationship between equality and equity, learning how different people need different things to be successful and happy. They worked really well in small collaborative groups determining if various scenarios were examples of equity or equality.

Year 2 and Year 3 students did an amazing job writing about their best "part". After reading Wendy Ewald's book The Best Part of Me, students wrote poems describing what makes a part of their body unique and special. We then took black and white photographs to go along with each piece of writing, mimicking the style of the book. The children were wonderfully thoughtful and focused during this activity, and their work came out beautiful.

After reading Todd Parr's book, Be Who You Are, our Year 1 students described the most important parts of their identity using pictures and words.

We look forward to hosting our Parent Wellbeing Workshop on IDEA on Thursday 4 April. We hope you will join us to learn more about what IDEA looks like in Primary School!

EYFS

Miss Elise & Ms Tugba: Preschool 1

Hello everyone! Spring is here, so we explore more. After enjoying Going on a Bear Hunt and getting familiar with more features and sounds in our environment (grass, forest, river, mud, cave, snowstorm, beach, houses) we are now on the construction site. This project is leading us to explore building materials, jobs, architectures by feeling, weighing, comparing and measuring as well as enlarging our vocabulary with antonyms such as; heavy/light; hard/soft, up/down, under/over, in/out, bigger/smaller, empty/full. We are learning to go through challenges without giving up. We are developing the ability to build/repeat various patterns with colors, hexagons and the numeral 6. We are delighted about what tomorrow holds for us.

Miss Ogomoditse & Ms Hatice: Preschool 2

We had fun learning about the Bear Hunt story and the places it went like grass, river, mud, and forest. We talked about why these places are important for nature and for us too. We learned that rivers give us water to drink and help animals too. We also talked about how we use water for cooking, drinking, and more.

We pretended to be builders and talked about staying safe at a construction site and the tools they use. Then, we built things with blocks, Legos, playdoh, and boxes. We're also practicing writing our names. In Phonics, we listened to sounds in the woods and found words that sound the same.

In Maths, we measured things using words like short and tall, and talked about long and short lengths. Now, we're learning about weight using words like heavier and lighter. We're also counting to 6 and using a 10 frame to help us.

Miss Lauren & Miss Melike: Reception

Dragonflies have celebrated World Book day this month and we shared our favourite books with each other and wore costumes to show our favourite books.

We had a wonderful week celebrating being Global Citizens. We wore clothes from our home countries, shared food and learnt about where we come from and what we can find in our home countries. During the week we made pizza, fruit salads and sandwiches! We shared what foods we have at home and what our favourite foods are.

The topic in Reception is our local area and we are now exploring houses and homes and building our houses.

We visited Strong Roots library and we read books and created some Spring themed arts.

Year One

Miss Katrine, Miss Belen, and Miss Sena: 1D and 1G

As we are ending our Science unit on sounds, the children have been making their very own instruments. At first, they decorated their instruments with colours, patterns and collage papers. After that, it was time to assemble their instruments. They explored how the amount of rice they added to their shakers impacted the sound their instruments made. After deciding on the amount of rice they wanted, they closed their instruments up and enjoyed playing music with them.

The children also enjoyed celebrating the end of term with our big Spring Bake. They made chocolate nests and had fun decorating eggs and bunnies to put inside.

Year Two

Ms. Verralls & Miss Neslihan: 2V

In English the children enjoyed creating their own robots. They decided to design a way their robot could help our community. One robot that was created can make food for the homeless people. One can clean the oceans and also one that can help rescue astronauts in danger. Their ideas were very impressive and thoughtful. The children then wrote their own explanation texts about them.

In art for the celebration of spring, the children made their own patterns with chalk.

In KS1 the children have been learning about festivals that take place around the world to celebrate the start of Spring. We found out all about the Nowruz and made hyacinths and hats. We also had two visitors from the secondary campus, who spoke about how the occasion is celebrated. The children also got to taste some Nowruz treats and sing a song.

Ms. Aycan & Miss Neslihan: 2A

March began with our Book Day celebrations. It was fun to come dressed as our favourite characters. In Design Technology, we have been learning about sewing. We have learnt how to thread a needle and how to make a knot. We learnt running stitch, back stitch and blanket stitch. To celebrate Spring, we made chocolate nests which were delicious.

Year Three

Mrs. Robbins & Miss Neslihan: 3R

To support and celebrate our unit in the History of Istanbul, 3R students have been making their own traditional Tukish art. This month we learned how to create Ebru paintings. This technique uses special oil and paint to create a marbled affect. We will be showcasing these prices in the arts how this year.

Ms. Adesanya & Miss Neslihan: 3A

In year 3A we have been studying animal groups, different life cycles and fossils in science. We concluded the topic by having a closer look at fossils and their formation. A fossil is an impression made in mud. The hard parts of the dead animal press into the mud and the shapes of the hard parts are copied in the mud. Over a long time,the mud turns to rock. Most fossils are buried under rocks deep underground. The children enjoyed looking at,touching and describing the fossils in our class.

Year Four

Ms. Lincoln & & Miss Ödül: 4L

4L have had a lot of wet play times recently, which they love! Some have enjoyed playing games, others have taken the opportunity to get on with science project work. Whichever way, we are still waiting for some warm, Spring weather!

Ms. Newman & Miss Ödül: 4N

In Year 4 children have completed their unit on shape by learning how to calculate the area and perimeter of 2D shapes, and identifying all horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines of symmetry on 2D shapes. We also studied 3D shapes by learning their names, identifying the 2D faces of 3D shapes and describing their properties, includes number of faces, edges and vertices. Children particularly enjoyed matching nets to their corresponding 3D shapes and completing the Nrich challenge 'A puzzling cube' in which they had to deduce where the coloured faces were in relation to each other by visualising a cube net opening and closing: https://nrich.maths.org/1140

Year Five

Ms. Halabi & Miss Mos: 5H

It has been a whirlwind of excitement and discovery in Year 5, as our students have been conducting experiments with magnets and preparing for the much-anticipated Science Fair. Our classroom has transformed into bustling hub of scientific inquiry, where young minds have been hard at work on a range of captivating projects. The students have worked together, shared ideas, and supported each other's learning, reinforcing the value of teamwork and collective effort in achieving great things. Well done!

Mrs. Deufel & Miss Mos: 5D

Year Six

Ms. Ward & Mr. Furkan: 6W

Even More Science!

Over the last two weeks students have been completing their experiments, writing results and making the finishing touches to their display board. Students are looking forward to having parents and students as their audience on Friday, when they can discuss the results and share their work.

One of the advantages of conducting such a project is the other skills that are learnt and experienced - time management, organisation, deadlines, decision making and social skills.

Languages

Mrs. Gwilliam: KS2 ESL

We have had some sunny days so year 4 intermediates took their writing outside. They had to finish in 10 minutes on the sand timer and were very focused. Year 6 also went outside to take a break from practising the past perfect. Year 3 talked about their favourite books on International Book Day and then wrote book reviews. The new students have been getting to know each other and working well together.

Ms. Hatice: Turkish

Merhabalar!

This month in Turkish lessons Reception and KS1 Students earned the names of some animals and answered 'where?' questions. For example: 'Where is the cat?' 'The cat is under the table.' Year 3 Students learned about family members and how to ask and answer 'Who is that?' Year 4 learned verbs related to hobbies and answered the question 'What are you doing?' Additionally, I wanted to share the fantastic work done by the Year 4 students on the previous topic of house parts and household items." Year 5 students learned about different transportation and can now answer questions about getting around Istanbul. For Year 6, our topics regular activities what students typically do at or after school. They learned to ask and answer questions like "What do you do at/after school?" and "What does she/he do at/after school?"

Mr. Vincent: French

Bonjour à toutes et à tous!

On March 18th, DELF students went to the French Embassy to sit for their DELF examination after working very hard throughout the Spring Term. Congratulations to all the students for their hard work, perseverance and never giving up spirit!

In the meantime, in the French class, Y6s are working on the weather and will perform a weather forecast in class ; Y5s are working on school subjects and timetables, Y4s are preparing a speaking assessment on going to the doctor, giving symptoms and remedies in French. Lastly, after working on animals, Y3s, on a world map, are locating animals related to each of the seven continents.

Au revoir et à bientôt

Monsieur Vincent

Ms. Ana: Spanish

¡Hola amigas!

Year 3 students are working on animals. They have learnt about farm animals, pets and wild animals. Students also learnt the animals song in order to work on pronunciation. In this topic, learners have also focused on asking and answering questions in Spanish to enhance their oral skills.

Year 4 students have been working on parts of the body as well as identifying where it hurts. Students learnt the song of this topic to practice the keywords. They also focused on spelling quizzes and role-plays to reinforce the content learnt.

Year 5 students are currently learning school subjects as well as the song. They are required to work on oral activities by asking and answering questions so that they can strengthen their level of Spanish.

Year 6 students worked on bedroom furniture. Students learnt the relevant concepts related to this topic at the same time that strengthened their writing and oral skills. Together with these activities, learners practiced writing short paragraphs describing their bedrooms and also learned how to ask and answer questions in Spanish.

OWL (Outdoor Woodland Learning)

Ms. Lloyd

OWL students promised you a glimpse of the magnificent results of their painted dinosaur fossils. We have discovered colours of the rainbow, foraged for flowers and ferns, made ice orbs, dinosaur eggs and fossils, nature mobiles, berry bracelets and shelters, bird feeders and lady-beetle hotels. Here is an outline of the fantastic learning that has been taking place.

EYFS/Reception

Year1 : Let’s Explore, Shelters, Being Imaginative and Expressive

Year 2 : Animal Species Care, The Sun, Rocks and Soil

Year 3 : Fossils, Nature Mobiles, Birds

Year 4 : Birds, Bird Feeders, Fossils, Shelters,

Year 5 : Bird Feeders, Rainbow Ribbons, Shelters

Year 6 : Fossils, Shelters, Rainbow Ribbons, Bird Feeders

Please remember to dress your children in very warm clothing on OWL days and include rain boots, hat and gloves. Thank you!

Music

Miss Rebecca: EYFS Music & Drama

This past month EYFS music classes have continued working with boomwhackers and been preparing, along with KS1 drama, for their performance Mamma Mia! What's Physical Theatre? for the 19th of April 2024, after the holidays. Each class has been learning a Biomechanical exercise along with surprise movements to some of ABBA's most iconic songs. We hope to see you all there and please enjoy some class photo moments from the students.

Mr. Dennison: Y1-Y6 Music

Even students as young as Year 1 can and will learn to read musical notation. It is great to see such focused attention while reading music and playing instruments. In Year 1, we also explore fast and slow music, high and low sounds, or just even the sounds different animals can make. This song (The Old Grey Cat) explored all those concepts in a creative way and added in a fun game. Year 2 has been taking turns adding leaders to a welcome song to each Music class. The leader improvises an 8-beat rhythm alone, then the rest of the class echos the leader all together--the entire time we all sing our Welcome Song at the same time! Year 3 was part of a FANTASTIC assembly this month with Year 4. Several classes performed folk dances with instrumental accompaniments. Please check the BIS social media for any posts regarding this performance.Year 5 demonstrates that Music class and many learning environments are collaborative. You can see that we have to rely on each other to check each other's learning, or perform something successfully, be patient while taking turns, and sometimes make compromises.