Primary Press June Edition

JUNE

PRIMARY PRESS JUNE EDITION

FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY We hope that you enjoy reading our last edition of Primary Press for Semester One. This week, you would have received your child’s report card for Semester One. If you are new to the school this term, your child may not have due to the late start in the semester. If this is the case, please ensure that you organize a parent teacher interview being offered at the beginning of Term Three to discuss your child’s progress thus far. This opportunity exists for all parents, so please keep an eye on your emails in the first week back for the information required to book an interview time if required. It is important for you to discuss any concerns that you may have regarding your child’s progress with the class teacher.

With the focus next term on ‘Our Kids Matter’, we will be asking parents for their feedback regarding a number of things, one including our Smart Choices Policy for promoting the health and wellbeing of our students. This term, we have noticed many classrooms becoming birthday party venues with ‘not so healthy’ treats and cakes being handed out to students, at times without the permission of parents. We acknowledge and value the celebration of a child’s birthday and a parent supplying a cake to share with FX classmates to mark the occasion. However, we encourage parents to be mindful of our school policy to actively support and encourage smart healthy choices for foods and drinks. Also be mindful that some students may have behavioural or allergic reactions to some foods and that some of our students and their families choose not to celebrate birthdays. With this in mind, we are now looking at alternative ways to celebrate birthdays. One suggestion is that each month, through a parent managed roster, fruit platters, fruit muffins or cupcakes are organized on a set day for the birthday students for that month. Do you have any other great ideas? Please let us know.

We would also like to remind everyone of our school times, with school starting at 7.50am (doors open) and finishing at 2.30pm. There is no supervision for students outside of these times unless participating in after school activities. Additionally, if you are collecting your child/children from school and you are arriving a little earlier than 2.30pm, we ask that you wait in the area nearest the primary gate at the picnic tables or in the Tavola Tree area (rain permitting) until the home time bell goes. The covered area is preferred if it is raining. It is then that we invite you to collect your children from classrooms if required, else ask your students to meet you at these designated areas. We ask that you support these structures so that we can ensure the safety of our students and teachers. Thank you.

With security and safety also in mind, we are now limiting gate access at the Green Cottage. Gate opening times are: 7.00 – 8.30am, 10.45 – 11.15, 1.00 – 1.15pm and 2.15 – 2.45pm. This allows time for drop offs and pick-ups for Discovery and ECH1 programs and a limited time for after school pickups. The gates will be locked at all other times during the school day. If it is locked, you must use the primary entrance gate.

Thanks again for your cooperation.

Farewell to all of our students leaving us this term. We wish you well on your new adventures! We will miss you all very much. As our farewell song suggests, ‘Forever I’ll always remember you.’ Take care.

We wish you a fun filled holiday with your children and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Wednesday, July 15. A reminder that Monday, July 13 and Tuesday, July 14 are Teacher Only Days.

Karen and the Primary team

YEAR 4 NEWS It has been an extremely eventful time in Year 4 these past four weeks. We went on an excursion to USP and visited the energy center.

After a discussion with the lecturers, we had time to explore the different energy sources that were being used at the university.

Also during our PSPE intensives with Mr Joe and Ms. Emele, the Year 4s presented their games that connect with one of Newton’s Laws. Each group taught the class a different game and everyone enjoyed learning new skills. It was great to see the students take the learning from class and put it into action.

What’s New in ECH2?

The second half of Term 2 was another busy one for the Whales and Dolphins! Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Jules Mas, who left us on June 4th. He and his family are moving to Venezuela, and we wish him all the best at his new school! We will miss you, Jules!

ECH 2: All living things

May was a busy month for birthdays. We celebrated Zoë and Shanaya’s birthday and also Ms. Jodee’s.

Thank you for bringing cake in for us on those special days. We were very excited to have cake during Morning Tea.

go through a process of change.

We are finishing off our unit on Living Things. We are very familiar with our Central Idea which is, “All living things go through a process of change to grow”. We are also able to explain our Central Idea as we can identify what living things need to grow and we can identify their process of change (the life cycle). We have looked at the life cycle of the plant, butterfly, chicken, frog and turtle.

ECH 2: All living things go through a process of change.

As part of our inquiry, we went on an excursion to the Australian High Commission where we were able to see seeds being planted and we were even able to plant our own plants. Afterwards, we had lunch and played on the playground. Thank you very much to the Australian High Commission and specifically Anna Robens and Wendy Robertson for organizing such a wonderful excursion for us. Also we would like to give a special shout out to our parent helpers for joining us on our trip. Your help was much appreciated. We had a great time!

After a very busy term, we are really looking forward to our 3 week break. We hope you all have a wonderful and restful break and see you back at school on July 15th for the start of Term 3. There will be no doubt that Term 3 will be just as eventful as Term 2.

Ms Jodee, Ms Amanda and Ms Sai

ECH 2: All living things go through a process of change.

Joshua & Kama: “It’s quite heavy. I wonder what’s inside. I can hear something too? What might it be? Let’s find out.”

Zion: I think I know.

Year 1 Stencil Printing Jonathan: “So this how they print our clothes.”

ECH 2: Tahli & Zoe: Bula!

“Shells can be used in many different ways.

We can play with them and decorate words too.”

Jules: “This is a coconut shoot. It will grow into a very tall coconut tree. It will be taller than Saka.”

FIJIAN STUDIES

Our Unit of Inquiry focus this term was on Force and Energy and we have reached the end of a very interesting and exciting learning journey travelling through the unknown to known and vice versa. We began by studying and making connections on how Force and Energy is present when playing all musical instruments.

We discovered how the upright acoustic Piano mechanicals worked and identified the use of Force and Energy within a Piano to produce sound.

During this Unit we also studied how Brass and Woodwind instruments produce sounds through Force and Energy and concluded our inquiry with a trip to the Fiji Police Band to further explore more on musical instruments and how Force and Energy was connected with these various instruments.

Our students were greeted with performances by the Fiji Police Band on Music from around the world. Each section on the Band introduced their instruments and explained how Force and Energy connected with playing musical instruments. At the conclusion of our trip our year 3 students performed a few Fijian songs for the Band which was well received by the Police officers. They all said how impressed they were hearing our students sing in FIJIAN. Once again we have reached the end of another term and I wish all our students the very best during the three week break.

For the love of music, Mr Tim

Resource: Pinterest

Ni Sa Moce Nada from ECH1 and Discovery As we finish off our Primary Unit of Inquiry, ‘PLAY’ the children were asked ‘’with who and what they liked to play’. The top five games on the list are Hide and Seek, Puppet Shows, Duck, Duck, Goose, Snap and riding bikes.

Ni Sa Moce Mada

The wheels on the Green Cottage Bus go round and round, all the way to America.

We say Namaste, Au revoir, Sayaonara, Zaijian and Adios from International School Suva to you Evie Crook. As you say goodbye to Fiji, your home for the past three years, we send with you our best wishes and safe travels to your new home and school.

Thank you, Vinaka Saka Vaka Levu, Dhanyavad, Merci Beaucoup, Gam Sa Ham Ni Da, and Xie’ Xie’ to you all for a successful and rewarding term two.

We are looking forward to hearing and seeing about your travels around the world in term 3 on your return, ECH1 and Discovery students.

Ms Jacqui, Ms Litia and Ms Sala

Experimenting with a dholak.

Navigating the route of the Leonidas, the ship which brought the Girmitiyas to Fiji.

Making roti with Guruji.

What’s New in Year 2?

Inventions As our unit of inquiry into ‘Inventions’ draws to an end we look back on our experiences in Hindi Studies and reflect on what we have learnt. We had a great time finding out information and experimenting with inventions brought to Fiji by the Girmitiyas over one hundred years ago. Dhan’yavhad Guruji!

So Long! Farewell!

We are sad to say goodbye to our friends, Stirling Smith, Jasmin Colakoglu Gillini and Shamathmika Vijay who are leaving us at the end of this term. We wish our girls and their families all the very best in their journeys on to new jobs and new schools and hope that you will remember us here at ISS. You will be missed!

We wish you all a very happy and restful term break. See you in July!

1Enjoying the inventions all around us!

Investigating the 100 year old water fountain in Thurston Gardens.

We have learnt how inventions have changed over time.

Library Update We have moved to the new library building!

The library has been a buzz of excitement and activity this week. Together with the help of students and staff, we have moved into our new library. The library team would like to thank all students and staff who helped to make the move a success. Unfortunately we will not be able to open the library during the coming break as the library team will be working really hard putting all our lovely books back into their right places so that we are ready to welcome our students back by third term. However, we have some wonderful free books available from our library webpage which we hope that you can enjoy with your children.

Library webpage: http://issfijilibrary.weebly.com/resources.html During our library sessions this term, students had the opportunity to explore books related to the central idea of their unit. Students also learned about resources available on the primary library website to support their learning.

Read on to find out more!

ECH 1 We have been having fun in the library this term. We identified the different parts of a book focusing on the title, author and illustrator. In connection to their classroom unit of inquiry “How we express ourselves,” we read together the book “Let’s go” by Beverley Randell. Our library lessons also focused on book care, listening skills and checking out books.

ECH 2 Students in ECH 2 have been investigating the life cycle of a turtle through a variety of Non Fiction books and analyzed and sequenced photos of the life cycle of a sea turtle. During our library session students enjoyed making predictions as they listened to the book “Pete the cat I love my white shoes” and sang along to the song “I love my white shoes.”

Reception We began our inquiry with the Non Fiction book “Why should I recycle” by Jen Green for the unit “Sharing the Planet” where students are learning about caring for our environment. This book provided the context for our discussion of things that we do to care for our planet. Together we revisited the different parts of a books and book elements – title, title page, author, and illustrator.

Year 1 Students in Grade 1 are beginning to develop the research skills necessary to create an information report. We began our inquiry by learning to use the table of content, a feature of the Non Fiction book, “The ABC of habitats’ by Bobbie Kalman. Students identified how to use this feature to quickly gather information.

Year 2 Students in Year 2 were exposed to biographies of innovative people in connection to their unit of inquiry “Where we are in place and time.” Students selected a person of interest to them and used a book from the series “Groundbreakers” to get to know them and create a timeline about the life of the person of their choosing.

Year 3-5 This term I continued to work with grades 3-4 to develop their information literacy skills. We revisited how our library arranges nonfiction books using the Dewey decimal classification system. We revisited and compared the differences between a fiction and nonfiction book and students demonstrate their knowledge by completing a fiction/nonfiction Venn diagram. Students identified a title, headings, information, diagrams, captions and sources as important features of an information report. We used our knowledge of a nonfiction features to locate information and complete research tasks that connects to classroom unit of inquiry.

Have a wonderful break and see you in term 3!

Mrs Salu Vaciloa Teacher Librarian Email: library@international.school.fj Library Website: http://issfijilibrary.weebly.com/ ICT

Primary Visual Arts This term, Year 3 had a colourful time considering the work of the inspirational artist Rex Ray, who sadly passed away earlier this year. We enthusiastically painted bright colors onto various sizes of paper, and then thoughtfully planned our compositions for our final collage work. I think they turned out spectacularly! Here are two:

Year 5 has learned some printmaking techniques and has been creating meaningful motifs with which to practice this technique. This has given them further opportunity to develop colour theory knowledge as they have freedom to mix, pair, and layer colours in their art work. We are happily anticipating Year 5 students’ creative work during the PYP exhibition next term.

ECH 1 students have gotten their hands into materials with all kinds of textures: sticky, fluffy, scratchy, shiny, bubbly, and smooth. They have created some multimedia collage work to show their enjoyment of textures in art.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday! Hope you experience the joy of art with your children, whether sketching at home, or visiting an art museum!

National School Swimming Championships A huge congratulation’s goes out to all of our Primary Swimmers who competed at the recent National Schools Swimming Championships. They all represented ISS extremely well and did us all proud! A special well done also goes out to all of our medal winners too! Great work everybody!

Adding to this is the selection of both Tabbai Soko and Papanui Liew-Masters for the Fiji Schools Swimming Team who will be competing at the Pacific School Games in Adelaide, Australia, in November. We wish them all the best!

NRL Holiday Clinic The year 2-5 students have been learning about the game of NRL for the past 4 weeks in their PSPE classes. The focus has been on learning the skills, rules and concepts of the game, which the students have thoroughly enjoyed. Mr Steve Belsham who is the Development Officer for NRL has been sharing his expertise with the classes and has done a great job which we are all very thankful for!

Steve is offering a holiday clinic for students interested in developing their knowledge further or even those who simply want to join in for fun!

Please email your attendance to Steve via the below email address: sbelsham@nrl.com.au Details: Location: ISS Primary Court Yard (entry via secondary gate) Date: Monday the 29th June, Tuesday the 30th of June, Wednesday the 1st July.

Time: 9am – Midday Cost: $50 payable on the first day (cash only).

Bring a healthy morning tea, hat and water bottle.

NRL Clinic open to all 6 -12 year olds.

May the Forces Be with You - Year 3 Year 3 students finished up our Forces unit by visiting the Fiji Police Band in Nasese. In preparation for this excursion, the students listed their burning questions from their music lessons with Mr Tim, and were then sent to the police band.

The band members spent some time describing their various instruments before the students were invited outdoors where they were thoroughly entertained by the band to march music coupled by a few dance numbers. A few students actually tried blowing some of the woodwind and brass instruments while the rest cheered them on.

The Police band was clearly impressed with the student questions but most of all the singing and the students’ enthusiasm to learn about music in a brass band.

Namaste - Hindi Studies

Year 3 and Year 5 classes have been learning the days of the Week (Saptah ke Din) and the names of our body parts in Hindi (Hamara Shareer).

I know seer is head, kaan - ears, eyes – aankh.

The Year 2’s in UOI Intensive - Hindi Studies have been exploring and researching the artifacts brought to Fiji by the Indian Indentured labourers or Girmityas between 1879 and 1916. The students researched Indian artifacts of their choice. In the final week of their unit “Inventions: AviShkaar” they took action and made roti using chakki atta and plain flour. The students really enjoyed the experience and eating their own home made roti.

A special visitor to year 5 …

In the final week of term, the Year 5 students received a special visitor to help consolidate their learning on the distribution of wealth and how it affects equal opportunities for individuals and communities. Api, a student in Year 8 from Marist Primary School, came in to share his experiences with our students. Here’s what some student’s said: Lena – “It really changed my way of thinking because I really like school stationery which I can get easily.

But he has to work a long time to afford stationery and he doesn’t get the one he wants, he has to get the basic stuff.”

Theo –“Api’s visit moved me, the way he had to live.

It may me feel very innocent about what’s happening in the world and I kept thinking about what it would be like living like Api.” Thomas – “I felt bad for him because he has to go out onto the streets at 6pm to sell and he stays out till 10pm… sometimes people steal things from him.”

Katie – “When Api visited our class, it definitely changed the way I think. I used to think that kids going out and selling from 6pm to 10 pm was definitely child labour but now I think if you are doing it for your family, it’s different.”

Jasmine C – “We get a lot of food and we don’t have to stay out so late and sell things. We get to come home and do sports or watch TV. His dream is to become a rugby player but he has to spend his time going and selling food.”

Sophie – “I thought that Api’s visit was really inspiring and even though he doesn’t get the opportunities that we get here at ISS, he showed a lot of the attitudes and the learner profile of our school. And, it inspired me and a lot of other people too to help our families more; doing things for your family to help out, even if it means walking home at 10 pm is not child labour”.

Emily – I felt a bit sad for him because he had to start selling at such a young age and I also felt that it was really cool how he manages his time and still manages to fit in everything he has to do.”

The PYP inquiry based learning approach teaches our students to view local and global issues through conceptual lenses. Students were able to make valuable connections about the distribution of wealth and how it relates to access to equal opportunities by interacting with Api.