The Newsletter - February Edition 2014 - 2015 From the Principal Dear members of our school community, January was a busy month. The end of our first term means report cards and feedback through our traditional 3-Way-Conference (parent, student, teacher). The end of the term also means an opportunity to look back on what inquiries, what competencies and what knowledge our students have gained in the first half of the school year. It will also provide some outlook on what to strive for until the end of the school year. We are looking forward to have many exciting and challenging events ahead of us. Grade 3-6 will soon have their winter trip to Wasabiya, north of Hyogo Prefecture. We will celebrate Carnival on February 12th. The Grade 3-6 will also soon be taking the ISA (International Schools Assessment), in which our school is always academically strong. As a certified PYP school we regularly have an IB Evaluation, which provides us good feedbacks on our strengths and areas where we can improve. This evaluation will take place in May. Grade 5 and 6 will have their exhibition between March and May. Like last year, it will give us a convincing idea about the ‘output’ of an inquiry based curriculum. Last year I felt happy and proud to see what our students were capable of achieving. We also look forward to Project Week at the end of February with a focus on transdisciplinary skills and on the learner profiles. The big news on our playground is that we now have a climbing wall. Students will work on getting a climbing pass and then climbing all be an additional activity for recess and PE. We say thanks to the PTA and the Oktoberfest team for their support. We are beginning to prepare for the next school year 2015/16. As always, we are sending you the ‘Student Enrollment Form’ to ask your plans for returning to our school next year. Please help by informing us of your intentions. Thank you!!! Our Middle School needs thorough planning and implementations. We have subcommittees for ‘building’, legal issues, curriculum and marketing. If you want to contribute and share your experience, your knowledge or just your motivation, please feel free to join one of the committees. We would love to have your input. Best wishes Gerhard Lebherz, Principal Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
New Swimming Pool
With the beginning of the new year we started using the swimming pool facilities at the entente fitness club. The students enjoyed their first swimming classes a lot, especially because of the bigger space, the longer swimming time and the bigger variety of activities (diving deep, swimming across or the jacuzzi).
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Climbing Wall
The main work for the climbing wall was done during January. All students worked hard to get the project successfully finished. After designing 7 different climbing paths and putting those on the climbing wall, the students were painting the climbing wall.
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Early Years Our Early Years children always seem to be moving--rolling, running, jumping, dancing--and while that is a major part of their physical development, it is also important to help them practice their fine motor skills. In our class, we flex our fine motor skills in so many ways!
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Pre School
Did you know there are many celebrations that happen during different times of the year? That means we celebrate it during different seasons. Preschool made a seasons wheel to show the months that represent each of the four seasons and what we celebrate during each season. Some examples we had were Christmas and New Years in Winter, Easter in Spring, Summer festivals with fireworks in Summer and Oktoberfest as well as Halloween in Fall. Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
Grade 1
Rainy Days in the classroom call for extra BRAIN BREAKS! Without our usual runaround time outside on the playground, we take the time to refresh our smart minds. With a few breaks by dancing and through movement we stay better focused and motivated to learn.
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Grade 2
In math, we started the week working in pairs to make connections between different objects we took out from a mystery bag. We used the clues in the bag to figure out what we were going to be learning about. And we figured it out! It was...
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Grade 3 & 4
In our current unit of Shape & Space, the students are learning about the characteristics of a 3D shape. For this activity they used the computer to assist them in a web search to find out about different 3D shapes.
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
EUISMOD ELEMENTUM
Grade 5 & 6
The Grade 5/6 class were experimenting with matter to learn its properties and use changes in matter to do helpful things. We used our knowledge of matter properties and the Scientific Process to answer a question: Can we use data to improve paper boats that hold weight?
Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org
Additional Information http://dskobe.org/sign-in-1/ G SI N
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Deutsche Schule Kobe – European School 3-2-8 Koyochonaka Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0032 Japan Tel.: 078-857-9777・Fax: 078 857- 9775・http://www.dskobe.org/・mail@dskobe.org