Parent Letter

March 18^th, 2011

Dear Parents,

Drop-off and Carline: Thank you so much for your patience and flexibility this week. Your swift adjustment to the limited parking now available means that our students continue to be dropped-off and dismissed in a safe and orderly manner.

Sodexo Update: As mentioned in my previous letter, lunch ticket prices have increased as follows,

·      Pink ticket (large meal) is 3.50 euros

·      Yellow ticket (small meal) is 2:00 euros

Following recent discussions, Sodexo have agreed to revert back to the old system where any child, regardless of grade, may choose to purchase either ticket.

Calendar Change: Please note that there is an error in the ISD calendar. May 27^th is a normal school day. This is not a conference day. We have already had our second conference day.

Spirit Week: Spirit Week is coming soon!  This year Spirit Week will begin on March 28^th. The student council have organized a different theme for each day. More information should be on the way soon.

Thank you again for your continued support.

Warm regards,

Alan Lorenzini

Elementary Principal

Elementary News - 2nd Edition

Please click on the link below to read our 2nd edition of the Elementary News

written by the Student Council Alternates.

Enjoy!

http://voicethread.com/share/1804234/

German Beginners Update

     Dear Parents,

          Our topic during the past weeks has been Kleidung. We were involved in the following activities:

·        Learning all of the names of clothing

·        Playing dress up

·        Making costumes and masks: Ich möchte den König sein. Ich brauche die Krone.

·        Role playing in our costumes and taking pictures

·        Singing songs to match our topic

·        Playing our Schokolade game. Ask your child to tell you what we did.

·        Having several opportunities to have Free Reading (with German books)

·        Completing lessons 5 and 6 in Tamburin 1

.  

We have started writing our own stories in German by using the Storybird program. The students are very motivated to choose the topic and art to go along with their own stories. They have been working in partners and are being risk-takers in this new venture. As soon as they are finished we will publish them for you to see.

 I hope your child has the opportunity to use German in everyday situations. I would also encourage the children to use the search engine "Blindeküh" accessible from the ISD Intranet. They can play games, watch special TV programs and much more. Have a look!

Have a wonderful and safe week!

Frau Scherpel

Crazy Hat Day

Reminder:

Friday March 4th, 2011 is...

CRAZY HAT DAY

Wear the craziest hat you can find!!!

grade 3 assembly

We had a fantastic assembly about our fourth unit ' People express their ideas and emotions through the arts'. We learned that art is different for everyone, it also depends on how the person is looking at the art work. We hoped that we inspired all the children and adults in the Elemetary school. We were lucky to have 4 artists visit grade 3. We made a piece of music with our own 'instruments' that we brought in from school.

    Phillip

News from the German Natives Group - Frau Laute

News from the German Natives Group - Frau Laute

Liebe Eltern,

hier ein Überblick über unsere Arbeit der letzten Wochen:

Rechtschreibung

Erarbeitung der Verlängerungsstrategie: Diese hilft uns herauszufinden, ob ein Wort am Ende z.B. mit ‚d' oder ‚t' geschrieben wird. So hören wir ‚Kint', müssen aber am Ende ein ‚d' schreiben. Das können wir erkennen, wenn wir das Wort verlängern und so das ‚d' hörbar machen: Kinder – Aha! Also müssen wir auch ‚Kind' schreiben. Gleiches gilt für die Frage b oder p und g oder k.

Überarbeitungslineal

Mit dem Ziel, eigene Texte immer selbstständiger zu korrigieren, haben wir das Überarbeitungslineal kennengelernt. Dazu wird ein A4 Blatt zu einer Art Lineal gefaltet. Die Seiten des Lineals beschriften wir mit jeweils einem Kontrollauftrag, z.B. Sind alle Nomen groß? Sind die Wortenden richtig (s.o., Verlängerungsstrategie)?

Mit dem Lineal kontrollieren wir den Text dann Wort für Wort.

Grammatik

Wiederholung der Wortarten Nomen, Verben, Adjektive.

Ziele im Deutschunterricht

Die Schüler haben sich persönliche Ziele gesetzt, die sie in diesem Semester erreichen wollen. Vorangegangen sind ein Brainstorming zu den Themen „Was gehört zum Deutschunterricht?" und „Was kann bzw. was tut jemand, der richtig gut im Deutschunterricht ist?". Die Schüler sammelten, sortierten und kategorisierten die Ideen. Jeder beurteilte sich selbst in Bezug auf die gefundenen Kriterien und setzte sich ein persönliches Ziel.

Verbindung zur PYP-Unit „How we express ourselves" (Kunst)

Ausgehend von der Betrachtung eines alten Stücks Gemäuer mit einem Marmorstein in der Mitte haben die Schüler assoziiert und verschiedene Landschaften darin erkannt. Wir haben ein dazu passendes Zitat von Leonardo da Vinci gelesen, bei dem viel Wortschatzarbeit geleistet wurde. Anschließend haben die Schüler einen eigenen Stein betrachtet und dazu eine Landschaft assoziiert. Diese Landschaft ist das Setting für eine (fiktive) Erlebnisgeschichte, die die Schüler zur Zeit verfassen.

Nach wie vor beginnen wir den Unterricht mit einigen Minuten freier Lesezeit. Das  Antolin-Leseprogramm wird weiterhin von uns genutzt.

Bei Fragen sehe ich wie immer gerne zur Verfügung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Sabine Laute

German News from the Intermediate group

Recently we have discussed the grammar topic of cases when it is correct to change the definite article "der" to "den." This can be tricky for non-native speakers. Students explained their own ideas and we settled on some common criteria for making the change. If you could say "he" in the sentence in English, then "der" is correct. On the other hand, if him sounds right, then "den" is the proper choice.

Our old friends Igel und Schildkröte helped start a discussion about trading things (tauschen). Students discussed rules for fair trading and wrote their own lists.

Several students have volunteered to present the comics they have created and to show us what they collect. Feedback has been positive for the presenters, and the comics and mini-books are available for free reading.

Students chose to participate in the first grade's kindness challenge by making cards for others. One student taught others how to make origami flowers and swans.

Here are links to a film of "Tall Painting" and to the "pulsate" digital music creator which we used to discuss art and music.

"Tall Painting" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdWcFp0NWCw

"Pulsate" http://lab.andre-michelle.com/pulsate

Best Regards,

Herr Neas