Great research?
Grade 10 students are beginning their investigation for their Personal Projects.
What makes great research?
Knowing your information NEED then selecting the most appropriate sources
Friendships here and there
In March all of the teachers and assistants at IICS attended the CEESA conference here in Istanbul. Our library assistants Lindsey Paze and Dina Abizaid, along with our Primary Councilor Vivian Huizenga went to a workshop about Librarians and Councilor collaboration. This workshop looked at how the students 
benefit when the librarian and councilor work together on specific lessons. It was called Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Elementary School Students through Library and Counseling Collaboration and was presented by by Rebecca Battistoni and Laura Giosh-Markov from Anglo-American School of Sofia.
We thought we would try to do this with our primary students over one week just before the end of the school year. We wanted to focus on saying goodbye – something we seem to do so much at this time of year in International Schools. We used Deborah Underwood’s book Bad bye, Good bye as a prompt to discuss the emotions that go with having to leave your home and start afresh in a new location.
We found our students were very willing to talk about their previous experiences and to share their feelings about farewells they were experiencing right now. Teachers and parents gave us feedback as to how valuable these sessions were to their students.
We plan to continue exploring this collaborative relationship next year. We hope to focus on the IB attitudes taking about 8 or 9 of them over one year. As students will be in new classes and forming new friendships we will start with empathy. We will be blogging about this – watch this space…
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BOB 2016 winners
Congratulations to TEAM T.A.M Jams, Tallulah Burns, Alice Van Roste and Marie Van Roste of grade 6K who won this year’s Battle of the Books. Not only did these students read all seven of the Battle Books but they contribute more than 50 questions to the practice quizzes before the Battle. Creating those questions meant they got to know the books very well. We are already preparing for the 2107 Battle by asking this year’s grade 5 and 6 students to nominate one book for the Battle. Where did we find the winners to photograph them the day after the Battle? They were reading books on the couch in their classroom. Happy summer reading everyone.
Student-Led Conferences
Primary students during their Student-led conferences were showing to their parents what they learned in the library. Students were very proud to introduce the Follet Destiny to their parents. Here are some images of students browsing and searching for books, reading quietly to their parents, and using resource lists in the Catalogue.
The Cow Laid an Egg EY 3/4 reading activity
EY 3/4 listened to the funny book “The Cow that laid an egg” by Andy Cutbill. In this book the chickens at the farm hatch a plan to help Marjorie the cow feel special, but some of the other cows get suspicious. After the story hour, students did an activity “What animal can lay an egg?”. Students had to choose an animal and place it inside an egg. Kids really enjoyed this activity.
Ring! Yo? Readers' Theatre
Grade 3 listened to the book Ring! Yo? by Chris Raschka and then created their own conversations. In the book students only hear one side of a conversation.The rest is left to the imagination. When students read their conversations out loud, most of the scenarios revolved around the Moving theme (moving away to another country or city, moving homes).
