Grade one last month studied the unit about water. We finished the unit reading the book Water by Frank Asch. Grade 1 students learned a lot about what water is and created their own book of reflection on Water. Here are some images of how they see what water is.
EY 3/4 are learning about colours. During the library time we read the story Titch, by Pat Hutchins. In this story little boy Titch gets a seed of a tree that he has a chance to grow higher than anything else they have. After reading the book I got an idea to “grow” our own tree by using colourful paints and our fingers. This idea came from JumpStart website.
This year we have two great electronic resources for you to enjoy over summer
Tumblebook a day is for younger students. Every day a new book is available to read on your computer. No need to login or use passwords – just click the link and you can read the book. There is a different book everyday.
Our students in grades EY3 to grade 1 and 2 are familiar with Tumblebooks.
For our older students SYNC is offering two free audiobooks to download for free. Not all the titles are available outside of the USA but many are. This week the two books are Dodger by Terry Pratchett and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Both are downloadable to computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone. There is an app to download to be able to download these books but it is very straightforward.
Enjoy these resources.
This week is ACTION week for grade 6 Exhibition students. Almost every year we have students choose reading and literacy as their passion. This year Rijk was concerned that the Syrian refugee children in Istanbul we missing out on the opportunity to learn to read. He took action. He created a refugee tent in the library and invited students to come and hear a presentation about illiteracy. Students could then read in the tent for a small donation. All money Rijk raised went to the Don Bosco refugee school here in Istanbul so they could purchase school supplies.
We want to share some of the gems that Donna Jo Napoli gave our school community. We have three clips from her key note address given on the 9 March on the topic of fairy tales as an inspiration for her writing. Below is her reflection about her visit in our school. Having an author visit has many positive outcomes – here is a prezzie by teacher librarian Dianne McKenzie and an article showing survey results from the Society of Authors about the value of these visits.
“From the tiniest folk through the high school, I found the students at IICS lively and responsive. They are always ready to consider others’ ideas and to discuss their own, and in an atmosphere of complete respect. That feeling permeates the school. The teachers are inviting and encouraging, both to visitors (like me) and to the students. There is nothing better than seeing a smiling, nodding face when I am facing a group of people I don’t know and presenting ideas that might be controversial — and at IICS there were many such faces.
We did writing workshops and the students happily consulted with each other, gave feed back to each other, and raced along on their own creations. Perhaps the highlight of my visit (or, really, one of so many) was the writers’ cafe on the last day. Students shared original work that simply made me dizzy with admiration. But what I loved most was how very kind they were to each other’s offerings. Sharing your poetry or stories is an intimate event, really — and they did it forthrightly, knowing they could trust each other. It was beautiful. I’m so very grateful I had the privilege of visiting IICS.” – Donna Jo Napoli, March 2015
