From The German Classroom Term 4 2020
“Willkommen zurück!=Welcome back!”
These were the first words the students heard me say in the German classroom in Term 4 to welcome them all back to school, online (live streamed) and in the classroom.“Be cool-gnome matter what!”
These are the words from the very cool looking garden gnome from Germany. The ‘Gartenzwerg’, in German is a very popular figure in gardens all over Germany, this all the students discovered in Term 2 in the ‘Das ist Deutsch!= That is German!’ online videos. The ceramic version of the garden gnomes are believed to have originated in Germany and are very much part of the German culture.
In each class one student was chosen to say the “be cool” and the rest of the class answered with “gnome matter what!”, this was a reminder for all of us to stay and keep cool, no matter what happened in this Term 4.
We then discussed the exclamation word ‘Aha!’ and what it could mean when we say ‘aha’. What does it mean in English according to the Cambridge dictionary? ‘Aha’ is “used when you suddenly understand or find something, or learning the truth about something”. For example: “Aha, now I see what you mean!”.
When the students understood that there was a play on the words in the garden gnome’s message, that ‘gnome’ matter what sounds like ‘no’ matter what, then we had a few ‘aha’ moments.
Aha, now I understand!
In German and many other languages ‘Aha’ is used to express the same thing.
But, what else could it mean? If you Google ‘Aha’ then a few meanings pop up, ‘aha’ is short for Alpha Hydroxy Acid and the abbreviations for the American Heart Association and African Hotel Adventures. The famous Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha or a-ha also comes to mind especially since the single: “Take On Me” from the 1980’s is now still playing on the radio after A-ha celebrated its 30th anniversary of the popular song.
The German Federal Ministry of Health took the AHA concept and made it into the acronym for the Corona AHA-Formel campaign this year. This concept was placed in the media and on billboards all over Germany to remind people of the requirements for protecting oneself and others in this pandemic.
A for Abstand = distance/distancing
H for Hygiene = hygiene & hand washing
A for Alltagsmaske = all day/everyday maskEvery class from Year 1 to Year 6 has an AHA ambassador, who is allowed to kindly remind the other students about the AHA rules in the German lesson.
This AHA message was a simple reminder and proved to be very effective in a fun way.
I am very proud of all the students for taking on this task of keeping ‘AHA’ and ‘cool’ in this term at school.
Remember BIS “Be cool-gnome matter what!”
Auf Wiedersehen, bis bald!
Frau Kerstin Pani
German Teacher Primary Schoolhttps://ilikegermany.com/culture/gartenzwerg/
https://www.zusammengegencorona.de/aha/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/aha
Key Stage 1 Prize-Giving 2020
Last week Friday, our KS1 year groups held their annual Prize-giving & Awards Ceremony. Given the circumstances of this being a tough year, we felt it even more necessary that the students be rewarded for their hard work and dedication. We organised a live virtual ceremony, making sure that each student would have their moment and that all parents could be involved.
Students around the world faced a year they had never quite experienced before. Making a transition from everyday classroom activities to home learning, and online class has not been easy, but we are so proud of each and every one of you for making it through and better yet, excelling.
Seeing the progress from when we received our students in the beginning of the year to now, is incredible.
Prize-giving this year was that little bit more special, watching our students stay involved, keep a great working attitude and participate with enthusiasm – they absolutely deserve to be rewarded.
Siobhan Hendry
Key Stage 1 Teacher
Key Stage 2 Prize-Giving 2020
This morning at the Key Stage 2 Prize-giving ceremonies, we celebrated our students’ 2020 academic achievements.
As I watched the students celebrate their progress this year, something that really struck me was the adaptability and resilience of both our students and our school. In keeping with Covid regulations, both ceremonies were live streamed on Facebook. I suspect that if at last year’s Prize-giving, someone had told us that we would be broadcasting the next one to parents at home and at work, all the way across the city, we would have been very sceptical – but here we are!
Our students have achieved amazing results this year, and they have done so while adapting to online learning, face masks, social distancing, and so much more. Their achievements, always something to be celebrated, invite particular respect given the challenges they have faced.
Today, we took the time to celebrate our Prize-giving recipients’ achievements. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate each and every student in this school. You have been amazing this year – you can all be so proud of yourselves!
To our Prize-giving recipients: well done! We are so proud of you! Congratulations on your amazing achievements – I hope they inspire all of us to keep working hard next year!
Hannah Kirkaldy
Key Stage 2 Teacher
Egypt Day 2020
I want to see Egypt and raft down the Nile.
I want to see all of their stones in a pile.
I’ll meet an old Pharaoh and wear his cool hat
Or eat with the woman who knew the first cat.
But while I wait (since it might be a while)
I’ll dress my dog up in that white mummy style (by Steve Hanson)
And that is exactly what our Year 3’s did and boy did they dress up to the nines! After weeks of learning all about the history, geographical features, Egyptian society, pharaohs and pyramids, it was finally time to hold our iconic Egypt Day! We were graced by the presence of pharaohs, queens and even a few mummies.
Our day kicked off with an Egyptian Best Dressed Fashion Show. The students strutted their outfits to the tune of ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and our esteemed judges chose the three best dressed Egyptians.
PHOTO: (Left to Right) Alistair Mouton, Breanna Leonard, Mia Govender
After all that hard work it was time to eat. Each student was supplied with a specialised food box and feasted on a selection of middle eastern/Egyptian cuisine. There were dates, falafel balls, mini pitas, humus, grapes and a juice to quench their thirst. YUM!
Once our Egyptians were satiated it was time to do some belly dancing with Nadia from the School of Belly Dance. Suffice it to say, that we DO have some VERY talented male belly dancers!
PHOTO: (Left to Right) Oliver Smith, Wesley Silva, Joshua Munsamy, Alie Ibrahim Zaki and Sehan Singh
The day ended with the Year 3’s finally settling down to watch the iconic movie, Prince of Egypt. A fabulous day was had by all and we had some exhausted Egyptians making their way home!
Mandy Goch
Year 3 Teacher
Year 3 Mummies
In History and Geography this term, the Year 3’s have been learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their country. This has been a thoroughly exciting topic to learn about and one that the students have embraced with great enthusiasm.
This past week, the Year 3 students had the opportunity to make their own mummy by drawing the outline of one and using their cold glue skilfully in creating its bandages. After this, the students learned about the many steps to the mummification process and included these steps beneath their mummy creation.
Even though this activity got quite messy, much enjoyment was derived from it!
Alexia Holmes
Year 3 Teacher
Science Investigation
An important part of science is collecting and recording data. The Year 1 students are learning about Sound and Hearing. During this theme they have learnt to recognise sources of sounds.
Armed with Ipads, the students went out onto the playground to photograph different sources of sound. When they had collected their data they shared the photos with their peers, explaining the source of the sound. The students then recorded their observations, by drawing the sources of sound they had photographed.
When students learn to record and report on data collected, it helps them make sense of what they have observed, thus giving them greater insight into the topics we cover.
All in all our little scientists had so much fun exploring and reporting their findings, we look forward to doing this again soon.
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
“The greater your storm, the brighter your rainbow” – Unknown
We gave our Year 4 students a special assignment in art: “If you could see the year 2020 in January through magical glasses…”
The result was captivating! We expected our students to reflect on home schooling, Covid-19, masks, the earthquake, etc. To be honest we expected a very different reflection of 2020, but our students surprised us…
They drew happy pictures, showing family life, ice-cream, games and party hats. Most prominent was rainbows of hope.
Once again, they’ve taught us how resilient children are to change. Our kids are happy and hopeful despite the difficulties we faced this year.
We are incredibly proud of our 2020 Year 4 students.
Marlize Keyser
Year 4 Teacher
Learning About Time And The Importance Of It
“The two most powerful things are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy
Students are taught how to tell time somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8. We teach them how to read the hands of the clock and how to tell the seconds from minutes. They often get so excited to learn about telling the time that they forget the mere value in it.
Without realising it, in teaching time, we are giving them the understanding for a lifelong lesson in the value of composure, stability and patience.
This week our Year 2’s have been learning all about time!
We worked around the clock looking at how to tell which lessons we are in and how long we spend on those lessons, when break times are and how long those go on for.
Our aim is getting our students to become more aware of their surroundings and the various time restraints we live in as well as the value in learning patience.
We also tested our memory by filling in some worksheets in and doing some practical work within the classroom.
Some great ways to practice learning about time at home with your children:
- Look through a calendar.
- Set alarms for homework times.
- Look at a digital clock together.
- Have fun in making a clock together!
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
Nursery Space Fun
The Nursery students have been learning about Space. We are learning amazing songs like ‘8 Planets in the Solar System” in order to learn the names of the planets: Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Mars, Pluto, Earth, Saturn and Venus. We are also discovering where you can find the planets and what colour they all are.
The students enjoyed our art activity where we stuck red tissue paper on our rockets. We will be adding many different colours to our rockets throughout the coming week. We really like making our colourful collages!
The students had fun with our sensory activity, where we made red play dough. We learned about measurement and mixing ingredients and were amazed to see how play dough is made. We then tried to make rockets out of our play dough, strengthening our fine motor muscles while we play.
The Nursery is looking forward to learning more about Space next week.
Jacky Billings
Nursery Teacher
On The Farm 2020
In Reception Year we have been learning all about the farm. This theme is always a favourite as the students have lots of stories about their own personal experiences in visiting different farms, from milking cows to collecting eggs. We asked the students to tell us some of their favourite things about the farm.
This is what they shared:
“I like the horses because whenever I see them I want to ride them. I love it!’ (Daniel Beer)
“My favourite is the cows because they make milk. I like milk” (Muhammad Zaeem Allie)
“My favourite is the pigs because they are funny when they roll around in the mud.” (Olu Mbeki)
“I saw all the different animals but I like the cows because I like milk” (Aubrey Moodley)
“I like the baby goats because they are also kids” (Cayden Floor)
“I like the sheep because they can make t-shirts with their fur’ (Kirby Melvin)
Monique Meyer
Reception Year Teacher
