Year 5 Solar Systems
In Science, the Year 5s have been learning about The Earth in Space. One of the core concepts this unit of work is based on is the fact that everything in the solar system orbits the sun.
We decided that a practical demonstration was in order, so we built ourselves some solar systems. This helped us to gain a concrete grasp of how the solar system fits together. We included the eight planets of the solar system – and some of us even got creative and added Earth’s moon to our models!
Now, as we like to say, the whole world is not only in our hands, but also hanging from our classroom ceiling…
Hannah Kirkaldy
Year 5 Teacher
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Habitats
A habitat is a place where an animal lives. It provides food, water and shelter. There are many different types of habitats around the world from forests to grasslands and from mountain slopes to deserts. Different habitats are home to different animals. They live well together because they all do things to help keep the whole habitat healthy and in balance.
This week, the Year 4’s have been learning all about habitats and the adaptations of animals for their habitats.
Have you ever wondered what the purpose of a cockroach is? We often see them as dirty pests that infest the spaces they live in. Animals like cockroaches are really important in a habitat—they eat the dead plants and recycle the nutrients back into the soil, which helps the plants to grow.
The Year 4 students were curious about animals in their own habitats and they decided to observe snails. To fulfil this curiosity we designed a choice tray. We planned how we will test some snails to see where they like to be most in the environment. We placed 4 variables on each corner of the choice tray, twigs, leaves, sand and stone. We observed where the snails ventured towards, over a half an hour period, and noted our findings.
There were interesting findings across the year group in the different classrooms. One conclusion we could all agree on- if the environment changed, animals can sometimes change the way they behave.
Well done to our budding scientists!
Nadia Mahomed
Year 4 Teacher
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Amazing Presentations!
The process of learning a language not only involves reviewing grammar and vocabulary; it includes trying to understand and acknowledge the culture and traditions of that country in a comprehensive way.
The more you know about these factors the deeper your linguistic immersion will be.
In the case of the Spanish language, it is even more important and relevant due to the diversity within the Spanish speaking countries – 21 countries in total spanning 4 continents (Europe, Africa, North- and South America).
For this reason, the Spanish students at BIS have been learning about the different Spanish speaking countries around the world: Puerto Rico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Year 5 and 6 were asked to choose their favorite one, and to do a simple immersion in a variety of topics in the country of their choice.
Some demographic and geographic aspects were discussed during the oral presentations: the capital, total population, identifying the color of the flag and naming the continent that it’s located.
Other, more cultural, aspects were also presented like the typical food and music or the most popular sports.
Finally, they were asked to select two important or relevant people from that country and their profession: the king or the president, a famous actress or actor, a successful singer or a sports figure.
Sharing this information with the whole class enriched the experience and I can’t feel prouder of the outstanding posters and incredible PowerPoint presentation and videos that they were able to put together.
Javier Vidal
Spanish Teacher
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Practical Place Value and Relatable Rounding Off…
For the past two weeks, the Year 5s have been learning more about Place Value in Mathematics.
We’ve covered the following content thus far:
- Place value up to hundred thousands.
- Partitioning numbers.
- Writing number in words and figures.
- Rounding off to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.
Students got the opportunity this week to apply their knowledge and skills that they’ve learned with some practical, hands-on activities. They were placed in pairs and had to play a rounding off game using a place value dice.
These were the rules:
- Each players rolls the four dice (units, tens, hundreds and thousands).
- They had to then add all the numbers together to their answer.
- Round off their answer to the nearest 1000.
- The player with the highest number scores 1 point.
- The first player to score 10 points wins the game!
“Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning.” – Diane Ackerman
Take a look at some of the photos that were taken while the students were busy playing this extremely fun game.
Who says Mathematics can be fun and games?!
Ria du Plessis
Year 5 Teacher/Leader
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My Holiday!
A huge welcome back to all our Year 3 students who arrived last week relaxed, recharged and ready to start a new school year. We kicked off the year with a three-part activity about their holiday. Students first shared with the class, any interesting activities that they had enjoyed during the holiday. This was also a great way in which to get to know the students as we chatted about surfing, zip lining, hiking and karate lessons, amongst other exciting adventures.
The second step involved the students drawing a ‘snapshot’ of themselves enjoying one activity during the holiday and then explaining their ‘snapshot’ to a classmate.
Lastly, the students wrote a few sentences in the form of a short news article to match their ‘snapshot’.
Thank you, Year 3, for a very interesting and informative start to the year!
Mandy Goch
Year 3 Teacher
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SMART Goals
As we started the new year and embraced the first term of 2022, we thought it was important for the Year 6 students to think about what they wanted to achieve during the term and set S.M.A.R.T goals for themselves for their core subjects.
During this week’s core lessons, we discussed the importance of setting goals and how the setting of goals can help us with responsibility as well as fostering a positive “can do” attitude which increases self-esteem. We moved on to discuss potential goals within each subject and asked the students what they wish to achieve, or what they would like to overcome to make them feel proud. Students shared their ideas of potential goals.
Once our students chose their goals for the term, we discussed how to set S.M.A.R.T goals, track their goals and set themselves up for success.
The acronym for SMART GOALS stands for:
S– Is the goal specific? What would you like to accomplish? The more specific the goal, the more focused you can be in reaching that goal.
M– Is the goal measurable? How will you know you have reached your goal? It is important to be clear about what you are working towards.
A– Is the goal achievable? Is it challenging, but not impossible? Taking it one small step at a time can help ensure success.
R – Is the goal relevant? Does thinking about reaching the goal inspire excitement? Being passionate about what you are working towards is a key to success.
T– Is the goal timely? Do you have a deadline by which you want to reach your goal? Setting an end date can help jump start motivation to begin working towards your goal.
We look forward to motivating and encouraging our students to reach their goals and reflect on it at the end of the term. At home, you can think about setting S.M.A.R.T goals with your children. Visit the website: https://madeinapinch.com/smart-goals-examples/ to learn more about setting these goals at home.
Katherine Nel
Key Stage 2 Coordinator and Year 6 Teacher
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Induction Day in Year 3
On Tuesday, the 30th of November 2021, our school held its annual Induction Day where the students get to spend some time with their new teacher for the next year.
It is always such an interesting morning. The students are anxious to find out where they are going the next year, and the teachers are anxious to find out who is coming to their class.
As humans, we like familiarity, and anything out of our comfort zone makes us either want to fight, or just kick our shoes off and bolt for the door. (Luckily, no teachers went missing. We were all accounted for.)
In Year 3, we made a 2D lollipop using different coloured strips of paper to cross-cross over each other and pop up. The students were so good at listening and following instructions. We were all so proud of them!
The students also got to play a game called, “Who am I?” Mystery Student. Each child wrote three clues about themselves and the class had to try to guess ‘who they are’ based on the clues given. It was amazing how well the students knew each other, even though they do not come from the same class. This will make the transition so much easier next year.
I asked the students what they are looking forward to in Year 3 next year, and this is what some of them had to say:
“Doing cool work”, “Learning new stuff”, “Writing good stories”, “Enjoying Life”, “Reading books and telling time”, “A locker with a door”, “Learning new subjects”, “Everything”.
The current Year 2 students were very happy to leave with a treat! I am certain that everyone had a fun-filled morning getting to know each other and just forgetting about Covid for an hour or two.
We are looking forward to seeing them again at the start of 2022.
Wendy Menton
Year 3 Teacher
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Monsters
The key to learning any language is practise. Therefore, oral presentations are a pivotal part of the German lesson and gives all the students the opportunity to show what they have learnt in class and to practice their pronunciation. This term in Year 5, we learnt all the vocabulary for naming and describing the body as well as describing the character of a person.
The project was to design a monster as colourful and different as possible and then to describe the monster using all the vocabulary including numbers, colours, plurals and grammar learnt in class.
The oral included a general introduction about the student and a description of their own body including colour of hair and eyes. A vital component to a good oral was using the sentence construction and vocabulary exactly as learnt in class so that all the students were able to understand the presentations.
The Year 5’s invented many very interesting and original looking monsters and they were given very creative names. We were introduced to Gütädid, Laura, Bibi, Lola, Yu-de-cuta 1782, Nina, Blobby and Cerberus to name a few.
They came from very interesting places, as far as Pluto, and as close as Cape Town. They were very creative with all the colours then carefully naming them in German. They included many interesting amounts of body parts; 4 legs, 6 arms, 3 eyes, 2 heads and 2 necks. The description of the character of the monster included many similarities with the students themselves e.g. laut ,lustig und frech (loud, funny and cheeky). We also tested our listening skills, as the class was asked questions about the monster’s description to show understanding of what was presented.
Please see some examples of the students’ work in the photos attached. They did a great job in their presentations.
Well done Year 5’s and looking forward to continuing the journey in German with you next year in Year 6!
Frau Kerstin Pani
Primary School German Teacher
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Charming Charlotte
As part of our English Literature Component, the Year 4 students have been reading “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White. The book tells the story of girl Fern, who rescues a runt pig and names him Wilbur. Once on the farm, Wilbur makes friends with Charlotte, a beautiful large, grey spider. They become best friends and face a few challenges together. Although a fictional tale, the story also teaches valuable life lessons such as teamwork, friendship and overcoming obstacles.
Over the last few weeks, the students have been reading the novel in class, sharing their opinions and thoughts in groups and completing tasks based on the novel.
In Art, they created beautiful spider webs and spiders, and to end the unit, they will watch the classic movie.
The students have blown us away with their reading aloud skills as well as their thought provoking questions and answers about the novel. We are very proud of our stars!
Yvette Fourie
Year 4 Teacher
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The body Of Science
This term in Science, the Year 6’s learnt about the Human Body. We discussed the different organs such as the heart, liver, lungs, stomach, brain, intestines and kidneys. We also looked at the functions of each of these organs.
In order to understand where each organ is located, the students got into groups and outlined one group member’s body. They then went on to draw the different organs and place them in the correct positions on the body. Each group member had a specific role to play in these creations and the Year 6’s truly impressed their teachers with their creativity and group work.
The students also learnt about the different processes in the body. In order to see that digestion begins in the mouth, the Year 6’s became scientists and did an experiment. They took two test tubes and filled them with water and starch powder. Iodine (which shows the presence of starch by turning a blue colour), was placed in both test tubes and then saliva was placed in one. If the test tube stayed blue then we knew starch was present, if it went clear then we knew there was no starch present. After a while, the test tube with saliva in it turned a clear colour and this proved that the saliva broke down the starch.
Fun facts about the human body:
- You are going to be taller in the morning.
- Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day.
- Your highest blood flow is in your kidneys.
- You can produce enough saliva to fill two bathtubs a year.
- Your blood vessels could circle the globe.
- Your strongest and longest bone is your femur.
- More than half of your bones are located in the hands, wrists, feet, and ankles.
Brittney Hakime
Year 6 Teacher
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