Primary News - May 2 2020

Dear Parents and Students,

This has been a very short week, but it has not stopped students from working hard, being creative and keeping up with fun activities too.

Despite the distance learning challenges, students have been completing online assessments and showing incredible resilience, continuing to make steps forward in their learning. Please remember that if you did not get the chance to speak to teachers during this week’s online meetings, you can always arrange to speak to teachers on a separate occasion.

With the current news of schools openingtheir doors soon, we are excited at the prospect of our classrooms and playgrounds being filled with students again. We continue to follow the updates and the government guidelines so that preparations can be underway as soon as possible. We will keep everyone informed.

In the meantime, I wish everyone a wonderful May Day and to keep safe until we meet again,

Kind regards,

Mrs Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years have been busy during this short week. In Topic, we have shifted the focus to sea animals.

We have been learning about creatures that live in oceans and discovering some interesting facts along the way. Did you know that octopuses have 3 hearts? We also watched A Whale's Tale and learned about the importance of taking care of our oceans. As well as sea animals, we have also been learning about herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.

In Phonics, the Reception students have been mastering their blending skills and learning about word families, while the Nursery students have been doing sound hunts at home. In Maths, the Nursery students have been making DIY counting games while the Reception students have been learning about subtraction.

All of this in a three day week!! Great job Early Years, keep up the great work.

Ms O'Hara

Wow, another has come to an end, we really are zooming through this block.

Thank you to all parents, I have especially enjoyed celebrating year one's achievements with you during parent-teacher meetings.

This week, Y1 have participated in live phonics lessons, online quizzes, writing letters, gardening success and YouTube lessons (please subscribe to my channel for more fun activities). Keep up the amazing work!

Mr Hughes

Week 4 has been a great week in Year 2. We have started to look at the artist and photographer Carl Warner, who creates visual concepts with food. We have been creating our own sketches and visual pieces based on his work.

We have really enjoyed getting creative. Well done to Year 2 for their level of commitment and focus this week. You are Superstars, well done!

Ms Harris

In year 3 this week the students continued their study of geometry by focusing on lines and angles. They learned what parallel and perpendicular lines are and put this into practice, by identifying different examples in some paintings of famous artists, before coming up with versions of their own line-inspired works.

In English, the students took a closer look at paragraph writing by studying texts on ancient Egypt and on two famous pirates named Anne Bonny and Mary Read. In Topic, we continued preparations for the Home Olympics by trying out the sport that a partner had invented and by providing feedback on their experience. More updates on the home Olympics to follow next week.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4 students have continued their wonderful experiments this week. We have been watching a wonderful array of videos of student's experiments and also continued the live streaming of some spectacular experiments.

Students have been learning the difference between chemical and physical changes through a variety of hands-on investigations. Students have been learning about many scientific concepts, such as air pressure, surface tension solutions and dissolution.

Another interesting investigation we did was to see the effect of different liquids on our teeth, using eggshells as a model. Some photos are below. Students then used toothpaste to see how well it can clean our teeth.

We have also completed our measures unit in maths. We are all looking forward to returning to school soon!

Mr Bishop

Y5 have had a lovely short week. I have very much enjoyed hearing all the different views on our big debate, building a stadium or keeping the idyllic park, in our persuasive writing class. In Math, we have been reviewing prime factors and have started looking into those tricky algebraic equations.

Walking through their island, children have been using their writing skills to describe their own creation.

Mr Walker

Year 6 as a Quiz on Canvas. It meant that students could complete the same reading comprehension test online that we would have given in class. A benefit for teachers was that many of the questions could be marked by the system and others we could mark simply against the mark scheme which was also inputted directly with the question.

Marks and percentages were automatically calculated by Canvas and put directly into the Gradebook.

We sent the text the day before to parents so that they had the opportunity to print it out if needed or make sure the students had 2 devices to work with; one for the text and the other to answer the questions. Another advantage was that SEN students were able to use technology as an aid, creating an overlay for the text, as well as increasing the size of the font using their tablets. After the students' tests were marked we could easily share their work with the students as a class, with certain questions that all the students found 'tricky' and individually, looking very specifically at their targets.

Mrs Charlesworth

The Year 6 students have now successfully covered the mean and average unit in Maths.

The online conferences are a huge success and children know they can always contact their teachers if they need further instructions. In this session, we studied how to draw a good bar model which would serve as a pictorial representation of the problem. Our next unit will focus on designing and interpreting pie charts.

Mr Kokalj

Each week at school sees Year 6A (Charlesworth Carolers) battle with Year 6B (Mr Kokalj's Brave Knights) over their speed at recalling times tables answers. Almost every week, but not quite, Year 6A are the reigning champions. This week is no exception, with Year 6A scoring a whopping 2,588. The idea behind it is not just to battle against classmates but to improve their individual scores. Students also realise the benefits of working together as a team and that each point does make a difference. This practice ultimately results in faster recall of times tables knowledge when it is needed e.g. solving Algebraic equations, Long division and vertical multiplication, simplifying fractions, completing number sequences, etc.

This week, the Primary EAL students have most certainly been busy bees! Year 2 students have been learning how to use adventurous vocabulary, such as powerful adjectives and interesting adverbs to bring their fantasy settings to life.

Ms Harris and I could almost hear the waterfall booming gently as we were reading their work! Year 5 students skillfully used forceful modal verbs, probing rhetorical questions, magnificent adjectival phrases and so many more writing techniques that would make your head spin! Their persuasive writing skills would make anyone jump at the chance to do what they ask!

Here's a challenge for you - can YOU find all the adjectives and adverbs in this article?

Mrs Majzelj Kralj

Year 3 students continued learning about animals. They can express their preferences and are soon to publish their first virtual book. Stay tuned!

Year 4s are exploring real-life French this week. They are able to talk about Tv schedule, read the time and understand different French accents. Well done!

Year 5 students are working collaboratively to create a class book about houses and rooms. Keep an eye open for the result soon to come.

Mrs Poulet

Slovene foundation groups are continuing with online sessions and diligently working on their comprehension skills. Here is a glimpse from the Y3 and Y4 lesson.

The advance group were working hard during zoom lessons and individually.

Y1 - prepositions, syllabus, finish the sentence that it would make sense, tell the story according to the picture.

Y2 - reading Piki Jakob, drawing according to instructions.

Y3/4 - a poem by Tone Pavček - Besedovanje, possessive adjectives.

Y5/6 - poem Ksenija Šoster Olmer - Mrož that went on a visit to Portorož.

Well done, everyone

Slovene Department

This week the primary students have been set a quiz about the Olympics. As this is the sports block we are encouraging students to learn about the history of the Olympic Games. In order to answer the quiz questions a little research was needed. Below is the link to the quiz for your year group.

EY - Year 2 Click here

Y3 - Y4 Click here

Y5 - Y6 Click here

Official Olympic games web site: CLICK HERE

HOUSE COMPETITION

The points are being collected from students among all of the Houses. The House competition is one of the easiest ways to collect points for the House you are representing, so help your team, CLICK HERE and do any of the 7 different challenges

PE LIVE SESSION

The numbers of participants at PE Live sessions are increasing so please join in as well, and join others with starting the day with a bit of workout.

For students who missed the Live session CLICK HERE and find all the videos.

SCHEDULE

PE Department

Well developed executive function skills are essential skills for academic success and beyond the classroom. These skill sets can be likened to an air traffic control room, allowing children to manage many flight paths of planes arriving and departing, ground crew, and how everything fits together. Unfortunately, these essential skill sets are not something we are born with but learned and refined skills we develop.

1. Self-awareness
2. Inhibition
3. Non-verbal working memory
4. Verbal working memory
5. Emotional self-regulation
6. Self-motivation
7. Planning and problem solving

Here are ways you can help reinforce and develop stronger executive function skills at home.

1. Enforce Accountability - clearly stated set of rules and expectations for children and firmly holding them accountable is crucial to their development.
2. Write it Down - assist working memory deficits by making information visible, using notes cards, signs, sticky notes, lists, journals.
3. Make Time External - make the time a physical, measurable thing by using clocks, timers, counters, or apps — there are tons of options!
4. Offer Rewards - it's best to create artificial forms of motivation, like token systems or daily report cards.
5. Make Learning Hands-on - Making problems as physical as possible — like using jelly beans or coloured blocks to teach simple adding and subtracting, or utilizing word magnets to work on sentence structure — helps children reconcile their verbal and non-verbal working memories, and build their executive functions in the process.
6. Stop to Refuel - Self-regulation and executive functions come in limited quantities and can be depleted very quickly when your child works too hard over too short a time (like while taking a test). Give your child a chance to refuel by encouraging frequent breaks during tasks that stress the executive system. Breaks work best if they're 3 to 10 minutes long, and can help your child get the fuel they need to tackle an assignment without getting distracted and losing track.
7. Show Compassion - it's vital that the people in their lives — especially parents — show compassion and willingness to help them learn. When your child messes up, try to understand what went wrong — and how you can help them learn from their mistake.

For further reading, please see more resources at Harvard University's Developing Child.

We would like to thank Petra Škofic-Damjan, Maja Paradiž and Nerma Baltić-Papež for their contributions to BISL education over a number of years. We wish them all good luck in the future.

Nursery/Pre-Nursery:

Sofia T.... for the energy and enthusiasm she brings to the Zoom lessons. Well done!

Reception

Ayaka... for her focus and engagement during our Zoom lessons and for her willingness to always try her best. Keep up the good work!

Year 2

Dalia... in recognition of her fantastic artwork this week. Miss Harris said it was absolutely amazing, she has shown dedication to her Topic work. Well done Dalia.

Year 3

Elina...being such a great student, classmate and friend. Mr Mulcahy, Miss Katherine and All of your classmates will miss you a lot and you are welcome to visit us in class anytime.

Year 4

Loan... for his outstanding slide presentation.

Year 5

Milena...For her motivation and attention to English tasks in our distance learning, in addition to her humorous personality that shines through even on zoom.

Year 6A

Samuel... Mrs Charlesworth said he really deserved the certificate this week. Keep on applying your writing targets!

Year 6B

Badr... for his determination to work hard during distance learning. Mr Kokal knows some work has been particularly challenging, Badr has applied himself and Mr Kokal is proud of Badr! Please continue to persevere and do your best every day!

PE

The PE Department will also share Weekly sportsman certificates, which will go to a student in recognition of their dedication to PE Live Streams, homework and House competition. This week the PE Department is proud to present this award to Milena in Y5 who showed amazing work and excellent attendance in our morning Live sessions.

House Points

In this very short school week, the winning house just made it to first place by the scaly skin of their dragony teeth this week.

Congratulations toSapphire with 44 points!

In second place is Emerald with 42 points,

In third place is Ziron with 41 points,

In fourth place is Hessonite with 34 points.

Well Done everybody for putting in the hard work, next week we will announce the week winner, as well as the block winner!

Mrs Blundell

Please see this week's update from the Principal here, continuing with the theme of technology with Canvas and the safe use of technology with E-Safety.

Dear Parents,

Following the guidance from the Ministry of Education and after consultation with the School Board, we have decided to plan the reopening of the school premises from Monday 18^thMay. We expect this date to be confirmed next week and will then notify parents.

This news comes after Prime Minister Janez Janša announced a gradual easing of measures starting with the lifting of a ban on inter-municipal travel on Thursday 30^thApril. This will enable our families who live further away from school the opportunity to travel and to attend lessons.

To assist with the smooth reopening of the school, we propose to move the scheduled block break from the week beginning Monday 18^th May to a week earlier, starting Monday 11^th May.

This will in turn allow:

1. The necessary time for our admin, support and auxiliary staff to prepare for the full reopening of the school.

2. The staff time to prepare on site/classrooms for the return of students.

3. The full implementation of safety and hygiene measures as sent out by the ministry.

4. The calendar will therefore be amended, and the block will start earlier but finish at the same time at the end of the academic year.

With health and safety at the forefront of our planning, we will maintain our own internal restrictions to minimize all risk including health guidance to families, removing scheduled trips/visits to public areas and to avoid assemblies and gatherings in school. We will update you on these developments at regular intervals.

May I take this opportunity to sincerely thank all parents for their support during this challenging time. I am sure that all families will welcome the opportunity to come back to school as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal