This past term has been a very eventful one, especially these past few weeks with the Book Week, The ISM Arts Festival, Sports Day and the Community Challenge. These very important events provide the children with a rich and broad education to accompany their academic studies in the classroom. They also help to foster a sense of community, which enables all students to come together and have the opportunity to integrate with students from other classes and year groups. Organising such events is a considerable undertaking on top of teachers’ classroom commitments and I would like to take this opportunity to thank (in particular) Mrs Thompson, Mme Petit, Mrs Brees, Mrs Branagan and Mlle Nahjari for their hard work and commitment to making these events so successful and enjoyable for the students. As we enter the final term of the school year, many important events await us. All students will be sitting end-of-year exams (April/May), all Primary School year groups will be departing on school trips (May/June) and the Year 6 students will be preparing and presenting the ISM Exhibition (June). I wish you and your families a very enjoyable Spring break. Best Wishes,

Chris Benson (Head of Primary School)

Primary Newsletter April 2016

Message from Mr Benson

Important Dates Tuesday 19th – Thursday 21st April 2016 Cambridge Checkpoint Exams (Year 6) Friday 22nd April 2016 Year 6 French theatre visit Thursday 5th – 6th May 2016 School closed – holidays Tuesday 17th – Tuesday 24th May 2016 End of year exams: Year 6 French Years 4 and 5: English, French and Maths Monday 30th May – Friday 3rd June 2016 Classes Trips – Years 4-6 Tuesday 14th June 2016 Year 6 ISM Exhibition Friday 17th June 2016 (pm) Summer Fete Monday 27th June 2016 End-of-year student reports sent to parents Wednesday 29th June 2016 Summer Holidays begin – 12:00

Important Dates and Information

Independent Reading in the Primary School

Every term children are set goals based on the numbers of books they are expected to read and quizzes they are expected to take and pass in both English (Accelerated Reader) and French (Rallye Lecture). Congratulations to all of the following students who achieved either one (A.R. or Rallye Lecture) or both (A.R. and Rallye Lecture) of their goals.

4A

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Alexandra Gregory Giorgia Audrey Daniela

A.R. Only

Sophie Lily Rose

Nicklas Emily

4B

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Gian Carlo Michelle

Gigi

A.R. Only Matvey

Lina Konstantin Katarina Ludovica

4C

A.R. and Rallye Lecture Richard Mikolaj

Angelica Filippo Sofia

Sophia Yason

A.R. Only

Flavia

Rallye Lecture Only Juan

6B

A.R. and Rallye Lecture Laetitia Fanny Amani

A.R. Only

Elena Alexandra

Colt Marianne Stefania

5A

A.R. and Rallye Lecture James Giorgio Michael Clara

Georgy Zlata

A.R. Only

Benoit Theophanis

Rallye Lecture Only

Sveva

5B

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Iakov Anna

Andrey Erika

Vladimir François Angelica Helena

Gustavo

A.R. Only Alexander

Laura Cruz

Rebecca Stephanie

6C

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Amy India Lucas

Raphael

A.R. Only Samppa Lauren

Levi

6A

A.R. and Rallye Lecture

Olivia Nora Ava

Oliver

A.R. Only Toma Milosz Eva

Sophie Emily

Jacqueline

Rallye Lecture Only Allan

Letizia

5C

A.R. and Rallye Lecture Alexandra

Alexei Anastasia

Luna

A.R. Only Martina

Anna Lois Raphael

Emanuele David

Basya-Nicole Antonia

Elizabeth

Year 4

Year 4 finished their ‘Healthy Habits’ topic a few weeks ago and we had great fun learning about different ways to keep the body healthy, as well as what is an unhealthy habit. We also learnt lots of facts about the human body along the way - here are some of our favourite ones that we found out:

• An adult has 206 bones in their body and a baby has even more at 300 when it is born! The baby’s bones fuse together as it gets older.

• The smallest bones in the body are in the inner ear. These tiny bones

transmit sound waves.

• About half of a man’s body weight is muscle and about a third of a woman’s body weight.

• An unhealthy habit is smoking – we found out that a cigarette can

contain 4000 chemicals! These chemicals include carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde, ammonia, butane gas, cyanide and lead. We were shocked at what we heard!

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo is this term’s class reader for year 5.  It  tells  the  story  of  Bertie,  a  young  boy  who  rescues  an  orphaned  lion  cub  from  the  African  veld.  They  are  inseparable  until  Bertie  is  sent  to  boarding  school  far  away  in  England  and  the  lion  is  sold  to  a  circus.  Bertie  swears  that  one  day  they  will  see  one  another  again,  but  it  is  the  butterfly  lion  that  ensures  that  their  friendship  will  never  be  forgotten. Inspired by the setting of the book 5a and 5c have researched the habitat of the veld and the animals living there. All pupils have produced a detailed animal report, a selection of which, are currently on display in the classroom.

Year 5

Un château en France Les élèves de classe 5 ont découvert la période des châteaux forts par la lecture du célèbre ouvrage : “Les chevaliers de la Table ronde”. Ils ont par la suite travaillé sur l’écriture d’une fiche documentaire en choisissant comme thème: un château en France. Toutes les fiches étaient très intéressantes et chaque équipe a mené au mieux ce projet d’écriture!

Year 5 are busy creating inspiring eco-challenges for the rest of the Primary School to raise awareness of Earth day coming up. They are preparing their challenges to share in assembly, along with a very persuasive letter to inform everyone how simple and small changes can make a big difference to our beautiful planet. Watch out for lots of 'eco-children' at home wanting to save energy for a sustainable future!

Eco Challenge

Year 6

Class 6C have been enjoying their reading this term, as always! In addition to the variety of books the students have read individually, we have also read two class readers (one each term). Quite aside from exposing the students to new authors and different styles of writing, these lessons demonstrate the importance of fluency and expression in spoken language and encourage students to think about events from different perspectives. Of course, they also enjoy the experience of listening to a good story – they’re still not too old for this! Last term, we read Hacker by Malorie Blackman, a story about a young girl (we were all surprised, we had made the assumption that it would be a boy!) who tries to prove her father’s innocence when he is accused of stealing money from his bank. Through this story, we explored the themes of honesty, loyalty and family relationships. This term, we read Holes by Louis Sachar. Despite some students already having seen the film based on this novel, the richness of the language and the clever twists in the plot still managed to hold everyone’s attention and even take us by surprise, right to the very end! This novel is an excellent example of the use of powerful, rich language as it manages to enthral the reader, from beginning to end, despite being about a group of boys who dig holes in the desert – not the most interesting subject, at first glance! Next term, we are looking forward to reading one of the great children’s classics: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I am sure we will enjoy this just as much, as we explore themes such as nature, nurture and nonsense!

Exposition de peintures au Musée Navel du Monaco

Récemment,   tous   les   élèves   de   classes   6   sont   allés   visité   une   superbe  exposition  de  peintures,  organisée  par  le  Musée  Naval  de  Monaco,  dans  la  salle  du  Quai  Antoine  1er,  intitulée  «  L’aviation  et  la  marine  durant  la  1ère  et  la  2ème  guerre  mondiale".  Guidés  par  leurs  questionnaires  réalisés  par  leurs  professeurs,   les  élèves  ont  parcouru  du  regard  avec  plaisir   les  différentes  œuvres.     Cette   sortie   semble   avoir   été   très   appréciée   par   les   enfants,  d’autant  plus  qu’elle   illustrait   parfaitement   le   travail   réalisé  en   classe   au  sujet  de  cette  période  de  l’histoire.    

Les  classes  5  sont  allées  au  théâtre  des  Muses  à  Monaco  pour  assister  à  une  pièce  de  théâtre  intitulée  "Quanta".    C'est  un  conte  fantastique  et  musical,  inspiré  d'Alice  au  pays  des  merveilles.  C'était  très  drôle  et  très  intéressant.

Notre sortie au théâtre des Muses à Monaco

Student Council 2015 -16

Following a survey done throughout the Primary School last term, the Student Council are pleased to announce that they have received some playground equipment for Classes 4-6. The initial request lists being rather lengthy, the representatives had to narrow the choices down to the Top 10. Budget restrictions led to these lists being reduced a little more, but this has been a good lesson in financial management and prioritising! The following equipment will be available for Primary School students after the Spring Break: Years 4 and 5 Connect 4 Basketball Coloured bibs for teams Boules Yo-yos Skipping ropes Uno Plastic cones (for obstacle races) Year 6 Football (mousse) Coloured bibs for teams Net/cones to separate 2 pitches/courts Skittles Basketball You may notice that Years 4 and 5 were allocated more equipment; this is because these year groups represent two thirds of the students in the Primary School. The Student Council are currently organising a way to ensure that all students get a fair chance to use this material. They will also be reminding their class of the importance of looking after the equipment properly, using it sensibly in the way in which it is intended, and of taking turns fairly. They hope that, if the PS students can show how responsible they are, they may be allowed some of the other items on their original wish list in the very near future!

The Student Council worked hard both in the run-up to, and during, Book Week. They had many excellent ideas for activities: Fascinating Facts, Favourite Book competition, Book Exchange, Dictionary Challenge… The Student Council representatives, aided admirably by their substitutes in some cases, organised the activities, designed posters to advertise these, explained the activity in assembly, visited each class to explain in more detail and answer questions, and even helped administer some of the activities, such as the Dictionary Challenge, themselves! A very big thank you to our student council representatives and the substitutes who provided so much support: Isayah, Lily-Rose, Jasmin, Michelle, Pauline and Flavia (Class 4); James, Cruz, Elizabeth and Alexandra (Class 5); Olivia, Alexandra, Adriana and Cristina (Class 6).

Year 6 Art Unit: Topography Art February 2016 Topography Art has been around a long time before cameras and photographs existed. The Year 6 students looked at different artists’ topography artworks to help inspire them to recreate their own interpretation of a section of the Tourist Map of Monaco. They were able to use mixed media, such as: paint, sand, paper, straws, fabric and other materials. Using a viewfinder they selected an area of the map that they wanted to recreate and then drew sketches in their books before completing the final pieces.

Class 6 have continued their science unit on Earth and space. After investigating the forces on falling objects they took part in an egg drop challenge. There were prizes for the slowest decent and the best design.