PRIMARY PRESS OCTOBER 2015

From Karen and the Primary Team

Our last edition of Primary Press for this academic year is once more filled with some wonderful submissions

right across the school including our specialist subjects and learning support team.

It has been a very busy term and continues to be right up until break up day on December 3. Upcoming events

include our annual primary concert on Tuesday, November 24 and the Year 5 graduation, being held in the last

week of school on Tuesday, December 1. Our Year 5 graduation is a different timeslot and format this year and

promises to be a terrific event, fitting for all of our Year 5 students. They are all very excited for this event and

busy practicing in readiness.

Additionally, on Wednesday, December 2, we will be holding our yearly ‘Meet the Teacher’ session at 9am in

readiness for the new school year. Where possible, our new classes will spend the session with their new

teachers for 2016 and enjoy some time with their new classmates. We also include new enrolments where

possible, particularly the children who are already here in Fiji and our new local enrolments, of which we have

many. Our current count on primary enrolments for next year is already approaching 320 and increasing daily.

As per the recent parent update email that was sent home just last week, over the next couple of weeks, teachers will

be constructing the classes for 2016 in readiness for Week 9 and the ‘Meet the New Teacher’ session. It is our policy

to make initial placements of students in classes for the coming year according to a set of clear and fairly managed

criteria including balance between new and returning students, academic range and balance, ESL and support for

learning needs within a class, friendships, gender and special needs requirements if applicable. These

recommendations are given very careful consideration by teachers. The lists are developed initially independent of

specific teachers. With staffing not yet finalized for next year, it is important to note also that in any school, there may

be a certain amount of movement among faculty as new teachers arrive and others depart and even those who

remain may request a change to teach a different year level. Please be assured that we will always have your child’s

interests at heart in all such decisions. Classes with new incoming teachers in 2016 will be still part of the orientation

session in Week 9 as it also provides them a chance to preview their new classrooms and mingle with their new

classmates.

Teacher and Class Allocation for 2016

Our school concert is fast approaching. This annual fun filled and entertaining

evening is on Tuesday, November 24 in the school’s multipurpose hall from

6pm. All classes have been busily preparing for this terrific night out. Please

be reminded that concert day is a half day at school and all students should be

collected on this day at 12.00pm. We look forward to seeing you all there to

witness some sensational talent!

School Concert

Halloween Hauntings Thank you to the PTFA and primary staff for making our annual Halloween evening another great success this year. It was a frightful but fun event supported well by all of the ISS community. We hope you enjoy some of the photographs we have included

in our Primary Press.

Enjoy the next three very busy

weeks everyone!

May you have a wonderful break

with your families. Thank you for

the valuable contributions you

make to help us educate your

child/children.

We are looking forward to another

exciting and worthwhile academic

year in 2016!

Karen and the Primary Team

Early Holidays

Some of you may be leaving for holidays a little earlier than our end of

term date. Please let us know if this is the case. Report cards are being

sent home on Tuesday, December 1. We will be unable to provide these

any earlier, therefore, if you are not going to be here, you will be able to

collect them from the primary office in the New Year.

Thank you to all of those parents who have already notified us of their

plans to leave earlier. A reminder that all students will finish school on

Thursday, December 3 at 12pm after our whole school farewell assembly.

Teachers last day is on Friday, December 4.

Our PAT assessments have been completed for the year and quality time

will now be spent analyzing these results at the beginning of 2016 in our

teacher only days. This will help teachers plan for students leading into

the new learning school year and guide them with the differentiation that

will be required for term one. These results along with our ISA

assessment data, which becomes available to us mid-December will only

enhance our improvement agenda and in turn, the teaching and learning

at our school. We plan to focus on and fine tune our Mathematics

curriculum in the new school year.

All results are made available to parents and individual reports will be sent

to parents of Year 3 – 5 students for the ISA assessments in the New

Year.

PAT Benchmark Assessments

Thank you!

Music with Mr Tim Our journey through Music this year concludes with our Year 4 students wrapping up their Unit of Inquiry on Human Migration earlier in the term and our Year 5’s taking their new Unit through on “How We Express Ourselves” all the way into week 8. ‘Rituals, traditions and artifacts provide a window into the beliefs and values of cultures’ has been our Central Idea. Our Key Concepts are Function, Perspective and Reflection and we looked into what constitutes a Culture and the significance of rituals and traditions. This Unit allowed our students to look into different cultures and understand the reason why they follow their traditions that gives them their identify through their beliefs and values. The coming of age of different traditions sparked a lot of class discussion and inquisitive thought provoking questions that brought about how our beliefs and values are important and it makes us who we are. Our Year 5 students have also begun their preparations into their farewell which is fast approaching. As for all other year levels, we are continuing our Musical journey with preparations for our end or year concert coming up in week 8. For the love of music, Mr Tim.

Finishing the year in Year 3

The year 3 students and the year 3 team are satisfied with the learning that has

taken place this year.

We are busy finalizing and presenting our final assessment on ‘Thinking and

Learning’. Leading up to this assessment, the students have delved deep into how

they think and learn and about their learning styles. This learning has been

strengthened with Mrs Lindy Stice who also co-taught via an art focus.

We were particularly fortunate when we visited the Fiji School for the Blind where

our students interacted and learned firsthand how students with a sensory

deprivation learn and operate on a daily basis. This was an eye opener which

generated a tremendous amount of interest and never-ending questions.

As you are aware we have been busy preparing for our concert which is scheduled

for November 24th and our Kris Kringle gift giving and class party on week 9. More

information of the class party and end of year activity day will be sent to you at the

end of next week.

The Year 3 Team.

What’s New in ECH2? We can’t believe it is the middle of Term 4 already! First of all, we would like to welcome Paige

Thompson to the Whales class. We are very happy to have you here with us.

The children have been happily investigating our current Unit of Inquiry this term, which is

“Under the Sea”. Over the past few weeks, we have observed a fish, octopus and crab and we

learned about them in depth. We even were able to cook the fish and the crab! “It actually

tastes really good!” remarked Zoë.

Ian also came in and shared his

expertise on sharks, which we

found very exciting and

interesting. We looked at many

different species of sharks such

as the whale shark, the great

white shark and the basking

shark. We also learned that

sharks do not target humans and

we should do our best to protect

sharks. Many thanks to Ian for

coming in to our classroom!

We also went on a wonderful excursion to the USP Marine Centre, where we fed fish and

prawns and observed many preserved marine species. We toured the campus and walked on

the beach. We observed how much plastic and garbage there was on the beach, and we all felt

very sad. We are learning to take responsibility in looking after our ocean environment. Israel

says: “Don’t throw cans in the water. Otherwise the shark will think it is food and eat it. He will

die”. Chrystel adds, “Throw rubbish in the bin. Fish will get sick and die if there is rubbish in the

sea.”

Many thanks to Salote from the USP Marine

Centre for organizing such an interesting and

thought provoking excursion!

As you can see, it has been a very busy and

exciting Term 4 so far! We are really looking

forward to the Primary Concert night because

we have been working really hard practicing

our dance! See you all on Tuesday, 24th

November!

YEAR FOUR

As part of our migration unit at the beginning of the term, we presented our

slavery songs to Mr Tim with some of us taking action to record our songs.

We have since then been inquiring into trade and looking into how the

bartering system evolved within the Fijian culture. As part of the summative

task, the students are creating their own book about trade, aligning the

information with the unit’s lines of inquiry.

HOW the WORLD WORKS

Exploring patterns with ECH 1

We have been exploring MASI patterns

with Saka.

We know that masi feels soft.

MASI has different shapes on it. There

are diamonds, squares, hearts, flowers,

circles and triangles.

We can sleep on masi.

We can sit and play

on masi.

We can stand on

masi BUT we MUST

take our shoes off

first.

We made a house

with a BIG piece of

masi.

Fijian Studies

Counselor’s Corner

Greetings from your primary school counselor! I am now at ISS Primary every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30am to 4:00pm. The role of the school counselor is to help students achieve in school by helping to remove obstacles to learning. The counselor assists in the personal, social, academic and career growth of all students. This is done in many ways such as classroom guidance, small group counseling, individual counseling, teacher consultation, and whole school programs.

Currently, I am delivering the social skills curriculum, Stop, Think and Do in years 1, 4 and 5. The curriculum has been completed already in years 2 and 3. The children are currently learning:

To choose to behave in ways that have the best consequences

To practice behavioural skills that send the right signals to others

To make and keep friends

To handle negative per pressure, put downs, teasing, and bullying

To identify support systems around them if they need help

How to cooperate in a group

The students are learning this through a guided curriculum, class discussions, and role-plays. The children LOVE to act which is great practice for them when they find themselves in true conflict. When your students are learning these new skills, it is very helpful for their parents/caregivers to talk with them about what they are learning.

While I am in the classrooms the majority of the day, I also can see students individually and in targeted small groups. If you think your student would benefit from seeing me, please talk to the classroom teacher. I continue to enjoy working with you and your students!

Sincerely,

Kate Passin

YEAR FIVE

The end of 2015 academic year is nigh and the Year 5 students are preparing to graduate from Primary

to Middle School. They have been delving into the idea that artifacts, rituals and traditions provide a

window into the beliefs and values of cultures. Upon deconstruction of their main idea, students were

introduced to the iceberg model of culture which they applied to various rituals and traditions from

around the world.

Model used in Eva Haug’s presentation on culture David Rock’s adaptation of the cultural iceberg model

Students practiced using these models to apply it to articles on rites of passage rituals from around the

world. Here’s what some of them had to say:

Reina: I knew that emotions and thoughts were stuff that you couldn’t see. When I saw this image, I knew that

results and behaviours are what people show. Emotions and thoughts are much deeper and sometimes can’t be

seen.

Viliame: These models are good for analyzing information, and then you can break it into smaller pieces of

information. For example, you can see how and why people do the sorts of things within their culture. By using this

model, it makes it easier to understand their culture.

Ashleigh: It made me understand more about cultures and how other people think and you can use it to see how

and why people carry out certain rituals and traditions. It’s also easy to sort out information by using this model.

Griffyn: I didn’t really think of culture like that until I saw the iceberg. I thought it was a really good way to show

how thoughts and emotions affect culture.

In the images below, students learn about artifacts from various traditions and cultures.

Menorah African Idol Godhead Brazilian Rain Stick Fijian Derua

News from the Green Cottage

Dear Parents and Guardians,

November and Diwali Greetings to you all.

Vonu’s dressed up in their ‘Bula’ Guess how many sand pies? wear for Fiji Day.

Dhanayavad to Mira Milenkovic, Devansh Pal, Aakansha Nand and families for the Diwali sweets. They

were delicious.

Enjoying the sunshine. Making patterns with balls. Our next major event is our Primary concert. Tuesday 24th November, 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm. School finishes at noon on this day. (12.00pm) The ECH 1 Team, Ms Litia, Ms Sala and Ms Jacqui

Primary Visual Arts

We are enjoying an action-packed term in Visual

Arts, all the while buzzing with excitement over

the many special days and activities that are part

of Term 4.

Year 2 students concluded their inquiry into

advertisement with an all-out campaign to

advertise the very popular Healthy Pop Sale. The

campaign, which included posters and banners

and more, allowed students to put their

knowledge of persuasion and advertising to the test, and

proved to be wildly successful.

ECH1 Vonus are experimenting with a variety of printmaking

techniques this term. Their love for expressive mark-making

is evident, as they take creative risks and enjoy the often-

surprising results of printmaking methods and materials. Ms

Sala and Ms Litia and I love to hear their giggles and cries of

delight at seeing the prints as they are ‘pulled’!

Year 3 students are considering learning communities

and learning styles in their current UOI. They have been

collaborating to discover more about their preferred

learning styles and those of their classmates. We look

forward to their presentations, which will showcase their

learning styles as they present on a topic of their own

choosing.

Thank you for your continued support this term. It

has been wonderful to see students, particularly in

upper primary, work on their art outside of art

lesson time, and to become increasing independent

in their creative processes.

HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES

This term the children have been very busy

practicing for the Fiji Day assembly, Primary

Assembly and the End of Year Concert. The

students have all shown great professionalism,

maturity and perseverance during this time.

From week three students have been learning

about expression.

To celebrate their learning the children are

currently developing and planning a fashion

item to represent their culture and showcase at

the end of year concert.

They are currently very busy and in the process

of developing their ‘fashion statements’ and will

be ready to show-off in week 8!

Watch out for year one!

Year One Term 4- Week 6

END OF YEAR

We would like to take the opportunity to

commend all year one parents who have

assisted the year ones students and team this

year. Their growth has been outstanding and

the year one team has enjoyed everyday

working and learning with the students. We

wish you the best of luck next year!

CONGRATULATIONS YEAR ONE!

UPCOMING EVENTS

The End of Year concert will take place

on the 24th November. Year one

students will be performing an item.

Please note the concert day will be a

half day for students.

End of term 4 Thursday 3rd December.

Year One Team

RECEPTION

Light affects

living things and

the environment

PRIMARY PSPE – Mr. Joe

Well done to all of the Primary Athletes who recently participated in the

second stage Suva Zone Championships! It was a great effort to make it to

this stage and we are very proud of you all! A special mention to Lucas Nili

who has progressed through to the Chow Games Nationals for Long Jump.

A superb effort and we wish him all the best for the upcoming

competition!

Athletes who participated at the second stage Primary Suva Zone Qualifying series:

Lucas Nili Sienna Harper

Leona Douglas Tabbai Soko

Tom Landry

Aidan Cakaukeivuya Jasmine Colling

Reina Arai Armand Davias

Manoa Keteca

------------------------------- What’s New in Year 2?

The Art of Storytelling

How are stories created and shared?

How are effective stories constructed?

What do stories convey?

What feelings and emotions do stories evoke?

These are the lines of inquiry which are helping our Year 2 students find out more about

Communication in our current inquiry into How We Express Ourselves. The Central Idea for

this inquiry is, Stories inform, provoke and give us pleasure. We started our inquiry by

discussing the different ways we have heard stories over time, who our favourite storytellers

have been and identified some of our all-time favourite stories. We have also been fortunate

to have parents Eliza Taylor and Ateca Ravuvu come in and share cultural stories with us

as well as their experiences of how stories were passed on to them.

Ms. Ravuvu, a dancer by profession helped us to explore storytelling through dance. We had fun

choreographing our own movements to tell our version of a story.

The Year 2s have used their newfound confidence and enthusiasm for storytelling through dance to

choreograph their own concert item. We look forward to showing you what we have put together at the

Primary Concert in Week 8 of this term.

Are you a storyteller?

If you would like to come in and share a story with our Year 2s, please let the class teachers know. We

would love to have more parents come in and share your cultural experiences of stories with us before the

end of term.

A message from two of our new teachers for 2016

Welcome Ms. MacKellar and Mrs. Harris!

Bula, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ms.

Amanda MacKellar and I am excited to be joining the team

at International School Suva for 2016. I graduated from

Griffith University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Education

and began my teaching career in a remote school in

Queensland, Australia in 2003. I then transferred to an

urban school in 2005 where I have been teaching for the

past 10 years. I am passionate about helping students achieve, and be the best they can

be, with a goal to becoming lifelong learners. I believe in creating a positive and

supportive classroom with individual student learning goals based on the requirements

of the students. I am also passionate about science and aim to instill a curiosity and

passion for science within my students. I am looking forward to meeting you and your

children and guiding their learning successes.

P.s. My favourite colour is pink, any colour pink! My teaching folder is pink, I mark work

with a pink pen, and I love pink ice-cream and pink jelly beans.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bula! My name is Wendy Harris. I am from Melbourne, Australia, but was born in Hong

Kong and grew up in Japan, Mexico and Singapore before moving to Australia to

complete High School and attend University.

After a short but interesting career in Orthoptics, I became a

teacher. I met my husband whilst teaching in Japan and we have

two children. After three years in Brunei and six years in Jakarta,

Indonesia we have moved to Fiji. Apart from my jobs as a teacher

and my children’s taxi service, my interests include spending time

with my family, keeping fit, music, reading, learning languages and

traveling.

Hindi Studies

We have been on an exciting teaching and learning journey in Hindi Studies.

Reception students are having fun in their Unit of Inquiry on “Light”. From the

Hindi perspective, we focused on the significance of light in the Hindu culture. We

also learnt about the most important Hindu festival-“Deepawali –the festival of

Lights.” Children had fun making “Rangoli” designs, diyas (clay lamp) and making

sweets.

Different sources of light.

We made diya (clay lamp). Students listening to the story of

Deepawali –Festival of Lights.

We are making Peda (sweets).

Significance of Light-(Kalsa) Discussion

Yummy…… Peda! We are making a Rangoli sign of welcome on the door step and connecting with our maths lesson –symmetry and patterns.

AWARDS

Alfred Arunga Lucy Chane Roviana Gina Tom Landrey Talei Tikosaya Shawna Sun William Brooks Kevin Du Caleb Narayan Ogilvy Hui Yann Lacayo Lainie Robertson Typhaine Nervaile Isaac Mackenzie Yann Lacayo Tiana Parshotam Tahli Robertson Lilly John Fardeen Sheik Jasmine Weerasinghe Maggie Burdon Sina Izumi Tara Marshall Inigo Chavez Myah Stice William Burdon Imogen Ryan Driya Kumar Kaia Whitfield Qihang Gao Papanui Liew-Marsters Shon Prasad Vikramank Singh Hannah Chane Ben Mackenzie Shailesh Sharma Brianna Taylor Oscar Kennedy-Foran Saugat Bohora Candelaria Clemente Juliana Espinosa Euan Murray Fana Strobel Xincheng Li Jonathon Kirk Natsumi Matsuura James McLean Kaelan Balpe-Leahy Jai Ludher Connor Harris Sheldon Takimoana Shivani Salter Hugo Kok Warren Mackenzie

2 0 1 5

ABCA.com

Games and activities for Grades K – 5

http://www.abcya.com

BBC Bitesize

Fun maths practice on this British site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/ Ages 5-7

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/ Ages 7-11

Fun 4 The Brain

Free educational maths games

http://www.fun4thebrain.com

Learning Support Corner – Maths

Maths is fun! We can strengthen our basic

knowledge through games. Monopoly can

help with basic addition, subtraction and

dealing with money. Here are some ideas to

have fun with maths at home.