Elementary School

AM I LIVING?

Am I living? Is a car living? How do I know? A car moves, it needs fuel, it lets out gas.  So is it living? The Grade One scientists have been investigating living and non-living things. We have been on nature walks observing living and non-living things in our garden, we have looked for pictures to identify things that are living, non-living and those that have never been alive, we have learned about life cycles, and we have even had a special visitor. Noodles the hedgehog came to class and we had so many questions. We observed Noodles closely and learned all about hibernation, how she moves, when hedgehogs have babies, along with many other things. This week some Grade Eight students are coming to teach us about plants. We are really becoming experts!

Rhiannon Thomas
Grade 1A Science and Social Studies teacher

AUTUMN ITALICA ART

Autumn gives us so many beautiful scenes of vibrant colours and textures! So to bring the outside into our classrooms for Autumn week, Grade 4 decided to take a moment to capture the season by creating a landscape which was decorated using the italica handwriting that we’ve been working on so far this term. The children loved working closely together, snuggled up on the floor making their mark collectively, which resulted in a stunning piece of art work. We thought that hanging it outside the dining room would be a good place to show it off to the rest of the school. We were delighted to discover that it had inspired some Grade 1 children to have a go at making their own pictures with letters, who took a trip upstairs to Grade 4 to show us their work.

Alison Horrobin
Grade 4A teacher

Singing Hearts in Grade 5

GRADE 5 MET HUMAN RIGHTS HEROES

Kicking off the year’s “hero” theme for elementary assemblies at UIS, the Grade 5 students presented a time travel adventure to meet Human Rights heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Malala. Each spoke about their dreams, struggles, and hopes for the world. Even Batman and Spiderman, who turned up assuming they were the featured heroes to be celebrated, learned some important lessons about how each of us can contribute in our own homes, schools, and neighborhoods, to carry forth the strong ideas of these inspirational figures.
In the words of the actors themselves:

“Martin Luther King had a dream of black and white children playing together, with all families living in fair housing, with the freedom to follow their dreams.” (Riccardo)

“Nelson Mandela dreamed of a world with no racial segregation, no separation based on the color of skin.”  (Edoardo)

“Malala stands for education and rights for all girls and women.” (Ginevra)

Mara Tramontin
Grade 5 teacher

Un orto per la scuola

Quest’anno The Udine International School ha intrapreso un grande progetto al fine di rendere la nostra scuola “più Green”. Grazie ad un’idea, nata dalle menti attente e innovative del Green Committee, le classi delle elementari e medie si sono impegnate nella preparazione dell’orto scolastico. In questa prima settimana gli studenti sono stati guidati dalle insegnanti nella pulizia e preparazione del terreno, e, nonostante i giorni di pioggia, una buona parte del lavoro è stata già portata a termine. I bambini amano fare lezione all’aria aperta, tenere le mani impegnate e scoprire i segreti che la terra e la natura hanno da insegnare…
Continuate a seguire gli sviluppi di questo nostro piccolo angolo verde anche negli articoli del dipartimento di inglese e, se volete, aiutateci portando a scuola vecchi vestiti o attrezzi che a casa non usate più!

Maestra Elisa

Turning our Mums’ and Dads’ toys into museum pieces!

In Grade 2 this term, we have been comparing the past and present. We started with things we know a lot about, such as what we do, what we eat and what we play with.
We talked with our families, about why learning about the past is important and shared these ideas in class, which was a great discussion. We also asked our parents to share toys that they used to play with. Some Mums and Dads still had some of their toys!

We enjoyed seeing these toys from the past and other items that people shared from the past and it has really helped us to see real things and compare them with modern things.
We would be really happy if anybody else has some interesting things from the past to show us!

Grade 2
Ms Katharine Knott

WE ARE DIFFERENT! WE ARE THE SAME!

It’s common, when creating a self-portrait, to focus on external features, color of skin, shape of face, texture of hair… everything that is seen with the outer eye. The Grade Five class tried to shift their perspective, expressing their vision of themselves as seen with their inner eye. The focus was on using color and shape to represent the feelings, emotions, and passions that live deep inside. “We are all different!” commented one student. “Yes, and we are all the same!”  replied another. It was eye-openingto hear the students sharing the reasons behind their choices: “I chose blue here because I love to be by the sea. It makes me feel calm.” “This is the color I would love to be.” An interesting chat followed about a hypothetical world in which each of us could choose our own color.
 
Mara Tramontin
Grade 5 teacher