Help! Help! Is there a doctor in school?
Oh, thank goodness that last week in Grade 1 there were doctors and nurses to deal with any health issues, policemen to arrest those who were misbehaving and even a judge to decide if they were innocent or guilty. And it didn’t end there! Firemen, trash collectors, artists, farmers, and forest rangers… to name but a few.
Each of these visitors told us something about their jobs: what they do, where they work, when they work, what tools they use and what they wear. We have learnt so much about how hard people in our community work and what they do for us.
Who knows what jobs we will do in the future?
Rhiannon Thomas
G1 teacher
It Seemed Like Nothing Could Go Wrong… Until….
Want to find out what really caused the grand Roman Empire to collapse? Read UIS’ new comic team’s latest release and discover the political ambitions, economic crises, and intricate balances between causes and effects, which drew the final curtain on one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. The Grade 5 comic strip creators reveal the buildup to the final meltdown in a series of sequential drawings, each created by a single artist, yet striving to maintain unity and coherence in the overall design. The project saw the graphic artists discussing potential frames, then moving from gathering sketches and ideas, to drawing basic initial shapes, adding details, and going over the whole drawing in black ink. Evoking key ideas using sparse dialogue and lettering proved especially challenging. Stay tuned for the team’s next publication! They’re already brainstorming their latest area of exploration… Medieval Europe!
Mrs Tramontin
Grade 5 Teacher
Leggende del Friuli Venezia Giulia
I ragazzi hanno lavorato in gruppo con materiali forniti dalle maestre e poi hanno realizzato un cartellone che è stato abbellito con disegni e immagini.
Infine, per rispettare l’oralità di queste leggende che venivano raccontate di generazione in generazione, ogni gruppo ha esposto il proprio lavoro al resto dei compagni.
Le maestre di quarta
Francesca ed Elisa
|
|
THE N3 “FAMILY HANDS” PROJECT
In Nursery 3, the students have been learning about themselves and their families. To explore some of the differences and similarities both inside our families, and between them, we asked each family to help with a weekend home project where the children had to trace, cut and decorate the hands of different family members.
Children enthusiastically completed the assigned ‘homework’ and brought their finished work to school for their peers and teachers to see. In class, we used the hands for a variety of purposes, such as sorting according to size (small for children, big for grownups), counting the fingers from 1-5, and much more. Soon we will place the hands on the display board right outside the N3 classroom for everyone to come and have a look.
Ms Adriana
N3 Teacher
Read More
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
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
3D Digestive Systems
One of the challenges when teaching Science is to find ways, other than experiments, to make the work practical. Recently Grade Seven were set the problem of making three-dimensional models of the digestive system. All the students chose ‘poster’ versions of their models, hanging them on the wall. Some are more successful than others! This week we have developed the theme of digestion a little further, and the students are investigating ‘alien visitors’ or parasites of the digestive system. Nice! We have seen a marked improvement in the washing of hands since the start of this unit.
Mr Green
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
Read More
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
Exploring our World
Grade 6R and Grade 6G are learning that Geography is not just about maps, but it entails all aspects of our planet: its populations, resources, economies, climate and many others.
It is natural for children to be curious regarding the world that surrounds them and so they have researched natural and man-made disasters. They were quite shocked at the gravity of some of these, caused by man’s carelessness and laissez-faire attitude!
This lack of respect for Mother Earth and its inhabitants puts many creatures e at risk of extinction.
The students observed that if humankind does not move quickly on improving the situation of global warming, we also might one day just disappear…
Milly Savoini
MS Social Studies
Read More