Kind, Caring and Encouraging
This week has been extra special to the BIS family, as we have been celebrating the BIS Kindness Challenge for 2023. This wonderful initiative was introduced by our amazing school counsellor, Kayla Smith, and is targeted at the Year 4 to 12 students.
The goal is to spread kindness throughout our school this month, ensuring that it is a value our students and staff uphold at BIS.
Students are encouraged to show each other kindness by doing a variety of challenges and tasks. Some of these activities include:
- The Kindness Challenge: There are multiple random acts of kindness that students are challenged to complete. Such as: Write a list of 5 things that you love about yourself or Make sure your pets know how much they’re loved!
- A Kindness Tree: This tree will be popping up on a display board and it is going to blossom with the handprints of students containing kind messages and pictures.
- Mirror Motivation: Teachers will leave a motivational or kind message for students that will be added to the bathroom mirrors.
- Kindness Stone: Students decorate a stone with kind words that will be added to our garden.
- Chain of Kindness: Students had to reflect and write down a time that someone was kind to them. This will be added together to form a long kindness paper chain.
- “Caught you being kind” vouchers: These are given to students when they complete random acts of kindness. This will be kept for a surprise towards the end of the Kindness Challenge!
Class 5RdP has our very own No Drama Llama Award that is handed out at the end of every week to a student that has shown kind, caring and encouraging behaviour.
We look forward to seeing the entire school participate in the BIS Kindness Challenge and spread kindness like confetti!
“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely!” – Roald Dahl
Ria du Plessis
Year 5 Teacher and Coordinator
Planting the seeds of knowledge!
Planting the seeds of knowledge!
A little seed for me to sow.
A little seed to make it grow.
A little hole, a little pat
A little wish and that is that.
A little sun, a little shower.
A little while,
And then a flower!
What do seeds need to grow? This was the question posed to our Year 5’s in our first Science lesson this term.
But… instead of telling the students, we decided to let them discover it for themselves. Using their knowledge of what a fair test is, the students investigated by setting up their own scientific enquiry. In groups, they were supplied with four plastic cups, soil, 12 seeds and a little water. Together a discussion was held on what the independent, dependant and control variables would be. Once they reached a consensus, students set about planting their seeds. Two samples were placed in a warm place in the classroom – one with water and one without. The two remaining samples made their way into their teacher’s fridge-one with water and one without.
Predictions were made and arguments put forward, but only time will tell. For the next couple of weeks, students need to water some of the seedlings and keep a vigilant eye on any possible germination before they can reach a conclusion. Watch this space!
Well done Year 5’s!
Mandy Goch
Year 5 Teacher
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Foundation Stage Recognition Ceremonies
It was with great excitement that our little ones in Foundation Stage came to school ready for the end of year Recognition Ceremony. Every year we take time to acknowledge the amazing progress our little ones have made. They have all worked so hard and we are incredibly proud of them.
Each class got the chance to perform a song or a poem before receiving their special certificates. We want to say a big thank you to all the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who are always there to support and encourage the little ones on their learning journey.
We can’t do it without you!
Monique Meyer
Foundation Stage Coordinator and Reception Year Teacher
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What My Pre-Reception Students Love Most About School
I can’t believe that it is already the fourth and last term of the year! The students have grown in leaps and bounds. They come to school eager to learn and participate in the daily activities. The classroom is always full of cheerful laughter, inquisitive questions and daily chitter chatter. I am so proud of each one of my students, they have all grown in different areas throughout the year.
I asked my students what they LOVE doing most in Pre-Reception and this is what they said:
Alex: “Making friends.”
Keneo: “Playing with my friends.”
Aubrey: “Painting.”
Victoria: “Playing outside.”
Kai: “Building blocks.”
Jefferson: “I like to play on the monkeybars.”
Emily: “Doing art.”
Chaitra: “I like to be friends with everyone.”
Jasper: “I love playing with playdough.”
Cayden: “Playing with the wooden blocks.”
Dylan: “To give my teacher hugs and laying with the train tracks.”
Amelie: “I love doing art and painting.”
Ava: “Playing outside.”
Suhaila: “I like to draw.”
Aksharath: “I like to play with the wooden block with my friends.”
Athena: “I like painting.”
Edyn: “I like to play with everything at school.”
Nozhin: Loves to colour in.
I love to see the students in my class learning through play, interacting with each other and most of all happy to be at school.
Cindy Nunan
Pre-Reception Teacher
Foundation Stage Farmer’s Day
For the past two weeks, the Foundation Stage has been learning all about farming. The students have learned about many different aspects of farming, including the types of farms we get, the animals that usually live on farms, the roles and responsibilities of the farmers and their laborers as well as the various products that farms produce. We have all learned the important role that farms play in our lives and we appreciate how hard they have to operate to produce the items sent to the marketplace.
To experience all that we have learned about this, a Farmer’s Day Breakfast was arranged. With much excitement and many shrieks of joy, our phase got to engage with live animals in a petting zoo. The students were taught how to handle smaller animals like chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises and a pheasant. They also got to groom and feed larger livestock such as sheep and goats. Each class made a farmer’s breakfast together, where skills such as cracking an egg, buttering bread and whisking were practiced. Finally, to really conclude our farming experience, we planted beans, which are being protected by our very own scarecrows! We will water our beans daily, leave them on the windowsills for warmth and light and wait patiently for them to sprout – just as farmers do with their crops!
We encourage parents to continue reinforcing the skills that we have learned from our farming unit at home. Being practically involved in cooking, gardening and animal responsibility will always be an asset towards any child’s development!
Kim Hahn
Reception Year Teacher
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Live Sketching in Arts and Craft Club
“Art has the role in education for helping children to become more like themselves instead of more like everyone else. “ – Sydney Gurewitz Clemens
The Year 1 and Year 2 students in the Arts and Craft club thoroughly enjoyed a quiet lesson on Monday, completing a live sketch of a plant. They had the choice between an orchid and a bonsai tree. This took a lot of concentration and visual analysis of the different parts of a plants structure which the Year 1 students mastered in Term 3.
A live sketch is also known as a life drawing which is the drawing of an object through observation. We found this form of art something new and different for the students to try which completely blew the teachers away by the interest, concentration and beautiful sketches that were completed.
We found this form of sketching encourages students to make use of visual analysis, a lot of concentration, aids in creative problem solving and helps hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills.
We are grateful to have such talented students in our Arts and Craft club and look forward to watching them continue to grow more skills over this last term.
“The arts can help students become tenacious, team orientated problem solvers who are confident and able to think creatively.”- Arne Duncan
Erin Hierse
Year 1 Teacher
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Living And Non-Living
This term, our Year 3’s have been focusing on Living and Non-Living things in Science. The unit provides opportunities for the students to observe a range of living and non-living things and to consider how they know whether or not something is alive. The activities we covered so far, encourages consideration of the seven life processes (movement, respiration, sensitivity, nutrition, excretion, reproduction, and growth) as providing evidence of something being alive.
The students also conducted a survey and collected data about the hair and eye colour of classmates, and then collated their findings into a tally chart.
To end the unit, we looked at stages in the human, animal, and plant life cycle. Students were then given an opportunity to create their own life cycle poster and present their work to the class in the form of an oral. The students put in a lot of effort and hard work and both their posters and orals were amazing. There were many fun and interesting facts presented to the class, and I am certain that we all learnt something new about the various animals.
Well done Year 3! I am so proud of you all
Monalisa Maphosa
Year 3 Teacher
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Year Six English Instructional Writing
Last week in English, we had to create a shoe from only recycled materials, and we had to write instructions explaining, step by step, how to build them. We had one week to complete this activity and in that time period many shoes were invented, and the students had so much fun. Overall, it was a great learning experience.
What we had to do:
Miss Nel gave us a week notice that we were going to build recycled shoes, which gave us plenty of time to gather our materials. First, we started brainstorming on an A3 piece of paper and listed our materials, which became our poster. Next, we picked a theme for our shoe and then started building them. After that, we wrote our step-by-step instructions explaining how to build our shoes. Last, we presented what we built to our classmates.
Results:
Our project was out of fifteen and most of the students received very good marks and should be proud of themselves.
Written by:
Juliette East
Year 6 Student
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The Egyptian Wesekh
Term 4 is always the most exciting for our Year 3’s. This is because they have seen previous Year 3 “Egyptian’s” strutting the school grounds in all their Egyptian finery and they just can’t wait to start learning about Ancient Egypt. We kicked off the term investigating Egypt’s geographical features, the pyramids, Nile River, Egyptian civilization, Pharaohs, as well as their gods and goddesses.
Our Year 3’s have also already begun planning for Egypt Day and have created a beautiful jewellery accessory known as a Wesekh that they can wear on the day. The jewellery of ancient Egyptians held religious and symbolic significance and was treasured for its beauty and power against evil and death. It was buried with men and women because the Egyptians expected to enjoy wearing their finery in the afterlife.
We started our Wesekhs by looking at various real examples and discussing their features and designs, looking in particular at shape, symmetry and colour. Students then went ahead and designed their necklace by first deciding on a shape and then layout. The next step was to decorate the Wesekh by using anything that sparkled including old costume jewellery, glitter, beads and precious stones that the students collected. The results were stunning!
Be sure to keep an eye out for these amazing accessories on the 12th of November when Year 3 steps out in style on Egypt Day!
Mandy Goch
Year 3 Teacher
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Exploring Seed Dispersal
This term, the Year 5’s have been learning about the different ways seeds are dispersed. We looked at seed dispersal by animals, humans, wind and water. Seeds must be dispersed so they have enough space, water and light to grow into a new plant.
Fun Facts about Seeds:
- The largest seed in the world is the double coconut. It can measure up to 50cm (1.6ft) around the middle! Some coconuts have floated 2,000km over the sea before they find dry land!
- Seeds provide the world’s daily food. Your breakfast cereal and toast, your pasta or pizza lunch and your rice dish for tea all started life as seeds from different grasses.
- Some orchid seed-pods hold 3 million seeds.
- Kapok is soft, fluffy stuff that comes from a seed-case. Years ago it was used to fill life jackets, because it is light, strong and waterproof. Nowadays, modern plastics have replaced it.
- Some seeds found in frozen soil in Canada were grown and produced flowers – the seeds were thought to be more than 10,000 years old!
- There are some very dangerous seeds, such as those that come from deadly nightshade; two berries could kill you. Even more dangerous are the seeds from the Castor-oil plant.
- Most oak trees don’t grow acorns until they are at least 50 years old. If you have planted an acorn, how old will you be before you can plant its acorns?
My class (Year 5NM) recently decided to create our very own papery wing shaped seeds to test out how the wind would carry it. We designed different shapes of wings that we attached to a bean seed. We made sure to use paper, making the wings light and feathery, easy to be moved by the wind.
The results of this experiment were great! Students went outside and put their wing shaped seeds to the test. They were exhilarated to get hands on experience with seed dispersal.
Seeds are so interesting and we will certainly never think of them as just seeds ever again.
Nadia Mahomed
Year 5 Teacher
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