play to learn Tag

“Kindness is something anyone can give without losing anything of themselves”

As a year 3 group, we have been focussing on kindness in our skills week. Mrs Cronje and Ms Blake’s class have adopted kindness jars. Inside of these jars are wonderful stories of kindness that our children have either been involved in or acts of kindness that they have received.

Here are some of them:

“My sister helped me do a back-bend. Thank you Umi”
“I helped my friend build a puzzle”
“I calmed my friend down and it helped her”
“We gave R20 to the office that we found. We were honest”
“I helped my friend when she got hurt”
“I was looking for my eraser and Keona gave me hers. I did not ask for it but it was very kind”
“I helped my friend build a puzzle”
“I used ice words to my friends and my friends helped my alot”
“I helped my friend”
“My friend gave me a health Pokemon card”
“I helped lots of people to clean their desks”
“In Science my friend and I helped each other”
“I gave play-dough to my friend”
“My friend was being kind to me”
“It was my birthday and I gave everyone their favourite doughnut”
“My friend had nobody to play with so I played with him”

Even if we don’t have physical kindness jars in our homes, why not begin to collect your kindness memories in your heart?

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”  – Princess Diana

Carol Blake
Year 3 Teacher

We are pleased to share with you some exciting news about a Year 6 skills lesson that took place this term. Mrs. Oosthuizen taught the students how to sew buttons on clothing, and we are thrilled to say that it was a great success.

The children were provided with needles, buttons, thread, and cloth, and were given step-by-step instructions on how to sew a button. Although some students struggled with getting the thread through the needle at first, they quickly overcame this challenge and progressed to sewing their buttons with ease. Mrs. Oosthuizen, Mrs. Kirkaldy and even Mr. O was on hand to offer extra help to those who needed it, ensuring that everyone was able to complete the task successfully.

We are particularly proud of two students, Alistair and Nivad, who went the extra mile with this lesson. Alistair brought his own pants and button that he wanted to mend, and Nivad was so inspired by the lesson that he sewed a miniature pillow the next day.

Sewing is a valuable life skill that can come in handy in many situations, and we are confident that the Year 6 students will benefit from this lesson for years to come. We are grateful to Mrs Oosthuizen for her dedication and hard work in preparing for this lesson, and we hope that the children enjoyed it as much as we did.

In one of the future lessons, we would like to teach the students how to change a plug. If parents have any extra plugs or cables they can spare, please send them to school so that we can use them for the lesson.

Vihann Oosthuizen
Year 6 Teacher

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

“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.”
(Richie Norton)

The first week back has taken off with great excitement and eagerness. It was created on a recipe for success combined with only the finest ingredients.

A tonne of laughter and cheer combined with a Kilotonne of smiles and giggles. Whipped together with a megatonne of chatter. Stirring in a gigatonne of pure joy, topped with just a sprinkle of nervousness.

The Year 4’s have kicked off 2023 with a bang. They spent the first week organising, sorting and decorating books and stationery. Catching up with friends was the number one priority. We also delved straight into our work and had fun recapping Mathematics concepts, looking at stories from the past in English and even setting up and performing Science experiments.

We look forward to a successful and fun-filled year.

Nadia Mahomed
Year 4 Teacher

The Year 4’s spent one of the term’s art lessons creating these mouth-watering gourmet burgers. Our objective was to create traffic-stopping art that would cause our audience to stop, stare and desire to eat an amazing burger on the spot, on-route to class. This has certainly happened. We have noticed students and teachers slow down in our passage, admiring our art. We have even had a teacher come into our classroom to express her great desire for a particular burger on display.

We worked with different paper textures as well as a variety of coloured paper. Each student had to design their own burger, having to think of every topping imaginable. The background was just as important. Many students put time and effort into creating detailed wooden table tops or beautifully designed table cloths. For those who had extra time at hand, sides were an added addition to their menu.

This was a highly rewarding art lesson and certainly showed us how powerfully persuasive pictures can be. Take a look at the photos below and see if you can resist the tempting thought of a gourmet burger satisfying your tummy!

Carol Blake
Year 4 Teacher

The week before last, our Year 2 students went out to Intaka Island at Century City. They were given the opportunity to explore nature in all its wonderful ways.

We looked at various small organisms under the microscope, were given a guided tour around the island, spotting and appreciating the little birds, bugs and flowers around us. After the wildlife watching, were given a guided boat tour around the canals, appreciating the views around us and learning more about the conservancy.

This is definitely an outing we can recommend for the whole family! So much fun was had by all!

Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher

“Travel leaves you speechless. Then turns you into a storyteller.” – IBN Battuta

The Year 1 students and teachers thoroughly enjoyed an eventful day, traveling from country to country (class to class), learning about the different countries Barnaby Bear had travelled to and tasting all the delicious cuisines each country had to offer.

Barnaby Bear is the bear we learnt about in Geography that travels the world to visit different countries. He sends the teachers post cards which explains in detail, the sites he visits, the transport he uses to get around, the seasons in each country and the temperature he is currently experiencing.

The students in Mrs Cordner’s class represented America, Mrs Cronje’s class represented England and my class (Miss Hierse’s class) had the privilege to represent India. The students flew from class to class where they got to do some fun activities and learn some interesting facts that symbolized the country they had travelled to. They then enjoyed some delicious snacks and cold drinks which each class offered. The students were dressed beautifully and walked away from the day with more knowledge on America, England and India as well as full tummies.

The Year 1 teachers are extremely grateful for the parents help and support in making the day a successful one.

“Wanderlust. (n.) A strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.”

Year 1 Teacher
Erin Hierse

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