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In this Issue: Dear Friends,
Upcoming Events
Welcome to this May edition of the OurPlanet International School Newsletter. As I read through the newsletter I am once again impressed to see how OurPlanet children are engaged in a process of meaningful learning. Our school theme of sustainability is to be seen in all our activities and throughout our curriculum. Our children are learning to be great ambassadors and stewards for our planet. They are learning about the problems that we face today but most importantly they are finding solutions to make our planet a better and healthier place. What could be more important than that? We are coming towards the end of our third school year. As a school, we sometimes forget how far we have come. From our opening in 2013 with just twenty children we now have enrolled two hundred students who want to be a part of this exciting new school. To help in this growth we are pleased that our new primary building will be completed later this year. We have come a long way in a very short time. Please note our end of term arrangements. This week we will have our end of year performances on Wednesday 25 (KG1 and KG2) and Thursday 26 May (G3 to Grade 3). During the holy month of Ramadan the school will have shorter hours. The details have been sent to you by email or class dojo so please check or call the school office if in doubt. The last day of the school year is 16 June and the first day of the new school year will be 28 August. You can check all dates for the school year 2016/17 on the calendar on the school website. I wish you all a good end of term and for our Omani families, a joyful Ramadan. Robert Owen Jones Founding Principal
Grade 1 at the Central Bank Earth Day KG1 Arabic Second Language
End of Year Performance 25 KG1 and KG2 11:00 26 KG3 8:30 26 G1 – 3 10:30
2526 MAY
Empty Quarter Talk Mark Evans, Outward Bound Oman, will speak about his recent adventure.
1 JUN
Adverts
Bank visit
Certificates
Days
Earth day
Languages
Media Centre
PYP
Sustainability
What’s new
MAY 2016 ISSUE 1
World Oceans Day Assembly http://www.worldoceansday.org/
8 JUN
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Adverts
OurPlanet
Ice cold lemonade 100% pure Thursday 26 May 2016 Price: 1 rial. (Ayman, Djimmer, Sharona and Zara)
Welcome to OurPlanet shop
We will sell lots of amazing wonderful designed tin cans. We will sell them on 26 May 2016! We will sell them for 200 baisa. We will sell them at Oman Muscat OurPlanet School. (Adam, Mohammed and Tariq)
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These advertisements were created by Grade 3.
This is the cutest bat you’ve ever seen in your life.
This is the dog in your dreams. This colouring book is coming out on the 26th of May at OurPlanet school by G3 and we are giving the money to charity. (Winners: Ayah, Hamnah, Mona and Yara)
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Bank visit Grade One visited the Central Bank of Oman as part of their unit on needs and wants At the end of April Grade One visited the Central Bank of Oman in Ruwi. The visit started with a video explaining the banking system in Oman. Ms Ana asked what the children had learned from watching the film. Nawfal Al Mughairi, Grade One B, said he was surprised to learn that Oman had used Indian rupees as currency. The students toured the exhibition admiring the coins and banknotes. Our guide, Mr Haider Abdul Redha Dawood, Media Manager, explained that the coins were printed in Canada and the notes in Germany. The display included the metal plates that are used for copying. The notes are made of cotton to protect them from damage. Old money is shredded and recycled. The displays featured maps explaining the movement of currency and trade and the evolution of the coins. The first coin was issued in 780. Gold coins were called dinars and silver ones dirhams. One display featured square coins and Chinese green coins with a hole in the middle for threading on string, used before the invention of wallets! There was a commemorative display
featuring the national day coins since 1971. The coins are sold based on weight. Coins for the 45th national day were priced at OMR652 for the gold one and OMR16 for the silver one. These had sold out! The children were given gift bags containing a bank jigsaw puzzle and crayons. We concluded our trip with a picnic in Qurm park.
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Photo 18 x 10 cm
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Certificates
Certificates
Certificates In April, Jan Trier and Rihards Kagis, both
Grade Two, were presented with reading
certificates and an animal jar, created by
Ms Haiba, for reading 200 books.
Fares El Mestari, Grade Two, chose his jar
in May after achieving 200 books.
07 04
On 27 April, students from Grade One, Two and Three were
presented with certificates and Oxford University Press pens for
reading 75 books.
In May, Zidane Pereira and Zunaira Shukoor, both Grade One B,
were given their pens for reaching 75 books.
On 27 April, Fares El Mestari and Jan Trier, both
Grade Two students, were presented with
certificates and highlighter pens, kindly
donated by Oxford University Press, for reading
175 books.
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Days: Music In April, the Horus Piano Duo, featuring
Amira and Mariam Abouzahra on violin,
performed for Grade Two and Three.
Days: Food In May, Chez Sushi visited KG3. The central
idea of their unit on food is food comes
from many places and goes through many
changes.They showed a video explaining
the different sushi available and how to use
chopsticks. Executive Chef Benny Afante
explained how to make sushi. All the
children had a chance to prepare and taste.
Each child was given four cucumber rolls.
The children answered that 20 grammes of
rice and 10 grammes of fish are used to
make sushi. The chef explained the salmon
comes from Norway and the tuna is local.
Days: Transport In May, KG3 hosted an exhibition to display their solar-powered machines to mark the end of their unit on transport.
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Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Earth day In April, OurPlanet joined more than a billion people around the world celebrating the world’s largest environmental event. At OurPlanet, we took ‘Connecting with Nature’ as our theme this year and the day’s events were designed to get kids in touch with their natural environment. To live sustainably we must both understand and appreciate the natural world within whose bounds we must live. The day began with a whole school assembly. Children were split into their house groups, each named after Omani animals – the Arabian Oryx, the green turtles, the Arabian leopards and the Arabian sea humpbacked whales. Groups rotated round the six activity ‘stations’ where they had a chance to explore different aspects of our natural world. In Planting, children made a sustainable planter from newspaper and after carefully filling with soil, planted seeds of their choice (i.e. coriander, parsley and flowers). These handy pots utilise used materials and are completely bio-degradable – when the seedlings are ready to be planted out, the planter can be opened at the bottom and put directly in the ground. In Compost, children got their hands dirty exploring the magical process of turning food waste into healthy, nutrient rich soil –
in our very own compost pile. Searching through compost in various stages of decomposition, they were delighted to discover the creepy crawly creatures who help turn our fruit and vegetable scraps into soil. The slithery worms were especially popular. Kids also watched a short video explaining the different jobs that fruit flies, worms, bacteria and others have in a compost pile. The Wildlife Bingo activity introduced kids to the amazing variety of wildlife we have in Oman through a fun game. Whilst most kids can easily identify African animals like elephants and lions, many struggle to name some of Oman’s fascinating animals – such as the Arabian tahr (found only in the Hajar Mountains), the striped hyena and the Arabian gazelle. The bingo game was also an opportunity to talk about the roles animals play in the ecosystem (i.e. herbivore or carnivore), their conservation status and some of their unique behaviours (i.e. ask your child why the male Sinai Agama turns blue). In the Blue Planet film activity, children learned about the splendour of our ocean habitats from master naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
The scavenger hunt activity gave children a chance to get outside and explore. Working from a checklist, they searched for curly seed pods, different kinds of leaves, smooth bark, yellow flowers and other aspects of the biodiversity. It was a chance to appreciate the different shapes, colours and textures found in nature and to understand how diverse even our school grounds are. Puzzles, Books and Playdough allowed children to independently explore some of the themes of the day. Children had a chance to work co-operatively on nature oriented giant floor puzzles on ocean creatures and endangered species. Others looked through wildlife and sustainability books, while others used their creative skills to fashion animals from playdough. Our Earth Day celebration ended with a wonderful photo exhibition of OurPlanet students and their families out enjoying nature. The sheer volume and variety of photos that kids brought in of themselves playing at the beach, hiking in the mountains, camping in the deserts and doing clean ups shows just how important the natural world is to all of us. It truly was a beautiful display and a great way to end an intense fun-filled day of learning.
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Photo 18 x 10 cm
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Languages In May, Ms Nawal, read and asked
questions in Arabic about The Hungry
Caterpillar for the KG2B class in the Media
Centre.
French/German Thank you to our neighbour, the Omani-
French Centre, for hosting our Grade Three
students who explored their bibliotheque,
library.
In April, the language of the month was
German. OurPlanet is grateful for the
donations of books and videos from the
Goethe Institut.
Turkish During May, Turkish is the language of the
month. In assembly on 11 May, Grade One
B students and friends Alya Erturk and
Sophie Watson shared their favourite story.
They read the same story, Biscuit Wants to
Play. Sophie read in Turkish and Alya in
English. Who knew that hav is woof in
Turkish?
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www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Media Centre In April, Ms Heather, a volunteer, read Eric
Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab to KG1B as
part of their unit on ocean life.
Stories Ms Heather, a volunteer, read Daredevil:
The Daring Life of Betty Skelton to KG3B in
April to tie-in with their transport unit.
Betty Skelton was a record-setting pilot and
racecar driver and the first woman to train
as an astronaut.
Donations Thanks to Helen Lindsay, Educational
Consultant at Oxford University Press, who
donanted pencils, pens and highlighters to
encourage our student readers.
Ayah Al Hinai, Grade Three, donated two
books to the Media Centre.
Tania and Zoe James, both KG3, donated 11
books and Hashim Whelam, KG3A, gave 27
books.
Thank you to Nabila Alamri, Cake Heaven,
who donated 21 Life Science books.
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www.ourplanet-muscat.com
PYP: KG1 & KG2 KG1’s central idea for their last unit of
inquiry is that human activity can have an
impact on marine life.
The central idea for the last unit of inquiry
in KG2 is the arts and design can be used as
a powerful way to express feelings and
ideas.
PYP: KG3 & Grade 1 Products people consume come from many
places and go through many changes is the
central idea for the last unit of inquiry for
KG3.
Plants are a life sustaining resource for
people and other living things. Grade One
students made popcorn trees in Arabic.
PYP: Grade 2 & 3 Grade Two Changes in the earth’s structure and atmosphere can have an effect on people and the environment. Marwan Morsy was awarded the knowledgeable PYP student of the week for the volcano he constructed. Grade Three Economic activity relies on systems of production, exchange and consumption of goods and services. Matt Green, OurPlanet Business Manager, explained how to create a business plan.
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Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Sustainability Positive response to tree plantation drive in Oman
May 10, 2016. Hasan Shaban Al Lawati, Times of Oman.
People in Oman can now get free seedlings of wild trees from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), as a part of its campaign to promote growing more local trees in the Sultanate. The campaign, which was started in March, has seen a positive response from both Omanis and expatriates, who are planting trees in their farms and houses. http://timesofoman.com/article/83416/Oman/Environment/Ministry-of-Environment-and-Climate-Affairs-helps-people-in-Oman-to-grow-more-trees
Organic food For those of you looking for organic
vegetables, we are pleased to announce
that we have a local farm willing to deliver
fresh organic produce for pick up at our
school. This family owned farmed is located
in Barka and is currently undergoing organic
certification. They offer a range of seasonal
veggies, chicken, eggs and fresh milk.
Orders should be placed by Sunday and
pick-ups can be done at our school on
Mondays at pick up time (as long as we
reach a minimum order). Please search
Organic Muscat Oman on facebook for
details on how to order. If you place an
order, specify OurPlanet as the pick-up
location.
Plastic Take a look at this video about plastic pollution, narrated by actor Jeff Bridges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9znvqIkIM-A
10 00
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
OURPLANET International School Muscat
Al-Inshirah Street, Building No. 205
Plot No. 95, Block No. 221
Muscat, 111, Oman
+968 2200 5642
www.ourplanet-muscat.com
Nobel Education Network Limited
6 Battery Road, #37-02A
Singapore
049909
+65 6513 0850
www.nobel-education.com
What’s new? Congratulations to Zara Pereira, Grade Three! Her story has been published in the My Home Town book by Let’s Read Oman. The book costs OMR4. http://timesofoman.com/article/82626/Oman/Education/
Student author Parents and Friends meeting
11
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm
Parents and Friends Matt Green, Business Manager, hosted the first meeting. The group discussed the end of year celebrations, cooked lunches, after school childcare and accident reporting.
If you drop/collect your children from the back of the school you will have seen that the construction of the new school building is well underway. We are proud to announce the enrollment of our 200th student!
