From the Principal

ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Serbian as a Foreign Lan-guage / French

2

Art 3

Music/Movement & Dance 4

PE 5

EAL/SMT 6

Spanish/EAL 7

Grade 1

September 2011

Dear Lower School families and welcome to the first Specialist Newsletter of the 2010-11 School Year!

Our specialists teachers (also referred as single-subject teachers) play an integral and important role in the

Primary Years Program. The arts, physical education, and language study are essential elements to a com-

prehensive and holistic primary school education. The content of these subjects is transdisciplinary in na-

ture, meaning that the skills and concepts developed by specialist teachers have relevance throughout the

Lower School curriculum and our students’ lives beyond school.

For this reason, we believe it is important that we keep our parents informed about the teaching and

learning taking place in our specialists classrooms. You will receive our specialist newsletters seven times

during the school year. As always, if you have any questions about your child’s education, feel free to con-

tact us. Teachers and administrators are available each and every school day before and after school to

address any questions or concerns you may have regarding any of our programs.

Looking forward to an exciting school year filled with learning and fun,

Mr. Lettinga

Lower School Principal

Serbian as a Foreign Language

Page 2 ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter

Welcome to Serbian Foreign Language! Grade 1 enjoyed learning greetings, colours and num-

bers. Everyone is comfortable greeting their peers and teacher, telling their name, and can rec-

ognize, say and read 10 different colours. The students are able to count to at least 10 and are

able to recognize numbers that are out of order. Throughout the year we will continue working

on telling each other more about ourselves, ex. axe, where we are from and who is in our fami-

ly. We recently started a unit on the classroom. We have been practicing essential classroom

vocabulary such as: (Olovka, papir, gumica, zarezac, flomaster) - pencil, paper, eraser, sharpener,

marker and more. We are learning all of this through games, illustrations, drawings, colorings,

listening activities, while reading and writing activities will be included step by step. Throughout

all of these activities, the children are getting used to understanding basic instructions given in

Serbian and are permanently encouraged to use the language themselves and practice the struc-

tures we have been learning. I would also like to remind you that none of the activities include

explicit grammar at this point, but only sensitization in order to enable the students to use cor-

rectly some of the basic structures. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or

for more information.

Sonja Stanisic

Serbian language Teacher

Dear first grade parents,

Here is the first newsletter for the French class in order to keep you informed about the things we

have been learning since the beginning of this school year.

We started with some of the basic greetings and introductions (Bonjour / Au revoir / Je m’appelle /

C’est + the name of the person / the question Qui est-ce? – Who is this?). This allowed us to introduce

some family members and other close people (ma maman, mon papa, ma soeur, mon frère, mon ami,

mon cousin – my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, my friend, my cousin), as well as nouns like un

garçon (a boy), une fille (a girl), un homme (a man), une femme (a woman), which led us to the genders

and also the pronouns il (he) and elle (she). After that, we introduced the question Qu’est-ce que

c’est? – What is this? and answers that include objects (vs the question Qui est-ce? – Who is this? that

requires an answer including a person). We also learned colors and numbers 1-10, and are current-

ly working on school material vocabulary, while making the difference between the singular and the

plural (ex : un livre / des livres = a book / books). Through all of these activities, the children are

getting used to understanding basic instructions given in French and are permanently encouraged to

use that language themselves and practice the structures we have been learning.

As you could see in the notebook, we are learning through songs, drawings, colorings, listening

activities, while reading and writing activities are not included for now (except for copying the date

or some words). I would also like to remind you that none of the activities include explicit grammar

at this point, but only sensitization in order to enable the students to correctly use some of the

basic structures.

Thank you for your time and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

French

Dubravka Kostanjsek

French language Teacher

In the previous weeks, students used a variety of drawing materials to create drawings. They painted

with paint and watercolors, made collages and 3D pieces of art.

We often start our classes by reading a book and looking at world art. Children love to listen to stories

and we are especially lucky when we have a toy that accompanies a book. The children are currently

working on their unit of inquiry Who We Are and they are choosing materials to express ideas while

working in groups or individually. The children explored the possibilities of a variety of drawing materi-

als such as pastel pencils, charcoal, and pastels. They also explored texture while making collages, and

continued to learn about mixing colors intentionally. They also investigated and inquired into form while

making their play dough sculptures.

The children joyfully embraced opportunities to work in exploration corners and to reflect on their

work by talking about their theme. These conversations provided me with excellent feedback regarding

their interests. Their artwork shows a variety of approaches and interests.

Art

Page 3

Svetlana Spasic-Glid

Art Teacher

Grade 1A students have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Grade 1B students have classes on Mondays and Fridays.

Kindergarten C students have classes on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Music / Movement & Dance

Page 4 ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter

First graders began this year by developing their awareness and appreciation of music from differ-

ent sources and cultures. This allowed students to share music from their home countries as

well as globally recognized songs in order to find commonalities and preferences that connect us

all. From Mozart to Louis Armstrong; from Tchaikovsky to Queen; students recognized their

common preferences in terms of sounds, styles, instruments, and genres. This led to the for-

mation of groups based on common preferences. Each group then made a band. In their bands,

students explored different rhythmic and melodic patterns and were able to see music as a disci-

pline in which a group comes together to work as one.

This concept was also extended to movement and dance. There, we looked at commonalities

between dance formations (circle dance, square dance, etc.) as seen in different cultures. We

took a closer look at folk dances from China, Serbia, United States, and Hawaii. Aside from look-

ing at commonalities, we looked at the use of props in order to enrich choreography as well as

logistics that enable us to work effectively in a group.

This month, first graders definitely extended their musical knowledge but were also able to fur-

ther enhance their open-mindedness!

Ljudmila Janicijevic

Music Teacher

We are glad to inform you that we started our new school year very successfully

and actively!

During September we worked hard to improve our body awareness and body con-

trol, both stationary and while moving through space.

We practiced stopping and changing directions at the sound of a signal in differ-

ent situations (walking,

running, hopping, skipping,

and rolling over mats). We

also had a chance to prac-

tice handling some props,

such as different size balls,

bean-bags and hoops.

Through our Unit “Games

of Simple Organization” we

made a connection to the

PYP Unit called “Our Con-

nections”. Students were

encouraged to share their

favorite game with the rest

of the class. With a little

help from a teacher, stu-

dents explained the game; equipment needed and taught their peers basic rules so

we could all play their game together. We really had a lot of fun playing our peers’

favorite games from all around the world. A big THANK YOU to all moms, dads

and nannies who helped their children to write the game and made this unit fun for

us!

First graders displayed a lot of appreciation, enthusiasm and fairness which means

that they are ready to move forward and learn some team games.

WELL DONE First Graders!

Physical Education

Page 5

Marija Dimitrov

PE Teacher

EAL

Page 6 ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter

Grade 1 is an exciting year for ISB students! This is the first year they get to go to a language class! The

EAL program in grade 1 is a more intensive program than in kindergarten. I am quickly becoming very

familiar with all the students in grade 1 as part of my time is spent giving in-class support, part of the

time is spent teaching students during the language block, and another part of my time is spent with stu-

dents who need EAL support and who attend the Serbian Mother Tongue class. Our class sessions have

begun with some phonics work, and beginning to develop basic literacy skills. Students have read several

new books so far. As a class we focus on the pictures for clues to new vocabulary and we look for a

pattern within the text. We will begin writing activities that mimic these patterns in the books they have

read. We have also been looking at different verbs and practicing how to read, say and write them in

the present and past tense. Students are beginning to read basic sight words and review these words

with flashcards from time to time. EAL in grade 1 is well on its way to a successful year!

Kelly Campbell

EAL Teacher

Serbian Mother Tongue

Milena Jovanovic

Serbian Language

Teacher

Grade One started the new school year by learning the first letters of the Cyrillic al-phabet. One of the activities we did in class involved writing students' names in Cyril-lic on a thin piece of foil that they later colored and decorated and got to take home. This has proven to be quite a good way to familiarize them with the letters in their names. As a whole class so far we covered four of the letters – m, i, t and a. In addi-tion to writing, learning the Cyrillic also includes making the letters out of variety of materials such as plasticine, wooden sticks etc. This also helps the students to learn the letters more easily. One of the stories we read in class was Foxhunt. This is one of the stories that belongs to the series of books about Petson and Findus, the old man and his cat and their adventures. In the Foxhunt, they had to come up with a plan of how to keep the fox away from their yard and their chickens. Students especially en-joyed reading the story Krokodokodil by Dusan Radovic. Krokodokodil was a misbe-having crocodile who was punished by his father by being left in the woods to be eat-en by other animals.

Grade one Spanish students started off the year by learning simple greetings and everyday ex-

pressions. In and outside the classroom, students have been enthusiastically greeting the teach-

er with ¡Hola! and ¡Adiós! when the occasion calls for it.

The emphasis of Spanish Language Classes at this level is based on vocabulary teaching and ac-

quisition. During the month of August, we concentrated on simple introductions. In September

we started practicing numbers 0 -10 with a ball game - catching the ball with sticking numbers

on, where student’s right/left hand lands is the number they have to say, as well as practicing

the colors with our coloring book and drawings. Currently we are learning the names of differ-

ent classroom objects through various communicative games. We will continue to incorporate

classroom vocabulary in our daily classroom routines, and in a few weeks we´ll begin exploring

the world of animals.

All students have demonstrated a great enthusiasm for Spanish language learning and acquisi-

tion.

Spanish

Page 7

Snezana Dimitrijevic

Spanish Language Teacher

Beginners’ Group

September was a very busy month for students new to English. Our focus

this month was on developing language survival skills. We explored, prac-

ticed and enjoyed learning new words and phrases related to introductions,

greetings and making friends. We became familiar with terms we use to de-

scribe a classroom, school and playground. We focused on non-verbal un-

derstanding, and providing short yes/no answers. We learnt basic action

verbs, and had fun demonstrating what we’ve learnt using different TPR ac-tivities, pictures, plastic food, and puppets. Students were actively engaged

and showed enthusiasm to learn English.

EAL

Divna Stakic

EAL Teacher