Grade 5

May/June 2013
Grade 5
ISB Lower School
Specialists’ Newsletter
From the Principal
Welcome to final edition
of our Specialist Newsletters. We have had a
great school year here at
ISB!
Our specialist teachers
(also referred as singlesubject teachers) play an
integral and important
role in our Primary Years
Program. The arts, physical education, and language study are essential elements to a comprehensive and holistic primary school education. The content of these subjects is transdisciplinary in nature, meaning that the
skills and concepts developed by specialist teachers have relevance throughout the
Lower School curriculum and our students’ lives beyond school.
Inside this issue:
Art
2
Serbian/Spanish
3
Serbian MT/EAL
4
PE
5
A great example of this is when your children ‘connect’ their school learning with something that happens when they are at home or out and about with the family. Our specialists teachers work alongside our classroom teachers to develop lessons and learning
opportunities that are both interesting and connected to the classroom Units of Inquiry. Our specialist teachers work with our classroom teachers regularly to find connections between subjects and even participate in field trips when the connection is
natural.
For this reason, we think 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 newsletter six times during the school year. As always, if you have any questions about your child’s education, feel free to contact us. Enjoy your summer holiday.
I look forward to seeing you all here on the Lower School campus,
French/Music
6
Brian H. Lettinga
Art
Over the previous weeks, the students finished working on their art pieces for the Exhibition. In their exhibition groups they inquired into the works of the graphic designers Geof Mcfetridge, Jackson Pollock, and Keith Haring and combined the previously
gained knowledge with their new findings and ideas. I hope you enjoyed their presentations.
Upon finishing with the Exhibition unit, the children devoted their time to making
bookmarks and birthday cards inspired by the artist of their choice and reflected on
their learning during this trimester.
I wish my students a great summer break!
Grade 5A and 5B students have classes on Mondays.
Page 2
Svetlana SpasicGlid
Art
Newsletter Title
Serbian as a Foreign Language
Ivana Jovanovic
Serbian Language Teacher
During May, Grade 5 students were very busy working on their foreign language
piece for the Exhibition. They all agreed that our focus should be on dialogue.
Therefore, we used www.pixton.com to create comics. Students did very well,
communicating a clear message to the reader. Students were surprised with the
complexity of the project – their comics went through a cycle of changes before
they were ready to be published. This assignment provided students with an opportunity to think about their central ideas from a different perspective and to
use a dialogue as a way of conveying a message to an audience.
Spanish
Milica Rkulovic
Spanish Language Teacher
Page 3
During the month of May the grade five Spanish students began a new unit
which allows for the exploration of different types of social correspondence.
We first looked at party invitations and birthday cards and are currently in the
process of planning our Spanish end-of-the-year party according to advice given in a language learning magazine we use in class. At the same time, the students are hard at work writing personal letters. They are putting a lot of effort
into writing letters that express who they are and provide information about
their everyday life and I look forward to finding out something new about them
and seeing just how much they’ve learned this year.
Serbian Mother Tongue
Učenici petog razreda su na časovima maternjeg jezika nastavili sa čitanjem romana
„Orlovi rano lete“, Branka Ćopića. Završili smo čitanje prvog dela romana koji se
dešava u bezbrižno vreme kada se naši begunci igraju u šumi i uživaju u svom logoru. Drugi deo knjige se dešava u vreme Drugog svetskog rata i u njemu nas čekaju
neke potpuno druge okolnosti i događaji. Na časovima smo takođe uradili komponentu na srpskom jeziku koja će činiti deo izložbe koji učenici organizuju na kraju
PYP programa. Snimili smo vesti u okviru kojih je svaka od pet grupa imala svoj prilog. Tako ćete u četvrtak moći da pogledate i saznate kako možete pomoći napuštenim životinjama, kako pružiti prvu pomoć u svakodnevnim situacijama, kako
se osećaju ljudi prema kojima imamo predrasude, koje su to pet najatraktivnijih
lokacija u Srbiji za decu i kako možemo pomoći našoj planeti da bude manje
zagađena.
Milena Jovanovic
Serbian Language
Teacher
EAL
Most of our activities in this period were linked to the students’ work on their Exhibition topics. They were engaged in research activities and had discussions on a
variety of topics – friendship, how to keep the planet green and what kind of transportation is suitable for this purpose. We also talked about endangered animals,
abandoned pets and how we could help these animals survive the results of human activity. The students were involved in investigating their lines of inquiry, taking notes and organizing their findings. We talked about the students’ impending
transition to Middle School and their future life in school.
Page 4
Visnja Plecas
EAL Teacher
Physical Education
Our students took advantage of the sunny spring weather at the beginning of the month
to work on their track and field skills, outdoors.
We started with running events, such as running middle and short distances. The main
focus was on proper running technique, including our foot position and arm motions, as
well as on the importance of proper breathing. Students were involved in individual and
pair activities in order to improve their technique and endurance, as well as gain better
speed and agility.
Since a good start is crucial for any race, especially for short distances, we practiced
starting on signals from different positions. Later, we ran many races from standing
starts and sprint start positions. We focused on our arm motion to help students to realize the importance of the arms’ swing during the run, especially in the very first moments of a race.
We continued with relay races; practicing running with a baton along with a hand-off
technique. Students were very excited about relay races. They all participated wholeheartedly, while being very supportive to their fellow runners and displaying great
sportsmanship towards other teams.
The biggest challenge was probably running hurdles, which were higher than the year
before. After spending some time exercising the lead and trail leg, we got used to the
height of the hurdles and dared ourselves to run races. Although some of the students
had doubts about completing the run, they all faced the challenge bravely and asked
when they would do it again!
We also worked on improving our jumping skills by practicing the broad, the long and
the high jumps. Our focus was on take-off and landing techniques, as well as on the approach to the take-off area.
The end of the year Physical Fitness test is ahead of us. We have been working on our
stamina, strength, agility and flexibility, thus we all believe that we have improved
throughout the year!
Stay healthy through sports!
Page 5
Marija Dimitrov
PE Teacher
Newsletter Title
French
Dear fifth grade parents,
Here is the last newsletter for the French class for this school year.
Dubravka Kostanjsek
French Teacher
After wrapping up our exhibition presentations, we will review all of the important
themes covered since the beginning of the school year through various activities. The
students will also make a board game that includes questions about French language
and culture, which is a very useful tool they can use to review a lot of topics.
Thank you very much for all of your support and collaboration throughout this school
year.
I wish you nice and exciting summer holidays!
Music
Ljudmila Janicijevic
Music Teacher
Page 6
Fifth graders were true and expert inquires. Working in groups, they analyzed
different music forms and created authentic compositions with lyrics, movements,
instrumental and singing parts. Using mouth pianos and xylophones, students
learned about the difference between chromatic and diatonic melodic patterns in
C scale. Our song of the month was “Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof.