Newsletter April 2023

Learning fine motor skills in the early years is crucial for children, as it sets the foundation for their future academic and social development. These skills refer to small muscle movements, i.e., hands and fingers, lips, and tongue, etc., that are necessary for various everyday tasks, including writing, drawing, using utensils, and speaking. Fine motor skills and cognitive development are closely interlinked, as fine motor skills involve the coordination of small muscle movements and cognitive development involves the acquisition and processing of information. As children develop fine motor skills, they also develop cognitive skills such as attention, memory, problem-solving, and spatial awareness. For example, to draw a picture or write letters, a child must first plan and visualise the desired outcome, then use his or her fine motor skills to execute the movements needed to create the desired result.

This is also closely linked to the development of the brain areas responsible for language processing. As children develop fine motor skills, such as the ability to hold a pencil, form letters and shapes, and manipulate small objects, they are also developing the neural connections that support language development and early reading and writing abilities. If a child is struggling with some fine motor tasks, they may also have difficulty with communication and language development. The SIS Kiga program is specifically designed to support the children in creating a bridge between the physical aspect of fine motor skills and the cognitive. 

Fine motor skills are essential for developing self-help skills in children, allowing them to dress, feed, and care for themselves independently. This independence fosters self-esteem and confidence, as children feel empowered to take care of themselves. As they become more proficient in self-help skills, they develop a sense of competence and confidence, which contributes to their overall well-being.

Children who have difficulties with fine motor tasks may become frustrated and anxious, which can impact their emotional health. If the children are able to perform self-help tasks independently, they experience a sense of accomplishment and pride in their abilities, which can motivate them to take on new challenges. This can also lead to increased social interaction. As children are able to take care of themselves, they are more likely to engage with their peers and participate in activities that can improve their social interaction, such as taking turns, sharing materials, and building positive relationships with peers and adults. This social interaction allows them to learn valuable social skills such as communication, negotiation, and empathy, which play an important role in their emotional health. At SIS, we believe every child is unique, and that they will develop at their own pace to succeed, academically, socially, and more importantly, emotionally. 

Morvee Shrestha, teacher Kindergarten

Es ist an der Zeit, die Segel zu setzen und die faszinierende Welt der Piraten zu erkunden.

Die Piraten der 1. Klasse sind eine Gruppe von seefahrenden Gesetzlosen, die in diesem Quartal tief in das Thema der Piraten eingetaucht sind. Die Erstklässler sind bekannt für ihre furchtlose Art und ihre Liebe zum Abenteuer.

Wusstet ihr, dass Piraten nicht nur Männer waren, sondern auch Frauen? Wir haben geforscht und herausgefunden, dass es zwei ganz berühmte weibliche Piraten gab, die über die Meere segelten, aber es gab noch mehrere von ihnen. Schaut euch nur die Bilder genauer an und überzeugt euch selbst! Nicht schlecht, oder?

Die Piraten der 1. Klasse sind auch für ihre Schatzjagden bekannt. Sie vergraben ihre Schätze oft auf einsamen Inseln und erstellen Karten, um sie zu finden. Dafür mussten sie alle die Koordinaten lernen. Nicht nur das, sie haben auch ihre eigene Sprache, die als "Piratensprache" bekannt ist. Einige beliebte Ausdrücke der Klasse sind "Ahoi!" (hallo), "Avast!" (Halt), und schon bald werden sie mit ihrem Piraten-Rap die Charts erobern.

Seid nur gespannt auf die Aufführung, und haltet euch unbedingt Donnerstag, den 4. Mai 2023 frei, denn da wird die 1. Klasse ihre schwarze Flagge mit dem Totenkopf hissen und euch mit der Show entweder einschüchtern oder voll begeistern.

Wir freuen uns auf euch! Ahoi und bis bald!  Klasse 1 - Arr!

Admira Nenaj, Lehrerin Primar 1

Dieses Quartal beschäftigt sich die 3. Klasse mit dem Thema "Kartenkunde", was bei einigen Leuten Fragen zur Relevanz dieses Themas aufwerfen kann.

In der heutigen technologiegetriebenen Welt werden Karten oft als altmodisch angesehen, und viele Menschen verlassen sich bei der Navigation ausschliesslich auf GPS und andere digitale Geräte. Dennoch ist es wichtig, Kindern den Umgang mit Karten beizubringen. Dies ist nicht nur von praktischem Nutzen, sondern fördert auch das kritische Denken, die Problemlösungskompetenz und das räumliche Vorstellungsvermögen.

Einer der Hauptgründe, Kindern den Umgang mit einer Karte beizubringen, besteht darin, ihnen zu helfen, einen Orientierungssinn und ein räumliches Bewusstsein zu entwickeln. Wenn Kinder wissen, wie man eine Karte liest, können sie lernen, sich in unbekanntem Gebiet sicher zu bewegen. Sie lernen auch Wahrzeichen, Erkennungszeichen, Strassen und andere geografische Merkmale kennen, die bei der digitalen Navigation nicht so gut sichtbar oder zugänglich sind.

Darüber hinaus können Kinder durch die Verwendung einer Karte auch wichtige Problemlösungsfähigkeiten erlernen. Sie müssen lernen, die Karte zu analysieren, Routen zu erkennen und Entscheidungen über den besten Weg zum Ziel zu treffen. Dieser Prozess erfordert kritisches Denken und die Fähigkeit zur Entscheidungsfindung, die für den Erfolg in vielen Bereichen des Lebens unerlässlich sind.

Neben den praktischen Fähigkeiten kann die Verwendung einer Karte für Kinder auch eine freudige und ansprechende Aktivität sein. So können sie ihre Umgebung erkunden und auf praktische Weise etwas über verschiedene Orte lernen. Sie können mit Karten Abenteuer planen, Schatzsuchen veranstalten oder sogar Spiele spielen, bei denen sie durch eine fiktive Welt navigieren müssen.

Wenn Kinder lernen, wie man eine Karte benutzt, kann das auch dazu beitragen, ihre Neugier und ihr Staunen über die Welt um sie herum zu fördern. Es kann sie ermutigen, Fragen zur Geografie, Geschichte und Kultur verschiedener Regionen zu stellen, was zu einem tieferen Verständnis und einer grösseren Wertschätzung für die Vielfalt unseres Planeten führt.

Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Technologie die Navigation zwar erleichtert hat, es aber dennoch wichtig ist, Kindern den Umgang mit einer Karte beizubringen. Das bietet nicht nur praktische Vorteile, sondern hilft Kindern auch, kritisches Denken, Problemlösungskompetenz, räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen und einen Orientierungssinn zu entwickeln. Durch die Verwendung einer Karte können Kinder auch an unterhaltsamen und spannenden Aktivitäten teilnehmen. Darüber hinaus kann die Verwendung einer Karte die Neugier und das Staunen über die Welt fördern, was zu einem tieferen Verständnis und einer grösseren Wertschätzung für die Vielfalt unseres Planeten führt.

Wir sollten also nicht vergessen, wie wichtig es ist, Kindern diese wertvolle Fähigkeit zu vermitteln und sie zu ermutigen, die Welt um sie herum mit Selbstvertrauen und Neugier zu erkunden und zu navigieren.

Amanda Windsor, Lehrerin Primar 3

This term I was lucky enough to become the Year 4 class teacher. On my first day of class, much to my delight, I found my students to be highly enthusiastic, energetic and curious. The questions and stories kept coming and I felt immediately welcome. These students are clearly excited about learning and eager to share their knowledge.

Our first project together was to create volcanoes using paper mâché.  Although I had never made a volcano, my students led the way and quickly set to work. However, part way through the activity, the teams put up dividers to hide their progress, “We don’t want anyone else copying us”.  

We stopped what we were doing, and a discussion preceded on why groups should or should not hide their work. As we are all learning here, wouldn’t it be better to learn from each other?  Finally, we decided upon a gallery walk where groups could walk to other group projects and ask questions. “Look at Anira’s paper mâché technique. Show us how you do that Anira”. The classroom atmosphere changed immediately, from secretive to helpful. This sparked many questions. How can we have more of these moments? How can our classroom begin to value collaboration over competition?

As the world changes at an ever-growing pace, it can be difficult to predict what new types of jobs will arise and what new problems our students will face. Ask some of the world’s largest companies what skills they look for in employees and surprisingly the answer isn’t always the most intelligent or most motivated candidate. Instead, employers are looking for willingness to learn new skills, teamwork, collaboration and effective communication skills (Alber, 2017).  Our role as educators is to best prepare our students for life outside of the classroom, therefore collaborative learning should be at the forefront.  

This poses the question; how do we start? Eager to try, I set up our next science experiment in teams. We investigated the process of melting and how we can best insulate the “iceman’s head“ to slow down the melting process. Although overall the experiment was a success, it was not without its challenges. Some students were doing all the work, while others set back to watch. Some students refused to hear others’ ideas and insisted that their method was the only method. These are challenges I am sure we have all experienced in working in a group setting. Are these challenges inevitable? What can be done to improve the way we work together?

At the Centre for Teaching Innovation at Cornell university they recommend a gradual process of giving students more shared responsibility. Group agreements need to be clear from the beginning, for example, seeing the best in one another and presuming positive intentions. Teamwork of course takes scaffolding, and students need to be taught explicitly how to listen with eye contact and empathy (2022). In addition, group work is best when each student chooses a role in their group according to their strengths. Finally, it is best to start small until students and teachers are familiar with learning collaboratively (Alber, 2017).

With these strategies in mind, we set up a math congress in our next math lesson. Using the tools that had been already taught in our measurement unit, I gave each set of partners two math problems. Students received points for the different strategies they used, their written and verbal communication about the steps needed to solve the problem, and finally their answer and application of the problem to everyday life. Students presented their poster to the class highlighting one aspect of their problem solving. What different strategies were used? Look at how Frankie and Lionel communicated the steps to solve the problem. When asked whether math congress was useful, Louisa responded, “We can see and share what we are good at and learn from each other”. The other students agreed they understood the math problems much better. When collaborative learning is successful it can not only enhance communication and teamwork skills, but also deepen learning (Alber, 2017). I look forward to continuing learning alongside the students to create a collaborative learning environment. Despite challenges, it is clear we all see benefits of learning from each other.

Emily Gray, teacher Primary 4

In Primary 6 this term, we have been studying the famous poem, ‘The Jabberwocky’, by Lewis Carroll. Two of our students, Myrto and Victoria, have kindly written a short article which will inform you about this famous poet and his nonsensical ways! Enjoy!

Lewis Carroll was a famous poet that wrote many different popular poems and stories, such as ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘The Mad Gardener's Song’ and ‘The Jabberwocky’. His poems have many nonsense words that he made up by combining two standard words. His poems are creative and show-off his own unique fantasy.

Carroll was born January 27th 1832, in Daresbury, England, and later died in 1898. He was an English writer but had Irish roots. His genre was children’s literature, fantasy literature and poetry. He went to the Westminster School and later to the University of Oxford. When he was a child, he was talented in Mathematics and went to a small private school in London. Carroll had a stutter when he was a child, but it didn’t affect his ability to meet other people in his age group. When he was 17, he had whooping cough, so he lost most of his hearing in the right ear. His legacy lives on through his most famous novels, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking-Glass’.  

‘The Jabberwocky’ is one of Lewis Carroll’s famous nonsense poems which he wrote in 1871. It is about a monster that is defeated by a young boy who has been warned of the fearsome monster by his father. He told his son to look out for a range of monsters: the Jabberwocky, the Jubjub Bird and the Bandersnatch. He takes his sword with him on his journey and has a strong desire to kill the creature that so many fear.

 

During the poem, he stops for a break at the Tumtum tree and stands a while in thought. A few moments later, the Jabberwocky comes running towards him. The boy takes his sword out and fights against the beast. Once he had killed the Jabberwocky, he takes the severed head home to his father as proof that the creature has been slain. His father is extremely happy and delighted to see that his son has defeated the Jabberwocky that he chokes and dies.

Throughout the poem, Carroll uses a range of non-standard English as well as nonsense words and expressions such as: ‘twas brillig’; ‘gyre and gimble’; ‘slithy’; ‘hast thou slain the Jabberwock?’ and ‘o frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’. Of course, nobody knows for sure what Carroll thought when he included these words in his poem, or what the exact meaning of them is, but we have been attempting to decode his work. For example, it is possible that ‘slithy’ means slimy or slippery. He could have put the words ‘miserable’ and ‘clumsy’ together to create the word ‘mimsy’ as well. He has also used onomatopoeias to awaken interest in the reader.

Another important feature that has made the Jabberwocky such a famous poem is its rhyming pattern. The poem has an ABAB pattern but in some situations, Carroll has broken the rhyming pattern as a ‘transition’ or as a sign that something important is about to happen. 

Overall, Lewis Carroll has written a remarkably interesting and thoughtful nonsense poem which includes a monster that would make even the most heroic people quiver in fear.

Victoria Wild and Myrto Patelli, students Primary 6

Unsere Schulwerte sind Respekt, Verantwortung und Herausforderung. In jeder Schulversammlung erhält ein Kind aus der Klasse eine Urkunde von seiner Lehrperson, das einen unserer Schulwerte vorbildlich vertreten hat. Herzlichen Glückwunsch an die folgenden Kinder, die ihre Lehrerinnen und Lehrer in den letzten Wochen beeindruckt haben:

Herausforderung:         Sina Tizzone, Hannah Plasonig, Naveen Schütt, Anna Oschwald, Anastasia Schäfer
Verantwortung:             Sofia Kampinga-Martin, Celina Maria Casanova, Emily Beckers, Elena Bättig, Allegra Uhlisch
Rücksichtnahme:          Audrey Wu, Lionel Kurmann