BIC Sant Agustí Weekly News (01/29/21)

Dear families

This week feels like it should have been Science Week, even though it wasn’t! Every class has been doing some kind of practical Science work, painting and googling planet earth, looking at constellations, planting seeds, making and using periscopes, discovering habitats and making compost, complete with worms. The children have been buzzing with their science activities, telling me how much fun it is. Learning through fun activities - definitely the best way to learn.

Next week we are going to join in with Story-Telling Week where every class will be involved in reading and telling stories. Storytelling is one of the best ways of engaging others in conversation, talking and reading. We all acknowledge that finding time to read with children at home can be difficult, especially with the increase in technology. But storytelling is such an important part of a child’s life and we need to keep the stories alive for our children.

Storytelling gives a child the opportunity to express themselves creatively and to broaden their horizons with all the stories they read and hear. I have always had a huge interest in reading and remember going to the local bookshop and library to see which book would take my interest next. I became lost in a book when I was reading it as a child, and love to see children spellbound by hearing a story, either from a book, or being told to them. Stories are passed down through generations, famous stories, local stories and family stories. I am sure you all have your own family stories which get told at family gatherings!

This weekend, try to spend time to tell a story - there are many different ways and places to do this. Let your imaginations run away with you and see where your stories take you!

Storytelling can be found enriching lives everywhere. The sharing between teller and listener empowers, feeding the imagination from one generation to the next.”- Society for Storytelling.

Have a lovely weekend

Warm regards

Mrs Short

Principal, BIC Sant Agustí

In Starfish class we are learning about Planet Earth, the planet we all live on. The children have become more familiar with the size of the planet using Google Planet to find our school, starting from a whole planet view. We are also learning about different weather patterns all over the world. Starfish class now know that in Mallorca, the weather is mostly hot and sunny and all the children made these amazing weather compasses.

Well done Starfish class. Have a great weekend.

This week in Seahorse class we are learning about stars. It’s incredible how some of the children already know so much about them and how much enthusiasm they were still showing through the week. In Literacy we read one of my favourite stories, ‘How to catch a star’ and the children thought of lots of ideas on how to catch their own star. We also looked at constellations and their original names; they decided they wanted to create some and name them afterwards. Some of them were using rulers for the first time!

But this week we’ve also been learning about connections and how, in the same way we can connect different areas of learning through the same topic, we are all connected between each other in so many different ways. We looked at a very famous painting and analysed it. We focused on the idea that we are all connected across the world and over a long time. We all share the same sky. Some children couldn’t believe that wherever in the world you are you always see the same moon and the same stars! And this painting, this idea, connects us with the past and will connect us with the future.

I am sure you will all guess which painting I am talking about!

Have a lovely and safe weekend!

In Year 1 we began planting some beans this week. We are learning what we need to do to care for plants. We planned out the steps in our ´ Plant Diaries´. We will check on our beans each week for the next six weeks to monitor their growth- fingers crossed they will grow big and strong! We have also been busy writing lots of sentences using our word mats and our known phonics sounds! Each day one student sits on our author´s chair to read their work aloud for the class! We also know three new rhymes now- Grandfather Snail, Tommy Thumb and Eight Little Fingers- What super seals are we!

Yet another SUPER week for Turtles. In Science we are learning about seeds and will be planting our own seeds to see what seeds need to germinate and grow. This week we found out how seeds are spread and we made our own ´helicopter seeds´.

We have looked at instructions, talked about instructions, given instructions and written instructions this week. We have been using ´bossy´ sentences a lot! Our word of the week is imperative so it was crucial and necessary that we bossed Mrs KB and Mrs C about!

In art this week we used cotton buds to paint dots to create more pop art names. Once the paint dries we will create a fantastic wall of art.

We have also been revisiting and reviewing our phonic knowledge, and what better way to do this than being outside and hopscotching sounds and making up words while hopping along!

After our spelling test, Mrs Short came to the class to congratulate us as we all had a go at spelling our challenge word - onomatopoeia!

We hope you all have a super weekend!

On Thursday we had a very exciting Science morning learning all about soil! We found out it is made up of air, water, minerals and organic matter. We then learnt that compost is organic matter made up of both living and decaying plants and animals and that it is a great fertilizer for plants! As compost is so important for plants, we decided to make our own compost bins using vegetable/fruit peelings, wet shredded paper, soil and the magic ingredient… WORMS!

We handled our new friends delicately and created the perfect home for them. We will check on our compost bins every few days making sure the worms have enough peelings and water. Before half term, we will return the worms to Ms Jaimy’s garden, where they originally came from! Thanks Ms Jaimy!

I would also like to say a big shout out to Leila this week! Leila received the Principal’s award for her outstanding effort and attitude around the school. Great job Leila!

Another busy and varied week of learning this week. The very talented Jellyfish are becoming music maestros! Mrs Baggaley has been busy making up her own music and rhymes to teach us how to remember different rhythms. We’ve also been learning what treble and bass clefs are.

In English we have been reading the book “Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears”, which has taught us about various phobias and what they are. The children have then used these phobias to extend their sentences by using different adverbials. They have also been learning where the possessive apostrophe fits into a word.

Our mathematicians have yet again been giving their brain a workout, by using 4 digit numbers to round up and down to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.

While half of the class are busy in Catalan, the other half are busy brushing up on their French! Parent/child challenge of the week: see who can name the most colours in French!

Passe un bon week-end et à bientôt!

Year 5 are having a great time in their music lessons with Mrs Baggaley, as they are starting to learn to play the ukulele. This is a very versatile instrument, suitable for use in the classroom and the pupils are learning the chords of C, F and G, which will lead on to playing many songs. It is starting to sound very tuneful in class this week.

In maths we have been revising our division and multiplication and the numbers we are working with are extending to three and even four decimal places. Our TTRockstar this week is Marc, well done! We must keep practising, so passwords are being sent home this week.

We have been having lots of fun in Science this term learning about Light. We experimented with filters last week and this week we learnt about reflection and how light travels. To test out the path of light and how we can reflect it to help us see, we made our own periscopes. After learning to adjust the two mirrors inside we were able to use them to see over the top of tables and round corners! We discussed the uses of periscopes such as on submarines or military equipment but some children also thought these would be very helpful to spy on their pàrenst and siblings at home!! Apologies if you have been asked to buy mirrors but at least you now know why!

Continuing with our theme of landscape paintings, this week the children learnt about perspective and how we can use it to show dimension and depth in our artwork. They identified the horizon line, vanishing line and lines of perspective in different photos and then had a go at drawing the main things they could see in each photo, focusing on the different lines to help them.

In maths the children have been getting to grips with fractions, decimals and percentages and then calculating how much discount the sales offer, so parents will need to be ready to calculate sales prices quickly!

In Basketball, the sharks have continued to develop their skills to dribble and pass the ball and this week we managed a mini game! It was fun to be able to finally shoot some hoops!

In our English lessons, we have been learning about poetry and this week we had the chance to put together all of the skills we had developed to be able to plan and write our poems about a river. Next week we will publish some of our poets incredible pieces of writing!

Here are the children in planning mode!

Esta semana en Year 1 and 2 hemos viajado a Escocia, donde hemos conocido, además de sus costumbres, mapa y bandera; la historia del monstruo del Lago Ness. Partiendo de que nadie sabe con certeza cómo es ese monstruo, hemos decidido crear nuestra idea sobre Nessi, desarrollando nuestra imaginación y creatividad.

Además, para repasar los conceptos aprendidos durante nuestro viaje por Reino Unido y para desarrollar la conciencia fonológica y la lectura de palabras, hemos jugado a Bingo en parejas.

Los niños y niñas de año 3 y 4 han estado aprendiendo sobre partes y muebles de la casa. Para terminar el tema están diseñando su casa 3D con todo lo que han aprendido durante estas semanas.

This Wednesday during our PE class, Year 6 and Year 2 group were having fun while playing a basketball game. Students have practiced dribbling, moving with or without the ball, stopping and changing directions. Our young players have explored the variety of ways to pass the ball to a partner in a game situation.

Well done to everyone!

Dear families,

Following the opportunities to tour the facilities at our schools, BIC Sa Porrassa and BIC Sant Agustí will be virtually opening their doors to all families who are interested in learning more about our student-centered curriculum, facilities, achievements and values that we promote daily in our schools as well as to gain a great insight into student life at BIC. This will be a unique opportunity for all families to connect with our Principals and senior leaders during a live Q&A session.

Dates and registrations:

BIC Sant Agustí

An Early Years and Primary specialised School located in the high-quality residential environment of Sant Agustí in Palma. The school has a capacity for 160 students from 2 to 11 years of age.

BIC Sa Porrassa

Accommodated in a large, custom-built school situated in the beautiful, rural environment of Calvià. The school is in a very accessible location on the southwest coast of Mallorca and has a capacity for over 450 students from 3 to 18 years of age.

If you wish to organise a tour at either or both schools, please contact us directly:

• San Agustí - office.san@balearesint.net | (+34) 971 403 161
• Sa Porrassa - registrar@balearesint.net | (+34) 971 133 167

We look forward welcoming you to Baleares International College