Your guide to all news at school
A message from Janice Short, Principal
Dear families
Preparations for Christmas are suddenly upon us! The last few days have suddenly become alive with all kinds of preparations for a typical primary school Christmas with teaching and learning continuing but with letters to Santa, charity work, choir practices, craft sessions for props, costumes and scenery and rehearsals taking place in various parts of the school. This time of the first term is always very busy as there are always many events which are organised for the children so they can enjoy this time of year by remembering to give as well as receive.
We began our Christmas charity work by collecting advent calendars for one of our local charities, the Allen Graham charity 4 Kidz. We were absolutely amazed when we realised that we were able to give over 350 calendars to the charity, a fantastic total for a small school. Thank you to everyone for your donations, and a special thank you to Summer’s mum who donated so many calendars which she collected individually too.
The school choir, trained by Mrs Baggaley, enjoyed their first performance for Christmas, at the Anglican Church in Palma. They performed really well with very good reviews from everyone. Their next performance is at Son Amar on December 11th, so please come along and support them as well as enjoying the Christmas market.
We have other events planned, including a Cookie Workshop by the Friends of the School, two Christmas shows, Christmas Jumper Day and visits to the cinema and from a puppet theatre! Please check the Weekly Noticeboard for dates.
The build up to the end of this term is, understandably, a busy time for staff as there is a lot to consider and everyone gives so much to make it as special as possible for the children. It is probably true to say that the feelings of Peace and Goodwill are not always in the foreground at the beginning of these preparations, but when we see the children enjoying themselves in whatever they are doing, the true spirit of Christmas shines through in everyone. We are so proud of all the children who work and play hard in everything they do to make BIC Sant Agusti so special. Thank you and thank you to all parents for your continued support!
Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the festivities over the next couple of weeks, both in and out of school,
Warm regards
Mrs Short
Principal
Baleares International College, Sant Agustí
Nursery Starfish Class
Put your safety helmets on everyone! We are talking about construction! The Nursery class children have been learning about working on a construction site. We explored the names and different functions of construction vehicles such as Excavators, Diggers and Cranes as well as talking about all the different kinds of buildings that are being built by these machines and the builders that operate them.
We spoke about the very important safety aspects that are involved with construction such as safety helmets, reflective clothes, gloves and ear protectors for the noise.
After reading the story The Three Little Pigs, we have also built different kinds of structures ourselves, using a wide range of materials such as wooden blocks, sticks, straw, soft play toys, interlocking blocks and duplo.
Many of the Starfish class children have called us over to proudly show off the big towers, beautiful colourful houses and the cities they´ve constructed on their own, sometimes getting very frustrated when it accidentally got knocked down.
We are now in full preparation for the glittery holiday season to start. We are practising all our Christmas show songs every day and are looking forward to getting engaged in many Christmas crafts planned in the next weeks to come!
Reception Seahorses Class
Wow, we’ve already reached the end of November! Can you believe it? Christmas is just round the corner but the spirit is already here and the lights are starting to glow everywhere. But we are still continuing our learning across all the curriculum. In Maths we’ve been learning about patterns and the children have realised they can find them everywhere! We’ve made them using all sorts of resources; the children even made their own learning connections by creating the patterns spontaneously during our phonics activities making one of the letters we are learning these days “f”.
In Phonics the children have continued with their hard work, learning new sounds and beginning to blend CVC words to read them independently. They are using their writing skills in so many areas and they love playing Phonics games on the tablets.
For our topic we have continued to learn about polar regions but this time the book we’ve chosen to focus on is ‘Lost and found’ by Oliver Jeffers. The children have been learning and discussing in groups things to take in their suitcase if they have to travel there, such as which clothes or snacks. They worked really well together! They’ve also been learning about how the boat from the story was sailing to the South Pole; we designed our own boats and we looked into how boats can float and how some other things sink.
We are already in the countdown for our lovely Christmas show; the clock is ticking so we have started to create their props for this big event in a very special workshop. The children are practising really hard every day and the show is starting to come together. We can’t wait to see this great performance.
Year 1 Seals Class
We can't believe how fast time is going, we are nearly in December but as the saying goes; Time goes fast when you're having fun! And we certainly are in Seals class. Over the last two weeks we have completed so much, learnt more and still had time to start the Christmas show. We all have fabulous parts and are currently learning where to stand, talk and act when on stage.
During English we have started to read the story Dear Zoo, it is an easy and fun read about receiving a gift from a zoo. The children are beginning to understand the use of adjectives and how they describe what the characters are doing, feeling and look like. We are also finding out how exciting they can make a simple sentence be!
For maths the children have been measuring and recording; Long and Short, Tall and Short objects by using a ruler, different length pieces of string and small cubes the children have been able to grasp the concept of measuring well. They have measured everything from feet to promethean boards. We even measured how tall we all are, including Ms Karen and I, with the metre ruler. We all discovered that measuring is super fun!
Science has been full of weather experiments, in fact I think Seals class are the only ones super excited about the drastic change in our weather. Having the rain and the sun gave us the opportunity to go outside and look for rainbows. It also gave us the idea of making a rainbow of our own, so after finding all the necessary equipment for this experiment, we split into small groups and began the activity. Many groups were able to create a rainbow and what excitement each one brought. This indoor activity is simple and the instructions have been put up on the classroom's Canvas page, take a look. It's wonderful to see how a rainbow can make EVERYONE smile!
We even managed to make a double rainbow…..
Can you see the rainbow?
Not all our learning fun takes place in the classroom, for P.E we have been learning many new games. Some games we need to play as a team, so learning to work together has been very important in the last couple of weeks and it is great to see how well the children can do this. Our favourite game, voted by the children themselves, is Alien Attack! The children (aliens) have to run to safety, across the playground dodging the balls that are being rolled at them from the attackers.
Computer Science takes place every Tuesday afternoon and we love it! The children can be seen here working together on a phonics programme. This not only enables the children to share their knowledge of computers with a friend but their phonic knowledge with each other too. Lollipop jar chooses the pairs, which means the children won't have the same partner each time. Lots of sharing of different skills take place during these sessions and lots of happy faces.
Have a great and safe weekend everybody!
Year 2 Turtles Class
Year 2 continue to have a busy term in all areas of the curriculum. In our Literacy lessons we have been focusing on Postcards and Letters and of course had a very important letter to write to Santa. We all wrote our letters, telling Santa if we have been naughty or nice (I cannot tell you what the children wrote but we did get a few confessions of crimes that have been committed over the last few months!!) We have now put all of our letters together and they are off in the post to the North Pole. We hope Santa has time to read them and reply to us.
Nicholas , Alicia and Victor took our letters to the office to go off in the post!
Our next piece of imaginative writing is about being trapped in a snowglobe. We have read the story of The Snowglobe family and we are imagining what we would do if we were inside the snowglobe. It´s a great opportunity to let our imaginations run wild!
In our Maths lessons we are working on our 2,5 and 10 times tables, singing songs to help us remember them and practising with partners. We will then be applying this learning to money calculations and problem solving. We are also continuing to learn telling the time and have been consolidating our learning by playing matching time games.
In our Humanities lessons we are continuing to learn about communication and the changes that have taken place over the last one hundred years. This week we have been learning about morse code and how messages and telegrams were sent by this method. We attempted writing out our own messages but were a bit slow - it took a long time to make all the individual letters! We will then be moving onto telephones and making our own cup telephones and testing them to see how they work best comparing length of string and positions round corners.
We have had a lot of Science learning taking place over the last couple of weeks. Our topics this term have been Feeding and Exercise and Living Things. We have looked at the changes that occur as we get older and compared pictures of how we looked as a baby to how we look now.
On Friday we went on a visit to Fresopolis to learn more about living things. All of the children had fun feeding the chickens, ducks, goats, horses, ponies and donkeys. We saw lots of guinea pigs, rabbits,pigs and a very cute baby pig which had been living in someone's apartment. Did you know that guinea pigs are not a species in nature - they have been artificially created by man? Or that pigs don´t sweat so they always need shelter and water? These were just two of the interesting facts we learnt through the day.
We went on a tractor ride around the farm to see what they grow and how they rotate the crops. We also got to see Ferdinando the bull who was rescued from a very difficult life. He had been found without food and water with a heavy chain that had grown deep into his neck. He is now the mascot of Fresopolis and lives out his life in luxury. All of the animals are rescued or donated and cared for on the farm.
After this we went out to the fields to see what was growing. We got to smell the herbs, pick the last of the strawberry crop, taste the carob pods (very tough but sweet!) and then plant some sunflower seeds. On the farm they also had been growing Christmas trees but they were still very tiny due to us having such a long hot summer. It was a great trip and I think the children all came back tired but happy.
As we head into December later this week, we will be busy practising our show songs for ´No one wraps like an Elf!´ and starting to get into the Christmas spirit with our art lessons! Have a great weekend everyone.
Year 3 Dolphins Class
Year 3 has been extremely busy preparing for our assembly and upcoming Christmas performance. They children have and are continuing to work very hard at learning their lines and the lyrics of songs and dance routines.
In Maths this week, we have been focusing on measurement and have enjoyed examining different pieces of equipment and deciding what they were used to measure. The children have been learning how to measure accurately with a ruler and how to read a variety of scales.
The children were placed in small groups and asked to create a 3D model of a famous European building. They did this with such enthusiasm and really showed they could work productively in small groups.
Last Wednesday, we all went to the Coves De Genova which was a highly educational and enjoyable excursion for us all. In Science, we have been studying different types of rock and how they are formed. We were able to identify different types of rock on our walk. We have also been studying the physical features of the different continents which made our trip to the cave here on our beautiful island such a special experience for us all.
Year 4 Jellyfish Class
Year 4MG and Year 4T have hardly noticed the time flying by as they have been a little busy, between entertaining the masses with show stopping assemblies, experimenting with sound waves, creating cartouches and following the antics of a certain Horrid Henry. And if that wasn't enough they have also been getting ready for the Yuletide Season which has fallen at our feet all of a sudden it seems!
In the classrooms all the work and fun continues. Science continues to be a hands-on and practical affair where the children find ways to think, behave and question like scientists. They have been busy learning about pitch and sound this last month and as the waves outside their classroom do, they have seen that sound also travels in waves. They discovered how to change the pitch using instruments and how sound is sequenced in a journey through our ears. It's fascinating stuff!
Art continues to cross over into the humanities curriculum and the children made some very impressive cartouches that would be worthy of a place in any ancient history museum. Paintings of Tutankhamun also have added to the colour and awe of Egyptian culture which will culminate in a class trip this Friday 2nd December.
Maths is a wonderful subject where group work can come to the fore. This past fortnight the children have been getting to mathematical grips with 3 digit subtraction and how we can use many mathematical methods to find our answers from the leapfrog method of counting on to compact subtraction.” Looks Dicey” was a particularly popular game this week that helped to bring some fun to compact subtraction method. The children continue to work on their multiplication tables and are busy every morning going for GOLD with their daily champions booklets. Those rockets are filling up nicely and we continue to revise last week´s rounding to 10, 100 and 1000 via maths games on active learn and of course counting choir!
Odd Sock Day showed us that in 2022 it is okay to show your unique self. We accept each other just as we are, once we know that kindness, fun and honesty are the threads that keep these socks together- now and for the rest of our sock wearing days!
In English the children did another Big Write Assessment and it is great to see their written work evolve and develop. We bid farewell to the Egyptian Cinderella and said hello to a rather different character- Horrid Henry. The children began by taking a deep dive into a selection of this famous collection of stories to search for various literary features to create some spider diagrams. We studied settings, primary and secondary characters, plot, themes and language features. The children then began a more detailed look at this mischief-making boy and we outlined his characteristics and appearance in preparation for a contrast with Perfect Peter. This lesson really brought to light some of the wonderful vocabulary these children have and how they can cross over so many different languages in one school day. It's quite impressive. Even the long suffering Ms. Battle Axe would be impressed.
In Sport we have been syncing up with the World Cup and have been enjoying some football skills. This last fortnight we concentrated on passing, dribbling and shooting for goal. It has been so much fun and there is nothing quite like the energetic hum of a structured sports lesson- everyone moving, getting fit and most of all enjoying themselves! Unlike in Qatar we did get rained off on Monday last but Go Noodle Dance Breaks came to the rescue and helped us to stay moving indoors! What a great way to get the blood pumping to those magnificent brains!
Class assemblies- I think you´ll agree that the photos do the talking regarding both classes assemblies this term. Well done to all! Trojan work was put in by Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Thorpe!
Have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to spreading some of that Christmas cheer as we welcome in the loveliest of months, December.
Year 5 Whales Class
We are fully into the Christmas swing here and busy, busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas show ‘No one wraps like an Elf’! Between rehearsals for shows the children have been working hard on assessments and still learning so much in all the other subjects too!
In Maths, the class showed fantastic effort when learning the tricky bus stop method (short division) so they all enjoyed some light relief when we grabbed our protractors to learn how to measure angles. First we revised what an angle actually is and then looked at the different angles including acute and obtuse, before learning how to use a protractor to measure the angles accurately.
The Whales are loving the new topic about Earth and Space and enjoyed thinking about the size of the sun, moon and earth in relation to each other.
They soon realised how huge the sun is in relation to all the other planets! We learnt a mnemonic to help us remember the order of the different planets and then the children worked in pairs to create a fact file about one of the planets in the solar system.
In Humanities lessons, we have started learning about the amazing Aztecs. The children worked in groups to order significant events during that era and then drew a time line to plot some of these. Next it was time to learn about the Aztec gods and the children worked in small groups to find out an interesting fact about one of the fearsome deities!
Year 6 Sharks Class
Year six have started to investigate the who, what, where, why and when of the Battle of Marathon for their end of unit project. We had a group discussion and looked at the merits of the Athenians and democracy, and the Spartans and their military-training schools for boys, the Agoge.
After some deliberation, the girls in the class thought it would be a good idea if the boys in Year 6 were to undergo a similar training regime.
The boys felt differently about this proposal.
In English, we have been improving our writing skills by practising complex groupings, where more than one subject is used with only one main verb:
In science this week, Year six found the courage to give Bob a heart.
Having examined how important the heart is to our ability to cling on to this mortal coil, next we will be testing our individual recovery rates after different types of exercises and stretches.
In maths, we briefly paid a visit back to the battlefield of Marathon to revise fractions. The answer to the question above might seem obvious, but sometimes it is sobering to see the hard cold figures. Year 6 insisted the answers weren't included so that their parents had the opportunity to work it out for themselves!
Congratulations go to Claudia for being the first pupil this year to receive the Bronze Award for reaching 200 house points.
Spanish and Catalan with Miss Maria
En la clase de español 1&2 con Miss Maria estamos disfrutando del maravilloso proyecto de este año: CUENTOS DEL MUNDO ENTERO, el cual nos lleva a leer unas historias con diversas enseñanzas y a conocer en profundidad la cultura del país o continente al cual pertenecen. Este trimestre hemos visitado tres lugares: África, Rusia y Japón. Recientemente hemos terminado este último tema que ha estado acompañado por estupendas actividades donde los niños y niñas han desarrollado sus habilidades de creatividad, comprensión y expresión escrita, desde palabras a textos breves. Siempre orgullosos de nuestro lema: “NOS DIVERTIMOS APRENDIENDO”.
Spanish and Catalan with Miss Ainhoa
Para terminar nuestra unidad sobre Japón, hemos estado aprendiendo sobre los dragones orientales. Las partes de un dragón y los diferentes tipos. A partir de aquí, los alumnos de Y1&2 han dado rienda suelta a su imaginación y han creado sus propios dragones.
El resultado ha sido muy variado. Finalmente, todos han compartido sus creaciones con sus compañeros.
Spanish and Catalan with Miss Marina
¡Hola a todos! Esta vez os enseñamos el trabajo que han realizado los alumnos de Y5&6. La semana pasada empezamos a estudiar los verbos regulares y sus tres terminaciones (-ar, -er, -ir). Para que fuera más fácil aprenderlo, los alumnos hicieron sus flores de las terminaciones para poder utilizarlos a la hora de completar las actividades. Hemos aprendido que jugando también se puede aprender y ¡qué divertido!. Por eso hemos propuesto dos juegos: el parchís y el cuatro en raya de los verbos. Los alumnos por parejas o grupos tenían que buscar la persona correcta y conjugar el verbo. ¡Hemos disfrutado mucho de esta clase!
