Issue 8 22nd November 2015

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In This Issue Page 1

Tantalising Topics

Page 2

Foundation Stage Magic Moments

Page 3

Key Stage 1 Magic Moments

Page 4

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments

Page 5

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments

Page 6

App of the Week and In the Library…

Tantalising Topics Teaching is a wonderful profession! It brings with it such

opportunity to be creative in the lessons that are taught, and

inspire children to engage in meaningful, exciting tasks on a daily

basis. Of course, ensuring that children make progress across the

curriculum is a big responsibility but getting them on board and

enthusiastic is half the battle! That’s why we put such emphasis

on delivering our curriculum through a range of topics (such as

‘Superhero City’ in Year 1 or ‘It’s a Disaster, Get Me Out of Here!’

in Year 4) to ensure children love coming to school and love

learning. As you read through this newsletter, make sure you

check out all the tantalising topics on offer at MES Cairo.

Issue 8 : 22nd November 2015 Foundation Stage Magic Moments

In FS1… …we have just finished a fantastic family week with Mums coming

into read with the children and Dads coming in to play during

outdoor learning time. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to

share their learning with their parents. The parents received

workshops from Miss Vikki on the curriculum and had support to

make small world activities at home. With Miss Claire, parents

discussed behaviour, sleep routines and healthy diets. We had a

wonderful week together and look forward to celebrating our

learning with parents in the future.

In FS2 Violet… …we have been learning all about estimation in

Mathematics. In conjunction with our Dinosaur

topic, we arrived at school on Tuesday morning to

find a giant footprint in the middle of our

classroom floor … could it be a real life dinosaur

had left its footprint on our floor? We decided to

estimate how many of our shoes would fit inside

the dinosaur foot. We went around the circle,

each making an estimate; then we took off our

shoes and began place them one by one inside

the foot. In total, we used 13 pairs of shoes to fill

the dinosaur foot; that’s 26 shoes! Safya made

the closest estimate as she suggested that we

would use 25 shoes; well done, Safya! 4

Issue 8 : 22nd November 2015

Key Stage 1 Magic Moments

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In Year 1 Orange… …we have been busy building our amazing superhero

headquarters. Our art areas have been filled with activities to help

create an exciting space to explore and play imaginatively. We have

created skylines, images of superheroes, decor for our role-play

areas and exciting word walls. The children have been working

collaboratively and demonstrating their superhero qualities.

In Science, we are learning about materials and their properties.

The junk modeling area is a favourite for Year 1 Orange. The

children are using a variety of materials to create superhero

rockets and getaway vehicles. We enjoyed our very first trip to the

science lab to investigate absorbency. These investigations will

help the children understand which materials to create their

superhero boats from in the coming weeks. If you have any

recyclables at home, contributions would be greatly appreciated; we will be collecting and reusing items

such as plastic bottles and tubs, bottle tops, shoeboxes, egg cartons, cardboard food boxes, boxes,

newspaper, buttons and toilet paper rolls; thank you for your support!

In Year 2 Yellow… …we have become biologists for our new topic ‘Mini

Worlds’. We have had fun learning how to identify living

things and have been using the science laboratory in the

pod to carry out our research. To introduce our topic

Year 2 Yellow went exploring in the field to find some

real living things and answer questions about them. We

had lots of fun being scientists and even brought some

specimens back to our lab. Unfortunately, one sneaky

snail escaped and ate some of Miss Hanna’s timetable! We learnt that different living

things need different habitats and

we started investigating the

honeybee’s special habitat. Using

our relationship and risk-taker

skills we worked collaboratively

to make our own information

books all about bees. We learnt a

lot about bees and about

information books along the way!

Our books are beautifully

presented and full of interesting

facts about honeybees; we are so

proud of our books!

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments Issue 8 : 22nd November 2015

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In Year 3 Yellow… …we have proven to be enthusiastic scientists, completing an

investigation about different types of rocks and their properties. We

undertook an experiment in the science lab working with sandstone,

marble granite and limestone. We had to test the hardness of the

rocks by scratching each with a nail; if a mark was left then we could

assume that the rock was soft, whereas if no trace was left then we

could prove that the rock was hard. We also tested the permeability

of the rocks by dripping liquid from pipettes to see if the water drop

soaks into the rock or rolls off. Finally, we tested the floatability of

the rocks by placing each into a bowl of water to see if it floats or

sinks. Miss Jill was impressed with the way that we co-operated in

our groups, helping each other and taking it in turns to undertake the

tests. We look forward to using the science lab in future experiments.

In Year 4 Violet… …we have been busy creating collage pictures on fabric. The children used a painting entitled ‘Seattle

Heat Wave’ by Carla Nitkey as the inspiration for their work; the picture portrays a whole city melting

due to the extreme heat from the sun. The other classes in Year 4 have also been creating artwork

associated with natural catastrophes as part of their topic ‘It’s a disaster, get me out of here’.

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments Issue 8 : 22nd November 2015

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In Year 5 Yellow… … as part of our new topic, we have been reading and listening to stories which have suspense or a

cliffhanger. We have been introduced to the new writing approach called ‘Talk 4 Write’ which allows us to

learn a model text using actions and a story map. The children, as a class, think of actions that would best

suit the words from the text and then act out the story as it goes. They support this by creating pictures in

their book that best suit the words from the text. The idea behind this is that they can learn the structure

of the text without having to

actually look at it. The children

provided some fantastic ideas

in their first week using the new

approach and they seem to be

having a lot of fun with it as

well. As time goes on the

children will be starting to

create their own story, which

will have suspense or a

cliffhanger in it. We look

forward to reading what they

come up with!

In Year 6 Violet… …it has been another busy week with the upcoming production and Year 6 Violet have been hard at work

learning lines and practising dance moves. During the technical rehearsal, we impressed an audience of

our peers with precise dance moves, well executed lines and no prompting needed from the teachers

around them. The children remained in character throughout and demonstrated their increasing

maturity on stage, thoroughly entertaining their audience. Watching all the hard work put in by the

children and teachers pay off was an absolutely fantastic magic moment!

… Year 3 Violet met a scientist called Professor Jane this week. The

children enjoyed a story (wonderfully illustrated by the famous Korky

Paul of ‘Winnie the Witch’ fame) called ‘Professor Puffendorf’s Secret

Potions’; it is a story starring the world’s greatest scientist, you might

even have some of her inventions in

your home: unburnable toast, a

banana-matic, or maybe a smell-o-

phone. Professor Puffendorf and her

guinea-pig, Chip, foil Enzo, the

wicked laboratory assistant, in his

plot to steal the professor's magic

potions.

Year 3 Violet parents, ask your

children, should Enzo have stolen

the magic potions? What happens

to him at the end of the story? Did

he get what he deserved? Let’s see if

they can remember the answers!

App of the Week and In the Library… Issue 8 : 22nd November 2015

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Coming Up Next… Wednesday 25th November

FS1 Open Day

Thursday 26th November School Closed: Thanksgiving

Sunday 29th November

Year 6 Production

Tuesday 1st December Year 4 Parents’ Workshop

Thursday 3rd December

All ASAs Finish

Sunday 6th December Year 5 & 6 Parents’ Workshop

Tuesday 15th December

Seasonal Concert

Friday 18th December School Closed: End of Term 1

Supporting 21st century learners means that we have to meet students on their ‘learning field’, integrating technology as much as possible for a meaningful and rich way to practice their skills and knowledge. MES Cairo are happy to introduce our ‘App of the Week’ section in the weekly newsletter, where we will showcase an app that is currently being used in our classrooms. This not only gives parents a chance to see how students are using technology in their classrooms but also a chance to learn about technology and maybe even have a go at practicing it at home with your children.

To kick-off this exciting new newsletter feature, let’s take a quick look at ‘Show Me’ app for the iPad. This app is basically an interactive mini-whiteboard tool where children can practise their skills and send their work directly to the teacher’s whiteboard. They can use different

coloured pens, type using the keyboard, take photographs or video, and erase things they don’t need. Children can then save their work, Air Drop it to their teacher’s iPad for display on the whiteboard, and even print their work so it can be added to their exercise books. This tool is popular for brainstorming new Topic ideas, solving Maths word problems, and even designing talk-for-writing text maps in English.

App of the Week

In the Library…