ISHNEWS

#06PRIMARY SCHOOL

Primary Newsletter | Issue 06| November 19 2010

The International School of The Hague

Wijndaelerduin 12554 BX The Hague www.ishthehague.nl

Primary SchoolTelephone +31 (0)70 338 4567Fax +31 (0)70 328 2049Email ish.primary@ishthehague.nl

Secondary SchoolTelephone +31 (0)70 328 1450Fax +31 (0)70 328 2049Email ish.secondary@ishthehague.nl

In this issue

2 Dear ISH News Readers,

4}6 Primary News and Mother Tongue

7 Dates for your Diary & Events

8}9 Events

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Dear Parents,Autumn seemed to turn into winter rather quickly this week. Please remind your children if they cycle, to watch out for icy patches on the cycle paths and to check their bike lights work. I am pleased to tell you that our Year 6 students are now working with the iPods and having a great time. They are also learning lots. I watched the fi rst iPod lesson myself, where the children were exploring the camera function and taking photographs of themselves to personalize their iPods. After about fi ve minutes of instruction, one child asked , “Can I convert my photo to pop art, in the style of Andy Warhol?” Already they are discovering lots about the functions of these amazing devices and using their knowledge and understanding from IPC to link their learning experiences. We will add some images of the children using their iPods in future newsletters and I know you will be hearing a lot more about them soon.Staying on the ICT theme, all of our children have now been given accounts to access our online learning platform, the ‘Pri-Moodle.’ I know many of them have already explored it. You can access this by going to the website, then ‘primary’ and ‘pri-moodle log in’ or simply go straight there at http://ishweb.nl/primoodle The children can log in and enjoy everything from IPC information, Sinterklaas songs and research on how the brain works. Our moodle is still in its early days but

already there is a lot on there to enjoy. If your child has forgotten their login details, their username will be their initial followed by a full stop then their surname (all lower case) and their password is simply their fi rst name, again in lower case. There are some great things going on in ICT at the moment and our two teachers, Miroslava Silva and Vicki Doamekpor are doing a fabulous job. However, Wednesday was Miroslava’s last day for a while as she starts her maternity leave. More about that later in the newsletter but we wish her well at this exciting and exhausting time.Today you should receive a letter about traffi c and parking from me and Sarah Siegloff, our new Chair of PTA. We both feel very strongly about the traffi c safety situation in and around school. In the letter you will fi nd a number of changes that we have agreed upon, together with the building management and security staff of the school. Please read this letter carefully and make sure it is explained to all drivers. It will be a paper copy, not electronic. We look forward to your support.

Best wishes,

Graeme Scott

Dear ISH News Readers,

This Issue is made byVerona Schroder v.schroder@ishthehague.nlGraeme Scott

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Primary Newsletter | Issue 06| November 19 2010

Primary News

Talent Show

Dear Parents,Just like last year, the Primary Student Council is organizing the ISH has got Talent show as a fund raiser. This year we have chosen KiKa (Children Cancer Free) http://www.kika.nl/ as our charity.If you haven’t been able to buy a ticket earlier this week at the playground, no worries, you can donate 1,- per person on the day of the show. Please come and see the fantastic Talents!The program for Wednesday 24th of November 2010 will be:

9.30 Theatre for start of show10.15 Break10.30 2nd part of showWe are unsure of the duration of the show.We are trying to raise as much money as we can for Kika, please support Kika by sending in your child with a 1,- donation on Wednesday the 24th of November.

Thank you very much,Kika and the Primary Student Council.

Year 3’s Rainforest CafeAs the exit point to their IPC topic, the Year 3s held a rainforest cafe for their parents. They were treated to coffee and rainforest biscuits and entertained with dances and songs from the rainforest. They then had a chance to look at work the children had done during the topic; including recipes for tropical drinks, rainforest art, stories and reports on rainforest animals. Overall it was a very enjoyable event!

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Mother Tongue

Language Acquisition, Some Knowledge to Share

Why mother tongue is important when developing bilingually:

“Positive effects on children’s language and educational development:

• Deeper understanding of language and how to use it effectively

• More practice in processing language, especially when become biliterate

• Become fl exible thinkers because processing information through two different languages”

Jim Cummins

Mother Tongue News (MT)

Dear Parents,

MT Within the Curriculum

MT on Tuesdays 2:00-2:45 started for the Reception-year 1 students! They have discovered in which class they will have MT class every week and met with the other children speaking the same mother language. Some CAS

students joined us to support the little ones. We hope to see more of them in the future and parents are of course always welcome to join as well during this special time!

The Y2-Y3 are sorry it was not communicated clearly enough there were no MT class last

Tuesday. We do hope you will join us again in the future to support the children in their MT.

Y4-Y6 are working on a new exciting project: The ISH-Factor. They will start practicing their poems, songs, dances… etc from their home country next week. We can’t wait to see which ones will be selected for the Grand Finale!

After School

MT Dutch started last week for US and last Wednesday for the LS. It is Sinterklaas time again and therefore year 1 and year 2 are learning about transport, the LS Dutch group was trying to guess what mode of transport Sint will use to come and visit us this year.

Please look at the last newsletter for the catch up dates. If needed, a new update will be put in the next newsletter.

Other

A message for the Spanish speaking families: Following our participation to the opening of the Spanish library we have communicated with the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht. They will keep us informed of any Spanish events they will organize in the future. We will post these information and/or invitations on the parents’ notice board at the entrance of the playground. Please check it regularly.

Kind regards,

Pascale Hertay, Deputy Head, p.hertay@ishthehague.nl

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Primary Newsletter | Issue 06| November 19 2010

Primary News and Events

iPod Touches in ClassDear Year 6 Parents:

Last week we started using the

IPod Touches in the school. It

is an exciting adventure and a

wonderful tool to reinforce

our students learning process.

MR News

The MR (Participation Council) meets every month with School Leadership to discuss a range of issues, from fi nances to recruitment. Each month has a specifi c focus for discussion and this month was the fi nancial situation of the school. Briefl y, the school is in a good fi nancial state, operating effi ciently and representing good value for money. The Principal, Mr. Scott presented the budget for 2011, which was given positive advice by the MR.

The Hungry Mind

Newsletter November 2010

I would like to start by saying: Thank you to everybody, who helped to kick start our community and activity centre over the last 4 months. The many volunteers, students and sponsors!

It’s been an interesting and vibrant period. The clubhouse was cleaned and painted, the schedule of activities was put together, volunteers arrived and donations kept coming in. We were given a piano by The International School of The Hague, a professional table tennis table by GAMMA Dekkershoek, a pool billiard table by the Finnish Church, a shuffl e board by toyshop De Koperen Pion. Not to mention the many donations we were given by people in our community: chests, bookshelves, tables, chairs, decorations, books, toys etc etc.

The offi cial opening on Sunday 12 September 2010 was a great success! The weather cooperated; kids were running and playing football. Alderman Karsten Klein kicked off and with that opened The Hungry Mind community centre. Lots of internationals and Dutch were present – the fi rst bridge was built!

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Dates for your Diary

Sinterklaas to Arrive at School

Start of Holiday - School Closes at

12:00. School starts again on Thursday,

06 January

No School Staff Inset Day

First Day of School for Primary

School Reports to Parents

Parent Consultation 17:00 - 19:00

Parent Consultation 15:30 - 17:30

International Mother Language Day

Start of Spring Holiday

Ms. Oakley

Ms. Johnson

Ms. Oakley

Ms. Comeau

Ms. Brown

Ms. Brown

December

January

CT DAYSCT DAYS

03

05

22 Nov

06

17

Please check our website for a complete calendar.

23 Nov

26 Nov

29 Nov

30 Nov

11

February

21

17

15

26

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Primary Newsletter | Issue 06| November 19 2010

Events

The fi rst semester we started with: Yoga, Nordic Walking, Mothers and Toddlers, History of Art classes. Coffee mornings, English conversation and Dutch for beginner’s lessons for our adult visitors, just to name a few. Homework guidance, healthy cooking, textile art, Chinese aquarelle painting, football clinics, sowing and chess were on offer for our younger guests. Kids are given a fruit snack (sponsored by Albert Heijn Loosduinen) and a drink when they come in.

We had kids’ birthday parties, a teenage disco party, and an Aeid celebration meal. We were the fi lling station for the International School’s sports day in October. We also hosted some informal get togethers: Catering was brought in and in an informal way, people got to know each other.

Thanks to the Oranje Fonds, Gemeente Den Haag and Stichting Boschuysen, we were able to upgrade some of the standards in the clubhouse over the mid-term break. The kitchen was renovated, the former meeting room has changed into a dance studio. A leaking central heating unit was replaced etc etc.

After the mid-term break we organized a whole week of Halloween activities. Bokstijn Feestartikelen had a stand with Halloween costumes in the

clubhouse. We had a pumpkin patch on the fi eld in front of the clubhouse. Pumpkins were carved, faces painted, nails done and Halloween craft activities were done in the afternoons. We invited children from ‘VoorWelzijn Loosduinen’ to come and make pumpkin soup, bake Halloween biscuits and muffi ns with us.

On 1 November our old/new activity program started again for 7 weeks. Cooking sessions with friends are being booked….Christmas lunch-parties with classes and parents are planned… Meetings are being held…Magazines and papers read.Do you want to use The Hungry Mind clubhouse to get together with your friends, play bridge, hold lectures or just read a magazine or newspaper and have a cup of great coffee and a cake? You are very welcome during weekdays 8.30-16.30. For more info call the clubhouse: 070-3681804 or check our website for the latest activity program: www.thehungrymind.nl

It is still possible to order your

child’s school photograph.

Please state the code number

located below the photograph

when making your payment.

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Events

Dear parents/guardians and colleagues,This year we have organized a day trip to the Christmas-fair in Düsseldorf in Germany for families of students as well as for staff and their families. It is on Saturday 11 December 2010. The bus will leave from Kijkduin Deltaplein (where the shops are) as the school is closed and there is free parking. We will leave at 08.00 am and will return at 21.00 pm.It is a nice way to get us into the Christmas spirit, to enjoy being outside with nice people. We won’t have to drive ourselves and we won’t have parking problems. We will simply enjoy Dusseldorf in December. At this time of the year the Town Hall will be a magical setting for the Christmas Market on the Marktplatz where craftsmen and -women working in wrought iron, glassblowers and candle-makers will be offering their handmade wares. The art-nouveau style “Engelchen-Markt” (Little Angels Market) will be enchanting visitors on Heinrich-Heine-Platz in the Old Town. The Bürgermarkt (Bourgeois Market) on Flinger Straße will link Marktplatz and Heinrich-Heine-Platz. Here, the facades of the huts will be modelled on Düsseldorf’s old town houses. The traditional mulled-wine pyramid will again constitute a striking and popular meeting place this year. At the Sternchenmarkt (Little Stars Market) located at the Stadtbrückchen, giant crystals and sparkling stars will immerse the stands painted in sky-blue in an impressive winter landscape. We will give you a map with interesting locations and some background information to make it easier to fi nd your way. All you need to bring is good spirit, warm clothing, your identity card or passport and a packed lunch. (For more information search: www.duesseldorf.de/en/index.shtml)There is one thing you need to do before you join us...Please fi ll in the answer slip below and return it to the primary offi ce as soon as possible together with the 27,5 per person (exact money, no change will be given) in an envelope with Düsseldorf Trip and the names clearly

printed on it. Please sign the list on the board in the offi ce as well. There are limited places.Yours sincerely,

Mrs.L.MaesCommunity & Events Offi cer.............................................................................................................................

Return this slip to the Primary School Offi ce

Day Trip to Düsseldorf, Germany - Saturday 11 December 2010

We/I will participate and we/I enclose 27,5 per person in full payment of the trip.Please do not send children alone since there is no supervision.

1............................................................……………….2............................................................………………. 3............................................................……………….4............................................................………………. or more...

..................................................................................... ..............Signed parent/guardian/staff Date

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