Issue 11 15th January 2017

In This Issue

Page 1 Great at Relationships

Page 2

Foundation Stage Magic Moments

Page 3

Key Stage 1 Magic Moments

Page 4 & 5

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments

Page 6

App of the Week and Art

Great at Relationships Happy New Year! We have leapt into our learning with fantastic

energy and enthusiasm, with all the expected excitement of a

brand-new calendar year. Students and staff shared their new

year’s resolutions, with lots of our community endeavouring to get

together and try new things in 2017. Take Year 4, for example, who

began the new term by taking their learning down to Year 1, and

working with the younger children on a variety of tasks. It was great

to see the 5Rs on display, with particular emphasis on being ‘great

at relationships’. The children in both year groups benefitted

immensely from the experience and it reminds us of the fantastic

value of being a part of this wonderful community; indeed, this

newsletter is a terrific example of community and relationships in

action and we hope you enjoy seeing this as you read through.

Issue 11 : 15th January 2017 Foundation Stage Magic Moments

2

…we’ve had an amazing start to Term 2! This week we began our new topic, ‘Food Around the World’. Each week we will be learning about a different country and some key facts. This week, we had lots of fun learning about China. We have been very responsible and safe preparing noodles in the MES Cairo kitchen. Then we tried our best to eat our noodles using chopsticks. It was a bit tricky but we did manage to eat them all up; they were delicious. We also tried spring rolls, crackers and sweet chilli sauce. Some children found it a bit too spicy but we were proud of ourselves for having the courage to try something new. At the beginning of the week we wrote postcards to the Emperor of China. On Thursday, we were so excited to receive a package from China. Inside were some ancient bricks from the Great Wall of China, a flag, pictures of traditional dress and our names written in Chinese symbols. We had lots of giggles trying to pronounce the numbers and saying “hello” in Chinese during the register. Next week, we are off to Mexico.

... we are learning about mini

beasts. We chose one specific

mini beast to learn about, a

butterfly. All week we listened to

the story ‘The Very Hungry

Caterpillar’, and learnt that the

caterpillar goes through a cycle

until it turns into a butterfly.

While we were reading the story

we made up some actions to help

us learn key vocabulary such as

‘cocoon’ and ‘caterpillar’. By the

end of the week we were able to

re-tell the story independently

using our Talk for Writing skills.

Issue 11 : 15th January 2017

Key Stage 1 Magic Moments

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…everyone has been really excited to be

back at school after the holiday, and we have

all settled back into our routines. Learning

has been ‘full steam ahead’, with the start of

our new and exciting topic ‘Once Upon a

Time’, which is all about fairy tales and

where in the world they come from. We are

continuing to develop our use of technology

in the class, and along with the rest of the

year group have been using the programme

‘Thinglink’ to carry out research. Our first

story ‘Hansel and Gretel’ originates from

Germany; so, last week, we used ‘Thinglink’

to find out information about Germany and

then used this information to create posters

comparing Egypt and Germany. We love

learning about geography and are really

developing our understanding of the layout

of the world. We may be little but we are

outstanding learners.

…we left everyone on the edge of their seats during our assembly this week. We took a massive risk to

resiliently build a whole class human pyramid on stage in front of a crowd. Not only did we demonstrate a

very strong understanding of building levels on a strong base, but we outstandingly depicted the true

meaning of teamwork! Ms. Dean is so proud of us all, we are superstars who demonstrate the MES Cairo

mission and values, and we are definitely achieving lifelong goals one initiative at a time.

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Issue 11 : 15th January 2017

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments

…we know the difference

between a wild guess and an

estimate. We have been learning

how to apply knowledge we

already have to help us make

estimates. For example, if we’re

estimating the length of

something, we think about a

30cm ruler or a 1 metre stick and

make a comparison. Or, if it’s a

group of items, we quickly count

about 10 of them, see the space

they take and work out how

many similar groups there would

be. Knowing our times tables

helps too! We became quite good

at this and were very competitive

when estimating various items.

…we have received a letter from Cat Woman, which was written to Robin! She felt that Batman was using

Robin and that Robin was suffering because of it. We explored Robin and Cat Woman's feelings by asking

how and why questions, and by hot seating each other. Most of us agreed that although life with Batman

was fun, it probably didn't offer many job opportunities so we decided it was much better for Robin to go

back to school!

Key Stage 2 Magic Moments Key Stage 2 Magic Moments Issue 11 : 15th January 2017

5

…we have begun our new English genre, ‘Myths and Legends’, by participating in a jigsaw activity. Each

group were asked to read and analyse a different myth from Ancient Greece. We then went into new

groups, as experts on our myth, and taught the rest of the students about the myth we had read. By doing

this, we discovered the features of myths for ourselves instead of being taught these by a teacher. We

enjoyed learning in this way, as the photo shows.

…we have been utilising

Moodle to help in our

classroom learning. Using the

KS2 Moodle homepage and

the Year 5 Topic tab, we have

accessed a Blendspace page

about water and rivers.

Blendspace is a tool for

curating internet links so that

students are directed towards

the websites they are

accessing online. In Violet

Class, we have so far learnt

about the water cycle and the

different stages of a river.

Some of us were challenged to

discover more about erosion,

transportation and deposition

of sediment as well.

App of the Week and Library Issue 11 : 15th January 2017

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Coming Up Next…

Wednesday 25th January

National Holiday – School Closed

29th January to 2nd February

Year 1 to 6 Writing Assessments

Wednesday 1st February

Year 3 Concert

Sunday 5th February

ASAs Begin

Monday 6th February

Year 5 Nile Cruise Parent Meeting

Year 1 Violet had so much fun taking risks and discovering how to use the ‘Show Me’ app on the iPads.

They have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and used the app to draw 2D shapes and label their

properties. Some students even challenged themselves to use the ‘type tool’ to add their names, date

and labels to their work. Once completed, they then mashed-up their digital skills by taking a screen shot

of their work, so that Ms. Deena could Airdrop it to her iPad for printing. They are looking forward to

airdropping their work independently next time.

…there has been some serious

monkey-business going on with

our Year 3 artists! If you’re

careful (and you bring a supply

of bananas) perhaps you’ll

catch a glimpse of some

fantastic monkey art, which

adorns the corridors around the

Art classroom! The monkeys

may be all shapes and sizes but

each one is expertly drawn and

beautifully painted by our Year

3 artists, and their presence

makes that part of MES Cairo

feel like an incredible, artistic

jungle!