Newsletter Week 48, 2016

Dear 3rd grade parents,

Over the last few weeks we have been discovering a great deal about electricity during our Bright Sparks unit. Our entry point consisted of a disco light show complete with music, disco lights and a smoke machine! (Please see the photos below).

You may not have realised it at the time, but your child has completed a secret homework task as an electric detective whereby they investigated how well your family manages to save electricity at home. The method of collecting this evidence was decided upon by the children and the results were reported to the class.

Students have been conducting circuit investigations in our classrooms testing various materials to see if they are conductors or insulators of electricity. (Please see some of our scientists in action below).

Our exciting science unit will continue until the end of this term.

To encourage and inspire our students to be creators of technology, our entire school is joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (5-11 December). More than 100 million students worldwide have already tried an Hour of Code.

Our Hour of Code is making a statement that Stockholm International School is well prepared to teach these foundational 21st century skills. Engineers from Accenture and Spotify have volunteered to join us during the launch event on Tuesday 6th December 2016 (14:30-15:30).

On the 9th of December we will celebrate Nobel Day with a delicious Nobel lunch banquet! Students have the option of dressing up smartly for this event.

As we move towards the end of the school term, we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe winter holiday.

School will finish at midday on Friday 16th December and resume on Monday 9th of January.

Kind regards,

Mrs. Boholm, Mr. Gordon, Mr. James

Important dates:

December 6th - The Hour of Code event
December 9th - Nobel lunch banquet
December 15th - Grade 3 end of term celebration
December 16th - Last day of term, school ends at 12.00
January 9th - School restarts
January 17th - Avril McDonald (guest author) visit
February 7th - Half day for students (school ends at 12.45)

Here come a few snaps from our Entry point disco!

Newsletter week 41, 2016

Hello 3rd grade parents!

We are now well and truly into our unit about Chocolate. Students in grade 3 have been learning about the process of making chocolate from bean to bar. They have researched to find information about cacao growing countries and where they are located in the world.

Students have completed a self assessment task by identifying where they think they are on the journey to being able to use secondary sources to obtain geographical information. In pairs, students have had a great deal of fun creating their own geographical feature models to enhance their understanding of the skill they are learning this unit. We look forward to learning more about the origin of chocolate and about the Aztecs.

Coming up on the 26th of October, 3rd grade will go on their first class trip! For the exit point of the Chocolate unit we will be visiting Chokladfabriken, a small, local chocolate maker where the students will be able to see chocolate truffles being made and learn even more about the chocolate making process. We will of course be tasting some chocolate too! Students interested in buying some chocolate while we are there will have an opportunity to do so although we recommend taking a look at the Chokladfabriken webshop (http://www.chokladfabriken.com/webshop) beforehand so you can make a suggestion to your child as to what to buy. We will be away from school from approximately 12.45-14.45.

Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed a school jog and an orienteering day at Humlegården. (Please see the photos from the orienteering day). We have also had the opportunity to meet with our buddies one more time.

As the weather becomes increasingly cooler, please ensure that your child has sufficient clothing in the form of a warm jacket, wet-weather pants, gloves and a hat.

SIS has a subscription to World Book, an online encyclopedia. Students are encouraged to use this resource when researching at home. The login details are as follows:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/

username: sisworld

password: sisk12

Important dates:

Week 43: Spirit week

24 October: UN Day Parade & assembly (wear national dress or home country colours)

26 October: Excursion to Chokladfabriken (local Chocolatier)

28 October: PTA after school Halloween party (Dress up spooky dress)

Week 44 (31 Oct - 4 Nov): Autumn break (no school)

17 November: In service afternoon for teachers (Students finish at 12.45)

Have a lovely weekend!

Mr Gordon, Mrs Boholm and Mr James

Orienteering!

Buddies!

Using secondary sources to find geographical information

Newsletter week 36, 2016

Dear 3rd grade parents,

Welcome to 3rd grade’s newsletter blog! Now that the dust has settled after a hectic first few weeks of school we would like to fill you in on what has been going on in Grade 3!

Last Friday morning we were fortunate enough to meet our new buddies! Grade 3 have been partnered together with children from Kindergarten and PreK. Buddies were given the opportunity to meet and play together. Some children even drew their buddy. We are all looking forward to the next time we’ll meet!

We have continued to work on our first IPC unit, Brainwave this week. Our homework task last week involved using brain power to solve math problems. Students planned for and taught a classmate a new skill using auditory, visual and kinesthetic instructions (see photos). The students had a great time teaching each other! We have found that using a combination of these three ways helps us to learn a new skill more easily. During class time, we have tested this theory by trying to learn a new skill with some of these instructions removed. This has proven to be quite tricky!

During this unit we have learned about how our brains grow when we try to solve a challenging problem. Furthermore, we have learned about how having a positive mindset helps us to learn better.

Our next IPC unit, Chocolate begins next week and funnily enough, coincides with Health week at SIS. (We’ll do our best to encourage the healthy side of chocolate!)

Students in 3C have voted for their Student Council Representative and Class Ambassador. Vanessa has been voted in as Class Ambassador and Flora as Student Council Representative. Congratulations to them both! 3V will be voting for theirs soon.

Have a nice weekend,

Mrs Boholm, Mr Gordon & Mr James

Important dates:
September 12th - Half day for students (Students go home at 12.45)
September 12th-16th - Health week
September 13th - School jog
September 19th-21st - Parent-teacher-student conferences (no classes on the 19th)
September 22nd & 23rd - September break, no school
October 5th - Orienteering
October 7th - Half day for students (students go home at 12.45)