dear friends, - ourplanet international school muscat · dear friends, in this issue: ... word day...

In this Issue: Dear Friends,

Upcoming Events

Welcome to this March edition of the OurPlanet International School Newsletter.

It has been another action packed month of activities at our school.

You will see that “Reading Fever” continues to sweep throughout the school with so

many children caught up in the wonderful contagion of reading for fun. We’ve been

reading books in English, Arabic, French, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and even Welsh

my own special language . Some of our star readers read 150 books last month! Maybe

our parents might catch some of the reading fever too-inshallah!

Its also great to see all the different activities that are taking place at OurPlanet. We

had lots of fun together in our first sports day. We really enjoyed the second Eco

Summit with 150 students from 12 different schools. We continue the sustainable

activities with composting the latest craze at school. Lastly, the student led conferences

were a great success and we look forward to reading your feedback

I am also very pleased to announce that work on our new Primary school is advancing

well. We remain on schedule for our new building to be completed this year which will

house our Primary classes. Don’t forget to check out the pictures of our new building

and all the other school activities on Instagram. I would also like to thank our friends

from Carillion OHI for their generous donation of three beautiful recycled play houses.

Shukran!

Please note that next week we are on Spring Break. The school office will be open for

fee payments everyday from 8.30-12.30.

Enjoy the time with your children and I look forward to seeing on Sunday April 10th

Robert Owen Jones

Founding Principal

Early Years sports day Grade Three sports day Grade One A sports day

Student Led Conferences Three-way conferences between child, parent and teacher.

31 MAR

Kids Yoga Camp Explore a daily theme through yoga, art and story. BloomFamilyYoga

12 JUN

Book Week

Certificates

Days

Eco Summit

Languages

Media Centre

Music

Sports Day

Sustainability

What’s new

MARCH 2016 ISSUE 1

www.ourplanet-muscat.com

Book Week In February, we celebrated with numerous

events. We kicked off with buddy reading,

Drop Everything And Read and educational

games in the Media Centre for the readers

of 100 books.

In March, Word Day saw pupils and

teachers sporting words in Arabic, English,

French, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian,

Slovakian, Spanish, Tamil and Welsh.

Jane Jaffer, Chairperson of the Let’s Read

Campaign, enthralled the children reading

from her book Dana and the Dolphin.

Dr Seuss Day Mr Robert Jones, Founding Principal, read

Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax to

Grades One, Two and Three to

commemorate the birthday of Dr Seuss.He

discussed the meaning of the books and

highlighted the rhymes.

Dress Up World Book Day gave children and teachers

the opportunity to dress as their favourite

book character! Sena Zoric, KG2A, and

Finlay Norrie, Grade One A, were the

overall winners. Malo Khatib, KG3B, won

for his sustainable costume. They were all

presented with a National Geographic Little

Kids magazine.

Manuel Trinidade, KG3B, and Nil Vaquera,

Grade One A, were given a Borders

voucher in recognition of their

photographs for reading in an unusual

place. Other prizes were awarded for story

writing, book reviews and covers.

02 00


Certificates

Certificates

Certificates On 23 March, Jan Trier and Rihards Kagis,

both Grade Two, were presented with

reading certificates and gel pens for

reading 150 books.

Hiba Al Habsi, Grade One A, was presented

with a certificate for her reading and

writing in Arabic.

07 03

On 24 February, students from Grade One, Two and Three were

presented with certificates and Winnie the Pooh pencils for

reading 50 books.

On 24 February,

students from

Grade One and Two

were presented

with certificates

and 3D metallic

pens for reading 75

books. Jan Trier,

Grade Two, was

presented with a

certificate for

reading 100 books

and allocated time

in the Media Centre

to play educational

computer games.


Days: Safety Drill On Sunday 20 March, OurPlanet conducted

a safety evacuation drill.

The fire brigade visited and explained

which extinguishers to use on different

materials. The children were allowed to sit

in an ambulance.

KG2 are exploring ‘People have a variety of

jobs and rules in order to address the needs

of their community.’Firefighters visited the

classroom and answered questions. Gaell

Alviso, KG2A, asked what you should do if

stuck in a house fire with no firefighter.

Days: Mangroves On Monday 21 March, Grade Three spent

an idyllic morning exploring a mangrove

ecosystem at the Qurum Park Nature

Reserve. Linking with their upcoming unit,

the group learned about the elements that

make up the ecosystem and about the

important services the ecosystem provides,

such as cushioning the shoreline from

storms, acting as a nursery for fish and

providing habitat for birds and other

creatures. The kids especially liked leaning

over the boardwalk railings and spotting

the many crabs scurrying in the mud

amongst the mangroves. The bird spotting

using our binoculars was also very popular;

highlights included a grey heron, great

western egret and Eurasian curlew.

We also had a chance to see first-hand how an invasive species called sea purslane is choking the mangroves. This invasive plant is widely planted as an ornamental in Muscat and is having a disastrous effect on the native mangrove trees. In the next school year, when the weather is cooler, we plan to return to the reserve and help to combat this threat by pulling up the purslane.

Days: World Water OurPlanet celebrated World Water Day on Tuesday 22 March with some awareness raising activities. Grade Two, who are investigating water in their current unit, took the lead. First they helped create a water awareness display in the outdoor play area, displaying 'water facts' submitted by all students and creating a plastic bottle graph to illustrate just how much water we use in daily activities. Did you know we use six litres of water (four large bottles) each time we flush the toilet? 53 bottles are needed for just one bath!

Next they visited each of the classes and demonstrated just how important it is to turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth. The kids - and their teachers - were amazed to see that leaving the tap running while brushing your teeth for two minutes used about 9 litres of water. When we turned the tap off in between it took only a half a litre. Grade Two taught everyone a valuable lesson - and our plants were happy to get an extra watering with the water collected during the demonstration!

00 04

Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm

Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm

Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm


Eco Summit Sultan’s School, Muscat

The second Eco Summit was a wonderful experience! On 17th March, 15 children with five staff went to The Sultan’s School. We were shown around the Eco Garden, where we were all highly impressed with the vegetable patches made on raised beds, using recycled bottles and plastic bags. We are now very inspired to introduce this idea here at OurPlanet. We then convened with a multitude of other schools in Oman, 13 in total. An impressive turnout. H H Sayyida Tania Shabib Al Said, the President of the Environment Society of Oman, started proceedings with an inspirational speech about the work of the organisation and placed emphasis on the fact that just one small action can lead to so much change. This was truly reflected in the growth of the Eco Summit in just one short year, originating in OurPlanet School in March 2015 with just eight schools. Exciting activities were led by six schools, all stationed in the sports hall. The Sultan’s School taught us all how to make a solar oven – using a few basic craft materials and a pizza box. Ammar (G1) particularly enjoyed this opportunity, especially when we got to eat our warmed pizza for lunch!

The children then rotated in mixed groups. This was an excellent opportunity for children of different ages and schools to collaborate and get to know each other. Sophie’s (G1) favourite activity was bottle top mosaics, presented by TLC. She loved the effect of a simple bottle top making a wonderful picture. ABA presented an Eco treasure Hunt which Zunaira (G1), Mohamed (G3) and Yash (G2) were very impressed with. They used iPods and iPads to photograph different wildlife and natural objects while they explored outside. Mohamed enjoyed the challenge of finding the specific bugs, while Yash enjoyed mixing nature and technology. Impressive masks were presented by secondary children from MIS. They brought in masks made from recycled materials which had been made in conjunction with their recent school production. They also taught the children how to use newspaper to make head masks. This was Marko’s (G1) favourite activity and he’s hoping we do this in class! OurPlanet presented our home-made compost. This was Imad’s (G1) and Jan’s (G2) favourite activity, as the children had the opportunity to poke around the

compost and identify bugs and other ingredients. Everyone was impressed with our compost barrel, which was kindly made by Owen’s (KG1) daddy and the conclusion was that compost could be made in all schools and homes – not just ours! Zara (G3), Kawthar and Rihards (G2) loved making their own fashion accessories on the PDO activity station. The children used recycled materials and enjoyed their hats and glitter boxes. Arthur (G1) and Daniel (G2) just couldn’t decide what they enjoyed most… they just had such a great time for the whole day! The finale of the Eco Summit was a fashion show. Hamnah (G3) and Aseela (G1) said that this was the highlight for them. Sixth formers from Sultan’s School designed clothes made from recycled materials. The recycled fashion accessories made at the PDO stall were then used alongside the clothes and displayed on the catwalk! All attending schools were presented with a certificate by Mr Jones (OurPlanet) and Deb Canterford (TSS). They all left with Eco Summit reusable bags and their very own recycled compost bucket too, a gift from OurPlanet to encourage all schools to make their own compost!

05 00

Photo 18 x 10 cm


Languages In February, the language of the month was

French. Ms Celine from the Omani-French

Centre started the Lower Primary school

assembly with a conversation in French.

She showed an art book with French words

and concluded with a story about the

Opera House in Paris.

For the Early Years assembly the children

commenced with a rendition of ‘Frere

Jacques’ followed by a traditional fable

featuring hands, fish and birds.

Russian story Parent Natalia Taratynova read two stories

in Russian to Grade Two and KG1A about a

Silly Little Mouse and a Wise Mouse and

showed the children the Russian language.

Romance Spanish and Portuguese are two of the

most widely spoken Romance languages.

Ms Maria, KG2A teacher, read O Aquario in

Portuguese to Grades One to Three,

explaining what an aquarium is.

Ms Charlie, GradeOne B, conducted

Spanish storytelling sessions for KG1 and

Grades One to Three. She read the

Emperor’s New Clothes and explained the

important Spanish words. Some children

were chosen to act out the story, including

Issa, who played the Emperor.

06 00


Media Centre In February, Asha O’Connor, a pupil at the

European International School in Vietnam,

a sister Nobel Education Network school,

read The Song and Dance Man to Grade

One A.

Arabic stories Khuola Al Yrobi, Teaching Assistant, read

stories to KG1A in Arabic in the Media

Centre.

Hamnah Suleman, Zara Pereira and

Djimmer Koster from Grade Three, who are

learning Arabic as a Second Language, read

stories they had chosen aloud with help

from their teacher Ms Amel.

Donations Zara Pereira and Ayah Al Hinai, both Grade

Three, donated books to the Media Centre.

Tania James, KG3A, donated eight books

and Nouf Al Lawati, Grade Two, donated a

book about the body.

Dot Gorman, former OurPlanet KG teacher,

has returned to the United Kingdom and

donated 18 teaching books to the school.

Jane Jaffer, Chairperson of the Let’s Read

Campaign, donated two books including

Tales with a Twist featuring stories written

by school children in Oman.

07 00


Music

In February, the Russian embassy arranged

a visit by the Rachmaninov Piano Trio.

Victor on clarinet, Sergei on piano and

Natalia on cello entertained the students

playing Russian, Spanish and Hungarian

music. They explained they came from

Moscow, the capital of Russia.

The musicians asked which instruments the

children played. They explained the bow is

made from horse hair tail. The students

were asked how many parts there were in a

clarinet. There are six and Victor took the

instrument apart to count and name the

parts. He asked the children what the

difference in sound was when pieces were

added. The pitch was high when there was

only one piece. Victor explained the reed is

made from bamboo.

Mohamed Najwani, Grade Three; Nouf Al

Lawati, Grade Two; Zara Pereira, Grade

Three; Rihards Kagis, Grade Two; Ayah Al

Hinai, Grade Three and Adam Al Lawati,

Grade Three demonstrated their piano

skills.

08 00

Photo 18 x 10 cm

Rachmaninov Piano Trio


Sports Day Early Years and Lower Primary

In February the students took part in sports

day.

Early Years commenced with hula hoops,

cones and tunnels. Mr Jones, Founding

Principal presented the children with sports

certificates, designed by parent Tascha

McNaught. Parents joined in the games:

wheelbarrow, shoulder rides, three-legged

race and egg and spoon. The day ended

with tasty treats provided by the parents.

Thanks to parent Yasser Macki for these

photographs.

Lower Primary demonstrated their skills the

following day. The children started the day

with a warm up workout. This was followed

by tennis racket relay, skittles and

basketball hoop, ball pass and zumba. After

break there was a three legged race. The

day concluded with a celebrity shoot with

Founding Principal Robert Jones on the

football field.

09 00

Photo 18 x 10 cm


Sustainability In February, Grade Two students visited the Higher College of Technology’s Greennest Eco House to learn more about how building design and green technologies can help us to reduce energy usage. The trip was a great opportunity to get out into the community and see some of the green initiatives taking place in Oman. During their lively tour, the students discovered how correctly orienting the building according to sunlight and wind helped to keep the house cool. For example, the north facing entrance stayed nice and shady for much of the day. Most of the larger windows were also on the north, providing light without the heat of direct sunlight. Creeping vines adorned the walls to the west, shading the walls that faced the sun. The kids were also impressed with the 76 solar panels on the building’s roof. These provide enough electricity for the home and with enough left over to feed into the grid. Another exciting feature was the grey water treatment and collection tanks, where wastewater is collected and treated organically, before being used to water plants in the home’s gardens.

Turtle Ranger In February, KG3’s unit of inquiry was ‘Many

species of animals are endangered and

some are already extinct.’

Mohammed Al Hasani, a turtle ranger at

Shangri La, visited to explain about the

different types of turtles, green and

hawksbill, in Oman.

He said they were endangered because of

plastic and fishing.

He gave a leaflet in Arabic and English

about turtle watching. Each child was

presented with a baby plastic turtle.

Endangered Ever wondered how we study endangered species? In February, our sustainability co-ordinator Ruth Kamnitzer talked to KG3 classes about

how researchers in Oman are learning more about our endangered species and how this information is used to help conserve wildlife.

Students learned how remotely triggered cameras called ‘camera traps’ have been used to find out where wildlife are found in Oman’s

mountains. They saw pictures of species like the Arabian tahr, Blanford’s fox, Arabian gazelle and others – and then got some practical

experience pretending to be animals that were ‘caught on camera’. Students also discovered that researchers put satellite collars on animals to find out more about them. They saw how scientists use a special receiver to listen to the collars signal and find out where the animal is so that we can find out what areas are most important and protect critical habitats.

10 00


OURPLANET International School Muscat

Al-Inshirah Street, Building No. 205

Plot No. 95, Block No. 221

Muscat, 111, Oman

+968 2200 5642

[email protected]


Nobel Education Network Limited

6 Battery Road, #37-02A

Singapore

049909

+65 6513 0850

[email protected]

www.nobel-education.com

What’s new? As our composting programme grows, we have been looking at improvements we can make to our bins. This month, OurPlanet parent Jim Nichol, father of Owen in KG1A, kindly made us a compost tumbler using a recycled plastic drum and pallet. This new barrel will allow us to keep the compost enclosed, making for a faster, sweeter smelling decomposition process with fewer flies. The design was much admired at the Eco Summit. To keep up with our volume of compost, we will be adding more barrels in the near future. If anyone has large plastic drums (200 L) that they would like to recycle, please let us know!

Composting School videos available online

11

Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm

Photo 5.7 x 7.6 cm

Parents and Friends group established KG1A: Sonia KG1B: Lisa KG2A: Lubna KG2B: Tascha KG3A: Adriana KG3B: Miriam Grade 1A: Olga Grade 1B: Rene Grade 2: Alise Grade 3: Sweta

In line with the KG2 topic of houses, Carillion kindly donated three recycled wooden play houses. We welcome suggestions from parents, friends, teachers and students as to how we should decorate our new additions.

Check out our new school videos online: http://www.ourplanet-muscat.com/about-nobel/nobel-education/ http://www.ourplanet-muscat.com/about-us/careers/

http://www.ourplanet-muscat.com/about-nobel/nobel-education/







http://www.ourplanet-muscat.com/about-us/careers/





dear friends, - ourplanet international school muscat · dear friends, in this issue: ... word day...

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