the open door newsletter

The Open Door Newsletter

1 | P a g e Summer Edition, July 2017



In this Edition….

Open Day - Page 3

A Warm Welcome to our New Members - Page 4

List of Holidays, News, upcoming events and Updates - Page 5-6

Overview of Weekly Schedule for Various Groups - Page 7

News from the Playgroup - Page 8

Getting to know us better - Page 9 Recipe: Kulfi – The Indian Ice Cream - Page 10

New Events at the Basel West Library - Page 11

Open Door Books and Accessories - Page 11

Advertisements - Page 13

Open Door Flyer – Recommend us - Page 14



Open Day

We hosted our annual open day at the Open Door premises on Saturday, 20 May from 1-3pm. The treats were plentiful; popcorn and cupcakes were on offer as well as colored candy floss made by Alexandra. Hot dogs were gratefully received from Julie or Siona.

It was a chance for internal or external parents to view the premises, talk to the teachers and see how the Playgroup or Reading & Writing groups run. Many parents will have seen the beautiful art work which has been produced by their son/daughter as part of the current special project about "x". The classroom walls celebrate diversity and remind us just how international we are!!! Some children enjoyed throwing the balls through the Dinosaur holes and others enjoyed exploring the new toys in the playgroup room. Tattoos were available for both adults and children, which was set up in the hallway given the unpredictable weather.

The International Wall

Room 20a was set up with creative art work children have recently been working on with our new art teacher. Thank you for those who came by and of course, to the staff for giving up a Saturday afternoon to make this event possible



New Members

Ellie Lakovidis

Kaustubh Patil

Lea Zhang

Prarthana Bharath Sai



List of Holidays Summer holiday 1.07-13.08

Autumn break 30.09 – 15.10

News

The Open Door will introduce a new Literacy Programme in August 2017 called the Oxford International Primary English Course. This will be taught to children from Level 3 up to Level 7. It is a structured language and literacy course with an international approach. The children will be reading a range of fiction and non-fiction texts from around the world. They will be using a

student book and an activity book to help them complete comprehension, grammar and independent writing exercises. Both books will be provided by the Open Door.

Both the Playgroups and the English Reading and Writing Groups are working on an Intercultural Project. The team started working on various activities including compilation of

our very own Open Door Recipe Book with recipes from all over the globe. The Recipe Book has turned into a bigger project than anticipated as we received so many wonderful recipes that the

teachers will need a bit more time to organise it. Watch this space for further information.



Other updates

Join Open Door on Facebook, so you never miss the routine updates, pictures of various events, sessions

and trips.



Overview of Weekly Schedule 2017/2018

PLAYGROUPS

For 2-4 year olds Monday 08:30 to 12:00

Wednesday 08:30 to 12:00

Thursday 08:30 to 12.00

Friday 08:30 to 12:00

ENGLISH READING AND WRITING GROUPS

Beginners (Age 4-5) Tuesday 14.00 to 16.30

Thursday 14.00 to 16.30

Level 1 (Age 5) Monday 14.00 to 16.30

Tuesday 14.00 to 16.30


Level 3 (Age 7) Tuesday 16.45 to 18.15

Friday 14.00 to 16.30

Level 4 (Age 8) Tuesday 16.45 to 18.15

Wednesday 14.00 to 16.30

Level 5 (Age 9) Monday 16.45 to 18.15


Level 6 (Age 10) Wednesday 16.45 to 18.15

Level 7 (Age 10 +) Monday 16.45 to 18.15

Wednesday 16.45 to 18.15

ART AND MUSIC CLASS Tuesday 10.00 to 12.00

LUNCH CLUB Monday to Friday 12:00 to 13:30



Playgroup News Discovery Trips (April and May 2017)

We didn’t have very much luck for our April discovery trip. We first planned to visit Grün 80 where the children could feed the ducks. Before the discovery trip, however, a helpful parent informed us that this was no longer allowed... So we had to make a change of plan. When discovery week arrived, it rained most of the week so we did not get to go out at all. The month definitely lived up to the saying “April Showers”.

For our May Discovery trip we got lucky. The weather was beautiful for

the whole week of the discovery trip. Our topic for April and May was “International month and Animals”, so we decorated our classroom with photos of the children, showing the countries they came from and all the flags the children made. We also did crafts of animals from around the world. As we finished off the month with animals, we thought a trip to the Animal Park in Reinach would be a highlight for the children - and they loved it. To get there, we took a tram and a bus so the children had lots to look at on the way.

When we got there, the children were allowed to go into the goats’ pen where they could feed and stroke the animals. They then visited the deer and turkeys. They all thought the turkeys were very ugly and said that they

made the most awful noises. There were also lots of birds to look at, and they enjoyed naming all the different colours. After looking at the animals and birds, we had our snack in the sunshine; as it was so hot, the children started spraying each other with water from the fountain.

They had so much fun and loved squirting water on the teachers as well. It was a perfect way to end our visit before returning to The Open Door; the children were a bit tired but also excited by everything they had seen.



The Open Door Staff and Committee Getting to know us……

This Editions Star is Noeleen Stutz

Noeleen in her own words: Hi, My name is Noeleen and I'm Irish from Dublin, where I went to University and studied for my teaching qualification. I have been teaching Reading and Writing groups at The Open Door since 1999 and have watched our programme grow and develop successfully over the years. This coming August we will introduce The Oxford International reading programme from level 3 onwards, which I find really exciting and I am sure the children will love.

It is a pleasure to work with children in a beginners group and see their progress over time, most of them being with me until level 7. I am always sad saying goodbye to them, and of course, their parents who I spend a lot of time chatting to over the years. My husband is Swiss and I have two adult children, in fact I now have two small grandchildren and my little grandson will join the Open Door playgroup in August. My how the years fly by! My hobbies are reading, travelling, hill walking and at the moment learning Russian. I love cooking too, trying out new recipes, and as most of you know, I adore Indian food. I love the Internationalism at The Open Door and I enjoy immensely working on projects with the children, especially when parents bring in dishes to share from their native countries on presentation day. I look forward to the coming school year. Have a great summer everyone Noeleen



Recipe Corner: Kulfi – The Indian Ice Cream

Ingredients

1. 2 cups whole milk

2. 1/2 cup condensed milk

3. 1/4 cup dry milk powder

4. 1/4 cup chopped pistachio nuts (or almonds)

5. 2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

6. 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

7. 1 pinch saffron threads

Method

1. Stir the milk, condensed milk, and dry milk powder together in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar, cardamom, and saffron to the boiling milk; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to cool down; add unsalted pistachio (or almonds) into the mixture.

2. Pour the mixture into popsicle molds and freeze until solid, about 2 hour



Basel West Library Events June 2017 Toddler Tales

• Tuesday, June 27, 10.15-10.45am

Toddler Tales takes place every fourth Tuesday of each month. Join us for a half hour of interactive exploration of c lassic stories. Jeanne Darling will introduce you to a wonderful world of books and language through singing, rhyming and dancing.



Open Door Books and Accessories

Available Now: Open Door School Bags

We have ordered a big batch of new Open Door School Bags. They can be purchased for CHF10- Please contact our staff members if you would like to purchase one.

Coming soon: Books



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Open Door Flyers Please recommend us….

If you are happy with our playgroups and reading and writing groups here at the Open Door please spread the word. We thrive on your recommendations. If you know of anyone who would be interested to sign up their child in a playgroup or English Reading and Writing class, please take a few flyers. They too have been re-designed and are ready for distribution. Many thanks.



Many thanks for your continued support and trust in us.

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on 061 361 17 10 / [email protected]

Have a lovely summer holidays. See you next in session …

With Kind Regards

The Open Door Committee and Staff

mailto:[email protected]

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