So many great changes have happened at IMS in the last couple of years.
We’ve opened a fantastic space for the 4-6 students, as well as creating a new, improved playground for the whole school. We’ve revamped and reorganised the Hort rooms, and turned the former library into a multi-purpose classroom with a beamer and screen.
To top it all, a few weeks ago modern smartboards were installed in 4-6 – not just a fantastic tool for the teachers, but something the kids feel proud of, too.
The newspaper group decided to make a video demonstrating a few of the things the boards can do.
Thanks to Freya and Aurelia for their presentation, and to Juno for creating the movie.
A hundred days can seem like a very long time, especially if you’re a first grader. Which is all the more reason to celebrate a special milestone: Thursday 27th January was the kids’ 100th day in school since starting at IMS last summer.
The 100th Day celebrations originated in the United States where, in the 1970s, a teacher decided to mark this defining moment with her class. The idea spread rapidly, and now the event is held worldwide (it’s nice to think that many other Berlin school-kids were celebrating at the same time as us, too).
Traditionally, all activities have something to do with the number 100. As you can see, crafts, maths, art and games were all on offer, and just so that no one felt left out, the 2nd and 3rd graders joined in the fun.
It probably goes without saying that one of the best moments was the unveiling of the cupcakes you can see at the top of the page (obviously we all wanted to eat a hundred of them, but sadly, that just wasn’t possible).
After 100 days in class, the IMS teachers have something to reflect on, too.
The pandemic, of course, is still very much present, but despite the challenges for children and staff, our first one hundred days have been filled with achievement, enthusiasm and joy. As the kids themselves will tell you: every day spent at school is cause for celebration.
There’s nothing more personal than our names. After all, they belong to us and are a big part of who we are.
It also turns out that we can use them in a surprising number of ways at school. Not just on exercise books, or at the top of a worksheet, but in cool projects that everyone seems to enjoy.
Take, for example, a maths task with a difference – an exciting way for the 4-6 kids to learn about heights, widths and angles.
All the children drew out their names carefully using just straight lines, then pencilled in all the measurements, paying particular attention to the angles created by the letters.
Colouring the results added to the fun.
In another unusual maths activity, we even found a way to convert names into fractions.
How? Let’s use GABRIEL as an example.
The whole name consists of seven letters, so in this case the denominator (the bottom number of the fraction) is
7
The next step is to count the total number of vowels.
The answer, of course, is three – A, I and E. This number goes above the denominator to give the final result:
3 /7 (three sevenths) of the letters in Gabriel’s name are vowels.
Cool, right? Below you can see Lena’s exercise, where she has worked out the number of vowels and consonants in her name as fractions:
Finally, in a further name-based project – this time for Art – the kids were asked to transform their names into colourful cardboard sculptures.
As you can see, the results were as inventive and individual as the kids themselves – a way to quite literally see every child’s different personality.
So what’s in a name? Much more than you might think!
Somehow, New Year’s Eve already feels like a distant memory, but it’s still not too late to showcase our post-holiday art project in 4-6, a New Year’s greeting with a twist.
The brief was to create a short movie using the words ‘Happy New Year 2022’. Which probably sounds easy, but I also asked the students to film their message in the most creative way possible.
I gave the kids a few examples, such as how to unexpectedly reveal words and numbers, or form text using objects in the classroom.
The children were then let loose with nothing more than an iPad and their imaginations.
Needless to say, everyone came up with great ideas of their own, and here’s a small selection of the finished projects.
Thanks, kids, for your super movies.
And here at IMS News we’d also like to say thanks to all the readers who have given us so much positive feedback and encouragement over the last few months. Hopefully you’ll keep reading throughout 2022!
In Germany and lots of other countries, Christmas is one of the most important holidays – and for many people, easily the best time of the year. An occasion for spending time with family and friends, giving and receiving gifts and, of course, eating all sorts of delicious food.
This week, we are using our last posts before the Christmas holiday to share plenty of seasonal cheer.
We’ll start with a video in which the kids discuss what Christmas means to them.
Enjoy their thoughts and the festive images in the background (plus a bonus clip of some nifty footwork from Noga that I couldn’t resist keeping) 🙂
Finally, we’ve selected a glittering package of Christmas entertainment – holiday music compiled by Juno, plus seasonal viewing on YouTube. Just in case anyone gets bored over the holiday!
Ho, ho, ho! Today was a very special day for the whole school: we held a sparkly, tinselly, heart-warming Christmas fair complete with tickets, games, prizes and plenty of home-made cakes.
The event was organised by the kids in 4-6, who spent a week preparing for the occasion. The fun yet demanding schedule involved carefully planning the activities, then designing and constructing the games in small teams.
As you can see, the results were fantastic – ingenious works of art with a wonderfully Christmas feel. As an added challenge, the kids were asked to prepare precise player instructions in both German and English, receiving help, if needed, from their teachers.
On the big day itself, all the children from classes 1-3 were given visiting time-slots, with tickets available for just a few cents.
A stamp was added for each game played, and once three stamps had been collected, the ticket owner could help themselves to goodies from the enormous cake and biscuit buffet (thanks, parents, for all your delicious contributions).
Many extra prizes were offered at each stand, so every child left the fair feeling very happy (and full!) indeed.
After a morning of fun, the event drew to a close and the 4-6 students were excited to discover that they had raised a substantial amount of money – a fitting reward for all their hours of careful planning and hard work.
Now they’ll have to decide exactly how to use their earnings, but a visit to the Jump House seems to be a current favourite option.
Continuing our current theme of ‘animals in winter‘ – and coinciding, too, with the gift-giving tradition of Nikolaus day – this week in Art the kids created a tasty snack for birds.
OK – perhaps it’s not the most obvious art project, but there’s definitely a certain artistry involved. And anyway, I think our feathered friends deserve a little extra nourishment during the harsh winter months.
The bird ‘cookies’ consisted of shaped, dried bread generously spread with peanut butter then topped with nutritious seeds. They looked good enough for anyone to eat, and a couple of the kids certainly had a nibble when they thought no one was looking.
Since, at the moment, we’re also focusing on recycling and zero waste, additional materials consisted of scrap paper and cardboard, while the bread itself was gifted by a local bakery because it was too dry to sell.
After preparing the treats, each child arranged them on a card, together with a personal message to the birds.
Although several kids wisely pointed out that birds can’t read (!), my aim was to see what everyone decided to write.
As expected, the messages were lovely; very sweet and often very funny:
Hi birds! Do you want bread? P.S. There’s no kids’ menu and no water. P.P.S. It’s vegetarian, and not for birds with nut allergies.
Dear birds, this message is for you. Although you can’t read this at all, it’s a pleasure to show you this. This bird food has been packed for you with best wishes; it would make me very happy knowing that it made you happy, too.
Dear birds, I made this treat for you, I hope you like it. This is a present from me on Nikolaus. I gave this to you because all of my friends got something, so I made something for you too.
Hallo birds. I know that you want a döner, but Mr Brennan wants you to have toast.
Dear birds, I like your song in Summer, and I like it when you fly south in huge flocks in the Autumn, then come back in Spring. And for those who have stayed behind – here’s a small snack.
Every class from school got cookies, a crystal, chocolate and a small bell in a glass jar.
The 4 to 6 decorated the glass jars to be able to use as little plastic as possible. ☃️
We are not using plastic because in Gewi and Sachkunde we are having a ‘No waste week’ where we are trying not to waste so many things such as money, water, food and more. We are also getting more trash bins to recycle more and better.
Here are some pictures:
We were also sent the lovely photo, below, by Rubin class (years 1-3).
Of course, Nikolaus is particularly special for the younger children, and Rubin’s beautiful arrangement of jars together with twinkly fairy lights made the day even more magical.
Thanks, Frau Häusler, for sharing this!
Das schöne Bild oben wurde uns von der Klasse Rubin (Jahrgangsstufe 1-3) geschickt.
Natürlich ist der Nikolaus für die jüngeren Kinder etwas ganz Besonderes, und Rubins wunderschönes Arrangement der Gläser zusammen mit glitzernden Lichterketten machte den Tag noch magischer.
Vielen Dank, Frau Häusler, dass du das mit uns geteilt hast!
Around us, plants and animals continue to thrive in their usual, miraculous way, even if our own lives feel very different compared to just a few years ago.
With the cold season now upon us, the latest topic in classes 4-6 is ‘Animals in winter’.
As part of this theme, the kids are doing fascinating work to find out exactly how animals prepare for winter, and live (or sleep) through it.
And in art, too, we developed a project dedicated not only to winter animals and their habitat, but with a hint of the festive season besides.
Preparing the panoramas …
This was a multimedia task in the truest sense, combining painting, drawing, collage, photography and, finally, a green screen digital film technique to create a falling snow effect.
The final results, transferred to video.
The kids started by painting a background, then added individually drawn wintry trees.
This was followed by a cut-out of their chosen animal – wolves were a definite favourite – before setting up a miniature film set using props such as tree-like twigs, stones and extra scenery.
The last step was to photograph the result, then import this into a movie app to add an overlay of gently drifting snow.
As you can imagine, the whole project took several weeks of hard, complex work to complete, but the kids did incredibly well and I think the results are truly magical.
Each celebration of animals in winter is as individual as the child who made it – and a reminder that, despite our own problems with Covid, the natural world remains as beautiful and inspiring as ever.
