Newsletter March 2020

Overseas Family SchoolElementary School

Master Policy:To maintain a happy, safe and effective school for overseas families living in Singapore

Principal’s MessageDear Parents and Students,

Thank you everyone, for your support and understanding in the past weeks with the COVID-19 situation in Singapore. We continue to re-examine our procedures for school events and activities to ensure that our students and school community remain safe. A much awaited event which the Elementary School celebrated in the month of February was Book Week. It was a wonderful celebration of literature with students and teachers getting involved in fun activities and events during the week, and dressing up as their favourite book characters at the end of the week, Friday, 21 February 2020. Thank you to all the parents who helped with such colourful and fun costumes. The students looked amazing! The Elementary School Parent Student Teacher Conferences, which were scheduled for 19 and 20 March 2020, will now be moved to April to allow more time for the COVID-19 situation to improve. The new conference dates are 15 and 16 April 2020. Please note that 19 and 20 March will continue as normal school days. Once again, the situation will be closely monitored, and if it is unadvisable to have face-to-face meetings in April, we will make alternative arrangements and inform parents. The new conference booking link opened on Monday, 2 March 2020, closing on Friday, 13 March 2020. We request that you log in early to indicate your interest to participate in the conferences, as well as your preferred times for conferences and also the teachers you wish to see. On a separate note, our sports mornings for Grades 1 and 2 have also been rescheduled from early March to late April as well. The G1 Sports morning will be held on Monday, 20 April 2020 and the G2 Sports morning will be on Thursday, 23 April 2020. We will continue to keep our student numbers low according to their class size rather than in their house colours. They will be participating in this fun morning by joining in various sporting activities. I take this opportunity to thank our parents for their continued support for our school, as we face this challenging period together in keeping our students safe and healthy. I would also like to thank our wonderfully talented and dedicated teachers for everything they do to support students’ learning at home and at school during this time.

Penny LiewElementary School Principalpenny_liew@ofs.edu.sg

From The Parent Association (PA) Desk

Art NewsWe have had a creative time in the Art rooms this month! Grade 1 students have painted amazing still lifes and sculpted their own fruit and veggies. Grade 2 artists have been mixing primary colours to paint their bird sculptures. Grade 3 children are now creating artworks in the style of Frida Kahlo. Grade 4 learners are decorating their body adornments with imaginative recycled elements and Grade 5 students are working together to create Op Art banners promoting renewable energies.

(Jennifer Freeman)

COVID-19 Travel DeclarationsPlease remember to regularly update your child/ward’s travel plans using the link provided. This is especially important as we approach the April school holiday. Anyone returning from a region/country requiring 14 days Stay Home Notice (SHN) will be contacted by an OFS administrator and details of the SHN confirmed.https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ofs-student-worldwide-travel-declaration-february-july-2020

In light of the current precautionary measures to enhance protection against COVID-19, we regret to inform that all PA Coffee Mornings have been postponed until further notice. We will keep you informed of any new developments as we hope to reschedule these affected events at a later date.

Competitive Swimming News

OFS Tigers Competitive Swim Team returned to the pool this week. Being empathic to the many opinions of all the stakeholders in our swimming community, we have listened closely to the wide range of requests, suggestions, compliments, concerns and challenges put to us in our dealing with this outbreak. After a short break as a precautionary measure in relation to COVID-19 and with frequent communication from a range of sources including the Singapore authorities, the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA), and ActiveSG during this time of uncertainty, we are so pleased to have had the majority of the team return to the water with over 70% attendance. During the closures, swimmers were emailed a daily swim program and strength program to complete at home. Additionally, the Swim Team Coaches have registered The OFS Tigers Swim Team and affiliated to the SSA enabling our swimmers to compete at SSA events such as Swim Proficiency Awards, Time Trials, National Championships and... perhaps even The World Cup and beyond. Team Swim Caps have been ordered and the swimming pool itself is scheduled for an upgrade with competitive starting blocks, timing systems, lane ropes and an electronic scoreboard over the Easter Break.

(Gil Levy)

Overseas Family School Elementary School Newsletter March 2020

Grade 1 NewsWe have had a busy month continuing with our IPC Unit of Work, “How Are You?”. We have been researching famous doctors and learning how their discoveries have impacted our health today. In Mathematics, we have had fun exploring 2D shapes and making pictures using shapes. We celebrated 100 days of school with students coming to school dressed in amazing t-shirts, students wearing necklaces with 100 beads and students displaying wonderful posters showing 100. In Language Arts, we have continued with our procedural writing focus. We had lots of fun following a recipe to make bread and jam sandwiches and fruit kebabs. Book Week was an exciting time celebrating the joy of books and stories. Thank you so much for your support in getting the children ready in their favorite book character costume.

(Joanne McLinden)

Grade 2 NewsThe Grade 2 students have had a busy time in the month of February. We have been enquiring into fish and birds as part of our IPC Unit of Work, “Land, Sea And Sky”. Students have been enquiring into how birds and fish have adapted to living in their habitats. The children were very excited to visit the science lab to learn about birds and their beaks. We matched birds to the tools that most resembled their beaks and diet. Book Week was another major highlight. We did an author study on Julia Donaldson and decorated our classroom doors representing one of her books. We had many activities over the course of the week including mystery readers, book quizzes and readers’ cafes. To finish off our week of celebrating reading and books, we all came dressed up as our favourite book character and had a mini parade in our classrooms.

(Dee Randhawa)

Grade 3 NewsThe Grade 3 students have been very busy enquiring into a wide variety of significant people as they continue to gain knowledge, hone research skills, and form new understandings within their fourth IPC Unit of Work, “They Made A Difference”. Many important people have been identified and studied for their accomplishments as scientists, world leaders, freedom fighters, artists, musicians, explorers and authors. Students are using their own personal goals and characteristics to find commonalities in the qualities they share with these individuals in focus. Character Dress Up Day during Book Week was a perfect opportunity for the students to express their appreciation of fictional and non-fictional book characters who students relate well to. Book Week has been a lot of fun, with great opportunities to celebrate the books we all love. Through readers’ cafes, pajama parties, book tastings and simulated fashion parades, each class has fully embraced the importance of books in their lives.

(Ryan Lecours)

Master Policy:To maintain a happy, safe and effective school for overseas families living in Singapore

Grade 4 News

We had a wonderful time celebrating Book Week! The children were involved in many fun reading activities. Some of our highlights during the week were: guessing the mystery reader, graphing our favourite authors and going on a teacher’s favourite book scavenger hunt. The children stole the show on Friday when they dressed up as their favourite character. There were many elaborate costumes to be seen. They celebrated the final day of Book Week by creating puppets, bookmarks, and finding character clues in pictures. You may have seen Wally roaming the corridors too! The children eagerly continue the MUN process and have enjoyed collaborating about food issues that the world faces today. Some of the issues that we have been debating are:

• high-sugarproductsshouldnotbeavailableforconsumption

• allfoodimportsmustbefairtradecertified

• supermarketsshouldreducetheamountoffoodwastage

• geneticallymodifiedproductsshouldbeintroduced immediately to boost food production.

The children have shown adaptability and respect by thinking about the views of others. They have also shown wonderful communication skills by debating their ideas. We look forward to resolving these issues in our special, first of its kind, electronic General Assembly.

(Peter Williams)

Grade 5 NewsGrade 5 celebrated Book Week by dressing up and actively participating in a wonderful range of book week activities. As part of the celebrations, the students designed a book spine to reflect their favourite book. The teachers then took each book spine and added it to a shelf as part of the ‘Our Favourite Books’ display. Students can check the shelf for their next great read. The Grade 5 students also participated in the ‘Hall of Holograms’. Within each class, each student was a hologram that was activated only when two fellow students stood in front of them. When the student was presenting as a hologram, their role was to try and explain their amazing book without giving away too much. Preparations for Expo are well underway, with students researching and recording a particular aspect of renewable energy. Expo is a self-initiated enquiry process and requires students to work collaboratively to achieve their goals.

(Roger Calais)

Music NewsThis month, Grades 2, 4 and 5 students have been exploring different ways of creating their own music. From creating short rhythmic patterns to a melody composition using xylophone/recorder and even writing their own lyrics. Grade 1 students are becoming more knowledgeable with the musical terms as they listen to music and discuss the characteristics. Grade 3 students will soon be presenting their research findings on significant musicians/composers.

(Mikiko Lawrence)

Math-a-Funics

Overseas Family School Elementary School Newsletter March 2020

Answer: In each pyramid, multiply the bottom left and right numbers together and add the middle number to give the result at the top.

New StaffDANIEL HEALYGrade 4 Homebase TeacherI was born in England but grew up in Wales. I went to Leicester University to study History and after several years of doing an administration job upon graduation, I decided to be a teacher. I have worked in primary teaching or taught English as an Additional Language for most of my career. I am very fortunate to have lived and worked in many interesting and diverse countries such as Taiwan, Spain, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. My amazing wife is from New Zealand and she works as a PE teacher in middle school. We have two beautiful boys, Joseph and Oliver. Joseph, our oldest, is in Pre-K2 Koalas and loves school! We enjoy spending time as a family whether at home, on day trips or travelling. We have lived in Singapore for the last two and a half years and we thoroughly enjoy our life here and hope to live here for many years to come. I keep fit by playing tennis, swimming and running after two very energetic children. My interests include technology, reading, watching films and documentaries, but only when they are asleep! It is my first year at OFS as a Grade 4 homebase teacher and I look forward to working to continuing my teaching career at OFS. I consider myself very lucky to be part of the OFS family and to work with such fun and supportive colleagues. Mathematics and English are my two favourite subjects to teach.

SAMEErATA PrAKASHI am known as Mrs. Prakash among the students. I moved to Singapore three years ago, with my family, from the bustling city of Mumbai. I started my professional career as a software engineer and worked at an MNC for five years. But what gave me utmost happiness amidst a demanding job, was teaching a small group of students over the weekends. Thus I found my calling to be a teacher, nurturing young minds, working with primary students. My passion for dance adds rhythm to my leisure time and the aroma of the treats I bake for my family fills my weekends. A mother of two adorable boys, I look forward to listening to the numerous stories they wait to share with me once I am back from school. I like travelling and exploring new places. I enjoy reading about different cultures and learning about the uniqueness each one has to offer. Working in a multicultural environment at OFS has been the most gratifying experience of my career. I treasure the love and support I receive from the OFS family and look forward to a wonderful journey of teaching and learning at OFS.

Library News

Our new “Can’t Stop reading” display, showing photos of students and teachers reading during the holidays, looks fantastic. Thank you to everyone who took photos and congratulations to the winners of the competition. Book Week 2020 has been brilliant. Teachers planned many fun activities to celebrate books and students have been enjoying quizzes, musical chairs reading, book mark making, readers’ cafes and mystery readers. The photos say it all!

(Olivia Burford-Taylor)

Physical Education (PE) Elementary School students have been continuing with either striking, fielding or net games. By now, they will have started their second unit. Over the past months, they have participated in some very competitive matches, and many have acquired and displayed great skills. We have Sports Mornings coming up in April and hope that we will be able to complete these activities with minimal disruption. Students have a small fitness unit coming up to finish off Quarter 3.

(Steven Kennedy)

Languages NewsAll Mother Tongue and Foreign Language students started the annual Book Week with a Comic-hunt. It was fun and engaging, entering the world of comics in 15 languages. Have you created a comic before? Even in another language? Our students have tried using different resources and websites. It was great fun. At the end of the week, we shared our own comics and had a good read in the Book Café on Level 11. What a great way to learn our own mother tongue or a foreign language!

(Clara Oosting and Anja Ritter)