*This week's photos show our Grade 5 students sharing their learning about Trade in Aberdeen with the Grade 3 classes; our Kindergarten and Grade 1 children taking part in a drumming lesson (learning to keep a beat while reading musical notation), our Kindergarten children practicing telling time in multiple formats and our ES Veg Growing Club getting the garden ready at the Cultivating Community event.
From Museums to Menus: Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls
As we move deeper into the final quarter, the classroom walls at ISA are becoming increasingly "permeable." In just this past week, we have seen a magnificent range of student agency and action across the Preschool and Elementary School. While the activities look different at each grade level, they share a common thread: students stepping into new roles and putting their learning to use in authentic contexts and environments.
The Grade 3 "Home Field" Advantage
This afternoon, our Grade 3 students are embarking on a historic first: the first ever Grade 3 Sleepover @ ISA! While they aren't leaving the campus, they are certainly leaving their comfort zones. This event is a foundational residential experience where students practice self-management Approaches to Learning (ATLs): independence, organisation and resilience. It is a significant "inning" in their development as self-reliant learners and offers a chance to demonstrate being risk takers.
This afternoon, our Grade 3 students are embarking on a historic first: the first ever Grade 3 Sleepover @ ISA! While they aren't leaving the campus, they are certainly leaving their comfort zones. This event is a foundational residential experience where students practice self-management Approaches to Learning (ATLs): independence, organisation and resilience. It is a significant "inning" in their development as self-reliant learners and offers a chance to demonstrate being risk takers.
Grade 5: Language in Action
Meanwhile, our Grade 5 students are taking their linguistic inquiries to the streets (and the table!). On Friday, the Grade 5 children visited local French and Spanish restaurants, moving beyond vocabulary lists and into language acquisition in its purest form. Ordering in a second language requires risk taking and real-time communication skills. It is a celebration of culinary culture and a testament to their growth as global citizens.
Meanwhile, our Grade 5 students are taking their linguistic inquiries to the streets (and the table!). On Friday, the Grade 5 children visited local French and Spanish restaurants, moving beyond vocabulary lists and into language acquisition in its purest form. Ordering in a second language requires risk taking and real-time communication skills. It is a celebration of culinary culture and a testament to their growth as global citizens.
Cultivating Community: The Veg Growing Club
The "Action" this week hasn't just been intellectual; it has been hands-on and literal. Our Elementary Veg Growing Club recently hosted their third "Cultivating Community" event of the year. It was a joy to see students, parents and teachers working side-by-side to weed the planting beds. This act of stewardship reminds us that a garden (much like a school) thrives when we all take responsibility for its care. By preparing the soil for the spring and summer, our students are learning that patience and hard work are the precursors to growth.
The "Action" this week hasn't just been intellectual; it has been hands-on and literal. Our Elementary Veg Growing Club recently hosted their third "Cultivating Community" event of the year. It was a joy to see students, parents and teachers working side-by-side to weed the planting beds. This act of stewardship reminds us that a garden (much like a school) thrives when we all take responsibility for its care. By preparing the soil for the spring and summer, our students are learning that patience and hard work are the precursors to growth.
The Grand Opening of the Preschool Dinosaur Museum
Not to be outdone, our youngest learners in Preschool have been busy as "curators." What started as an interest in the prehistoric has evolved into a fully realised Dinosaur Museum. From designing exhibits to issuing handmade entrance tickets, these students are demonstrating incredible agency. They aren't just learning about history and paleontology; they are learning how to communicate what they have learned and how to lead an audience through an experience of their own creation (something the Grade 5 students also did this morning in sharing their learning with the Grade 3 classes around the history, present and future of trade in Aberdeen).
Whether it’s sleeping under the school roof, ordering un café or una tapa, or presenting a T-Rex fossil, our students are proving that the most profound learning happens when we take our inquiries and put them into action.
World Word of the Week
Arête (French)
Originally a mountaineering term referring to a sharp mountain ridge or the "vantage point" reached after a long climb. It represents the moment you reach a height that allows you to see the path you’ve traveled and the horizon ahead.
Context: Our students are reaching their own "arêtes" this week (whether at the peak of a sleepover, successfully ordering a meal in a second language, or the opening of a garden or museum), giving them a new perspective on what they are capable of achieving.
Family Conversation Starters (for car rides or dinner tables or family walks)
For Grade 3: "What part of the sleepover made you feel the most independent or 'grown-up'?"
For Grade 5: "What was the most challenging thing to say in another language at the restaurant, and how did you feel when you were understood?"
For the Gardeners: "How did it feel to work together with parents and teachers to help our school garden grow?"
For Preschoolers: "What was your favorite part of being a museum curator and showing your work to others?"
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