A great day in Torgon! Grade five kicked off our activities today. Three groups went hiking to France, while others explored orienteering, shelter-building, rock climbing and other adventures.

Perfect weather, and a perfect outdoor day!

Please enjoy today’s images in this folder.

After a traffic-prolonged drive, and a long switchback climb into the mountains, we arrived safely in Torgon. Students received their room and activity groups, met their counsellors for the week, and went straight to lunch.

An afternoon of team-building games followed, in the lush grassy field under a bowl of peaks. Tomorrow, the activity rotation begins!

For today, please enjoy the linked folder of images. We’ll endeavour to post another folder each day, through the week. Each will be linked through a post like this one on the class blog.

After a great journey, we have arrived. Everyone is in good spirits and can’t wait to meet our counsellors and get our adventure started.

This event is being organized by: Dayna Gadzhieva,Yara Salem and Laia Sitjes Sole.

This blog post was written by: Dayna, Yara,Laia.

This Friday, 31 of August, we will be having a sausage cook-out to celebrate the beginning of the year together!

On Friday this week, we will head into the woods at 11:30. We will start the cook-out right away, so your child is able to have time to cook their sausages. After that, we will share some desserts and play a couple of games like capture the flag, fort-building and more…

FOOD

1. If your child gets cafeteria food every day, the staff have agreed to prepare sausages and bread rolls for your child.
2. If your child gets home lunch every day, please give  a sausage or two to them.(if your child cannot eat a type of meat, please organize them their own type of sausages.)
3. If you would like to bring extra snacks: chips, ketchup and mayo, marshmallows, easy vegetables (baby tomatoes, carrot sticks) desserts like muffins or fruits, graham crackers and chocolate (for s’mores).
4. if you would like to sign up to bring food here is the link
5. Please do not get anything other than sausages to cook over the fire.We are not able to cook chicken legs or steak

you do not have to bring anything but it would be nice if you do.

WEATHER

Currently, the weather is looking rainy for Friday so please keep your eye on the blog, if we need to cancel, we will inform you on Thursday evening.

We are very excited for our year together!

Hello 5R families!

Welcome to the new school year! Thank you so much to the families who attended Monday evening’s information session, and those who have completed the email questions regarding your child. For those who were unable to attend, please do let me know if you’d like to have a short meeting regarding the nuts and bolts of fifth grade.

I would like to take a minute to introduce myself and share a few details which were part of Monday’s Meet the Teacher presentations. I am originally from Toronto, Canada, but have spent the bulk of my teaching career overseas in Taiwan, Turkey, Japan and Tanzania. This will be my fourth year at Zurich International School. My wife Elif will be teaching Art to fifth grade as well, so your child will get to know her well!

I look forward to working with you towards providing a safe, exciting, and challenging environment in which your child will learn and grow as an individual. I believe in working together and providing the strongest support system your child will need to grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

In order to help us have a smooth start, please note the following logistical matters:

• PE will be on Tuesday and Thursday. Please send your child to school in his PE kit on those days with appropriate footwear. Library visits will be by default on Friday, but it is possible to return and borrow new books any day during scheduled break times. Ensemble music will be on Thursdays. Your child will need to bring their instrument if in band or strings.
• We will have snack each day at 10:10. Please remember to send in a healthy snack.
• We will keep reusable water bottles in the classroom. Please send in a well-labeled bottle for your child.
• All our students are required to have indoor shoes that are left at school. These shoes should also function as PE shoes. This means an athletic-type shoe with a light-coloured sole. No slippers or Crocs, please.
• All students will go outside for morning recess, regardless of the weather, and we will also spend time in the forest. Your child needs to be prepared with appropriate outdoor clothing.

Please keep an eye out for posts to the G5 newsfeed, the MPR presentation from Monday, as well as Torgon details will be posted this Thursday.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at jraskin@zis.ch. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead!

All the best,

Jamie

Cycling in Alsace.

Dear 5R families,

Thank you for a spectacularly wonderful year. Your children are kind, enthusiastic, warm and open. They’ve made constant growth and are ready for everything that comes next.

I look forward to hearing of their adventures going forward.

I wish you all a very restful and joyful summer.

Here are photos of this morning’s celebration.

Best wishes,

Jamie

Dear 5R families,

This post is to confirm the cookout for tomorrow, Tuesday, June 12. It still looks like it might rain, but we’re hoping it holds out until after our cookout time. Our plan will go ahead with the plan described in the earlier post.

Please send your child with a sausage or two to grill, as well as any extras you signed up for here. Additionally, please send them with a rain coat, in case the weather turns against us.

Fingers crossed, we’re hoping the rain holds off until later in the day! If it does turn wet, we can grill in the playground firepit and spend our time under the shelter nearby.

As arranged, the cafeteria will pack a lunch bag for: Kate T, Paul, Kieran, Linnea, Jo, Luca.

Thanks for your support! See you on Thursday for our celebration!

Dear Parents,

June 14 is drawing closer and we wanted to remind you of the procedure for that day:

• By 08:45 – all Grade 5 students in classrooms.
• 09:00 – Grade 5 Celebration commences in the MPR. Parents and family to be seated by 08:50.
• 10:00 – Coffee, gipfeli, and cake for parents and students in the cafeteria area.
• 10:45 –  Parents leave
• 11:00 – 13:00 Students change into casual clothes and teachers do individual farewells in Grade 5 classrooms. Grade 5 party on the upper playground.
• 13:00 Dismissal

Please note that students should dress semi-formally for the celebration. No shorts, spaghetti straps or jeans please. Boys should wear collared shirts.

• We are fortunate to have a talented photographer taking pictures of the celebration. These pictures will all be shared via the blog for you to view and download by the end of the day on Friday. Please note that you will be asked to remain seated and not to block the view with cell phones and cameras during the Celebration. We invite you to ‘be in the moment!’
• The ceremony will also be ‘live streamed’ for any family member who is not able to be here. A link will be shared on the blog on the morning of the ceremony. It will also be possible to watch this recording after the event.
• Regarding our Grade 5 party after the celebration, we are hoping to go outside but should it be raining we will plan some indoor activities.  For the party, Grade 5 students are invited to bring their own food – the idea is for them to share a picnic with their friends and… this is one time where the teachers say ‘anything goes!’ So, students may bring treats and chips and other such delights to share! Some of you may plan to have lunch after dismissal, so snack like foods are just fine. There is no sign up for this, students can simply discuss and plan with friends.
• Please ensure that all snacks are nut-free as we do have severe nut allergies in Grade 5.

A reminder that June 14 is an early finishing day – dismissal is at 13.00.

Warm Regards,

Grade 5 team