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

Today we were chatting in 5R about how to celebrate our year together. One suggestion that got a lot of enthusiasm, was having a sausage campfire lunch!

Here’s the plan…

Next Tuesday, June 12, we will not be having our normal lunch routine. At 12:30 we will head out into the woods behind the school to a campfire site. We will build a fire, cook our sausage lunch, share some desserts and other foods, and enjoy a couple hours in the woods together. We will return to class for 2:30.

Here’s what we need from you…

FOOD

1. If your child gets pre-paid hot lunch from the cafeteria every day, the ZIS cafeteria staff have agreed to pack a few sausages and some bread rolls for them instead of the usual menu.
2. Otherwise, please send a sausage or two from home (a good idea if your child has particular dietary requirements, they can be veggie, kosher etc.), they can be refrigerated from Tuesday morning at school. Please send only as much as your child will eat.

If there is a problem with this please let me know as soon as possible and we will problem-solve together.

Additional foods, like marshmallows, other desserts, easy vegetables (like baby tomatoes, vegetable sticks etc.), bread rolls, potato chips, mustard, ketchup etc., as well as paper plates and utensils, would be welcome in small amounts, to share. The students suggested a sign-up sheet for this. There is no requirement that anyone bring additional foods, I’m sure we will have enough. If you would like, you can sign up here.

One last food note… Please don’t send anything other than sausages/hot dogs to cook over the fire. We won’t be able to do steak or chicken legs this time! 🙂

WEATHER

At the moment the weather looks okay for next week. This may change however. If on Monday evening the forecast looks really wet for Tuesday, we will have to cancel the event. Please keep a look out for a blog post on Monday evening if we are cancelling. If we are not cancelling, there will be no update.

What Else?

Of course, we will be in the woods for a few hours. Please ensure your child has appropriate clothing for this. Mosquito repellant may be smart, and clothes/shoes that can get dirty would be good. As always, please ensure your child has a water bottle with them to take into the woods. A good-sized snack is a good idea as well.

KEY POINTS in this post:

• Plan for your child’s food for next Tuesday (either cafeteria if that is their norm, or packed sausages)
• Sign up for additional contributions if desired
• Keep an eye out for a possible rain cancellation post on Monday evening
• Water bottle, bug repellant and a snack on Tuesday

Thanks for your support! It’s going to be a great celebration!

Kris Paulson, our Middle School counsellor, recently visited 5R to speak with the class about being a “Welcome Buddy” for students new to ZIS at the beginning of sixth grade. Many 5R students have benefited from welcome buddies on their own arrival, and many were interested in supporting a newcomer in a similar way.

To participate, students need to be able to attend an orientation session on August 10. For more details, and to apply, families need to follow this link, and be signed into student ZIS email accounts.

Thanks for supporting new ZIS students!

Dear 5R Families,

Next Thursday is the second part of 5R’s bicycle training. Several months ago Herr Salierno, a local police educator, gave us a lesson in bicycle road safety theory. Next week is part two, the practice. Please find below the text of a letter from Herr Salierno that outlines how students, parents and bikes need to be prepared for next Thursday’s session.

Dear Parents,

The traffic and safety education team of the Kantonspolizei Zürich set the goal to educate students in grade 5 with practical assignments regarding biking on Swiss roads. The focus during this exercise will be important and challenging traffic situations, such as left-turn and special situations that might occur.

Practical bike training for G5 runs from 9:00 – 12:30 on the following days:

During this driver training responsibility for your child is up to me. But I can not take responsibility or the trip on the way to school. Not very experienced children should push their bike on the sidewalk to the school.

If your child can not ride a bike or for any other reason cannot attend this driver training course, please kindly inform the class teacher in writing.

We strongly recommend that your child will participate with his/her own bike which must be checked at home beforehand according to the following inspection list:

• two functional breaks
• reflectors: white front, red back
• reflectors on the pedals
• bell (recommended)
• front and back lights (only for the night or during bad visibility)
• tires (good profile, no cracks and pressure checked)
• bike helmet (see information below)
• private liability insurance

Your child will only be able to participate if the checklist is completed.

Be aware that driving a bike on the sidewalk is prohibited by Swiss law.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate and contact me (in German), phone 044-247 37 10 or email Sali@kapo.zh.ch

Kind regards,

Ciriaco Salierno
Traffic Instructor

On Friday was the final Child Protection lesson.

In this session, Ms Jill revisited the Body Safety Rules:

-Your body is your own and you choose who can touch you and when they may touch you – hugs, kisses, shaking hands etc

– You should have a Safety Network – 5 adults in your life who you can trust and you can tell anything to.

– You should recognise early warning signs – feeling sick, heart beating fast, breathing too fast – that are signals that things are not right. Trust your instincts.

– You should never keep secrets that make you feel bad or uncomfortable. Tell a trusted adult, though it can be a very difficult thing to do.

– Private parts are private. You should call them by the correct scientific names. You must tell a trusted adult if anyone asks you to touch their private parts or asks to see yours.

We read the book ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept”

We talked about what the word ‘abuse’ means – trying to hurt someone over a period of time and not respecting boundaries.

Physical abuse – hitting, kicking, biting

Sexual abuse – involves private parts (the parts usually covered by swim suits).

This session concludes this series of lessons.