Social Studies

Studying Nationalism in Social Studies

Grade 8 is beginning the study of Nationalism and it is quite relevant to what we are seeing in the world now. The question posed to the students was how can Nationalism be both a positive and a negative force and there were many contributions given by the class. Nationalism can instill a strong feeling of pride and devotion to one’s nation and a feeling of belonging , it can also create regional divisions which can become a major threat to the nation. Students gave the obvious example of Brexit and the possibility of a future referendum for Scottish independence. They also discussed regional loyalties for example “ friulani” versus “triestini”, North Italy versus Southern Italy. It was an interesting beginning to the year.

Mrs Savoini – Grade 8 Social Studies Teacher

Help! Help! Is there a doctor in school?

Oh, thank goodness that last week in Grade 1 there were doctors and nurses to deal with any health issues, policemen to arrest those who were misbehaving and even a judge to decide if they were innocent or guilty. And it didn’t end there! Firemen, trash collectors, artists, farmers, and forest rangers… to name but a few.
Each of these visitors told us something about their jobs: what they do, where they work, when they work, what tools they use and what they wear. We have learnt so much about how hard people in our community work and what they do for us.
Who knows what jobs we will do in the future?

Rhiannon Thomas
G1 teacher

Leggende del Friuli Venezia Giulia

THE N3 “FAMILY HANDS” PROJECT

In Nursery 3, the students have been learning about themselves and their families. To explore some of the differences and similarities both inside our families, and between them, we asked each family to help with a weekend home project where the children had to trace, cut and decorate the hands of different family members.

Children enthusiastically completed the assigned ‘homework’ and brought their finished work to school for their peers and teachers to see. In class, we used the hands for a variety of purposes, such as sorting according to size (small for children, big for grownups), counting the fingers from 1-5, and much more. Soon we will place the hands on the display board right outside the N3 classroom for everyone to come and have a look.

Ms Adriana
N3 Teacher

AM I LIVING?

Am I living? Is a car living? How do I know? A car moves, it needs fuel, it lets out gas.  So is it living? The Grade One scientists have been investigating living and non-living things. We have been on nature walks observing living and non-living things in our garden, we have looked for pictures to identify things that are living, non-living and those that have never been alive, we have learned about life cycles, and we have even had a special visitor. Noodles the hedgehog came to class and we had so many questions. We observed Noodles closely and learned all about hibernation, how she moves, when hedgehogs have babies, along with many other things. This week some Grade Eight students are coming to teach us about plants. We are really becoming experts!

Rhiannon Thomas
Grade 1A Science and Social Studies teacher

GRADE 5 MET HUMAN RIGHTS HEROES

Kicking off the year’s “hero” theme for elementary assemblies at UIS, the Grade 5 students presented a time travel adventure to meet Human Rights heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Malala. Each spoke about their dreams, struggles, and hopes for the world. Even Batman and Spiderman, who turned up assuming they were the featured heroes to be celebrated, learned some important lessons about how each of us can contribute in our own homes, schools, and neighborhoods, to carry forth the strong ideas of these inspirational figures.
In the words of the actors themselves:

“Martin Luther King had a dream of black and white children playing together, with all families living in fair housing, with the freedom to follow their dreams.” (Riccardo)

“Nelson Mandela dreamed of a world with no racial segregation, no separation based on the color of skin.”  (Edoardo)

“Malala stands for education and rights for all girls and women.” (Ginevra)

Mara Tramontin
Grade 5 teacher

3D Digestive Systems

One of the challenges when teaching Science is to find ways, other than experiments, to make the work practical. Recently Grade Seven were set the problem of making three-dimensional models of the digestive system. All the students chose ‘poster’ versions of their models, hanging them on the wall. Some are more successful than others! This week we have developed the theme of digestion a little further, and the students are investigating ‘alien visitors’ or parasites of the digestive system. Nice! We have seen a marked improvement in the washing of hands since the start of this unit.

Mr Green

Turning our Mums’ and Dads’ toys into museum pieces!

In Grade 2 this term, we have been comparing the past and present. We started with things we know a lot about, such as what we do, what we eat and what we play with.
We talked with our families, about why learning about the past is important and shared these ideas in class, which was a great discussion. We also asked our parents to share toys that they used to play with. Some Mums and Dads still had some of their toys!

We enjoyed seeing these toys from the past and other items that people shared from the past and it has really helped us to see real things and compare them with modern things.
We would be really happy if anybody else has some interesting things from the past to show us!

Grade 2
Ms Katharine Knott