Outreach the Community; First Step Together ...

Visiting FISTA on PhotoPeach


“We care about you!”, “Your smile is more expensive than all the treasures of the world.”, “We share the same dreams.”, “We are all equal!”, “We love and care about you!”, “The world hasn’t forgotten you”…
These are some quotes my students wrote for children with special needs.
Teacher:
On Monday, 17 December 2012, at 8:30 am, for the purpose of this year's project; Community Service, my students and I went to FISTA (First Step Together Association). (FISTA is a non-profit organization for individuals with special needs.) We participated in their classes and shared things together, like songs, crafts, emotions, drawings, cards, and letters … We spent our day with them and tried to see the world from their own eyeglasses.
My students understood what individuals with special needs mean, and they discovered that this community is also a part of our community and that we complete one another.
Here are some thoughts, reviews, and description of our visit to FISTA, written by my students.
Students:
-Jamal Yamout, “When we arrived to FISTA, the teachers welcomed us and they divided us into groups. My friends and I joined FISTA’s SE4 class and made new friends. We drew, sang, read stories, and played together. We had a lot of fun!”
-Hiba Soubra, “Our visit to FISTA was an amazing trip. I felt very glad to meet and have new friends.”
-Nivine Omran, “When I visited FISTA, I thought I was going to be afraid of the students, because they were different than us, but when I met them and became their friends I changed my view and opinion about them, because they were children like us; they wanted to play, dream, have fun, and enjoy life. After my trip to FISTA I realized that FISTA’s students were special and they shared the same dreams like ours.”
-Lama Akl, “When I visited FISTA, I saw that children with special needs were very smart and they were able to do things that we couldn’t do, like handmade necklaces, candles, soaps, cards … They did things I couldn’t do as a child.”
-Ghida Itani, “When we went to FISTA, at first I was scared, but then when I met the children with special needs, I was never afraid again, on the contrary I was ashamed that I had bad thoughts about them.”
-Hala Shatila, “I will never forget our trip to FISTA, and I will keep in touch with my new friends at FISTA.”
-Reina Agha, “I will never forget this experience in my entire life. I learned that no matter what is difference between us and FISTA students, we are all friends.”
-Riwa Bleik, “I have to thank my English teacher for giving us the opportunity to visit a school like FISTA that care about children and adults with special needs.”
At the end of our visit to FISTA, FISTA’s principal told us a very wise quote, “The future depends on what we do in the present". And I agreed, since NOW my students know how to behave and help individuals with special needs; most importantly they know how to change the world’s view about individuals with special needs.

KSPS 5th graders and
their English Teacher
Ms. Gassia Topoushian

Schools Online Training at KSPS

The British Council launched its training sessions about Schools Online website at KSPS for two consecutive Fridays. All KSPS teachers and some teachers from other schools in Lebanon attended the training and benefited from the features found in this website.  

 

What is Schools Online?

It is website that fosters collaboration among teachers and students worldwide and help them share their cultures, practices and experiences. To visit Schools Online, click on this link:
http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ 

Thus, teachers learned how to register to this website, create a profile, find a partner school worldwide, work collaboratively on certain project, and create a new project.

 

Book Fair 2012, Biel!

KSPS cycle 2 students got the chance to visit the book fair on the 15th of December. Our students got the chance to choose and buy their own books, they were swimming in an ocean full of books. They were taking their “first steps” in buying books and discovering their favorite stories or genre of books.
They even told me they would like to write and publish their own books in the future.
And I told them, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

I hope my students would have a happy life with good books!

الرسالة

   مهما تعددّت وسائل الاتصال وتنوّعت وتطورت وسائلها تبقى الرسالة رائدة في فن التراسل فهي تخفي في طّياتها شعور وأحاسيس تسيل مع حبر القلم الذي يخطّ على الورقة ساكبا عبارات تنمّ عن شعورنا وعواطفنا لمن نراسله .فالقلم السيّد والورقة هي المسود والكاتب هو الفنّان المبدع فتعالوا معنا نلاحظ خطوات هذا الفن من خلال الصّور للرسائل التي كتبها تلامذة الصّف الثالث لمن يحبون ويشتاقون.

معرض الكتاب

قام تلامذة الحلقة الثانية بزيارة معرض الكتاب العربي ،حيث جالوا على دور النشر وكنت لهم وقفة مطولة عند دار المقاصد لما تضم هذه الدار من منشورات تربوية مهمة وكان في استقبالهم كل من السيدتين "رندة العنزاوي "و"غادة عيتاني "حيث قدمتا للتلامذة شرحا وافيا لاهم النشورات في الدار .

الكتاب صديقي

     ضمن النشاطات اللامنهجية والتي تحث التّلاميذ على القراءة كانت لّلحلقة الأولى في مدرستنا هذه الزيارة المدانية لمعرض الكتاب في البيال حيث جال الأولاد في أنحاء المعرض ، واشتروا العديد من الكتب، وفي نهاية المطاف .اجتمعوا في الزاوية المقاصدية، حيث استمعوا الى قصة  من القصص المشوّقة المعروضة هناك .سرّ الأولاد بهذه الزيارة وعادوا الى المدرسة محملين بالكتب المتنوّعة.



Let's Dance with 6th Graders

The British Council provided our sixth graders a one-hour dance workshop delivered by Elaine Marcey and Dean Sodin from 4Motion’s contemporary dance theatre . The workshop facilitated warm-up exercises and taught our children movement phrases and choreographic exercises. What is most important is that our children enjoyed their performance. Great thanks for the British Council, Elaine and Dean for their cooperation and for providing this workshop.

Celebrate Yellow

Nursery children executed lots of activities related to yellow color. They listened to " The Big Yellow Bus" story, showed yellow objects to their friends, brought yellow fruits, squeezed yellow lemon and drank lemonade. Moreover, they made a yellow collage, lemon print and even more. They had lots of fun.

Letter Feast Day

After learning about letters Mm,Rr,Ss, and Tt with their sounds, KG2 students celebrated letters in a special day with their parents. It was a yummy day filled with different kinds of food related to these letters. They had a delicious day :)

Dino City

Othman Thinnourain children visited Dino City , a prehistoric park at Ajaltoun. They were introduced to dinosaurs' history and prehistoric man. They played and enjoyed learning about old creatures. Most important of all, they had lots of fun. 

How our Students Care for their Fellow Friends!

On the occasion of Universal Children's day our 6th graders; Rodana, Aya, Nour and Sara thought of a nice gesture and planned to prepare lunch for the 3rd graders.
On the 21st of November the 3rd graders were so lucky to have such a thoughtful event prepared especially for them.

Always keep in mind ... "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead


KSPS English Department

بيوت الاحلام.

   تحت عنوان بيوت الاحلام ،قام تلامذة الصف الخامس ،ومن ضمن محور الوصف بالتعبير رسما عن البيت الذي يحلمون به .

Mom, you are most welcome

Science with MOM

On Wednesday November 21st, grade 5 science session wasn’t the same as everyday. Special visitors were present in our classroom. Fifteen mothers were invited to attend an interactive science class where we were the teachers and our moms were the students. We started preparing for this event a week ago. Our class was divided into Jigsaw groups. Jigsaw is a cooperative learning technique that promotes better learning, improves students' motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience. Each Jigsaw group took a part of the lesson to explain it for the rest of the class. In one jigsaw group, Salma and Marwa were responsible for presenting body cells; Lama and Tala were assigned to cover the respiratory system; Ruba and Mona the excretory system; Hiba and Lana the circulatory sytem; Bayan and Malak the skeleton system. Jamal summed up the lesson through an interactive flipchart. Finally, Nivine gave us some tips that help us keep our body strong and healthy.

When mom is present Learning becomes definitely so much fun!

Universal Children's day- November 20

"لقد كنا جميعا أطفالا في يوم ما. ونحن نتقاسم جميعا الرغبة في تحقيق رفاه أطفالنا، ذلك الرفاه الذي لم ينفك أبدا، وسيظل يشكل الطموح الذي تتعلق به البشرية قاطبة أكثر من أي طموح آخر

نحن الأطفال: استعراض نهاية العقد لمتابعة مؤتمر
القمة العالمي من أجل الطفل - تقرير الأمين العام

“Children's Day was first celebrated globally in October 1953, sponsored by the International Union for Child Welfare in Geneva. The idea of a Universal Children's Day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954. November 20 is also the anniversary of the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1956. Convention on the Rights of the Child was then signed on the same day in 1989, which has since been ratified by 191 states. World Children's Day is currently observed every year on the 20th of November. Today, World Children's Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries. Some countries celebrate it on different dates, like June 1.”

"We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind."
We the Children: End-decade review of the follow-up
to the World Summit for Children
Report of the Secretary-General (2001)

Happy Children’s Day!
Never forget the child within you … always dream and smile!
This day was a special day for KSPS students.

KSPS English Department

العائلة

 ضمن الأنشطة الدّاعمة لّلمنهج الدّراسي تمّ دعوة بعض أمهات  تلامذة الصّف الأول برفقة أطفالهّن  الرضّع للقاء تعارفي و وقد قدّمت الوالدات عرضا نظريا لأهمّ اللوازم التّي تستخدم للأهتمام بشوؤن ورعاية أطفالهّن (رضّاعات اصطناعيّة ،حليب ،حفاضات،............)كما روت الأمهات على مسامعهم أهم الأشياءالـّي تقمن بها من بداية الصباح وحتّى المساء .

    في نهاية الّلقاء طرح التلاميذ بعض الأسئلة الاستفساريّة التّي وردت على أذهانهم بعد الشرح المسهب للأمهات الّلواتي استمعن اليهم برحابة صدر .ثم ودّع التلاميذ الزّائرات الكريمات على أمل اللقاء في موعد قريب      

شرف..تضحية.. وفاء

بمناسبة عيد الإستقلال وفي إطار النشاطات اللاصفية الهادفة إلى تعزيز روح المواطنية،قام تلامذة خليل شهاب وعثمان ذي النّورين بزيارة إلى ثكنة مغاوير البحر (عمشيت)يوم 19-11-2012 للإحتفال بيوم الإستقلال. وقد شاهد الأطفال عرضآ عسكريآ مشوّقآ من الجيش اللبناني تخلله تسلق الحبال وعرضآ بحريآ وشاهدوا فيلمآ وثائقيآ كما استمعوا إلى أناشيد حماسيّة،كذلك قدمت لهم الحلوى والعصير والأعلام اللبنانية.وقد استمتع الأطفال كثيرآ وعادوا إلى المدرسة مرددين:كلنا للوطن...للعلى للعلم

Group Work

“One for all, and all for one.”

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

Teamwork is a joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group. Effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments. It is an important part of the working culture and many businesses now look at teamwork skills when evaluating a person for employment. The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.
On this basis KSPS students are working together as ONE team, 4th and 5th graders are trying to understand and experience team work and group work. Students are grasping the concept of collaboration, cooperation, respect towards one another, and communication. They are trying to be patient with one another; even though sometimes that’s difficult to accomplish, but with time they are getting used to the idea of working in groups and being productive in teams.
As teachers we are trying to make a change in our students’ lives, to make them better citizens and fellow humans.

Our 4th graders created their own creatures with special characteristics and the 5th graders created their own superheroes, they called them “Ninja”, “Monza”, “X-Ihana”, “Lory”, “Rio”, etc.
They were able to do these by cooperating together in ONE team.