GIS SP The International School of São Paulo

A field-trip is always a great opportunity to combine several elements of an inquiry. They immediately engage students (because of this most of us still remember many of our school field trips - even decades later!), they encourage questioning (the foundation of any good inquiry), and they focus students’ minds on the important concepts. For example, in our trip to Aquário de São Paulo we were able to focus on what causes species to adapt their ‘form’ or ‘behaviour’ and how these changes help them to survive in their natural habitat.

Yoga has many benefits for children. It can help them develop their physical, emotional, and mental health, as well as promote self-awareness, concentration, and relaxation.
Alpha students have been participating in Yoga sessions once a week, practicing different poses, connected to playful stories, mostly, related to animals. In the session shown in the images, we used the book Yoga Bear by Sarah Jane Hinder.

Happy New Year!

Telling stories is an art inherent to human beings. It can be said that we enjoy listening to and watching stories even before we know how to read, write and even speak. In the atelier, we look for new ways to tell stories and interact, recreate and attribute new meanings. With the primary year 1 class, we reinvented fairy tales and fables by projecting transparencies drawn by the children.

Contar histórias é uma arte inerente ao ser humano. Pode-se dizer que apreciamos ouvir e assistir a histórias mesmo antes de sabermos ler, escrever e até falar. No atelier nós buscamos novos meios de contar histórias e interagir, recriar e atribuir novos signif**ados. Com a turma do primary years 1 nós reinventamos contos de fada e fábulas a partir da projeção de transparências desenhadas pelas crianças.

At GIS we try to unlock potential in PE classes by embracing the power of interaction, cooperation, and teamwork as we follow the International Baccalaureate learning outcomes in our Physical Education curriculum.

In these transformative moments of Physical Education classes our students not only grow physically but also develop crucial values and behaviors that set the foundation of GIS.

See here some moments where students not only refine motor skills but also cultivate essential values! Because our curriculum is a journey that encourages:

1 value interacting, playing and learning with others.
2 celebrate the accomplishment of the group.
3 cooperate with others.
4 recognize that committing to shared goals in group situations improves individual and shared experiences and outcomes.

Fostering the creativity and mindfulness of our little artists through exploring colors on the light table.
The children were very engaged in mixing the vibrant colors and combining them to make their designs. It was a fun, visual experience that stimulated the children’s imagination.
What a wonderful journey into a world where colors transcend the ordinary!

Fomentando a criatividade e a atenção plena dos nossos pequenos artistas através da exploração das cores na mesa de luz.
As crianças f**aram muito engajadas em misturar as cores vibrantes e combiná-las para fazerem seus desenhos. Foi uma experiência divertida e visual que estimulou a imaginação das crianças.
Que viagem maravilhosa a um mundo onde as cores transcendem o comum!

This week PY1 students constructed CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words! The children are reinforcing making their letter sounds, reading through the word and building words as they go while also improving vocabulary knowledge in English.

Early Years 1&2 is currently investigating about the senses, and one of the learning experiences was to understand that other animals have eyes and use them to see as well. They were triggered to guess what animals were those by looking only the eyes, and then a mind map of what eyes are for, how it would be without our vision and how our eyes look like.
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Early Years 1&2 está investigando sobre os sentidos, e uma das experiencias de aprendizagem foi com o objetivo de entender que outros animais também tem olhos e usam igualmente para enxergar. Eles foram provocados a adivinhar quais animais eram vendo apenas os olhos deles. Depois disso fizeram um mapa mental sobre quais funções nossos olhos podem ter, como seria se não pudessemos enxergar e como nossos são.

This week, PY1 students continued our investigation of The Three Little Pigs by exploring the Five Narrative Elements: 1.Characters 2.Setting 3.Plot 4.Problem 5.Solution and also engaged in a friendly competition to see who could build the strongest house! These learning experiences give our students the opportunity to engage in individual and group work to better understand this childhood favorite story. We also made a film of their first Reader’s Theater experience with, you guessed it, the story of The Three Little 🐷!

Appreciation Day!
“Let yourself be proud of your progress!”

Appreciation Day!
Let yourself be proud of your progress! Today was an opportunity to take time to reflect, appreciate, love, and nurture our students’ achievements.

We immerse ourselves in an incredible sensory experience of flavors and colors as we embark on a journey through the vibrant world of pink and red fruit and vegetable flavors.
The exotic charm of dragon fruit was a delight, the children loved exploring with their hands and tasting this delicious fruit.
We also make beetroot available both raw and cooked so that children can experience a crunchy texture and earthy taste, providing a unique sensation.
Cooked beetroot, whether roasted or boiled, becomes tender and sweeter, offering a contrasting experience.
This colorful feast for both the eyes and the senses, celebrating the diverse palette nature has to offer.
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Nós mergulhamos em uma incrível experiência sensorial de sabores e cores enquanto embarcavámos numa viagem pelo vibrante mundo dos sabores das frutas e legumes.
O encanto exótico da fruta Pitaya foi uma delícia, as crianças adoraram explorar com as mãos e provar esta deliciosa fruta.
Disponibilizamos também a beterraba crua e cozida para que as crianças experimentassem a textura crocante e o sabor terroso, proporcionando uma sensação única.
A beterraba, seja assada ou cozida, f**a macia e doce, proporcionando uma experiência contrastante.
Este banquete colorido para os olhos e os sentidos, foi uma maneira de celebrar a paleta diversif**ada que a natureza tem para nos oferecer.

Começar a reconhecer as letras e os seus sons é uma processo longo, mas brincando com elas, f**a bem mais fácil. A escrita espontânea é muito importante para entender a hipótese de escrita deles e como podemos avançar na alfabetização em língua portuguesa.

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Starting to recognize letters and their sounds is an important process, but playing with them makes it much easier. Spontaneous writing is very important to understand their writing hypothesis and how we can advance in literacy in Portuguese.

Early Years 1&2 is working on the five senses and during the last three atelier sessions, we had some time to explore different ways to see the colors. For that we used RED, GREEN, and BLUE LED lights. BUT WHY RED, GREEN AND BLUE? These colors make the acronym RGB. The RGB color system is found in computer monitors, televisions, digital cameras, LED lights, and other digital light sources. These colors are achieved by mixing the three primary colors: magenta, cyan, and yellow. When we are exposed to these colorful lights, we have the impression that the paints and crayons have different colors than the ones we see under white or natural sun lights. It's a trick that we can use to explore the sense of vision.
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A turma do Early Years 1&2 está trabalhando sobre os cinco sentidos e nas últimas três sessões de atelier, pudemos explorar diferentes formas de perceber as cores. Para isso utilizamos luzes nas cores vermelha, verde e azul. Mas por que justamente essas cores? As cores mencionadas formam o Sistema RGB (RED, GREEN, BLUE). Esse é um sistema de cores utilizado por meios digitais: monitores de computador, televisões, câmeras digitais, luzes LED entre outras fontes. Essas cores são atingidas através da mistura de outro sistema de cores, o CYM (CYAN, YELLOW, MAGENTA) - o ciano, amarelo e magenta. Quando expostos à essas luzes determinadas, temos a impressão de que as tintas e gizes de cera têm cores diferentes daquelas que percebemos sob a luz branca ou sob a luz natural do sol. É um truque de ótica que podemos usar para explorar o sentido da visão.

One of the GIS’s learner profiles as an IB school is being a caring individual. Children learn how to show empathy, compassion, and respect toward others and the environment that surrounds them! They build themselves into being responsible citizens, understanding the needs of others. The learner profile supports students in taking action for positive changes!

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Um dos perfis de aluno do GIS em uma escola IB é ser um indivíduo atencioso. As crianças aprendem a demonstrar empatia, compaixão e respeito pelos outros e pelo ambiente que as rodeia! Eles se tornam cidadãos responsáveis, compreendendo as necessidades dos outros. O perfil do aluno apoia os alunos na tomada de medidas para mudanças positivas!

It's the beginning of our new Unit of Inquiry in PY2 and the students have not yet been told what they are learning about. However they are all fully engaged and motivated in investigating the forces of friction and gravity.

Using only 2 pieces of equipment, they had to imagine and test a method that would lift a 1kg object into the air and out of the hoop. The difficulty of the problem was then increased and they could only select one piece of equipment to use.

Here at GIS SP our students don't just become knowledgeable, they think critically, collaborate effectively and compromise with one another, and they can reflect upon outcomes and adapt to new problems.

PY 1 students are given free time on occasion to explore their interests. Here you see children exploring their imaginations by creating maps to imaginary places, writing original stories, drawing, and testing the laws of physics to see which paper airplane flies better.
These important moments are precious for the development of creative thinking and developing personal passions.

At GIS São Paulo, we incentivize our parents and families to come and participate in the children’s learning! In EY3, one of our lines of inquiry was exploring more about different cultural and family traditions. We had one of our pupils' parents come in and talk to the class about their family tradition, which was morning pancakes! The children then decided to take action and reproduce the recipe in the school's kitchen. The children had a blast and were very proud of their culinary skills.

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Na GIS São Paulo incentivamos nossos pais e familiares a virem participar do aprendizado das crianças! No EY3, uma das nossas linhas de investigação foi explorar mais sobre as diferentes tradições culturais e familiares. Pedimos aos pais de um dos nossos alunos que entrassem e conversassem com a turma sobre a tradição familiar deles, que eram panquecas matinais! As crianças decidiram então agir e reproduzir a receita na cozinha da escola. As crianças se divertiram muito e f**aram muito orgulhosas de suas habilidades culinárias.

Apesar do dia 31 de outubro ser conhecido como “Dia das Bruxas”, e mundialmente conhecido como Halloween, por influência da cultura norte-americana, hoje é dia do Saci no Brasil! Essa data celebra o nosso folclore e o personagem mais popular dela! De tradição oral e passada de geração em geração, a história do Saci mistura duas grandes raízes da cultura brasileira: a indígena e a africana.

Although October 31st is known worldwide as Halloween, due to the influence of North American culture, today is Saci Day in Brazil! This date celebrates our folk culture and its most popular character! From an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation, Saci’s story mixes two major roots of Brazilian culture: indigenous and African.

Body Tracing - figuring out my self-image
An important step in child development is the moment when the child discovers their self-image. This discovery comes from a neuropsychological process when the baby begins to understand itself as a complete being in the world and not an extension of his mother. To assist in this process of understanding the SELF, one of the activities we propose is the full-body self-portrait, that is, tracing the body on paper, whether with chalk, other scribblers natural materials, blocks, and loose pieces. Thus, when the children see the body traced, they create a notion of themselves outside of their own body, but reflected in another concrete space, in this case, paper, but which can also work through the projected shadow, by looking at themselves in the mirror and seeing themselves in photographs.

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Playing in the sand is very beneficial for young children in many ways. The temperature and texture of the sand, dry or wet, expands the tactile repertoire and stimulates the senses. The different forms that sand can take work the imagination and develop language through make-believe games. Combining natural elements like branches, leaves, and flowers enriches the moment! At GIS we play in the sand every day, whether freely or in pre-defined proposals for the little ones to explore.
********** Brincar na areia é muito benéfico para crianças pequenas de múltiplas formas. A temperatura e textura da areia, seca ou molhada, ampliam o repertório tátil e estimula os sentidos. As diversas formas que a areia pode assumir trabalha a imaginação e desenvolve a linguagem através do faz de conta. E combinar elementos naturais como galhos, folhas e flores enriquece o momento! Na GIS brincamos na areia todos os dias, seja livremente ou em propostas pré-definidas para a exploração dos pequenos.

During library circle moments, the students are encouraged to talk about the books that they took home. They can share about their favorite character, or talk about what part of the story is their favorite, and even recommend the books to their friends.
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Durante os momentos de roda de biblioteca os alunos são incentivados a falar sobre os livros que eles levaram para suas casas. Eles contam sobre seu personagem favorito, qual parte da história mais gostaram e até recomendam os livros para seus amigos.

During library circle moments, the students are encouraged to talk about the books that they took home. They can share about their favorite character, or talk about what part of the story is their favorite, and even recommend the books to their friends.
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Durante os momentos de roda de biblioteca os alunos são incentivados a falar sobre os livros que eles levaram para suas casas. Eles contam sobre seu personagem favorito, qual parte da história mais gostaram e até recomendam os livros para seus amigos.

Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepQriBnZiGWm_upFOtVnsdHESHHI7WzeZZo5HfY8l3KjCPaw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepQriBnZiGWm_upFOtVnsdHESHHI7WzeZZo5HfY8l3KjCPaw/viewform?usp=sf_link

One of the GIS’s learner profiles at an IB school is being a caring individual. Children learn how to show empathy, compassion, and respect toward others and the environment that surrounds them! They build themselves into being responsible citizens, understanding the needs of others. The learner profile supports students in taking action for positive changes!
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Um dos perfis de aluno do GIS em uma escola IB é ser um indivíduo atencioso. As crianças aprendem a demonstrar empatia, compaixão e respeito pelos outros e pelo ambiente que as rodeia! Eles se tornam cidadãos responsáveis, compreendendo as necessidades dos outros. O perfil do aluno apoia os alunos na tomada de medidas para mudanças positivas!

Familiarizing with numbers and understanding that they can be used in many ways for different purposes in the real world is one of the expectations for the early learners. We can use the language of mathematics to compare lenght, weight, time, quantify more or less, first, last in everyday situations.
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Familiarizar com os números e entendet que eles são usados em diversas maneiras e funções na vida real é uma das expectativasmde aprendizagem para os alunos mais novos. Podemos usar a linguagem da matemática para comparar comprimento, peso, tempo, quantif**ar mais ou menos, primeiro ou ultimo em situações cotidianas.

A literatura forma sujeitos ao mesmo tempo em que tem um papel humanizador: desenvolve a humanidade, nos tornando compreensivos e abertos para as diferenças e semelhanças. Por isso, nas aulas de língua portuguesa consideramos importante que as obras de literatura infantil expressem a diversidade cultural da população brasileira. Portanto, um dos caminhos para trazer a diversidade e criar condições para conversas naturais, pelas quais as crianças entendam conceitos de raça, diversidade, equidade, racismo, intolerância e afins é a literatura. Nesta leitura do livro da Kiusam de Oliveira para o Alpha e os Early Years 1 e 2, descobrimos que a autora reconta mitos iorubás de princesas e príncipes africanos ― conhecidos, no Brasil, como orixás.

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The atelier in early childhood is a feeling, long before being a physical space at school. In an education space based on the Regio Emilia approach, the atelier is, above all, the beating heart that governs the paths in education. When exploring water, basins and sponges, children discover drawings, marks and possibilities for intervention. When playing, obeying an intrinsic will of the child's body and mind, the children plan, discover, invent and implement processes.
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O ateliê na primeira infância é um sentimento, um processo, muito antes de ser um espaço físico na escola. Em um espaço de educação pautado na abordagem Regio Emilia, o ateliê é, antes de qualquer coisa, o coração pulsante que rege os caminhos. Ao explorar água, bacias, esponjas as crianças descobrem desenhos, manchas e possibilidades de intervenção. Ao brincar, obedecendo a uma vontade intrínseca do corpo e mente infantis, a criança planeja, descobre, inventa e concretiza processos.