Newsletter 05.12.2025

We wish you a wonderful Farmer’s Day and a relaxing long weekend!

A Visit from St. Nicholas – Bright Eyes in KiTa and Primary School

Arriving a little earlier than expected, St. Nicholas paid a very special visit to our KiTa and Primary School on 4 December 2025. Carrying a large sack filled with colourful presents, he moved from group to group, bringing excitement, joy, and many shining eyes.

The children told him what they already knew about the tradition of St. Nicholas, shared moments when they had shown kindness or helped friends, and asked curious questions. They also recited poems, performed finger plays, and sang festive songs they had prepared. St. Nicholas was visibly impressed by their enthusiasm, warmth, and talent.

A memorable experience for our youngest learners! Thank you, dear St. Nicholas!

Music Connects – Even Without Words

Can music be a language of its own? And can it convey meaning even when you don’t understand the lyrics?
These questions were explored by the DaF students of Grade 7/8 together with students from the University of Potsdam – an important step in strengthening our growing cooperation.

During the online exchange, it quickly became clear: even though musical styles differ greatly across countries, the message of a song can often still be felt. Melody, rhythm and mood bridge language barriers and make emotions, stories and atmospheres come alive.

The exchange beautifully demonstrated how music connects, inspires and opens doors – and how enriching the collaboration between the University of Potsdam and GISA is for both sides.

Christmas Magic Under the Palms – The GISA Christmas Market Opens the Advent Season

On Saturday, 29 November 2025, our campus transformed for four hours into a sparkling Christmas wonderland under the palms. The scent of baked goods and spices, cheerful music, shining children’s faces, and a lively mix of languages and voices created a truly special Advent atmosphere.

More than 40 stalls offered handmade gifts, international delicacies, creative artworks, and of course a traditional mulled wine stand. At times the area was so busy that some walkways became almost impassable. Guests from many different countries filled the campus with warm conversations and a festive multilingual spirit—a true intercultural gathering.

The hands-on activities were equally popular: face painting, games, obstacle courses, bowling, Advent calendar and bracelet crafting, and fun photo props kept families engaged throughout the afternoon. A particular highlight was the humorous Nativity Mockumentary created by students of the Secondary School.

More impressions from the Christmas Market

👉 A photo-rich report with a video is now available here.

The stage programme added significantly to the festive mood. Students of Grade 7/8 opened the afternoon with an impressive drum and bell performance, followed by the kindergarten children with Christmas songs and a joyful dance. The project group then presented traditional German Christmas carols. One of the emotional highlights was the expressive “Hallelujah” performed by the dance group under the direction of Adis, which gave many visitors goosebumps. The programme concluded with a cheerful visit from St. Nicholas, bringing smiles to young and old alike.

A Special Encounter at the Swiss Club

Between 16:00 and 17:00, we welcomed Peace Bike Tour cyclists Dieter Sehburger and Christoph Roller, who stopped by with their bicycles on their journey from Germany and Switzerland all the way to Madagascar. Under the motto “give me 30 seconds”, they collect voices and thoughts on the theme of peace around the world. Their visit added a thoughtful and international dimension to our festive afternoon.

Live Music for the Perfect Atmosphere

Musical entertainment was provided by Urban Gruve, whose energetic live performance added a vibrant and uplifting tone to the Christmas Market.

A Warm Thank You

The Christmas Market marked a wonderful start to the Advent season—full of community spirit, creativity, and joyful encounters. Our heartfelt thanks go to all parents, the Parents’ Association, our dedicated staff, and all students whose contributions made this event possible.

We are already looking forward to next year’s celebration under the palms! 🎄✨

Exciting Football Match – Valuable Experience for Our Team

On the same day, our school football team played against the Arch Football Academy. After a very close first half, which ended 5:4, the final score was 10:6 in favour of the opponents. Despite trailing, our players continued to push forward courageously and demonstrated strong teamwork, sportsmanship, and enthusiasm.

Coach David Detzler expressed great satisfaction with the performance, highlighting that high-scoring games in youth football are especially valuable as they show creativity, offensive drive, and joy in playing. Our team displayed all of these qualities throughout the match.

We congratulate the Arch Football Academy on their well-deserved victory and are proud of our players’ dedication.
Next match: 13 December in the morning (details to follow).

A New Foosball Table Donated by the Support Association

After the long weekend, our students can look forward to a brand-new, highly durable, professional-quality foosball table—donated by the Support Association. A big thank you goes to Robert Lüdtke, who assembled it over the weekend.

Update on Constitution Day & Start of School in January

We have received information that the national holiday Constitution Day will likely be moved from Wednesday, 7 January 2026, to Friday, 9 January 2026.

To provide planning security, the following arrangements apply:

• First day of school after the holidays: Monday, 12 January 2026
• Childcare will be offered on Thursday, 8 January 2026
• Childcare will also be available on Friday, 9 January 2026, should the holiday not be moved
• Nursery and Kindergarten will be open accordingly

A binding survey regarding individual childcare needs will follow next week.

Nursery and Kindergarten

This week, the nursery became even more festive: the children painted Christmas baubles, St. Nicholas paid a visit, and everyone received a small surprise. During free play, the children also gained important social experiences and had plenty of opportunities to express their creativity.

The week in Kindergarten was short, but full of fun and exciting moments! 😄
We experimented with soap and water 🧪💦. The children floated small folded boats ⛵ and watched closely to see if—and how—they would move. It was a real little adventure and brought lots of joy to everyone! 🤩

We were also busy crafting again ✂️🎨. With colourful materials, lively imagination and plenty of enthusiasm, the children created wonderful artworks they were truly proud of! 🥰

Music continued to play an important role in our daily routine. The children formed a mini-orchestra 🎶, using rhythm sticks, rattles and other instruments to make music together—a truly cheerful and energetic experience! 🥁✨

The highlight of this short week was the visit from St. Nicholas 🎅. The children were full of excitement and absolutely delighted by this special surprise guest 💖.

And of course, as always, there was lots of singing, jumping, laughing and creative play 🎵🤸‍♀️🎲 – the children had a fantastic time! 😍

Next Friday, the next highlight is already waiting: our excursion 🚶‍♂️🚌. We’re all looking forward to it!

Primary School

In Grades 1/2, the iPads were used frequently this week: the children worked with the learning app Anton and with Puppet Pals, an app that allows them to create their own little animated films. They choose characters and backgrounds, come up with a storyline, and record the dialogues themselves. In this way, they practise free speaking, plan a narrative with a beginning, middle and end, and find fitting words and sentences. At the same time, they strengthen their creativity, teamwork and confidence in using the iPad. Language development, media literacy and imagination come together in a playful way.

In German, we introduced a test application system for Grade 2: once a child has completed a lesson, they briefly explain in their application what they have learned and only then receive the test. This ensures that the children engage thoroughly with the content. In Science, we continued working on the five senses and the corresponding organs. Our corn plants are also growing beautifully—who knows when they will be ready to harvest?

In this first week of December, Grade 3 learned about parallel lines and drew their first rectangles. They practised recognising and using parallel lines to construct geometric shapes correctly. Afterwards, they added right angles inside the rectangles to deepen their understanding of the properties of this shape.
Grade 4 focused intensively on the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. Along the way, they made an exciting discovery: figures with the same area can have very different perimeters. This “aha moment” helped them understand geometric relationships even better.

In German, the classes continued working on verbs in the past tense, read and analysed stories, and wrote down their first own ideas and sentences for their narratives. As a class group, they also learned a poem by heart—prepared as a little surprise for St. Nicholas’ visit.

In English, things also became very festive: we read a Christmas story, refreshed important Christmas vocabulary and learned new words. The children also began their first writing attempts for their own little Christmas story.

Weaving Meets Mathematics

What does weaving have to do with mathematics? This question was quickly answered in our newly launched weaving project. Our weaving expert Catherine from Grade 4 gave a warm introduction, showing how many patterns, numbers, and thought processes are hidden in weaving.

One big aha moment: the warp threads must always be set up in an even number—otherwise the pattern becomes uneven. Clearly, you can’t weave without a bit of math!

Working in pairs, the children set up their looms and wove focused, patient rows that soon turned into small works of art. On Thursday, they also created mini cardboard looms so that next week each child can design their own woven pieces.

And we have big plans: inspired by traditional Ghanaian colours and patterns, we aim to produce many small woven pieces and turn them into a colourful quilt in time for next year’s Ghana Day.

A project that connects hands, minds, and hearts—thread by thread.

A Christmas Book Made from the Heart

Christmas is the season of surprises and small gifts that come from the heart. For this reason, the four children in the support group “Strengthening Strengths” from Grade 3/4 joyfully began collecting ideas for a very special Christmas book.

From delicious cookie recipes to short, self-written elf poems and winter arts and crafts, their Christmas book is meant to bring a smile to their classmates’ faces during the holidays, inspire them, and send a touch of Christmas magic home with them.

With every new idea, a small creation grows—full of imagination, warmth, and a sense of community. A gift that shows:
The greatest Christmas joy is the one we share with others.

GISA Advent Calendar 

December has finally arrived, bringing with it the festive Advent season! Each day, a new door of the GISA Advent calendar opens, revealing small surprises lovingly prepared for our students.

We began with a creative craft activity, a joyful games day, a magical mini-book made from a single sheet of paper, and delicious Christmas punch that filled the school with its warm scent. More wonderful Advent moments await next week—both for the children and perhaps even for the teachers.

Recipe for a large pot of children’s punch:
Fruit tea (3–5 bags), 2 l water, 3 oranges, 1 lemon, 6–8 cloves, 2–3 cinnamon sticks, 500 ml apple juice, optional brown sugar.
Prepare the tea, add lemon juice, slice the oranges and add them with cloves and cinnamon. Finish with apple juice and sugar to taste—perfect for warming up on a December day!

Secondary School

This week in English lessons in Grades 5/6, the students compared open and closed questions. They then practised distinguishing facts from opinions in sentences and short texts. Key learning outcomes included understanding the difference between fact and opinion, recognising evidence and justification, identifying signal words, sharpening critical thinking skills, and expressing their own opinions with suitable reasons. Parents are encouraged to revisit these topics at home to help deepen understanding.

In French, the students focused on the four seasons. They drew matching pictures and learned to talk about their favourite season in French.

In Mathematics, the students learned how to apply BODMAS (order of operations) when solving mathematical problems and how to use power products in multiplication and addition. They created their own tasks for their seat partners to demonstrate their understanding – with excellent results. They also received additional exercises to complete at home.

In the first week of December, Grade 6 learned and experienced a great deal once again. In German, we dived deeply into the world of sentences: analysing numerous examples, identifying sentence elements, rearranging structures, and even creating completely new sentences.

Geography also continued with exciting content. After learning about the appearance and size of the different planets, the students drew them and then developed their own small planetary system.

In Mathematics, we worked on comparing the sizes of fractions. We explored how fractions occur in everyday life and then worked through a varied set of learning stations. Students matched pairs, solved tandem tasks, worked on word problems involving fractions, and deepened their understanding through a wide range of additional activities.

Art lessons were all about creativity and emotions. Using colour theory and engaging colour experiments, the students expressed their feelings artistically.

At the end of the week in Ethics, we reflected on our topic Media and Media Addiction. In a short written piece, each student described how they personally use media and assessed their own media consumption.

Altogether, it was a varied and educational start to December.

Exploring Christmas Traditions – in the Grade 5/6 DaF Group

The DaF group in Grade 5/6 enjoyed a wonderfully festive week. Each day, the DaF Advent calendar surprised us with a small activity, and the warm glow of the Advent candle created a special atmosphere.

Together, we explored Christmas traditions in Ghana and Germany, learned about St. Nicholas, and discussed why children in Germany polish their shoes. Creativity was also in full swing as the students designed Christmas trees using colourful paper and mosaic techniques.

We discovered that Christmas is not only lights and cookies, but also stories, traditions, and shared joy.

In Mathematics, Grade 7 is currently working intensively on congruence theorems and applying their knowledge in various word problems. Grade 8 is calculating the perimeter and area of triangles, deepening their understanding of geometric relationships.

A hands-on demonstration showed how a rectangle can be transformed into a parallelogram by repositioning a triangle – and how the familiar area formulas arise from this. By arranging two congruent triangles into a parallelogram, the students could easily derive the area of a triangle.

In Ethics, the current topic is Identity – Who am I? Students explore different facets of their own personality.

In Biology, the components of the cell were consolidated through short presentations.

In Social Studies, students are creating their own career posters and reflecting on their aspirations for the future. In Geography, they researched and debated Ghana’s “Energy Plan 2040,” discussing the right mix of energy sources and future perspectives.

Sports lessons remain active and dynamic: at the moment, the classes are training their endurance. With the help of motivating music, students work on their individual fitness and experience how music can support and inspire them while running.

The Power of Non-Verbal Christmas Art

In this special project, our students were faced with an unusual challenge: to express the message of Christmas solely through images, colours and shapes – completely without words. This deliberate absence of language opened up new creative pathways.

With great imagination, the students developed visual metaphors for joy, generosity, winter atmosphere and Christmas traditions. They experimented with symbols, perspectives and artistic styles, discovering the strong impact that non-verbal communication can have.

“Elevating Creativity” – this motto was visible in every piece of art. The works tell stories that touch, connect and provoke thought without using a single word. A powerful example of how art transcends boundaries and makes the richness of the Christmas season visible.

Racing Reporters – Weekly Report of the First Week of December

This is not the end – it’s only the beginning! Although our first project phase officially ended this week, we look ahead with energy and fresh ideas. In the coming weeks, we will continue racing through the school, collecting exciting stories and sharing the wonderful Ghana projects at GISA with our community.

In our final editorial meeting of this phase, we took an important next step: we created the first drafts for our own logo of the GISA Racing Reporters. With plenty of creativity, diverse ideas and great teamwork, many exciting designs emerged, which we will continue to develop.

We are excited for everything that lies ahead – because our journey has only just begun!

Dates & Outlook

🎓 Tuesday, 16 December 2025

Last School Day before the Christmas Holidays

🏕 Wednesday–Friday, 17–19 December 2025

GISA Winter Camp
Creative activities and a visit from the Grinch.

🎁 Wednesday, 17 December 2025 – Friday, 9 January 2026

Christmas Holidays

🏫 Monday, 12 January 2026

First School Day after the Christmas Holidays