Newsletter 27.09.2024
Due to Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, we can look back on a short but eventful school week. However, the coming week is likely to be even more eventful.
On Wednesday, October 2, 2024, Football in your life from Offenbach am Main will be visiting us and offering one-hour inclusive workshops for all grades. Many of you will be familiar with the team from last year, when they introduced us to sport for the blind.
Thursday, 03.10.2024 is the Day of German Unity, which is free of school.
On Saturday, 05.10.2024 our cultural school festival “Made in Germany” will take place from 3 pm to 7 pm. Under this year's motto “Made in Germany”, the pupils have explored various topics related to Germany. There will be creative activities for children, exciting exhibitions and captivating performances. German specialties will be served, while a parents' café and public viewing of the Bundesliga will take place in the Swiss Club. A brass band will provide lively music and invite you to dance to German and Ghanaian classics. The event offers a wonderful opportunity to experience culture, build bridges and have fun together.
On Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 5 pm, a family theater performance entitled *Gizo Gizo: A Tale from the Zongo Lagoon* will take place at the University of Ghana. We would like to attend this exciting play with interested families and children and look forward to it.
Further information: 
Download PDF Gizo-Gizo (bilingual)
The anual general meeting of the German International School will take place on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Further documents will be sent out at the end of next week. At this general meeting, three of the five board positions must be newly elected. The current board would like to encourage all parents and guardians who are eligible to vote to consider standing for election to the board. The current board invites all those interested in joining the board to an information event about the tasks of the board: Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. in the school's Swiss Club.
On Wednesday, October 9, 2024, we will be hosting an all-day event as part of the AHK's “German Days”. This in cooperation with the Sparkassenstiftung and “Faces of football e.V.”. Former German national soccer player Petra Landers (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Landers ) has dedicated her social project to promoting girls' soccer in Africa: http://facesoffootball.org/
A total of 30 girls aged 7-12 will take part in the workshop. Soccer meets the world of finance - Sparkassenstiftung supports this project and its employees provide information and inspiration on the subject of money/saving/etc. In addition to some pupils from our school, representatives from our partner NGO Universal wonderful street academy and our neighboring school in Nima, the Youngsters, will also be taking part.
School lunch
North Ridge Café is excited to introduce its new menu for the month of October. As a special offer, if you pay for your child’s meals for the full month, your name will be entered into a draw and you’ll be assigned a number. You could win one of several vouchers (₵150, ₵100, or ₵50), that can be spent at North Ridge Cafe. As usual you can find the prices per child, the MoMo account and menu on the website. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Join the new GISA Teen Club
Exciting News! We’re happy to announce the launch of the GISA Teen Club, where teens can have fun, make friends, and enjoy exciting activities together! Starting tomorrow Saturday, the 28th of September, from 2 pm to 5 pm, we’ll be meeting once or twice a month on Saturday afternoons to enjoy activities like bowling, laser tag, surfing, DJ sessions, fabric-making, and more. It’s going to be a blast! Children from outside the school are also welcome to join, as long as they are between 10 and 14 years old. See our flyer for more details on how to join and to explore our activities for the coming months.
Fun & Run 4 Street Children – Sponsor run in collaboration with Chance for Children
GISA has been cooperating with the non-profit organization for street children “Chance for Children` (www.chance-for-children.org) for nearly nine years. As part of GISA’s social activities, we are jointly organizing a Fun & Run 4 Street Children - Event at the school. It will take place on the 26th of October 2024. We are organizing a Kids’ Sponsor Run for that day and hope you and your kids will all join. More details will be shared later in October.
Kindergarten and Nursery:
We celebrated a birthday at the crèche last week! We sang, danced and ate cake together. We also completed our “Colors” theme by having the children create colorful pictures with finger paints. They had a lot of fun trying out the different colors and letting their creativity run wild. Next week we will start with the new topic “Made in Germany”.
The entire kindergarten is still busy preparing for the “German Days”. More and more gummy bears and black-red-gold works of art are decorating our rooms and the rehearsals for our “Gummibärenbande” song are in full swing. You can be excited! During learning time this week, we repeated last week's adjectives and clapped their syllables. We listened to another fantasy story where the children had to listen carefully so that afterwards they could create their own colorful gummy bear pictures to match the story. In English, the months and seasons were repeated this week and we sang a matching month song. We are also getting more confident in counting forwards and backwards in English! Friday was another busy day. For the second time, we were able to dance, run and have lots of fun together with the school children during the party break. Afterwards, we went straight on to our water day and had a great time splashing around, creating lakes in the sand and getting each other wet. Next week, we will finally go into gummy bear production ourselves and make our own DISA gummy bears. We can't wait to see how they taste!
Primary School:
This week, class 1/2 expressed their favorite ice cream flavors through art. In ethics, the students explored the concept of friendship more deeply. They read and discussed the book "Friends" by Helme Heine. The milleped group engaged in hands-on activities to enhance their understanding of quantities and number assignment. The Squirrels group is steadily improving their reading speed.
Our Cambridge English students enjoyed reading the story "Finders Keepers," which reinforced the concept of story retelling. They had fun discussing the characters, setting, problem, and events of the story while practicing their reading skills. Encourage your child to share the story and the moral lesson they learned at home!
In mathematics, class 2 continues to alternate between various forms of representation within the number range up to 100. Class 1 is actively breaking down numbers and using shaker boxes and two-colored chips for hands-on learning.
Starting with a day off, it was a short but successful week: In third grade German, we managed to go to the library. There we read together as a ‘reading tandem’. In year 4, we wrote our class assignment on the topic of reports and started our new topic ‘Verbs’. With Benjamin Akrong, we worked on and practised new vocabulary about the schoolyard and spread the words ‘ventilator’ and ‘air conditioner’ among our classmates. In English this week, our students have been focussing on the art of story writing! They learnt how to structure their stories. Students practised writing their own stories using the structure of the mountain story, which encouraged their creativity and organisational skills. In English with Laura Lützeler, we have established our first stories on the ‘farmer and monkey’. Next week the two English groups will present their findings to each other. Encourage your child to tell you their story at home! In Maths, we have continued to work individually on the new number range. In Science, Year 3/4 completed a short worksheet on what they learnt last week to refresh their knowledge and their results were excellent. In Ethics we have almost finalised our games and hopefully will be able to try some out next week. A particular highlight was a joint lesson with Year 5/6, where we read ‘A Doll for Ashe’ together and discussed the content. A wonderful experience. The week ended wonderfully with another party break. We said thank you, danced and celebrate.
Secondary School:
Throughout the week we have been secretly making a plan for our party break. The class decided that they wanted to give recognition to the school ‘staff’. We made posters and dedicated the whole school. It was a complete success. Once again to you, dear class 5/ : Thank you very much. You have a big heart. The projects are going well and we are looking forward to the 5th of October. Of course we hope for many guests and spectators. In Ethics, we are founding our own countries and looking at political dynamics. English: This week our pupils have been practising spelling using our weekly word list. The children practised these words through various fun activities which helped them to improve their spelling skills. In Cambridge Science, Year 5 looked at the intricacies of the human and animal skeletal system. Pupils successfully differentiated between invertebrates and vertebrates. In Year 6, the focus was on investigating the dispersal of fruits and seeds, culminating in the study of germination. In this phase, students gained insight into the different stages of germination and the optimal conditions required for seeds to germinate successfully. In history, the children learnt about the legendary founding of Rome, while in geography they began to make a map of Europe. Another highlight was a joint lesson with class 3/4. We visited them in their class and read ‘A Doll for Ashé’ together and discussed the content. A wonderful experience. Don't forget, there's a party at the school on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you there.
Last week, Year 7 pupils explored exciting topics in various subjects. The class immersed themselves in the world of chemistry and investigated the complex relationships between temperature and materials. The pupils learnt about the differences between melting, boiling and freezing points. They also familiarised themselves with various instruments for measuring temperature, which broadened their scientific understanding. They also gained an insight into the differences between boiling and vaporisation, which provided the basis for a deeper understanding of these concepts. In the coming week, practical exercises on the processes of melting, freezing and boiling are on the agenda so that the students can apply their theoretical knowledge. In their physics lessons, the pupils have been studying the topic of light. They recognised the differences between natural and artificial light sources and learned that the moon is not a light source but a reflector of sunlight. These insights broadened their understanding of this fascinating phenomenon. In Cambridge Science, the students explored the human cardiovascular system. They learnt about the organs responsible for blood circulation and the routes that oxygenated and deoxygenated blood take through the body. The lessons provided a deep understanding of the functions of the heart, blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries) and the blood itself, providing a solid foundation for future scientific exploration. In history, the seventh-graders conclude the topic of the ‘Roman Empire’ by designing an extensive wall newspaper. In the corridor in front of the classroom, a vivid presentation is being created from the founding of Rome to the migration of peoples, including famous personalities, everyday life in Rome and the reverberations of the empire that still have an impact today. This week, the pupils focussed on the topic of standard and colloquial language. They explored the differences between formal language used in written work and speeches and the informal, everyday language that includes slang. Parents are invited to encourage their children to talk about what they have learnt at home. In German lessons, the class prepared intensively for the first German test, which will be written at the beginning of next week. The focus is on written game instructions and passive forms in different tenses. The pupils also started their ‘games workshop’ project, in which they are developing their own games. Two class tests are also due next week. The past week was therefore characterised by intensive learning and exciting projects that challenged the students both theoretically and practically.
Outlook:
Wed., 02.10.2024 Years 1 - 7 Inclusive workshops with ‘Football in your Life’/BundesligaThu, 03.10.2024 Day of German Unity - no school day
Sat., 05.10.2024 ‘Made in Germany’ school festival as part of the AHK's ‘German Days’
Sun., 06.10.2024 5 pm *Gizo Gizo: A Tale from the Zongo Lagoon* at the University of Ghana (voluntary offer)
Tue, 08.10.2024 6 pm - 8 pm: AGM
Wed., 09.10.2024 Faces of Football: Football workshop for girls with former national football player Petra Landers in cooperation with Sparkassenstiftung
Mon, 14.10.2024 - Fri, 18.10.2024
Fri, 18.10.2024 Autumn holidays
Mon, 21.10.2024 First day of school after the autumn holidays (according to plan)
