IB PYP Unit of Inquiry “How we express ourselves - Puppets and Plays”. Early Years students have started to explore their new unit of inquiry “How we express ourselves - Puppets and Plays”. The two weeks have flown by like a swirling, whirling wind and they have been filled with unforgettable discussions, games, songs, stories, role plays, and preparations for the self-made puppet shows, lots of various hands-on activities and most importantly joy of learning about how we express ourselves.   Central Idea People can discover and express their feelings and ideas using puppets and dramat ..read more

Early Years students are continuing to explore their IB PYP unit of inquiry “How the World Works – Sand, Water, Gloop and Dough”. Students in both preschool classes have been engaged in various learning opportunities in order to explore substances and materials which move, change, disappear and can surprise little learners. OAK Oak students are continuing to explore substances and materials which move, change or can disappear by being mixed together. Little ones also have been continuing to develop their fine motor and writing skills; learning about shapes and basic concepts in Math; so ..read more

Hello, our readers! Since the previous post, these two last weeks have been very busy at ISR Early Years - students have been inquiring into different substances and states such as sand, clay, goop and ice. They have discovered lots of new things through inquiries and observations but what are these things? Linden These last two weeks Linden students have been busy exploring various substances, liquids and materials through a wide range of learning experiences. Some might call it “getting messy”, others might say “exploring the world through five senses”, however IB PYP states that it ..read more

Welcome back after the Winter break! Early Years students are continuing to explore the Unit of Inquiry “Sand, Water, Goop and Dough”! Children have been curious to learn about snow, water and clay by exploring them in different ways. Oak After the Winter break Oak students were eager to explore the water and learn more about it. What is water? What is the color of it? Where do people use it? Answers to these questions were discovered through different activities related to the Science, Math and Art. Children inquired into water by pouring it into trays and funnels (continuing to develo ..read more

Last week Early Years classes started the new IB PYP Unit of Inquiry “How the world works - Sand, water, goop and dough” through which students will explore different substances and materials. What do they look and feel like and what happens when we mix them together? Lots of science experiments will be done during this unit of inquiry. Last week students had the perfect chance to explore the first snow which came right on time for the start of this unit!  We discussed how states of the snow substance change under different temperatures as the Central idea of this UoI is: “Substances and ma ..read more

During the last two weeks Early Years students explored Latvia as the final part of our IB PYP UoI “Who we are - Me and My Country”. Do you know the history of Latvian flag? What is the meaning of white and red colors in Latvian flag? We enjoyed listening to the legend of a Latvian hero Imanta who was wounded in battle, and the edges of the white sheet in which he was wrapped were stained by his blood. Students also explored the map of Latvia and the traditional Latvian symbols as such as Sun, Snake, Cross by decorating them with red and white beans. Students continued to develop their fine mo ..read more

Learner Profile of the month:  Reflective.  We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning personal development.  In Early years the students learn that “I think about my work. I know when I have done well, and when I could have done better.” Therefore we started to get ready to reflect on our learning journey for Student-led conferences (which will take place on Saturday, November 23rd (please remember to sign up!))  by looking through our Portfolios - the big binders that one can fin ..read more

Early Years students continue to  explore IB PYP unit of inquiry “Who We Are - Me and My Country” as well as they observe the many changes in nature as Fall season has arrived in Latvia. Here is one of our favourite songs about the Fall leaves: “Fall is rich, Fall is bright, fall is full of fun! (2X) Fall leaves whisper shhhh, chestnuts fall down Boom! It’s so much fun to be outside! Don’t stay in your room!” Last Tuesday Early Years students together with Kindergarten students went to the forest and explored nature. Children enjoyed swinging on a self-made seesaw and creating sh ..read more

We are a respectful, learning-focused community where each student is inspired to achieve his or her potential, and to become an ethical, confident and internationally-minded citizen of tomorrow. During the past two weeks students of Oak and Linden Early years classes have been engaged in various learning opportunities in order to explore what it possibly means to be internationally-minded citizens of tomorrow.  It all started with an unforgettable and unique experience for all our school’s community - the Latvian folk music band “Auļi” and folk musicians from Austria, Lapland, Mongolia ..read more

“Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often.'' (Fjortoft & Sageie 2001) Last Tuesday the oldest Preschool students continued our successfully incorporated Forest lessons. This programme is offered to students who are four years old - something special for the younger students to look forward to after their 4th birthday. In fact, almost all Primary students went on a field trip to “our forest” on the same Tuesday. It was great to go together and the forest was big enough ..read more