Looking back on the last few months at Northbridge, and looking ahead to the next school year

Looking back on the last few months at Northbridge, and looking ahead to the next school year As the year comes to an end, I have been reflecting on how much all of us at Northbridge International School Cambodia have grown over the last few months. Our students, teachers and parents have all risen to the different challenges, and we have all learned new skills, developed stronger resilience and found different ways to learn and engage with new information. This year has shown us that all of us are able to be life-long learners!

As the year comes to an end, I have been reflecting on how much all of us at Northbridge International School Cambodia have grown over the last few months. Our students, teachers and parents have all risen to the different challenges, and we have all learned new skills, developed stronger resilience and found different ways to learn and engage with new information. This year has shown us that all of us are able to be life-long learners!

To make sure that you have many different ideas on how to continue this learning in the summer, I have asked Ms Becky and Ms Kate to write some suggestions and add some links for you to look into and these have been added below. We have also sent home the Summer Learning Bingo challenges with the report cards, but if you are wanting to find them online - here are the links for the KG - G2 Bingo and the G3 - G4 Bingo.

Emotionally Supporting Children Through The Holidays 

By Ms Becky Watson-Penhall

The school holidays are always a time of change and growth for young children. This is an exciting and fun time, where special memories are made.

Alongside this, there is often uncertainty around what will happen next; less structure and routine in their day during holiday time, and then a new class, a new teacher, different work and expectations. As teachers and families, we must support children to recognise and manage these difficult feelings, as well as begin the new year with a sense of optimism. 

This is more important this year than ever before.

Here are some ways you can support your child:

• Talk to them about the changes that are happening. 

Explain that their remote learning will be ending soon and then it will be time for the holidays. Prepare them for what will happen next - explain that when they go back to school, they will be in a new grade level with a new teacher and a few different students than last year. 

• Make special memories with your child

Allow them to choose an activity and fully partake in it. Be present. It could be something as simple as playing Lego together. 

• Talk to your child about their hopes, dreams and worries for the next academic year

• Use the language of emotions 

Help your child to use language to label their emotions.

• Be available for your child 

Allow them to talk to you about their emotions.

• Continue to support children to think of their own solutions to their problems.

Our Golden Rules are: 

• It makes me feel better;

• It doesn’t hurt me or anyone else.

 

If you want any extra advice or support, please visit: 

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/resources-for-parents.html 

 

The Importance of Reading Over the Summer

By Ms Kate Watson-Penhall

Our long summer holiday is upon us, and ahead of us lie days and weeks of freedom. But this can be a daunting prospect for many. Reading is a way that you can fill your free time and keep up the reading skills that have been developed over the school year.

Travelling to other places is likely to be a lot more difficult this year. However, you can still be transported around the planet and into other worlds through the books you read.

Travel to the wizarding world by reading Harry Potter, or to Olympus through the Percy Jackson series. Travel into Narnia with Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, or see the world with The Snail and the Whale.

If you don’t have access to books at home, don’t forget that you can use Raz-Kids to access appropriately levelled books throughout the summer holiday. 

The NISC Library has eBooks and Interactive eBooks available for borrowing for students with Google accounts. See this link for more information.

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has also been releasing a new book, The Ickabog, online, revealing new chapters each weekday. You can read the book at: https://www.theickabog.com/read-the-story/

In addition to Raz-Kids and ebooks from our library, below is a list of websites where you can access ebooks and other resources to read online:

• Storyline Online (https://www.storylineonline.net/) – Actors reading picture books     

• Story time from Space https://storytimefromspace.com/) - Astronauts reading picture books on the International Space Station     

• International Children’s Digital Library (http://en.childrenslibrary.org/) - Stories in English and other languages from around the world     

• Oxford Owl (https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/) - Free eBooks for primary students (you need to register)

• Storynory (https://www.storynory.com/) - Free audio stories     

• Free Kids Books (https://freekidsbooks.org/) - A library of children’s books and literary resources available online and for download in pdf format.

• Loyal Books Children’s Books (http://www.loyalbooks.com/genre/Children) - free public domain audiobooks & eBook downloads     

• Just Books Read Aloud (https://justbooksreadaloud.com/) - A collection of children’s books     

• Free Audiobooks for English Language Learners (http://esl-bits.net/) - Purpose of this site is to help (older) students improve their listening and reading comprehension of the English language. Free audiobooks, some narrated by the authors.     

• Circle Round Podcasts (https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532788972/circle-round) - Created and produced by parents of young children, WBUR's Circle Round adapts carefully-selected folktales from around the world into sound- and music-rich radio plays for kids ages 4 to 10.     

• Global Storybooks Portal https://globalstorybooks.net/ - A free multilingual literacy resource for children and youth worldwide.     

• The Fable Cottage (https://www.thefablecottage.com/) - Free bilingual traditional audio tales for language learners.

• EPIC (https://www.getepic.com/) - you can purchase a subscription to EPIC for access to many books.

• Many Books https://manybooks.net/ Lots of books, 100% free.