Dear Families,
I’m so pleased to be writing this Broadcaster post from my new home in Sohar! While I am in quarantine for 2 weeks, I will soon be able to visit the school campus and see ABIS in person, meet some of the teachers and staff, and begin to explore my new surroundings. I sincerely hope that all of our overseas teachers are able to be here in this beautiful country soon.
Our Primary Talent Show has been a rousing success this week! Each morning, classes were treated to a video compilation of all the students who submitted their talents. We enjoyed cooking, singing, acrobatics, dancing, magic tricks, rap, drawing and painting… the variety of skills our young students possess is amazing! Congratulations to all students who took a risk and shared their expertise with everyone. Performances were posted on Seesaw each morning if you wish to go back and watch them again!
As you know, we are heading into our Autumn Break. ABIS will be closed to students from Friday, October 16 – Saturday, October 24, inclusive. We look forward to welcoming you back online on Sunday, October 25. I hope that students will take a well deserved break from their iPads during this school holiday. Whether families are able to get away from Sohar for the day, or if you are staying home, there are plenty of activities your children can do that do not involve screen time. Here are a few ideas:
- Read: Yes, reading for pleasure, not for learning assignments or projects… short stories, graphic novels, comics, a favourite series, a magazine… let your child relax and enjoy choosing something fun to devour, and try to spend some time reading as a family.
- Build: There are lots of things to build with around most homes: lego, blocks, cardboard boxes, bottles, tubes, toothpicks… the possibilities for imagining and creating towers, castles, robots, rockets, cars,… are limitless.
- Plant :Cultivate a small garden of flowers or herbs.
- Scrapbook: Snap some photos, print them, and write a short description of each. These could be around a theme, or just subjects of interest or beauty to your child.
- Move: Have a family dance party, do some yoga or exercise together, create obstacle courses to complete in and around the house.
- Cook: Make dinner time into a full restaurant experience: write a menu, gather recipes and ingredients, set up the dinner table like a real restaurant, serve drinks, appetizers, a main course and of course dessert.
- Document: We are living through a historic time! Ask each member of your family to choose one thing they would want people to know about this year, gather their ideas, seal them in a box or an envelope, and mark it clearly with a date in the future when it should be opened.
Of course, any time spent with your child making memories is valuable, no matter the activity. I hope you enjoy the time together next week. I look forward to hearing holiday stories from the students when we return to learning. Maeve
