+++ISR Liveblog: ISR’s Measures – Coronavirus+++
Are you curious about the pro-active measures we as a school are taking due to the coronavirus? In this live blog, we will present these measures to you and publish some news about this topic frequently.
We are very grateful that our school community is so strongly united and supports us in any possible way.
ISR Liveblog #43
Our parents finally have the opportunity again to exchange ideas and start the morning with a tasty coffee and sandwiches from our school kiosk. As our parents are not allowed to enter the school for security reasons, there is now a big tent in front of our school building which makes it possible for them to get together. Thanks to our Broich Catering & Locations team and a mobile counter, the catering is also taken care of. In the past weeks and months this type of personal exchange has unfortunately been somewhat difficult and we are very more pleased that our parents now have a safe and comfortable place to sit together with a certain distance and to exchange information.
ISR Liveblog #41
Today, our students enjoyed the sun during their break and they had a great idea!
With chalk, they painted different symbols on the ground to create fun-games and challenging parkour courses. What better way to spend your break time other than being sporty & creative? 😊
ISR Liveblog #39
Many children around the world are currently painting pictures of rainbows and hanging them on their windows to encourage each other in times of the Coronavirus.
With the support of their teachers, our Kindergarten students have also painted and made a variety of colorful rainbow pictures. Some have even written some hopeful and thankful messages on it!
The pictures are very beautiful, the message behind it is hugely important and we hope that the pictures will be seen by many children and put a smile on their faces. Together we can do it! ☺️
ISR Liveblog #37
In the last few months, we have really grown beyond ourselves and have made the impossible possible. You, as our ISR families, have confirmed this with all your positive feedback and continuous support.
Today, we, therefore, organized a little surprise for our ISR Team and gave everyone a small – and healthy – gift as a symbol of our appreciation for their hard work and engagement.
We’re very proud and happy to have such an outstanding staff team at ISR!
ISR Liveblog #35
In addition to the Sky News UK report and the BBC World Service interview last week, our school director, Ms. Lyons, was now interviewed by RTÉ One from Ireland!
It was an open discussion about the re-opening of schools with other educators from different institutions. Ms. Lyons laid out all the measures we have adopted at ISR in an impressive way – see for yourself!
ISR Liveblog #33
Last week, we had the honor of welcoming a Sky News television crew to ISR. Students, teachers, a parent, our IT department, and our management team were able to share their personal experiences in regards to schooling during this difficult corona time. Since ISR is leading by a good example, they have chosen ISR as the only German school to interview!
Another confirmation that we can be proud of what we all have achieved during this time.
ISR Liveblog #31
Last week in Grade 1 Music, our students used the online digital audio workstation Chrome Music Lab Song Marker in order to compose a short piece of music to depict one of the events from Vivaldi’s first movement of Spring from the Four Seasons.
Here you can see our student Emma, who chose to compose music for “The birds greet the spring with their joyful song.” It begins with repeated high pitches, representing the chirps of a bird, then swoops down low and then all the way back up – like a playful bird in flight! Well done, Emma.
We are proud that our students have the opportunity to explore music in this way!
ISR Liveblog #29
At ISR, we continue to receive positive feedback from parents, students, and even external persons about how well our digital teaching is going – and we’re justifiably proud of this feedback! A positive article about our digital teaching was recently published in the Cologne city newspaper.
We are very pleased to have the opportunity at ISR to provide our students with such a wide range of digital classes so that learning and education does not have to be neglected even in these difficult times. We would also like to thank our parents, students, and staff! Without their commitment this would not have been possible!
ISR Liveblog #27
These photos an ISR mother shared with us show the creative progress of her son during live lessons. Shabd has just started in Kindergarten at ISR and loves working on his Art & Craft projects with his teachers. Due to the current situation, he has lessons online and does all his artwork at home. He is really enthusiastic and his results are impressive! He’s only three years old and already such a talented artist. Well done Shabd!
ISR Liveblog #25
The siblings Filippa and Felicia designed a wonderful XXL postcard for their friend to surprise her and stay in contact in an old fashioned way J. They came up with the idea to let their friend know how much they miss her and that they can’t wait to see her back in school.
This is such a lovely idea and we are impressed by all the creative ideas from our students during this time to stay in contact and stay active. We are already curious about what our other students came up with!
ISR Liveblog #23
Also, our Kindergarten has organized a structured day with several virtual classes taking place. Yesterday, they had a yoga session in the morning and a mother shared this wonderful photo with us. In it, Riko looks so relaxed and quite serene!
We are really happy that we can provide our students with this type of much needed structure in their day and have made the change to virtual learning as smoothly as possible.
ISR Liveblog #21
Due to the decision of the government that schools and music schools must close until April 19th, the team decided to teach virtually by using several platforms like Zoom and Facetime amongst others, starting on March 17th. The students love the variety and appreciate this contact with their teachers. The Musicbox Oxana team was very excited and curious about how the new learning experience would be received and above all how everything could be implemented.
Two weeks later, teachers and students have come to the same conclusion, it’s great! The teachers are enthusiastic because the students are much more independent as, for example, they prepare their music sheets themselves. The students also really like the new situation and are both focused and excited.
Everyone has done a great job in running the virtual classes and the Musicbox Oxana team is proud of how their students are learning and developing. Still, they can’t wait to see each other again soon!
ISR Liveblog #19
Since the “Fitness @ Home with me” initiative from our upper school CAS students Mona & Penelope was hugely successful, also our engaged SLO® students now offer a fitness zoom class for all interested ISR middle school students!
Every Tuesday and Thursday, Richard (11929@isr-school.de) and Paulina (10965@isr-school.de) will lead a fitness activity for Grades 5 to 9 to stay active and healthy as a group from at home! Join their sessions and send them an email to receive their individual meeting ID’s!
We are proud that our students are willing to lead those classes and keep up our unique ISR Spirit!
ISR Liveblog #17
This video is our message to all those who are affected by the crisis, to all those who have been discouraged and to all those for whom music brings back a bit of “joie de vivre.”
Many thanks to our brilliant Music teachers, Ms. Bucher and Ms. Gander, to all the ISR families, teachers, staff members, and our in-house music school Musicbox Oxana.
ISR Liveblog #15
At ISR it is not only our teachers who are creative, but also our outstanding students! To adapt to the current situation and to stay fit from home, two of our CAS students, Mona and Penelope, have started a sports group called “fitness @ home with me”. The group connects five times a week at 4.30pm via Zoom to carry out fun fitness activities together as a group. The idea is to encourage other students to stay healthy, energized and active, which can be difficult in this current situation where gyms and other sports facilities are closed. Through working out together as a group the students are convinced that all participants will find energy, motivation, and strength to stay fit and to fight through this situation.
If you want to join the group (Grade 10 – 12) please email 11265@isr-school.de.
Thank you, Mona and Penelope, for this great initiative and also a huge thank you to our outstanding CAS Coordinator, Mr. Urban! We are very enthusiastic about this great idea and are curious to see what other student ideas will follow.
ISR Liveblog #13
Different Languages – Same Message: THANK YOU!
Even if our students have to stay at home, they know very well that there are many people working extremely hard in the current situation to help and support all of us. Although not all of the 50 nationalities that compose our student body at ISR are represented in the video, we would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts on behalf of the entire school community – no matter in which language.
ISR Liveblog #12
Creative Hand washing tips for children:
ISR Liveblog #11
No words needed – enjoy your weekend!
ISR Liveblog #10
An eventful week is about to end. We’ve all done an amazing job with the new situation and the virtual classes.
This is the impressive number of sessions we’ve completed so far – well done everyone!
ISR Liveblog #9
Here’s an interesting interview portraying our virtual classes with our wonderful teacher and Upper School Coordinator, Ms. McGee:
ISR Liveblog #8
Two of our brilliant teachers, Mr. Elsey and Ms. Hunter, filmed an experiment showing the importance of hand hygiene for their students. Thank you, dear teachers, for being so innovative and creative during these times!
ISR Liveblog #7
Our new daily routine is all about having virtual classes and our students are excited about continuing with their lessons every day through this new medium! Our younger students are especially keen as they can catch up with their friends and teachers and get to have a bit of normalcy to their days. We thank our wonderful teachers who are doing a great job in organizing virtual classes, spreading positivity and, as always, giving their best despite the current situation!
ISR Liveblog #6
As of today, all our children are participating in their classes from home. Even in Kindergarten, the virtual sessions have started: the circle time at 9.00 o’clock this morning was certainly emotional for both teacher and their children as some of them have not seen each other for quite some time due to the strict health regulations at school. Our teachers are doing an amazing job with “business as usual”. One class sang “Happy Birthday” to their friend whilst others had a yoga session and another class had music, singing and dancing around with their teachers.
We are all doing our best to offer the children a structured day and all look forward to see each other in person again very soon.
ISR Liveblog #5
As an extremely important measure, disinfectant dispensers for daily use were installed throughout the school in mid-January. To illustrate to younger children in particular why handwashing and special hygiene measures are so important at this time one of our partners, Creative Minds, has been educating students about Corona Virus hygiene.
Creative Minds is an SLOⓇ activity teaching children through hands-on activities to expand their creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) and Design Thinking Methodologies. Creative Minds allows children from KG through Grade 10 to understand issues and find solutions whilst allowing the students to grow outside of the daily school curriculum.
Through Science, the students were given “glitter germs” and experienced what happens when soap touches germs. The students were amazed at the effect soap had on their germs and how the germs quickly moved away from the soap. This exercise helped our students understand why it is important to wash our hands.
Through Art, the students discussed why it is important to sneeze and cough into the corner of their elbow. By stopping the air and water droplets in the corner of our elbow we stop the germs from spreading further. Then the students used watercolor paint and straws to create a germ painting. These paintings show how blowing air particles spread our germs. Experiencing the “WHY” helps our students have a deeper understanding in their daily life! Many thanks to Creative Minds Leader and ISR Mom, Susie Seum!
ISR Liveblog #4
During our winter break, our IT department worked hard on a virtual classroom alternative so that families could freely decide whether to send their children to school or simply let them follow lessons from home. Yesterday we visited Ms. McGee’s History lesson in high school students to see this in action, as students were present virtually and physically and students to follow the lesson. Our teachers and students in the classroom can see exactly which student is currently logging into the lesson. All virtual participants are listed on the screen in a small box, which can be seen in our photo on the right so that direct communication between teacher and student is possible. For our teachers too, the virtual alternative was initially an unfamiliar situation, but everyone involved mastered the situation with flying colors. Our parents and students greatly appreciate this modern alternative of teaching and we as a school are extremely happy that we are pioneers in the region in terms of virtual teaching and can thus guarantee our families the continuation of their education at ISR.
ISR Liveblog #3
As a further precaution, we have decided that before entering the building the temperature of every student, every teacher, every staff member and also our cleaning and catering staff is measured. For this purpose, eight different stations, divided by grade levels were set up allowing us to ensure a quick and smooth morning routine. The first successfully completed week in which we are using this procedure is coming to an end today. After a very short time, our students and staff got used to the new situation and know exactly which station to go to. Especially our little ones found the new procedure in the morning very exciting and compared their temperature values in a fun way. We are really very happy that our students were so positive about the measurements in the morning and that the implementation went so smoothly. We would also like to thank our school nurse who accompanied the process and was always ready to help if a student or employee did not feel comfortable! The safety of our school community is our highest priority and we are very thankful for the trust of the entire community.
ISR Liveblog #2
Today we took a look at the new school life of our twelfth graders, who are currently using their own and separate learning area in our sports hall. After a thorough renovation during the one-week winter break, our sports hall was transformed into six classrooms, various learning corners, and rest areas. Our twelfth graders are currently in their IB preparations, so we need to provide the best possible protection for this group of students at this particularly important time. By separating the sports hall from our main school building, the students are isolated as much as possible and can prepare for their important IB exams in May. Should the twelfth graders nevertheless decide that they prefer to follow the lessons from home, we naturally offer the option of the digital classroom. This special measure is also supported by our school caterer, Broich Catering: the team provides our upper school students with delicious lunches in the converted sports hall and also offers an ordering service for the kiosk. Many thanks to all involved!
ISR Liveblog #1
This week, our amazing Primary team uploaded several study videos and worksheets to ensure that our students won´t miss any valuable learning instances during this time. Accordingly, our parents can decide whether their children join classes on campus or virtually as a precautionary measure. Some of our students are already taking advantage of this great and flexible opportunity! For example, you can see our student Amelie studying remotely below.
Our teachers and our IT Support Team have done an amazing job of providing all the learning materials needed to run this pilot project – well done everyone!
