North Side Primary School

Reading Buddies

2010-06-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why reading with a buddy is so much fun? Well here are a some reasons:

Your buddy can explain something to you you don't understand.

You can talk about the book together

It's a great way to get permission for a slumber party!

You can read just about anywhere!

Every Tuesday after lunch the Year 5 and 6 students dive into a good book with their Reception buddies!

Recycle Now!

2010-04-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

At assembly this morning we had a visit from Busta and Pong live from their spaceship! They came to tell us how important it is to recycle. We all want to help save the planet. You can visit their website HERE.

21st Century Cayman

2010-04-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today Years 5 and 6 went to the National Gallery to see the 21st Century Cayman Exhibition. It is a fascinating blend of old time and modern day art and craft. A gig is a spinning top we all love to play with and we were lucky enough to decorate and take home our own. Many thanks to Jessica Wallace at the National Gallery for showing us around.

Year 6 Revision

2010-04-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

See the Year 6 page for revision details!

North Side's Got Talent

2010-04-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Year 4

Reception

Year 5 and 6

Year 6

Year 3

The parents of North Side Primary were thrilled to see their children showcase their talent on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. The night also gave the students the opportunity to share what they learnt in their IB units.

North Side Primary's off to the ballet!

2010-03-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Dezahria Brown Yr1 and Chrissie Forman Yr2

Jessica Ebanks Yr6

North Side Primary students receved a special treat by viewing Ballet Magnifcat, an internationally acclaimed ballet troupe committed to presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ through dance. Some students even tried to learn some of ballet positions and combinations frequently used by the dancers . There may be future ballerinas in our district of North Side. You be the judge!

Our Medal Winner!

2010-03-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of our Inter-Primary Sports medal winner Rory Forbes from Year 6. Rory won 2 golds and a bronze last week at the Truman Bodden Sports complex. This is the first time in many, many, years that anyone from our school has brought home a medal from the annual sports. A tremendous effort from Rory. North Side is very proud!

Well done to all our athletes, keep training and someday you might win a medal too!

Honouring Our Heroes

2010-03-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

North Side Primary School was recently visited by Mrs. Sybil Ione Mclaughlin MBE, JP. Mrs Mclauglin described what life was like for her growing up as a girl and the reasons she decided to enter public service. She also answered many questions from the North Side Primary students during their school assembly. Mrs. Mclaughlin was appointed as the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in February 1991 and is the second national hero of the Cayman Islands. Her visit was timely as it brought schoolwide awareness of the contributions of Caymanians during Black History and Women's month. The vote of thanks was delivered by Year 6 student Christie Millwood.

How We Express Ourselves ("Good Job" skit)

2010-03-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

The year 5 students are continuing to hone their acting skills and they decided to dramatise a short skit for your viewing pleasure! They also hope to audition for the school talent show!

Sports Day

2010-03-08T19:22:00.001-08:00

Blue Iguana Recovery Programme

2010-02-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Year 6 are studying Preservation and Year 5 are looking at how we express ourselves so today they visited the Botanic Park to hear Head Warden John Marotta of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme talk about Grand Cayman's critically endangered blue iguanas.

Blue Iguanas lived here for 2.5 million years with no natural predators. Introduced animals such as rats, cats and dogs, along with destruction of their forest habitat meant that in 2002 there were only 15 of the creatures left in the wild. Thanks to the work of the Recovery Programme 341 have been released.

We saw the iguanas at different stages of development and were able to ask lots of questions. If you'd like to learn more about our unique creature click HERE!

George Washington Carver

2010-02-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to view an awesome animated powerpoint presentation by some Year 5 students. They created this for Black History month and played it during assembly today.

Y5 and Y6 on the Blue Dragon Trail

2010-02-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

Years 5 & 6 set off around the island today in search of some unusual blue iguanas. On the way they were involved in mapping the journey, writing poetry, reading and sketching. They were looking at how artists express themselves and also at how art can be used to educate people about conservation and preservation.

@rt at the Governor's

2010-02-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Every year the Governor hosts an art exhibition on his lawn. This year the theme was Conserving Cayman's Oceans. We took some artwork from year six along for our first ever display at the Governor's.

Primary Schools Swimming Competition

2009-12-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

We are very proud of our 23 students from Years 3 to 6 who took part in the Inter Primary Schools Swimming Competition. They were a great team and they all took part with commitment and enthusiasm.
(Photos by Jessica in Y6).

Cookery Lessons

2009-11-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

Ten students from Years 4, 5 and 6 today enjoyed some cookery lessons with Chef Remy at the Lighthouse Restaurant. They helped to create a tasty lunch of chicken quesadillas followed by chocolate pecan pie. Delicious! Many thanks to Remy and everyone at the Lighthouse.

El Niño del Tambor

2009-11-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

Canción de Navidad, El Niño del Tambor por los Grados 5 y 6 de North Side. Estamos practicando duro!

North Side Heritage Day

2009-11-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

The whole school travelled to Kaibo to see the Heritage Day activities. Here's what Jevhone wrote:

"Yesterday I went to Heritage Day. I was so excited that I got to go there! First I went on the bouncing castle. It was great fun, but the castle deflated two times. That was because too many people were on it. It was funny.

After that I went to get a snow cone and we took lots of pictures. The field trip was as silly as a circus, and it was very good fun because other Primary schools were there."

Jessica wrote: "North Side Heritage was awesome and I had a fantastic time. I looked at the different arts they had such as thatch hats and jewellery. They had some of the cutest earrings and necklaces. I went on the bouncing castle. Later that night the fireworks were beautiful."

Year 6 expressing their hopes for Cayman through art.

2009-10-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

You can see more of what Year Six have been doing on their page.

Performance

2009-06-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our children performed in the 'folk choir' section of the National Children's Festival of the Arts - and were selected to perform at the final concert. They are singing "Millie". Well done to all!

On Our Way Home

2009-04-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

We are just packing ready to get the plane back to Cayman this afternoon - we have had such a busy and interesting week! We have missed our classmates who were unable to join us - see you soon! Here is a photo of our whole class team - we look forward to putting all our learning together for our showcase in June - look out for details to come!

Day 5...A Trek Through the Park

2009-04-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well, today was our last day at the Boyd Hill Nature Park with Mr George and we spent the whole morning walking from one side of the Park to the other...looking around us every step of the way to see what we could see. We also learned about how we could help to preserve the environment for the future - to ensure that there is still a habitat for all these wonderful reptiles, amphibians, birds and animals in the years to come. We looked at some of the invasive plants that take over the habitat and prevent the native plants from growing. Without the native plants, the creatures that rely on them for food will not survive. There are many volunteers in the park who will spend time helping to cut back on these invasive species. It is also necessary to clear up litter and other pollutants that affect the water, the plants and therefore the animals. There are many things that we can teach others about to care for nature while still enjoying the things we like doing. All the plants and animals in a habitat rely on each other for survival - if we allow any of them to decline then we affect the whole system. So - we hope that we can educate others when we return to Cayman...look out for our messages in the weeks to come!

Using Clues to Find Out Who Lives in the Park...Day 4!

2009-04-28T19:20:00.001-07:00

This morning Ms Jeanne joined the class to tell them about how biologists use clues such as sounds, tracks, scat, and body parts like bones and skulls. Once we had looked at and talked about examples of these, it was time to go out into the park and put our detective skills to the test. We heard cicadas, ospreys and squirrels; we saw snake and racoon tracks; we found gopher tortoise and coyote scat...and we saw alligators, wading birds, gopher tortoises, a southern black racer snake, a southeastern five-lined skink...and much more! It is a magic place!

Once we returned to the centre, the class helped Mr George to look after the box turtle enclosure. Often conservation projects, such as this one, are supported by volunteers. So, we became voluntreers for a while and we helped to ensure that the turtles were being properly looked after by clearing the weeds and overgrown bushes in their enclosure so that they had a sunny spot to lie in the sun.

Day 3 at Boyd Hill Nature Park

2009-04-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today was the third day for Year 6 visiting St Petersburg, Florida where they are attending Herpetology Camp at Boyd Hill Nature Park, St Petersburg, Florida. After the daily snake holding session, the children spent time learning about turtles. They talked about different types of turtles, including tortoises and terrapins, and looked at examples of different shells and mouths. They also looked at X-rays of different female turtles showing their eggs and then made generalisations about the shape and number of eggs that different turtles lay. Mr George had taken in two of his teaching assistants, including the 'not yet fully grown' Florida Snapping Turtle. A trek around the park let the children see both turtles and alligators in and around Lake Maggiore. In the afternoon, they worked on piecing together a 'jigsaw' of a turtles shell. Vocabulary today? Ask our students when they return to explain the meaning of carapace; plastron; keratin; riverine; molluscovore or crepuscular! The day was finished off with a picnic dinner followed by an evening/night hike. Once it was dark, Mr Greg shone a flashlight (covered in red cellophane) onto the lake...and there aere at least 10 pairs of eyes shining back...alligator fedding time!

Day 2 at Boyd Hill Nature Reserve

2009-04-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hi All, from the Year 6 travellers. Hope you are enjoying our photographs! Today the rest of us had a chance to hold snakes - they do not like sunscreen or perfume or any kind of lotions that people put on their skin - so some of us could not hold them yesterday...but today we made up for it! We went out to catch Cuban Brown Anoles (small lizards) and measure them so that we could work out their averge length - Nick was our best anole catcher! Kodi found a baby gopher turtle and George was very impressed - apparently they are very seldom seen, especially in the daytime. We learnt a lot about non-native species today and the problems they bring to the areas they are now living in. We watched a Star Trek episode that showed how creatures that do not belong in a place can upset the balance of life there. We added lots of words to our vocabulary list - biodiversity; indigenous; endemic; sentinel species...and much more! We had a visit from Mr Chep who took some of his friends to meet us...a green lizard; a tarantula; a box turtle; a pet rabbit and two snakes - the largest a boa that was over 6 feet long!

Year 6 Pupils visit St Petersburg, Florida

2009-04-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our Year 6 pupils are in St Petersburg, Florida this week attending a herpetology camp. This 5 day educational experience is being held at the Boyd Hill Nature Reserve and the children are being taught by George Heinrich, a Field Biologist of Heinrich Ecological services (http://www.heinrichecologicalservices.com/). Today the children considered the similarities and differences between amphibians and reptiles; found out about all the different classes of creatures that are amphibians and reptiles; walked in the park and saw gopher tortoises, ospreys and an alligator; and finally handled a variety of non-venomous snakes which are natives of Florida. There are 18 species of snake living in the different habitats that make up the Botd Hill Nature Reserve. We will update this post as the week goes on - but here are some photos from our first day!

Walkathon

2009-03-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning at 6am we set out to walk the 8 kilometres from school to Cayman Kai Beach. There were about 45 walkers and most managed to complete in about 1 1/2 hours. Sponsorship had been collected by selling tickets which went ionto a grand draw at the end. Many thanks to those who donated prizes - especially to Wendy's; The Lighthouse Restaurant; Chester's Fish Fry and Hobbies and Books. Thanks also to Greenlight Reinsurance Ltd for their fabulous donation. The final total has not been calculated yet but we have raised almost CI$5000 for our school library and for school trips associated with our units of study. Many thanks to all who were involved in any way - and special thanks to the early risers who participated on the walk!

Sports Day Report

2009-03-17T20:34:00.001-07:00

Today we held our annual sports day at the Truman Bodden Sports Centre - it was a great fun day! Here are some of our photographs - for others - see the individual classes. The event was opened by our local MLA and Speaker of the House in Legislative Assembly - we were delighted that she was able to come and support us. Thank you, Ms Edna Moyle. Mrs Shirley Wahler, our Chief Education Officer was also there for the start of our sports - thanks to her also for her time and support. Mrs Wendy Quinland, our Community Development Officer, was the announcer for the day - and she did a fabulous job! We were also joined by Mr Des McConvey, our Learning Community Leader who was able to stay for a while and see for himself the potential of our pupils on the track. We were delighted that, at the end of the day, our Eagles house were the winners...but, we know that all our children tried their best and showed that every one of them is a winner! Thanks to all our parents, family members and friends who came along to support their children - and take part in our parents' races...you are all stars!

The Race is On...

2009-03-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

North Side Primary is getting ready for its sports day on Tuesday 17th March. Here we are practicing the skills we will need to perform well on the day...

Family Quiz Fun

2009-03-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

This evening our Home School Association meeting took the form of a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" quiz. Mr Mark Ray, from the Department of Education Services, demonstrated a simple, fun way of using the Mimio Interactive board. Parents and their children came up and used the interactive board to choose the correct answers to a series of questions on local facts. Well done to all who answered correctly! Mr Ray has been working with teachers in the school to upskill them in the use of this technology for learning. We are very grateful to him for his support!

100th Day of School

2009-02-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

North Side Primary students celebrated the 100th day of school in style! They started the day with an assembly where they heard about people who have achieved great things for the Cayman Islands and also those who have achieved greatness around the world. A 100 people mural gave examples of students in school who have begun the journey to greatness as well as those who have already achieved greatness...the first NSPS swimming team; the Year 1 and 2 students who are studying art; great inventors - including Year 3 who are working on their own inventions as part of their latest IB unit; great architects - with examples of Year 4 work for their IB unit and so on. Within the classrooms, there were many cross-curricular activities going on with a 100 theme...placing numbers on a blank 100 square; counting 100 cents; making $100 from different values of notes; reading the first 100 words; reading stories about 100 like "100th Day Worries" and "Coming Ready or Not!"; bouncing 100 times on a spacehopper; throwing the ball 100 times; working out questions that match "the answer is100..."; how far is 100 steps? and so on. The day finished with a 100 balloon release. It was great fun!

A Parent's Night with a Difference

2009-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

This evening's HSA meeting saw parents and their children working together on a Technology Challenge. The family groups were challenged to make a tree out of 4 sheets of papers - with only a pair of scissors as a tool...see how inventive, creative and ingenious they were! Good fun was had by all!

Fish Fry Fundraiser

2009-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to all who supported our fundraising Fish Fry this evening (Fri 30th Jan 2009). Students, parents and staff worked together to make this event a resounding success! Particular thanks to Ms Wendy Quinland and Mr Nick Rivers who manned the fryers...they were fantastic!! Once we have had a chance to balance income against expenses we will let you know how much this event raised! We are trying to ensure that our students in Year 6 raise enough to confirm their trip to a herpetology camp in St Petersburg, Florida in April. We are aiming to raise in excess of $12,500...this event has taken us ever closer to our target. The effort continues...!

Dress Down in Pink for the Cancer Society

2009-01-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

Today we dressed down - in pink - and took part in a Stride for Cancer walk. The Cayman Island Cancer Society have the support of schools, businesses and the community, island-wide, for their annual fund-raising effort. We all paid to take part and raised $90 for the cause. We began the morning with an assembly at which we talked about what cancer is and how scientists and doctors around the world depend on the support of charities, like this one, to fund their research. At North Side this month we have been considering the IB attitude "curiosity" and today we were able to see how the curiosity of these people, the questions they ask and the experiments they try may soon lead them to find a cure for this disease.

Hosanna Rock!

2008-12-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

Here we are practicing very hard for our Christmas Show - Hosanna Rock. Year 6 were also singing 2 carols in Spanish - one of them was Feliz Navidad. Have a look at our videos here.

Reading Day

2008-11-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

Today is Reading Day and we are celebrating in style and in orange!

We started with an assembly to launch the island-wide Whistling Duck Book Award which is in its inaugural year. A selection of children's books have been chosen by a committee which incudes members from the CI Department of Education; Maples and Calder, the award sponsors and a consultatnt from Books & Books. There are three age catgories and our school will participate in two of those - 4-8 years of age and 9-12 years of age. There are five books per category and students are asked to read all five and write a book report. For our youngest They will receive a different wristband for each book read - and there is a special t-shirt for all students who read all five books. Schools will then let the organisers know the winning book in each category as selected by the children in that school. The results across the island will be collated and the award winners will be announced in April 2009. We are excited to be able to promote reading in this exciting way - and for our children to have an active part in deciding the winners. Please see the list of books being read on our Literacy blog.

Throughout the day children undertook a range of reading activities from buddy reading between classes to reading games to book reviews. Books fall open - we fall in!

Netball Season

2008-11-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

Netball season starts in the Cayman Islands with the annual opening parade. Prizes are awarded for the best dressed teams. We won 2nd prize in our age group. Aren't we looking smart?

Annual Cayman Islands Spelling Bee

2008-11-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to our three competitiors in the first preliminary for this year's annual spelling bee - and an extra-special congratulations to Starri who came a very commendable 4th out of the 18 competitors. The practice rounds gave the children a gentle lead in and then they were faced with some very challenging words. They are permitted to ask for a meaning and for the word to be used in a sentence to aid the process of understanding and, thus, to aid their ability to spell the words. Our admiration goes to them all - spelling words that you don't know would be a challenge for the best adult spellers too! Well done, also, to the 3 winners, from Savannah Primary and Montessori by the Sea, who will go through to the finals in December.

IB Units

2008-11-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

Our IB Units for the next 6 weeks are ready to go! Reception/Year 1 will be finding out about Celebrations; Year 2 will look into Life Cycles; Year 3 will be researching their Island Home; Year 4 will study migration through their unit On The Move; Year 5 will be inquiring into Explorers; and Year 6 are finding about rights, how they can be protected and why some people need to fight for them. Through their units, the pupils will be asking questions and trying to find the answers to them. All have a central idea upon which the inquiry is based which will challenge and extend what the pupils already know. We look forward to sharing some of these inquiries over the next few weeks.

Mathematical Celebration

2008-09-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today, Friday Sept 19th, we have had a fun day 'doing' Maths! Yes - all day! We have just received our order for lots of new Maths resources and we wanted to celebrate by using them! All classes had some time to use their new class Maths games; they solved clues in a Maths Treasure Trail; they read stories with a Maths theme; they danced and sang along with a times table CD; they learned how to programme Bee-Bots and Roamer; they took photographs of numbers and shapes in the school environment; and they produced artwork based on mathematical concepts. It didn't feel like doing Maths - but they learnt a lot! To see more photos - please visit our class pages.

IB Success

2008-09-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to announce that North SIde Primary School is now an International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), Primary Years Programme (PYP), candidate school! What is that, you may be asking? To find out more, please follow our link to the IBO at www.ibo.org/pyp . During the course of the last 18 months we have explored the possibilities offered by the PYP and have made some significant changes in the way we teach in order to meet their exacting, internationally recognised standards. This has been fully supported by the Cayman Islands Education Department and there are also 3 more primary schools on the island who now have candidate status. Currently we are developing our transdisciplinary programme of inquiry which guides our learning and teaching in school. Children are encouraged to explore a theme through units of inquiry e.g. our Year 3 class will be exploring a unit on Signs and Symbols as part of the Theme "How We Express Ourselves". Last year this class worked with a professional sign maker to design and make signs for around the school. We are very excited about learning and teaching in this way!

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

This morning our thoughts are with the people of Cuba who have been hit by Hurricane Ike over the last 48 hours. You can read more and see pictures if you follow this linkhttp://www.cubaweather.org/index.php . The hurricane season is at its height and we watch and wait to see what other weather systems are forming and passing through the Caribbean. Our island, and our school was hit by Hurricane Ivan - a category 5 hurricane - in 2004. It can be a very worrying time for us all.

2008-05-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to North Side Primary School, Grand Cayman. Here you will learn about our school, our area and our island. Check out our class pages for information about who we are and what we are learning.