Oh, Gosh, it's Greece!

Truer words couldn't be spoken as we headed towards Athens. 21 overly excited children and 4 tired adults finally reached Hotel Ilissos after a smooth, morning departure from Dammam Airport today.

With a "see you later suckers," some travellers were more eager than others to get rid of their parents.
It was definitely a 21st century affair with children keeping themselves occupied with iPhones, iPads and all other sorts of technololgy during the waiting times both in Dammam and Doha. There was some disappointment as there wasn't any time to see what Duty Free had to offer.

The entertainment on the Qatar Airways flights turned out to be problematic and so was a disappointment to some children while others kept themselves suitably occupied. Some chose not to have the meals provided as they didn't like 'airplane food' but of course there's always room for dessert! We don't have Mr Whitaker in our party this year so we know that there will be enough to go around!

As we travelled by coach to our hotel, children noticed some of what Athens has to offer, like the Acropolis, hills, the ancient Olympic stadium and of course graffiti. Areesha's 'how much longer?' every 5 minutes, definitely had George our tour agent working hard on the first day.

Our first dinner of different salads, breads, pasta, chicken and beef went down really well, and even Wian had a second helping. A promise of a prize for the 'best eater' had Kate eating every grain of rice and slice of mushroom on her plate.

Highlights:
1. Mrs Roberts almost leaving her bag behind at Dammam Airport
2.Ms Naidoo impressing everyone with the size and weight of her luggage this year
3. Karam and Mohamad finding their mini bar unlocked and with all the goodies at their disposal, black label included

With a very early start tomorrow morning, we are hoping that all lights are now off and that the running around in the corridors have stopped.

From Athens, good night!

One More Sleep!

Athens - here we come!

It is one sleep away from our Year 5 Greece trip and there is much excitement. I hope all suitcases have been packed with all the necessary items and that we are not leaving this for the last minute, like Mr Gray.

Please keep an eye on our blog for a daily rundown of our Greek adventures.

For all those going.....do not forget your caps!

Come on Summer!

Welcome back to the third and final term of our year. It is going to be the busiest term so far with our Year 5 Greece Trip and our KS2 production of The Wiz.

 

However, just to recap on what was done at the end of Term 2, here is our report on our Aramco visit.

 

The children in Year 5 had the privilege of visiting the Aramco Water Treatment Plant on Tuesday, 19^th March 2013. After a fun introductory talk by Mark Grainger about the water purification process while looking at a plan of the plant and the various stages involved, the children were taken in smaller groups on a tour of the plant by Mr Dossary and Mr Moaikel. They found the tours informative, useful and interesting, as they could see the process involved and the machines in action. They were fascinated by the work in the science laboratory, especially seeing live bacteria under a microscope.

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Thanks to the excellent organisation and fun approach of the adults involved, the children had a memorable educational visit, made even more so by their surprise treats and ‘goody bags’ at the end.

 Here is what some children had to say about their visit :

‘When we went to Aramco, it was extremely fun and enjoyable. The person who first information with us was called Mr Mark Grainger. He told us that there is bacteria all over our body, and that there is good and bad bacteria. The bacteria in the water treatment plant helped clean the water. He was both helpful and funny. The people who showed us around were Mr Nidhal and Mr Mahmoud. We went to the lab and they showed us real, live bacteria. The part of the trip I really enjoyed the most was when we saw the bacteria. I had the best time ever!’      Aya, 5C

                                                                           

‘Non- stop bacteria! It stinks! (Primary Treatment Area) I enjoyed seeing the bacteria and learning how many gallons of water gets purified every day.  Nicholas, 5C

The visit to the Aramco Water Treatment Plant was fun and cool. Mr Mark was funny and talked about the Aramco Water Treatment Plant and how the water is purified.  There were two groups. The group I was in was with Mr Nidhal’s group- he showed us around the plant. In the end we were treated to doughnuts, juices and got gifts, and then we went back to school. Aryaan, 5C

I liked how we got to see bacteria closely. I even got to see bacteria eating what it lives on, so I thought it was really cool trip to Aramco.

Mohamad, 5A

I loved this trip because I was able to see the actual process of water purification and I learned that bacteria help purify water!

Camila, 5C

What I enjoyed most about this trip is when I saw the bacteria on the TV screen with the microscope. My worst part is when we got to the part where it smelled horrible! The funniest part is when Yara’s hat got blown into the tank of water. I also like the part when the bacteria was eating poop in the water! I would like to thank everyone more than I did when I was there at the plant. Gasser, 5C

 I loved the trip! Actually I liked everything except the smell in some areas and I know a lot more about the waste water treatment.

 Paul, 5A

There were bacteria in the lab but they made the water clean, so instead of wasting water we can reuse the water. In the lab, I even spotted a shower which is used to wash off any bacteria or chemicals that may spill on the scientists. Diana, 5C

It was so much fun when we got to Aramco Water Treatment Plant. There were adults in charge of different things, and there were doughnuts and juice afterwards. The adults told us different things about water and how it gets clean. Murtaza, 5A

When we went, it was amazing! First a man called Mark showed us the different areas and gave us a talk. He said that if nitrogen was to spill into the water, lots of water plants called algae would grow and kill the fish! Then a man called Mr Nidhal took us on a tour and showed us the ‘grit factory’ and it smelt awful! Then Mr Mahmoud showed us the place where the bacteria helped clean water. The water was all brown! Then we went to the laboratory where we saw bacteria projected onto the tv screen and the bacteria was wriggling! Finally we ate doughnuts, drank juices and had our photos taken. We also got caps and presents! Thank you!   John, 5C

 

A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT ARAMCO WHO MADE THIS EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE!

Desalinating Salty Seawater

As part of our topic “Water in Saudi Arabia”, Year 5’s had the privilege of having Mr and Mrs Dickens explain and demonstrate the desalination process. They had an enjoyable lesson in the science lab, watching how the Bunsen burner heated up and evaporated salty water, while the Liebig Condenser, cooled and condensed the water vapour to produce pure, drinkable water.

Many children enjoyed the session so much that they have expressed an interest in studying science when they get to secondary. Mr Dickens has expressed his disappointment at having to wait almost two years to expect these budding scientists in his class.

 

Photos from 5B's visit to follow.

The Invasion of the Greeks

Year 5A shared their knowledge of the Greeks and Greek Gods during their class assembly today. Their acting skills and their costumes would have made Thespis very proud indeed.

Here are some moments:

 

Well done Year 5A!

How far can you run?

During the Battle of Marathon the Greek runner called Pheidippides (that's a mouthful) had to run all the way from Marathon all the way to Sparta to seek help from the Spartans.

Why did the Athenians need help? Who were they fighting?


This week in history, Year 5 have been studying a little about Greek warfare and the video below may help answer your questions.

We looking forward to reading your interpretation of The Battle of Marathon.

Here are some of our pieces of writing, while the rest are in the comments:

My day in the battle

 

You know what I can’t stop thinking about….

Those weak Athenians won the battle of the marathon!  They could have done much better if the mighty strong Spartans were there (of which I am one.) Now everyone will think that they’re the greatest of them all!  I mean when have we ever been mean to them?  All we did is fight them in the Peloponnesian war and that’s about it!  How could they even fight with less men in their army!  We can’t just leave it as it is or else we will be called the weak Spartans in history! That will be an even bigger problem!

Emilia Hermecz 5B

 The battle of marathon (looking at it as a Spartan)

“I can’t believe those wimpy Athenians won the battle against the Persians, tell me all about it.” ordered the Spartan king.  So this is what happened.  The Persian invasion at Marathon took place on September 9, 490 BC. For eight days, the two armies stood challenging each other face to face. On the ninth day the Persians started to get ready. Facing Miltiades the commander in chief of the Athenian army to get his army of 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans ready for battle. When the Persians saw the Athenians coming down on them without cavalry or archers and less in numbers, they thought them as an army of madmen running towards them in full armor according to the historian Herodotus. The Athenians were able to surround the Persians whose bows and short lances were no match for the strong spears of the Athenians. The feared Persians turned their backs and ran away as the Athenians chased them back to their ships resulting 192 Athenian deaths and 6,400 Persian deaths.  The Persians lost seven ships to the Athenians. However Miltiades and his Athenian army realized that the Persian fleet could sail and attack the undefended city of Athens. He called upon Phidippides to run to Athens to bring the news of victory and a warning of the approaching Persian ships. Phidippidesran a 26 mile run from Marathon to Athens, the first marathon ever, was successfully completed in about three hours. Phidippides was dying from exhaustion after fighting all day and completing the run. However he successfully warned the Athenians and when the Persian fleet arrived at Athens the Athenian soldiers were ready to protect their land. Seeing the prepared Athenian army the Persians turned and sailed back to Persia in defeat.  “How did they do that?” said the Spartan king puzzled.   

Taimoor 5B        

 

We Athenians stood assembled on the plain of Marathon, preparing to fight to the last man. We will fight against the outnumbered Persian army. We were aided by a small force from Plataea. We were surprised when we saw how many people were in the Persian army. We could not hope to face the superior Persian cavalry. But we still fought them. We were very fierce and ready to attack. We fought with anger but we thought we couldn’t beat them. So we called the Spartans and ask them for help but we thought they didn’t come. By the time they came we already won the Persians.We bet the Spartans felt jealous because they thought that we are weaker than them but we won the battle against the Persians.Spartans were a bit scared because they thought we were going to attack them once they saw how we attacked the Persians. We Athenians never knew that we could defeat the Persians but actually we could.

Bianca 5B

Ha. Those Athenians are going on a battle against the Persians, but they can’t  even beat us. Well we are have a religious party to thank the gods.  We will go and help the Athenians after midnight.  

Slave: The Athenians have defeated the Persians, Sire!

 What? That’s impossible. They can’t even beat us! Slave: Sire they also killed one of their kings.

Sire: [furiously saying] set the alarm they might attack us.

Athenian

We went to war with Persians.

 We went to the lake waiting at the hill for Persians to attack. We were there for four days waiting for them to attack. We heard there plan of going to Athens to attack. So we attacked them the war was for three hours. They lost 65000 men we lost 200 men. We did ask for Spartans help but they did not come. We marched home with victory we got there in a nick of time the Persians were there they wouldn’t dare attack so they went to Persia. We built a temple to celebrate.

Sadie Gordon 5B

 

Hello,

I’m one of the Athens and I just finished a battle it was hard to

fight with my heavy armour but I still had to try I felt dizzy while we were

fighting and I thought I would die so I ran to the back luckily no one saw me.

As I was 10^th most strongest people don’t want me to leave,

so I wasn’t looking behind me someone came to attack me luckily while there put there sword up my friend came in front of me to save me and he

got killed he is brave. I ran to the front and noticed no one was fighting in the front so I stayed until I was okay and then I ran and started killing

people I killed about twenty then I ran back to the front after the war I was glad I was home and couldn’t         believe what I saw!!!

My friend got saved he was alive!!!!!!!! I was so happy he became the third strongest and I say he deserves it. Well that’s it I have to go to sleep for a new war tomorrow.

Areesha 5B

 The Marathon Battle

We thought we were doomed. When we were standing ready to fight we saw twice as many Persians but we thought maybe we would win. So we ran to the Persian army and started to fight. Then we realized that the Persian army’s weapons were useless. Soon the Persian army had less men then we had. The Persians were shocked that they were running back to their boats. They had gone to Athens and saw our army and freaked out. They couldn’t even land so they set back to Persia. Soon the Spartans arrived to battle but they were too late. We had killed them all. This was a victories victory for us.

Sahil 5B

 Hello I am a Spartan. I was surprised the Athenian army defeated the Persians. The Athenians only had 10’000 soldiers and the Persians had 80’000 soldiers. We were celebrating then an Athenian messenger said that they really needed help but we were celebrating so we said no. after the war was over we marched for a long time to marathon because we really wanted to see what a Persian soldier looked like. We saw a lot of Persians lying dead on the ground and now I know what a Persian soldier looks like. I am a bit concerned that the Persians might attack us and the Athenians won’t help us but I think we are going to win. Now I’m a bit scared of the Athenians because they might attack us and we will lose because they defeated the Persians.

Mohammed

5B

I need a hero!

On Saturday 5B had their annual assembly. The topic for this assembly was Being a Hero and even superheroes like Spiderman and Superman paid a visit to BISAK. Unfortunately, these so called superheroes were not able to help 5B understand their Maths homework. Luckily, another year 5 child was able to help them. The lesson learned from this assembly is that you do not have to be a superhero to help someone. Just being at the right place at the right time can make you someone’s hero. When last have you been a hero to someone?