Beach Party
After many years of waiting it finally arrived,  a
beach party with near perfect weather. With the new shade structures and the usual large crowd, the 2010
edition of the Annual GAIS Beach Party at Half Moon Bay was a highlight of our yearly social
calendar. The dolphins were back again for another visit to check out the
volleyball, sand sculptures and other beach activities. Our thanks to the
Jandeleit family and Beach Party team for putting on this great afternoon for
all the GAIS community.
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News from the Head of School
This Tuesday I attended the Deutsches Sprachdiplom (DSD)
Ceremony held at the German Consulate in San
Francisco. This
was the second year that the program has been in operation in our area and the
first time that GAIS students participated. The diploma given out was the DSD1, which is for students up to the age
of 16 and allows them to study in German High Schools. A further diploma, the
DSD2, is for students at the end of High School and allows access to German
Universities. Four GAIS students received the DSD1 diploma, and while results
are not communicated, I was informed by the program manager, Elke Rühl, that
GAIS students had very high scores.
GAIS began participating in the DSD program last year to give
our students a formal recognition for their German language competencies in the
form of an officially recognized diploma. Grades 6 & 7 sit the exam for the
A2 level which is a lead up to the DSD1 and for which certificates are
given. Students in Grade 8 take the exam
for the first diploma. Although GAIS
students have always transferred to German schools without difficulty, having a
diploma clearly cannot do any harm, especially as the preparation for the exam
is already covered in our German language curriculum. Furthermore, students who decide to attend
High School in the US can
then later sit for the DSD2 diploma to facilitate further study in Germany. This is of course an attractive proposition
for students with European passports as the tuition costs of German
Universities are a fraction of those in the USA.
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IB Corner by Maike Silver
International Day of
Peace at GAIS
The
general assembly of the UN declared September 21  as the "International Day of Peace". Among others they invited educators to help raise public awareness to establish
a global ceasefire. As an International School with the mission to foster
global thinkers we want to join in the more than 3500 events that take place in
over 200 countries and observe this day. During the course the next week the
students will be engaged in classroom activities surrounding peace. Our goal is
make peace visual around the school. To finish the day on Tuesday we will
have a whole school assembly at 1:15 where different groups of students will
present peace messages using the different focus points of creativity (visual
arts, communication, performing arts and problem solving). We will finish the
day by observing a school wide moment of silence followed by the peace prayer.
If you would like to find out more about the International Day of Peace please
check the following website www.internationaldayofpeace.org.
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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg
Last
Saturday was our annual Beach Party. We all enjoyed an absolute gorgeous day
and the children clearly took advantage of that big sandbox, we call the beach! Most
of our sand in the Preschool has wandered off in children's shoes and on
clothes during the last school year, which means that it is time to replenish
our sand box. We will celebrate our annual Sand Day next Monday,
September 20 with a whole truck load of new sand and will also use that
opportunity to kick-off our family unit. Families are invited to help us
transport the sand to the sand area and will be treated to a picnic afterwards.
This is a BYOWB (bring your own wheel barrow) event!
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GAIS Auction Up-date
Time flies, and the GAIS
auction/party/fest/dress-up event/etc. is rapidly approaching. The Night of
Fright - October 23 - looks to be a real night to remember. As of today over half
of the GAIS families have donated something to the auction. Creativity, one of
our IB attitudes, is the theme of the
year and many have taken this to heart with offerings that include an Austrian Night, Wine tastings, Rheinische
Weisswurstnacht, Scandinavian Midsummer Night, Middle East Dinner and
Feuerzangenbowle, plus many fantastic items too numerous to mention. For those
of you who have not gotten on board yet there is still time to do so. Just sign
on to the "Jooners" list at www.jooners.com
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SMV Meeting Launches Aid for San Bruno Project
The GAIS Student Council (Schüler Mitverwaltung) met
on Wednesday with this year's advisors Birgit Pape and Amy Parsons. The first item of business was to elect the
SMV officers. These are:
President Alexa
Joshua
Vice President Olivia
Pintz
Treasurer Robert Rochel
Secretary Sara Groenke
As a response to the explosion which devastated a huge
area of San Bruno,
the Council decided to organize a fund raising bake sale. The sale will take place on Wednesday,
September 22 during the lunch recess and after school.
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Members Meeting
Our first annual Members Meeting is scheduled for
Wednesday, September 29 at 7:30 pm and will take place in the Gym. All parents
are invited to attend this important meeting.
Childcare may be provided. If you will be attending the meeting and need childcare, please email kristen@hughes-family.org with the number of children you need watched and their ages.
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