Night of Fright Frightfully Good!!
 Our Halloween themed school auction party was truly one not be missed. Thanks to great organization by Indra Pachtner and her fundraising team, the 180 plus parents, staff and friends had a frightfully good time at the Faultline Brewery in Sunnyvale last Saturday. The event, billed both as a school party and auction, raised over $55,000, an increase of about 10K over last year. Much of the success was due to the overwhelming participation of GAIS families and teachers in offering events which mostly all sold out. The forty odd parties offered brought in around 20K. There were also about 270 auction items donated both by parents and many local companies and organizations. One of the popular auction item was the school parking lot. Winner this year was the Brown family who will have exclusive rights to this designated spot. Based on the success of this year's venue, we have decided to return to the Faultline Brewery on October 22nd 2011. Be there or beware!
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News from the Head of School
Having a Productive Teacher Parent Conference
 Our Parent Teacher Conference Day is an important opportunity for you to get an accurate temperature reading of how your child is doing this school year. In order to make the most of the time allocated to speak with your teacher I offer the following recommend-ations: - Come on time so you get the maximum out of the meeting.
- Come to the meeting with specific questions.
- Take notes during the meeting.
- Speak with your child before and explain the purpose of the meeting. Ask what they feel they are having trouble with academically or what they might be concerned about at school.
- Ask the teacher for advise on what you can do at home to help.
Please note that I and the admin staff will be on campus all day should you wish to drop into our offices for questions or concerns. Have a great conference day!
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IB Corner by Maike Silver
By adopting the Middle Years Programme (MYP) our school ensures a continuum from the Primary Years Programme. Besides the focus on conceptual understanding and the development of international mindedness through the attributes of the Learner Profile, inquiry is the center of the educational belief. In the PYP teachers create central ideas for the six overriding transdisciplinary themes which are who we are, where we are in pace and time, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves and sharing the planet. These are explored by the students based on teacher and student questions. In the MYP teachers create subject related unit questions that are linked to an Area of Interaction (AoI). These are Human Ingenuity, Community & Service, Health & Social Education and Environments. In math for example the sixth graders explored the question: How can we use fractions to express different habits in the world? This was done under the AoI Health and Social Education. Students had to apply their knowledge of fractions to a realistic topic. In both programs through engaging inquiry activities teachers prepare learning opportunities where students develop transdisciplinary skills. The PYP identifies them as research, thinking, self management, social and communication skills. The MYP calls these skills Approaches to Learning (AtL) and classifies the categories as collaboration, information literacy, thinking, organization, reflection and transfer. Looking closely at both the PYP and the MYP there is a clear alignment between them that takes into consideration the different stages of development of the students in either program.
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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg
 Overnight, our Preschool yard transformed magically into a pumpkin patch. The children arrived in the morning, finding more than a hundred pumpkins scattered all over the yard. There were pumpkins in the garden, on the see saw, in the bunny cage and anywhere else you can imagine. The children had their own ideas, how they got there, maybe a witch brought them or maybe the pumpkin guy? All were able to select their very own pumpkin, which were then used as little stools during our outdoors circle time. The day was celebrated with songs about witches, ghosts and pumpkins. Activities continued with pumpkin carving and decorating, as well as the baking of ghost muffins. What a fun day for all!
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Parent/Teacher Conference Day
The Parent Teacher Conference will be on Monday November 1. We have sent out the sign-up sheets already electronically. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so by Friday. On Monday, November 1st there will be no school. Also there will also be no Hort and Extracurricular classes!
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Another Wedding at GAIS
Our Spanish, IT and Humanities teacher, Amanda Rodriguez, has become Amanda Afshar. Amanda and Raman were married on October 16 in Los Gatos. The GAIS community wishes them 'Buena Suerte'!
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GAIS Website Revision
Please note that we are in the process of redesigning our website. Some of the tabs have changed to make the organization of the information more logical for parents and interested parties. However, none of the tabs have been eliminated, just moved. At the bottom of the website there is a site map which will help you to navigate. We are also adding a new home page which has been professionally done and will be up in a few days. Some glitches might still show up but we will work on them to have everything completed shortly.
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St. Martin Lantern Parade - November 11 at 6:00pm
You are invited to join us in our annual celebration of the Legend of St. Martin. This traditional school event is loved by our younger students in Preschool to Grade 2 and involves a play, songs and a lantern parade around the neighborhood The evening will start with a play about the legend of St. Martin and how he showed us the importance of sharing by his example. Following the performance, we will walk around the neighborhood with our candle-lit lanterns and sing traditional St. Martin songs. Warm apple cider and Weckmänner/Martinsmänner, plus other goodies will be available for purchase at the school after the parade. Fans, friends and family are welcome to join for this very special and fun event.
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