Vorschule Students Present a Play About Colors
 

As part of their new unit "How we express ourselves" the Vorschule students have learned about colors and how to mix them.  As a way of showing their knowledge and understanding, the Vorschüler presented the play "Mouse Paint".  In the play, which took place in the gym, many little white mice ran away from the cats and hid in paint cans. This had consequences, as the audience was able to see.  During this unit which is focused on "The Visual Arts", the students will inquire about many different artists, techniques and art styles and produce a great deal of inspired art work.  The unit will culminate with a student art exhibit at our local, Café Zoe.

With the new year we have begun our program of coffee mornings where parents from the Elementary School meet with me and their teachers to discuss issues of common interest or concern.Two very enjoyable coffee mornings have already taken place with Vorschule and Grade 1.

The program will continue through the Elementary Grade levels and then repeat itself in another cycle of meetings. The goal is to provide a forum for communication involving parents, staff and administrators.

As we are coming up the half way mark in the academic calendar, it is important to remind our community of the communication structure which the school has formulated to address parent concerns, issues or grievances. Finding the right channel results in getting issues resolved expediently and preserves the integrity of the positive and respectful relationships which is at the core of our community.  The channel where most issues, problems or grievances are first addressed is directly with the class teacher.  At times the class rep might also be a suitable starting point, especially if the issue has a broader scale. Generally the administrative staff becomes involved as a follow up to these initial steps. Finding the right channel is important to the resolution of any problem and to this end we had provided a structure which is outlined in the Parent Handbook.  In the weeks ahead we will also be reviewing our policies on addressing concerns and grievances to ensure that they are clear and well understood by all.

One of the beliefs in the PYP is "that to be truly educated, a student must also make connections across the disciplines, discover ways to integrate the separate subject areas and ultimately relate what they learned to life" (Ernest Boyer). What better way than to have guests speakers and fieldtrips to help students make these connection. In grade 4 for example students are currently exploring different climates and how they influence life in each area. To help them relate to local events they had local meteorologist, Mr. Evans, from the national weather service present to them. The students impressed Mr. Evans with their prior knowledge and sophisticated questions as they found out for example how to take shelter in severe weather. Unfortunately I was unable to watch the whole presentation, but students were eager to summarize their knowledge when they explained to me what weather balloons are used for, how they are launched and that this happens twice a day at the same time around the world. They watched an experiment about air contracting and expanding and were able to relate this scientific principle to how a weather balloon works. Another thing that amazes me all the time is how the students can listen to a presentation in one language and transfer this knowledge easily into another. It is also a good example how we integrated language, science, social studies and ultimately related it to real life.

One of the Areas of Interaction in the MYP Program is the Approaches to Learning (ATL).

The ATL includes seven main skills which are organization, collaboration, communication, information literacy, reflection, thinking and transfer skills. These skills are carefully scaffold in the Middle School. In each year of the program we introduce, maintain or master certain skills. In transitioning from the Elementary to Middle School, a major challenge is the organizational skills. This is because in the Middle School have subject rooms and student lockers. Since the students need to switch rooms, usually after a double lesson, the organizational skills are still put to the test. In the Middle School we foster the organizational skills in all the different subjects. For example, we support them in setting up their lockers, or we help them with planning strategies they can apply to meet due dates. In addition there is a lot of one on one tutoring to meet the different needs of the students in their learning process. The implementation of organizational skills during puberty is a critical topic in the 21st century, because the students in this phase need boundaries and a good structure to succeed. Therefore, there is a holistic system developed in collaboration with the students that honors their improvements in organizational management. To this end we organize different talks to enhance these skills in the Middle School. One of this was held last Thursday in the Library together with Grade 5.

We invited a professional in organizational behavior to discuss and interact with the student about time management, motivation, organization and prioritization. In sum, in the Middle School we provide internal and external support for our students in the approaches to learning.

All Members of the GAIS Corporation, as well as all parents and community members are invited to attend our next Members Meeting and Board election. At this meeting, as usual, the Board and Administration will review the status and progress at the school. In addition, we will hold elections for four board seats that will come open on the expiration of the terms of four current Board Members.  More detailed information about the members meeting and Board elections will come out in a separate notice to all parents.  Please mark this date on your calendars for 2011.

The Spring 2011 Extracurricular Program will be published next week. You will be notified by email. Sign-up will be through January 22nd. Many of our most popular programs will continue seamlessly. Additionally we have added several Math programs, Swiss lessons and a new science workshop by Schmahl Science about Electricity and Magnetism to the program. Please sign up early to ensure a place in your favorite class.

Information and enrollment contracts for the re-enrollment of current students for the upcoming school year 2011/2012 have been put into your mail folders. Re-enrollment started on January 4^th. Parents wishing to enroll siblings should have application forms in to the office as soon as possible.  Should you have any questions, please contact the office.

More than 60 parents and friends from the community were on hand for an informative and enjoyable talk on bilingualism given by Prof. Henriette Landon of San Jose State University.  Did you know, for example, that the majority of the world's population is at least bilingual? Prof. Langdon addressed such issues of optimal age for language learning, the advantages of bilingualism in the areas of culture, employment and health, and the role of parents in helping their children become bilingual.  For those that were not able to attend or who didn't get the handout, it can be found under Downloads section of our website under  Resources/Parent Workshops. Our thanks to Manu Hipkins for organizing this event.
 

In observance of Martin Luther King Day on February 17, the school will be closed. We do offer Hort.