Weekly Newsletter February 10, 2011

Talent Show 2 This week the student council (SMV) organized a Talent Show especially dedicated to Valentine's Day. We had a good variety of students performing for the rest of the school. First off, the eighth grade played a short skit about Valentine's Day and its original meaning. Then, we watched a few contestants from 1G, including Annika Teufel who performed an exquisite gymnastics tumbling routine and Katja Fallon who sang and danced enthusiastically. Anna Sophie from 1L performed a delightful piano piece, as well as Gabriel Mock from grade 2R. Also, a couple of talented students from 3P performed for us. One girl, Alexandra Ornes, beautifully sang a song from The Wizard of Oz called "The Jitterbug", and Carla Fankhauser played an enjoyable piece on the clarinet. There were two performances from grade 5. One of those two was Mia Mosing and her crew who magnificently sang the song "Living on a Prayer", and the other was Adrian Putz who performed a mind-blowing song from The Pirates of the Carribean on the electric violin. And last, but not least, Julian Scigliano from grade 6 sang a melodic song. Overall, we all had fun and enjoyed this successful event. We thank all who helped us out.

News from the Head of School

On March 10th regular school will be suspended as we will have a Conference Day in the Preschool and a Student Led Conference Day in Grades VS-8. The structure of the day will vary according to the school section involved.

Preschool: This will be a regular parent-teacher conference for the 2 and 5 day groups. The 3 day group will have their conferences on March 11th. Please see Heike Schlamstieg's letter for details.

Vorschule: There will be a combination of student led conference and parent-teacher conference with up to two parents per time slot.

Elementary School: Grades 1-5 will hold student-led conferences. The students are responsible for leading the conference, and take responsibility for their learning by sharing the process with you. Conferences last for about 30 minutes and there will be up to three conferences taking place simultaneously. The conference will involve the students discussing and reflecting upon samples of work that they have previously selected with guidance and support from the teacher to share with you. The students will identify strengths and areas for improvement. It will enable you to gain a clear insight into the kind of work your child is doing and offers an opportunity for you to discuss it with your child. After the conference you and your child will be asked to fill out a reflection sheet that needs to be turned into the teacher before you leave. We would like to emphasize that these are student-led conferences and the teachers will be attending as observers, but not as active participants. Should you feel the need to have a private conference with the teacher, please set this for some other time.

Middle School: Grades 6-8 will hold slightly more complex and longer student-led conferences. Each student will be assigned to a classroom where they will lead you through samples of their work on the IB Virtual Community. They will also reflect on their work, the Learner Profile and the Approaches to Learning, which are part of the MYP. Finally the will set their personal goals. Teachers will be in each room to act as facilitators. Conferences last for about 45 minutes and there will be one family per room for each of the five rooms being used.

Here are some details about the organization of the day:

1. You must sign up for a time slot. This year we again use an electronic sign up format to make it easier. An email will be sent to you this Friday, February 18 with the sign up form for your class. If you have more than one child in these grades then you will receive an email per child. You should note that the time slots vary for each section. Please be punctual for your meeting as there are many parents that need to be accommodated.

2. There will be no school on this day and it has not been included in the 180 teaching days for the academic year. We will not be able to offer child care on this day.

3. There will be no Hort service.

This is an important opportunity for you to gain insight into your child's progress and development at GAIS and we look forward to your participation at our second annual Conference Day

PYP Corner by Maike Silver

Why should I send my child to a PYP school? What makes it a great program? These are the questions I would like to explore today. A key to the success of the PYP is its focus on learning global concepts of international importance rather than local particulars. This allows for students to transfer their knowledge to any place in the world. In addition, the components of the program ensure that the needs of the whole child are addressed as teachers collaborate to identify how and when they teach not only knowledge and concepts, but also skills and attitudes important for life-long learners.

But the program framework does not stop there. By asking the students after each unit to think and reflect on what they might do with what they have learned, the program promotes action. In the past this included raising money for earth quake victims in Haiti, as well as for building schools in Malawi and Pakistan. It prompted students to clean beaches, to bring food to the homeless, and to plant gardens in their backyards. The teachers apply inquiry strategies during interesting, engaging and challenging units involving the students, making them the center of their own learning.

While students explore and research different units of inquiry, they learn to write pieces that inform, describe, persuade and entertain applying previously taught grammar and spelling in context rather than in isolation. They learn to connect math concepts like space, shape, data handling, and measurements in real life situations. Besides this, they learn to integrate music, art, PE and technology into their studies of global ideas.

Finally, the success of the program also lies in the value placed on continuing education. The teachers and the leadership team of the school collaborate in their commitment to continuously investigate new ways to strengthen learning in the school. This is what keeps this program constantly evolving and puts it in the leading position for education world wide.

Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg

During our last unit, the children explored different community members and their responsibilities. All groups went on a field trip to the post office to get a behind the scenes tour and visited our neighborhood grocery store. The groups also had various visitors and learned why their jobs are so important for the community: a fire fighter, police officer, hair stylist, surgeon, anesthesiologist, recycling consultant and lawyer. To celebrate different cultures in our community, we had parents visit and celebrate the Chinese New Year with us and another cooked Japanese Miso soup with the children and yet another introduced different currencies from around the world.

To create a better understanding of the connection between different community members, classes set-up different role play centers, such as bank, grocery store, police station, post office and fire station. The teachers created different scenarios to encourage their use. For a cooking project, one group needed to go to the bank, retrieve some money in order to go shopping in another room. After successfully purchasing all the needed ingredients they were ready to cook. On another day, a group created a restaurant in their classroom. First they had to plan all items needed (cooks making the food, menus with a food selection, waiters, table ware to set the tables, money to pay for the food, invitations to invite another class, ....) The children showed a great amount of enthusiasm and were proudly showing off their 'restaurant'. Yet another class, with just as much enthusiasm created a lemonade stand for their community (the other preschoolers). Teachers and children alike were very creative in the creation and use of the different role play areas.

Once again, this was a very hands-on unit that allowed the students a better understanding of the community around them. Inquiry happened daily as the children had lots of questions to ask their vsitors and during circle time discussions, such as: Does wood melt? Do you have Helicopters? Do you have motorcycles? How do you know which mail goes to which person? How do you take the letters to Germany?

Where in the airplane are the letters? When do you start working? Why do you put bad guys in jail? Why do robbers steal stuff?

New Families Join GAIS

We are happy to welcome some new families who recently joined our school. Carla Fankhauser from Switzerland joined Grade 3P. Jonathan and Serafina Loessner from Switzerland joined Grades 4V and 2R. Virgil and Hildur Karlsson from Sweden joined Grade 2R and the Kangaroo group respectively. And last, but not least, the Halbach Family came from Spain with Alicia in Grade 3 B, Sebastian Grade 1L and Lucas in the Kangaroo group. It is great to have these new families join our community.

GAIS goes Facebook

We are in the game! Please visit our new page "German-American International School (GAIS) on Facebook. We would like to get as many "likes" as possible. So, please hit the "like" button and spread the word! Thank you.

5th & 2nd Grade Healty Valentine's Breakfast
by Lanie van Linge & Annika Krueger, Grade 5

During our unit "Who we are" we studied the body systems and what we can do to stay healthy. When the teachers brought up the idea to have a healthy breakfast in class, the students made the suggestion to do it on Valentine's Day and invite our 2nd grade buddies. The buddy system is a way for younger students to get assistance from older students and share with them some interesting events. We all liked the idea and wrote a big invitation card to our buddies.

First, we discussed which healthy food each 5th grader should bring. Some examples of the food we brought in are milk, smoothies, healthy homemade muffins, hard boiled eggs, self made carrot-apple salad, all sorts of fresh fruits, organic honey and jam, organic bread, cereals and a lot more! On Monday, February 14, during our first lesson, we set up the tables with napkins, silverware, plates, cups and bowls, the food was spread out and Lanie, Carla and Annika, offered to assist the rest of the students with anything they needed. Then grade 2 arrived with hand written cards and everybody enjoyed this exceptional opportunity to do something together. It worked out perfectly. We would like to thank our wonderful parents for the friendly support as well as all the Grade 5 students and teachers Katharina Taatz and Michaela Strasser.

Picture Day

The dates for picture day with Life Touch are March 2 and March 3. On March 2 we will have All the Preschool 3 and 5 day groups, the Vorschule and Grades 1 & 2. On March 3 we will have the Preschool 2 day groups and Grades 2-8.

Bake Sale Fundraiser

Vietnam House Jennifer Doettling (Emma's mom) is joining a Global Village trip to Vietnam in May through the local nonprofit Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco to build homes for families in the Quang Nam province. It is one of the poorest areas of Vietnam and is very vulnerable to disasters like typhoons during the rainy season. Jennifer will be part of a team of 20 working alongside partner families in the remote village of Hiep Duc, near Da Nang in central Vietnam. You can read more about the trip (or make a donation) on Jennifer's First Giving page at:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jennifer-doettling/global-village-vietnam-trip.

Please support Habitat's Global Village Vietnam trip if you can. Jennifer will be holding a bake sale fundraiser at the school on Monday, February 28th, immediately following the break. There will be many yummy baked goods to choose from so please come prepared. Thank You!

Workday March 12

Are you interested in accumulating some volunteer hours? We will hold a workday on Saturday, March 12 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tim Farris will organize volunteers in a variety of tasks including painting, sanding, cleaning and repairing. If you wish to participate please email the office by March 9th so we can set up the program. Email to Stella Klose at sklose@gais.org who is our Volunteer Coordinator.

GASPA, with GAIS Sponsorship, Presents 'Faust in the Box' March 5th at 2:30 pm in GAIS Gym

Faust Die Berliner Tanz Theater Cabaret Performance Künstlerin, Bridge Markland, ist eine Virtuosin des Rollenspiels und der Verwandlung. Eine Künstlerin, die zwischen Sub- und Hochkultur, zwischen Tanz,
Theater, Performance, Cabaret, Kinder und Puppen Theater mit Leichtigkeit alle Grenzen überschreitet.

Die Performance und Verwandlungskünstlerin, Bridge Markland, präsentiert "Faust" als Ein Frau Playback Puppen Theater. Mit hohem Körpereinsatz spielt sie in rasantem Wechsel Mephisto, Faust, Gretchen, sowie die Handpuppen als Gegenspieler. Sie agiert zu einer Soundcollage der Stücktexte mit Popmusik von 1929 bis 2006.

ie Karten ($11) werden beim Eingang verkauft. Kinderbetreuung wird in den Kindergartenräumen auf dem GAISCampus angeboten. Obwohl kein Kartenvorverkauf stattfindet, bitten wir darum, die Kinderbetreuung anzumelden, damit wir für die Kinder die Zeit effektiv planen können. Bitte emailen: germanedu@aol.com, Betreff: Treffpunkt Faust, Kinderbetreuung. Weitere Informationen gibt es auf www.bridge-markland.de.

For newsletter information, questions or article submissions, please contact Dagmar Stullich at offmgr@gais.org. or call the office at 650-324-8617.

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