Grade 5 Field Trip to Pigeon Point Light House  

From April 20th to April 22nd all the children from Grade 5, our teachers Frau Strasser and  

Frau Taatz, plus four moms, spent a wonderful time at Pigeon Point on the Pacific coast. After our arrival, we met with the naturalists, Fisher and Rio, who guided us through the days. We lived in two different houses, boys and girls separately!

On our first day, we went into the marshland near Pescadero beach and learned a lot about plants, birds and the marshland itself. There was a 'magic' tree, which was a eucalyptus tree which more looked like an octopus, since it had decided to grow along the ground rather up in the air. That made it very easy for us to climb its branches, which was great fun.  

On the second day we drove to the state park 'Ano Nuevo' where we hiked for 4 hours. We saw lots of elephant seals and harbor seals, lying lazily on the beach. Here we learned a lot about plants and animals. Before we went back to the hostel we spent some time on the beach, playing around, building huts with drift wood and collecting interesting stones. On the third day we went tide pooling and found lots of interesting sea creatures. There, finally, we saw a whale mom with her baby out in the ocean. We were so excited!

Besides that, we made all the meals ourselves, we set tables and cleaned up, which was fun too. In the evenings we had an educational puppet show, a talent show and a slide show which had prepared us for our tide pooling. We even got some sleep in the nights. Thank you to all the moms and dad, who dedicated their time to make this trip even better. Sadly we had to leave on Friday around noon and arrived safely back at school just in time for the flee market and the bakery.  

News from the Head of School  

As we move towards the end of the school year a number of big events are appearing on the horizon.  These include our Book Fair, Sportsfest, Summerfest, Middle School field trips and finally Graduation. Each of these provides an enjoyable venue for various components of the GAIS community to meet and have fun together.

As an update, our Sportfest this year will not be a collaborative event with GISSV as was originally planed due to the unavailability of a venue to host the event in accordance with our schedules.  The event will thus take place as a GAIS only event as was the case prior to last year.  Our PE staff members are busily putting the final touches to the organization of the event which will be communicated in the next newsletter.  The Summerfest will also have some significant modifications from prior years.  There will be a focus on creative activities and a first time ever all-school art exhibit in the gym. To accommodate all of the art work, are looking for mounting panels.  Any ideas from parents are most welcome. There will be more food vendors, a magician, a climbing wall and a rock band too.  The fest will be structured more like a fair and musical performances by individual or small groups of students will be interspersed throughout the event.

Each of these events requires a tremendous amount of planning from both the GAIS staff and our volunteers and I would like to commend those involved for their hard work and dedication.    

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MYP Corner by Dominic Liechti

Every year in the International Middle School (IMS) we conduct the Stanford Achievement Test 10th edition (SAT10) to compare how well our IMS is performing in the USA.  In addition it's used in some high schools admission processes. The SAT10 is distinguished by different strands, which are reading comprehension, vocabulary, language mechanics, writing, mathematical problem solving and mathematical reasoning. Although our students are learning Mathematics currently in German, they will take the test in English. Therefore, our school philosophy is to give the students practice with structure, language and concepts used in the standardized achievement test.

Our experiences and feedback from the students last year led us to these procedures. This is a totally different approach from the well know "teaching to test concepts" where students in public school or other schools are supposed to practice during three or more weeks the content of the test during school hours and such an approach would conflict with the IB philosophy of instruction.

In fact, our goal is that the students learn to take this different testing format before entering high school. As you may know the high schools have several tests such as California High School Exit Exam (CASHEE) and SAT's. In addition our students entering high school have to take different placement tests. However, I would like to stress that our students take some pre tests to familiarize themselves with the format. As a result the teachers have prepared a binder with some materials that they are using during some lessons and at home.

Finally I would like to point out, that the school assessments are a snapshot of a student at one moment and that fact has to be taken carefully into consideration. In any case there will be a follow-up with each particular student and the parents.  

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PYP Corner by Maike Silver 

Last Friday the students at GAIS celebrated earth day with an array of activities. The day started with a flea market to follow up on the students desire to help the earth quake victims in Japan.  All together with individual student outside of school efforts GAIS raised over $2000 for Japan. Well-done GAIS students!

Following the flea market the group Earth Capades presented a show on conserving water to the elementary school students.  The use of juggling tricks, singing and visual media made learning fun and memorable for the students. After the show the students went back to their classrooms to do follow up activities. We finished the day with another successful Malawi walk. The proceeds are still being counted, but the students were all very eager to walk/ run for a good cause.

Using these school wide global fundraiser activities helps raise the awareness for the needs of others, which also leads to actions locally. And that not everything has to involve fundraising will be seen when our fifth graders present the exhibition next Thursday at 6:30pm in the gym. This event is open to all community members.

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During the preschools last unit about garden animals, the children talk about different animals in their back yard. Among other things, they will inquire into what the different animals look like, their purpose and life cycle. The children are enjoying finding all kinds of critters in our backyard, comparing and contrasting their looks and attributes. This week, we were visited by the organization Save Nature in San Francisco and an amazing collection of bugs. The students saw, touched, held and heard the Giant African Millipedes, Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers, Australian Walking Sticks and Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches!  They were dazzled by their appearance, amazed by their behavior and learned much about their characteristics. These are some of the things the children remembered today. About the cockroaches: "The cockroaches can make hissing sounds like a snake and when a lemur wants to catch them, they think it is a snake". About the walking stick: "They can camouflage in a tree.", "They share the trees with koala bears", "She didn't bring a boy because they have wings and would fly away.", "They sit in a tree and don't move much". About the beetles: "They run for their lives but they are too slow. Then they make a head stand and make a stink", "They are very hard." About the centipede: "It feels like a walking tooth brush.", "Other little bugs keep them clean." It was truly a hands-on experience.

Meet our Future Graduates 

As Graduation time nears, the GAIS newsletter will start to feature profiles of our 8th Graders, written by the students themselves.  Our first article features Sara Groenke. Enjoy learning some interesting details about Sara and her classmates in the weeks to come. 

My name is Sara and I am an eighth grader at this school. Three years ago, I decided to let my hair grow long so I could donate it to the Locks of Love program. "Locks of Love" is a non-profit organization that supplies hairpieces to children and adolescents who suffer from hair loss. Last year, I finally got my hair cut and ended up donating over 11 ½ inches of straight, brown hair to the Locks of Love organization. Shortly after, I received a letter from Locks of Love thanking me for my contribution. It felt so great to help people feel better about themselves that I plan on donating again in future. 

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SSIL News 

Our co-ed soccer team traveled to Pacifica last week to take on the team from Alma Heights.   GAIS proved to be the stronger team and walked away from the match with a 5-0 victory.  Goals were scored by Philip Hausen (4) and Marc Joshua. Congratulations to Herr Matzeit and the players.  Our next game is today against the Gideon Hausner School at 450 St Antonio Rd at 4:00. Good luck to our team!!   

Another Workday - May 7 

Are you interested in accumulating some volunteer hours? We will hold another workday on Saturday, May 7 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tim Farris will organize volunteers in a variety of tasks including cleaning, painting and putting together IKEA furniture.  If you wish to participate please email the office by May 1st so we can set up the program. Email to:  offmgr@gais.org.   

English Book Fair: May 2 - 5 

It's that time of the year again - time to stock up on summer reading for your family! GAIS is hosting the annual Scholastic book fair from Monday May 2 to Thursday May 5 in the school library. Book fair hours are 8.15 am to 3.30 pm daily. Come and browse, come and buy. Proceeds support our school!  

Easter Picnic 

Thanks to all the volunteers, and their great organization, this year's Easter picnic once again was a great success. The picnic took place at a new location in beautiful Huddart Park. Even though, the space was smaller than in previous years, the children had great fun searching for the Easter eggs in the woods. The potluck was delicious, thanks to everyone's contribution. I was asked for the recipe of the 'Himbeerstreuselkuchen'. If the person is willing to share the recipe, please come to the office and we will pass it on. 

Whooping Cough Booster

 
A new state law requires a Whopping Cough Booster for all 7th to 12th graders for the next school year. Please make sure your child gets the booster until the first day of school. 

Calling all 3rd and 4th Graders! 

The Friends of the Menlo Park Library invite all 3rd and 4th graders to come and hear the stories of Miss Suzannah, a visitor from the 1850's who will recount her journey by covered wagon from Missouri to California. Meet stagecoach driver Charlie Parkhurst, watch Lola Montez performing her Spider Dance, hear the legend of the Sioux dream catcher and touch real buffalo hair, fool's gold, tintypes, and more. The event will be on Monday, May 16, 7 to 8:30 pm at the Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma Street in Menlo Park. Be on time for the 7:00 pm surprise!

Bike to Work Day

Join SVBC on May 12 for the 17th annual Bike to Work Day! One day of the year in particular, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition encourages commuters to leave their cars at home and join the tens of thousands of their fellow Bay Area residents in biking to work/school. The weather is perfect, the streets filled with cyclists, and energizer stations dot the landscape, staffed by volunteers eager to pass out treats and encouragement. Bike to Work Day is a vision of what the morning commute should look like: Parents and children, office workers, politicians, CEOs, all doing the unimaginable - enjoying their trips to work and school.

We have a growing number of students and staff biking to school every day and we encourage others to follow their lead and try to bike to school, if they live within biking distance from the school. The Bike-To-Work/School Day might be a nice motivation to leave the car behind. There might even be a refueling station on your way, where cyclists can get a snack, a tote bag, some other goodies, and a few words of encouragement. Check-out the map at: http://bikesiliconvalley.org/btwd/es

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Host families for Interns 

GAIS regularly has a number of interns working with out teaching staff as a means of gaining experience in an international context.  Interns are University students studying education and many have exceptional training and motivation. They are a great help to teachers and provide support for our students. They also help out in the home with homework and child care. Detailed information about the internship program is available from our website under careers.  We are currently looking for Host families the new school year starting in August.  If you are interested in hosting an Intern, please contact Susi Lindley at slindley@gais.org.   

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