News from the Head of School

On September 13, the GAIS staff will have their annual CPR course.  Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure which is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing.  CPR involves chest compressions in an effort to create artificial circulation by manually pumping blood through the heart. In addition, the rescuer may provide breaths by either exhaling into the subject's mouth or utilizing a device that pushes air into the subject's lungs. It is important that our staff receive this training should a student ever require immediate assistance from a trained adult in the event of an accident resulting in cardiac arrest.

Some parents have also asked about this training and the organization that provides CPR training would also be able to provide this for parents on September 19 th from 6 to 9 PM if enough sign up. The program would cost $55.If you are interested in this please contact the office. 
 

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MYP Corner by Dominic Liechti  

This year we kicked off the International Middle School (IMS) year with the arena check-ins. The arena check-ins equipped the students with the necessary tools, which support the students on one hand to have a smooth start for the academic year and on the other hand to get to know the teachers and new students in a different setting.

The students divided up in groups and had different stations to pass, each of which had a different activity. At one of the seven stations they created "essential agreements," which are based on the attributes of the learner profile. Another station was concerned with setting up their lockers. One group learned how to communicate with teachers on our new web-based platform, Managebac. The communication works like a blog; however it is only visible to students and teachers involved. This online community platform is also used in the IMS to communicate with the parents. Furthermore, Managebac provides an online grade book and the curriculum, which is also accessible by parents and students.

Moreover, everyone who has access to it can download forms and photos. They also can check attendance, recent reports and portfolios of their child.

In addition, Managebac offers a calendar on which the teachers post their formative and summative assessments and the administration posts school events and special activities such as field trips and overnight trips with all the information and forms attached. This integrated platform is a tremendous support to our communication with our key stakeholders and it e-files everything for the academic school year.

 On the last day of the arena check-ins the IMS staff organized a potluck for all the parents and the students. Our goal for this social event was to create a sense of community among all the IMS key stakeholders. Thank you very much for sharing your dishes with the IMS community.

Following the arena check-ins we conducted the "back to school night," which informed the parents about the scope and sequence of the Units, general information, and the new Middle Years Program (MYP) assessment structure.

In order to receive the MYP certification we have to use the official MYP assessment system. One key change will be that everything will be graded against specific weighted MYP objectives and clear "task specific rubrics." The final grade will be from 1 to 7. This will not cause any difficulties for transitions to high school or European schools, because the MYP is well known worldwide.

In order to get more familiarized with this new assessment procedure, we'll provide an MYP workshop for Grade 6 and Grade 7 parents on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011, from 6pm to 8pm. Attendance is highly recommended.

Finally, I would like to thank my staff for their dedicated work in the first heavy work-loaded weeks.

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PYP Corner by Maike Silver  

The PYP philosophy is based on an inquiry approach to teaching. Have you ever wondered what this might look like, sound like, feel like in the classroom? On September 29th I will lead a hands on inquiry workshop for parents from 6-7:30 pm prior to the members meeting. It is designed for you to experience the process and work together with other parents to get a better understanding of what the PYP is all about. There will be limited space, so please sign up in the office a.s.a.p.

Hope to see many inquiring parents in the gym. 

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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg     

Last week, the preschoolers celebrated our annual sand day. The day started out with the delivery of a huge truckload of new play sand, which needed to be hauled to the sand area. We accomplished that with much help from parents and children, who were busy hauling sand by wheel barrows, Tonka trucks, buckets, etc. Much collaboration was taking place, as children were maneuvering wheel barrows together and loading each others truck loads. The children did sand art and finished the day off with a giant volcano.

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Student Leadership Academy  

In the spirit of collaboration the student leadership academy has identified "promoting school spirit" as their goal for the year. They will communicate this at the Student council tomorrow and advise students of the first event. In order to build community they will ask the students to wear our school colors (yellow and blue), Friday, September 16, 2011. They are also busy organizing activities during the break for peace day and plan a bake sale for October the 20th. The proceeds will be used for future student events including organizing materials for the haunted house on Halloween.
 

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Annual Auction Party  

Online registration is now open for our

13th Annual Fundraiser Auction 'ROCKSTAR'

on Saturday, October 22, 2011, 6:30 pm,  

at Faultline Brewing Company in Sunnyvale.

Join us for food, drinks, a live and silent auction filled with great items and events, and - of course - plenty of dancing!

As in past years we ask every GAIS family to come up with at least one item or service they can donate to our auction. We are fully aware of your busy lives so we prepared a donation idea list. Feel free to pick an idea from there, or come up with something completely different.

Please click here to get ideas and and to enter your donation. The deadline to donate for the auction is September 23.

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Carpooling at GAIS  

Great job to all the families who have already started new carpools this year!  All GAIS families will be receiving the student directory sorted by city via email today.  Please reminder to submit your vehicle registration form by October 1st.  And now for the weekly carpool story....

Middle Schoolers Commute by Bike and Caltrain
GAIS middle schoolers Genna Corlett and Juliana Kessler get home from GAIS by biking to the Palo Alto station and riding the Caltrain.  Juliana takes her bike on board, and Genna parks hers in a bike locker.  Another way to get to Caltrain is the SamTrans 280 bus, which stops at Manhattan and O'Connor (less than a 5 minute walk from the back of the school) at 3:01 and 4:01, and arrives at Caltrain at 3:13 and 4:13.  North and Southbound Caltrains leave Palo Alto shortly after the 280 bus arrives.  If you are interested in having your student bike with Genna and Juliana, or ride the bus to the Caltrain, please email laura.gottsman@healthcharge.com.   The traffic task force is continuing to work on a direct shuttle bus from GAIS to Caltrain.   

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Fall Extra-Curricular Program Kicks Off 

Ballerinas in tutus, basketball players in Air Jordans, artists with paint smudged fingers or aspiring scientists exploring the mechanics of flight and the physics of air. The GAIS extra-curricular program has all this and more. Thanks to our Administrative Assistant, Stella Klose, our Fall 2011 program has gotten off to a great start with a total of 331 students participating in 32 different activities. Last minute inscriptions are still possible for some programs, especially the 'Young Rembrandts' (Pre/VS Mondays 2-3pm & Grade 1-3 Wednesdays 2-3pm). Young Rembrandts teaches children to draw - the fundamental skill of all visual arts - using a sequential, ordered process. Children complete one new drawing each week for five years and not repeating the same drawing. Contact Stella Klose (sklose@gais.org) for more info.   

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Please come and join us at our annual Beach Party at Half Moon Bay on Saturday, September 10. This is a fun event and a great way to meet other parents in the community and make friends. The invitations have been sent out by email this week. Come prepared to join in the fun activities.