Grade 4 Song & Dance 

As part of their end-of unit summative assessment, each Grade 4 class presented a musical illuminating the history of American westward expansion.  Grade 4V presented 'Westward Movement' during an assembly in the gym and Grade 4B presented 'We Come from Everywhere' in their classroom.  Both productions were directed by English teacher David Giesen. While musicals have been a part of this unit in past years, this was the first year that these specific musicals were presented in conjunction with the theme of Emigration which the students studied.  Mr. Giesen was highly satisfied by the enthusiasm and acting prowess of the students in these classes.  Hollywood watch out.

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News from the Head of School

Busy Weeks Ahead    

After a hopefully pleasant and relaxing Fall break, GAIS is back in operation with a full agenda of events between now and the Winter break. Our Speaker Series kicks off next Thursday with Dr. Henrietta Langdon following up on her dynamic and highly relevant talk on 'Bilingualism and Education'.  This is a talk not to be missed, even if you were present last year.  The talk will be followed by the first of three scheduled Information Evenings for both new and current parents.  In addition, all next week our library will be holding the annual German Book Fair.  Jana Seidel and her team of dedicated volunteers will offer a collection of outstanding selected books in German for sale each day from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.  During this same week, From Wednesday to Friday, our Grade 5 classes will leave the campus for their annual three day study trip to Pigeon Point.

Halloween falls on a Monday this year and our student council has been busy setting up another blockbuster haunted house.  On the next day, Tuesday, November 1st, all lessons will be suspended for the Parent-Teacher Conference Day. Parents are invited to make appointments to speak with the teachers about their children's progress to date. Detailed information for each of the school sections, Preschool, Elementary and Middle School, will be sent out separately this Friday. We will again use the Jooners program for booking appointments electronically.  

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MYP Corner by Dominic Liechti

This week was the final week for the first unit in all the PYP classes. Students prepared their summative assessments and many parents came to see the students work in the form of presentations and/or open classroom exhibits.   The summative assessment is the culmination of the teaching and learning process, and gives students an opportunity to demonstrate what has been learned. It can assess several elements simultaneously: it informs and improves student learning as well as the teaching process while measuring the understanding of the central idea. Following the summative assessment the teachers now spend time reflecting in their grade level teams on what worked well in the unit and what might be in need of revision. The cycle of writing, planning and assessing the curriculum is what makes this program so powerful and ensures that teachers alongside the students continue the journey of lifelong learning

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PYP Corner by Maike Silver  

One of the key educational principles behind the PYP and the MYP is that its' foundation lies in conceptual understanding. Many of you still might ask yourself what exactly does this mean? This is best explained comparing facts, topics and concepts. A fact is something that is very specific, relates to a certain event, time or object. The same is true for a topic except that it is usually a broader generalization. A concept on the other hand is something that is universal, timeless and can be described in one or 2 words. As we are developing central ideas in the PYP or unit questions in the MYP we begin by looking at facts and topics we want to study and identify the important concepts connected to these. As an example, a factual central idea might be: The Chinese immigrants who came to San Francisco in the 1800's established the huikuan.

In order to bring this to a higher level of generalization using a broader topic we might want to change it to: All groups that have immigrated or migrated to the United States have established social organizations.
Considering that this did and does not only happen in the United States we replace local facts with universal concepts and create a central idea like:  In all human societies, forms of social organizations emerge to satisfy the needs of individuals and groups.
Understanding that this is very theoretic we use facts (often from local areas) to help the students dissect this idea and understand the concepts. The difference in the end is that we do not ask the students to repeat facts in order to show us their knowledge, but look for ways for them to show us their understanding of the big concepts embedded in the central idea. Facts limit you to specific knowledge while concepts help you understand bigger pictures.
 

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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg     

On November 1st and 2nd, we will have our first Parent Teacher Conference of the year. The 2- and 5-day classes will have their conference day on November 1. There will be no classes and no child care offered on that day. The 3-day class will have their conference day on November 2nd. There will be no class for the 'Elche' on that day, all other groups will have a regular day, including child care in the afternoon. Parents will be able to sign-up electronically for 20 minute time slots. I will also be available for conferences with parents on that day. Please make an appointment as needed.
Before the break, the preschool had another very successful family game night. About 75 parents and children attended this annual event and enjoyed an evening of fun and games.    

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School's Office Closed  

Next Thursday and Friday, October 27-28, we will have a training session for all administrative staff on the new Blackbaud software package that we are introducing.  As a result we will be closing our office for these two days. We will still check phone and email messages periodically.  In the event of an emergency please call Peter Metzger at 650-796-5971.   

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Fall 2011 Picture Day   

After evaluating your feedback and input from last year's Picture Day, we decided to go with a different company, Little Bird School Photography, this year and have the Picture Day in the Fall so the photos will be available for the Holidays.

The dates for Picture Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 15 and Wednesday Nov. 16, 2011.

You will receive a flyer with more information about Little Bird School Photography, their process and a class schedule next week.
For more info about Little Bird School Photography check out their website:  www.littlebirdschoolphotography.com. 

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Student Leadership Academy

Halloween Project      

The student council is busy planning a haunted house for the students October 31. To raise funds for the materials they are planning a Bake Sale for October 27. More information will be posted. As your children are planning their Halloween costumes, please note that the school has a rule against weapons, scary masks and blood as part of the costumes.
 

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Esther's Bakery  

 
Please take note of the new Esther's Bakery schedule:
For the rest of October, Esther's will only come on Tuesdays.  Starting with November, they will be at GAIS on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This change was requested due to parking congestion on Fridays.

Starting this week Esther's will arrive at school at 1:00 pm.  This means that students will not be able to purchase during lunch recess.  This change was due to the fact of not having enough manpower to serve the students efficiently during the short recess time period and the need for the students to have time for games and movement.
 

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4th Annual GAIS Clothing Swap a Big Success 

Many thanks to everyone that participated in the 4th Annual GAIS Clothing Swap.  It was a tremendous success.  We took in over 100 pairs of shoes and over 1000 tops, pants, dresses, sweaters, jackets and Halloween costumes.  A very special thank you to Brenda Lamprecht and her daughter Olivia, who sorted every item  as they came in over our two week collection period.  Our families swapped and recycled over 75% of the collected clothing.  The preschool teachers then picked up extra clothing for those daily classroom clothing emergencies and the remainder of the clothing is being sent down to Mexico via several school parents that participate in programs down there.  So warn your kids, that they may be seeing a favorite jacket or shirt in the coming days at the school, being worn by a lucky participant of the clothing swap.  

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