Field Trip to San Francisco 

Tuesday, November 29th the IMS students went on a fieldtrip to the Performing Arts Center in San Francisco to watch the San Francisco Symphony perform. The program was an hour long and the students learned about the different musical instruments, as the presentation was not only entertaining, but also informative. As this year is the Symphony's 100th Birthday, the students were very fortunate to hear the beautiful music of the orchestra and also sang "Happy Birthday" to the symphony. It was an interactive experience as the conductor led the audience through a series of percussion beats and taught us how we can bring music into our everyday lives. The students represented GAIS well by showing respect and courtesy to the performing artists. They enjoyed the music and were inspired by how the instruments came together collaboratively to create beautiful, uplifting songs that resonated through the impressive hall. Most students agreed that they wished the performance had been longer so they could hear more culturally rich melodies.    

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News from the Head of School

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MYP  Corner by Dominic Liechti 

Before Thanksgiving, Katherine Schatzler's father passed away unexpectedly. She flew to Canada to be with her family. All the students and the team wrote her condolence letters. She returned on Monday and everyone-especially the IMS team and the students-is very happy to have her back at school. Again, we would like to express our sincere sympathy to her at this sad time.

This coming Friday, Dec 2nd, we will conduct the student survey in the IMS. The student survey is a part of the ongoing school development process and the performance evaluation of the teachers.

Every year the IMS students participate in different overnight fieldtrips. The sixth grade went to a Science Camp, the seventh grade is participating in an Outdoor and History Camp and the eighth graders are flying again to Berlin. For the seventh graders we developed a new program, which includes American history-The Civil War and The American Revolution-outdoor survival skills and a river-rafting trip in easy float water. The accommodation will be in tents and the program takes place at the Mother Lodge River Center one hour away from Sacramento. For the eighth graders we added to the culture & history experience in Berlin a two-day visit in a German Gymnasium. Moreover, everyone is looking forward to staying at the new lodge (Trapaan Lodge) for the Ski Weekend at Sugar Bowl.

The past few weeks we conducted the coffee meetings for all IMS grades and overall the parents are very happy with the International Middle School program. I would like to thank my team for their dedication. I really appreciated your feedback and I also thank you for your confidence in us.

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PYP Corner by Maike Silver  

Currently most classes have started their third Unit of Inquiry. "How the world works" is the transdisciplinary theme for the exploration of light in grade 1 and climate in grade 4. In our Vorschule students are exploring a variety of traditions, while grade 5 students investigate the human body systems under the transdisciplinary theme "who we are". Communication through writing in grade 2 and the expression through music in Pre-School, as well as expressions through the performing arts in grade 3 are the big concepts explored under "How we express ourselves". Choosing different concepts under the same theme is what helps students make connections to the bigger picture of our world,. It allows them to bring in their prior knowledge and extend their thinking to a higher level. 

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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg     

During the last week, we have had the wonderful opportunity to have Frederique Waiblinger, one of our mothers and also a trained Music Together teacher visit all our classes for a unique 'Music Together' lesson with a variety of songs, dances and instrumental activities. She brought a large variety of instruments, including drums for each child, scarves and other props for experimenting and making music. Needless to say, the children participated enthusiastically.  

The preschoolers are also busy practicing for their performance on Saturday during our Holiday Festival. All children participating, should be there by 2 PM and meet in front of the vorschul classes in the back of the school. We hope to see you all there.

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Student Leadership Academy Takes Action 

In their recent meeting, the student leadership academy addressed the question of how to promote the recently drafted Playground Manifesto and came up with a poster to summarize the main ideas. This poster is a collection of best playground practices and behaviors that are in line with the IB attitudes.

In another action project, Serena Grown-Haeberli, who is the President of the Student Council, will address all students through our new PA system, about the results of the successful food drive that was conducted recently. Maike Silver, who is the Leadership Academy advisor, has been very impressed by the responsibility and enthusiasm of GAIS's student leaders and their demonstration of taking action in true IB fashion.     

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Winterfest - Saturday, December 3 from 2-5

Here is the schedule of music performances at the Winterfest:

First Show starts at 2:15 (students assemble at 2:05)

Preschool:

Hallo, bonjour, buenos dias

Der gutmuetige Schneemann

Schneefloeckchen tanze

Trommle mein Herz

Vorschule: 

Kleine Kerze Leuchte

Wir Bringen Frieden 

Grade 1D: Frere Jacques 

Grade 1G: Rover 

Grade 2B: Dr. Foster 

Grade 2R: Land of the Silver Birch 

Second Show starts at 3:15 (students assemble by Room 10 at 3:05)

Grade 3P: What a Goodly Thing 

Grade 3S: My Dreydl 

Grade 4B: Merrily We Roll Along 

Grade 4V: Mother Caught A Flee 

Grade 5S: Ode to Joy 

Grade 5T: Jingle Bells 

Third Show starts at 4:00 (students assemble in Music room at 3:30)

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Tannengrün needed! 

We are looking for fresh Christmas tree greens to use as decoration for the Winterfest.  If you have any, please drop them off in front of Stella's office (sklose@gais.org) by Friday.

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Book Sale at Winterfest 

We will have a used Book sale at the Winterfest again. This year three of our 6th Graders, Michela Imperiale, Annika Krueger and Nicholas Jandeleit took on the organization and will be selling books.

All the proceeds will be used to buy new books for our Library.

If you would like to donate any of your used children/youth books to be sold at the sale please bring them tomorrow (Friday) to the Library or directly to the Gym on Saturday.

We'll also have german adult fiction for sale since we won't have those at the Library anymore.

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Shop Amazon. com   

GAIS is a member of the Amazon.com and the Amazon.de affiliates program.  That means that if you use the GAIS link found on the GAIS webpage under the Support GAIS tab, to shop at Amazon or Amazon.de the school gets a referral thank you of 4% of your total purchase.  This comes at no expense to you, and is a reward from Amazon to schools and businesses that direct customers to Amazon.  The Amazon link on the school webpage had been down for the past 4 months due to a conflict between Amazon and the State of California, which was resolved in September.  So just in time for the holiday shopping, our Affiliates Link is back in business.  Simply go to the gais.org home page and click on the tab to the far right titled "Support GAIS", and then click on "Support Through Services" and you will see both the Amazon.com link as well as the Amazon.de link. Happy Shopping!

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New Family is Looking for Housing 

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GAIS student performing with Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers 

Adrian Putz and Dagmar Dolatschko will be performing with the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers on Friday 2 December at La Piazza, 604 Main St, Half Moon Bay during the NIGHT OF LIGHTS.  The Fiddlers will play at 6:00pm for an hour and then at 8:00pm for an hour. It's free; tell your family, friends, and neighbors!  

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Twas the Night Before Christmas  

Presented by Dancers Repertory Theatre and Menlo Park Academy of Dance and reviewed as a "charming alternative to the Nutcracker."  Performances at Woodside Performing Arts Center on

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GAIS Stammtisch 

The GAIS Stammtisch, a tradition now in its 3rd school year, will meet again on Thursday, December 8 starting at 7PM at Gourmethaus Staudt in Redwood City.

Stammtisch is an informal get together for parents, staff and friends to meet and chat and is scheduled for the first Thursday of the month.  

 

Please mark your calendars for the following dates:

• January
• February 02
• March 01
• April 05
• May 03
• June 07

Prost!

 

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