The International Middle School (IMS) students were desperately waiting for the Ski Week. Finally last week 40 Middle School students and 10 IMS teachers went on the annual trip to Sugarbowl. Because of the growth in the IMS we had to organize a different lodge for the four nights. Our new lodge, which is owned by the Sierra Club, is named Tappaan Lodge. The hut is much larger than the Cal Lodge that we used last year and it provides more recreation rooms for the students.

The Ski Week is part of the MYP curriculum and serves a variety of purposes. On the one hand the students keep a balance between academics and fun, get to know the teachers from different perspectives and vice versa. On the other hand the Ski Week gives us a great opportunity for teambuilding and maintaining approaches to learning in the context of kitchen duty, responsibility for their equipment, safety, and health. To support this process, our eighth graders proudly led all the different duty groups in the morning and the evening.

Moreover, the whole IMS student body learned to be respectful to others on the slopes and during the stay. In addition, the students practiced their time management and organizational skills by being on time at the different checkpoints. The checkpoints were used to assemble the various ski groups before leaving or returning to the lodge and the ski resort. Every student had a laminated checklist, which described what the student had to wear and how to organize the checkpoints. Aside from the checkpoints, safety was ensured at all times by other safety measures such as an emergency card with all the necessary contact information which was issued to the students at the start, and a low student-teacher ratio in the ski groups.

Every day we were on the slopes and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Every evening a different program was organized for the students. One highlight was the snowshoe hike on Thursday night. Most of the students geared up with their snowshoes and we did a 30-minute hike through the forest and the snow. Afterwards we had a fun gathering at which the eighth graders prepared hot chocolate and some marshmallows on a campfire close to the lodge.

During the last Parent Rep.  meeting it was mentioned that some parents are a still somewhat unclear about the PYP. Peter and I put together a question answer sheet for the handbook that explains the different components of the PYP in more detail. Click here to download the PYP parent booklet. While I encourage everybody to read this please also feel free to approach me in my office or outside, if you have any specific questions regarding our program at GAIS or about the PYP in general. 

Our re-enrollment phase will end tomorrow. We once again have a high percentage of children re-enrolling for the coming school year. We thank all parents for their trust in placing the care of their children in our hands. We all value and honor this trust. By next week, we will start our Sibling and then our Open Enrollment. We encourage new and interested families to send in their applications (which can be downloaded here) and to call the school office to arrange a tour of the preschool program and its facilities. This is the best way to gain more information about our program and to see it in action. Children are more than welcome to attend the tour as well.

Every few weeks I will keep the GAIS community up-to-date on the highlights of the Physical Education Department. We ended the first semester on January 27th with a surprise dance performance involving all of the students in Grades 5-8. Our 3rd unit in the MYP Physical Education Program was all about dance. In order to make this unit fun for the students we decided to create a video clip that we could post on YouTube. As a vehicle for this we decided on a Flask Mob performance for the Elementary School students during lunch recess. A Flash Mob is an unannounced event during a non-typical venue, like recess, where performers surprise, and hopefully enchant the audience. For the song we choose 'Party Rock Anthem'. You can watch the video on You Tube:  

Flash Mob

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At the beginning of the second semester we had some more students join the student  leadership academy. The students decided to have new elections and we welcome Isabel Black as the new Student President, Robert Rochel as Vice President, Alexander Beckert as treasurer and Franziska Wendker as secretary. Many thanks go to Serena Grown-Haeberli and Henry Herz for their work as President and Vice-President during the first half of the year. During our first meeting we finished preparing a game the students will launch on Valentine's Day, and set dates for upcoming school spirit events. The students also decided that they would like to have a school mascot and to include the student representatives in  the process. You will hear more about it in the upcoming weeks. 

• Saturday, February 25th 3:30-5:00 p.m. - At this meeting, you'll get acquainted and decide which of the two book clubs you want to join.
• Saturday, March 24th 3:00-5:00 p.m. - Make sure you've read the book ahead of this meeting to prepare for our book discussion.
• Saturday, April 14th 3:00-5:00 p.m. - Bring your appetite for pizza!  The final meeting content will depend upon which club you have joined.
• Participants will receive a free copy of the book they select.

To join:  contact Angela Kroner (kroner@plsinfo.org) no later than February 24th.

Spring Camp from April 2 to 6, 9 -13 and 16-20, 2012 from 8:45 am - 1:00 pm,  Monday - Friday. Spend spring break at the pool! Three weeks of day camp for ages 5-10. Includes one 45-minute lesson each day with the same instructor, plus free play in the pool. Dry land activities include athletic games and structured play. Come join us the Burgess Park Pools in Menlo Park. Info. Click here to register.