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News from the Head of School
 It was truly a joy to see the energy, enthusiasm and happiness with which our students undertook the Student-Led Conferences last week. This is an activity that allows students to show their ability to present, analyze and reflect on their work this year. Many parents were astounded by the confidence and pride with which the students lead these conferences. We greatly appreciate the feedback and reflection forms which parents filled out afterwards.
Recently some of our PYP teachers visited the IB school in Los Gatos to observe lessons and exchange ideas with the teachers there. One of the great things about this program is that it gives teachers a common language and pedagogical framework for their discussions and allows for a sharing of ideas that are meaningful and can have practical application. Next month, teachers will visit GAIS from another PYP school in Berkeley. It is great to be connected and to share ideas.
A number of discussions with the City of Menlo Park Planning Department have occurred in the last two weeks in connection with our use permit revision. It is possible that we have our hearing with the Planning Commission set for Monday, April 16, which is unfortunately during our Spring break. Many thanks to all of the task force members that have worked on the various projects included in this revision such as the enrollment cap increase and the new playground. I would like to also thank the GAIS community for the outstanding response to our car-pooling program this year. We have even started to organize rainy day car pools, which pick up students who normally would walk or bike to school. I commend the parents on these grass roots efforts. On the other hand, I would like to mention an increase in parking on Elliott Dr., which is both not permitted and totally counter productive to our attempts at showing the school to be a good neighbor. I am also disappointed to hear from some of the traffic monitors about cars that are clearly exceeding the 15 mph speed limit. Let's all be good role models for our students and our community.
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PYP Corner by Maike Silver
 Homework in the Elementary School has been a topic in many parent teacher coffees. Is it too much, too little or just right? These were some questions and as you can imagine opinions varied from one spectrum to the other. So I think we need to take a step back. First weneed to explore:
What is the main purpose of homework?
- Practice of skills and concepts students have learned at school
- Finish work that wasn't completed in class for different reasons (e.g. time management, organization, silliness J)- promoting responsibility
- Long term projects to support time management and organization skills
- Individual research
- When is homework effective?
- It needs to have a clear academic purpose (promotes growth) - no busy work
- It needs to be relevant and differentiated, so that students can do it
- When it encourages students to communicate and share their learning outside of the classroom. (e.g. family topic discussion, interview a family member, community project).
In our homework policy we agreed on the following statement:
When assigned, homework must be meaningful and support the lessons. It is up to the teacher to carefully monitor the time spent on this work so that the student's need for leisure time and rest is not compromised. As a daily average, students should not do more than:
- Grades 1-2 30 minutes
- Grades 3-5 45 minutes
We agreed not to give homework to the younger students on Monday to Tuesday and over the weekend.
If students have mastered a specific skill or concept at school and worked hard throughout the day teachers might decide extra homework is not necessary. Nevertheless there are some daily assignments that are valuable and consistent. Students should spend time every day reading. For German comprehension every student is assigned an Antolin account and students could use the time to work online. Practicing vocabulary and math facts should be an on-going project. Having flash cards at home can be very helpful. For other helpful programs you might want to contact your teacher directly.
You might also want to ask your students about long term assignments and help them manage their time, so that they don't feel overwhelmed the day before a project is due.
One important thing to remember is, that your children already spend a long time at school. With all the extra curricular activities, driving places and homework, children have very little down time. Students will adjust to the demands ofmore homework as they face these challenges, when they are older and more mature. Our goal as an IB School is to find a balance for each individual student, who we place in the center of their learning.
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Preschool Corner by Heike Schmalstieg
 The preschool children have started their new unit on the five senses. Learning through the senses is always part of our daily curriculum, as children must be able to coordinate all senses to learn about their world and function effectively and interact appropriately within their environment. Learning takes places, by stimulating all senses and letting children try things hands-on. During this unit, the children will especially focus and explore with the five senses. The children will explore and experiment with how to use their senses make their own discoveries. They will be able to observe, compare and experiment (e.g. about different tastes and smells) and practice descriptive and expressive skills (e.g.: The lemon tastes sour, the sand paper feels rough). They will also explore what it is like when one sense is not working well (I can't smell/taste well when I have a cold) or when a sense is not working at all. This week, some of the children have tried to navigate around their classroom blindfolded, with the help of a seeing cane and/or guidance by their classmates. Some of our little risk takers experimented with other daily routines without seeing and tried what it is like to eat their food without being able to see it. Walking around from class to class, can at times feel like a tour of all the senses, as each class is exploring a different sense.
Please read more about sensory play in the article: "A handful of fun: Why sensory play is important for preschoolers" by Amanda Morgan a www.notjustcute.com
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Student Leadership
 The student leadership team had a meeting with the GISSV SMV to plan their upcoming Middle School dance together. The theme will be beach party and the students are very excited about this upcoming event.
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"Max Minsky und Ich"
 Award winning "Max Minsky und Ich" will be shown on Monday April 2, 3:30-5:30p in the library for German speakers for 5th grade and up. Snacks provided. A Jewish girl in Berlin gets straight A's except in gym. She wants to join the girls basketball team and trades tutoring with a boy who can teach her basketball. Come see what happens... Please RSVP to tgrown@gmail.com.
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GAIS Easter Picnic
 We hope you have received the invitation for our annual Easter Picnic which had been sent out earlier. The picnic will take place on Saturday, April 7 from 11 am to 3 pm at Huddart Park (Werder Shelter) in Woodside. The Easter Egg Hunt will start at noon. All participants are asked to bring 12 filled and taped plastic eggs per child to the office by Friday April 6 at noon. You can fill the eggs with little surprises such as stickers, erasers and so forth. Of course, sweets are welcome, too. The taping of the eggs is important to ensure that the eggs remain closed until the actual egg hunt. We look forward to seeing you at this fun annual school event!
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Library News
 Due to technical problems we are currently unable to send any courtesy reminders or overdue messages. Please refer to your return stamps in the books you have out for the due date. We are sorry for the inconveniences.
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Cub Scout Clothing Drive
 Samaritan House, a non-profit health and human services agency serving low-income families in San Mateo County, is in need of clothing donations for their Kid's Closet. They need new or gently used shoes, pants, jeans, shirts, and sweatshirts in sizes toddler to teens (no baby things for now). GAIS Cub Scout Pack 108 will be collecting items from March 30 - April 13. Look for donation boxes in front of the school. Thank you!
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Spring Break & Teacher-in-Service Day
 Spring Break will be from April 16 - 20 and the Teacher-in-Service Day on April 23. School will be closed but we do offer Hort/Day Care. If you need a space for your child/children please send your sign-up to the office.. The deadline is April 6. Sign-up sheets have been sent out.
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