2013_03_22 Bulletin

The American International School of Rotterdam

SHARK

Bulletin...

22.03.13.

From the Director “....a social calendar for next year and I would like to share with you some of the events...”

Happy Friday everyone! In a number of our advertisements, you may have noticed that we have stated that AISR is a school that offers “more than academics”. We are trying to develop not only better academic programs, but also better social programs for students and families.

We have been working on a social calendar for next year and I would like to share with you some of the events we have planned.

25.08.2013 Welcome Back Barbecue: A social School event that provides an opportunity for students to come together with their families and friends. In the friendly setting of the School’s play area parents and children can enjoy common activities and indulge in the international food and drink table along with the popular School BBQ. 20.09.2013 Family Dinner Movie Night: Dinner Movie Night is a school event that brings families together in a familiar setting, enhancing the sense of mutual community. A recently released family movie or cartoon will be shown in the gym, and a full family dinner will be served, either before or thereafter.

10.11.2013 Lego ‘Get Connected’ Afternoon: A public, local Lego building children’s competition; open to both students of AISR and fellow schools, held on the AISR premises, with the goal to stimulate the sense of community, promote teamwork, creativity and 3D thinking. Children will have a chance to win LEGO prizes and share this experience with their parents and enjoy cross-cultural entertainment.

18.05.2014 Spring Carnival/Fun Run: A Spring-inspired public event, celebrating the coming of Spring and Summer filled with outdoor activities such as the Spring Run, fun games for children. Students will have a chance to ride a merry-go-round, partake in plentiful exciting games, win prizes, jump in a bouncy house, be entertained by a bilingual puppet show, and of course enjoy one another’s’ company. Parents can enjoy great international food from various food vendors, listen to musical performances and also partake in games specifically designed for parents.

In addition to these four events, we’ve got another ten planned. Keep watching the website and our Facebook page for information on upcoming events.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Best regards,

Neal Dilk Director neal.dilk@aisr.nl

1/4

Elementary Principal’s Message “....Every year we publish a Young Authors Book containing stories from each student in the Elementary School! The Creative Arts Showcase will take place on Thursday May 23....”

Elementary Student Council The Elementary Student Council had a meeting this week with the HS Student Council to discuss possible ways that they could advise and help us with planning activities. We are hoping to hold our first event sometime around the middle of April. Further details will be sent out after the Easter vacation.

Several parents have said to me that they would be very willing to help out with recess and cafeteria duty. Please contact me if you would be interested in volunteering your time - my e-mail address is: anne-marie.blitz@aisr.nl Help Needed!

Every year we publish a Young Authors Book containing stories from each student in the Elementary School! The Creative Arts Showcase will take place on Thursday May 23. On that evening each child will receive their own copy of the book. In order to help facilitate this project, I would like to ask for volunteers to edit the student’s stories. Any help will be very much appreciated - thank you in advance.

From the Classes This week, it is the turn of Grade 5 and the PE Department to tell you about some events that are taking place in their class. First of all, Grade 5: “In 5th Grade we now consider ourselves wonderful and exciting poets. If you are interested in immersing yourself in our beautiful, imaginative and inspirational poetry, pick up a copy of the new Young Authors book when it comes out. We not only published in the book as writers, but also designed and formatted our own pages on our laptops.

We have also been doing some really fun and sometime gruesome experiments while we learn about forces, energy, light and sound, including dissecting an eye to see how it works.

Come up to the 2nd floor and see our wall display. Unbelievably interesting!

As we now head into spring, we are also nearing the end of our time in elementary school. Soon we will be moving into middle school, and so for this last term we will concentrate on fine-tuning our organizational and independence skills”.

2/4

Mr. Brown ‘s spotlight is focussed on the tennis skills of some of our Elementary students: “The Elementary students have been busy in PE developing their racket sport skills, with units on Badminton, Table Tennis and Tennis. They have been demonstrating good control with racket skills, and have progressed with their game play in Badminton and Table tennis. These sports have been completed and now we have moved onto Tennis. There is certainly some budding Wimbledon champions in the making! Many of our students take part in Tennis lessons outside school. All we need now is some sunnier weather, so we can go out onto the Astro Turf and play on the full size courts.

The most interesting thing that the students are learning now is the reason behind the scoring of Tennis.

Why is the first point 15, second 30 and third 40 and not 1,2 and 3. Perhaps we will pose that as a little brain teaser for you readers!�

Possible Answers:

One theory is that it comes from the clock face, 15, 30 and 45 originally, being the quarter hour marks, from the French history of the game. The second popular theory being related to the Indian game played by British officers and the points relating to the gun barrels in a naval gun Salvo of the day, with the 15 pound guns being followed in order by the 30 pounders and finally the 40 pound guns finishing the Salvo. Feel free to draw you own conclusions from these two opinions!

The end of the 3rd Quarter is Thursday March 20. Report cards will be posted home on Friday April 12.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Easter vacation. Hopefully Spring will put in an appearance in the very near future. I look forward to seeing you all on Monday April 8.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Anne-Marie Blitz anne-marie.blitz@aisr.nl

3/4

Secondary Principal’s Message

“....In just one hour, €198.75 was collected, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed watching the performances. The performers had a great time too!...”

Dear Parents, As you know, I returned from maternity leave in November and took on the role of Secondary Principal. During the 5 months I have been back, there have been several issues that have been brought to my attention regarding the secondary school. I have also made several observations of my own. I would like to share some of my plans for the secondary school with you. This event will occur in early May and I will share details following the upcoming spring vacation.

From the Classes Charity Bash On March 12, 2013, students and teachers at AISR organized a "Charity Bash" Concert in aid of AMREF Flying Doctors, an organization for which AISR has had the privilege to collect money on many previous occasions.

In just one hour, €198.75 was collected, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed watching the performances. The performers had a great time too!

The last performance of the night was by the High School Band, who left us rocking with "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles. That is why this is the background music to the slideshow, in order to recapture just a part of the wonderful atmosphere of the evening. You can view the slideshow via our YouTube channel:TheAISRchannel, which can be reached via a button on our website’s home page www.aisr.nl English Mr. Masoni is proud of his English students and particularly of the following: The eleventh-grade presentations on their interpretations of "the avant-garde," which were all incredibly creative. The eighth graders' creation of (and subsequent analysis of) their own advertisements. The twelfth graders' nuanced readings of Hamlet, their nervousness before their Individual Oral Commentaries, and their subsequently showing that exam who was boss.

Brennan meditating in class. Alexander reading the stage directions of Death of a Salesman.

Carsten's presentation on the Commodore 64 computer. Duncan's recitation of facts about the Vietnam War. Nicely done everyone!

From the Counselor’s office A mini university fair, organized by the Counseling Office and by the European Universities Consortium (EUC), took place on campus this week. All high school students, in grades 9-12, attended. Students used this opportunity to learn about new universities as well as programs of interest, to ask questions of "live" university representatives, and to learn about summer study opportunities.

Universities in attendance were: Modul University (Vienna, AUSTRIA) Vesalius College (Brussels, BELGIUM) Jacobs University Bremen (Bremen, GERMANY) Carl Benz, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruhe, GERMANY) Bocconi University (Milan, ITALY) Tilburg University (Tilburg, NETHERLANDS) IE University (Instituto de Empresa) (Madrid, SPAIN) Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (Lausanne, SWITZERLAND) EUC is a group of institutions that promotes English-taught Bachelor’s programs in Europe. For more information, please visit the website: http://www.european-universities.eu/ More images from the fair can be found on our facebook page: Enjoy your weekend and kind regards,

Alison Lipp Secondary Principal and Curriculum Director alison.lipp@aisr.nl

4/4