2013_04_19 Bulletin

The American International School of Rotterdam

SHARK

Bulletin...

19.04.13.

From the Director “....We are exploring the possibility of opening a daycare at AISR....�

Happy Friday everyone! It was nice to see the sun today. It seems that winter may finally be gone and spring may finally be here to stay (touch wood). Tomorrow is looking a little cool, but pleasant. I hope the weather holds and that everyone gets to enjoy a bit of time outdoors.

Over the course of any given school year, we receive a number of suggestions for improvement and requests for particular services. One request we have heard a number of times, is a request to open a child care (day care) facility for children under 3 years of age.

We are exploring the possibility of opening a day care at AISR, and it seems likely that we will be able to do so. We have quite a bit of work to do in terms of investigating tax implications, restrictions on the building designation (zoning), legal implications, etc., but we are very seriously pursuing the idea and it may be possible to have something up and running this fall - maybe not

by August, but perhaps in September or October. We will not for sure if it is possible and what a potential timeline would be in the next month or two.

I order to gain a better idea of how many families would benefit from a day care located on site at AISR and to get better idea of the scope of the potential market, I would like to ask that anyone who would be seriously interested day care services at AISR email me directly with the following information: 1. Number of children you would be interested in enrolling in a day care program at AISR 2. The ages of any children you would consider enrolling.

3. List any special circumstances (allergies, medical conditions, etc.) that would have to be considered for you child(ren).

4. Any particular expectations or requests that you would have from such a service.

Please understand that any information provided by you is for survey purposes only and is in no way considered a commitment to register your child(ren) in such a program at AISR. Furthermore, any information you provide will not be shared with any individual or group outside the planning committee.

Please send the email directly to me (neal.dilk@aisr.nl) and please indicate DAYCARE AT AISR as the subject of the email.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Best regards,

Neal Dilk Director neal.dilk@aisr.nl

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Elementary Principal’s Message “.... The Elementary Student Council are very pleased to announce two very exciting events....”

Elementary Student Council The Elementary Student Council are very pleased to announce two very exciting events that will take place in the near future. First, they are working together with the Senior Student Council to promote ‘Spirit Week’. This will take place from Monday April 22 - Friday April 26. The idea is that every student dresses up in a different outfit every day. The schedule is as follows: Monday: Pajama day, Tuesday: Sports jersey day, Wednesday: Twin day, Thursday: Decade day/blast from the past (dress according to the style of your favorite decade), Friday: School Spirit.

The grade which has the highest percentage of student participation will earn a Pizza Party on Monday April 29!!

There will be a winning class in High school, Middle school and Elementary School.

Next, the first ‘Fun Activity’ will take place on Friday, May 3, from 3:05 - 4:15. This will be a movie/popcorn/drink afternoon. More details about the event will be sent out by the Student Council next week.

From the Classes This week, it is the turn of Grade 2 and the IT Department to tell you about some events that are taking place in their class. First of all, Grade 2:

"Learning never stops in Grade 2! The students have recently produced some great persuasive writing pieces - one student's piece of writing entitled " You Should Go To The School, AISR'.

Grade-2 have also been very busy collecting data in math to make pie graphs, bar graphs, pictographs and tally charts - Wow! They are also very enthusiastic readers with their book clubs. In IPC, they just wrapped up their project on dinosaurs by polling students and staff about why dinosaurs became extinct. Here are some pictures of the class from our field trip to the Naturalis Museum in Leiden.

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The students will soon start their new IPC unit, "Treasure and Archeology" which is sure to be fun!"

During our new unit, we will be busy rehearsing a fun filled presentation where the students will get a chance to act out the story of the gods, and sing a few songs to show what life was life back then in Egypt. All of this, and much more, will be presented at our Egyptian Festival toward the end of the year.

As part of this unit, we hope to go on a field trip to the The international exhibition ‘Tutankhamen’, his tomb and treasures at EXPO Amsterdam".

Ms Tenley Elliott

From the Classes The IT Department If you come to visit the 2nd grade at AISR and then walk from their classroom to the computer lab, you will see how we have been sharing the hallway with dinosaurs.

You will notice orange stickers where on the ground. These stickers show where a dino head would be if the tails was at the end of the hallway. On the wall next to the sticker is a poster with details about the dinosaur which each of the students created in IT class. This was to demonstrate the research they did in conjunction with the IPC unit "Footprints from the Past" which was being covered in 2nd grade. Considering the size of the dinos, we have fortunately not had any show up while the kids were making their way to the computer lab.

2nd graders did however find out that there are many animals which had been declared to be extinct (some for as many as 65 million years) which have now been found to still be alive. Posters about these so called Lazarus animals have also been produced and are now in the 2nd grade classroom.

Mr Phil Krumrei

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IMPORTANT - CHANGE OF DATE: Please note that the date for the Creative Arts Evening has been changed to Thursday May 30, because several of our students will be flying to Copenhagen for a sports tournament on Thursday May 23.

Finally - Here are some interesting tips for parents when they are talking to their children about school:

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

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

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Secondary Principal’s Message

“.... we have only 8 weeks left of school!...”

Dear Parents, Spring has finally arrived and it is hard to believe that we have only 8 weeks left of school!

During the week of April 22-26 our high school student council will be hosting a Spirit Week. For those of you that don't know what a Spirit Week is, it is when the students and faculty dress in a theme for every day of the week. The following are the scheduled themes for the AISR Spirit Week.

Monday: Pajama day, Tuesday: Sports jersey day, Wednesday: Twin day, Thursday: Decade day/blast from the past (dress according to the style of your favorite decade), Friday: School Spirit The grade which has the highest percent student participation will earn a Pizza Party. There will be a winner for both High School and Middle School. Feel free to join in!

From the Counseling Office Grade 12 End of Course Requirements Our seniors are completing their time at AISR along a variety of different routes. As a result, the following arrangements will apply.

IB exams: May 2 until May 22 AP exams: May 8, May 13, and May 22 Non-IB and all other grade 12 exams: June 3 and 4 Students taking the full IB Diploma and 3 or more IB exams are excused from classes during the IB examination period.

The last day of classes will be Thursday, April 26. Individual teachers may require subject-specific review periods, and in those cases students must be present.

All other 12th grade students need to complete certain credits of academic study in order to fulfill requirements for Graduation and so earn the AISR High School Diploma. These students need to attend classes until the end of senior exams on Tuesday, June 4. Individual teachers will communicate requirements for their courses. Students in this category who are also taking IB or AP Examinations are entitled to a study day on the day before the exam and are exempted from classes on the day of the exam.All borrowed school materials, to include course textbooks, library books, athletic equipment, music instruments, and any other such items, will need to be returned by Thursday, June 6.

Graduation Graduation rehearsals will be on Thursday, June 6 and Friday, June 7 at 11:15am. All students must be present. The graduation ceremony will be on Saturday June 8, starting at 1:00pm. Graduates should arrive by 12 noon.

Thank you for your continued support.

Enjoy the sunshine and kind regards,

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

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From the Physical Education Department

Our high school students are involved in a few of the lifetime sports activities offered at AISR. They also have opportunities to golf, climb, snowboard, go to the fitness center and play racket sports.

Our middle school students have been exploring invasion sports such as soccer, rugby, American football, Ultimate Frisbee, basketball, and handball.

They also have units in climbing, racket sports, softball, cricket, and physical fitness.

One highlight has been using iPads in the gymnastics unit as a tool to observe and assess performance.

Students record and evaluate their movements based on gymnastic criteria (e.g., Are my legs straight? Do I move well from one movement to the next?).

Thank you for your continued support.

Enjoy the sunshine and kind regards,

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

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