Dear Parents,
“Music hath
charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”
So wrote William Congreve in
1697 in his play The Mourning Bride. If
that’s true, then we stand to be a most relaxed school over the next week or so
as our SAISA music season swings into full gear. On Wednesday evening I enjoyed
listening to our High School Band perform their Winter Concert. This morning I
had the great pleasure of welcoming bands from four SAISA schools – AS Bombay,
AIS Dhaka, AIS Muscat and Lincoln School in Kathmandu – to our school. And
next week the middle and high school choirs will
present the Winter Choir Concert on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It’s an outstanding
opportunity for our very talented students to share the skills they have
developed over the year and for the community to enjoy some truly wonderful
music.
Over the coming weekend
AISC will host 50 visiting
musicians from four countries, plus 37 from
our own AISC Symphonic Band, as
part of the 2013 SAISA Music
Festival. Unlike most SAISA events, this one is about collaboration, not
competition, as all 87 students form one orchestra and learn to make beautiful
music together. We are honored by the presence of visiting conductor Mr. Abel
Thomas, professor of trombone and tuba at the Conservatoire Emmanuel Chabrier and Director of l'Orchestre Municipal d'Harmonie de Clermont-Ferrand in
France. Mr. Thomas will be assisting with the festival as an adjunct
clinician for the brass section.
The core activity of
the weekend will be rehearsals and performances of classical music, culminating
in the Gala Concert on Sunday at
4:00 p.m. Our young musicians
will also participate in jazz music, chamber music, and sessions in movement. The first public performance
of the festival will be the Honors and Jazz Concert at 4:00 pm on Saturday. All
AISC parents and students are welcome at both
concerts, and there is no admission charge. Family and friends in distant lands can watch both SAISA concerts live online on the
school website at www.aisch.org->Quick links->Events.
Art in the PAC - To add to this, one of our Senior
students, Yadhushan Mahendran, has created an installation in the foyer of the
Fine Arts Center that he has titled “6 and 7000.” This refers to the 6 days and
7000 Post-It notes that went into the effort. Yad will submit this work as part
of his AP Studio Art portfolio. He has placed a fascinating time-lapse video
next to the work to show himself in the process of creating the image. If you
haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do so.
Environmental action update – Over the past couple of weeks, students in our high school Eco Club and
the middle and elementary school Roots and Shoots program have mounted a
campaign to reduce the use of paper cups on campus. Starting on Monday,
February 11 there will be no paper cups at the water dispensers in the middle
and high school areas, except near the PE office and locker rooms. Students and
teachers are expected to bring water bottles or cups. Water bottles are
available for purchase in the Poolside Store. We will be monitoring this initiative closely and adjusting as needed to ensure that all members of the school community have adequate access to water.
Here’s some
further information from Roots and Shoots:
We, the members of the Roots & Shoots Club, are very
excited to announce that AISC is getting greener every day! AISC is removing
all paper cups on February 15th. That means you need to bring a
water bottle to school.
Why? Here are some good reasons:
*
A person that drinks a gallon of
water uses 12-30 paper cups, so if you bring a water bottle you will save up to
30 paper cups for each gallon you consume.
*
Our calculations are that the school
uses more than 5,500 paper cups per day. That is about 1,000,000 paper cups per
year! That means just in Elementary we use over 2,000 cups a day.
*
We know paper cups come from trees,
so think of all the trees being cut down for something we only use one time
then throw away.
*
Paper cups are not recyclable, so
they just create more garbage.
*
Since it is already a requirement to
bring a water bottle, just bring it!
Il prossimo venerdi il 15 di Febbraio tutte I bicchierini di
carta saranno remossi dalla scuola percio…… porta la tua bottiglia!!
AISC학보모들에게
ROOTS&SHOOTS멤버들은
AISC가 자연에 신경쓰고 있어서 멤버들은 기쁩니다. 우리학교,AISC는
종이컵을 2월 15일에 없엘것입니다. 왜냐하면 1명이 약 12개에서 30개 이상의 종이컵을 쓰기 때문입니다.하지만 우리가 종이컵 약30개를 쓰는데신 물병을 들고오면 약 30개 이상의 종이컵을 아낄수있습니다.계산하면 우리 학교,AISC는 약 2,000개 이상에 종이컵을 1일에 씁니다.그럼 우리는 365일에 약 360,000개 이상의 종이컵을 쓰는것이다.학교의 규칙에 '물통을 가져오자'도 넣었습니다.지켜주길 바랍니다.고맙슴니다, ROOTS&SHOOTS올림
notre école est d'aider l'environnement. à
compter du 15 Février, vous devrez apporter une bouteille d'eau à
l'école.
Pamiętaj! Zielony Górą! Przynieś swoją butelkę
na wodę!
15 फेब्रुअरी से, AISC कैंपस में
पेपर कप नहीं मिलेगा। कृपया अपना पानी का बोतल रोज़ साथ में लेकर आइये।
Course registration for 2013-2014 –
It is an important time for students, parents and teachers to be discussing the
student’s next steps in their academic careers. This week Mrs. Callaway shared
information on the process of registering students for their classes for next
year with students in grades 8 through 11 and with parents of 8th
grade students. Mrs. Callaway has also posted valuable information on her
website, (aischguidance.blogspot.in/). Next week we will be sharing more information on
our course offerings and the choices that students have:
February
12 Overview of the IB Diploma Program
and AP courses for parents of students in grades 8-10
February
14 Overview of the IB Diploma Program
and AP courses for students in grades 9-10
From now through March 15
Mrs. Callaway will be meeting individually with students and their parents to
plan their courses for next year and beyond. The course selection forms will be
due in the office by March 15. For more information, see the Guidance
Counseling website link in the sidebar.
Inquiry learning and IB Theory of Knowledge – On
the 21st and 22nd of February AISC will be hosting guest
presenter Mr. Timothy Walters. Mr. Walters will be working with our middle and
high school faculty to develop ways to help our students understand the connections
between the subject areas. Nurturing a solid understanding of the connections
between subjects and exploring the limits of our current knowledge are vital in
fostering intellectual curiosity and inquiry. Inquiry-based learning lies at
the foundation of our teaching at AISC and is a vital component of the IB
Learner Profile.
Mr. Walters is an education and training consultant
whose work is currently divided between Singapore and Phnom Penh. His
undergraduate studies at the University of Calgary concentrated on political
theory and philosophy. He later completed postgraduate studies in ethics and
political theory at University College and the London School of Economics. He
is currently completing a PhD in neuroethics and moral education at the
University of Bath. Timothy’s teaching experience includes several years as an
IB practitioner for Theory of Knowledge (ToK), Economics and Business and
Management. He is an assistant examiner for the ToK essay and the Economics
exam and has been an IB teacher workshop leader since 2010.
In order to provide an opportunity for
our entire community to benefit from Mr. Walters’ expertise, there will be an
informative and interactive parent session in the Hall of Light between 10:00
and 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 21. The aims of the session will to
provide an overview of the advantages of inquiry-based learning, consider
approaches that explore our current knowledge base and better understand how
such exploration can help us better understand the connections between subject
areas. We are confident that Mr. Walters’ visit will enrich
our entire community and we warmly invite you to participate in this
exploration.
High
School Parent Coffee – We will continue our series of informational
meetings and discussions on Wednesday, February 27. On that day we will
continue our discussion of blended IB and AP courses and I will share with
parents some recent discussions with students and faculty about awards in the
high school. I hope you will join us for this meeting.
Have a safe and relaxing
weekend.
John
McCandless
High
School Principal
