News From the Middle: March 9-13

Dear Middle School Parents, 

There have been so many activities happening recently, it could make you dizzy with wondering how our students do it all! 

Last Friday we hosted a meeting for students interested in attending our next activity with the Prizma school. This was the first of three meetings, so if students could not attend, they can come to other meetings planned. We are still looking for about ten more students, so if you are interested let Mr. Lavoie know!

Poetry Recital 

Last weekend, six Middle School students performed in the Poetry Recital on Friday at the Britannica School. These six students were outstanding: well prepared and ready to deliver. One of our students, Martin Stollinger won second place for his performance of Remembrance  by Charles Henrywood. Congratulations also to Emma Karas who impressed the audience with her reading of Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

Other students who participated:
Shan Bhasin - 6th Grade (he was the first performer of the whole evening!)
Sneh Deshpande - 6th Grade
Mohamed Mohsen - 8th Grade
Venusz Karasz - 8th Grade

CEESA Girls Basketball Tournament at AISB: Second Place & Sportsmanship!

We hosted the CEESA Middle School Girls Basketball tournament last weekend. Our athletic director, Matt Fleming, ran a smooth tournament and the teams and players had an excellent experience here at AISB thanks to Mr. Fleming and his crew. Big thanks go out to all parents who hosted visiting the athletes. 

Our A-team was coached by Szandra Pal. The girls played hard and made it to the “championship round” with an undefeated record. They matched up against the other undefeated team, Bucharest, which led to a second place win in the tournament. 

Due to a school cancellation, we could offer our B-Team a spot in the tournament as well. It was a tremendous experience for the girls to play against more experienced opponents. They did a wonderful job, winning their first game and then playing the remainder of their games with a passion that would make any parent or coach proud. Congratulations to Coach Dave Tarbell and Ms.Petra Mak, who prepared the girls for the weekend. The B-Team played with such commitment, heart, hustle and that they were co-awarded the CEESA Sportsmanship trophy for the tournament! 

CEESA Boys Basketball Tournament at Warsaw: Champions!

The Boys CEESA Basketball tournament last weekend was held in Warsaw with our team led by Coach Fubler. The boys have been focused all season on getting to CEESA and winning the championship. 

This was displayed in their daily practice, commitment, lunch time meetings and game cheer “5-3-1”. The boys delivered on their goal, playing all six of their games with a singular focus and determination. They followed through on their goal and stayed within themselves, supported one another, and stayed committed, focused and hustled all tournament long. 

They won the CEESA Boys Basketball Championship of 2015! They worked extremely hard this and were amazing young men throughout this journey with their coach. We congratulate them for their outstanding effort to become a team and work together with a single focus! Congratulations to the boys and Coach Fubler on an outstanding job! 

Photos By Mike Mahon

6th Grade: Digital Books!

This week, 6th grade students completed and presented the digital books they wrote in Humanities classes. The students prepared their own digital texts describing and telling the story of prehistoric people, places, and animals. 

The students shared their research and final products with the 5th grade. Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday different 5th grade classes came up to the Middle School to sit with the sixth graders and hear their history and learn from the 6th graders. This assignment is an excellent example of a long-term research project that was transformed by students' ability to work on their own laptops. Congratulations to the 6th graders and Ms. Herbert and Mr. Valezy. 

Faculty/Staff Appreciation Lunch: Tuesday, March 24th

Every year the PSA organizes a Faculty/Staff Appreciation Lunch to honor the people who work with our children every day and make our school function well. It will be on Tuesday, March 24^th. We rely on your help to make this a special occasion for teachers, administrators, learning support staff, building maintenance staff, and security guards.

Please join in by helping in any of the following ways:

1. Bring a pre-cooked main dish (suggest 10 person serving). Microwave available for heating food up.
2. Bring a salad/side dish (suggest 10 person serving).
3. Bring a dessert (suggest 10 person serving).
4. Help set-up (8:00-10:00)
5. Help serve, clean-up (11:45-3:00).

Please click here: http://vols.pt/HonTL2 to sign up.

Food items may be dropped off between 8:00 and 11:30 at the Building B Reception desk. Please label your dish and serving utensil with your name. Dishes can be picked up at the end of the school day in the Lobby.

The Faculty & Staff are always very appreciative and love our home cooked food. There are quite a few to feed, so we do hope you can help out. 

We thank you very much.

High School & Middle School PSA parent representatives

Teresa Siovolgyi, Mary Lasseter, Kirsten Reinicke

Deb Christian, Nikki Smith

AISB School Board Elections 

The elections for next year's School Board are about to start and parents will receive the information letter this week. This is an exciting time for parents to consider being part of the process whether running for a position, or nominating someone. The process starts Friday, March 6th with the nomination period ending on the March 23rd. Please consider getting more involved in the school and working with our new School Director, Paul Slocombe. Once the nomination period closes, we begin the voting period from March 27th to April 20th. Let's have 100% of you vote...why not!?

Eight Grade Prepares for a Visit With the Partially-Sighted School  

Our 8th graders are planning a range of activities to do with the students when they visit our school in late April. As part of this process, in Advisory time they participated in discussion about the upcoming event, then took part in a hands-on activity of guiding a sight-impaired classmate (who wore special glasses) from the theater up to the classrooms to get practice for when the students visit. Our students also discussed what activities would be appropriate for the visit and are working with their teachers to plan each activity. 

Middle School: Spring Activities & Sign-Up Information

The Spring Activities sign-up information was recently sent to you. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact Mr. Lavoie. Parents (not students) will receive a sign-up link on Monday, March 9 @ 7:00pm. Please sign-up with your child as early as possible. Many activities have a limited number of places. We look forward to an amazing Spring Activity Session. 

Winter Co-Curricular Celebration: March 26th at 4:00 p.m. 

On Thursday, March 26 we will celebrate the accomplishments of our students involved in AISB sports and activities. Parents, please join us! 

The schedule: 
4:00 Teams meet in cafeteria for pizza and music
4:25 Opening of Celebration in cafeteria
4:35 - 5:15 Teams go to classrooms for team celebrations and recognitions
5:15-5:30 Teams return to cafeteria for a Celebration Cake
5:35 Students take late bus or go home with parents.

Parents are welcome to join breakout sessions and take pictures.
Breakout session locations:
CEESA Band - B004 (the Band room)
Young Makers Club - B 111 (M.S Tech Room)
Outdoor Adventure Club - B205 (Mrs. Fleming's room)
Boys Basketball A - B210 (Mr. Fubler's room)
Boys Basketball B - B211 (Ms Henderson's room)
CEESA Math Counts - B 212 (Mr. Matlock's room)
Girls Basketball - B 213 (Ms Perzel's room)
Swim team - B220 (Mrs. Kill's room)
Floorball - B226 (Mr. Lavoie's room)
CEESA Choir - B230 (Ms Van Der Hiel's room)
Digital Photography - B 234 (Mr. Rudnicki's)
Dungeons & Dragons - B 235 (Mr. Robinson's room)

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences: April 16, 2015 at 8:30-3:30

We look forward to welcoming you to the PST Conferences in April. Please put this date in your schedule so you and your child are able to come and talk with our teachers. Hope you enjoy these photos from our conference in November; look at how much our students have changed!