Middle School students have had a great week with a variety of new experiences. At the time of publication, our 6th grade students are in Vienna at the Natural History Museum and earlier in the week our 7th grade students dove into their service learning work associated with the Jane Goodall Institute and our 8th grade had a truly memorable experience at the Partially Sighted and Blind schools. We also had the pleasure of welcoming guest speakers for both 6th and 8th grade this past week, with more information on these experiences provided below.
Teachers are in the process of finalizing grade data for our next academic progress report which we are aiming to go live on Vercacross with next Friday, March 4th. Please keep in mind that this update is aimed to provide a snapshot in time of student progress since our formal Semester One report was issued at the end of January.
Student Life Update:
What a week we've just had! The Service Learning Projects have now begun and students have been thoroughly engaged in learning and discovering new ideas and concepts. They have had to face situations where they were required to problem solve outside of their "comfort zone".
The 8th grade spent a day (Tuesday) at the school for the partially sighted (Gyengelatok Iskola) and at the Budapest School for the Blind. They were divided in groups and played Goalball (A ball sport for the blind), learned about the different types of visual impairment, learned to navigate a space while relying on their other senses and were introduced to Braille and asked to write a text using a Braille machine.
Students at the Budapest School for the Blind:
The 7th grade kicked off their new service learning project on the environment through an interactive presentation by volunteers from the Jane Goodall Institute. It was an excellent beginning as now the students will now research different environmental issues relating to forests around the world. As an action, Grade 7 also plans to investigate and maintain local forests around Budapest.
The 6th grade Special Olympics Service Learning Trip will be rescheduled. It was cancelled due to inclement weather. Stay tuned for a new date soon!
This Saturday, twenty-two Middle School students will be heading out to the Dog Shelter to walk dogs, brush them and do some clean-up work.
At AISB, we are very proud of the service learning and community service opportunities we provide our students. We believe they are an essential part of the learning process and allow students to develop empathy and become better Global Citizens.
Lastly, please don't forget that Friday March 11th will be a big day in Middle School! We will hold two after school events: The Winter Co-Curricular Celebration (16:00-17:15) and the Recreation Frenzy (18:00-20:00). A spaghetti dinner will be available to students between the events for a fee of a 1000HUF.
Kind Regards,
Marc Lavoie
Middle School Student Life Coordinator / M.S FrenchCEESA Math Counts
Our Middle School Math Counts team travelled to Vilnius before the ski break to do battle with the rest of CEESA's budding young Mathematicians. The Lithuanian capital presented a stunning backdrop for the tournament. Hosted by the American International School of Vilnius, the trip provided the students with a wide variety of activities beyond just the competition, including afternoon obstacle courses, a cultural evening of Lithuanian dancing and tours of the city and the beautiful lake castle of Trakai. The tournament itself was extremely competitive and the students narrowly missed out on an award. However, it was an excellent experience for all concerned with plenty of good learning moments, a lot of laughs and great camaraderie.
Grade 6 Geology Guest Speaker:
Grade six students had a chance to meet an expert in the field of Geology. Ms. Lilla Tökés, a PhD student in Geology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest visited science classes this past week. Ms. Tökés spoke about the Geology of Hungary. She emphasized the importance of a good imagination in the field of geology. Her message to the students relates well to our habits of learning creativity and reflection. Ms. Tökés lent us her own science-based imagination about plate tectonics by demonstrating a simulation she created that projects Budapest might have been part of the African continent at one time in geologic time. Students were able to ask questions related to their areas of study as well as explore samples of fossils and rocks brought by our guest. Students will further explore personal areas of interest at the Natural History Museum in Vienna and create their own representations of geologic past, present and future.
Grade 8 Guest Speaker:
We were honored to have Dr. László Debreczeni speak to our 8th grade students this past Wednesday during advisory. Dr. Debreczeni has written and spoken extensively on his experiences with the 1956 revolution. Staff and students were thoroughly intrigued with his personal story and following the 30-minute presentation, our 8th graders had an opportunity to ask questions related to advisory investigations connected to conformity and other issues that have arisen in 8th grade core classes.
PSA Meeting Focus on Health and Wellness:
This week, Mr. Martin Murray spoke to parents in our PSA meeting about current topics in MS Health and Wellness classes.
Grade 6: Students are learning about Healthy Eating and Lifestyle. The purpose of this unit is to highlight that different people need different eating plans - and that the more active people are, the more they need to eat.
We talk about how active people should be at various ages - and how important it is to get enough sleep and rest. Ultimately, we are talking about physical, mental and emotional health - for life.
Grade 7: We are currently looking at 'relationships'. Initially we look at the relationship we have with any/everybody in our lives. Then we focus on parents and their careers. We look at the most important characteristics of a quality parent/child relationship (mutual respect, building trust and communication).
We then look at friendships - and the qualities they like about their 'best friend' (or best relationship). Then, from this list of qualities - what qualities do they (themselves) think they have - and what do they need to work on.
Finally, we look at 'others'. How do we / should we treat other people? What is acceptable.
Grade 8: We are currently covering 'Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships." In this unit I ask students to identify characteristics of a 'healthy relationship' - i.e what do these relationships look / feel like. We then do the same for the 'unhealthy relationships'. I ask questions such as: what would you do if you found yourself in an abusive relationship? If it was the first time somebody had treated you this way, what would you do? Would it matter if it was verbal rather than physical? What would you do if one of your best friends was in a relationship like this?
Students are then asked to reflect on themselves, what they are like as a person. What quirks, interests, hobbies, values etc do they have? Then, what do they look for in somebody else? Students then produce an 'infographic' built around safety tips for dating.
Advisory Tech Talk:
During Grade 6 Advisory this past week, Mr. Murray spoke to students about the dangers of 'online communication and texting'. He explained that these messages and images, once sent, can not be deleted, and that students have a responsibility to think carefully before they send something. Students had some good questions on this - and seemed to find it really interesting. Mr. Murray also spoke about online safety - as well as the need to turn off their technology devices at night - as it can be distracting while they should be asleep.
Upcoming Events:
Monday, Feb 29: MS Spirit Week
MS Boys & Girls Basketball Teams practice 15:40 - 17:30
Homework Club 15:30 - 16:30
CEESA MUN 15:40 - 17:30
Makers Club 15:40 - 17:30
MS Swim Team Practice 15:40 - 17:30
Tuesday, March 1: MS Spirit Week
Blazer voices 12:15 - 13:00
MS Tech Crew mtg. at 15:30 in Mr. Savic’s room
Knowledge Bowl 15:40
Girl Power 15:40 - 17:30
CEESA Band 15:40 - 17:30
Wednesday, Mar 2: MS Spirit Week
MS Assembly 11:15 - 12:05
MS Boys & Girls Basketball Team Practice 15:40 - 17:30
MS Swim Team Practice 15:40 - 17:30
Minecraft 15:40 - 17:30
Dungeons & Dragons 15:40 - 17:30
Thursday, Mar 3: MS Spirit Week
CEESA Choir at 16:30 in ES music room
Digital Photography 15:45 - 17:30
Homework Club 15:30 - 16:30
Knowledge Bowl 15:40
Parent Book Club 14:00 - 15:15
Friday, Mar 4: MS Progress Report #4 Live on VC
CEESA MS Girls Basketball A team tournament in Kiev
CEESA MS Boys Basketball A team tournament in Bucharest
CEESA Swim Meet at AISB
MS Spirit Week
School Spirit Day--Wear AISB gear or anything red and black
MS Floorball 15:30 - 16:30
Have a great weekend Middle School!
Warm regards,
Andrew Ball
Middle School Principal
