Seasons Greetings
Monthly Archives: December 2016
One Last Field Trip….in 2016
Today the MYP students went to the Bowling center in Heidelberg and celebrated the last day of school before the winter break with their friends and some of their teachers.
Have a fantastic break everybody and happy holidays! See you back in 2017.
text & photos: AS
M.A.D. Nights Visual Art Exhibition
Students from Grade 6, 8 and 10 put their artwork on display in the Art Room and Art Foyer on both M.A.D. nights. Inspired and supported by their Visual Art teacher Kirsty Mottram the students had created work including wire structures, portraits, photographs, sculptures and drawings. Congratulation to all MYP artists!
text & photos: AS
M.A.D. Nights: “To be or not to be…”
…That was the question, both Hamlets (Vova, Grade 9 and Jaden, Grade 7) asked themselves on stage at the H.I.S. MAD Nights.
All students from Grade 7 and 9 presented their interpretation of “Hamlet”, by William Shakespeare on two evenings to the H.I.S. community. Congratulations to the students for their performance, for being risk-takers and for working as a teams together.
Performing Arts teacher Dominik Bär proudly thanked his students after the events. Sadly, H.I.S. has to say goodbye to Herr Bär for a while: A huge thank you to him and his wife Anna for all their work with the students in Performing and Visual Art.
text & photos: AS
Exploring The Creativity of Leonardo Da Vinci
Last week, Grade 4 students went to the “Leonardo da Vinci – Bewegende Erfindungen” exhibit at the Carl Bosch Museum. As part of our Unit of Inquiry, ‘Inventors and Inventions’, students have been learning how inventions develop and impact the world we live in. Students learned about Da Vinci’s life, his productivity and imaginative designs.
Students observed and discussed the properties of cardboard, and why those properties are so important to it’s design.
“It needs to be stable so that when you carry heavy things, they won’t break.” – Lilly (Grade 4)
They then used their observations to build paper bridges that incorporated these same properties. Students competed against each other to see whose bridge could hold the most stones.
In the exhibition, students were able to see some of Da Vinci’s come to life.
“I can’t believe that Leonardo Da Vinci came up with plans for more than 40,000 inventions but didn’t actually make most of them!” – Ryan (Grad 4)
text & photos: FW
Kinder – Erfinder
Die Kinder der 4. Klasse AGP/Deutsch lernten über bionische Erfindungen. In den letzten paar Wochen lernten die Schüler der AGP-Deutschgruppe der 4. Klasse vieles über Bionik und bionische Erfindungen. 
Bionik ist eine Wissenschaft, die aus der Biologie und der Technik entstanden ist. Im Unterricht haben sich die Schüler die Klette und deren Funktion genau angeschaut und den Klettverschluss erklärt. Sie haben auch den Kreislauf einer bionischen Erfindung probiert. Dabei beobachteten sie genau ein Spinnennetz, malten es auf, fanden mehr über die Funktion und das besondere der Netze heraus. 
Danach versuchten sie in Gruppen ein Fischernetz zu machen, das so aufgebaut ist wie ein Spinnennetz. Das war nicht leicht! Sie lasen auch viele Texte und sollten da die wichtigsten Informationen finden. Sie spielten auch ein Memory mit bionischen Erfindungen und ihren Vorbildern aus der Natur und damit schrieben sie „Teekesselchen“. Am Ende planten und beschrieben sie eine eigene bionische Erfindung. Die zwei besten Erfindungen schickten sie zu einem Erfinderwettbewerb. Wenn sie gewinnen, dann bekommt die Klasse sehr viel Geld! Vor dem Deutschraum findet man auch eine tolle Sammlung der Geschichten, die die Schüler über einen Erfinder geschrieben haben.
Einer der Schüler meinte zum Schluss:„ Diese Unit war echt interessant. Es hat mich überrascht, dass wir über Bionik lernten!“
Text: Leo, Fr. Hohenwarter
Grade 7 Science News
Grade 7 have had a busy first term, their second unit was all about respiration and we studied the structure of the heart by creating a cartoon book about the heart to educate the younger students. They presented their final product to the Grade 2 students.
The Grade 2 students were very impressed with the Grade 7 books and gave them some great feedback!
They enjoyed them so much that they asked the Grade 7 to return a few weeks later to come so that they could present their model communities to them. The Grade 7 students had a reciprocated visit and heard the Grade 2 students do their presentations.
The Grade 7 students also asked questions and wrote comments to help in the teacher assessment as well as giving the Grade 2 students some positive feedback.
The Grade 7 students reflected upon their performance and given feedback afterwards and below is a selection of comments:
“The Grade 2 students were very respectful and polite while I presented.”
“They seemed very enthusiastic about learning about the heart and they asked lots of questions.”
“They were making many connections with the information.”
” I liked it al that they listens so well to me.”
“I thought the kids wouldn’t understand anything, but they asked lots if questions and one of them said “I never understood it until now!”
“I enjoyed some of the enthusiasm of the children I talked too and I felt like there was a will to learn!”
“One of the students asked “is your blood really blue?”
“My partner listened very good and he looked really attached to the book and was very curious!”
“The seemed to realise how much effort I had put into my book.”
“The kid said that I had a lot of information and he enjoyed listening to me!”
“I think it was good, I liked to work with them and they were interested in my presentation.”
“They were telling us what the already knew which helped us to know what they knew and helped me think of what I could teach them that was new.”
Following this unit, the Grade 7 students started their new unit all about Magnets and Electromagnets, the Grade 7 students went on a field trip to the Carl-Bosch museum followed by a visit to the packaging Museum in the Hauptstrasse. 
At the Carl Bosch museum the students went round the fascinating hands-on Leonardo da Vinci exhibition and also attended a workshop where they built their own electromagnet which they got to take home.
Below are a few comments from the students:
“I loved this trip very much and the fascinating things I found there were all samples of machinery made by Leonardo da Vinci and no comparison could be made to these splendid inventions. the big models we saw at the entrance were very interesting and were described very well in German which I had to translate.”
“I liked the motor making activity, it was fun and it was great that we got to keep it!”
“The museum had may exhibits containing simple and complex machinery.”
“I learnt a lot of new things and had plenty of fun!”
“I liked the drum machine!”
“The models were really interesting. I like learning how they worked and what uses they have!”
“I loved the catapult!”
“I learned that Leonardo made the first technical computers!”
“The workshop was fun and I loved the souvenir that we got! The exhibits were also fun and interesting to test out.”
“In the afternoon the students stopped by the Christmas market for a light lunch and then went onto the packaging museum. Here are more great comments from the students! One of the highlight for many of the students was seeing the old cigarette case form the Titanic and knowing that only a few of these exist to this day!”
“I enjoyed looking at the old cash register!”
“It was cool to see the cigarette case from the Titanic!”
“It was cool to see packages from decades and some even over 100 years ago. I think the most engaging part was getting to see the cigarette pack from the Titanic as I did not know that we had any memorabilia of the Titanic an I am fan of the Titanic movie.”
“The activities at the packaging museum was really fun. i enjoyed looking inside the old refrigerator!”
“When we went to the packaging museum, we realised that a STOLLWERK was a popular brand because everything was packed by STOLLWERK.”
“The museum contained a variety of packaged items.”
“It was interesting to see packaging form the 1980’s!”
“The types of packaging and old billing machines was quite good, but one thing I noticed was that most of the packaging belonged to the same company. But there were many splendid designs having some mysteries about them.”
The students had a laugh or two on the way, and as can be seen from their great comments it was a truly exciting and fun day that they won’t forget for some time to come!
text: SAB, comments: Grade 7, photos: SAB, TC, EB
Think!
Dear Parents…
…THANK YOU!
cookies: H.I.S. Parents!
Grade 1 Schüler servierten Frühstück
Ein gesundes, ausgewogenes und leckeres Frühstück! Letzten Donnerstag luden die Schüler der ersten Klasse die EP 1,2 Schüler zu einem ausgewogenen und gesunden Frühstück ein. Es gab Vollkornmehl – Pfannkuchen, Obst und Sandwiches mit Gesicht, Gemüsespieße, Reiswaffelburger und einen Wunschpunsch. 
Die Schüler der ersten Klasse hatten viel zu tun um genügend Essen und Trinken für alle vorzubereiten. Mit roten Köpfen machten sie sich ans Werk um die leckeren Dinge zu backen, zu schneiden, zu mischen und für alle die Tische zu decken. Das Frühstück war ein voller Erfolg!
Feedback der Schüler: EP 1,2 Schüler: Die Pfannkuchen waren am besten! Die Gemüsespieße waren toll. Der Obstsalat war lecker! GAL – Feedback: Ich war ein “risk-taker”, weil ich etwas probierte, was ich sonst nicht mag! AGP – Feedback: Ich habe mit meinen Freunden einen Wunschpunsch gemacht. Es war toll, weil das Frühstück ausgewogen war und weil wir zusammen gefrühstückt haben. Wir machen Pfannkuchen und Wunschpunsch für EP 1 und 2. Wir machen ein gesundes, ausgewogenes Frühstück. Wir haben ein Frühstück für EP gemacht. Es war ausgewogen und gesund, weil wir Reisburger hatten, Pfannkuchen aus Vollkornmehl, Gemüsesticks. Wir hatten einen Wunschpunsch. Es war sehr lecker. Wir alle finden das lecker. Ich liebe es als wir die Pfannkuchen gemacht haben, weil ich noch nie Pfannkuchen gemacht habe. Es ist einfach Pfannkuchen zu machen. Die Reiswaffelburger waren sehr lecker. Wir haben Pfannkuchen gemacht und Reiswaffelburger. Es war super lecker! Ich habe Tomaten für die Reiswaffelburger geschnitten. Mir hat das Frühstück sehr gut geschmeckt. Ich habe die Zitrone für den Wunschpunsch ausgedrückt. Am besten haben mir die Pfannkuchen geschmeckt. Ich machte einen Wunschpunsch und Reiswaffelburger. Mir hat das Frühstück geschmeckt. Ich hatte eine Reiswaffel mit Tomate und Zimt, das schmeckte nicht gut!
photos: SH, text: Grade 1