June Bug

The mandala is taking shape

Our students are spending their time learning how they can be mindful of what we all can do  to protect our soil and our living world during our Environment Week.

Day two was greeted by a wonderful breeze and slight crispness to the air. Grades 7 and 5 contributed to the mandala on the roof top yesterday.

Dasha and Sophiia also shared their special artistic additions.

We might have some needed rain for our flowers tomorrow and if this happens, we will try to put finishing touches on the mandala Thursday morning before the festival.

Grade 4 starts at the beginning of  Wednesday followed by small groups of Grade 1.

Thanks to all of our wonderful artists!

LF

 

Duke of Edingburgh Award

Weekend Expedition

The Duke of Edinburgh Award students seem to be very lucky with the weather. For their hiking and camping expedition over the weekend as well as all their previous practice hikes sunny warm weather ☀️ was a steady companion.

Saturday was a little too warm, but luckily the students had an opportunity to stop briefly at a Kneipp Kur, stretch their legs and wade through the water like a storch.

With this weekend being their first two night expedition, it was clear that the students have become much more independent through each expedition. They have developed their skills in maps reading, navigating and cooking using a Trangia. Their fitness levels have improved vastly over the past year to allow them to hike with their backpacks for the required 16 km each day.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they continue to have sunny warm weather on their final assessed expedition from 24-26 June, but perhaps they do need to experience a little rain on at least one day.

SAB

What Time Is It?

Grade 8 Design

In ‘What time is it?’, the students of Grade 8 Design have explored the impact that consumer trends in specific communities have on the functionality of a product.

The students where their own clients and they put a lot of effort into creating a clock that represents a personal interest making use of several tools, machines, and materials in the workshop.

The final products were evaluated according to the final stage of the design cycle, and, before that, the students worked extensively doing research, creating sketches and 3D models for their design solutions, and learning how to use power tools safely to make the clocks.

BS

Kangaroo Mathematics Competition

Last week we received the results of the Kangaroo Mathematics Competition, which took place on March 17. Every student who participated received a small prize for the hard work of solving tough mathematical problems under time pressure.

Eight students received an extra prize because their results were in the top 5% of over 670 000 students participating from German schools. This was the highest placement H.I.S. has ever had in the Kangaroo competition to date. Prize winners pictured here: Noah (grade 3), Daniel (grade 4), Ella (grade 6), Martin (grade 8), Adrian and Affan (grade 10). Further prize winners not pictured here: Sywon (grade 7) and Bennet (grade 8). Congratulations go to all participants!

Another mathematics competition first for H.I.S. happened at the end of April in the middle school competition of the International Schools Mathematics Teachers Federation. One of our grade 8 teams ranked in 10th place, the first time any H.I.S. team has made the top 20. Congratulations to Luna, Bennet and Martin for their excellent results.

Pictured here are all the ISMTF competition participants. In the middle school competition, H.I.S. was represented by Dunsin, Maahi, Chee, Oscar, Sywon (not pictured), Thijs, Luna, Bennet (not pictured), Mattia and Martin. The junior team was Zara, Ceren, Luisa and Saadhvi. The senior team was Ethan, Daksh and Jesse. This year’s competitions were online but we are hoping students will be able to travel again next year.

JVG

Personal Project Planning Session

Grade 9

Grade 9 students have had a first introduction to the Personal Project end of May. The group spent most of the day in the library together.

The aim of the session was to allow students to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the personal project and also help them to develop potential ideas of their own to start the process as well as learn about the process, documentation and presentation of the personal project report.

The morning session as focused on Approaches to Learning. Students were asked to consider which skills they would need and how they would be helpful for the Personal Project.  This was followed by a session on being internationally-minded and being able to see points from different perspectives.

After the break each group of students were given a topic to consider (space, journalism, sport and environment) and asked to model the process, they had to begin with writing a learning goal and working out what product they could make. They then designed success criteria for their  product and considered how the product would be evaluated on the developed success criteria.

It was an enjoyable morning and we hope that students find some inspiration over the next few weeks so that they start the process before the summer holidays.

We look forward to working further with the students next year and holding more sessions to support the students and their supervisors through the process.

SAB