Category Archives: We are IB Learners!

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The Journey Of A Particle

Grade 6 Scientific Fiction

Over the long winter break, Grade 6 students worked on a special Science project. Their task was to write a story, describing the journey of a particle through the three states of matter. Many interesting stories were submitted. The students chose the most scientific and creative story. Here is the winning story:

Rain at Last

It all started as I levitated out of the boiling water in the kitchen. I flew out of the window in an incredible speed and raced up towards the clouds. I felt so free and loose. My friends were close behind me. I knew they were, but I couldn’t actually see them since water vapour is invisible. What I could see was small droplets of water around me. Together all of these small droplets formed a stream rising up from the kettle of boiling water. This was visible to the eye.

As we flew further up,  it began to get colder and colder. We tried to get warm by hugging each other, instead we turned into a little, tiny droplet of water. I began to feel dense and compact now. More and more of our friends flew toward us. We grew bigger and bigger the more time we stayed in the clouds. The cloud flew from Denmark to Germany. As the cloud was passing through Germany, I started to cough. It had become all dark around us. I looked down and I saw a factory right below us. I started to smell a strong scent of Sulphur dioxide in the air. I licked myself over the lips and surprisingly I could taste sourness. I had become an acid rain drop!

As we flew over Slovenia the air started to clean. Still, I was still very acidic. As we flew over Italy the next day,  I started falling away from the cloud. I had become so heavy the cloud could not hold me up anymore. I had never been moving this fast. I bolted down towards earth at an unstoppable speed. It was like parachute jumping without a parachute. It was only about two hundred meters to fall. Finally, I fell into a large forest. It was winter here and as I landed on a leaf; I began to feel extreme coldness in me.

I started to become more solid bit by bit and I could feel myself expand a little since I was turning to ice. I felt myself get separated from my friends a little bit. As we stopped separating there was a little bit of air between us. Even though we were stuck together, I didn’t feel at all dense, I felt freer than when I was even still liquid water. We would be able to float on water now because the air between us would hold us. I was about to fall off the leaf and I froze completely. I felt the two hydrogen atoms in my body tug together with the oxygen atom. They were stuck together so hard that I couldn’t move anymore. I was stuck. The slightest breeze swept by and I fell down. I hit the floor and burst into a million pieces. We rolled into a puddle and we didn’t sink.

This was the end we all knew. Then everything froze around me, and I was stuck in a big frozen chunk of ice. Forever. I was wrong! The sun came out and heated us up. We started slipping around each other. I went down a mountain and then joined a larger stream. Finally, we splashed into a lake. This is when everything started over again.

Author: Aron, Grade 6

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Starfish And Tornados

This week, our younger primary students expanded their social emotional learning by having a “Mindful Monday”.

They learned how to know and sense when their feelings were energetic like a tornado or needing to wake up like a starfish. All of them found ways to calm down through deep breaths, counting to 10 and jogging in place. Our little starfish practiced stretching their muscles, splashing cool water on their faces and eating a healthy snack to wake up and be ready to learn.

Our little starfish are, most importantly, expressing how they feel and learning what to do to feel happier while learning from home.

And they created a rainbow display of feelings they can talk about and manage.

text: LF

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World Food Day

​Thank you everybody for supporting World Food Day!

In the last week students in both the PYP and MYP had learned so much in class about issues concerning the distribution of safe food, the work of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN and how everyone of us can be a “food hero”!

Grade 8 joined the World Food Day Ceremony on Zoom.  They listened to several speakers including Pope Francis, and several heads of the UN, who discussed work being done across the world and current problems in ensuring distribution of food for everyone.

Many students brought in local and seasonal food for their snack and lunch.

Many thanks to the PTG who supplied local apples to each class. They were big and crunchy and tasted delicious! This was much appreciated by the students and all of the apples were eaten.

Please remember to do your bit – eat seasonal and local and don’t waste food!

Thank you

JK

Grade 8 Homeroom Teacher

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International Performing Arts Event

H.I.S. student represents her home country

On the 25th of September, the international Stuttgart Consulates hosted a night in which performers of various cultures held the stage to represent their country’s performing arts.

This included a variety of events such as fashion shows, dances, music, among others. The night also had stalls set up around the hall for people to go around and learn about the culture. The stalls involved food as well as information about the country and the respective Consulate of that country in the region. The event was funded by the ”Justizministerium Baden-Württemberg”.

I was lucky to be a part of this event and represent India through my dance known as Bharatanatyam. This is a storytelling dance form, used originally as a form of prayer, but now as a way of sharing Indian history and culture. Having been taught the importance of cultural awareness, I thought this would be a good opportunity to help others understand the origins of Indian culture through India’s oldest dance form. Through this event, I also learned a lot about different cultures such as Hungary and the Philippines, who had also partaken in the event.

It was a good experience for me as a dancer because it gave me more stage experience. Having prepared for this event for months, it felt very rewarding to get a positive response from the audience. Though there were a couple of mistakes, this only added to my strengths as I improvised a lot better during this performance than I had on the ones prior. This also served as motivation and inspiration for me to keep continuing to dance because I want to continue performing.

Eshal

 

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Where in the World

Grade 2 students have become explorers

Grade 2 is finishing the unit “Where in the World” this week, and the students along with their teachers and classroom assistant made origami boats as a final task for the unit.

When asked why they are making boats, some of the students said, “because we can travel the world with boats.” That was a nice answer to hear as they are getting a sense of what the unit was about.

text & photo: CT

 

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Congratulations to The Class of 2020

100% Pass Rate for H.I.S. Graduates

The students in our class of 2020 joined 174,355 students around the world to celebrate receiving their International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme results.

These students have joined a community of nearly two million graduates, in 152 countries, who have all demonstrated the knowledge, skills and determination to address our greatest challenges.

Dr Siva Kumari, the IB Director General, extended her heartfelt congratulations to students worldwide receiving their results. She said “An IB education has always been about more than results and, this year, students have had to deal with a level of global disruption that has never been experienced before.

Every IB graduate should be proud of their achievements, not just in reaching this milestone, but in the great flexibility and commitment they have shown in overcoming such obstacles.  We know that the IB has prepared them to be better learners for life—to be better, more critical thinkers, better at formulating excellent questions and finding the answers, and better suited to adapting to our ever-changing world.

We at the IB wish this year’s graduates all the best for successful and fulfilling futures.

We know that they will continue to make positive differences to the world as they progress in their lives and the many new normals.”

The May 2020 IB results are based on the students’ coursework and the established assessment expertise, rigour and quality control measures built into the IB programmes. This means that the May 2020 cohort will be awarded a Diploma or Course Certificate that truly reflects their standard of work.

I am very pleased to offer my congratulations to all our students celebrating their achievements. For the sixth year running, H.I.S. has achieved a 100% pass rate. We have an average score of 32.8 points (of a possible 45) which compares very favorably with the world average score of 29.9

I thank our teachers and staff who ensure that every student at Heidelberg International School receives the highest quality education and thorough preparation for the IB exams.

Kevin Whitmore

Secondary Principal & Diploma Coordinator

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Theatre for Change

MYP Students take action

Our MYP Students are participating in homeroom lessons that promote understanding in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US and across the globe.

As a culturally diverse community, we are focusing on key understanding of discrimination among groups oppressed; subject to violence and injustice. Our discussions have prompted some to attend local protests and find ways to educate and speak out for human rights.

Sára joined members of her Grade 10 class to create short films for the current performing arts unit, Theatre for Change.  Her particular film combined her own spoken word poetry with images of the Black Lives Matter protests. She has also attended recent protests in Mannheim.

These contributions follow our H.I.S. Guiding Statements; embracing diversity and demonstrating respect while connecting locally to promote peaceful, sustainable action against racism.

We applaud our students who have asked the hard questions, spoken up for the rights of all individuals and are recognising the parts of our greater society that needs to change in order for there to be true diversity and justice.

text: LF

Picture: Sára, Grade 10