November-December 2012DispatchThe Anglo-American School of Moscow

PersonalizedLEARNING

An interview with Mr. Rick Olson,ES Learning Support Services

From the DirectoronJ Zurfluh

Peace, Joy, Love, and Hope!

With this edition of the Dispatch ending the 2012 calendar year, we offer our most sincere wishes that you enjoy the holiday season with great enthusiasm. Students and staff have worked hard in recent weeks and fully deserve this important time to refresh and renew.

At the end of November, staff

considered their continued commitment to AAS and we presented them with extended contract offers. A majority of staff will return next year and, for those who have decided to seek a new adventure, we will be recruit-ing for their replacements in January and February at the usual job fairs and through our online systems. We will be introducing them to you in March and April through the Dispatch.

The pool work was completed last week and

this project is now finished. We opened on Monday with our swim team back in the pool and some other activities get-ting back in the water for the week before the holiday. Our tremendous thanks go to our facilities staff for their diligence in addressing this unforeseen problem. Further, the swim-ming pool staff under Charlie Semple’s leadership did a wonderful job of keeping many of our activities going includ-ing dry land drills for our after school swimmers to keep them fit and ready for restarting their season. Thanks to all!

We are asking for your input on the 2014-2015 calendar. We are prepar-ing to take our recommendations to the board in March and would like your comments on any adjustments for this future calendar. View the draft 2014-2015 calendar found on the last page of this Dispatch or by clicking here. Please give us your feedback via the survey found at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/calendar2014

Remember that the 2013-2014 calendar is already set and published on our website. Click here to view. This calendar will not change. Going forward, we will always be seeking your input on the calendar each year at about this time for the second year out so that we can all plan accord-ingly.

recruitment

pool

2014-2015 calendar

We begin and end each day at AAS seeking the Joy of learning. Many parents reported their pleasure in watching the musical performances of recent days, noting that kids were engaged in

and enjoying their work on stage. Even our Pre-Kindergartners reveled in their sing-a-long with parents.

There is a reason why Love Learning is central to our mission statement. Our love of what we do is evident in every corner of the building. Whatever students are doing, the goal is always to inspire passion about the activity and a deep interest in the content or skill. We work hard as we inspire and incubate the enabling skills that forge a path toward future accomplishment.

In addition, there is always Hope in all that we do. We are always looking toward tomorrow with a smile and nod. The New Year es-pecially brings tremendous potential for setting new goals and mak-ing plans to master new challenges. We encourage students, like

adults, to find viable resolutions that both inspire and engage. We also hold fervent hope in our hearts for the realization of peace and prosperity for all.

Примите мои поздравления и наилучшие пожелания по случаю Рождества и Нового года!

As we move into 2013, we are developing themes with students related to Peace, Joy, Love, and Hope. We are all discussing and thinking about Peace in the world as we weave a daily program that students find safe and encouraging. Our mis-sion speaks to becoming “globally aware citizens” and we are all certainly keeping a watchful eye on issues throughout the world where peace is woe-fully needed.

Best wishes from my family to yours for a wonderful holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year one and all!!

peace in the world

joy of learning

love learning

hope

winter holiday concertgrades 1 & 2

winter holiday concert

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

winter holiday concert winter holiday concertgrades 3-5

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

PersonalizedLEARNINGAn interview with Mr. Rick Olson, ES Learning Support Services

Mr. Rick Olson is a Learning Support Services teacher in the elementary school. This is his first year at AAS and his 33rd year of teaching overall, both in special education and in general education. Mr. Olson graduated from Western Washington University and the University of Washington. He has taught workshops about implementing the IB learner profile in the classroom and at home. In addition, Mr. Olson was a coordi-

nator for the Special Olympics. He came to AAS from the American School of Lima, where he taught for 10 years. His wife, Malu, is a Spanish teacher in the elementary school.

by Imanni Burg

BIO

When I think about personalized learning, the first thing I think of is the opposite. There was an old TV Western show called Rawhide. One of the things I remember about Rawhide was watching how they treated cattle. When it came time to brand the cattle, they were all forced into one narrow, little chute. It didn’t matter if the cattle were big, little, brown, white, big-horned, or no-horned—they were all kicked and prodded into one small space. There was no alternative, and even if you didn’t fit in the chute, you were forced to fit. The op-posite of the cattle chute is personalized learning. Thank goodness we have gone beyond what I had growing up, which was the Rawhide approach to education. Thank goodness we are now looking at the whole child.

My definition of personalized learning is teaching toward a student’s strengths, and un-derstanding and respecting the learning styles of all learners. I am very passionate about personalized learning.

How do your students benefit from personalized learning?Personalized learning gives students a deeper understanding of themselves as learners. We talk a lot about the metacognition side of education. For example, I was just working with some first graders and we were going through vocabulary words. They asked me why they had to say the words again, and I talked to them about how you can learn through a process of putting those words in your head like you are putting them in the bank. As you go up in the grade levels, it gets more specialized: we let them know what learning looks like and how to ask better questions.

The benefits of personalized learning are developing a deeper understanding of yourself and a cooperative approach to learning. Hu-man beings are very social: I think we were put here in life to learn how to cooperate and how to get along. Learning, cooperation, and teamwork are an important combination that fits right into the PYP. The PYP is built on a foundation of inquiry: questions, more ques-tions, and questions about those questions. The questions can be personal, or they can be questions that you answer cooperatively in groups.

Another benefit of personalized learning is that you learn what your resources are. You can answer questions in many different ways, especially in this day and age. Through technology, the library, and literacy, there are so many resources out there and it’s important to learn how to use them effectively.

What does personalized learningmean to you?

How is personalized learning used in the learning resources department?

Teachers are a resource. Our job is to be attuned to different ways of implementing personalized learning. In learning support, we work with teachers to design and promote the best ways to individualize learning. We use testing, inventories, and informal information to construct goals, strategies, and objectives for learning. Once again, we always focus on the individual needs of each student.

At AAS, we all believe “it’s our kid”. It’s so much easier when there is a shared responsibility for each student. Some teach-ers used to think of special education as “it’s your kid: take your kid out of the room if he’s having a learning challenge, and you fix that kid.” Now it’s much more of a holistic approach. We’re all working together in one big healthy cycle with the kid in the middle. We are not focusing on what the student can’t do. We’re focusing on what he can do and how we can help him improve.

How does personalized learning prepare your students as they move up to middle school?The old saying “Know thyself” has a big relationship to personalized learning. The better you understand yourself, the more you can guide yourself into learn-ing more, getting involved, and expanding your hori-zons. I also think that preparing kids to go to middle school and high school has to do with metacognition and understanding how to use your resources. The more time you spend developing those resources while you’re younger, the more successful you can be, because you don’t have to spend time learning how to ask questions and how to use resources when you get older. You’re already doing it. You’re working towards being an actualized learner.

Do you have a story about how personalized learning helped a particular student?

I think all teachers really like it when students come back and check in with them over time. I’ve had the pleasure of working with 8 or 12 students, many of whom had fairly significant learning challenges, all the way from elementary school into college. The students said the most important thing was that we were always positive when they were feeling very negative, we were always looking to find a solu-tion to a problem, and we always gave them resources. The most important thing of all was having a sense of humor and helping the students developing a sense of humor.

One personal story is about a young girl named Katherine, who I worked with when she was in third grade. She had fairly involved Down’s Syndrome and I remember spending a year trying to help her understand directions and get an understanding of how words play a part in staying safe and making life easier. I’ll never forget that some years after she left, her father contacted me…Katherine died at a young age, and her father said that every time Katherine would read a direction, she would always say “Mr. Olson taught me those words.” Going back to personalized learning, it’s important to take a personal approach to kids and letting them know that the more they know themselves, the more they can celebrate their own individual talents and the individual talents of others.

The key to my professional approach is “Celebrate the differences.” Thank goodness we’re all different, and thank goodness we all learn differently. That way, we learn a lot.

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campaignboxMiddle School

Klin Resource SchoolOn December 19, 15 students from Grades 7 and 8 volunteered to join four AAS staff members to visit the Klin Resource School and deliver gifts for their students and staff. Here are some of the thoughts our students shared about the experience:

"When I gave the colorful and nicely wrapped presents, I saw their faces light up with joy. My heart filled with

happiness knowing that I did something good and improved

the lives of children."

"To see those happy faces made my day! It was incredible."

"Through this experience I learned how lucky I was to have many opportunities in life with a

family that cares about me. It was a heart-warming time to see the

kids beam with joy."

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Dear AAS Parents...We could not have

done any of it without your support. Thank you for all your

efforts for this,as well as for

everything else you do for your children!

box"As soon as I saw the little

kids smiling,

it warmed my heart."

"Seeing children of all ages getting their gifts was a wonderful experience, watching all of

their faces light up."

"Giving the presents and watching the

children open them with joy makes me really proud of how well AAS organized

the Gift Box Campaign."

The High SchoolEnviroClubtakes theThe High School has a stu-dent-led EnviroClub under the tutelage of Ms. Bowler. Their goal is to become more en-vironmentally conscious and join together in an effort to raise awareness in the school community. They are working toward reaching out into the surrounding community as well. As a way to get focused and learn more, several students decided to join the Teens Turning Green project (visit http://www.teensturninggreen.org to learn more) and take the Project Green Challenge.

This Challenge was for the month of October and it required the par-ticipants to take daily “green chal-lenges” for the 30-day period. This is an international competition be-tween High School and University students. Each of the competitors could choose the level of difficulty for their challenge – to be “green”, “greener”, or “greenest”. Most of the AAS participants from the En-viroClub chose to take the more difficult “greenest” challenges.

The challenges were sent out daily and the participants had to have their entry com-pleted by the end of the day. Participants from AAS were encouraged to work on their challenges during the EnviroClub meetings and they also shared some of the information they were learning while doing these challenges. Some challenges made students aware of the chemicals in products and helped them learn how to find more environmentally friendly products. Even clothing and the manufacturing pro-cesses needed to make clothes were investigated. One challenge was a ‘Meatless Monday’, which the club is hoping to incorporate into the school menu in the future.

greener GREENEST! "

"green

The finalists participated in a 3-day "Green University" in San Francisco, California from November 30 to December 2, 2012. All transport and accom-modation were covered by the Teens Turning Green sponsors.

At the 3-day workshop, Annie made a Powerpoint presentation to university members, judges, and leading environmentalists.

After the 30 days were up,we had one student from the club that was leading the challenge.

Annie May, in grade 11, made it as a finalist!!!

Annie was selected as one of the 14

finalists out of nearly 3,000 youth from 32 countries that

participated in the Green Challenge!!!

Out of those 14 finalists, 10 were university students and only 4 were

high school students.

Annie was the only student from outside of the United States to become a finalist.

Congratulations, Annie!

Library NEWS

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The winter break is upon us, and we in the libraries would like to thank the AAS Com-munity for all your support and patronage. Library circulation remains high, and both our libraries are brimming with newly added books, DVDs and magazines. The Djupe-dal library is also updating many of our travel

books, so there should be up-to-date guides for

all your travel planning for future breaks.

While away, don’t forget that you have con-stant access to the library databases and e-books online. To access e-books, simply log into your account on the library catalog site. E-books can be read online, or downloaded to most devices, including iPads. We still have very limited access to Kindle materials, due to licensing restrictions, but other formats are supported. We do have some Kindle ac-

cess through The Gutenberg Proj-ect, and those

titles appear in our library catalog as well. If you are uncertain how to log into the sys-tem, just contact us at the library, and we’ll be glad to help.

You also have 24/7 access to thousands of magazine, journal and newspapers online with our EBSCO database. Just go to the

library link on the web-site, and click on the icon for databases. If you access the data-base at school, there is no need for a pass-word. Ask us in the li-brary for the password

if you would like to access online magazines and newspapers from home or abroad.

Have a great break, and we’ll see you in the library after the holidays. Safe journeys!

TRAVEL BOOKS

e books

thousands of magazines, newspapers, journals...

The Kingmaker’s Daughter. The latest Philippa Gragory novel, on the best seller list.

Arcade Catastrophe by Brandon Mull.

This is the sequel to 'The Candy Shop War'.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2012. We just received this award winner.

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.

The newest in the popular YA series

'The Heroes of Olympus'.

The Gamification of Learning and Instruction by Karl M Kapp. A professional book of methods and strategies for using game-based teaching tools.

Check out our new books!

We in the library are so appreciative of the PTO and all their hard work with the two book sales this fall. The Book Swap and the New Book Fair were a hit with our school community. The proceeds from both these fairs were donated to the librar-ies. Thank you!!

Thank youPTO!

As Dr. Seuss wrote in I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

In October we had a contest. Every time everyone in a class remembered their blue library bags, the class was entered into the contest. PKTA, KFR, 1LK, 1FJ, 1WL, 1DC, 2ZC, and 2ND were all great at bringing their bags to protect their library books. Just before the November break, we had the draw. Congratulations to 1DC for winning the library lucky draw!

Congratulations!

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THE

pto

The gala website will launch in January 2013 with all details surrounding this memorable night of experiencing old Russian traditions including venue, ticket sales, auctions lots, dinner and danc-ing.

*Please mark your calendars now to come and support AAS through the dedicated work of the PTO as we help to further enrich the lives of our children.

This year the silent auction will have a PIRATE THEME.

Be sure to shop over the winter break for your sword, eye patch and wooden stump! This is one

of only two major fundraisers the PTO puts on each year – and lots of help is needed!

Contact Stephanie to volunteer! stephanielemay29@yahoo.com

Silent AuctionMarch 23

parent teacher organization

DATE

May 4, 2013

SAVE

Spring Gala

Theme: Russian Imperial Ball - circa early 19th Century

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ms/hs band

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click on the image to view photos from the concert

click on the image to view videos

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The young AAS Varsity Boys Soccer team had an excellent tournament in Bucharest, claiming the sportsmanship trophy for the second season running and finishing 5th out of 8 teams.

Game 1 resulted in a 2-1 loss to War-saw. Kosta Vafeidis scored early from a Sebastian Drostby assist before AAS conceded two goals to a strong War-saw team (last year's CEESA champi-ons). The boys played well overall and the players and coaches were pleased with this starting performance. Game 2 resulted in a 3-1 win vs. Budapest. Another early goal, this time from Liam van Son, courtesy of an excel-lent Aramis Kouzine assist, gave the Penguins the lead. AAS conceded an equaliser before scoring goals either side of half time - both excellent finishes by Liam again, to complete his hat-trick. The boys were defensively solid and showed a great team ethic. Game 3 resulted in a 3-0 victory after IS Bucharest fielded some ineligible players. So, after the group stages, AAS has the 3rd best record of the 8 teams with 2 wins and 1 loss.

Game 4 saw the boys lose 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw vs. Kiev in the quarter final. The Penguins had most of the play and the chances, but couldn't quite score. We then suffered the heartbreak of defeat in the lottery of a shootout - doubly disappointing because AAS also lost

Varsity Boys' Socceryoung, yet mature sportsmen all the way! last season in this manner. The boys were naturally upset with their failure to reach the semi-finals but remained in good spirits throughout the rest of the tournament.

Game 5 saw AAS beat IS Bucharest 1-0 with a patient and deter-mined performance. Sebastian Drostby scored the goal. Game 6 saw the Penguins win 1-0 against their old rival, Prague. Taemin Kim scored a great individual goal in the second half and then cel-ebrated with his shirt off, much to the consternation of the referee – it was a great AAS boys' soccer moment!! The boys showed a great attitude on the final day and were placed 5th out of 8. The day also ended on a high as AAS collected the sportsmanship trophy for the second season running. It was awarded bases on a rubric that each team completed after each game and was fully deserved. The boys were again a credit to the school, their fami-lies and themselves.

The all-star selections were Filip Butula and Liam van Son, and the team was admirably led by Amane Tsuji, a great captain. It was a great season!

Coaches: McCluskey and Appleby

penguin lifeactivities, aquatics, athletics

LIFEActivities, Aquatics, Athletics

Our squad of 15 students left Moscow with hopes high of trying hard to emulate the success of last year’s Varsity Girls squad. After a fascinating tour of Warsaw’s old town on Wednesday we began the games on Thursday morning with a tremendous 4-2 victory over Kiev. A brilliant hat trick from Lola Pi-quet was added to by Lucy Whyte from the penalty spot.

Things became more difficult after that. A narrow 1-0 defeat from an experienced Budapest side was compounded by a 2-0 defeat to eventual winners Prague, at the beginning of day 2. Despite this, our girls knew a victory against Istanbul would secure a place in the semifinals. Unfortunately, for us it was Istanbul’s day. Moscow took the lead with another Lola Piquet strike. However, Istanbul was level 30 seconds later and followed up with an incredible second half to win the game 4-1. Our girls were devas-tated and had to be reminded that Istanbul, despite their win, also missed out on the semi-finals.

The last day dawned and the Penguins had realized that sportsmanship is key to these tournaments. Despite the disappointment of the previous day, they played excellently and with smiles on their faces. A combination of great play from opponents, tiredness, and some bad luck meant Kiev reversed the previous result to win 2-1. Istanbul also managed to complete the double over us with a 1-0 victory.

There are three seniors in the squad and we will miss them next year. We wish them well! For the rest of a very young squad, we know that this experience will only help us learn and grow. As Chris Waddell said a presentation to AAS student the day before we left, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

We will be back stronger and wiser next year. Well done, squad of 2012!Coaches: Lennon and Nellor

Varsity Girls' Soccerlearned many lessons in Warsawactivities, aquatics, athletics

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Junior Varsity athletics is about developing student-athletes physically and emotionally for the Varsity level. The experience this season, in addition to the CEESA tournament in Budapest, have helped us reach that objective.

A confident and skilled team began the first day of the tournament with three-straight one goal losses in games where the team had all of the possession and territorial advantage in order to play the most attractive soccer. However, if you don’t get the ball on the goal, you won’t score. On the first day, goals were scored by George “Golden Boot” Cummins and Lars “The Gym-nast” Cuvelier.

After the first day's disappointment, the boys were keen to change our fate and played a very fast Kiev team to a 1-1 draw. This was a game where we dominated in all aspects of the game except goals. The goal was scored by “Crazy Legs” Daniel Shenkman.

The draw meant that we would play for 5th place in the late afternoon against Budapest, whom we played against immediately after our 1-2 draw with Kiev. We rested some legs, played others in different positions and kept our secrets close in hand. Unfortunately, we lost 5-1. The goal was scored by by Pim “The Gazelle” van Berkel.

JV Boys' Soccerdevelop and battle to a Sportsmanship Trophy!

We played the 5th place game two hours later against the same Budapest team that dominated and defeated the hosts 2-1. Finally, a win! Goals from Alex “The Mouth” Kleitman and Jung Woo “The Captain” Kang.

The boys received compliments through-out the tournament as the one team that played the most attractive soccer and the team with “scary” potential. The team was also voted by the other teams as the most sportsmanlike, and like, the Varsity Boys team, we claimed the Sportsman-ship trophy for the second straight year.

Championships will come boys, champi-onships will come…

Coaches: McLeod and Delane

Activities, Aquatics, Athletics

It was time again for the Middle School ten-nis season. 25 girls tried out for the tennis team in hopes to travel to Zagreb for the CEESA tournament. Two coaches helped everyone improve their skills and keep a positive attitude. Although all the girls very good players, only six could travel. Chloe Roger-Evans, Constance Busvine, Christelle Abramian, Emma Drostby, Zoe Oomens and Marlene Moser were the six girls that were chosen to go to Zagreb, Croatia. “The practice before the team left was very tough and everyone was ner-vous,” said Chloe Roger-Evans about the last practice before leaving for the tourna-ment.

MS Girls' Tennisleave an impression in Zagreb!

The first day of the competition started off at 8:30, and all of the girls were ready to compete and make new friends with the students from Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Sofia, Bucharest and Zagreb. The Singles one player, Zoe Oomens, was the first to play. She played against Warsaw and had a good start and beat them by 6:0 for Moscow. As the competition progressed, Singles one and Doubles one were undefeated. At the end of the day the girls were placed second with Zagreb placed first, beating our team by one point.

On the second and last day of the competition the girls were playing the best they could and trying to get as many points as they were able to. As the day went on the girls were playing their best and not just getting to know new people, but also getting to know each other better. “I got to know my team members much better, and I think we all became better friends,” said Emma Drostby. The girls came in first place followed by Zagreb and Warsaw. “I think we all improved a lot during those two days and we had a great time,” said Coco Busvine.

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The Varsity Cross-Country meet was in Tirana, Albania this year. The weather was pleasantly warm and the park setting provided a good undulating trail that was “just right” for racing. The meet consisted of a two race format; a five kilometer route on Friday, and a three and a half kilometer route on Saturday

Our runners pushed off to an early lead in both the girls' and boys' races, as instructed. They gave a challenge to all their competitors forcing them to earn their placings. At the end of the first day, the girls were in fourth place and the boys were second place, five points behind.

Varsity Cross-Country

Unquestionably we have a hard working team of athletes that just do not give up. Unfortunately, we had to struggle to place. Our strength was in our fitness, the speed/hill train-ing we did, and our ability to “outsprint at the finish.”

The girls maintained their fourth place standing after day two of racing. But the boys, after establishing a team strategy, stuck together, stayed with the plan and moved up in placings to tie for first place and win the meet using our fifth place runner. It was an incredible meet for all the boys and girls.

Congratulations to Kelly Hillgren, Chris Hoza, Austin Purvis, Jacob Muratov and Sergey Mann for placing in the top ten.

Coaches: Morgan and Natasha

running to new bests!

HS MUNOur students fielded a strong team for the Paris Model United Nations. Our group stretched from grade 9 through 12 and each contributed to our success. Our delegation was also able to nominate two chairs and this honor was easily well earned as they did a splendid job in their committees. It was generally held that our delegation was amongst the best as they came with good preparation and skills, and they were noticed in most of the commit-tees. Mr. Pickering, Mr. Mooney and Ms. Brown are to be thanked for assisting the students in being able to distinguish them-selves at this conference.

Unfortunately due to the packed schedule, we were not able to visit the lovely city of Paris, but there will always be next year! A special thanks to support from the Penguin Life department as without them none of this would have been possible.MUN Director Mr. Kenny

The first ever MS CEESA Robotics team of AAS, comprised of eight 6th and 7th grade students, travelled to the Interna-tional School of Helsinki in Finland, November 29-December 2. AAS students competed against 14 teams in total. Some teams were ‘rookie’ teams like ours, while others had a few years of experience going into the competition.

After 3 rounds of competition, our 2 AAS teams were ranked #3 and #4 out of the 14 teams! What an accomplishment! Their leadership, teamwork, and problem solving abilities en-abled them to perform well under pressure. The round-robin tournament eliminated both teams in the first round, but our students watched and cheered on their new friends as teams advanced through the competition. AAS is proud of these fine

MS Robotics

in Paris

travel to Helsinki!

young people and their performance in this event.At its basic level, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) is a program of exploration for 9 to 16 year olds which is designed to get children excited about science and tech-nology— and teach them valuable employment and life skills. Teams, comprised of up to 8 children with at least one adult coach, can participate at a tournament level. Through the Robot Game teams build and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS technol-ogy to score points in 2.5 minute matches on a themed playing field. This year’s theme was “Senior Challenges”, aimed at serving senior citizens. Throughout their work on the Robot Game, teams are guided by the FLL Core Values to build teamwork skills and make this a great experience for everyone involved! Coaches: Fogel and Brown

After weeks of intense preparation, four 8th grad-ers, two 7th graders, and two 6th graders traveled to Vienna to compete in the CEESA Speech and Debate Tournament. Four students made it into the finals and the other four were heartbreakingly close to making the finals. One student, 6th grader Brian Choi, eventually won a second place medal for his original oratory. 104 students from eleven schools competed in the event, so making the finals and win-ning in one event is an amazing accomplishment for a young team.

MS Speech and Debate

This year’s Speech and Debate team had a very successful trip to Riga. After eight weeks of intensive work, the Moscow team walked away with medals in four out of five categories! The Debate team of Masha Vernik and Marina Zabelina took second in a close argument over the use of torture. Sasha Parodi had great success in two categories; she took second place in Oral Interpretation with a very funny piece on skiing and second in Original Oratory with a humorous take on leav-

ing high school. Masha Vernik also took third in Original Oratory with a witty and sarcastic case for Barbie as the ideal woman. Maria Epishkina earned a third-place medal in Impromptu speech with an analysis of

HS Speech and Debate

We are so incredibly proud of every one of our verbal warriors. Each improved more than we could have ever hoped for when we began the season. Our learning curve was steep, yet conquerable, because the team worked hard and pulled together to do their best and to support each other as we prepared for the finals. We have all come out ahead. The kids looked great, were well-mannered, and displayed excellent sportsmanship throughout the event. It is an experience they are certain to remember. Donna Moreau and Ashley Fox

loneliness and, finally, Annie May impressed the judges and earned a first-place medal for her Im-promptu on how reality television reinforces stereotypes.

The team performed very well and had a wonderful time in Riga. They are already planning and preparing for next year’s competi-tion.

Coaches: Patrice MacPherson and Colleen Nelson

HS HOSICThe CEESA HOSIC (Hands On Student Involvement Conference) event has culminated in a full weekend of presentations at the International School of Prague. The conferences from our students were remark-able; one group focused their efforts on the influence of hip hop and product placement, while the other group focused on viral videos. Both groups did much more than a presentation of information. They set out to answer a particular research question under the theme of entertainment by researching a variety of sources, including interviewing other students here at AAS. As a coach, I could not have been more proud of their presenta-tions. On a side note, the host families were overtly thankful for the outstanding behavior of our school’s students. One par-ent even went out of their way to say, “We have hosted for years and these are the most polite students we have ever encountered.”

From the meaningful presenta-tions to the outstanding be-havior, they made their peers, parents and teachers proud.

Coach: Rick Smith

Hands On StudentInvolvement Conference

no NOwater? PROBLEM!

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More than 50 Penguin Swim Team members participated in dry land training since Septem-ber 14. Practices took place three times per week. The students participated in a variety of cardio, strength, balance and core exercises which will allow them to return to the water in great shape!

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E We’re happy to inform you the grouting work has been completed, clean up has been done, and balancing of the water chemistry and temperature is finished. The pool was reopened this past Monday, December 17. We'll see EVERYONE in the pool in the new year!

Thank you for your understanding during the unexpected closure of the pool! We appreciate your support!

Regrouting work.Photo taken by Grade 11 student, Max Lifflander

just add water!Penguin Swim Team 2012-2013

Calendar 2013-2014

Semester I 95 daysQuarter I: August 20 - October 25 47 days Quarter II: November 5 - January 31 48 daysSemester II 85 daysQuarter III: February 3 - April 11 43 daysQuarter IV: April 21 - June 19 42 days

AAS Campus is officially closed on November 4, December 31, January 1, January 7 and May 9.

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2619125

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

312417103

August

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2518114

2619125

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

312417103

2619125

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

312417103

2518114

231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

2821147

221581

2720136

2821147

29221581

30231692

312417103

2518114

2619125

S M T W T F S

1-2 Admin Retreat5-13 New Faculty Orientation14-16 Faculty In-Service

17 New Family Orientation19 Open House20 First Day of School

3 Faculty In-Service, No School for Students4 No School25 End of Quarter I28-31 Autumn Break- No School

1 Autumn Break - No School4 National Day of Unity - No School

20-31 Winter Break - No School

17-21 February Break - No School

11 End of Quarter III14-18 Spring Break - No School

8 Faculty In-Service, No School for Students9 Victory Day - No School

19 End of Quarter IV & Semester II Last Day of School for Students20 Last Day of School for Faculty

1-10 Winter Break - No School31 End of Quarter II & Semester I

221581

231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

29 302821147

221581

231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

29 30 312821147

231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

2821147

29221581

30 31

29221581

30231692

2417103

2518114

2619125

2720136

2821147

6 Faculty In-Service, No School for Students7 International Women’s Day observed - No School

September

November

December

January

October

February

March

April

May

June

Approved by the AAS Board of Directors, April 2012

9

Sept

embe

r201

4S

MT

WT

FS

13

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

30

Oct

ober

2014

TT

FS

14

56

78

910

1112

1314

1517

1920

2123

2425

2627

2830

31

Nov

embe

r201

4S

MT

WT

FS 1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

30

Dec

embe

r201

4S

MT

WT

FS

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

2526

2728

2930

31

Janu

ary

2015

SM

TW

TF

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

3031

Febr

uary

2015

S 1M

TW

TF

S2

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

2526

2728

Mar

ch20

15S 1

MT

WT

FS

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

3031

Apr

il20

15S

MT

WT

FS

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

2526

2728

2930

May

2015

SM

TW

TF

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

3031

June

2015

SM

TW

TF

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

30

July

2015

SM

TW

TF

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

3031

Aug

ust1

3,14

,15

Facu

ltyIn

-Ser

vice

Aug

ust1

6N

ewFa

mily

Orie

ntat

ion

Aug

ust1

8O

pen

Hou

seA

ugus

t19

Firs

tDay

ofS

choo

l

Oct

ober

2Fa

culty

In-S

ervi

ce;N

oS

choo

lfor

Stu

dent

sO

ctob

er3

No

Sch

ool

Oct

ober

24E

ndof

Qua

rter1

Oct

ober

27-3

1A

utum

nB

reak

:No

Sch

ool

Dec

embe

r19-

31W

inte

rBre

ak:N

oS

choo

l

Janu

ary

1-9

Win

terB

reak

:No

Sch

ool

Janu

ary

30E

ndof

Qua

rter2

and

Sem

este

rI

Febr

uary

23-2

7Fe

brua

ryB

reak

:No

Sch

ool

Mar

ch6

Facu

ltyIn

-Ser

vice

:No

Sch

oolf

orS

tude

nts

Mar

ch9

Int’l

Wom

en’s

Day

Obs

erve

d:N

oS

choo

l

Apr

il10

End

ofQ

uarte

r3A

pril

13-1

7S

prin

gB

reak

:No

Sch

ool

May

7Fa

culty

In-S

ervi

ce:N

oS

choo

lfor

Stu

dent

sM

ay8

Vic

tory

Day

Obs

erve

d:N

oS

choo

l

June

17E

ndof

Qua

rter4

and

Sem

este

rII

June

17La

stD

ayof

Sch

oolf

orS

tude

nts

June

18La

stD

ayof

Sch

oolf

orFa

culty

AA

SC

ampu

sis

offic

ially

clos

edon

Dec

embe

r31

Janu

ary

1Ja

nuar

y7

Mar

ch8

May

9

CA

LEN

DA

R20

14-2

015

DR

AFT

Last

upda

ted:

Oct

ober

12,2

012

Aug

ust2

014

SM

TW

TF

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

2021

2223

2425

2627

2829

3031

Sem

este

rI96

days

Qua

rter1

:Aug

ust1

9-O

ctob

er24

47da

ysQ

uarte

r2:N

ovem

ber3

-Jan

uary

3049

days

Sem

este

rII

84da

ysQ

uarte

r3:F

ebru

ary

2-A

pril

1043

days

Qua

rter4

:Apr

il20

-Jun

e17

41da

ys

SM

W2

3

1618

22 29

2

PLEASE GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON THIS DRAFT CALENDAR BY COMPLETING A SURVEY

FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING LINK.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/calendar2014