On February 28 and 29, twenty-one Lower School staff members participated in an International Bacalaureate Primary Years Program workshop held at the high school computer lab. Led by Ms. Suzanne Tomlinson from Tashkent International School and Mr. Lief Erickson from International School of Lausanne, our staff participated in a variety of activities designed to deepen their understanding of the Primary Years Program. Topics that were explored included assessment in the PYP, inquiry learning and concept-driven instruction, and planning for integrating the essential elements of the PYP in the entire curriculum. It was a busy and productive weekend, that left participants equipped with many ideas for ways that we can continue to enhance the PYP at the Lower School. We are grateful to our workshop leaders for providing their expertise, and to the workshop participants for their commitment to continual improvement of the quality of our instructional program.
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- March 2, 2010 – 10:00 am
- Author:
- By Tim Moynihan
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Yesterday I did a round of observations during the morning block at the High School. Periodically, I post photos and comments on the blog to give the community a glimpse into everyday life at the secondary schools.
Dr. Lilly works with the Grade 11 students about Alcohol Awareness
Grade 10 English class was doing a character analysis of Carl Stephenson’s short story, “Leiningen versus the Ants.” The story is of a plantation owner in Brazil who battles army ants. Mr. Rubin was discussing the similarities and differences of school children daily reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a USA democracy and the Hitler Youth organization pledges of Nazi Germany’s fascist government in 10th grade Humanities. The Grade 11 Russian ab initio class was going over a worksheet of terminology dealing with sports. The A2 English students were outlining their assessments schedule for the next month. The students are making presentations with the theme, “media power political propaganda.” The idea was to write down the things they need to do to alleviate stress and improve their organizational skills. The grade 11 students were attending an alcohol awareness seminar hosted by the school nurses. The English B students were preparing for oral exams. Vilmos had the topic, “some things do not change” and then his classmates gave him helpful suggestions for improvement. The Grade 9 Drama class was watching the movie “Sweeney Todd” as an example of a musical.
Martin completes his work in charcoal
- Published:
- February 24, 2010 – 6:41 am
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- By Bill Kralovec
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Today, students in the primary grades celebrated the 100th day of the school year by discovering answers to the question “How Much is 100?” Pictured here are pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students playing with 100 balloons in our multipurpose room.
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- February 8, 2010 – 1:38 pm
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- By Tim Moynihan
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Grade 4 Students celebrating Slava
Grade 4 Student Inventions
On Wednesday January 27, our Serbian Mother Tongue students celebrated St. Sava Day by preparing a traditional Slava for our students in grades 4 & 5. Our students learned about the Serbian Patron Saint of Schools, and about the tradition of the Serbian Orthodox Slava.
As the culminating activity of their PYP Unit “Technology & Inventions” grade four students sponsored the annual “Invention Convention” at which they presented original inventions – complete with technical drawings and written owner’s manuals.
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- January 29, 2010 – 11:48 am
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- By Tim Moynihan
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Grade 7 Humanities Class Studies Egyptian Art
The sixth grade science class is studying the mining industry as part of study of geology or earth science. Ms. Medenica was introducing the topic of mining and used video, slides, and smart board presentations to make an emotional and visual impact on the students. The first exposure to a topic is important and it is vital that a teacher use an engaging method. During the unit, the more different ways a teacher can present a topic, the more learning will take place. That is the beauty of technology.
Every class I sat in on today was using the data projector to expose students to ideas. Ms. Moore in Humanities class had the class analyze examples of Egyptian art, Ms. Jackson had a quiz game to review for a test in mathematics., etc. Our 1-to-1 laptop program next year will easily fit in to the teaching styles of our staff and the learning styles of our students.
In Performing Arts, the students were using 1950-60 pop music songs to write a script for short play. For example, one group had the teenage tragedy song, Teen Angel, which was #1 on Billboard’s chart in the USA in February of 1960. They were having fun with melodrama of the themes of the song. Their scene was to be what happened before the song was written.
Snow Soccer At Lunch
In English as an Additional Language class, the students after their journal writing, watched a movie trailer from the English Language Learning website, Learn English – Feel Good and answered the questions. A fun way to learn English.
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- January 28, 2010 – 3:36 pm
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- By Bill Kralovec
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Ranka Markovic
This is another post in the series of profiles of employees of ISB. Ranka is the MS custodian.
She is originally from Požega and she came to Belgrade 8 years ago. She has a daughter, Marija age 30 and she works as a secretary/office manager at the Clinical Center in Belgrade. Her son, Nikola, age 26 is studying in graphic design and works part-time at Tempo. Ranka has worked at ISB for seven years. The first two years she was in the high school and the last five in the Middle School. She likes working at the school and they are very good employer. She rents an apartment and it is important that she receives a regular salary. She enjoys meeting people from all over the world and is saddened when people leave the school. She forms strong bonds with the kids and she sometimes cries at the end of the year when they leave. On weekends she enjoys to spend time with friends, shopping, and especially artistic painting, etc. She also visits her father and extended family in Pozega several times per year. She enjoys her life in Belgrade and appreciates the economic opportunities in Belgrade. She reports that many of her friends have left her village also.
We appreciate her hard work and kind-hearted nature at the Middle School.
Tagged: middle school, ranka
- Published:
- January 21, 2010 – 2:40 pm
- Author:
- By Bill Kralovec
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I was in the Middle School last week and observed several classes.
The Smart Board is Great for Mathematics Courses
The grade 7 mathematics students were using a “smart board” to explore the relationship between area and perimeter. Two of the students are shown working on the smart board with our Technology Integration Specialist, Mr. Paul McKenzie. The class was full of “oohs” and “aaahs” when the ruler tool was used and perimeter could be calculated on the board.
MS Counselor Denise Granai Teaches Citizenship to Seventh Graders
I also sat in on a special lunchtime session for the seventh graders. We have been working with them on social ettiquette with the goal to improve the group dynamics in this class. We hope eventually it will lead to more focused learning by the students. This particular session’s lesson was about listening skills and asking for help.
Besides the above classes, I watched the sixth grade Spanish class produce a video, all in Spanish, of course. I also watched an EAL teacher work individually a student. He learned the words charcoal and leisurely while I was there.
Lots going on as always and I look forward to my next round of observations.
Tagged: middle school
- Published:
- January 18, 2010 – 12:37 pm
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- By Bill Kralovec
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Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Our Middle School English teacher, Amy White, attended the Richmond Forum this weekend. The Richmond Forum brings speakers to Richmond, Virginia. The latest was author, Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea” and “Stones into Schools” two books about starting schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The grade students are reading “Three Cups of Tea” and prepared questions to be answered by the author. Amy’s participation in the forum was featured in the Richmond Forum blog. Excerpts from the post which includes photos are below.
Two people who will be in the Richmond Forum audience for the Greg Mortenson program Saturday night (January 9th) are Amy White and Drew Austen, both Richmonders currently on a two-year teaching assignment at the International School of Belgrade in Serbia. Both teachers delayed their flight back to Serbia after the holidays by one day so they could be sure to have the opportunity to hear Greg Mortenson speak here…
They focused on two major themes, the idea of a modern hero and how the concept applies to Greg Mortenson, and looking at the world from a global perspective, using newspaper articles to learn more about current events in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and studying the geography of the region.
When classes resume after the holidays, students will begin to write about their own lives and explore how they have impacted those around them. They were also inspired to begin their own service project related to an issue of local concern, and will be raising money for one of the only animal rescue shelters in Belgrade…”
Tagged: amy, author, Greg, middle school, Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea, white
- Published:
- January 11, 2010 – 5:48 am
- Author:
- By Bill Kralovec
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- Published:
- December 18, 2009 – 1:03 pm
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- By Tim Moynihan
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Freshmen Students in an English Exam
Despite the tremendous amounts of snow and poor road conditions, the high school students have valiently braved the conditions to take the exams. We are half way through the exams and the students are doing well. We finish the first semester before Christmas holidays so when they come back in January it is a fresh start.
View of the HS Campus from the Roof
Tagged: exams, snow
- Published:
- December 16, 2009 – 2:55 pm
- Author:
- By Bill Kralovec
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