Novelty

Action, Building, Novelty, Spirit
21 Nov 2019

AISB’s first student-written theater production, Brainstorm, picked up by The Bite

The American International School of Bucharest presents "Brainstorm" by arrangement with Nick Hern Books. "Brainstorm" is an Original Playscript developed by Ned Glasier, Emily Lim, and Company Three, with original material devised by the AISB cast. The play will premiere at the AISB Theater on Thursday, November 21 at 18:00 and another performance is scheduled for Friday, November 22 at 16:30. The first ever script to be written by AISB students, 'Brainstorm' explores the concept of teenage identity, by tackling the subject of daily teenage lives and emotions of different individuals of various ages. Join us to watch this moving rendering of adolescent day-to-day story, as told and acted by our very own AISB students! Lauren D., reporting for AISB's newspaper, the Bite, has picked up this story and tells us all about 'Brainstorm' at AISB. Check out an excerpt below and read more at:
Guidance, Learning, Novelty
24 Oct 2019

How do Music and Math Fit Together?

Led by Mr. Lawson and Mr. Lacher, students in Grade 5 are learning about the different kinds of musical note values and the duration of each note. The teachers are taking this opportunity to authentically inquire into the mathematical concept of fractions, as applied in music. As students were introduced to musical note values, they folded and cut paper to create strips that showed the fractional relationship between the note values. Yigit in 5KM explained it by saying, “A whole note is four beats, so a half note is two beats. A quarter note is one beat or half of a half note, so that’s why we call it a quarter note. We’re doing fraction work in our classroom too, and it’s cool because I love math and now I’m doing both.”  After making the paper note values, students spent time arranging them into four-beat measures to create a four-measure…
Guidance, Learning, Novelty
19 Sep 2019

Diving Deeper Into Learning About Culture: Grade 2’s Amazing Cultural Race

Grade 2 students have been inquiring into different cultural perspectives that influence the way people express and understand ideas.  The children were given the opportunity to play the Amazing Cultural Race. They had to “travel” to multiple countries, where they were to perform specific tasks together. These challenges were related to a culture of that country. One destination was Kenya where they did the Maasai dance, another destination was New Zealand where they watched the Haka and posed “Haka style”. They also were shown the ‘hongi: a sacred Maori greeting from New Zealand. In their visit to Bhutan, they had to respectfully refuse cookies offered to them (the Bhutanese manner) by saying ‘“meshu, meshu”. Another destination was Malaysia where they played a bean bag game called Batu Seremban and when they went to Japan, they wrote the word peace in Japanese after learning the story of Sadako Sasaki. A final…
Building, Novelty, Spirit
12 Sep 2019

Our Game of Stereotypes

In these early days of school, we find ourselves introducing ourselves a lot. Of course, the conversation starter is often, ‘And where are you from?’ Then we refer to our place of birth and our passport(s) to describe ourselves. For many of us, these labels feel inadequate. We become part of a game of stereotypes. We rarely have time – even if anyone is listening - to describe the intricacies of our culture and personal experience. It’s just easier for me to say, ‘I’m English’. We want to give others something easy to relate to, even if this can be at the expense of the truth.  We have a complicated relationship with the concept of stereotypes. On the one hand, we know that the word itself is a pejorative. It is wrong to stereotype other people and put them into a two-dimensional box. Yet, our brains are excellent pattern recognition…
Action, Learning, Novelty
04 Sep 2019

Why Sensory Corners are Game Changers in PE

The idea of creating a small Sensory Corner in the Elementary School Gym that we could use during PE lessons was born from observing our students' need to explore and develop physical skills all the while shifting perspective. This project is meant to support all students during physical activity and help them switch to a comforting and relaxing mood,  but in the meantime developing gross motor skills in a non-structured way. Who Benefits? All students benefit from sensory activities. Engaging activities that use the senses develop neural pathways in young children's brains. For students of all abilities, using a procedure or tool in our PE lesson that engages their senses can make a lesson more meaningful and memorable. All students may have different moments when they might need helping to calm down or to maintain focus, so learning how sensory activities can be included will only enrich our PE lessons.…
Building, Innovation, Novelty, Spirit
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28 Aug 2019

Cultures and Learning at AISB

International schools are truly remarkable human communities. Every school day, young people from all over our world walk through our doors bringing from home different languages, different habits for speaking and listening and very different social and cultural values. Every year, this extraordinary diversity is re-defined and renewed as over two hundred new students join our community. For some new families, AISB will feel familiar – another international school in an international life. For other families, who have moved from their home country to Bucharest, the norms of AISB may feel very strange indeed.  We are used to measuring this diversity in numbers of nationalities on campus. We have sixty flags represented at AISB. Yet, I don’t believe that such a number does justice to the richness of perspectives in our school. Our cultural diversity is so much more interesting and relevant.  Culture is one of those words in the…
Building, Innovation, Novelty
01 Mar 2016

Space to engage, prepare and inspire

The world around us is changing rapidly, almost too quickly for my liking, but those who stand still will be left behind as we track towards the future. The current campus has not really changed in the past sixteen years, whilst the world has. For our students to thrive and succeed, we will embrace change, attempt to anticipate what the future might be like in five, ten or twenty years’ time, and respond accordingly. Over the break I read a thought-provoking article that compared the Finnish educational system to that of the United States – not the first time that the Finnish programs have been lauded either! http://hechingerreport.org/how-finland-broke-every-rule-and-created-a-top-school-system/ Whilst the conclusions were not that dramatic – great teachers create dynamic classrooms that focus on student learning – the findings could quite easily be applied to the UK, Australian, New Zealand or Canadian educational systems. The Finnish system is not perfect;…
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Building, Innovation, Novelty
13 Oct 2015

Spaces that Enhance Learning

Every great school is replete with great teachers; teachers are the face of the school and they put the Mission and Vision into action in the classroom. Everyone understands the importance and effect of teachers on producing a successful learning environment. But how we resource our teachers, the quality of the educational materials, the depth of our professional development program, and the design of the teaching spaces also have a profound impact on the quality of the academic and social instruction. Last summer we made statements with regards to the importance of space in improving the ethos of our school; the all-weather pitch, an upgraded Physics laboratory, a redesigned cafeteria, improved admissions offices, and a restructured entry lobby that will improve entry security are all part of a series of facility developments that will enhance our students’ learning experience. The next phase will incorporate the building of an Early Childhood…
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Building, Innovation, Learning, Novelty
20 Aug 2015

Manners, Mastery and Meaning

Dear Parents, The start of the school year is always a busy time as changes to the campus come to completion and orientation sessions for new and returning faculty turn towards welcoming students for the first day of school. You will have received a number of emails from the Admissions Office detailing such changes, but I thought I would write about the philosophical underpinnings to the changes that we have been planning and implementing over the past nine months. You will notice the new all-weather field, upgraded Physics lab, new furniture appearing in classrooms, lockers for the elementary school students, an Admissions Office and IT Help Desk in the atrium and, until the Fall break, a temporary entrance to the school as we upgrade the main entrance to enhance the security process for visitors to AISB. Thus, we have begun a systematic upgrade of the physical resources, both within and…
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