Tirana International School 13 February 2018 Important Dates February 11-15 - Math Week 11-14 - Middle States Accreditation Team in Tirana 18-22 - Mid/Winter Break, No School 28 - End of 3rd Quintile 28-3 March - CEESA Swimming in Kyiv, Ukraine March 6 - MS/Sec Assembly 7-10 - CEESA HS Boys Basketball/Tbilisi 7-10 - CEESA HS Girls Basketball Prague 8 - End of Second Round of Activities 10 - SAT 14 - Summer's Day - No School 15 - Staff Professional Development Day - No School 20 - Elementary SO Assembly Director's Desk Dear Parents, Students, and Friends of TIS, Over the last two weeks, the community has gone out of its way to provide a warm welcome to visitors to the school. Last weekend, TIS hosted the CEESA Speech and Debate conference, allowing our community to interact with students from other international schools in Zagreb, Warsaw, Bratislava and Bucharest. All of these outstanding young people were hosted by you, our TIS families. Reports from the schools are overflowing with thanks for the amazing hospitality and friendly atmosphere that you provided. This week, TIS is hosting our MSA accreditation team visit with a fantastic team (pictured above) of educators from Europe (Spain), Africa (Tunisia), and Asia (Saudi Arabia). Over the last three days, they have observed classes, talked with students, interviewed parents, reviewed documentation and met with each teacher. On Thursday, the team will deliver a final report on their evaluation of the school and provide guidance on the future of the school. We are thankful for their time and expertise in helping TIS to be a better school. As a reminder, there is no school next week as we have our February break. Get your rest and enjoy being together! Looking Forward, Robert S. Jackson, Director CEESA MS Choir in Moscow The CEESA MS Choir team traveled to Moscow to participate with 101 students from 11 schools. The students learned 8 songs in 3 parts and practiced several hours a day to prepare for the final concert on Saturday. Two of our 5 students were also selected to sing solos. You can see the final concert here. Congratulations for their hard work and dedication which resulted in an outstanding performance. Influential Political Thinkers Students in World Government have begun their study with a look at influential political thinkers. Understanding the foundations of political thought and theory will help students discuss and debate throughout the year. Students also took a political spectrum quiz to help them understand their own political views. Eat it, Print it! IE students are learning about plants, how they grow and what their needs are. After reading the book Eat It, Print It, we paint printed different fruit and vegetables on paper. Students had a lot of fun printing and talking about them! Writing CAN be Fun! Secondary students attending the Creative Writing class are writing stories from different points of view while having a clear structure and audience in mind. They have come up with some very interesting stories. Good job, everyone! Studying Plants The Six-Year-Old class is studying plants during Science class. We are identifying and counting leaves, flowers, and stems, and learning the structure and function of each plant part. 100 Days of school from our 6 Year Old Class A Wrinkle in Time 10 Black has recently finished a unit in Literacy class which had focused on the genres of science fiction and fantasy. We read the novel, A Wrinkle in Time, together and students worked pairs or individually to create projects that would review major concepts of the book. Here, students are playing a very creative game created by Shilo and Miles. Learning New Things
Russian intro students finished the unit "Family" and competed who knew more adjectives. All the students found out how to "turn a cat into a mouse and a goat into a wolf. Interdisciplinary Learning The 12 YO class is studying Ancient Greece in Cultural Studies class and writing research papers on topics related to ancient Greece in Writing class. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students examine central themes from different perspectives and develop integrative, transferable, and critical thinking skills. Furthermore, student engagement is increased when students have the opportunity to delve deeply into a topic of interest. The Power of a Paraprofessional It is with great enthusiasm that I teach for an organization and school who strives for small class sizes and values paraprofessionals in the classroom. Our paraprofessionals bring so much to our children's lives daily - their passion for education, knowledge, enthusiasm, and love of children. Our paraprofessionals engage with students, helping the teacher to ensure that each student gets individual attention. Our paraprofessionals are trained and supported by teachers and administration. Today we would like to say, "Thank you for all that you do." We Love Food The Five year old class just started their favorite unit in French class, the FOOD. Students are enjoying learning the names of the fruits through different activities like: videos, flash-cards, coloring, drawing the favorite fruit, making fruit masks, etc. They started to learn a new song “J’aime les fruits” (I love fruits). At the end of the unit we are going to play the blind taste game with real fruits, dancing and singing the new song. They are really enjoying this unit. Choices The Ladybugs are now doing a unit on "Choices". This week they are learning about "Thoughtful Choices", working on making patterns, and learning about numbers. It has been a busy time at TIS recently as many of our students and teachers have been on the road attending CEESA trips throughout Europe. CEESA events allow our students the opportunity to showcase their skills in international competitions and build camaraderie with peers from other international schools. The MS Choir just returned from a trip to Moscow. Our very own Ms. Jenny Wheelis served as guest conductor for this event. Ms. Wheelis expertly conducted the Choir that included over 100 Members. Great Job! Our HS Knowledge Bowl teams traveled to Skopje, Macedonia from January 31- February 3. The competition was fierce with the difference in scores between the teams being only a few points. Our students competed well throughout the event and returned home with the CEESA Fair Play award. The MS Math Counts team got to explore Belgrade and participate in an amazing event from January 31 to February 3. Congratulations to Yeji Name and Emir San who placed 4th and 6th respectively. Mr. Panetta and Ms. Peshku recently coached our HS Robotics Team as they competed against 9 other international schools in Bucharest, Romania. Our team finished 4th and returned home with the Connect Award. Great work! On February 7-10, TIS hosted the HS Speech and Debate Tournament. Five schools participated in the 2-day event. Students Competed in Debate, Original Oratory, Duet Acting, Oral Interpretation, and Impromptu Speaking. Congratulations to Yoonji, Dasha, and Antea who earned medals in their respective events. Once again, thanks to all host families who housed our guests during the event. Coming up soon . . . CEESA MS/HS Swimming in Kiev and CEESA HS Girls Basketball in Sarajevo! I would kindly ask you to take a few minutes to read through this survey regarding TIS Transportation Service. The purpose of this survey is to determine your satisfaction with Bus Service and identify areas for improvement. Thank you in advance for your participation. MSA Accreditation Thank you to all of the parents that were able to make it to the MSA meeting with the visiting team on Monday. On Thursday, the team will deliver their final report to the school regarding our status and desire for re-accreditation! Parents, TIS is excited to announce our winter Saturday Sports Program. TIS will offer a six-week gymnastics and basketball program for our students from ages 5-13. Dates: February 2, 16 March 2 Gymnastics for ages 5-7 will run from 9:00 until 10:00 Gymnastics for ages 8-13 will run from 10:00 until 11:00 Basketball for ages 8-10 will run from 9:00 until 10:00 Basketball for ages 5-7 will run from 10:00 until 11:00 Basketball for ages 11-13 will run from 11:00 until 12:00 The cost for the gymnastics is 6000 Leke for the six-week session. Payment will be made directly to the coaches at the first session. The gymnastics training will be conducted by 3 coaches with extensive experience in the United States and Albania. There is no cost for the basketball program. Both programs are open to boys and girls. The schedule has been organized so that children may participate in both activities. Registration for the Saturday Sports program can be completed by filling out the Google form HERE We have a new website where you can look through the items and see if you find anything that belongs to you. |