The third week of 2019 brought new challenges, debates and lots of learning to AIS! Here is a little bit of what’s been going on in the PYP: 

Students in Grade 2A and 2B made roofs with different materials for Minions that are moving to Norway. They tested the roofs to check if they are strong and waterproof to cope with the local environment for the unit of inquiry "Where we are in place and time", see above. 

Grade 3 had a wonderful trip to the Fram Museum to learn about Polar exploration, looking at the challenges they faced, their reasons for exploration and the tools they used. It was a fantastic day!

In learning about the American Revolution, Grade 4 conducted a mock trial between the British and the American colonists. During the trial the British and the colonists presented their arguments about whether the British were taxing the colonists unfairly and the student jury had to decide on a verdict. In Art, our Grade 4 students learned how to create an informative poster about a revolutionary and the goals of a revolution. They chose Lenin and symbols of the Russian Revolution for a collaborative exercise. 

A new year begins and at AIS the first week of 2019 was already a busy one. All classes from Grades 3-5 will be having music lessons with a range of different instruments, using the EC-Play system. Class 3b became the very first formal music class, pictured above. Exciting times!

Grade 6 were introduced to their new Design unit. In this unit, students will be challenged to program a drone to complete an obstacle course.  As an introduction to the unit, Grade 6 learned about rules and safety for flying drones at the school and then each had a turn at flying one.

In Mandarin lessons this week, Grade 7 students have been talking about Beijing opera and learning the meaning of colors used in Beijing opera facial masks. Students have worked on designing a Beijing opera mask for the character role they have chosen.

Grade 8 started their China unit this week - an interdisciplinary unit with English. They started up with looking at different pictures representing China, and the students were creating inquiry geographical questions.   

Grade 8 was introduced to GeoGebra in maths. Hopefully they will see it as a good tool to have during their Coordinate Geometry unit. 

Grade 10 started a new unit this week - European Imperialism: Empire and Expansion. As an opener, they inquired into the idea of Power. Some students collaborated together in a mind map.

What an exciting start to the second half of this school year!