This week, our school was certified as a Dyslexia-friendly school! We had a recognition ceremony where we welcomed the Mayor of Asker, Lene Conradi and Dysleksi Norge at our assembly on Monday morning, above is a picture of the day.

Thanks to all the parents who joined Mr Jonathan and Mr Robert for the first of our PYP parent meetings last week. Your reflections and input were really useful in helping us think about how we communicate what we do. If you would like to add your input on the subjects we discussed, please use this Google form: https://forms.gle/KnrUsyGtabHWSuk8A

Grade 4 took to drama to explore their new unit. They did an activity called ‘hot seating’ where the students had to transform into a person that was affected by a conflict between two fictitious countries. They then had to improvise to answer questions from their peers which gave the students different perspectives from the people involved.

Under 8's Day was a huge success due to Grade 6 taking complete ownership of the event. Grade 6 students were organised, enthusiastic, supportive and caring. Grade 1 and 2 had an awesome day and left with huge smiles on their faces. Thank you to all the teachers and parent volunteers for your support. 

In connection with their survival unit Grade 8 had a visit from Anne Lise (parent) who led a presentation on essential first aid. Being a registered nurse Anne Lise was able to share her knowledge in an interesting manner while giving the students skills that could potentially save a life. Thank you Anne Lise. 

In Science this week, Grade 9 started to prepare for their summative assessment by tracking the progress of an enzyme-controlled reaction. We measured how well amylase (the enzyme in saliva) breaks down starch at different pHs. Students discovered that amylase works best at neutral or slightly alkaline pHs, see image above. Our next investigation will involve the liver enzyme catalase and seeing how it is affected by temperature. 

Grade 7 have been learning about Body Systems in their current unit and last week they dissected a heart. They saw that the thickness of the walls of the heart is different in different parts of the heart and explored the 4 chambers and valves inside the heart. Very careful and precise dissection skills from the students in our Science class. 

In Art, Grade 6 had the great opportunity to work alongside artist Sophie Rodin and to participate in her Asker-wide book project My Book, My Voice. The core of this project is to create a story based on the drawings they created under the instruction of the artist. A big thanks to Sophie Rodin!

There has been lots happening during the last couple of weeks at AIS. The chess team played really well at the chess championship this weekend - with AIS coming 21st place with 5 points! For most of the team it was their first 3-day tournament and for a Grade 6 student it was his first ever chess tournament which makes it all the more impressive. Above is a picture of some of the team members, well done! ♟

The Grade 5 students presented a version of The Lorax before the exhibition. The exhibition was a culmination of hard work and effort from the Grade 5 students. 

At AIS we celebrated World Book Day April 24th, 2019. A huge thank you to our parent volunteers in Grade 1 during AIS World Book Day. The children loved having you share your stories with them.

Last week in Mandarin lessons, Grade 6 students played a memory game to review and consolidate the new words they have learned in this unit in order to prepare them for their summative assessment. The students had an exciting experience playing the game.

Grade 2 have been presenting all their learning from their inquiry into how the world works. Students collaborated in pairs to demonstrate an experiment that shows a changing state of matter. The demonstrations also included posters and Google Slides presentations. We loved watching each other's presentations and filmed them to share with our parents on Seesaw. 

At the moment all staff members are taking part in an AIS Staff Get Active program. It is based around encouraging one another to be involved in any type of physical activity. To involve the students we have a fun competition during every Monday's assembly so they can also see teachers being risk takers and stepping out of their comfort zone. This week’s activity was a squat challenge.