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Anglo-American School of Sofia, P.O. Box 31, Sofia 1784, Bulgaria Phone: (+359 2) 923 8810, 923 8812 Fax: (+359 2) 923 8859
www.aas-sofia.org
Weekly Newsletter
From the Director’s Desk
AAS Sofia
Dear Anglo-American School Community / Уважаеми родители и приятели
на ААУ,
Something to Ponder
“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life
and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no
reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.” - Tecumseh
There is no school Thursday (November 27) and Friday (November 28) as the
school observes the USA Thanksgiving. While this Thursday is designated as a
day of thanks in the United States of America, giving thanks transcends
national boundaries. Fortunately, we have much to be thankful for at AAS, in
Sofia and in greater Bulgaria. Happy, healthy children certainly rank extremely
high when giving thanks . May this long weekend provide you, your family
and your friends many opportunities for grace.
Visitors on Campus Next Week
From December 1 to December 4 we will have two visitors on campus – Ms.
Monica Greeley and Mr. Terrance Gale. Ms. Greeley is with an organization
called the Council of International Schools (CIS). Mr. Gale is with the New
England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Their visit to AAS is part
of our school’s accreditation protocol. If you would like to learn more about
the various organizations who accredit, authorize and support AAS, please
see the following link – AAS Accreditation, Authorization, Membership and
Affiliations.
Wishing everyone a pleasant long weekend,
In Partnership and Gratitude,
Jim
Jim Urquhart
Director - Anglo-American School of Sofia
26 Nov: First
School Trimester
ends
27 Nov:
Thanksgiving
Holiday
4 Dec: PK-2
Dance Program
@18:30
5 Dec: Gr.11 Silver
Tray
Inside the issue:
1. From the Director’s
Desk
2. ES News
3. This Week @the
Library
4. Students Share:
technology @French
5. Students Share:
Robotics
6. News from
Secondary Athletics/
Activities
7. PTO
8. Announcements
9. FAQ
10. Gallery of the
Week
Upcoming Events
Volume 21, Issue 14 Nov. 26, 2014
AAS
Weekly ES News
2
Kindergartens Solve Construction Challenge
From idea, to design conception, to realization, this project was lead by child
inquiry. How could we build a mini-island? Having returned from a holiday on a
Greek island in the summer, one of our Kindergarten students has been inviting other
children to recreate an island since we came back to school. First it began in the
sand in the playground, and continued to become a greater and greater dilemma
as the gardeners would rake it away each night. Having had no success in stopping
the gardeners through a campaign of letter writing, the children began to recreate
a new world with the construction elements in our explore area.
After a series of lessons and experiments in scientific inquiry from Anne Jahnke,
Science and Math Specialist, our Kindergarten children designed and began to
build. Living the mission and meeting the curriculum standards, our 5 - 6 year olds
are 'finding solutions'.
The new mini-island is now open for play, and everyone is welcome to come enjoy
the KA and KB creation!
AAS
Weekly ES News
3
This Week @ the Library
Parents, the AAS Library has a new section completely devoted to you! Stop by
and check out a book from our NEW Parent Resource Center. With gracious
donations from Ms. Laura Markov, ES Counselor, and a re-shelving of books already
in the collection, this new section is dedicated to helping you find the parenting
resources you need. Books and CD’s on topics such as Love & Logic, social issues,
parenting a teen, helping with homework, and raising children with values can all
be found here.
AAS
Weekly Students Share: Technology @French
4
Grade 5 students taught ECIS conference attendees in Nice over Skype!
On Saturday, November 22, seven Grade 5 students from Ms. Pavlova’s
Intermediate French class presented at the
annual ECIS Conference 2014 in Nice, France.
Our Grade 5 ‘technology leaders’ delivered a
remote interactive workshop on Coding and
Programming to ECIS conference attendees
from all around the world!
The session showcased collaborative work of
teachers and students in the integration of the
ISTE Standards into the Foreign Language
curriculum. Their session was titled “Students
Teaching Others How to Code and Program:
Employing students as technology leaders to
integrate Coding and Programming into the
curriculum and develop 21st Century literacies and learning skills.” During this
project ES Students from Ms. Pavlova’s Intermediate French class learned both
language and technology skills by preparing to teach others. They used age
appropriate coding and programming software to develop educational games
that help our younger students learn
French vocabulary related to weather
and clothes. These games are
available on our website:
www.learningbyteaching.weebly.com.
Students also acted as ‘technology
leaders’ by teaching Mr. Gagnon’s
students in the US how to code and
program so they can become
technology leaders in their school, as
well. The project reached its
culmination on November 22, when our
student-teachers’ delivered a remote
interactive workshop for the audience
in Nice.
The ECIS workshop consisted of three parts and continued for 135 minutes - an
opening session, an interactive workshops session and a closing session. At the
opening session, our seven Grade 5 students and Ms. Pavlova, who were at the
AAS campus in Bulgaria, connected through a Skype Video Conference with Ms.
Tareva and conference attendees in Nice and with Mr. Gagnon in the USA, to
share experiences of our Grade 5 project Coding & Programming @ French.
Students spoke from the learner’s perspective, Ms. Krasimira Pavlova (Bulgaria)
spoke from the perspective of a Foreign language teacher, Mr. Stephen Gagnon
(US) spoke from the perspective of a classroom teacher and Technology
Integrationist, Ms. Ralitsa Tareva (Bulgaria) introduced the technology integration
and the learning by teaching approach.
/Follows on the next page/
AAS
Weekly Students Share: Technology @French
5
During the Interactive Workshops our students taught the conference attendees
how to code and program via a Skype video conference using screenshare. They
invited the audience to split into three
groups and join one of their three
learning stations each designated to
showcase a coding&programming
software - Hopscotch, 2Code and
Scratch. Each audience group spent 15
minutes on a station and then moved to
the next one until everyone had visited
all stations. This was a hands on activity
including a problem solving task,
prepared by our students, that modeled
the actual teaching session we
delivered to Mr. Gagnon’s students in
the US.
Once all the audience had rotated to
each table, students, teachers and
conference attendees gathered back
together for a short Closing Session. All
of us, including our students, had an
open discussion where they had the
opportunity to ask questions and
generate ideas on possible future
integration of coding and
programming and the learning by
teaching approach in other
educational areas.
We have used this approach in
various projects in the past where
students acted as technology leaders
by teaching peers and adults including teachers, CTAs, parents and other
educators how to use ICT applications. The integration of Coding & Programming @
French and our US teaching sessions, however, marked the first application of this
approach virtually, via a video conference. Presenting at ECIS was the culminating
event for our students and we, as educators, are very proud of their achievement.
Students’ interviews, a photo and a video gallery will be published in the next Issue
on December 5. Follow us on AAS facebook, G+ and twitter.
AAS
Weekly Students Share: Lux
6
AAS
Weekly Students share: Robotics
7
MS ROBOTICS IN WARSAW November 2014
Participating in a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics competition is a demanding
task. There is a considerable time constraint. This happens because of the way FLL is
designed. Teams have the task of designing, building and programming a robot to
complete a series of missions on a 120
cm X 240 cm playing field. Each task pre-
sents challenges of accurate navigation,
delivery of objects and/ or movement of
objects. In addition, the teams need to
demonstrate a significant level of team
spirit and collaboration which is carefully
observed by judges and now you begin
to understand how much time and effort
it takes to be successful. To create an
even greater challenge, FLL only releases
the details of the mission in the first week
of September to ensure that each team
has an equal amount of time to create
their robots.
AAS MS ROBOTICS this year was repre-
sented by two teams of MS boys. Many hours of practice and dedication led these
boys to making the final team of ten students. We were very kindly hosted by the
American School of Warsaw. Eight schools and seventeen teams came together to
build innovative robots designed to score the most points possible in qualification
matches, elimination matches and skills challenges. In addition to having a great
time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the FLL robotics
competition and their work within their team, students walk away with valuable
academic and life skills.
Day 1 in Warsaw was awe-inspiring- the school, the greeting ceremony …
fabulous! Our two teams were impatient to get those bots in the game. Nourished
and excited, the first rounds came quickly. We were hoping for some cleaner runs
and the boys were hard in practice to achieve their potential. After twenty five ex-
haustingly exciting games the day was at its end. Day 2 in Warsaw started with
even more enthusiasm and sharing of reflective ideas. The first round quickly rolled
in. We had good chances for the finals and the boys were super concentrated and
focused, but tension and time restraints did get the best of us. Both of our teams
had robots and programs that had the potential of scoring better, but we were
never quite able to complete a clean run. It was a learning adventure for all!
While Bucharest took first, the AAS Sofia team walked away with the highly prized
Champions award in their hands. The Champions award considers all aspects of
the tournament - robot performance, mechanical design, programming and team-
work. We are extremely proud of the team and we were happy to coach them
towards the first FLL Championship 2014. We thank all of you for your support and
encouragement!
Coaches Jahnke and Deneva
AAS
Weekly Secondary Athletics/Activities
8
MS Boys Basketball Intramurals begin on Monday
Please be reminded that there will be basketball games during lunch in the Vitosha
gym every B and C days starting on Monday, December 1, 2014.
MS Boys Basketball Intramural Schedule
MS Basketball Invitational January 16 & 17, 2015
Mark it on your calendar! Please be reminded that we
will have a friendly invitational basketball tournament
for middle school boys and girls on January 16 and 17,
2015
HS Knowledge Bowl has started! Practices are every
Tuesday and Thursday from 3:45-5:15pm. Eight lucky
participants will be invited to compete in Budapest on
February 5-8, 2015. See Ms. O’Leary for more details.
AAS
Weekly PTO
9
AAS
Weekly PTO, continued
10
Tickets can also be purchased on location from Nele DeMill, PTO
president. Get there a little earlier if you hadn’t had a chance to
purchase your ticket in advance. See you at the movies!
AAS
Weekly PTO, continued
11
AAS
Weekly PTO, continued
12
AAS
Weekly Announcements
13
THANK YOU!
The Terry Fox Run was a big success here at AAS
and we, as the Terry Fox Committee, would like
to give an update on the funds that the school
raised.
AAS did an amazing job fundraising and the
total of all the donations for the run, as a school,
was 7,700 lv. This money will go directly to can-
cer research, and to finding a cure for cancer.
As Terry said, “If you’ve given a dollar, you are
part of the Marathon of Hope.” We have all
been part of the Marathon of Hope here at
AAS. Once again, great effort by the entire AAS
community!
AAS
Weekly Frequently Asked Questions
Important contact information:
Reception: Ivanka Papazova (Miss Vanya)
Tel: (+359 2) 923 88 10; mobile: 0889 428 324
Director: Jim Urquhart
Director’s Secretary: Elise Staevska
Tel: (+359 2) 923 88 12, Fax: (+359 2) 923 88 59
Director of Teaching and Learning: Shary Marshall
ES Principal: Tim Fries Nurses: Diana Docheva, Valentine Ivanov
[email protected] [email protected], [email protected]
MS/HS Principal: Jeff Marquis Communications: Svetla Stoyanova
[email protected] [email protected]
IB Coordinator: Kaylene Connell AAS Cafe (LFS Catering): Manager Peter
Gavrilov
[email protected] [email protected] 0884-668104
HS Counselor & College Advising: ES Counselor: Laura Giosh-Markov
David Stephenson [email protected]
Athletics Director, MS Counselor: Facilities / Operations: Todor Todorov
Andie Urquhart [email protected]
Registrar: Dola Kay Admissions / Alumni: Maria Mihailova
[email protected] [email protected]
Security: Tzvetan Bashev 0885 146 863 Transportation Coordinator: Zhivko Vichkov
[email protected] [email protected] 0889 901 916
Note:
To contact a member of staff by telephone, please call the reception number. Staff emails are
available from our website: www.aas-sofia.org/contact
Please visit our website on www.aas-sofia.org to find the latest information about our school.
Become a fan of the Anglo-American School of Sofia on Facebook or follow @AAS_Sofia
on Twitter.
16 14
AAS
Weekly The School Week Gallery
15
Well done to our MS Boys in the CEESA
Robotics Competition in Warsaw!
MUN Berlin:
a proud
delegation
from AAS,
Sofia
