Issue 04/2009March 1, 2009

With all the frozen pow-der that has fallen from the sky recently, it’s a wonder ISK has only used up one snow day so far. Although perhaps not a welcome sight for our drivers and parents, the wintry, white-filled days have been the canvas for our students’ artistic creations, engi-neering feats, and good ol’ fashioned frolics.

Have a look at the tun-nels, snowmen, and

snow ramps on display outside the school!

ISK’s snow-

riders have been taking advantage of the other-wise inclement weather as well, racking up miles on the slopes of Witów this past weekend.

A bus-load of upwards of 40 students took to the slopes in near-per-fect snowriding condi-tions, being a nice pre-cursor to ISK’s ski camp that nears with every snow fall.

On the academic end, elementary and middle school students have been putting together their portfolios, get-ting ready for ISK’s first student-led conferences taking place during the parent-teacher

meet-ing on Wednesday, April 22nd, while AP students are busy taking their AP mock exams this week.

So, as usual, The Inter-national School of Kra-kow is an eventful place to be at the moment.

Erik Lutley

Head of Middle School Middle / High School

English

In this issue

Polish Projects

Little Acorns “on the go”

Career Weeks

Grade 1..00

Special report: Math Month

Grade 4 all around the world

LA @ ISK

Classifieds ISKVOICEThe Bi-Monthly International School of Krakow Newsletter

The International School of Krakow - ul. sw. Floriana 57 - Lusina - 30-698 Krakow - Poland - www.iskonline.org

coming upMarch 3-4 World Math Day

March 9 PI Art Competition Deadline

March 10 PTA coffee afternoon

March 13 PI day

March 19 Kangaroo Math Competition

March 21 or 22 Family Bowling

April 22 Parent-Teacher meeting

ISK’s Winter Wonderland

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Polish Student NewsTraveling through Kraków

While studying Polish I was assigned to create a project about my beloved city Krakow.

I picked Krakow because it was the best choice and my only choice.

During this process I learned about Krakow’s interesting attractions, history, and the activities teens participate in during their free time.

The main attractions of Krakow are The Wawel Castle, Old Town, Wisla River, and the Barbakan. Krakow has a very long history dating back to the first century. Its name comes from their beloved priest Kraka, who helped establish the city.

Teenagers in Poland spend most of their time like many teenagers in the States. They go to the movies, mall, and most of all cafés. They also enjoy going to the zoo as well as spending time with family.

I hope that you have a great week, ISK. Students, be safe, and don’t break anything skiing. I also hope that the Portugal trip goes well and that the students have a good time with Ms. Tymczak!!!!!!

Jacob Edworthy

Wieliczka- Salt Mine

In Polish class, I was assigned to do a project on the famous salt mine that is not far from our school, the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

I learned some very interesting facts about the Salt Mine.

The legend interested me the most. Princess Kinga threw her ring into a salt mine in Hungary, and miraculously, the ring was found in the Wieliczka Salt Mine!

The chambers in the Wieliczka Salt Mine are also very interesting. Each chamber was named after a historical person or an important city in Polish history.

Paulina Garan

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Little Acorns on the goThe children in Nursery have started a new theme this past week.

We explore all the things that go.

We look at things on wheels, things that float and fly.

As part of the theme Nurs-ery and Preschool children went to the Transportation

Museum (Muzeum Inzynie-rii Miejskiej at Wawrzynca Street).

The children enjoyed it very much, especially getting on one of the oldest trams used

in Krakow.

Later we had an opportunity to compare the old tram to a new one as we took a mini trip by a real one that took us across the bridge over Wisla River!

How exciting that was!

After the field trip the chil-dren designed and then made their own cars, just take a look how busy Little Acorns were!

Ania Niton Nursery Teacher

“We explore all the things that go.”

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Career Weeks !!!ISK has had the pleasure of hosting several different presentations on exciting careers.

The best part about Career Weeks is that our very own ISK parents are the experts!

Mr. Ruben Robles, assisted by his wife Sasha, enticed students with his presentation

on architecture,

specifically about organic shapes found in buildings.

Susan Parker-Burns shared her experience as a diplomat, as well as her travels all over the world.

A whole team of presenters from General Motors showed a film and power-point presentation about the auto

assembly process, and about cars of the future.

Many thanks to our GM presenters -- Mr. Carsten Heimlich, Mr. Bart Verbruggen, Mr. Paul Kucharczyk, Ms. Amanda and Mr. Tony Francavilla -- as well as to Mr. Robles and Ms. Parker-Burns for sharing with our students.

We are looking forward to hosting more Career Weeks visitors.

Sue Mleczko

ISK Deputy Director Head of Early Years and

Elementary School

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The new year is shaping up to be a busy one for Grade One!

We enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year and celebrating with a parade through the school.

February brought with it the 100th Day of

School celebration as well.

Students enjoyed reading 100 words, counting to 100 in many ways, and eating number cookies in the shape of one hun-dreds, just to name a few activities!

We can’t wait to see what springtime holds for us!

Christine Turban

Grade 1 teacher

February brought with it the 100th Day of School celebration.

Grade 1...00

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Grade 4 discovers the worldGrade 4 has been having fun the last few weeks in listening to each other’s Social Studies’ projects.

In order to prepare for this oral presentation, some individu-als or partners spent several weeks researching 19 charac-teristics of their ‘Home’ coun-try using the Internet, their families, and encyclopedias in the new library.

The items researched ranged from their flag to their basic government system.

The student(s) then presented their findings under a tight 1-3 minute timed constraint as the viewers began the stopwatches, listened intently to see which of the 19 items were explained well, and filled out a student & teacher cre-ated rubric.

Martin presented on France, Lisa presented on Germany, Krystyna presented on United States of America and Poland, Natalia and Joanna presented on Poland, Wolf and Dominik presented on Poland, Glori-anne presented on Michigan (a state), Aarzoo presented on Switzerland, and Gabriella and

Ariana presented on Texas (a state).

We look forward to Dan speaking on Australia and Dorothea to conclude with Germany!

Lisa Lucas Grade 6 teacher

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Language Arts @ ISKMr. Kozak’s Language Arts stu-dents have been complaining about too much writing lately, so this teacher sees that as a good indication that they are

pushing their comfort zones.

Eighth grade has been busy working on an Animal Farm project, and they are soon to start on a compare/contrast essay.

Meanwhile, ninth grade has been immersed in the 20s, studying the hip dancing, mu-sic, architecture, fashion, and art of that exciting time.

They are also studying the most famous novel of the era and making up their minds about Gatsby’s character.

In 11th/12th grade, students have been doing essays of dif-ferent types: personal state-ments and cause and effect essays most recently.

They are reading Kafka’s Meta-morphosis and trying to work out what would drive one to write about transforming into a dung beetle.

They have also recently stud-ied how Modernism is reflect-ed in different fine arts and ele-ments of culture.

Mr. Lutley’s classes have all been busy learning about Noodletools.

Don’t let the name fool you. This online research program has really gotten their noodles working!

Students have been learning how to create citations, how to write online notecards, and how to summarize informa-tion. In addition, students have been learning how to validate websites.

The 6th graders did research for their biographies, biogra-phies which included Colin Powell and the Jonas brothers; the 7th graders researched topics of their choice, topics ranging from RC cars to Mi-chael Phelps; while the 10th graders and AP students used Noodletools to gather and store information connected with the novels under study at the moment: Death of a Sales-man and Crime and Punish-ment.

Of course it hasn’t been all work and no play, as can be readily seen from even a cur-sory glance at the winter won-derland play area outside the school.

Spending recess with a group of middle schoolers gives one the opportunity to witness first-hand the creative poten-tial of these young minds.

Dan Kozak & Erik Lutely

Kafka in 1906

Colin Powell

“students have been complaining about too much writing lately”

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Math Month @ ISK

Dear ISK Community,

It is our pleasure to inform you about the upcoming Math Events at ISK in the month of March. Your students will have already learned about these events from their teachers, but with so much going on, we thought you might like to have the event details, too. Here’s what’s included:

WORLD MATHS DAY: March 3-4 (ages 5 to 18)

“PI” DAY: March 13 (grades 0 to 12)

KANGAROO MATH COMPETITION: March 19 (grades 2 to 12)

FROM THE ARTY SIDE OF ISK - π DAY ART COMPETITION: March 9th (grades 1-12) (see next page)

Huge thanks goes to Paul Lucas, Paulette Lidert, Brett Elkei, and especially Anna Tokarz for planning a fun-filled month of math at ISK!

For more information or to find out how you can help, please contact Anna Tokarz at atokarz@iskonline.org.

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WORLD MATHS DAY: March 3-4

ISK has registered for the World Maths Day competition, which will take place in the first week of March.

For the time of 48 hours, from March 3 to March 4, our students will have a chance to compete against students from all over the world in order to break the record of correctly solved problems in the limited period of time.

The current record from last year is 182,455,169 questions answered correctly in 48 hours! Can we help to break it? Each student, ages 5 to 18, will be given a card with their login and password. They can log in to sign in at any time during these two days, from school or from home, and compete against other students in solving mental math problems.

Practice exercises are already available on-line. I would like to encourage all the Math Funs to log in even today in order to practice for the Big Day! You can find more information on the website: http://www.worldmathsday.com/

“PI” DAY: March 13

In the second week of March we will celebrate the annual Pi Day. Since the actual Pi Day (3.14 – March, 14) falls on Saturday, we would like to invite all students to celebrate it a day earlier. All students from grades 0 to 12 will have a chance to “hunt for pi and circles” in the Scavenger Hunt, and take part in a competition or two, and win prizes.

Interested in Art? Join in the Pi Day Art Competition. Look for specific information on the following pages of the Newsletter.

Would you like to train your memory? Memorize as many digits of pi as you can. On-line training centers are available e.g. at: http://www.eveandersson.com/pi/pitrainer/

You can read about some techniques at: http://www.geocities.com/mdetting/PiStrategy.html

Do you want to join in the Pi Day spirit? Make and wear a Pi Hat!

Do you like baking? Make and bring in a Pi-pie. Everybody will be able to enjoy a piece of it at lunchtime.

Would you like to help with organizing and running activities on Pi Day? Please let us know at atokarz@iskonline.org

KANGAROO MATH COMPETITION: March 19

In the third week of March, on Thursday March 19, students from grades 2 to 12 will participate in the annual Kangaroo Math Competition.

Over 30 students have already signed up, and late registration is possible until March 6.

The fee is 5 PLN for grade 2 and 8 PLN for older students.

The event will be organized in the school cafeteria. All you need is a black pen, a soft pencil, a ruler, and an open mind to solve interesting math problems.

Anna Tokarz and Paul Lucas, ISK Math Department - Consultation: Brett Elkei, AC/AD

Page 10Page 10

Competition open to:

1. Elementary grades 1-3

2. Elementary grades 4-5

3. All of Middle School

4. All of High School

Art competition themes

• π in the Sky

• Circles, Circles everywhere and a square of radius to spare

• π and pipes

What kinds of artwork will be accepted?

Artwork MUST be 2-dimensional (no 3 -D work will be accepted)

Works submitted may be in the form of a painting, a collage, a piece of computer graphics or a photograph.

Some ideas for materials that could be used include: paint, crayon, pastel, ink, pencil, Power-Point, photography or a collage.

What will the judges be looking for in the artwork?

1. Originality and creativity

2. How well the artist communicated his/her idea regarding π

3. Amount of effort seen in the work

4. Good presentation

When?

Monday, March 9th will be the last date to drop of your work in specially marked boxes to be placed in certain areas of the school. We will notify your homeroom teacher where the drop-off areas are, closer to the deadline.

Paulette Lidert, ISK Art Department

Consultation: ISK Math Department

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ClassifiedsWanted !

The ISK Board of Trustees is anticipating some vacancies this spring and we are look-

ing for new member candidates.

To find out more about these excellent op-portunities to serve your School community,

please contact Director@iskonline.org or HallA@state.gov.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Your ISK Board of Trustees

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House for RentA large, comfortable house, consisting of five bedrooms, sitting room, dining room, double study, utility room with an ample storage space, two bathrooms, large cellar, also double garage (272 sq metres).

Entrance from every room onto a balcony or terrace. Nice garden of approximately half an acre in size.Paved patio area with a barbecue.

Only six miles from ISK, and about 12 miles from the centre of Krakow. Shop and 24 hours petrol station nearby, ski slope in the village and a horse riding stables in the vicinity.

The house is fully furnished and equipped with modern household appliances.

Available from July, at a reasonable rent of 2,400 PLN a month.

Please contact Greg on 510 458 985 or 012 452 5218.