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2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org Volume 4, Issue 2, December Principal’s Message Dear RBIS Community, The wonderful week of winter performances begins Monday, Dec. 13th. Children and teachers are all excited to put on a show that you won’t soon forget! Listed below is additional information pertaining to this special event: Concerts (except for our Toddler class) will be held in the RBIS gymnasium. Class parties will be held after the concert. Please avoid wearing high heels with steel tips to protect the gym floor. CHARITY FUNDRAISING During the winter performance, you will have a chance to participate in several exciting fundraisers! Winter Concert DVD: DVDs of the concert will be available for RMB 50. Proceeds will go towards planting a tree in Mongolia. Tree-Shirts: The Mongolia Tree Shirts are here again! “I Bought a Tree in Mongolia,” Tree-shirts are RMB 50 which buys a tree to plant in Mongolia. Silent Auction: A silent auction will be held during the week of the winter concerts. Stop by the Roots & Shoots table and bid on your favorite basket! If you would like to donate a basket of items for the auction, please contact Ms. Amy at [email protected] . Celebration Note Cards: Note cards featuring RBIS student artwork will be on sale for 35 RBM per package, or 60 RMB for 2 packages. Proceeds will be donated to an orphanage in An Hui province. VISIT OUR SCHOOL STORE! The 5th /6th grade students have opened a school store to raise money for their end of year trip to Moganshan. At the store there is a variety of school supplies and everybody’s favorite…Silly Bands! Children may purchase items on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:20-9:00am. Also available at the school store is the RBIS MEGAzine , a magazine created entirely by our 5th and 6th graders. Contents include reviews, sports, current events, interviews, comics and games. There is also a special section on healthy living that was developed by 3rd grade students Principal’s Message Continues on Next Page... Highlights News and Events News and Events Dec. 2 Giving Tree bag distribution Dec. 13th Toddler Concert 9:30 Dec. 13th Early Years Concert 10:00am Dec. 14th Preschool Concert 10:00am Dec. 15th Pre-K Concert 10:00am Dec. 16th Kinder Concert 1:00pm Dec. 17th Elementary Concert 1:00pm Dec. 17th Last day of After School Enrichment Program Dec. 20 to Jan 9th Winter Holiday No School _______________ ANNOUNCEMENTS Earth Day Stage Acts We are looking for stage acts for our Earth Day celebration in April. If you know anyone who is interested, please contact Mr. Alex at carroll.alexander@gm ail.com . Lost and Found Lost and Found is located the Admissions office.

RBIS Highlights December 2010

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Rainbow Bridge International School's bimonthly newsletter highlighting our school's programs, curriculum, and events with contributions from our principal, coordinators, and specials teachers.

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Page 1: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

Volume 4, Issue 2, December

Principal’s MessageDear RBIS Community,

The wonderful week of winter performances begins Monday, Dec. 13th. Children and teachers are all excited to put on a show that you won’t soon forget! Listed below is additional information pertaining to this special event:

C o n c e r t s (except for our Toddler class) will be held in the RBIS gymnasium.

Class parties will be held after the concert.

Please avoid wearing high heels with steel tips to protect the gym floor.

CHARITY FUNDRAISINGDuring the winter performance, you wi l l have a chance to participate in several exciting fundraisers!

Winter Concert DVD: DVDs of the concert will be available for RMB 50. Proceeds will go towards planting a tree in Mongolia.Tree-Shirts: The Mongolia Tree Shirts are here again! “I Bought a Tree in Mongolia,” Tree-shirts are RMB 50 which buys a tree to plant in Mongolia.Silent Auction: A silent auction will be held during the week of the

winter concerts. Stop by the Roots & Shoots table and bid on your favorite basket!If you would like to donate a basket of items for the auction, please contact Ms. Amy at [email protected] Note Cards: Note

cards featuring R B I S s t u d e n t artwork will be on sale for 35 RBM per package, or 60 R M B f o r 2 p a c k a g e s . Proceeds will be d o n a t e d t o a n orphanage in An Hui province.

VISIT OUR SCHOOL STORE!The 5th /6th grade students have opened a school store to raise money for their end of year trip to Moganshan. At the store there is a variety of school supplies and everybody’s favorite…Silly Bands! Children may purchase items on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:20-9:00am.

Also available at the school store is the RBIS MEGAzine, a magazine created entirely by our 5th and 6th graders. Contents include reviews, sports, current events, interviews, comics and games. There is also a special section on healthy living that was developed by 3rd grade students Principal’s Message Continues on Next Page...

Highlights

News and EventsNews and EventsDec. 2 Giving Tree bag distribution

Dec. 13th Toddler Concert 9:30

Dec. 13th Early Years Concert 10:00am

Dec. 14th Preschool Concert 10:00am

Dec. 15th Pre-K Concert 10:00am

Dec. 16th Kinder Concert 1:00pm

Dec. 17th Elementary Concert 1:00pm

Dec. 17th Last day of After School Enrichment Program

Dec. 20 to Jan 9th Winter Holiday No School

_______________

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Earth Day Stage Acts

We are looking for stage acts for our Earth Day celebration in April. If you know a n y o n e w h o i s i n t e r e s t e d , p l e a s e contact Mr. Alex at [email protected].

Lost and Found

Lost and Found is located the Admissions office.

Page 2: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

Early ChildhoodThe past 2 months have been f i l l e d w i t h e x c i t e m e n t , creativity and learning in the early childhood. All students have settled into the school year, it’s great to see the smiles on all the faces and participate in the short conversations in the hallway as the children stop to tell me their interesting news!

Both preschool and Pre-k are well into their new units of I n q u i r y . P r e s c h o o l a r e exploring the central idea: Music allows us to discover and express ourselves through songs, movement and rhythm. Not only are they inquiring into

this topic in their classrooms but also within P.E, Music and A r t classes.

H e r e Jayden in M s . N a t a s h a a n d M s . F a y e ’ s c l a s s shows us what a risk taker he is by taking to the stage to sing a song for his friend Paula!

The preschool children are also developing their emerging w r i t i n g skills.

H e r e Sebastian writes the letter two in a tray of glitter. S e n s o r y activities help children develop their pre-writing skills.

Pre-k’s focus is Because of light we see color, shadows and

reflections. This has also been extended in Science and Art .T h e c h i l d r e n have been tracking t h e

movement of shadows through-out the day, to see how the move-ment of the sun affects the position of a shadow.

In Mr Robert’s class the large n u m b e r o f windows a n d n a t u r a l l i g h t a l l o w s t h e students t o explore creating shadows with objects in their class-room. They are learning to mani-pulate the position and size of sha-dows.

Principal’s Message Continued...

that teaches us all about healthy food and excersize. The MEGAzine can be yours for a small donation of RMB 10. All proceeds go towards the end of year trip and planting trees in Mongolia.

RBIS CHOIR PERFORMS AT THE MARRIOTTOn Nov. 28th nearly 70 of our students in 1st through 6th performed a selection of festive songs at the Hongqiao Marriott. The children dazzled the audience with their lovely voices and adorable smiling faces. Thank you Ms. Michelle for preparing our students for this special event!

A FRIENDLY SOCCER MATCHThis November students in the RBIS after school soccer course had their first friendly competition at Western International School Shanghai. It was an exciting event and we plan to have more sports competitions with Shanghai International schools in the coming months. Thank you to Mr. Toby for organizing this sports event!

STUDENT ART CONTESTEach year Parkway Health has an art competition for children in Shanghai. 12 winners are selected and their art work is used in the Parkway Health calendar. Congratulations to Ruda Lee in Mr. Franco’s 2nd Grade! Her beautiful artwork will be in this year’s calendar.

Rebecca ZipprichPrincipal

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Page 3: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

ElementaryFall has been a busy season for the Kinder and Elementary classes as students and teachers have brought inquiry, reflection and action to life at RBIS.

P a r e n t s a n d p e e r s w e r e impressed by the Fifth and Sixth Graders’ personal self-reflection essays entitled “This I Believe.” Creating self-awareness of beliefs and values, students listened to essays written and recorded from individuals around the world over the course of the past 50 years. Adding to the collection of essays, students wrote and recorded their own belief statements with the help of Ms. Kate in the computer lab. Having gone through a bit of self-discovery, the class will focus on exploration pioneers in their next unit.

RBIS Students care a lot about the environment! This Fall, Fourth Graders extended their learning about the environment as they examined human

d e p e n d e n c e o n n a t u r a l resources. From sun to wind, water to coal, students learned how we can change our daily habits to make a greater impact. Extending their understanding how to make an impact, the class also helped organize the first RBIS Student Council. Next, the class will turn their attention to personal i d e n t i t y a s t h e y e x p l o r e heredity and behavior.

Passing by the Third Grade classroom, one might have caught Ms. Jennifer and her students in quite a bind – doing yoga! Over the course of their Unit of Inquiry, students reflected on their eating and exercise habits and then made big changes in their daily habits. They shared their l e a r n i n g b y t e a c h i n g preschoolers how to exercise and writing about Healthy Living in the MEGAzine. We look forward to the class sharing their next unit as they learn the arts of storytelling.

Second Graders traveled across China and the world as they explored how landscape and natural resources affect where people live and their way of life, shared unique understandings o f t h e s i m i l a r i t i e s a n d differences between China and t h e i r h o m e c o u n t r i e s . Collaboration was a core element in this unit as the three classrooms worked together on several projects. Second grade

now turn their focus inward as they learn about various body systems and how they work together.

Also traveling the globe, the First Grade took a tour of the world’s cultures. From baseball to cricket, dumplings to kimchi, students shared their favorite foods, sports, clothing and m u s i c w i t h e a c h o t h e r . Creating a Cultural Museum in their classrooms, students invited their families share in their learning at this mini-Expo of culture. The celebration of culture set the tone for First Grade’s next unit in which they construct their family histories.

What does the color red make y o u f e e l l i k e ? S o m e Kindergarteners might say angry, mad or excited and happy. Students are expressing their feelings through color and song. They are viewing and responding to photography and artwork as well as listening and dancing to music with various tempos and beats. Building strong vocabulary, students might tell you they are feeling magnificent or gloomy as they share their thoughts and feelings. S h a r i n g o u r l e a r n i n g i s important at RBIS; I look forward to sharing more with you in the New Year!

Anne Crylen

Early Childhood Continued...

classes have started their new unit exploring the environment particularly weather and seasons. On the playground there has been lots of excitement with the collecting the falling leaves!

The leaves they collected were then used for art experiences in the classroom and exploring in the sensory tub!

Linda MatthewsEarly Childhood Coordinator

Page 4: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

SciencePre-School classes are doing super-fantastic work in science by exploring the human body parts and knowing how to use our five senses. The students colored a picture of the human body using different colors to easily identify each of the body parts. Also, they worked with a h u m a n b o d y p u z z l e a n d connected all the pieces to make a child-size human body.

For Toddlers and Early Years, we are continuously inquiring about the environment - knowing t h e different h a b i t a t s w h e r e a n i m a l s l ive and changing o f seasons . Our fun activities included sticking the animal photo on its appropriate habitat on our habitat board and singing "Autumn Tree Song" where each student has dry leaves and pretends that they are falling from a tree to the ground.

Even though the weather is getting colder things are getting hot and spicy in the garden!

H o t p e p p e r s h a v e b e e n harvested throughout October and November, many students were brave enough to try these spicy peppers and a few classes were able to take some home to share with their families.

Recently we had beautiful purple flowers bloom in our greenhouse garden and we should have ripe eggplants soon. Students also did an amazing job with organic pest control as they removed inchworms from our back garden and killed aphids that were trying to eat our plant! Pre-K is extending their unit of i n q u i r y t o t h e s c i e n c e classroom and are discussing: Because of light, we see color, shadows and reflection. They have excitedly experimented with shadows testing objects to see if they are transparent, translucent, or opaque, and have explored reflection with mirrors and learned why we put reflectors on our bicycles. Kindergarten and first grade discussed the life cycles of plants. In particular they studied the pumpkin plant and made a bright orange pumpkin life cycle with a green vine. First grade investigated animal body coverings and examined shells, hair, scales, and feathers with magnifying glasses. Then they went on a zoo scavenger hunt to see if they could identify animals with these different body coverings in the zoo. Second grade studied adaptations and made beautiful butterflies that use their wings to protect themselves from predators.

Second grade and fifth/sixth grade are now exploring body systems in science. Students made models of nerve cells and lungs and learned the function of different parts of their brain. They also experimented with their breathing rates, taken their pulse, and much more!

Next students will learn what happens after you take a bite of food and will be able to tell you all about the digestive system!

Third grade completed their study comparing plant and animal life cycles. They dissected seeds and flowers examining their different parts and made a home for observing

m e a l w o r m s . T h i r d grade is n o w m o v i n g t h e i r studies to physical s c i e n c e

and entering the wonderful world of matter (which they w i l l t e l l y o u i s a l m o s t everything)!

Fourth grade continued to study natural energy. Students have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of solar, wind, and water energy. They created a paper windmill that could lift a cup and a solar cooker that can get hot enough to cook a marshmallow or a hot dog!

Ms. Heather and Mr. Richard

RBIS Roots and Shoots is starting the Million Tree Project! Our goal is to raise enough money to plant 1,500 trees in Inner

Mongolia to halt the deforestation.

Page 5: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

LibraryAlong with the arrival of fall came our first Scholastic Book Club shipment! Students were seen loaded down with their new books, smiles ear to ear. The students have also been busy during library time with loads of information literacy activities.

Toddler and Early Years friends have had fun singing and dancing during story time this month. They enjoyed reading and tapping along to the cumulative tale There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly, illustrated by Simms Taback. Don’t let their tiny size fool you; these children have a big love of books! They are improving their book care skills each week and love trading books with their friends while we all read together on the carpet.

Preschool students have been focusing on how music allows us to discover and express ourselves. Along with our usual musical moments during story time, we read some imaginative extended versions of children’s songs by Iza Trapani. A favorite song book was Row, Row, Row Your Boat in which a f a m i l y o f b e a r s h a s a n adventurous day rowing on the river and having a picnic with animal friends. The entire book with multiple versus about the bears’ adventures can be sung to the familiar tune. The children also enjoyed role playing the story and were

especially speedy rowers as we were chased by crocodiles!

Those excited, ecstatic, elated, energized kindergarteners are learning all about how artists portray emotion and ideas in visual arts. We have looked at b o o k s s p e c i f i c a l l y a b o u t emotion, including On Monday when it Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister and Walter was Worried by Laura Seeger. S t u d e n t s e x a m i n e d t h e different ways the illustrators represented similar emotions. We also looked at stories without words, such as Tomie d e P a o l a ’ s P a n c a k e s f o r Breakfast to see how an artist can visually communicate ideas without the aid of text. Many students spontaneously pointed out emotions they saw in the books they chose to borrow for the week!

First graders have lived six long years and are ready to collect their life stories in personal histories. To support their UOI in the classroom, we read When Everybody Wore a Hat, the picture book autobiography of author William Steig. Students were very surprised to discover that in the early 1900s people could not plug in their coffee pots or copy machines—there were no electrical outlets and no electricity in their homes! Students are learning to distinguish autobiography from other types of texts and recognize the importance of authorship.

Ouch! Second grade friends were surprised to discover a sickly, weak, burned, broken, tired librarian when they came to the library this month. Luckily these spunky students volunteered their knowledge of human body systems to sort my physical symptoms. Students are using encyclopedias and other texts to create research note books in which they will

collect their knowledge about the six body systems they are studying for their UOI. The students will use their research notes to help them create their f i n a l p r o j e c t s i n t h e i r classrooms.

As an extension of the third graders unit of inquiry on storytelling and memoir they a r e r e s e a r c h i n g a u t o -biographies and pr imary sources in the library. Each t h i r d g r a d e r w r o t e a n autobiographical memoir of his/her activities at recess. Next each student wrote a biographical account of a friend’s recess adventures. W h e n w e c o m p a r e d t h e accounts, we surprisingly discovered a few discrepancies! Luckily we had other primary sources to reference so we could discover the truth about recess. We will be looking at m o r e a u t o b i o g r a p h i e s , biographies, and primary sources in the coming weeks.

What is round, has eight slices, and tastes like delicious wood pulp? Genre pie, of course! Students in fourth grade are becoming genre experts. Each student has selected a genre to research and present to their classmates. In addition to the research project, each student was challenged to read a book on their reading level from each of the eight genres we are studying, including fantasy, m y s t e r y , a n i m a l s t o r i e s , graphic novels, biography, poetry, historical f iction, mystery, and fairy tales. When everyone in the class has completed their reading, we will bake a real pie together and discuss our favorite genres.

Students in fifth and sixth g r a d e h a v e b e g u n a n e x p l o r a t i o n o f , w e l l , exploration! Ms. Kate and I are assisting these students with Library Continues on Next Page...

Page 6: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

Physical Education

We are having a ball in P.E. and making the most of the good weather to use the field in the zoo for some outdoor physical education. Time is flying by!

In early years Ms. Rowena has been focusing on movement to music and spatial awareness. With a drum beat, some James Brown and even the Macarena, the young ones now are able to m o v e t h e i r bodies to t h e sound of the beat. T h e y h a v e shown a l o t o f p r o m i s e and are becom-ing quite the dancers! They can walk in line, march forwards and backwards

and can recognize the different beats and move accordingly. It h a s b e e n a v e r y s w i f t progression! They have been using the scarves, soft balls and ribbons to express themselves and are becoming stronger and stronger as they progress.

In Pre K and K we have been using balloons to improve the s t u d e n t s ’ h a n d / e y e coordinat ion and spat ia l awareness. They have been pushing and balloons up with all different parts of their bodies and also in different positions from kneeling, to sitting, to lying down.

In Elementary we have been continuing with our yoga in every lesson and added a few more poses to our repertoire. The students have grown to enjoy the yoga part of the lesson and many commenting on how it makes them feel stronger and taller. Some of the older children even know some of the names for the poses like downward dog and grade 5/6 now lead their own yoga stretching routines in class.

In developing our motor skills the students have progressed from catching and throwing to kicking and stopping a moving ball. Catching and throwing was a great success with many

students able to catch high balls thrown many meters in the air and others able to throw the ball at a moving target. As we moved on to football the students have enjoyed playing short football matches in their classes and are learning the rules as they go. Their ability to

trap the ball and pass it off h a s improved g r e a t l y a n d w e h a v e s o m e p r o m i s -

ing young footballers amongst our girls and boys, hopefully they will be able to play for the newly formed RBIS football team who played their first ever matches against WISS and YK Pao school this term!

Grades 5/6 also played in an American Football match in P.E. class and Grade 2, while studying a PYP unit of inquiry on body systems, learnt how to take their resting heart rate and exercising heart rate and studied what muscles help them move.

P.E. continues to be action packed and fun filled!

Mr. Toby and Ms. Rowena

Library Continued...

their investigation into human discovery, guiding them as they design their own Powerful Questions that will guide their research. Students are exploring exciting primary sources—like entries from Marco Polo’s diaries and a letter addressed to Christopher Columbus from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella!—and reliable secondary sources to create meaning and develop answers to their research questions. Students will present the information they learned at our literacy night in February.

For more information on the goings on in the library, tips on reading, and library policy, visit the Rainbow Bridge Library Blog at http://rainbowbridgelibraryblog.edublogs.org.

Ms. Adrienne

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”—Groucho Marx

Page 7: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

ArtThe past couple of weeks the Toddlers and E a r l y Y e a r s made a unique collage. First they had fun p lay ing wi th the sticky tape.

They pulled off pieces of tape and stuck them on the paper creating interesting designs. Next , they glued strips and scraps of paper with different color to make it vibrant and colorful.

In Preschool, the students learned the basic parts of the body and it's function through Mat Man. We also made a human sized foil and tape sculpture where the children volunteered to be a model. Foil was wrapped and moulded around a hand, a leg, an arm, etc.

Each student contributed a moulded part of their body to build the life-size sculpture.

While Pre-K students are looking at the various ways to create light and shadow in their classroom, in the art room we took a look at the art of shadow puppetry. First, we watched a video about shadow making and a shadow puppet show. Children were so amazed how the man in the video could make different animal forms with just his hands a n d t h e i r s h a d o w . Afterwards, we discussed what is shadow and what makes the shadow. Using our overhead projector we made shadows with our hands trying out different forms. The shadow was then traced on to thick paper. Next, the children drew, colored, added some details, and then cut out their shadow. They were glued onto a chopstick to create a shadow puppet for their upcoming shadow puppet show.

For elementary students, the RBIS Art Studio has been really emotional these past few weeks...Well, we really haven't been crying our anything like that.. RBIS students have been focusing on making connections between art and art-making with our feelings and emotions! Kindergarten's central idea, Feelings and ideas can be

communicated through visual art and music, has us listening to emotional and moody melodies and responding with lines and color to represent our emotions. Our finished product looked very abstract and expressionistic. We compared our art to the work of Jackson Pollock and found a lot of similarities. We wondered: How did he feel when he created his drip paintings?, Which color did he use first? and What movements created lines like the ones we saw? Now the kindergartners are looking at a variety famous works of art and creating stories by answering: Who is in the painting? What are they doing?, Where does it take place? When is it happening? Why is this all happening? How does this painting make us feel? T h e y w i l l t h e n r e i n t e r p r e t t h e famous painting by c r e a t i n g illustrations based on the stories they have made.

1st Grade's central idea is Sharing our culture helps us better understand each other. To understand this concept in art each student brought in an artifact from their culture to share and discuss. Maya, in Ms. Linnea's class, showed us the May Pole and it's importance to the Swedish culture. She demonstrated to the whole class the dance, even encouraging all of us to get up and dance the May Pole dance around the class. After our student presentations, our focus shifted to masks where we looked at various masks from around the world while discussing how they were used and what was their purpose. The students then began designing their own masks that will have a specific purpose which the students will demonstrate through a performance or presentation.

2nd graders have been reminiscing about their lives before Shanghai or a time long ago when they were much younger. The students looked at where we were before and where we are now and talked about the differences and the similarities. We also talked about specific memories that stood out and tried to remember as many details as we could--i.e, colors, smells, textures. The students then recorded their memories in a memory sketch book with text and illustrations. We then analyzed the art of Marc Chagall, specifically the compositions and how his Art Continues on Next Page...

Page 8: RBIS Highlights December 2010

2381 Hong Qiao Road (Zoo's East Gate), Shanghai, China 200335 (86 21)62689773, 62684081 www.rbischina.org

MusicAt this unit of inquiry from pre-kindergarten to grade six , the music department focuses on how to express emotions through different styles of music.

We focus on singing on pitch, learning different rhythmic symbols and music notation. We also focus on how to express ourselves through different movements. The children in the choir have so much fun preparing to perform at the Hong Qiao Marriot Hotel for their annual tree lighting ceremony. They are so eager to spread holiday joy. We are

also preparing winter performances including stage presentation and showing our musical talent on the stage. The Children demonstrate great abilities to perform while on stage. The music department aims to guide students in becoming performing artists.

The Preschool is exploring fast and slow tempo in music. We express ourselves and our feelings when we sing fast and slow. We also move our bodies through the beat of the drum. The children love to express happiness and excitement when they hear fast music. They also love to stomp their feet with an angry face when they hear the loud, heavy beat of the drum especially when listening to the Fairies and the Giant Song.

Ms. Michelle and Mr. Glenn

Art Continued...

images swirled around much liked memories swirl around our heads. The students then selected images from their memory book and transferred the drawings onto canvas. After each memory was drawn, the students rotated their canvas and drew another to create a swirling memory landscape.

3rd and 4th grade have been getting quite expressive in the art studio. First, we looked at

f a m o u s p o r t r a i t s a n d determined the emotion that they artist was trying to convey. We looked at facial expressions, the placement of the figure, and the colors the artist used to help strenghen the response to the painting. We also looked at texture and background.

Students were asked to choose an emotion and express it through a facial expression. The students were photographed acting out their chosen emotion and the digital image was projected onto a large shee tof paper. Students then traced their image in preparations for making an oil pastel-painting self portrait. They slected a palette of colors that would connect to the expression they were making. If they were angry, reds and blacks were used; if they were excited, a complimentray color scheme was used. They then added texture through scratching and smearing the pastel.

5th and 6th grade have been looking at how artists abstract, primarily the abstract and cubist works of Pablo Picasso. The students, after looking at the various periods of Picassos life and work came up with a definition for abstraction: Abstraction is when you take somehting apart and put it back together in a completely different way. To illustrate this point, a still life was set up a r o u n d t h e c l a s s r o o m . W e p layed c lass ica l S p a n i s h g u i t a r music to get us in the mood and the s t u d e n t s b e g a n drawing the still life. When the music stopped, the students moved to another postiion and continued to draw the still life. The process was repeated till the end of class. In the end, they had multiple drawings and multiple views of the of the objects on the same surface. The next class, the students cut up their still life and reordered the information to build an interesting composition. The students then painted their still life with gauche choosing a more colorful vibrant palette for the positve space and a neutral, subuded palette for the negative space.

Mr. Alex and Mr. Romel

Page 9: RBIS Highlights December 2010

Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery

RBIS Choir sings at the Hong Qiao Marriott Tree Lighting Ceremony

Computer and Technology

Things are moving right along in computer class as we head towards the December break. The younger students are really getting the hang of how to use the mouse and basic website navigation, while the older students are honing their typing skills and working on s o m e f u n c o l l a b o r a t i v e projects!

Here is a sampling of a few of our current units:

Preschool is learning about feelings in conjunction with t h e i r “ H o w W e E x p r e s s Ourselves” Unit of Inquiry. During computer class students have been exploring different feelings and emotions as well by building their “Wild Self.” Build Your Wild Self is an activity created by New York Zoos and Aquariums. This website allows children to explore different animal parts and add them to their human shape. We have been using this activity as a platform to talk about how different emotions look. Stay tuned for pictures of our Wild Selves!

Pre-Kindergarten has been scouring campus with a digital camera to find and capture i n t e r e s t i n g s h a d o w s i n conjunction with their Unit of

Inquiry on light and shadows. Once we have al l o f o u r p i c t u r e s a n d video, the P r e - K f i l m -m a k e r s and I will put together a shadow movie to share with some of the other classes!

Kindergarten through 6th grades have been honing their typing skills. Kindergartners are getting familiar with home row, while the 5th and 6th graders are becoming real pros! All of the students are using Dance Mat typing by the BBC. It is a great program that appeals to all levels, even adults!

Ms. Kate

Page 10: RBIS Highlights December 2010

Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

To HongqiaoAirport

Hongqiao Lu

Hongzhong Lu

Hongjing Lu

Hongmei Lu

Huanxi Lu

Jinhui Lu

(3 km)

The Bund (17 km)

Zoo’s east gateShanghai

Zoo

Yan’an Lu

Ham

i Lu

Metro Line 10

Office of Admission(86 21) 62689773, (86 21) 62683121

[email protected]

Rainbow Bridge International School

2381 Hong Qiao RoadShanghai, China 200335

www.rbischina.org

RBIS is located inside Shanghai Zoo through the East gate entrance.

The campus is just 5 mins. from Hongqiao Int’l airport and 10 mins. from the Gubei area. A Metro Line 10 station is located in front of the zoo’s main entrance.