January+2014

= Welcome to the January MYP Newsletter: =

February 24-28: Winter Holiday
=World Studies=

MYP 1-2 == == In world studies we have a really interesting unit about middle ages. We learned about the black death which is a sickness and also we saw some pictures and we played a middle ages game which was really interesting. I think the most interesting think was learning how the black death spread around I found out that it was mostly because rats,people traveling, and garbage. Over all for now that was my favorite unit that I really enjoyed. --Amelia MYP 3

The Grade 8s have been studying the peace treaties that followed the First World War and their implications for the political, economic and cultural landscape of Europe. They role played the different leaders at the Versailles Peace Conference and discovered how difficult it can be to reach an agreement when the leaders have different aims and attitudes about the final settlement. --Mr. Dooley

MYP 4-5

In World Studies we are having the unit World War II & Nazi Germany. Now we are learning about the Holocaust and how the Nazis persecuted the Jewish people and other races that were seen as inferior by the Nazis. We are also learning about the Nazi party and how they controlled Germany. The National Socialists are totalitarians and made most of the German citizens patriotic to Nazis because the Nazis made them fear the consequences if they didn’t praise Nazi Germany. I liked this unit because it’s really interesting how they had so much power and how they succeeded in these years.

--Hania

In world studies this month we have been working on the holocaust. I think this is a really horrible moment of history because many people died and suffered. We have been doing different activities to learn about the different things that happened during the holocaust. For example we watched a movie/documentary that was really interesting. I think learning about the holocaust was important for me to learn because I got a clear picture on what happened during the holocaust.

--Oliver

** Middle School Physical Education ** All MYP students have been participating in their Volleyball Unit. They have been learning, practicing and performing forearm passing (bumping), setting and underhand serving skills through participation in various activities and games. MYP 1 and 2 students have been participating in modified volleyball matches, called bounce volleyball, in which the ball is allowed to bounce one time each time it goes over the net. This bounce allows students more time to track the ball and practice their skills. The older students are now playing authentic volleyball matches and have been concentrating on passing the ball to teammates before sending it over to the other side. At the end of the unit we hope to continue the tradition of the MYP 3-5 students playing a match against the teachers. If you would like to learn more about the Volleyball units please go to the following PE wiki links (first one is for MYP 1 and 2 and the second one is for MYP 3-5): https://wis-pe.wikispaces.com/6th+and+7th+Grade https://wis-pe.wikispaces.com/8th%2C+9th+and+10th+Grade **MATHEMATICS**

Junsu: Our unit was exploring number. we learned about puzzle, and some number pattern. For ex: we learned about Fibonacci numbers, square numbers, triangular numbers, cube root, square root, thing the pattern are very fun to solve and the best thing of this unit was making puzzle. We need to make 2 puzzle with math languages. It was really fun.But also you need to think carefully to make puzzle.
 * MYP 1 **

Jaqueline: Our math unit is called exploring numbers. In this unit we learned words like multiple, composite number, prime number, Fibonacci, palindrome, triangular number, etc. I really enjoyed this unit. I think that I learned a lot. I think that this unit is the best unit so far. My favorite thing in this unit was to do factor trees and solve problems containing square numbers. Soon we will have a test and I feel ready for it.

Otto: In this unit we learned about Fibonacci numbers cube numbers and cube roots and etc. My favourite thing was to learn cube roots. I also learned how to do power of. My favourite ones were also palindromes for example 2002.

Amelia: In math our unit was exploring numbers. We learned a lot of different ways that numbers can be used. One of the ways is Fibonacci numbers that I liked the most it is that u have to add the two numbers to get the number like 1+1=2, 2+1=3 that was the easiest thing that is why I liked it the most. Soon we have a test I am ready for it and that was a fun unit.

Hyoung Min: Our unit in mathematics was ‘exploring number.’ In this unit we learned many things. For example fibonacci numbers, square numbers, cube number and other things. For practice, we had some exercises to solve and some kind of a game. This game was to practice reading powers and roots.


 * MYP 2 **

Simphiwe: In math we have been learning about fractions and decimals and percentages and a little bit of algebra. Hojung: In math we have been learning about fractions. I really likes this unit because it was fun. I took a test on last week! It was easy at the beginning, but we were learning about 2 weeks after we reached some hard questions. It was very confusing how the multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting. Jasper: Math would be easy if had been in Finland for this level of math.

Math lesson

 Hojung and Sim play 3D tic-tac-toe

Jasper solves Columbus’ egg puzzle

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Robert Butler: This unit was easy even though I did not get the best grades I think I will use this in the future. It was great!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">MYP 3 **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kristian Filip: This unit was very interesting. I think this was the only unit which I understood 100%. I actually enjoyed it and hope that we can repeat this unit sometime but in a more detailed way.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Liina: In this unit, we learned about Pythagoras theorem, and hypothesis. I think I did okay and learned a lot. We found out how to calculate the length of x. Sometimes we had to calculate the length of a shorter side, and sometimes the length of the longest side. We had to do an own word problem, and I think it was hard, but when I got the idea what to do it about, it was much easier. I liked this unit, and I think it was easy. **MYP 4/5** Jessica: Our unit was about trigonometry. First I learn nameing all side of triangle; Opposite, Hypotenuse and Adjacent. Then I had to know how to calculate SIN, COS and TAN. one good rule of thumb SOH CAH TOA for remember the formula. Then I solved different tasks about sin, cos, tan. I learn also how to solve angle using this method.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> Language B Polish Phase 1 Students already can give basic information abut themselves and others. In current unit “My family”they are extending this knowledge and get more skills to deeper describe people. After this nit student will be able not only describe how they look like but also tell about their preferences. They will be able to answer questions what do they like to eat, read and watch as well as what would they like to have. Students also will be able to use possessive pronouns (my, your his etc.). At the end of this unit students will be expecting to create poster/presenation about all their family.

Phase 2 Students finished their unit about past events. Currently they are learning about healthy life style. They will learn a lot of vocabulary connected with health and body. Students will be watching cartoon about human body as well as read and listen doctors advices. They will learn structure should/shouldn't to do something. Students will practice giving advices. At the end of this unit students will create the guide for teenagers – what to do to be heath y.

Phase 6 In this unit we focus on speaking skills. Students are using different kinds of oral productions to develop speaking skills. They were asking to prepare a joke for each lesson. We also learn how to tell about sport events. By the end of the unit students will learn how to create the TV news and they will record news from school. =Language A=

MYP 1
The MYP 1 students have now finished their unit on Expressing Opinions and turned in their final essays last week. They chose the topic of their essay and the issues that they raised included the following topics: Should smoking be illegal? Should parents be allowed to smack their children? Should boys and girls be taught in separate schools? Should people be vegetarian? Should children under 11 be allowed to use the internet? and should children have a set bedtime? At the moment we are practicing test taking skills and timed essay writing. Our next unit will start next week and will be about writing autobiographies.

MYP 2
The MYP 2 students have finished their unit on the Future and are just finishing their final assignment – an essay on their vision of the future. At the moment, we practicing test taking skills and timed essay writing. Our next unit will start next week and will be about writing children’s stories.

MYP 3
The MYP 3 students have just finished their unit on World War I Poetry. They studied a number of poems by Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, which connected with their World Studies unit on World War I. They are now in the process of completing the final assessment task of the unit. They had to imagine they were either Wilfred Owen or Siegfried Sassoon and write a letter to a publisher asking to have two of their poems published. In the letter, they needed to talk about their own experience of the war, how if affected their writing, what message they want their poems to give and what techniques they used in their poetry to get this message across. At the moment, we practicing test taking skills and timed essay writing. Our next unit will start next week and will be about Identity. We will be reading the novel __The Outsiders__ by S. E. Hinton which deals with the issue of identity.

MYP 4 & 5
‘In Language Arts we have been learning about the Holocaust. We have been analyzing different types of literature and analyzing artworks all of which were made or written by survivors of the Holocaust. Our main task was to each read a different book individually. This book was a non-fiction novel written by a Jewish person who has lived through the Holocaust. I got assigned the book: ‘Alicia:My Story’ by Alicia Appleman Jurman. Alicia talks about her sad life as a young teenager during the Holocaust. While reading this book I learnt a lot of things not only about the Holocaust but also about the way people can be at times like this. These kind of times bring out the worst in some people but it can also bring out sparks of true bravery. When I read the book I learnt a more human, individual side of the Holocaust, not only the facts about what happened (like we have been learning in World Studies). Although this book was really sad and depressing, I really enjoyed reading it and learning about Alicia’s experience during her life as a teenager. The story was really captivating and it really taught me about the Holocaust from a different perspective… Literature about the Holocaust isn’t the happiest literature and can be disturbing and depressing. However I think it is important to read about this and to remember the horrors that happened during that time because that can help prevent this happening in the future. If people know and remember what happened, they can be warned so that such a thing can not happen again. ‘(Hania) ‘This unit was different from the other L.A units that we have had, because in this unit we had to do individual reading. I thought it is great to do individual reading that Mrs. Craig telling us how much to read. It was fun to read individually because I could decide how much to read and sometimes didn’t read for one day. It wasn’t challenging to read individually.’ (Shivangi) ‘I felt really good to read the book on my own. I could find my own pace and I didn’t have to read every night. I could plan my time better. If I had lots of homework I would read the next day. During this project I enjoyed reading the most because it was an interesting book and I could not stop reading when I started.’ ( Oliver) ‘I think every person during life time have to read a book related to the holocaust because they should read this book so that in the future people will not repeat the same mistake again and the jews were killed and oppressed for no reason.’ ( Seoung Woo)

January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day. This is the day that the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. In order to commemorate this day, in our assembly on Thursday, the MYP 4 & 5 students gave a small presentation about the Holocaust to the other students in the school. They then shared their poster presentations with small groups of students.

MYP 4&5 Students giving their book talks in order from left to right: Alex, Hania, Ji Min, Oliver, Seoung Woo, Jessica & Shivangi Come and check out the display in the WIS wing! SCIENCE NEWS: ==MYP1: The students have started their new unit on Chemistry with a focus on matter and changes in matter. The students have conducted two labs: one concerning the differences between physical and chemical changes, another one where they had to calculate the density of different substances. In preparation for the ISA exam the students read a chapter from a textbook and practiced summarizing techniques and answering questions using a text.==

==MYP2: The students have started their unit on Chemistry with a focus on chemical formulas and compounds. The students participated in the same lab with MYP1 concerning the differences between physical and chemical changes to review. Now the students have also been practicing some summarizing techniques and answering questions using a text as preparation for the ISA exam. We are going to start looking at why and how compounds form.==

==MYP3: The students have continued working on their waves unit. We started the unit using a web quest where the students had to use an online wave simulation to understand the properties of waves. The students are now focusing on sound waves, and the students used an outline notes structure to summarize a text. We will continue studying sound properties and start studying light properties in the next couple of weeks.==



==MYP4/5: The students have been studying force and motion. We currently have the pleasure of having a student teacher Ms. Kiki Tompazi. She has been presenting the students with Newton's Laws of Motion and all of the formulas associated with this. The students conducted a lab of their choosing to demonstrate Newton's Second law of Motion.==