Exercise proves effectiveness of our emergency systems

29/11/201329/11/2013 St. John's International School

Yesterday, Thursday November 28, we enacted a full emergency school evacuation in conjunction with the Waterloo Commune, including police, army, fire brigade and ambulances. This exercise was part of our ongoing commitment to safety and to ensure St. John’s and the Waterloo commune are prepared for a crisis which requires the evacuation of all people from our campus. The plan involved a staged incident with chemicals in one of the science labs and resulting in injuries to a teacher and students. The chemicals added to the complexity of the operation and required additional equipment and resources to be called in. One of … Continue reading Exercise proves effectiveness of our emergency systems

Food to forensics – 8th grade science

28/11/201328/11/2013 St. John's International School

In their “Food to Forensics” preference six 8th grade boys underwent a “masterchef” challenge. They had to create a healthy snack recipe using ideas from their previous classes. Having researched and altered recipes to make them more healthy they had to plan how to cook them in one double period. Last week was the final challenge. By 10.00 we had six healthy snacks, six smiling faces and plenty of visitors coming to see what was cooking. Healthy French toast and fruit, hummus and dippers, cinnamon shortbread and fruit, blueberry shortbread with lemon cream cheese topping, tuna pasta surprise and Korean … Continue reading Food to forensics – 8th grade science

Visit by Norwegian educators

27/11/201328/11/2013 St. John's International School

More than thirty school personnel from the Halsan skole in Norway (http://www.levanger.kommune.no/Organisasjon/Enheter/Halsan-Momarka-OS/Halsan-Skole/) visited St. John’s on Friday, November 22. Besides touring the various school facilities, they observed some classes in progress and interacted with teachers. Mrs. Bambridge gave them a brief introduction to the historical traditions and values of the school while Mrs. Page presented an overview of the PYP Programme and its implementation. The visitors also had a chance to intermingle with some of the Norwegian children at the school. They left with much appreciation of the impressive facilities, the well-behaved children as also the warm welcome they received. … Continue reading Visit by Norwegian educators

Living memory

26/11/2013 St. John's International School

In religious studies, we asked students to bring photographs and memory items of departed family members or friends to my Middle School Religious Studies class. We all laid them down on a round table. In the center of the table there was a lighted vigil candle. For those who could not bring a photograph or an item to represent the dead, the students wrote the names of the departed on a piece of paper. Each student was invited to share with a buddy or two the name of the departed, show the photograph or the memory item, and tell an anecdote or … Continue reading Living memory

The Third Grade Trip to Grand Hornu Museum

25/11/2013 St. John's International School

As part of our Unit of Inquiry “Speaking from the HeART”, the third graders went on a field trip to Grand Hornu Museum to see and experience the Indian culture, create sculptures from chairs and make art inspired by the lotus flower in chalk and ink. Over 60 years ago the museum was a coal mine. Now it is a beautiful museum for us to visit. We went to three different sessions during the day. In the museum gallery there was an Indian exhibit where we pretended we were entering an Indian home. We experienced tasting new spices, smelling different types … Continue reading The Third Grade Trip to Grand Hornu Museum

Interpreting test results in 8th grade math

22/11/201322/11/2013 St. John's International School

The 8th grade students have just had an end of unit summative test. They are expected to study math 6 days out of seven. (This counting period contained a holiday – some students did more than expected) The graph above shows the number of days of study and the percentage grade – what does it reveal to you? Is there a general trend? What would be a reason for some of the outliers? The 8th grade students will receive this task (based upon their own data) and will need to write a short report on their interpretation of these results. … Continue reading Interpreting test results in 8th grade math

Grade 1 become chefs and make nutritious snacks

21/11/2013 St. John's International School

Last week the first grade students were treated to an interesting workshop by members of the Sodexo team. Maud, the nutritionist and her team had arranged for the children to become chefs for the morning, appropriately dressed with their hats and aprons. The children made healthy fruit brochettes and some yummy fruity smoothies. Everyone had a super morning and enjoyed the tasty treat. By the first grade team Continue reading Grade 1 become chefs and make nutritious snacks

Introduction to animation in 6th grade media class

20/11/2013 St. John's International School

In Middle School 6th grade media class, students are introduced to the basics of animation. They practice creating frame-by-frame motion using classic 2D animation techniques to use in flip book-animation. Students also use overhead projectors (“dead media”) as animation light tables for creating their first 2d animations using only a block of paper and a pencil. The 6th grade media class allows students to experience media making by doing. First, we watch animation movies for children and decode the impact they have on us, through analyzing sound, image and story. Second, we experiment with different forms of storytelling through games, such as photo-stories, comics, flip … Continue reading Introduction to animation in 6th grade media class

Students bring joy to refugees

19/11/2013 St. John's International School

Last week, two High School teachers drove a group of 12th graders to the Red Cross Refugee Center in Alsemberg. Charlotte, Nigel, Michael, Zoe and Kasper spent an hour and a half playing with refugee children and young adults from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Syria, Iraq, Guinea, and other countries. They played basketball and soccer, colored pictures, shared stories, and just enjoyed getting to know each other. Our students truly put our values into action, and we look forward to more opportunities like this in the future. By Daniel Johnston, HS CAS coordinator and teacher (No photos were allowed to ensure the … Continue reading Students bring joy to refugees

Electronic puppies in robotics class

18/11/201320/11/2013 St. John's International School

The future electronic dog breeders are Gabby and Nicole. Gabby and Nicole take 6th grade robotics with Mr. Woods and they think robotics is fun. In robotics Gabby and Nicole finished making their electronic puppy. It took them around 4-5 lessons to finish the puppy. This electronic puppy can do so many just by the press of a button. For example when they clapped the puppy moved his head, when he started to move Gabby said STOP quit loudly and he stopped and moved his head. Some of the sensors are well hidden, such as the puppies nose is a … Continue reading Electronic puppies in robotics class

Pixels, Painting, Pointillism

15/11/201315/11/2013 St. John's International School

Photography, pixels, portraits, painting, pointillism… In the Introduction to Art class in High School, we have been problem solving by using observation, imagination and our knowledge and understanding of color theory to create paintings inspired by Chuck Close. For the final project in this unit, we are using limited colour palettes, only using, for example, red/green/white. Of course, we discovered opposite colours on the color wheel actually complement each other. And, not only are we experimenting like real artists do, we are learning from famous art works and the artists who made them. Some comments from students: “This project is … Continue reading Pixels, Painting, Pointillism

Students aim to be Top of the Bench

14/11/201314/11/2013 St. John's International School

Four of Mrs Walsh’s 9th Grade students will enter the Chemistry competition in the Top of the Bench (TOTB) eliminator on Saturday 23 November. This is a competition, organized by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), where all international school students in Belgium have the opportunity of competing against each other in Chemistry. The winner of the 23 November competition will represent Belgium at the Royal Society of Chemistry TOTB Finals that will be held on 29 March 2014 in Loughborough, UK. The last time St. John’s entered this competition, we won the Belgian heats and we went forward to represent Belgium in the finals. We wish … Continue reading Students aim to be Top of the Bench

Lifesaving records!

13/11/201320/11/2013 St. John's International School

Jerome, one of our 7th grade students, is an experienced lifesaver who regularly competes in competitions at the highest level in his age category in France. This past weekend, he set 3 new National Records of France in his category “Benjamin” in lifesaving swimming: – 50 meters manikin carry => Jerome’s record is 0’45’’16 (previous record was set in 2001: 0’45’71) – 100 meters manikin carry with fins => 1’14”46 (previous one set in 2007: 1’17”65) – 100 meters lifesaver (tow with fins) => 1’04” (previous one set in 2011: 1’09” Congratulations to Jerome on these great records! Continue reading Lifesaving records!

St. John’s teams achieve great results at the fall ISSTs

12/11/2013 St. John's International School

There were quite a few medals and trophies on show at the Kings Cross train station in London on Saturday night, as the girls soccer team took home the third place trophy and bronze medals and the cross country team finished second overall, with the Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys teams both winning gold, the JV Girls team winning bronze and two runners finishing second and third in their races. The boys soccer team fought until the very end of the championship game, but fell just short of winning and being promoted to division 1. The team played an excellent … Continue reading St. John’s teams achieve great results at the fall ISSTs

Learning math at the volleyball ISSTs

08/11/201320/11/2013 St. John's International School

Two of my math classes went to a volleyball game at the home ISSTs yesterday. We chose to collect data on who touched the ball and who scored the points. Each student created a chart or table of their choice and made note of how many times a player touched the ball or scored a point for us. We wondered whether each member of the team would touch the ball the same number of times. For each player we will calculate what percentage of the touches they had. We will look at the range, mean, mode and median and decide … Continue reading Learning math at the volleyball ISSTs

Hidden structures in grade 10 art class

07/11/2013 St. John's International School

Grade 10 Art students today started on their new theme called Hidden Structures. During the next several weeks they will be investigating hidden structures in bodies, organic forms in nature, machines and architecture. Since Da Vinci’s time, exploring the relationship between surface appearances and underlying structures means starting with observational drawings. The final task involves creating an artwork reflecting/expressing an understanding of systematic structures. Students may be examining cell structures in plants and animals, microbiological forms and DNA structures, branch and root systems, electrical wiring, computer technology circuits and so forth. By carefully studying the human anatomy students have once … Continue reading Hidden structures in grade 10 art class

Grade 9 teaches 4th Graders about the digestive system

06/11/2013 St. John's International School

When our teacher, Mrs. Neufkens told us about the project, my first impression was: how am I going to do this? It was October 16 when we had to present our work to the 4th graders, and we had only 1 week to prepare it. We had to teach them about the digestive system and the 4th graders were supposed to do a small quiz after our small lesson. Mrs. Neufkens told us that the grade of 4th graders would be our grade, in other words, if they fail, we fail too; which eventually panicked all of us. How are … Continue reading Grade 9 teaches 4th Graders about the digestive system

Cooking with seasonal foods in 6th grade foods and textiles class

05/11/2013 St. John's International School

The 6th grade foods and textiles technology students have been harvesting to wrap up their unit on seasonal foods. The teachers of Timbertops (our pre-school campus) have shared their garden’s bounty of edible flowers, herbs and two gigantic courgettes (zucchini) and a butternut squash. The students will be researching recipes to use these items, so be prepared to soon experience some lovely smells coming out of Middle school! By Maggie Rose, Middle School teacher Continue reading Cooking with seasonal foods in 6th grade foods and textiles class

Homework Club in Elementary School

04/11/2013 St. John's International School

The Elementary School homework club recently started every Thursday after school until 16:45 in room EB 7. The club is available to all students from grades 2 to 5. The aim of the club is to provide an environment after school where students can focus and complete a piece of work or do the homework the teachers have set. When all homework has been completed, the student may read a book. There will be no computer work at this club. The club is supervised by Coach Linda (Erol) who helps students with any difficulties. If you are interested, please contact lerol@stjohns.be. The … Continue reading Homework Club in Elementary School

St. John's International School Blog

Month: November 2013