Do you know what capsaicin or malic acid is?  Or how eggs are both an emulsifier and a coagulant in recipes?  The 7th grade Food Science class can tell you!  The students just finished their first rotation in their enrichment courses and a lucky third of them were able to begin with St. John’s new Food Science course. This is where the students learned the basics of nutrition, cooking skills and the critical thinking of making informed consumer decisions. It all came together while also learning why cooking is chemistry and eating is so much more enjoyable with a well … Continue reading Food science course teaches cooking skills and basics of nutrition

The St. John’s Movember team organized a very well attended breakfast for colleagues this morning. The “Movember Crew of Magnificently Moustachioed Macho Manly Men” as they call themselves, served up a delicious, balanced breakfast that included omelets, fruit, juices, muffins, yogurt, muesli and much more. Movember is an annual event annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancer. The St. John’s team has successfully raised funds through a variety of activities. The men will finally be able to shave off their mustaches … Continue reading St. John’s Movember team organizes delicious breakfast for colleagues

We are proud to announce that our students from grades 3, 4 and 5 are now fully certified Peacemakers.  In fact, since mid-November they have begun their job patrolling the playgrounds during recess, helping their peers and younger students solve their conflicts in a respectful, non-violent way. This program is in its fourth year and has grown to become an across school endeavor with High School and Elementary School students working together. A team of High School students have taken on the Peacemaker program as their CAS project.  They have taken time out of their busy schedule to come into the … Continue reading St. John’s Elementary and High School students run “Peacemaker Program”

One of the service learning projects undertaken in the Elementary School was for our students to work with students with a physical handicap who attend a specialized local school. The students from the Institut Royal d’Accueil pour le Handicap Moteur (IRAHM) visited St. John’s on several occasions to work on an animated movie project. The result is this wonderful animated clay movie “Mistery à l’hôtel” which has now been finalized and published: http://youtu.be/25dMNZTH0eI.  Well done to all involved in the project!   Continue reading Fifth graders work with handicapped students to produce movie

St. John’s has just received news that two of its senior economics teams have passed the first round of the European Central Bank (ECB) high school competition for European and International schools in the 18 countries of the Eurozone. The ECB selected the top twenty teams in the Eurozone, and for the second round of the competition our school has two teams in this top twenty. This competition was created in 2012.  St. John’s took second place in the finals in 2012 and first place in the finals in 2013. Good luck to our economics team! Continue reading Two St. John’s teams advance in European Central Bank competition

On Friday, November 7, our art students were able to watch a sculptor at work on creating a portrait in clay. Students from ES, MS and HS could watch Boubaker as he created a realistic portrait of his model Virginie. He started his work during the first period by slabbing the clay and gradually adding it to the armature, building the structure of the head. It was an amazing lesson in understanding the anatomy of the skull.  He frequently pointed out that firstly the basic structure of the human head needs to be in place before the specific details of … Continue reading Anatomy Lesson – Watching an Artist at Work

St. John’s sports teams participated in 5 ISST tournaments this past weekend: boys and girls volleyball, cross country and boys and girls soccer. We won 3 of the  championships – a result never before achieved by St. John’s! St. John’s won the boys volleyball, cross country and boys soccer ISST championships. The boys soccer team won every game they played over the 3-day tournament. Boys volleyball also won every match and did not give up a set the entire tournament. Cross country won the championship by finishing in 1st place in both the JV and Varsity girls team events and claiming individual 1st … Continue reading St. John’s wins unprecedented 3 championships at fall ISSTs!

Our High School fall sports teams are competing in the end-of-season International Schools Sports Tournaments (ISSTs)  this week. These tournaments take place at international schools across Europe this Thursday-Saturday, and today is a travel day. Our teams will be in the following locations: Cross Country in Vienna, Boys Soccer in Brussels, Girls Soccer in Frankfurt, Boys Volleyball in London and Girls Volleyball in Paris. Best of luck to all our athletes and coaches. Go LIONS! Continue reading St. John’s athletes compete across Europe this week

In a recent 11th Grade Spanish class, students learned about the tasty dside of learning Spanish. This was an activity run by the Spanish Ab Initio 1 class for the beginning of the new unit which included the cultural aspect of Spanish food. The students decided to cook tapas, in order to have a greater understanding of the Spanish heritage. It was a fun and tasty class! By Yaiza Toledo, High School Spanish teacher Continue reading Students enjoy the tasty side of learning Spanish

Students in grade 3 enjoyed an exciting day today with our guest Peg Weber, who is a book artist and a calligrapher. She is a graduate of the Portland Museum Art School where she studied graphic design. Peg is an accomplished calligrapher who has exhibited her fine art in juried art exhibitions. She enjoys bringing together her skills as a calligrapher and graphic designer into the world of book arts. Today she taught our 3rd grade students how to make a hand-made book that they can fill with their own art or writing. The children make wonderful books and were very proud of … Continue reading Grade 3 students make hand-sewn books with illustrator