ASA Cycle 3 Online Signup is now closed. Please note that only students who have signed up for ASAs may attend. If you wish to signup now you should contact me to see if there are vacancies.
Courtyard outside of cafeteria closed today due to Tech Challenge set-up
The courtyard outside of cafeteria closed today due to Tech Challenge set-up. Please enjoy your lunch in another location for today.
Teachers please arrive 7-10 minutes early for MYP tech challenge
In order to have a smooth start to the MYP tech challenge please arrive to the Design Centre, 7-10 minutes early so you beat the crowd of students and your teacher leader can give any instructions necessary. Enjoy the afternoon.
MYP Tech Challenge-when and where?
Today is the MYP Tech Challenge after lunch!
To avoid the long hallway being filled with MYP students and blocking the passageway for teachers and PYP students, the MYP Students will be lining up in grade levels outside of the foyer in the courtyard (under the roof). Please start lining 5-10 minutes before the end of lunch. Leave your bags in your lockers.
There will be 5 teams per house per grade level. While waiting in line, please start organizing your teams. There may be less students because of swim meet and other activities. Each house can still have 5 teams to have most chances for success.
Here are the locations for each grade:
- Grade 6: Robotics Area (Ms. Weatherly)
- Grade 7: C154 / Drama Room (please go straight there) (Mr. Orteza)
- Grade 8: Back Courtyard area (enter via the cafeteria) (Ms. Fox)
- Grade 9: Hallway between gym and design centre (Mr. Messom)
- Grade 10: Workshop (Mr. Wiggins)
Enjoy you afternoon and represent your house well.
Pi Day Auction – 1500RMB raised!
Thanks to all that came out to the Pi Day Auction last Friday. There was an enthusiastic crowd of students and staff bidding to win the delicious baked goods. A total of 1500RMB was raised. The money raised will be split evenly between the Amy Yang Fund & the Pfrang Organisation, 750RMB to each.
See you next year for more Pi day fun!
Inter House Trivia Challenge
Congratulations to Xuanwu, winners of the Inter House Trivia Challenge yesterday. Wutaishan came in 2nd whilst, the overall leaders, Taiping came in 3rd. This closes the gap a bit for the House Shield but Taiping still well out in front. Current points are:
Taiping 675
Wutaishan 605
Xuanwu 560
MYP/DP Book Week Assembly!
Breaking News: MYP/DP Book Week Assembly this Friday at 8am sharp! in the PAC
Our prestigious visiting author, Mr. Ed Vere, will be speaking with us on Friday morning…
Now listen….We went to great lengths to hand-pick this literary professional… just for you, arranged (and paid) for him to fly (literally) across the world…just for you, created an entire schedule to get the most out of his visit in your Arts blocks… just for you, coordinated with your block one teachers to allow this assembly to run until 9:00… just for you, brought in a book fair… just for you, took untold numbers of “shelfies,” wrote “spine poems,” and heard the story “Bananas!” at least two dozen times (just for you)…. The least you can do is be on-time come Friday morning, right?
See you then!
What if you are an ACAMIS swimmer? No worries! Ed Vere will stop the assembly at 8:40…just for you… and excuse the team. Please wait until he lets you go (don’t go by your phone, watch, or “spidey-senses.” Thanks.
Language Acquisition
It is important to develop Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. This means that non native need to engage in demanding tasks. These need to be made accessible by providing the necessary support. Once students are comfortable with these kinds of activities, they can be gradually exposed to tasks that are both cognitively-demanding and context-reduced.
slow network? email help@nanjing-school.com
We’ve been hearing student’s having slow network issues. If that is the case for you, email help@nanjing-school.com and provide us with some details. Knowing time of day, web address, and location is useful is figuring out a solution.
Grade 10 Work Week Reminder
Grade 10s – Please remember that your provisional plans are due by the end of the month. Make sure you are moving on this now and that you are seeking help if you need it.
The website is here: http://share.nanjing-school.com/g10workexperienceweek/timeline/
FYI – I will be out of school from this Friday until Monday 30th March.
Office 365 Plans
Last year we announced our move to Office 365 and the transition away from iWorks. Within the IT department we’ve been working on setting up accounts and are announcing that everyone can log into Office 365 using your regular password and your email address without “staff”. For example, instead of signing on as Brianlockwood@staff.nanjing-school.com, I would use Brianlockwood@nanjing-school.com.
Why move to 365
We are doing this because of Apple’s poor backward compatibility support and their lack of online collaboration. Apple has minimal online collaboration features in iCloud, which only offers an individual level. They also do not provide support using our school email accounts, and we hope to have an integrated system.
Known Issues
Please note we are discovering issues, especially while trying to transfer files from iWorks. We know Pages files are difficult to import. We’ve found that most issues happen with documents containing tables. In most cases creating the file from scratch has been the best solution.
Our Goal
Next year our goal is to use Office as our core tool. All computers for the 2015-16 year will have Office software. Apple’s iWorks software will remain on your computers, allowing sufficient time to transition your documents. Beyond 2016, iWorks will not be part of the school’s software image.
Office Transition Time Line
- 2008-14 iWorks Core Tool
- 2014-15 Learning Office
- 2015-16 Office becomes school’s Core Tool
- 2016-17 iWorks not part of school software image
ACT testing @NIS
The ACT test is held at school on Saturday 18 April. More about the test itself here.
You need to register online HERE: http://www.actstudent.org/
Cost: 434RMB No Writing or 533RMB with Writing
Test centre code: 872250
Action for Service Expo June 2nd @Shanghai C&S / CAS G7-11
The second Action for Service Expo will be held in Shanghai on June 2nd. The Expo is an opportunity for students to showcase NIS C&S / CAS activities and to learn about Service activities that other schools have undertaken. If you would like to attend please email me for more information. This is a 3 point C&S activity.
Maps Needed
Searching for world and city maps
Looking for different world and city maps for an art project. The maps will not be returned to their owners. Any condition accepted (old/ new).
Maps can be brought to Mr. Wiggins’ room (D246) on the second floor of the main building.
Thank you,
Dorothea Moldenhauer
10D
Language Acquisition
Tasks can range in difficulty along one continuum from cognitively undemanding to cognitively demanding; and along another continuum from context-embedded to context-reduced. A context-embedded task is one in which the student has access to a range of additional visual and oral cues; for example a one with illustrations of what is being talked about. A context-reduced task is one such as listening to a lecture or reading dense text, where there are no other sources of help than the language itself. A task which is both cognitively demanding and context- reduced, is likely to be the most difficult for students.