Month: June 2015

The Duck Has Landed!

It’s that time of year again! The Purple Duck, 2015 edition, has arrived.

It’s a glossy, all-colour collection of the very best of an excellent year’s work, done by students (and a few teachers) in visual arts and creative writing. And to launch this new issue, the Purple Duck team is hosting a garden party. Come along for an al fresco, candle-lit evening of song and dance, art and poetry.

Please ignore the purple posters that have been telling you for a week now to go to the Centre Cafe! It’s a ruse to confuse – a commonly used literary technique that adds mystery and a pleasant sense of bewilderment. Instead, come to the patio area at the back of the Design Centre (make your way through the cafeteria to get there – if lost, follow the purple string…).

The evening starts at 7pm. The Purple Duck tradition of open mic continues, so bring your own favourite song, poem or other piece of literature to read. Wear purple if you can. And don’t forget – for a pittance – to pick up your own copy of this year’s magazine, on sale for the first time at the party. Be the first in your street to get your hands on this year’s magazine!

Screen Shot 2015-06-03 at 5.21.31 PM

Grade 7’s on Xuanwu Lake Maths Trail Field Trip

This is just a reminder to any Grade 7 teachers that this Thursday, June 4, the 7th graders will be away blocks 1-4 (until lunch) on a math field trip. Enjoy the free blocks!

Thanks for your understanding!

Michelle, Dan, and Bronwyn

Posters around school

Please remember posters around school should only be placed on bulletin boards prior authorisation. No posters should be placed on doors, walls or columns as the bluetag or tape damage the paint.

It was a starless and tempestuous evening…

Reminder: Authors choose words with intention…what were they thinking? Come and deconstruct opening sentences with us. Bring your own favourite opening line if you wish!

When: Today June 3, 13:20 – 13:50 (second half of lunch)

Where: Library picture book corner

Audience: all K2-G12 literature teachers (English, Mandarin, German, Spanish, French)

Why: Jacqui P. and Marina would like to share a learning experience

 

Green Team Vegetable sale Wednesday at 4:00 PM

Weather permitting, the green team should have enough harvest to have another vegetable sale today.  There will be veggies, basil plants, and free herbs.

Come out and support the Green team.  Live a healthy life.

 

Where Won’t You Be?

Hello MYP/DP Students,

Where won’t you be at 7:59am Friday morning???

A. Sitting in your Homeroom wondering why the lights are off and no one else is there.

B. Strolling down the hallway listening to old Taylor Swift songs and wondering why the place is empty.

C. Waiting outside Dr. Saavedra’s office for a signature of some kind and lamenting his absence.

D. Looking in the mirror in the bathroom telling yourself how amazing you are, over and over again.

E. All of the above.

 

Of course it’s E! You will be seating in the Theatre awaiting the penultimate MYP/DP assembly of the year! Athletics galore, Student Council Elections, and so much more. See you there!

Wolves 0 – Forest(ers) 1

Well, it was a jolly scene on the stage of the NIS theatre last night, when, in a cheery, upbeat medley of your favourite folktales and mine, the foresters proved the heroes of the evening. No sooner had one member of our Union expertly removed a random bear’s liver and kidneys with one beautiful, swift upper cut that was a joy for any forestry professional to see, than another sterling representative of our venerable organisation had coolly gutted a wolf in full view of the admiring audience, thus heroically releasing a naive young girl and her alcoholic, cake-addicted grandmother. Their sheer professionalism was a joy to behold, especially compared to the amateurish attempts by other cast members at removing their own toes and poisoning their frankly rather dim step-daughters. As we say in the trade, if you want the job done cleanly, get a strapping forester in to do it! A marvellous night’s entertainment was had by all.

The Daily Acorn: Magazine of The Amalgamated Union of Foresters, Woodcutters and Other Jolly Hunting Types

Parental Advisory! Parents of wolf cubs, stay away from the NIS stage, where a thoroughly depressing saga has been performed at the expense of the very lives of fellow wolves. Yes, a wolf is sacrificed nightly to the feral demands of a rampant human audience who constantly fail to see beyond the ancient stereotypes that enforce the usual discrimination against us wolves. Little do humans realise that we are currently the demographic that consumes more conditioner and shampoo than any other mammalian consumer of household products (apart from the bear, another grossly misunderstood fellow sufferer, one of whom was gruesomely disembowelled on stage in the same cruel performance last night)*. When will this exploitation end, brothers and sisters? When will humans realise that a wolf never ate a grandmother and a small girl all in one sitting? When will they understand that this is not even possible, and show a more realistic scenario, in which suburban wolves return home via a pamper session from the supermarket in their family saloon and unpack frozen human body parts to store in their basement freezer like any other family? These old folktales must be updated! Boycott this show in protest, fellow wolves! You enter the theatre at your peril.

The Weekly Wolf

* The Economist, May 2014

Grade 5/6 Meeting Slides

Hello Again Grade 5 (future Grade 6) Parents,

Thanks for your time, attention, and great questions at our meeting yesterday. Please click here for the slides from the presentation.: 5-6 Transition Parents   Again, a friendly reminder to submit any outstanding course choice forms to your student’s HR teacher as soon as possible if you have not already done so. We are building classlists as we speak!
Thanks again,
Kasson

Bake Sale – Grade 10 Mandarin Class

Come to the foyer this Friday break and lunch. We will be selling brownies and nutella rolls for 5 kuai each! All donations go to the Amy Yang foundation. See you there!

– Ebba, Ilaria & Anabel

Come to the foyer this Friday at break an lunch. We will be selling chocolate cupcakes for 10¥ and will be hosting a cake raffle so come down to get a chance to win an entire carrot cake. Raffle tickets will be 5¥. All proceeds will be donated to the Amy Yang Foundation. Hope to see you there!

– Sophia, Freja, Raphael, Ryan

This Friday, in the foyer, come visit Sweet Street for some wonderful treats. We will be selling pink lemonade for 5¥, lemon bars for 10¥, cookies for 10¥ and cake pops for 5¥. We can’t wait for you all to come and enjoy our delicious sweets. All of the procedes will go to Ray of Light Cambodia so don’t wait to come down and support us!

– Lauren, Megan, Sanjana

WELL DONE!!!

A HUGE well done done to cast and crew involved in Grimm Tales!! You were all amazing!

Last night was fantastic, let’s make tonight even better!

‘The Devil’s Chord Has Been Sung’

‘Atonal. The devil’s chord – never to be played or sung – has been sung on stage at NIS tonight. I have never experienced such a play of flattened fourths’. Amy Keus

‘Stunning costuming, big 80’s hair. I felt right at home.’  Simon leBon

‘A shocking depiction of the evil that lies at the heart of all students. I gnawed off my own toes in agony’  Aleister Crowley

Grimm School Drama Shock!

PARENTAL ADVISORY!!!

Parents beware! If you cherish your childhood memories of Disney fairy fantasies, where the prince gets the girl and the monsters are cute and lovable, keep your children away from the latest NIS school production! Murder follows murder, eyes are pecked out, toes are cut off, hearts are eaten live on stage, witches are boiled alive, queens die painful deaths in blood-filled cast iron dancing shoes. The whole auditorium resounds to the deafening sound of screams and shrieks – and that’s just the actors. It’s horrible, parents, horrible! No child should be allowed to witness such terrors! Keep them at home tomorrow night and show them Barbie!

The place to stay away from is the school theatre, the time to avoid is 7pm. Those who make the mistake of arriving early will be unlucky enough to get a seat with a full, uninterrupted view of the hideous events unfolding on stage.

Puckeridge, The Times

Tech Committee Meeting

Join us for a Tech Committee Meeting Friday June 5th at lunch (location to be confirmed). This informal group meets occasionally  to discuss NIS Tech topics and help plan for the future of Tech @ NIS.

All interested staff are welcome/encouraged to attend.

Topics on tap for this week:

  • Technology and Information Literacy
  • Yosemite updates
  • Microsoft Office roll-out INSET
  • Acceptable use guidelines
  • Minimum vs. recommended

Green Card Invitation

For those who are confused: By placing the green card on your classroom door, you are inviting other teachers to drop in. By creating a culture of sharing best practice, we will create a culture of learning from each other in informal and unexpected ways.

Please do drop in to other people’s classrooms even if just for a minute or two.

You have been invited!

Green Invitation