all the knews you kneed to know -...
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All the Knews You Kneed to Know Todd Knouse, Head of School
Teacher Appreciation Week
We celebrate our faculty this week, culminating on Wednesday, October 5, which is World Teachers’ Day. We have events planned all week from our special events committee to take a moment to honor the staff that dedicates so much for your children. If you are unable to participate in these events, please take a moment this week to just drop a note to your child’s teacher to say “thank you.” For information from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding World Teachers’
Day, click here or here.
Fall Break Don’t forget there is no school this Thursday, October 6 and Friday, October 7.
Book Fair What a successful Scholastic Book Fair event! We sold over $5,300 in books. We will be able to put the money we raised to purchasing more books for our ever-growing NMIS library.
Winners of the various contests at the Book Fair:
Balloon Museum tickets: Trujillo & Beck families
Candy Jar estimation: Leah Wall
Coin count: Pedrotty Class
Coin dollar amount: Pell –Shaver Class
The weekly newsletter of New Mexico International School
Todd Knouse Head of School
Volume VI-10 October 3, 2016
In this week’s edition:
Knouse Knews 1 Kindergarten 4 First Grade 4 Second Grade 5 Third Grade 5 Fourth Grade 6 Arabic Update 7 Accolades! 8 Committee News 9 School Info & Contact 12 Upcoming Events 12 Sponsors 13
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Balloon Aloft
I had so much fun this past Friday at our 3rd annual ABQ Aloft event. Thank you to our amazing coordinators for putting this together. And also to the volunteers for their time!
Do You Be an IB Expert? Can you answer the following about the IB program your children are enrolled in? These are the basics that each parent should know and understand about our curriculum.
1. Is NMIS developing a a. a primary years programme
(PYP), b. middle years programme
(MYP), c. diploma programme (DP), d. a career related programme
(CP)? 2. What is a programme of inquiry?
3. What are the six transdiciplinary themes that are covered each school year?
4. What theme(s) has/have already been covered by my child’s class this year?
5. What theme is currently being covered by my child’s class right now?
6. What “traditional subject” areas are included in an IB “unit of inquiry?”
7. There are ten “attributes” that compose the IB Learner Profile. How many can you name? How many do you see your child demonstrate? How many do you demonstrate to your child?
See page 3 for answers!!!!
More IB Information
Here are some links that have easy-to-watch videos about the IB. Please take a minute to watch them. The IB Continuum: General info about the various IB Programmes (PYP, MYP, DP and CP). About the Primary Years Programme (PYP) The IB Learner Profile: The kinds of people we want our children to be.
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Answers from page 2: 1. We are developing a Primary Years Programme (PYP).
2. A Programme of Inquiry (POI) is a component of the written
curriculum of Primary Years Programme. It is a matrix
showing the six transdiciplinary themes as columns, and
grade levels as rows. The “cells” that form in the matrix
represent the six units of inquiry children explore each year.
It represents the “course of study” for children who are here
K-5. 3. The six transdisciplinary themes are:
a. Who we are
b. Where we are in place and time
c. How we organize ourselves
d. How we express ourselves e. How the world works
f. Sharing the planet
4. Ask your child or child’s teacher. Everyone has covered one
theme this year. It’s different for each grade level, as not
every grade is doing the same theme at the same time. But
both classes within a grade level are doing the same unit at the same time.
5. Again, ask your child or child’s teacher.
6. Because the units are “transdisciplinary” they cover multiple
content areas. Each unit MUST have social studies and
science and SHOULD also include language arts and math. Additionally, our art, music and Arabic teachers try to have
their work tied to the theme the class is working on in their
room. Thus, the units cover “all possible subject areas.”
7. The 10 Leaner Profile Attributes are what we “strive to be.”
We strive to be:
a. Inquirers b. Knowledgeable
c. Thinkers
d. Communicators
e. Principled
f. Open-minded g. Caring
h. Risk-takers
i. Balanced
j. Reflective
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by Maestra Salley and Maestra Pedrotty
Countdown to fall break! This week the children will not have school on Thursday or Friday due to a well-deserved fall break. Although this is a short week, we have a lot of ground to cover. Our IB unit, “How we organize ourselves”, is coming to an end. We will review what we all learned about being community members and pass an assessment to determine to what extent they recognize some of the jobs in their community and what their responsibilities/jobs are as children in the community. We will relate what we learned to our umbrella unit of “Who we are”. The children will explore the uniqueness of families and reflect a little bit on how their own families compare and contrast to each other. The students will do a science
project called “My Body” in which they will learn about “who we are” in the physical sense. We will introduce the letter “s” this week and do related literacy activities. In math, we will introduce “Number Stories”, which is Everyday Math’s name for story problems. Number stories are the initial step to bridge the gap from spoken language problems to mathematical
symbolic language problems. These problems will be simple stories that use everyday language to introduce the mathematical concepts of addition and subtraction. Let’s have a great week!
by Maestra Cooper de Uribe and Maestra Sayer
Happy Balloon Fiesta! Friday's event was exciting and special, and we hope your families have enjoyed watching the morning sky so far. We also wish you a delightful Fall Break this coming week. May the long weekend be one for making good memories! This week marks the beginning of our second IB Unit of Inquiry. Our theme is segueing from Who We Are to How We
Organize Ourselves, with inquiries into the distinguishing characteristics of plants and animals, the adaptations of organisms according to their environment, and the relationship between people and places. The central idea of this unit is “Natural laws impact human organization,” and we will use our background knowledge of the needs and rules that we explored in our
previous unit to learn more about natural laws. Over the next two weeks, we will focus on the distinguishing characteristics of plants and animals. This week, we will begin plants, and our high frequency words are: raíz, tallo, hoja, flor, fruta, and semilla. With a variety of books as a point of reference,
we will read fiction and non-fiction texts about plants in both English and Spanish to enrich our vocabularies and understand what different parts of the plant do. We will also listen and/or dance to songs like “Cada semilla,” "Roots, Stems, Leaves", and "Watermelon". We'll also revisit José Luis Orozco's "Plátanos y manzanas." If you or someone close to you has a garden,
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this week and next would be an excellent time for you to look closely at the variety of plants and to find similarities and differences among them. In math, we will practice making patterns with a stencil. We will be reviewing and practicing telling time to the nearest hour and begin looking at how a clock can be seen as divided into four equal parts. We
will also keep working with nickels and pennies, and much of what we will do is think about how to show equivalent values with different and fewer coins. If you are looking for a website that can help reinforce first grade math skills in English, you might want to take a look at Adapted Mind. And you can also find additional activities at this Everyday Mathematics page.
by Maestra Tuttle and Maestra Pell-Schaver
What a wonderful time we had on Friday morning with the balloon aloft! The weather was perfect and the kids had a lot of fun. It was nice to see many of you enjoying this beautiful time of the year. This coming week we will only have school three days and we will be able to enjoy a well-deserved Fall Break. In Spanish Language Arts we will continue to read the heartwarming story La canción de Babú. For science, we will start learning about how choices either good or bad can impact our health. Students will learn about germs and how they can make us sick, and what things we can do to fight those germs
to stay healthy. Together we will do a handwashing experiment. In social studies, our second graders will learn that kindness can truly impact the community where we live. They will read about The Kids Care Club and all the wonderful things that they do. In math, we will continue practicing with counting money and making change by counting up for amounts under $1.00. We will also assess our student’s progress on mathematical content through the end of the Unit 3. We hope that you have a nice weekend, and don’t forget to look up and admire those gorgeous balloons all over our beautiful sky.
by Maestra Martini and Maestra Rodríguez
IB trans-disciplinary unit- Students will utilize situation cards for feelings and three ways to resolve conflict (denial, aggression, problem solving). They will recognize that
problem solving is a win-win situation that benefits everyone involved. We will also be sharing the story of Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeannette Winter.
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Math- Unit 3 Third graders will review perimeter, learn and practice area, and develop skills in resolving multiplication word problems. The unit assessment will be towards the end of the week. Students will learn and practice times tables 3s and 4s. Social Studies- In our Comunidades books, we will read two more biographies: one about Langston Hughes and one about David Crockett. Spanish Reading- We will read El pavo que abría y cerraba la cola in our Tesoros literature books.
Science- We are continuing the States of Matter unit in Science with the location of water found around the world. Students will describe the different states of bodies of water. Writing- Phonics-We will be practicing words with digraphs like th, wh, sh. Digraphs are two letters that make only one sound. Spelling Words: doesn’t/no hace dollar/dólar done/hecho draw/dibujar drink/beber eight/ocho
by Maestra Ortíz
I hope you have fun plans for the Fall Break coming up next week. Remember to take advantage of the National Parks since this year our students and their families get to visit them for free. You can find out more information at https://www.everykidinapark.gov/ We are starting a new IB unit this week. This unit is connected to “Where we are in time and place”. We will focus on how explorations impact people and land. We will read the story “In Search of Gold”, and practice the vocabulary: reference, disappointment, circular, conducted, annoyed, and outstretched. You can write these vocabulary words in index card to practice spelling and meaning with your child. We will also look at examples of cause and effect. It’s important to read fiction and non-fiction books since the language and vocabulary are quite different. I recommend using http://www.timeforkids.com/ to read non-fiction articles with interesting news.
In Social Studies, we will learn about the western region of the USA. We will identify which states are part of the West, and the characteristics of this region. Knowing the times tables by heart is a necessary skill in 4th grade. Therefore, I will be testing the students on their times tables from 2-10. Students will have 1 minute to recite each one, and they will color an ice-cream scoop for each one that they get. I will display them in the hallway so you can monitor your child’s progress. Don’t forget to practice at home! In math, we will start Unit 3 in our Spanish lessons. This unit focuses on multiplication, division, number sentences and algebra. In our English lessons, we will practice decimals to the thousandths place, and we will review the relationships among metric units of length. Congratulations to the Book Fair Committee for organizing and amazing event! Thank you to all the families who contributed to building a larger selection of
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books for 4th grade! Thank you to Ms. Fanari for sharing the historical events that took place in Estonia between 1987 and 1991. These events led to the restoration of independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union.
Quote for the week: Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus
by al-muaalima Iman Babaa
Fourth Grade: The first two weeks of
October I will teach the students about the IB Unit Sharing the Planet. I will make a vocabulary list with words about the planet, its resources and how they should be shared. I will also give examples of h ow Middle Eastern countries play a role in society. Lastly, I plan to give them a story connected to these ideas. In the last two weeks of this month I will focus in the IB unit Where We Are in
Time and Place I will make a vocabulary list that contains words about the Arab world's historical
connection to the rest of the world. Specifically, I will emphasize the golden age of the scholars and how they influenced the rest of the world. Besides these, I will continue teaching my 4th grade students the following: A- The shapes of the Arabic letters and how to write them in the beginning, middle and the end B- Read words with short vowels C- Teach the students songs about Fall, parents the Arabic months and times D- Vocabulary about family
Fifth Grade: The first two weeks of
October I will teach the students about the IB Unit Where we are in Time and Place. To reflect this unit I will provide a historical story in Arabic about story telling and I will a accompany it with a set of vocabulary words. In the last two weeks of this month I will
focus in the IB unit How we Organize Ourselves I will provide a story that shows the relationship between the police and the fire department and how this system affects the
community and I will give the students a vocabulary list about this subject. Besides these, I will continue teaching my 4th grade students the following: A- The shapes of the Arabic letters and how to write them in the beginning, middle and the end B- Read some Arabic stories
C- Teach the students songs about Fall and school D- The difference between masculine and feminine forms in verbs and pronouns
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by Todd Knouse
NMIS Students Doing Great Things in Their Community
Congratulations to Brooklynn Rodgers for
her trophy in Tae Kwon Do. This was her very first tournament and she took home the third place trophy! Way to go
Brooklynn!
Congratulations to Brody, Gage, & Ryder Owens who
learned how to scuba dive! They did this on a recent trip to Isla Muejeres in Mexico.
If you have a picture and story you would like to share about your child doing something really cool, please share it with us! We will publish it in our weekly
newsletter. Send submissions to [email protected].
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These updates are provided by the respective committee’s chairperson. Consider joining a committee by writing to the chairperson. It’s a great way to get involved and add to your child’s educational environment.
Cara Morris [email protected]
& Kate Cunningham [email protected] It was great to see so many parents turn out for the book fair this week. Hooray! This
event helps us grow our library collection.
We're also now able to accept book donations through our Amazon wish list, which contains books our teachers would like to use in their classrooms. Please consider donating a book or two. You can ship them directly to the school or bring them in
yourself. Your donation can count toward the time or money each family is asked to give to NMIS.
To find our list on Amazon, go to "Find a list or registry" and type "NMIS library." You should see our logo and our address. You also can follow this link. https://amzn.com/w/1DQD3RER1MDIB
Please contact the committee with any questions.
Denette Varley [email protected]
No update.
Christel Reynolds [email protected]
No update.
Crystal Spain [email protected]
No update.
Erika Lucero [email protected]
No update.
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Parisa Wright & Brenda Vigil [email protected] Ok everyone, we still have slots open for the meals for our teachers. Let me tell you,
this is one of their favorite appreciation acts that we do. They love getting fed and not having to worry about packing a lunch. Please spread the word! We want to make
sure we have enough food for them. We also will still be collecting gift cards and coffee pods next week!!! Thank you to all of you wonderful parents and family members that have signed up!!!! Please click on the link:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0C4BADAB29ABFE3-world
Parisa Wright [email protected] No update.
Jenny Dillow [email protected] To order a lunch for delivery to NMIS for your child, go to: http://rhubarbandelliott.h1.hotlunchonline.net/
Anna Martinez [email protected] If your child missed out on getting school photos this month, there will be a photo
retake day on Tuesday, November 8. Share your NMIS memories. If you have favorite photos from this year's special
events or class activities, we'd love to have them for the yearbook! Send them to [email protected], or upload directly to the NMIS Yearbook Dropbox
at: https://www.dropbox.com/request/960fqdjQS3XKx0NdTy5f. A big thank you to everyone who has uploaded photos so far!
Bridget Chaves, chair & Shonesha Rogers vice-chair: [email protected]
No update.
The next SAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 5 at 6:00 here at NMIS.
SAC Members for 2016-2017
Kindergarten Andrea Sewell [email protected] First Grade Shonesha Rogers [email protected] Second Grade Stacey Adams [email protected] Third Grade Mark Brooke [email protected] Fourth Grade Gary Newell [email protected] Fifth Grade Sarah Baca [email protected]
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The NMIS Foundation is an independent 501c3 organization that is dedicated to fundraising for the benefit of NMIS. This is an integral arm to the mission of the school. Contact the president of the Foundation Board of Directors to join this effort.
NMIS Foundation Board of Directors Leslie Alverado President [email protected] Brian Verardo Vice President & Secretary [email protected] Susan Martinez Treasurer [email protected] vacant vacant vacant
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New Mexico International School is a
candidate school for the Primary Years
Programme. The school is pursing authorization as an IB World School. These
are schools that share a common philosophy
– a commitment to high quality, challenging,
international education that New Mexico
International School believes is important for our students. Only schools authorized by the
IB Organization can offer any of its three
academic programmes: The Primary Years’
Programme (PYP), the Middle Years’
Programme (MYP), or the Diploma
Programme (in addition to the IB Career-related certificate). Candidate status gives no
guarantee that authorization will be
granted. For further information about the
IB and its programmes, visit
http://www.ibo.org.
Friday, September 30 – Wednesday, October 5: International Teacher Appreciation
Monday, October 24: United Nations Day @ NMIS
Wednesday, October 5: SAC Meeting 6:00
Thursday, October 6 – Friday, October 7: No School – Fall Break
Thursday, October 27 – Friday, October 28: IB Verification Visit
Friday, October 28 – End of Intervention cycle A
Monday, October 31 – Beginning of Intervention cycle B
Thursday, November 10: End of Fall Trimester
Friday, November 11: No School – Teacher PD Day
Thursday, November 17: Int’l Day of Peace @ NMIS
Monday, November 21 – Tuesday November 22: No School – Parent Teacher Conferences
School is dismissed all day each day for students to allow for teachers to meet with parents to discuss student progress for Fall Trimester.
Monday, November 28 – Friday December 16: Winter Interim Assessments This is the second of three school-wide assessments given to monitor student growth and identify students needing additional support.
Wednesday, November 30: SAC Meeting 6:00
Thursday, December 15: Governing Council Meeting 5:00
Friday, December 16 – End of Intervention cycle B
Monday, December 19 – Monday, January 2: No School – Winter Break
Tuesday, January 3: No School – Teacher PD Day
Wednesday, January 3 – Beginning of Intervention Cycle C
Friday, January 6: Letter of Intent available for 2017-2018 Enrollment.
Friday, January 6: Mid-Year Supply Lists due
Friday, January 13: Mid Trimester Progress Reports sent home
Monday, January 16: No School – MLK Jr. Day
Monday, January 23 – Frida, January 27: National School Choice Week
Wednesday, January 25 – SAC meeting 6:00
Thursday, January 26: GC Town Hall Meeting 6:00
Monday, January 30: 100th Day of School Celebration
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(505)890-WINE
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