Contents

All School News 1 - 3 Middle School News 9

PTO News and Projects 4 Counselors’ Corner 10-12

Community Service Project 5 - 6 Sports Briefs 13

School Contact Information 6 Library Resources in Rome 14

Pre-K News 6 Il Foro 15

Elementary School News 7 - 8 Calendar 16

November

Important Dates

1 NO SCHOOL (Italian National Holiday) 2 Mediterranean Girls &

Boys Volleyball Championships 3 Report Cards Distributed 7 Declamations Assembly

9:30am (Cafeteria) 9-10 MS Play, Mid Summers & Night

Dream 7:00pm 13-16 MS Trip in Italy 17 NO SCHOOL

Parent/Teacher Confer-ences

22 NO After School Activi

ties/NO Late Buses

30 Corporation Assembly

7:30pm, school cafeteria Board of Trustees Elections

AOSR - VIA CASSIA 811 Phone: 06-334-381 Web:WWW.AOSR.ORG November 2006

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held a poster con-test for World Food Day - October 16th. The theme was Investing in Agriculture for Food Security. AOSR students Gabriela P. (Grade 3) and Nathaniel B. (Grade 5) placed first in their respective categories. An Honorary Mention was given to Otis R. (Grade 3). Congratulations to these artists and to all our student artists who made wonderful posters all of which are on view in the cafeteria.

AOSR’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

FAO World Food Day Poster Winners

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All School News

It Happened in October... Professional Development Update On Monday, October 9th, the entire faculty met to continue our progress on action plans set last spring as part of our re-accreditation process. Our schoolwide improvement plans cover four categories, including writing growth for our ESL students, mathematics assessment, computer literacy and curriculum mapping. With the help of an outside consultant and a mapping tool called “Atlas,” our teachers spent time charting their own curriculum as we head toward further clarity on what is to be learned at each level and in each course. Workshops were also conducted in GradeQuick, (our school’s assessment program) and EdLine, our new tool to communicate with students and parents on-line. Finally, the day served as an extended time for faculty members to interact and work together—a rare opportunity given our busy school day and year. The feedback on the day’s structure was very positive and we were able to demonstrate strong progress on a number of our goals. We hope that you had a nice extended weekend with your children as well! College Preparation Day On October 18, all of our 10th and 11th grade students took the Practice SAT test (PSAT) This challenging standard-ized exam exposes students to the types of questions they will face on the SAT and other high stakes assessments. It also connects students with scholarship opportunities and university programs. That AOSR gives the assessment to every student is a powerful statement about our belief that all students will attend a university and that every student deserves access to high level curricula and opportunity. Following the theme of preparation for university life, our 12th grade students cycled through three modules—oral interview preparation, powerful essay writing and university life and work. These sessions, led by our faculty mem-bers, were very successful in preparing our oldest students for their upcoming transition. On the same day, our 9th grade students traveled to Cerveteri to view Etruscan ruins as part of the Ancient History cur-riculum. October concluded with three wonderfully successful events: Our elementary school students proudly represented AOSR and the world as they performed a special United Nations Day concert for their friends and parents. They filled the cafeteria with the sounds of peace in many languages! Our little goblins also enjoyed a fun Halloween parade to showcase their costumes on Halloween Day. Pictures will be coming soon! Our middle school students were able to meet Mr. Pipestem, a Native American from the Blackfoot tribe, who shared his culture through legend, dance, song and artifacts. IN NOVEMBER!!! Parent/Teacher Conferences Parent/Teacher Conference for middle and high school students will be held this month on Friday, November 17tth

from 9-12 a.m. and 1-3:20 pm. You may drop in during these times to see teachers. This day allows you time to spend a few minutes with teachers discussing your students’ work and progress. This day comes after the first quarter grades to allow us all to work towards improving students academic achievement. We hope you will join us on the 17th!

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All School News

Presented by AOSR Middle School Thursday November 9 and

Friday November 10 At 7:00 pm

Join us for William Shakespeare’s

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

AOSR Board of Trustees By Christine Marciasini, AOSR Board of Trustees, Secretary

The Board of Trustees is the governing body of AOSR and the representative body of the AOSR Corporation. It is

composed of twelve members who are entrusted with the task of ensuring AOSR’s financial soundness, setting its policies, crafting its long range planning and appointing and evaluating the Head of School. The Board meets on a monthly basis and all members serve on at least two Board committees, which generally meet once to twice a month. The Head of School is not a member of the Board but must attend all board meetings and sit on all Board committees. There are four officers of the Board: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The officers are elected annually at the first Board meeting follo-wing the annual Assembly. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board also serve as President and Vice-President of the Cor-poration and the Chair is the legal representative of AOSR.

Members are elected by the Corporation at the annual Assembly, which is generally held in November.

Further, in those instances where Assembly-elected trustees have left the Board without completing their terms the Board may co-opt a member to fill the vacancy until the next annual Assembly. Every year there are four members who are elec-ted to a three year term. No member of the Board may serve for more than six consecutive years. The Assembly also e-lects trustees to serve out the terms of those members who vacated the Board during the previous year. This year there are six vacancies on the Board. Two incumbents are running.

All AOSR parents/guardians are welcome and encouraged to become regular members of the Corporation by pa-

ying a one-time subscription fee of €10. Please contact Ms. Domenica Losani, Secretary to the Head, at headma-ster@aosr.org or call 06.33438.331 for more information. Those interested in standing for Board election should contact Dr. Beth Pfannl, Head of School or Mr. Boyd Haight, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The Corporation Assembly will take place on Thursday, November 30 at 7:30 pm in the school cafeteria. The letter announcing the first call will be mailed out to AOSR families the week of November 6.

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PTO News

After our extremely busy month of September, the PTO was pleased to see the great turnout and lovely weather for a wonderfully relaxing day of food, fun and social activities at the annual Family Picnic on 14 Octo-ber. Our Booster Bar sold an unprecedented number of hamburgers and hotdogs; and thanks to everyone who brought a dish to share, there were some real delicacies! Logo Items were also selling like hotcakes, thanks to a new Logo Item crew led by Emmy Isbell and Ricki Fisher. A big thank you to Daniela DiCagno for her hard work in organizing the event! And finally, our gratitude goes to the various student groups from the middle school and high school whose set-up, clean-up, candy sales and supervision of activities for the younger kids made the event run like clockwork.

In other October news, our Elementary School Liaisons Debbie Shachar and Helena Meyer helped sup-port the recent Elementary School Wellness Day through the contribution of apples as a healthy snack for each ele-mentary school student.

Our upcoming events include distribution of treat bags for the Elementary School Halloween Parade on 31 October, as well as wrapping up the fall sports season to begin winter sports, and several Booster Bars as always. We encourage everyone to come out for our next meeting on November 13th at 9:30 in the Boutique. We will be counting on your help to plan and execute the many ac-tivities surrounding the holidays in December. As al-ways, you may contact any of the PTO Officers listed below, should you have questions. PTO OFFICERS 2006-2007

President: Carolyn Grosso, teeumupmom@msn.com Vice-President: Daniela Di Cagno, dan-daniela@msn.com Treasurer: Monique Smits, msmitsh@hotmail.com Secretary: Kecia Dilday, kdilday@earthlink.net

The Boutique has been happily crowded every Tuesday in October. We’ve enjoyed seeing all our old customers return. Winter coats, household goods, trans-formers, microwaves and new wardrobes (fashionable or for Halloween) have been breezing out the door. Our 60 vendors have the shop well stocked and we have a steady influx of brand new and ‘almost’ new items arriving weekly. We also have an excellent group of volunteers this year and hope they will continue! We would like to give a reminder of a change we made two years ago in the process that allows shoppers to take a maximum of three items home “On Approval” for family members to try. The shopper must pay for each item in full. Items must be returned the following Tues-day. At this time, if the shopper does not want the item, their money will be refunded. For any items not returned the following Tuesday, the money will be entered into the day’s sales as final. This change has been working very well. Please remember that items that have been pur-chased (not on our Approval sheet) are not returnable. November open dates will be Nov. 7, 14 and 28. Please note that we will be closed on Tuesday, Novem-ber 21. Store hours are 9:30 – 2:30. Vendors may con-tinue to bring items to consign every Tuesday that the Boutique is open. Many thanks to the people who have brought us bags! See you there!

AOSR Boutique Doing Great Business!By Susan Haight, Boutique Coordinator

September was an exciting month! By Kecia Dilday, PTO Secretary

Falcon Flyer PTO Team:

Claudia Sobral, Suzanne Datin, Talia Gazit and Anna Clementi

Special thanks to Geoff Miller, Egidio Luzi, and to the parents that help with the FF distribution.

The next Falcon Flyer will be a combined issue for December and January

Next Deadline is Friday, December 1st, 5:00pm, Please send your article as an MS Word attachment to ptonewsletter@aosr.org.

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Understanding the community by Roy Zimmerman

Salvador is the most African city in the New World. Eighty percent of its population is of African descent, yet Salva-dor is the safest large metropolis in South America. As Brazil’s main slave port for more than three hundred years, the city became a cauldron for cultural interchange, but its overwhelmingly African population guaranteed the survival of Black cultural traditions in a way that was unique in the Western Hemisphere. The dominant culture of the colonialists was forced to compromise with African traditions, resulting in curious hybrids, such as candomblé, where Catholic saints merge with African deities, creating an ambiguous but highly vital religious movement that has made an enor-mous contribution to Brazilian folklore. In the same way that New Orleans gave birth to jazz, Bahia is the cradle of Afro-Brazilian music, providing artists of the caliber of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethania. But African culture fostered the growth of another unique cultural tradition, capoeira.

Capoeira is a strange mixture of African martial arts and rit-ual dance, which developed among the slaves as a secret way to resist their oppressors and to preserve their traditions. During its long history, it probably adopted some ele-ments of the indigenous cul-ture, although the music that accompanies the dances is markedly African, played by the berimbau (musical bow) and various drums. Because the colonialists feared the prac-titioners of capoeira, it was repressed and finally outlawed. The punishment was brutal and harsh: it prescribed a severing of the offender’s Achilles ten-dons, but the law only drove the art underground, and its masters adopted nicknames in order to disguise their true identities. The anti-capoeira laws were repealed in 1918 and the practice came into the open, a recognized art and a source of great ethnic pride.

As Pietro Gallina was launching the I.C.B.I.E., he met a wonderful Dutch woman, Ella Arps, who uses her art gallery in Amsterdam to raise funds for community assistance in the nearby favela. In the course of her work, she had become friends with an extraordinary capoeira master named Pedro Pé de Ferro (“iron-foot”), who obtained his nickname be-cause he used to give public exhibitions that included having a truck drive over his feet, but also over his chest, and when Pietro doubted the story, Mestre Pedro showed him a DVD film to prove it. Now an elderly man and a father of ten children, he leads the Associação de Capoeira Filhos do Sol Nascente do Salvador, which operates out of a roof-less, burned-out building, originally a small movie theater, that he occupied in 1990. Hundreds of kids frequent his center, and he is a true hero to the entire community. Working with Ella Arps, I.C.B.I.E. co-sponsored the project Think Capoeira (see www.arpsgallery.com), where an Italian photographer taught Mestre Pedro’s students to take pho-

The Falcon Flyer is hosting this column to inform the AOSR community about one of our community services projects.

AOSR Bridge to Bahia (Brazil) – Community Service

Continued on next page

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tographs of their families in the favela. The best photos were shown in Amsterdam, and money was raised to buy sewing machines, which were distributed to teenage girls, who were suddenly able to support their families. After years of paperwork, the Bahia state government has finally agreed to direct a project called Ribeira Azul, where the property will be granted to Mestre Pedro’s association, with an Italian NGO funding the restoration of the building and the Arps Gallery providing furnishings and equipment. For the I.C.B.I.E., the co-operation with Mestre Pedro is particularly rewarding. He recommends his most promising students to Pietro and then insures that each child at-tends his lessons and does his homework. Even better, he welcomes I.C.B.I.E.’s visiting staff and guests to visit the center and participate in his lessons, as both Kim Gallimore (AOSR Class of ’06) and Rosa de Bellis (Elementary ESL teacher) can testify.

Continued from previous page

AOSR Contact Information Reception 06-33438-300 Head of School: Dr.Beth Pfannl 06-33438-331 Secretary : Domenica Losani 06-33438-331 Principal: Matthew Neely 06-33438-326 Principal’s Secretaries: Cathy Garbinsky & 06-33438-326 Shazia Naqui Admissions/Busing: Don Levine 06-33438-311 Secretary: Joanne Hoberg 06-33438-311 Financial Consultant: Elisa Bruno 06-33438-338 HS College Counselor: Lisa Camagma 06-33438-327 School Counselor: Elizabeth Escobar 06-33438-389 Nurse: Diane Cullen-Moore 06-33438-321 After School Activities: Christine Hogan, Margaret Ciuffreda 06-33438-320 ES Coordinator: Susan Prideaux 06-33438-350 MS Coordinator: Sarah Ellyson 06-33438-336 AP/IB Coordinator: Belinda Fiochi 06-33438-337 Resource Room: Ellen Buckley 06-33438-302 Jessica DiCori 06-33438-390

All telephone and internet address corrections should be emailed to principalsoffice@aosr.org.

This Month in Pre-K By Ms. Amy Magazzu, Acting Pre-K Coordinator

Pre-K is bustling with activity, as usual! The children are learning about what it means to be part of a group and work together. The 4-year olds have been divided into two groups, each of which had the opportunity to vote on a mascot. As a result, you may here the Pre-K teachers calling on their spiders and butterflies throughout the day! The children then had the chance to share family pictures with their classmates, draw family portraits, and make a flag representing the country they come from. Meanwhile, the 3 year-olds are busily working on life-size renditions of themselves as part of our All About Me theme. This has sparked discussions among the children about how much they have grown and what they looked like when they were ‘little’. They are sharing baby pictures with their friends and are enjoying comparing and contrasting! Coming up next: dancing to the music, smelling the flowers, painting with pudding, munching with the Hungry Caterpillar, and I Spy games galore… the five senses!

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Read a Good Book Lately? Seen a Great Film Lately? Sometimes these are one and the same. In the last five years, movie-makers have been looking for material more and more frequently in children’s books. The following are some examples of current and upcoming movies that were made by people who had read a children’s book and adapted it for the silver screen: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien A series of unfortunate incidents, by Lemony Snickett Stuart Little, by E. B. White The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers These three are all movies from picture books by Chris Van Allsburg: Polar Express Jumanji Zathura Coming soon to a theatre near you, are these books-into-movies: Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke Stormbreaker, by Anthony Horowitz Eragon, by Christopher Paolini For fans of Shakespeare, there have been many movie-makers who have used his text for movies. Kenneth Bran-nagh has been prolific in this area, and his most recent: As You Like It, is currently being viewed at the Venice Film Festival. It should arrive here next month. So, grab some popcorn, rent a movie, check out a book, and enjoy comparing and contrasting what authors and film-makers do to stories!

Elementary News

The students from kindergarten to fifth grade took part in Wellness Day on 17 October and it was a successful enterprise. Dr.Cesare Luzi, an alumnus with a dental practice in Rome, spoke about dental hygiene. Ms.Miller, a nurse, taught the children about germs. Students washed their hands and then examined them under ultra violet light to ascertain if they had washed their hands correctly. Ms.Rahm spoke about the foods that will help us all grow and give us energy. Four policewomen came and spoke to the students about personal safety. One policewoman demonstrated some of the contents of her forensic equipment. Ms.Escobar talked about social responsibilities with the third, fourth and fifth graders. Each child had an apple for snack provided by the PTO. Student comments after Wellness Day: Sing “Happy Birthday” when you wash your hands because it takes ten seconds! It was a great way to learn many things in a short time. I learnt many useful things. Cesare taught us how to brush our teeth the right way. The rules are PINK TO WHITE and only VERTICAL STROKES with a soft brush, and the result will be a beautiful smile. The police gave us tips on how to use the internet cor-rectly. The day seemed important and official because the po-lice came. The experiment on how bacteria multiply and spread was great fun. The fruit Ms.Rahm gave us was delicious.

BOOK (RE) MARKS News from the

Dr. Larry W. Dougherty Elementary School Library/ Media Center

Ruth Lotero, Elementary School Librarian

Wellness Day

FIRST GRADE Ms. Redd and Ms. Tausend October has been a busy month in first grade. We have welcomed in two new students to our grade. First graders con-tinue to work hard in reading, writing and math. We learned about apples and how they grow. Along with the apple theme we read books, wrote facts, tasted different apples, graphed, and did apple projects. Other projects include The Witches’ Supermarket, writing pumpkin poems, a ghost writing activity, and studying bats which kept us busy leading up to Halloween. In Math we have begun to explore the 100 chart by doing story problems as well as adding and sub-tracting. Being involved in Wellness Day and the UN Concert also added to the excitement of October. In November will begin with leaves and fall.

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Elementary News -continued SECOND GRADE Ms. Ciuffreda and Ms. Prisco Ghosts and goblins were in the air and everywhere at the end of October. The children have listened to Halloween stories and poems and they performed a creepy, spooky dance and sang a “witch and wizard “song in Italian. The secondgraders will be preparing the food for their tra-ditional Thanksgiving lunch. It is a time for all the stu-dents to give thanks and think of others less fortunate than they are.

FOURTH GRADE Ms. De Paolis and Ms. Piccirilli This month the fourthgraders will be going on two field trips. The trip to the Time Elevator will allow the students to experience a Roman history adventure as part of the so-cial studies program. At the caldara in Manziana these bud-ding scientists will visit a volcanic site and observe flora and fauna. To coincide with Thanksgiving the students shall be draw-ing and illustrating Native American stories on paper pelts.

THIRD GRADE Mr. Harroo and Ms. Rumsby Wolves Bears and ………… By Sara M., student On Wednesday 4th of October we went on a trip to Abruzzo. First we went on the bus. The driver’s name was Pietro. When we stopped we had lunch. It was FREEZING! After we got on the bus we had a hot choco-late. Next we arrived at Pescasseroli. Paola was our guide. She talked about the bones of the animals. Next we saw Oscar the wolf, Jacopo the ‘smelly’ red deer, Giulietta the old bear and the black squirrels. After, finally we arrived at the HOTEL!!!! The hotel’s name was Val di Rose. When we got our room, my friends Gaia and Alessia were my room mates. It was time for dinner. When we started eating, Ms. Rumsby said “Stop for a minute…” (She said that because it was Tendai’s BIRTHDAY!) When we finished dinner we had a piece of cake. Then we went to sleep. The next day we went in the mountains. We saw wild apples, berries, mushrooms and moss. Next, after a long, long walk we went to drink cold, cold, cold WA-TER!!!! After we drank the cold water we wrote in our trip journals. Then we turned back. We arrived at the playground, we had lunch and we played. Then we went on the bus. After we arrived at the hotel. Then we got changed and we had dinner. After dinner we had scary stories. Then we went to sleep. The next day was the last day of the trip. That day we went shopping. After, we had lunch and then we went and the bus and then we arrived at AOSR.

Needless to say the trip was an amazing success. Sixty two of the 3rd grade community went. The hotel was wonderful and the scenery incredibly beautiful. The park is well worth a visit and just an hour and a half away from Rome. A special thanks to our official park guide Paola, Ms. Ruth, Mr. Redd and Ms. Collier and all those moms and dad (one) who came with us and were a great help.

Third grade will be starting their Masters of Math program soon and as they pass each level will become even more proficient than they already are.

We have been learning about Canis Lupus and Ursus and classification. Ask them about it.

Nearly all 3rd graders are not only doing their spelling words and challenge words but even trying the super chal-lenge words AND getting them right.

Third grade continued...

FIFTH GRADE Ms. Hogan, Mr. Redd and Ms. Wheeler Wow! 5th grade had a wonderful time at the Capitoline Museum. We all got a chance to see one of Rome’s oldest bronze statues, the Capitoline Wolf. This statue was made over 2,500 years ago. The suckling Romulus and Remus were added much later, however. Having the opportunity to take the information that we have learned in class and have it come to life with the ex-hibits in this museum was a wonderful experience. We have a lot more field trips planned to further expand our knowledge of Roman history. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next 5th grade trip.

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Middle School News by Sarah Ellyson

Congratulations to the 2006 – 2007 Middle School Student Council! The newly formed STUCO has already been busy planning the exciting events which occurred at the end of October! The group gathers weekly to discuss concerns, ideas and suggestions to make AOSR the best it can be for Middle School stu-dents. Representatives, along with some alternate representatives, come from each advisory group while the ambassadors serve as a major communicator for each of the middle School grade levels. Leading them all are the four primary execu-tives who meet separately to plan and strategize each meeting. Let’s look forward to a year full of excitement and empow-erment in the Middle School!

2006 – 07 AOSR Middle School STUCO Executive Committee and Grade Level Ambassadors

President: Steven T. Vice President: Jacopo L. Secretary: Margherita C. Treasurer: Peter N. 6th Grade Ambassador: Giuseppe G. 7th Grade Ambassador: Jordan F. 8th Grade Ambassador: Christina P.

Middle School on the Move

The week of November 13th – 16th will feel quite different on the AOSR campus. The daily school bus may appear to have left someone behind, the halls of the Villa will be terribly quiet, the lunch room will seem hollow and the sports field will have a chance to rest during daily recess because… the Middle School is going ON THE MOVE! It is with great anticipation and excitement that the Middle School prepares for its annual learning experience outside the walls of AOSR. Each November, the students and faculty of AOSR Middle School have the opportunity to explore highlighted regions while learning about their societal development, historical implications, modern-day life and cul-tural events typical to the regions. In honor and celebration of AOSR’s 60th Anniversary, this year’s cultural trips will highlight our home country of Italy. Each offered trip emphasizes a particular region and focuses on a given theme which complements an aspect of the Middle School curriculum. The final destinations for the November trips are Four Aspects of Rome (Ancient Rome, pre-Christian Rome, Papal Rome, and Roman countryside), Musings of Shakespeare in Italy (Venice, Verona, Padova and Ferara) and Homeland of the Great Explorer (Genova and Cinque Terre). In the weeks prior to the trip, teachers and students will be learning more about their destinations and making key con-nections between their curricula and trip highlights. In addition, they will choose roommates, receive packing lists, work on creating trip diaries and preparing to glean the most from the traveling learning experience as they can.

Please visit the Middle School portion of the AOSR web site later in November to see the snapshots and experiences of the Middle School travelers!

Stett Harrison MS/HS Library - Ms. Bianchini and Ms. Rahm Thank you for supporting the Book Fair on November 12 by GoodBooks U.K. It was a success thanks to all of you! The percentage of total sales GoodBooks always gives to our Library resulted in 150 Euros worth of new books. Come and see! On November 2nd, Mr. Di Bella from EBSCO Databases will come

and give a demo on EBSCO ULTRA on-line to our junior and senior students and their teachers. The demo will show our students how to improve their research skills and help them understand how college level research papers are prepared.

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News from the HS Counselor Ms. Lisa Camagna 12th GRADE NEWS: Seniors are reminded to sign up and keep their appointments with Ms. Camagna to discuss post high school planning. Parents are more than welcome to attend with their sons/daughters. Students are reminded to create and bring with them a resume detailing their high school activities, courses, community service initiatives, etc.

ADMISSION COUNSELOR VISITS The college office has been very busy entertaining visits from various colleges in Italy and abroad. Students are re-minded to check the visitation schedule regularly for updates on the colleges that are visiting AOSR. Students may attend and can obtain a pass from Ms. Camagna to give to their classroom teachers. The following is a list of the col-lege visits scheduled thus far: Date College Recruiter Time

9/25 UPenn/Georgetown@Marymount Leshko/Timlin 6:30pm

9/27 American University of Rome Alexander Kugel 1:30pm

9/28 Boston University Anne Corriveau 2:30pm

10/4 John Cabot University Mele Chechere 12:00pm

10/10 Franklin College-Switzerland Austin Tomlinson 2:00pm

10/13 University of San Francisco Sarah Scannell 1:30pm

10/25 International University Bremen (Germany)

Peter Dorthe 11:00am

10/26 Lynn University, FL Stefano Papaleo 1:00pm

10/27 Richmond the Am. Univ. Susan Evans 10:00am

10/31 Univ. of Dubuque-Iowa Bob Broshous 9:30am

10/31 American University of Paris Joumana Hassan 1:00pm

11/13 Middlebury College,VT University of Virginia, VA Pepperdine University, CA

Barbara Marlow Senem Kudat Virginia Groves

2:00pm

11/27 LeRoche&Gleon Schools for Hotel Man-agement

Vana Najjar 12:00pm

11/29 University of the Arts-London Maria Brawand 1:30pm

12/1 Drew University, NJ Ambassador Haynes 9:30am

Counselors’ Corner

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JUST A REMINDER: Naviance is a tool that assists students with the college search and application process. Each senior was given a password during junior year. Still not sure where you would like to study, Naviance is your friend. http://connection.naviance.com/aosr WAIT THERE’S MORE! Parents of seniors ALSO have the opportunity to use this software. Once your son or daughter logs-in, he/she can then update his/her information. When the parents are entered, the system automatically generates a PASSWORD for parents to then register. Ask your son or daughter for your NAVIANCE password today!

APPLYING TO COLLEGES IN THE US??? Check to see if your college is one of the 300+ schools using the COMMON APPLICATION. The Common Application saves time: one application can be submitted ONLINE to any of the colleges that subscribe. Log-on TODAY and create your user name and password. WRITE DOWN Your password!!!! www.commonapp.org APPLYING TO COLLEGE IN THE UK??? You MUST apply online through the standard appli-cation form known as UCAS. First register yourself under APPLY by creating your unique name and password. Write it down!!! Next you must enter a BUZZ WORD. Our BUZZWORD is ITALIA. You must then apply under one of our ap-plication groups. If you are applying to Oxford or Cambridge, you must apply to the Oxford/Cambridge Group; if you are applying to another uni-versity, you must apply to the UCASREG Group. www.ucas.com Need to take an SAT test? Register for the SAT I or SAT II subject tests today on-line!!! Note that AOSR is a test center. Our school code is 748480. Our Test Center number is 58380.

www.collegeboard.com Need to take the TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language)? Register today!!! Note that AOSR is NOT a test cen-ter, and the test centers in Rome fill up quickly!!!

www.ets.org

APPLICATIONS, APPLICATIONS, APPLICATIONS! All students should know their individual application deadlines. Completed applications must be submitted to Ms. Camagna in time for her to prepare the Secondary School Report.

Counselors’ Corner

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AOSR Application Timeline: Below are the 2005-2006 AOSR deadlines as they correspond to the college/university deadlines: September 24 Cambridge/Oxford applications due to college office. Students can be-gin submitting online UCAS forms. October 12 All applications with Nov 1st or 15th Early Decision/Early Action deadlines due to college office. November 12 All applications with December 1st or 15th deadlines due to the college office. November 23 All UCAS applications due to college office. December 1 All applications with ANY January deadline due to college office January 10 All applications with February deadlines due to college office. January 25 All remaining university applications due to college office. NOTE: we ask that you request all Teacher Recommendations BY October 15th.

Payment Information: AOSR sends out application packages to each college the student is applying to through DHL. As a service, AOSR will pay for the first three application packages. The student will be responsible for payment of any additional application packages. The fee for any additional package is 25 euro payable to the cashier in the villa office. TESTING INFORMATION: AOSR will serve as a Testing Center for the upcoming SAT I, SAT II Tests. SAT I and SAT II tests will be administered at AOSR on November 4th, and December 2nd for students who have registered online through The College Board (www.collegeboard.com). If students have NOT yet registered and have missed the deadlines, they can come to the testing center as “walk-ins.” These students should arrive at 7 AM to stand in line for an extra test. “Walk-ins” need to have a credit card number ready. There is no guarantee that a “walk-in” will gain admission; we serve “walk-in” students on a first come, first served basis.

TIPS FOR TESTERS I am taking the SAT on Saturday… What do I need to bring? TWO # 2 pencils with erasers Calculator A PHOTO ID (AOSR ID will work). Registration Ticket (PRINT from Website).

What time do I need to be here? 7: 45 AM (SHARP!)

Where do I go for the test? Form a line outside of the High School Door. Registered students will enter first. What else can I do? Get a good night’s sleep. Eat something beforehand. Listen carefully. Relax!!!! Note to Parents: The test will conclude between 12:30 and 1:30 PM.

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Sports Briefs

Date Location Competing Teams

November 2 – 4 Girls Volleyball

at Kaiserslau-tern

Mediterranean girls volleyball championships

November 2 – 4 Boys Volleyball

location to be announced

Mediterranean boys volleyball championships

AOSR Fall 2006 High School Sports

Basketball Tryouts for HS Boys will be November 7-9

(Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday) after school, 15.30-17.00.

Coach Phil

PS—Bring your sneakers!

2 on 2 Basketball Tournament Winners

The first annual AOSR 2 on 2 basketball tournament played during the school picnic on October 14 produced some ex-citing games and happy winners. In the Middle School Boys tournament, five teams fought hard for the title, with Alessandro T. and Lorenzo M. com-ing out on top. The Middle School Girls tournament was won by 7th graders Claire A. and Rachel C. In the High School Boys bracket, the competition was fierce, with all four teams featuring players who did not play varsity basketball for AOSR last year. The winning team featured freshman Chris F. and sophomore Robert C. a couple of studs who can play above the rim. I wonder why Coach Phil can’t seem to get that smile off his face?

Falcons Win European Tennis Championships! The AOSR high school tennis team won the Division 3 European Tennis Championships 26 - 28 October in Wies-baden, Germany. The combined Falcons girls and boys team included Maria L., Valeria D'., Carmen F., Jacob K., Nicolo I., and Valerio S. This was the first year that a fall European tennis tourna-ment was played with four divisions based on the size of the school. Last spring the Falcons won the Mediterranean ten-nis tournament, featuring all the teams in Italy and Turkey regardless of the school size.

Falcons Fly in European Cross Country Championships The AOSR boys cross country team finished fifth and the girls finished sixth in the European Division III - IV cross country championships near Heidelberg, Germany on Octo-ber 28. AOSR was led by sophomore Seth M., who finished third overall in one of his stronger races of the year. Toha K.P. finished in 11th, missing the all-European team by one place. Also running for the Falcons were David A., David G., and James F. All the Falcons finished strong despite being stricken by a stomach virus on the morning of the race. The Falcon girls finished 6th, led by Jillian K. in 16th place overall. Silje H., Anna D. , and Morea M. also competed for AOSR.

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After the apartment is found, internet access organized, and your favorite caffe bar decided upon, the next question that many new families and teachers to AOSR may ask is "Where do we get English language books and films in this wonderful city?". Rest as-sured that there are library resources in abundance. The AOSR High School and Elementary School libraries will lend books to all families as well as students in the community. The HS library has approximately 10,000 reference volumes, and , with the ES library, there are 25,000 books on the lending stacks,

in addition to the monthly magazine subscriptions. Under the direction of HS librarians, Ms. Molly Bianchini and Ms. Marta Rahm, with contributions from parents, embassies and donations from the PTO, the library has grown specially technologically (with internet access and color scanners). The Elementary School library, under the direction of Ms. Lotero, has age-appropriate literature for the Pre-K to Grade 5. These are available for loan --- just bring in your Parent ID card. The largest lending library in Rome is at the Santa Susanna Catholic Church on Via XX Settembre ("20 September") and Via Barbarini, across from the "Ugly Moses" Fountain on the Quirinal hill. This library has approx 12,000 volumes and, while the books are all in English, the library is open to people of all nationalities and religions. You must join (individual annual memberships are E30) and books are loaned for a period of 2 weeks. They have a wonderful literature collection, having recently been augmented by the entire fiction collec-tion of the British Council (around the corner --- see below). In addition to ten shelves of British literature, the Santa Susanna collection includes six shelves of American literature, two of French, one each of Italian, Russian, Asian and German. It has much non-fiction as well: four shelves of American history, two European, one of World War II, 1 1/2 of Italian history, and one each of Vatican and Roman history, as well as a half shelf each of Latin American, Austrian, Asian, Irish, and Middle East history. There is a whole shelf devoted to Vatican mys-tery series done by Ellis Peters. The hours, terms, and directions can be found on the website: www.santasusanna.org/library. The British Council, at Via Quattro Fontane ("Four Fountains") #20, has a large collection of videos and some DVD's. Videos and DVD's can be rented for one (new releases) or two weeks (classical or older films). They have an extensive Shakespeare collection, including those produced for the BBC. They have rooms of lin-guistic study material. These resources are mainly for teachers of English rather than the general public. This, too, is a subscription library, and costs E80 for full annual borrowing privileges. Their phone is 06-478141 or email at sac.roma@britishcouncil.it. More info is available at: <http://www.britishcouncil.org/it/italy-english-rome-sac.htm> There are two other libraries with large collections that encourage library use but do not allow borrowing. The American Academy on the Gianicolum Hill (phone 06-58461) has a 130,000 volume collection of classical studies, art and architecture. They do not allow borrowing but do have two beautiful reading rooms, one of which was designed by acclaimed architect and alumnus, Michael Graves. The Centro per Studi Americani (National Center for American Studies) on Via Caetana near Largo Argentina (which is also a beautiful building) doesn't seem to have a working website but it is a wonderful tourist destination. Also, the British Council Library and the American Academy often have cultural evenings including "meet the author" usually in English or Bilingual English/Italian. The American Studies Center also hosts seminars and "meet the author" evenings, but they tend to be in Italian. People who join these libraries can get onto mailing lists for invitations. In addition, for little readers, the Bibli Bookstore, at (www.bibli.it, in Italian only) in Trastevere hosts a story hour every Sunday afternoon, sometimes in English. It has a cinema, a live music venue, and a tea room. Lion Bookstore, at Via dei Greci 33 (near the Spanish Steps), is run by AOSR alumni. They have a won-derful collection of new English language titles and a wonderful painting gallery and exhibition space. They can be reached by phone at 06-3265-4007. In addition, Feltrinelli International, on Via V.E. Orlando (at Piazza Repubblica) and The Almost Cor-ner Bookshop (06-5836-942) have good non-fiction and fiction collections, also in English. Happy reading!

LIBRARY RESOURCES IN ROME

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Roman Resources for English-speakers: There are many sources of information available about Rome to those that have computers or visit an internet cafe (which are also numerous!). This is a list to get you started. Wanted in Rome—www.WantedInRome.com -- a biweekly print and free web publication which lists news, features, and events of interest to the English-speaking community in Rome. It also sponsors a free classified service including housing. Roma C'E —www.Romace.it — A great resource for movies playing in and around Rome for those who can handle a little bit of Italian. The "Cinema" reference on the homepage sends you to a screen where you can choose to see where a movie is show-ing and when, by selecting either title ("titolo"), type ("genere"), director ("regia"), actor ("attori"), or nationality ("nazionalita"). You can also select movies that are in their original language ("versione originale"). English Yellow Pages – www.englishyellowpages.it — A terrific, free print and web directory of all English-speaking busi-nesses in Rome, Florence, Milan and Naples. More than just a phone book, EYP sponsors a free classified service, great reference information (weights and measure conversions, national holidays, basic vocabulary, and maps) as well as a photo gallery of people and events in the English/US community here in Rome, which are able to be downloaded from the website! On-line Public Bus and Train info in Rome—www.atac.roma.it—The Rome's public transportation agency offers an on-line directory, in choice of either Italian or English, giving address-to-address directions, using public bus, metro, and tram lines, AND plotting it out on a map! On-line Train information and reservation service for Italy -- www.trenitalia.it -- Italy's vast national train service is avail-able on-line, in English. Times, train types, trip duration, cost, and purchase is easily accessible. For daily Italian newspaper and radio news in English, see www.AGI.it/english, a special service by Agenzia Giornalistica Italia on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister’s office. The American —www.theamericanmag.com — is a new monthly magazine for Italy’s English-speaking community, includ-ing a huge list of restaurants. American citizens may want to register with the US Embassy and ask to be included on the e-Embassy Rome email list to be notified about security alerts and other important information for Americans living in Italy. Call 06-46741 or send an email to USEmbassy@lb.bcentral.com.

Dear AOSR community: You are cordially invited to the International Charity Ball sponsored by St. George’s British International School which will be held on Saturday, November 11th at the magnificent Palazzo Brancaccio, Viale del Monte Oppio, Rome Silent Auction and Aperitifs from 7.00 p.m. Gala Dinner at 8.30 p.m. Live Band and dancing until 1 a.m. Ticket: 90 euros person (Donation) All proceeds to:

Zambia Orphans Appeal Spencer Dayman Meningitis Samaritans Onlus

The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome R.S.V.P. by either calling Sara Brain at 333 8466820 or email at Sara.brain@mclink.it

You Are Invited...

Are you interested in crafting your own greeting cards for the holidays this year? Come join us for a rubber stamping workshop on Monday, December 3rd from 11:00am till we are done.

The fee for the workshop is 20 Euro and will in-clude materials and instructions to craft a total of 10 cards, drinks and snacks. The only thing you will need to bring is you! This is a beginning level workshop so no prior experience is neces-sary.

Only 5 more spaces available so please contact Rachel Lask, AOSR Parent at 06 3036 1042 or email JRDKL@yahoo.com to reserve your space.

The workshop is conducted in English.

Location: Near AOSR

Rubber Stamping Workshop

Il Foro

For Sale: 1996 Chrysler Town & Country. 125,000 miles, great shape, excellent transportation. Available to anyone authorized NATO plates or US CD Plates. $3,000 OBO. Call Carolyn, 06-3036-1525

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