Director Update!
MAP Testing
This week saw the return of MAP testing at AISF. MAP stands for “Measures of Academic Progress” and gives us further information about the students’ skill levels in reading, mathematics, and language usage. This week we tested Grades 2—4 and next week we will test all of Middle School. These are not “study for” tests as they are done online and automatically adjust to the students’ various skill levels.
The most important purpose of these tests is for the teachers to have a better understanding of their students’ needs and, therefore, to guide the instructional process. As a school, the results give us an international point of comparison so that we can evaluate our curriculum and teaching practices. Your children will be tested again in the Spring and we will share a print out of their results with you as we continue to track their progress.
Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences
By now you should have received your invitation to next week’s virtual parent-teacher conferences. If, by any chance, you haven’t received your invitation, please contact the class teacher directly.
What Comes Next?
So, we opened in a hybrid mode and are now completing our second week with all the students on campus, and I suspect that some of you are probably wondering when things might return to full normal operations—school without masks and distancing, the return of after-school activities and lunch service, and so on. All I can say is that the time is not yet. So far, we in Sierra Leone, and in much of sub-Saharan Africa, have been comparatively lucky. Many of my fellow international school heads are now dealing with their second shut down and are shifting back to full online learning. Here at AISF we very much hope and intend to remain open.
However, despite some promising signs coming out of several of the vaccine trials, it will certainly take quite some time for a successful vaccine or vaccines to reach a substantial part of the population and, until that time and until the coronavirus is receding internationally, we will need to continue with our health and safety protocols and put the safety of our students, their families, and our staff at the forefront while keeping enjoyable and meaningful learning happening for the kids.
Important Upcoming Dates
Saturday 14
thNovember
TOEFL @ AISF
Wednesday 18
thNovember
Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences
Thursday 26
thNovember
Thanksgiving (no school)
Saturday 5
thDecember
SAT @ AISF
21
stDecember—8
thJanuary
“Winter” Vacation
Quote of the Week: Children must but taught how to think, not what to think. Margaret Mead
24 Hill Cot Brow Hill Station Freetown, Sierra Leone
Phone: 076 622453 Website: www.ais-freetown.net
“Preparing Students for Success in an Ever -Changing World”
Volume 20/21 Issue 009
Pre-K students practiced writing and identifying numbers this week. In literacy we read The Gruffalo story and watched the movie. In art we made accordion paper snakes and we all loved our snakes. In music, students learned a new Krio song with Ms. Maureen and Ms. Fatmata
We have had many highlights this week but almost none made it onto Miss Kim’s camera 📸 We all agreed that Professor Alie, the historian coming to answer all our questions about Bai Bureh, was the best 40 minutes of the whole week! In Science we are exploring the different parts of animals and plants and here we are showing off our 3D models of a plant.
In ELA we have enjoyed making our own zig zag books with the different types of words that we could find in Zoo: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
Grade 1
Another busy week in Crocodiles Class with everyone completing MAP tests. We made magic wands in Phonics and created story maps to help us retell the story of Iron Man. A highlight on Wednesday was the chance to meet Professor Alie and ask him questions. Two members of the class achieved an award for their great learning and achieving 25 merits.
We celebrated Claire’s birthday with tasty treats. Thank you to Claire’s mum.
Our week started off with Jaia bringing in some delicious, yummy cakes for us to share and celebrate the US elections. Midweek we had a visit from Professor Alie - a historian and author of several best-selling history books. He taught us about the history of Sierra Leone and the impact Bai Bureh had on the country. We then finished the week with shared Geography lesson with the ECC, in which we taught them about the importance of maps and how to use them.
Grade 4
We had a productive week here in Middle School! On Wednesday, we were visited by Dr. Alie, a professor of History at Fourah Bay College. He spoke with the students about the history of Sierra Leone, specifically about Bai Bureh and his uprising against the British in 1898. The students were intrigued and asked interesting questions. We hope to have Dr. Allie back to hear more Salone history.
In Social Studies, 5/6 presented their "Act it Outs' to the rest of the class. They took on the role of an early hominem, and explained who they were and what their special 'abilities' are. 7/8 finalized their summative assessments in which they developed a poster that compared and contrasted two areas of Chinese geography.
In ELA, 5/6 spent several days workshopping their expository essays by writing and adding thesis statements and hooks to them. 7/8 finished their first novels of the trimester and will now be watching their film adaptations.
Grade 5/6 Science began the week discussing the ability of objects to float in water. They learned about the role mass and density play in that ability and they ended the week testing solubility.
Grade 7/8 Science learned about eclipses and used themselves as human models to determine the difference between a solar and lunar eclipse.
In Math, 5th grade demonstrated what they have learned so far with a mid-module assessment. 6th grade learned how to use double number lines to solve ratio problems. 7th grade began a new unit on solving multi step problems and 8th grade began a new unit on exponents and polynomials.
High School has had a very good week! It was wonderful to have the return of Fatmata B. whose left hand is recovering well after a domestic accident. The girls have been busy studying and submitting work every day. Nyahalae successfully completed the first course for this academic year. Good for you Nyahalae! On Monday, during the Art Class, the girls had to sketch the portrait of an outlaw “giving a hand to the local police to find a bad guy”. They got instructions online from the Art teacher, Miss Hawa-Jane and they tried to do their best. On Wednesday, we had Professor Alie as a guest speaker and the high school students had really interesting questions about the history of Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, the girls have discovered that the Four-Square Game can be played in only…three squares!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQDVf9nRNDA5x8pxqmabh8Q Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AISFreetown
