Baishan AWS Newsletter June 19th

Friday Update for June 19

 

Dear Baishan AWS Family,

 

This has been a very productive week here at Baishan AWS. Many students have been able to submit late work while learning new content. The faculty have also been finalizing plans for the last several weeks regarding grading and ceremonies.

 

I want to personally thank all of the parents who were able to attend the parent-teacher meetings last Friday. Teachers have seen an immediate positive response from the students with late work submissions and refreshed attitudes toward new learning in classes. 

 

The last day for the delivery of new lessons for all grade-levels is June 26th.  The 10th grade reports will be sent home on July 2nd. Three of our older students have selected to take advantage of the QAIS Summer Program by taking classes that will help with their academic English. These students will attend normal evening classes and continue to stay on campus until July 9th. Students who chose not to attend the Summer Program will be dismissed on Friday, June 26th. Ninth-graders taking the Zhongkao will continue with a normal school schedule and prepare for the test between June 29th - July 9th. These 9th graders will be dismissed from school July 9th. The 9th-grade reports will be mailed home on Friday, July 10^th.

 

An awards ceremony will take place on Friday, June 26. Students will have a poetry reading; celebrate some of their art and academic accomplishments. Winners of the 9th and 10th grade Academic Awards and the Most Improved awards will be announced, along with several traditional awards adopted from Annie Wright School in Tacoma.

 

Baishan AWS, along with most schools, recognize that Semester 2 has been an unusual year for classes and grades. Baishan AWS has accommodated in the favor of the students by determining that students who received Ds will earn a Credit (CR) for the semester grade. Students who did not pass the course will receive a No Credit (NC). Baishan AWS feels that this will benefit all students and account for the very unusual learning environments. These decisions were made in consultation with Annie Wright School - Tacoma, Washington and with the understanding that universities will be expecting similar approaches from many schools. 

 

1 - Parents and students attending parent-teacher meetings on Friday, June 12.

 

Gator Games: Red Ties defeat the Green Ties!     

 

Congratulations to team Red Ties for winning the Gator Games on June 8th.  These series of games challenged the 9th-graders and 10th-graders in fun competitions. 

 

  

2 - Green Tie Henry celebrates after winning a round in the Gator Games!

 

Have a Good Weekend,

 

Lorne Brandt     

Director

 

Humanities with Ms. Kim Brauer

 

We’re finishing up our study of how quality of life indicators can help us assess and compare development across countries. Our Grade 9s have putting some key geography tools to use this week – plotting quality of life indicators onto scatter graphs to look for correlation, for example, and negotiating in groups to rank the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in order of importance. 

   

The Transcontinental Railroad was the “moonshot of the 19th century”– a technological wonder that powered the Industrial Revolution in the US. The achievement brought recognition and thanks to the 20,000 Chinese laborers who worked on the railroad – but this warmth was brief, and discrimination and exclusionary politics followed. Our 10th grade historians are studying the effects that these immigration politics had on US Chinese communities throughout the late 1800s. 

Science and Math with Mr. MacKeigan

 

For grade 9, we looked at transformations of plane figures--translations, reflections, and rotations and compositions of transformations of plane figures and their mapping rules. Additionally, we looked at symmetry and congruence transformations.

 

For grade 10, we finished the draft of the PowerPoint and did a practice presentation for our unit assessment on bacterial diseases. Additionally, we concluded our study of genetics, looking at autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant diseases.

 

 

English with Ms. Jenn Roth

 

The year is quickly coming to a close and the students have been working hard on their final writing projects. Ninth grade students are ending the year by writing original poetry that will be performed at the end-of-the-year program on June 26th. The performance will be recorded on video and shared with parents! Tenth grade is writing a narrative around the theme of "paying it forward," in keeping with the novel study they've been engaged in.

 

 

Chinese Literature with Ms. Emilia Zheng

 

中国古典文学是中国文化体系中最辉煌灿烂、最经久不衰的文学瑰宝。我们从3000多年前的《诗经》名篇——《采薇》、《桃夭》开始，学习赏析了《楚辞》、汉赋、魏晋诗文等经典名篇，体会了中国古典文学艺术作品的奇特魅力。本周，我们继续一起领略唐诗、宋词的风采，或粗犷，或飘逸，或幽远，或细腻，精选了“诗仙”李白的《将进酒》和宋代“婉约派”词人柳永的《雨霖铃•寒蝉凄切》来重点赏鉴，并以小组合作的形式，于下周完成本单元“古典文学艺术”的专题海报。

 

Accelerated Algebra II with Mrs. Hinman

 

Students are finishing their final unit in Trigonometry this week and next. After students finish unit 8, they will have one additional week to finish any unfinished work from unit 7.

 

 

Visual Art with Mr. Lorne Brandt

 

3 - Green Tie Katherine's interpretation of folk realism artist Norman Rockwell.

 

The Art students were challenged to find photographs that demonstrate various taught compositional strategies, including S-composition, framing, depth-of-field, and vantage point.  Students were instructed to annotate them by drawing lines on top of the photo that help illustrate how the artist used the artistic strategies effectively. 

 

Students will be challenged to become photographers this next week and discover how they can create professional-looking photos by using these researched skills.

 

Students are encouraged to catch up with all prior lessons before moving on to recent tasks.  Assessments close June 26.

 

 

4 - Photograph Compositional studies by Max Sun

 

 

We are always ready to help.

Baishan AWS

Qingdao, China

info@baishanaws.cn

http://aws.baishanschool.cn/index.html