ISSUE 1 | MARCH 2022
Spotlights A MONTHLY CELEBRATION OF THE CIS COMMUNITY
WHAT'S INSIDE Field trips • Pippin • School Counseling Week • The Buddy Bench • and so much more...!
For any queries, please contact dani.bell@cis.dk
Contents 4
WELCOME TO SPOTLIGHTS A welcome note and introduction to your brand new publication
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FIELD TRIP SPOTLIGHT See where our students have been this month
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EVENT SPOTLIGHT Take a look at the school activities from across the month
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CLUB SPOTLIGHT Here's what some of our student-led clubs have been doing this month
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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Meet some of the faces behind the scenes at CIS
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STUDENT LIFE SPOTLIGHT See this month's after-school activities including sports, music and more.
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SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT See snippets of our sustainability in action.
Welcome to Spotlights Welcome to the first ever edition of Spotlights: CIS's new monthly publication made by the community, for the community. Each month, you'll get a chance to dive into some of the moments of magic that happen across the CIS community every day. From school trips, to student-led clubs, there is no shortage of School Stories to share with you. Spotlights is our chance to do just that. We hope you enjoy your monthly journey into the amazing network that you are part of by being with us at CIS. If you have any feedback, or would like to see anything else in these pages, please reach out any time. Dani Bell Head of Community Relations
OUT AND ABOUT
Field trip spotlight This month our students have been exploring everything from energy to art on off-campus field trips. Here's just some of the things they got up to.
Grade 5 - Energy at the Experimentarium Students in Grade 5 have been enquiring into different forms of energy. What better place to put this into action than the Experimentarium, Denmark's state of the art Science Centre?...
Our Grade 5's had a very specific mission for their field trip: to explore how energy is transferred and transformed. Ahead of the trip, the students were tasked with planing their route around the building. They marked off various exhibits that demonstrated their chosen energy forms, ready to explore on the day. Each group was assigned a teacher or parent, so that when we got to the Experimentarium, it was the students that led the way around using their map. After many hours exploring the installations, our amazing Grade 5s were able to describe to each other how energy is stored and transformed, using the exhibits as a guide. A great day out all round!
This month our Grade 5 students visited the Experimentarium to learn all about energy!
Grade 1 Stepping back in time at Kronborg Castle Grade 1 students are currently studying homes, inquiring into different materials used to build homes and the accessibility of local materials and the impact of climates on architecture. We are also looking into how homes have changed over time. We decided to transport Grade 1 back in time at Kronborg Castle to discover the purpose of this very particular “home”, as well as to learn about what materials were used to build it and why. Students took a “nooks and crannies” tour of the castle, and learned about different materials used to build the castle. We were especially interested in how different the kitchens and toilets were...thank goodness these have changed over time!
EVENTS
Event spotlight Here's a look at just some of the special events that have been taking place around campus this month
International School Counseling Week Our amazing team of school counselors turned International School Counseling week into a CIS-wide experience, organising daily activities around the theme of "Self Care." Here's what happened. One of the roles of a school counselor is to promote well-being and balance in all areas of life including emotional, mental, and social health. International School Counseling Week was the perfect opportunity to explore this aim across the whole school-body. Every day, the counselors introduced a different aspect of self-care, sharing some simple activities to do at home. Over the course of the week, the whole school practised exercises around the following areas: Thinking positively Treating ourselves kindly Spending time with others Taking care of our body, and, Expressing ourselves Thank you to our school counselors for a wonderful week!
Our team of counselors have such a huge impact on the outcomes of our students here at CIS. Take a look here to find out more.
Dress up as your favourite colour day! This month, the Student Council organised a school-wide event in honour of Colour Day, challenging students to wear their favourite colours from top-to-toe!
On Colour Day, students wore their... you guessed it...favourite colour clothes. Students were also sent the Student Council newspaper to read, containing fascinating information about the science behind colour, the significance of colour in different cultures and more! We challenged students to wear one colour from head to toe on that day, or to experiment and wear a variety of their favourite colours. It was a wonderful day for everyone involved, and we loved seeing so many brightly dressed students around campus!
Grade 10 Personal Project Exhibition On February 23rd, our Grade 10 MYP students took over the lower floor of CIS to showcase their MYP Personal Projects. It was an inspiring look at just how talented our Grade 10s are, as well as how varied their areas of interest are! The MYP Personal Project is an extended, independent project completed by each student in Grade 10, the final year of the IB Middle Years Programme. As a culmination of the five-year programme, this project provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their Approaches to Learning, and Subject Specific Skills, while focusing on a project of personal interest to them. The students are required to set a goal, investigate, plan, create a product and reflect upon what they have learned as well as their success in achieving their goals. The aim of the Exhibition is for our Grade 10 students to present their product and to use the event to interact with the community to gather feedback in order to help in the preparation of writing their final reflection.
International Mother Language Day February 21st 2022 marked International Mother Language Day, and even though it fell on a non-school day this year, it didn't stop our librarians from transforming the library into a celebration of all the languages we have around the school! One of the most wonderful things about being in an international environment like CIS is the wide range of languages spoken around campus. If you would like to read more books in your Mother Tongue, there are a dozens of books to choose from in our library. Enjoy!
Grade 3 celebrated Int’l Mother Language Day by drawing new language bodies and writing why their languages are their superpower. Students then read a book in 1 of their home languages to a peer! Awesome!
CLUBS
Club spotlight Take a look at some of the wonderful things our school clubs have organised this month for the wider CIS community
Writing Club This year, one of our Grade 9 students, Lisa Mary Paul, created the first ever English and Magazine Club. In Lisa's own words, here's what they've been up to over the school year. This is my very first year at this school and starting this club—the English and Magazine club—and I can say it’s been a wonderful journey leading into the creation of this funfilled, thoughtful and memorable magazine. It’s always been a dream of mine to create a club and watch it grow. I've especially loved giving the members of my club confidence in their individual talents, giving them advice and helping them find some of their unknown abilities. Every Wednesday lunch (from 12:55-1:15pm) we meet as a club in H309 to discuss and put our ideas together for this magazine. Not a single club session has passed without laughter and fun, it’s a relaxed and creative club. Together we motivate each other and work as a team, giving each other compliments and improvements on the way! In this magazine you will find poems, short stories, drawings, club reviews, digital designs, club collaborations(with Book Club and Charity Club) and even an interview with a best-selling author. Back in 2021, we also hosted a Haiku Competition—and I received a great number of entries, so thank you very much for that! What I’m most proud of about the club and this magazine is that it’s extremely inclusive. We have not restricted entries for this magazine to only club members,so anyone at CIS could submit their work,it’s been open to anyone. Literally anyone. You will find submissions in this magazine from all ages (including parents and friends outside the CIS community)—and this is what I believe makes the club unique. If you weren’t a member of the English and magazine club this year, I would seriously consider it for next year (at the Club fair)!
Read the latest edition here
RSJU The Racial & Social Justice Union is a club that advocates for diversity and inclusion within the school community by raising awareness and running action-oriented projects. Our mission statement is ‘Empowering allies to take action for racial & social justice and establishing a safe forum for our community to take initiative.’
Throughout January & February, RSJU has worked on multiple initiatives. On January 14th, RSJU arranged an interactive presentation to all the 5th-grade students on ways to take action within their school community. The students were an amazing audience and it is incredible to see young children eager to take action! On February 4th, The Racial & Social Justice Union followed up with the 5th graders by organizing a discussion on the topic of discrimination. The aim of the discussion was to understand what discrimination is, why/what might someone be discriminated against, the impacts of discrimination, and the importance of speaking up. The students were very enthusiastic, which highlights the importance of having these discussions for younger children as they are growing up.
Every Friday after school, RSJU also organises a discussion for students in grades 9-12 and teachers. The aim is to create a safe place where students and teachers can openly share their thoughts and opinions on social issues that take place in different parts of the world. The discussions that have recently taken place were about prison treatment, dress codes and the death penalty.
The RSJU has just published its website, please check it out for more information about us and our past projects within the CIS community!
Click here to visit the RSJU's website
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance The Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club at CIS aims to educate the CIS community on LGBTQ+ issues, support the LGBTQ+ community in the school, and to create a safer, more open, tolerant, and aware environment at CIS. Here's what they've been up to this month. This month we have been focusing on our parent discussion panel (which unfortunately has had to be delayed due to COVID), and recently we had discussions with all high school grades about gender and pronouns. Our most proud accomplishments have been creating a website full of resources for the CIS community, planning events for students, teachers and parents to get involved with the community and hosting meaningful discussions in our created LGBTQ+ safe space at our lunch meetings. We have been so happy to see the overwhelming student involvement in this club; there are some really passionate students in our school community from a wide range of grades who are dedicated to making positive change. If you are a student, you have the option to join the GSA club and talk about LGBTQ+ issues at school and around the world! We host club meetings every Tuesday. Contact us for more info.
Click here to read Co-President Audrey's recent post on The Important of Queer Representation in the Media.
PEOPLE
Community spotlight Each month, we'll showcase some of the wonderful people from around the CIS community.
Staff Spotlight Meet Charlotte Name: Charlotte Zeeberg Title: School Health Nurse Years at CIS: 16 years Nationality: Danish (Hometown: Esbjerg, Denmark)
Hi, Charlotte! Can you tell us a little about yourself? First and foremost, I am a mom of two kids - I am a mom with a capital M. :) We have a daughter pursuing the Olympics in 2024, sailing the 49'er Female Extreme, and some of you might know my son, who used to be a janitor here at CIS, and now works as a researcher at Statens Serums Institute. Before CIS, my family and I embarked on a 3 year world campaign against government-sanctioned torture, travelling in an old English double decker bus. The goal was to contribute to the awareness and eradication of torture. We were working with medical doctors, psychologists and organisations like Amnesty International and PrisonWatch in 83 countries, travelling a total of 110.000 km. If you read Danish; I wrote a book about our work called 'Fra tanke til handling' which sold about 7500 copies...
Staff Spotlight Wow! and can you tell us about your role at CIS? Many people might hear "School Nurse" and think my job is to put bandaids on children's knees. But actually it includes many other aspects. For example, I develop health plans for students, and I co-teach about health, puberty and sexuality across grade levels. I also serve as co-lead of the Child Safeguarding program at CIS, and as such am the case manager of all child protection cases. I work with students and their families as the liaison between to the municipality, social services, specialist hospitals and doctors, and help them navigate the Danish healthcare system. Tell us about how it's been to work as the School Health Nurse during the Covid pandemic Busy as ever. To be honest, it's been stressful, with hundreds of emails all day, evening and weekends. In the beginning I felt lonely, and the responsibility was huge. I was afraid of making mistakes because of the ever-changing rules and guidelines as we learned more about the virus, and as it mutated. However, I am happy to say that just recently, I have felt the pressure lighten up.
I am a paediatric nurse at heart and I love working with children. No matter what kind of day you are having, you can just feel happy in no time when you see all the children in our school.
Design class project Designing for small spaces is one of the most pressing challenges in today's urban world. Our Grade 9 design students were challenged to tackle this problem head on! The students' client was teacher Kate Garbia and the 3rd-grade students, and their task was to develop a chair that would help the students stay focused while learning in the classroom. The students started the design process by meeting with the client and observing the 3rd-grade classes to better understand their needs. From there, they explored a large range of existing products and developed their own unique designs. After presenting their final designs to the client, 3 designs were chosen to be taken to the prototype stage. The students worked in teams to create a functioning prototype which was then tested by a 3rd-grade students. After evaluating their final solutions and making a few small modifications, the chairs will enter the classrooms for long-term testing, and will hopefully have a positive impact on the students' learning environment.
As the 'client' we were so very impressed with the dedication and level of professionalism throughout this entire project. - Kate Garbia, Grade 3 teacher
Parent Spotlight - Meet Radhika The CIS parent community is a vibrant and dynamic network, which we we are proud to showcase in our parent spotlight. In this first edition, we are meeting Radhika Apaiah, parent to two CIS students. Hi Radhika! Firstly, can you tell us: where did you grow up? I am originally from India And, how many years have you been living Danishly? It's been almost 4 years already! Where else have you lived before coming to Denmark? We've been in a number of places around the world: the USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Australia How many children do you have at CIS and what grades are they in? I have 2 girls at CIS, one in Grade 7 and one in Grade 12. What surprised you most about Denmark? How easy it is to live here – not being able to speak Danish is not a handicap and the Danes are happy to speak English. Where’s your favorite place to go when the sun is shining? Langelinie, along the water
Parent Spotlight - Meet Radhika What’s one piece of advice you’d give to anyone coming to Denmark? Be prepared for how independent your children will become at a very young age! And lastly, just for fun: What’s a phrase from your language that might seem odd to others, and what does it mean? For example, in Danish they say "Det er ingen ko på isen", which loosely translates to "no problem". "Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swad?" Translation: What does a monkey know about the taste of ginger? Meaning: You have no idea what you are talking about!
My children have spent almost four years in a very international, openminded and unbiased atmosphere at CIS. They have been exposed to a wide range of global issues through conversations in class and studentled organisations. I think this will be invaluable in the years ahead.
The Buddy Bench The students in 1B discussed the caring learner profile. During this discussion, the class came up with an idea to start a 'buddy bench' on the playground. The buddy bench would be an opportunity to demonstrate care on the playground and practice inclusion. Children would have a place to sit when they are looking for someone to play with. The goal is then for someone to see them and invite them into their playgroup/game. Here's what happened.
Our first task was to go onto the
Our next step was to write an email to Ms.
playground and determine which bench
Sabrina and Ms. Moira to ask about our
would be best to call the 'buddy bench'.
inquiries. As a class, we learned how to
The children shared ideas and ultimately
draft an email. Many of the students made
decided it should be located somewhere
connections to writing letters or parents
central so everyone could see it. The class
sending emails.
voted and we had a buddy bench! Ms. Sabrina also suggested we connect During our first official 'Buddy Bench'
with Mr. Kent who is the head of
meeting in class, the First Graders were
maintenance and security. After reading
organized into small groups. Each group
her email together, we drafted a new email
met to share ideas about how to identify
to Mr. Kent. He asked us what color paint
the bench as the buddy bench and what
we needed and how much paint. This was
information needs to be shared with the
a great discussion! We talked about
other classes (PreK, K, and 1A). Within each
estimation, volume, and voted on the color
group, each child had one of the following
of paint.
roles: Leader, Time Keeper, Note Taker, Reporter. The groups had to follow an
Mr. Kent just delivered the paint to our
agenda and it all felt very official.
classroom.
They shared ideas about the type of paint
Stay tuned for what happens next!
needed due to the rain, what color it should be, the cost of the paint and how we would pay for it, etc.
EXTRA CURRICULAR
Student life spotlight Here are just some of the things our students and staff have been doing on campus when the school day ends
DISNAC Basketball 2022 On 26th of February CIS HAWKS hosted the first DISNAC basketball tournament for boys and girls U12 to U16, since 2020. We hosted 7 schools including CIS with 300 students, 56 games played throughout the course of the day over 4 courts. Campus was vibrating with team spirit, competitiveness and fun. All teams and players representing their school played their hearts out and we would love to congratulate everyone who showed up and never gave up. The HAWKS club made sure to keep all players, parents and coaches hydrated and energized with fruits, toasties ,coffees and more. Despite the challenges they faced, their good spirit and team work never faltered and the result was an amazing day all round. After so many years of COVID restrictions, we are glad to have tournaments up and running again and excited for more to come. A huge shout out to everyone who played, student volunteers, coaches,HAWKS club and Supporters. GO HAWKS!
EXTRA CURRICULAR
Sustainability spotlight Our mission at CIS is to Educate Champions of a Just and Sustainable World. Here's a look at some of the ways we are doing that.
Meat Free Mondays Finding ways to be a more sustainable school environment is a crucial part of our commitment to Educating Champions of a Just and Sustainable World. One of the ways we explore this is by having a school-wide Meat Free Monday, where we — you guessed it! — go meat free. Here's the impact of having just one meat-free lunch each week.
Per week, a beef-free Monday saves approximately...
1,07,200 litres of water That's how much water 956 people drink in a year!
5794 kg of CO2 That's the same as driving 23,123 km by car!
22,181 m2 /year of land Which could instead be used to grow 7783 kg of rice or maize per year!
Source: https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/meat-footprint
For any queries, please contact dani.bell@cis.dk