ISF's Monthly Newsletter - December 2015

eISF

The Newsletter of the International School of Florence

ISF & The Arts December 2015 - Volume 44

News from the School Board Head of School Search The Board is grateful to the ISF community for the continued and collective efforts in the Head of School Search. As this newsletter goes to press we are still in process. The three candidates who visited ISF for interviews were each highly skilled and engaging. However, after listening to the reports of all the constituencies (staff and union representatives, students, parents and principals) and discussing amongst ourselves, it was clear that there was no candidate with overwhelming support. Thus we decided to continue the search process because we believe that the it is in the interest of the school to appoint a Head of School who has more significant support within the board and across all the stakeholders.

At this point we approached Debra Williams to ask whether she would be willing to reconsider putting forward her candidacy. The Board is unanimously impressed with her work and achievements as an interim HOS. We also have full confidence in her integrity, academic qualifications and commitment towards ISF. We are happy that she accepted to put forward her candidacy and now we are in the midst of the consultation procedure. We hope you will continue to be involved and support us as we strive to make the best decisions for ISF.

PARENT ASSOCIATION IN ACTION Thank you to our buy PA members for creating special moments for the community. Panetone was sold, and sold out in 30 minutes, in the cortile of the Junior School in support of the Fondazione Martacappelli, associated with the Meyer Hospital.

GIVING TREE A special Thank You to all of our families who donated to the Giving Tree Food Drive. The donated food went to the Sant’Egidio community which feeds homeless people in Florence.

CAS - PRE CAS The students were cleaning and polishing the brass at St. Mark’s English church in preparation for Advent.

GRADE 6 PLAY Mystery Wood Mystery Wood is a play about two children who feel ignored and so force their parents to take them on a weekend away. Their parents take them to Mystery Wood. It is a time warp. The wood is inhabited by famous characters: Audrey Hepburn, Amelia Earhart, Sherlock Holmes, Boy In Black (son of Men in Black), Cleopatra, Belle, a Zombie, Wilbur Wright, Mom and Dad and their two children, and the Woman in White. Everyone is trying to find someone or the way out. They waltz, they ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’, they run, and they finally get out.

6th Graders researched different fitness training poses and shared them with their classmates.

Special thanks to Christina Hellawell, parent and Certified Fitness Instructor.

ART IN ACTION Middle School art students have been working on a variety of projects to build understanding of value and shading. They learned how to research and analyze artwork through Google Cultural Institute. They also finished a unit on ceramic sculpture influenced by his or her investigation of Impressionism and Post Impressionism. Pre IB Students have worked on several rendering techniques inspired by Florence, such as, sight size, perspective, chiaroscuro. They applied these techniques to trompe l'oeil drawings. They also learned how to import their own photographs into photoshop and edit them into two values to create source imagery for a reduction linoleum print. They finished off the trimester with ceramic coil sculptures that will be fired in our kiln after the Winter Break!

ART IB 1 The IB 1 Art students created collages that were based off of at least two art historical images that they collaged together to create a new narrative through the juxtaposition of imagery. Then they created a detailed drawing of their collage. They also built cross hatching skills through a detailed direct observation still life. Also, they endeavoured into a contemporary interpretation of traditional art making techniques during Medieval time in both Russia and Italy. They studied icon and altarpieces, the iconography and the techniques used in both. They applied traditional gilding (Gold Leaf) techniques on a modern day portrait in the form of an icon painting or on a miniature altar piece (diptych or triptych) that honours an icon in his or her life.

ART IB 2

IB ART Lorenzo and Guilia from the Accademia d’Arte held a Marble Sculpture and Fresco Painting workshop for the IB Art classes. Students learned a bit about the history, materials and techniques used in these historic art making methods. Both marble sculpture and frescoes have a rich history in Florence and the students were able to become part of that history.

Professional Development Day The Upper School Staff took part in a stimulating workshop with consultant Melissa Schaub on the topic of Assessment and Learning, which will be a specific area of focus for the rest of the school year.

GRADE 11 - THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE Reflection on Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Visit Everyone learns about the war: the battles fought, the holocaust, the dates and facts, the stories of the sufferings people went through. However, when you stand at the spot where it all happened, your mind and soul are opened up to a whole new level of understanding and empathy.

The first thing we noticed when entering the camp was the deafening silence. The impending solitude we felt standing in the vast open space was crushing. Taking the prisoner’s perspective, you are trapped in a hellish microcosm that is impossible to escape – you don’t truly exist anymore, you’ve long lost home, family, and name. Forever stuck in an endless loophole, where seconds feel like days and years are eternal, living through the same painful scene of torture over and over and over and over; where the haze in your mind caused by hunger confines you to a world of confusion and helplessness from which there is no escape. The hunger itself gnaws at your humanity, as you’re reduced to a ravenous animal whose only thought is to survive. All the hope that remained when you set foot in the camp, greeted by the gate Arbeit Macht Frei, is now lost; insurmountable obstacles lie ahead of you, all while having a gun pointed to your head.

Returning to our experience: In the camp we stood on the “roll call square,” feeling the emptiness and chill. It seemed impossible to flee – there were multiple barbed fences, guard towers, and ditches to prevent any escape. We walked towards the gas chamber and crematorium on the same ground as the prisoners did. When we arrived at our destination, the most heartbreaking spot in the camp, it was hard to imagine that such barbarity took place here; the rooms were empty and silent, yet the tension and dread were oppressive in the air.

We learn about how the prisoners were treated by guards, but rarely about how the prisoners treated each other. Even in the most horrible conditions they took care of each other as much as possible, such as giving the better portion of soup to those who need it. When we learned this it restored our faith that humans are not just cruel and selfish – they are also kind and generous. It gave us hope that in our world, with tragic events happening right now, there are similar humane – and human – acts occurring.

Walking away from the camp we were only left with a void in our chest, as we headed back out into the lively city leaving the despair, pain, and sorrow represented by those lonely empty buildings and dark looming clouds.

By Diana Barta and Elena Ivanaj

PRE-KINDERGARTEN Teatro Rifredi ‘Fortuna’ The children went on a Field Trip to Teatro Rifredi where they enjoyed the show entitled, ‘Fortuna.’The show had an orchestra with lots of interesting instruments and also had song, dance, and visual effects that kept the children very engaged.

The message of the play was to: 1) be thankful for what you have 2) always look at the positives in things and 3) always be kind and giving to others.

It just so happened that these great messages are the same ideas that we discussed later in the week as we celebrated Thanksgiving.

PRE-KINDERGARTEN What we are thankful for As part of our PYP Unit of Inquiry on How We Express Ourselves we celebrated the American tradition of Thanksgiving. Attached is a photo of us in our turkey hats and below is what we are thankful for.

I give thanks for: -my dollies and my teddies (Sofia) -turkey (Cesare) -ladybugs (Eva) -my mommy when she buys me a popsicle (Reem) -my blanket and the sun (Kai) -Lorenzo (Niccolo) -books (Miriam) -butterflies (Siena) -turkey and the moon (Mauro) -Library (Ethan) -mommy (Emily) -my brother in mommy’s tummy (Victor) Ms. Sara and I are thankful for our students and we all agreed as a class that we are thankful for those poor turkeys that had to die so we could eat them up today. :0) Ms. Benedetti, Pre-K

GRADE 3 - PYP UNIT OF INQUIRY Where we are in Place and Time Grade 3 enjoyed the exciting visit from an expert in how cavemen lived. He has visited the school before and it has been a highlight every year. The children looked at bones, made fire like cave men, did cave paintings and generally had a fabulous day.

GRADE 4 - GEARS AND PULLEYS We discovered gears and pulleys. The students learned how they work and are in the process of inventing simple machines that perform an operation.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Tea Party Alice and the White Rabbit came to the Junior School Library in November to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s unforgettable ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Grade 5 were invited to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in the Library where they played out the scene from the book and took part in Alice-themed activities. The Parent’s Association and Grade 5 parents helped out and provided a mouthwatering selection of cakes and sandwiches. After everything had been cleared away there was no trace left, it could all have been a dream…curious.

St. James Food Bank Parents and students took the generously donated food items to the food bank at St. James’s church and assisted with distribution.

An important initiative which seeks to help our students become aware of their blessings and the fact that all people are not as fortunate.

Students harvested some of the olives from the 200 olive trees we have at the ISF Junior School.

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Small bottles of the extra-virgin olive oil produced by our EAL students will be available for purchase after school next week.

The proceeds from the sales will be used to purchase holiday gifts for children in need.