The Wave - February 2019

Personal Project Final Exhibition On Wednesday, February 27, 2019 44 G10 students celebrated their personal and academic growth by presenting the findings of their Personal Projects.

Community members, parents and students were enlightened with new concepts, ideas and reflections.

Congratulations Grade 10!

February, 2019

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From the Director Maybe you have come to the Flag Pavilion to see the 10th Grade Personal Projects? Maybe you attended the cross-country meet a while ago, or will attend the Talent Show? I know many of you attended the Partners for Learning Program last Wednesday night and I thank you for coming. These are the many wonderful happenings at TKS, and whatever your engagement level, we are delighted that so much is going on to support student learning and growth.

Another wonderful event organized by TKS will take place next week: the Parade of Nations. We are proud that something that started small and was only celebrated at the school is now a full blown community event. The Parade is organized at the end of the TKS International Week.

Throughout the year we infuse the curriculum with opportunities for students to become more international-minded and to celebrate and practice intercultural understanding and respect.

Many of the student’s service learning opportunities and personal projects provide opportunities to heighten their cultural and intercultural awareness and understanding.

During international week, however, we focus in a special way on international-mindedness. During this week our students will be celebrating their own and the cultures of their fellow students and enhancing their intercultural understanding and respect. We hope this is helping them to become more accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view and growing from the experience.

We look forward to seeing you and your family at the Parade of Nations and Picnic on Thursday, the 7th of March, to celebrate the culturally diverse community of KAUST.

Content 03 | PAC Summaries 05 | From Kindergarten 10 | From Elementary 15 | Counselors Corner 16 | From Secondary - Sports & News 2

In a nutshell: Summaries of February’s PAC meetings Secondary PAC: • The PAC discussed cyberbullying and anti-social behaviour. The school referred to the student behaviour policies and the IT responsible use policy, which are both included in the Student Parent Handbook. The school gave examples of how it addresses instances of cyberbullying and anti-social behaviour and assured parents that all such cases are taken very seriously.

• A PAC member asked the school what its response is to students who are upset when a classmate transitions to another country.

The school explained that we acknowledge with students the stress that these transitions cause but we do not discuss the cause and the context of the transition because we have to protect the privacy of the families.

• The PAC discussed the perception raised in several forums at the university that the collaboration between the school and the university could improve. It seemed that this perception related to academic matters only. Both the school and the university are interested in increasing the collaboration, allowing students to benefit more from the opportunities offered at the university. The school described some initiatives to improve the collaboration.

• The PAC discussed logistics related to their support for the Sports Day, when the PAC prepares and serves food to the students, and for the Teacher Appreciation Lunch hosted by PAC on 21 April.

• As a reminder: Parents are encouraged to contact the GSS PAC if they have suggestions around topics for PAC meetings: - Marleen Stuyck - stuyckmarleen@gmail.com - Amr Atiah - amr.atiah@kaust.edu.sa - Ming-Ming Chou - mingming.chou@kaust.edu.sa - Cherine Fayad - cherine.fayad@kaust.edu.sa - Alexandra Aguiar Gomes Alexandra.Gomes@kaust.edu.sa - Niveen Khashab - niveen.khashab@kaust.edu.sa - Brian Ross - brian.ross@kaust.edu.sa

Kindergarten PAC: • PAC shared feedback that the school could do more to communicate to parents how they can access the library.

• PAC provided feedback about the recent Parent Teacher Conferences. Using the Parent Portal for sign ups worked. Conference provided further insight to report card.

• Admin provided information about applications for K1 for 2019-20 which will open soon.

• A survey will be coming out to get feedback from parent on Seesaw (digital portfolio).

• PAC shared thoughts on Science in the KG and ways we can connect with experts in the university.

• As a reminder: Parents are encouraged to contact the KG PAC if they have suggestions around topics for PAC meetings: - Sagar P. Parajuli - sagar.parajuli@kaust.edu.sa - Hind Aljohani - Hind.johani@kaust.edu.sa - Shan Yang - Shan.yang@kaust.edu.sa - Shuyu Sun - shuyu.sun@kaust.edu.sa - S. Mani Sarathy - mani.sarathy@kaust.edu.sa

GES PAC Summary • Gathering feedback regarding the Parent-Teacher conferences that took place on February 5th.

• Discuss major areas of strategic focus for the school and gathering feedback.

• TKS inclusion policy (supporting students with significant needs).

• Technology use and screen time.

• Review the GES technology philosophy statement.

• Share the SAMR model for evaluating use of technology.

Click Here 3

from Justin Somerville, KG Principal Dear Parents, As I wander around classrooms this week, I have been reflecting on one of our guiding statements which reads as follows: ‘Children learn through relationships with other people’.

We know that children socially construct their knowledge and understanding of the world by interacting with other people and the surrounding environment. I have observed children who are actively engaged in collaborative learning activities involving not only dialogue but in some instances conflict and negotiation. I was so impressed with the children’s social and emotional development in this respect. They have come such a long way since the beginning of the year, where conflict and negotiation was a challenge for some. It was wonderful to see children being able to recognizing their own feelings and the feelings of others and to respond appropriately.

Justin Somerville KG Principal

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K1 Visits the Recycling Center

For K1’s unit of inquiry, How We Express Ourselves, we went to visit the Recycle Center to view the sculptures there. We were given boxes of different sizes to repurpose and use for our own artwork back at school.

These sculptures are the result of a collaboration between Ms. Barbara’s and Ms. Rikke’s K1 classes.

By Rikke Korsgaard & Barbara Cruz Kindergarten Teachers

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Islamic studies K2 Kindergarten

In K2 we are exploring the importance of the Mosque in our community.

By Dina Akeel

In the class before the trip we discussed the mosque agreements:

We were looking into different shapes and patterns, and why do we have them in the Mosque.

Exploring the Quran and we learned that the language of Quran is Arabic, but it is translated into different languages because people around the world can learn about it.

Students were very excited to share their stories about what do they know about the mosque.

They were asking a lot of questions and inquiring about: What is a mosque? Why we need a mosque? How many times we pray? What is the sound of Allah? How many pages in the Quran? Why is the mosque white? And why the mosque has many doors?

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K3 Assembly

On February 7th, 170 K3 students performed in the KG West Gym in front of their parents. They were able to demonstrate their understanding of the musical elements form, dynamics, rhythm, voice and beat.

They were confident, principled communicators who demonstrated how being committed can produce an outstanding performance.

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Artists Laura Wall & Charlie Ranken visit the Kindergarten The Kindergarten had such an exciting experience this February with the visit of two special artists from the UK. Laura Wall (author and illustrator of Goose books) and Charlie Ranken (performing artist and movement specialist) came to TKS to support the children in becoming storytellers through a range of artistic expression such as illustration, choreography, symbolic gestures, movement, and song.

Laura read Goose books with the children and worked with them to generate new story ideas and illustrate an original Goose book cover. With Charlie, the children read one of Laura’s books and discovered how to express that story with their bodies through movement. In addition, many children joined Laura and Charlie in large groups where they practiced the Goose song with movement, shared their experiences from individual workshops, and even showed off their original class move! Children were also able to purchase Goose books for home, meet the artists, and have their books autographed.

Both Laura and Charlie offered the Kindergarten children a unique blended arts experience which supported motor development and early literacy skills, while having lots of fun!

By Candace Taylor-Weber Librarian & Educational Technology Coach - TKS Kindergarten 8

from Chye de Ryckel, GES Associate Principal

Parents are our partners in the education of our young learners. We value effective partnerships between home and school, recognizing that these connections have a significant impact on children’s learning. This year we added a Parent-Teacher conference to our schedule of reporting progress in student learning.

Conferences took place shortly after semester reports were issued. The conferences created an opportunity for parents to further discuss their child’s progress and to ask questions about information shared in the report card. Many parents came to the conferences with questions and points for clarification. They viewed samples of student work and discussed assessment data to understand strengths and targets for their

child. Parents commented that walked away from the conferences with clarity and suggestions of ways to further support their child’s learning at home The school is committed to continual improvement, as such, we engaged with all stakeholders about future considerations to strengthen this aspect of our reporting process. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Parents expressed they appreciated having honest conversation with teachers that were goaloriented.

Chye de Ryckel Associate Principal

Get ready for the Parade of Nations!

Thursday, March 7 from 5:00 p.m. to 09:00 p.m.

This year, the parade will travel from the Harbor Walk to Al-Marsa Amphitheatre Field, where you can enjoy a picnic and visit the many tables in the Circle of Nations. Wear cultural dress or country colors or just come as you are! Families, friends, colleagues and compatriots are all welcome.

‘Citizens of the World Walking Together’ For more information click here.

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Collecting and Using Data Grade 1 used a small section of their school to analyze and collect data. As the youngsters gathered all sort of materials that they›ve found on the lawn, they made conclusions about the students at GES. This practical exercise is to enforce the unit they are studying and to help them build some critical thinking that will help them in the future to become all sort of leaders that we aspire them to be.

By Safanah Kadi Communication Officer

Photos by Janetta Heinicke.

Grade 1 Teacher, GES 10

Mystery Skype What is a mystery skype? Grade 4 students would like to tell you about their experience of a mystery skype which took place in February.

A mystery skype is using a web-based tool to interact with another school, in a different part of the world, to see the students and talk to them in real time, but the exact name and location of the school are not shared immediately. Only the organizing teachers from the collaborating schools know the location!

Grade 4 students in Mr. House’s class had to create and use ten closed questions to ask the students in the mystery school and figure out from the given Yes, No answers where the “mystery” school was in the world.

Then students could ask open questions, or any other questions to learn about the students from the mystery school. The mystery school also asked us questions, as to where we were and what kind of school we are.

One of the main tools the students used on Ipads was Google Earth, and some may have also used Google, to research. The students had to know how to explore Google earth and know a little bit about the world, including hemispheres, continents, time zones, and countries.

The challenge, of course, was the mystery school had an international student population. Athena felt that her classmates were not only asking questions but looking for visual clues and listening closely to the answers and the accents. Ahad and Maiar used visual clues to help them locate where the school might be. For example, Ahad spotted a logo on one of the student›s uniforms and then Maiar looked up the logo and found the town and then later found the school.

This experience was fun and interesting, we got to learn and collaborate with another school.

By Sophia, Athena, Grade 4JH

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Waste Control On an educational Journey, Grade 2 spent a full week learning about waste management and the journey started with a trip to the Waste Water Treatment Facility. They visited different parts of the facility and learned about the wastewater and the stages it goes through starting from the wastewater in our houses, control center, the laboratory, and the Chocolate Factory. Then they looked closely on the amount of waste their class produces in one week by creating an infographic to show the results. Then, they sorted their class’s waste and left some to observe during the coming weeks.

By Safanah Kadi Communication Officer

Photos by Alanoud Aljammal Grade 2 Teacher, GES 12

Beach Clean-Up at KAM

Inspired by our unit “SHARING THE PLANET”, grade 2AH and 2BT came together to clean up the little beach at the monument. We had visited the beach one week earlier and were disgusted by the amount of garbage we saw. Over the weekend, a group of Nannies came and filled 9 bags of trash.

Again, we were inspired by the Nannies to go through and grab smaller pieces of plastic that we recognized would end up in the water (or possible a fish’ mouth).

We sifted the sand (Thanks to the handy work of Chris Newns, sifter creator extraordinaire) and collected hundreds of pieces of plastic. We sorted, collected data and even came up with a conclusion as to why there is so much garbage… Laziness!

We want all of KAUST to know, we love our clean community, please keep it that way.

Brad Traynor Grade 2 Homeroom Teacher 13

from David Tigchelaar, GSS Principal

Looking Back • Mock exams for Gr 12 took place from 3 - 11 February.

• On 12 February, Grade 12 went on a Biology / Environmental Systems & Systems snorkeling trip • Sports Day took place on 14 February • TKS hosted the RSAC U14 boys and girls tournaments on 15 February • On 18 February, the school organised an information session for Gr 12 students and parents and 3-way conferences for Gr 11 and 12 • A MUN delegation participated in the Model United Nations in Lebanon from 20 - 24 February

Looking Forward • International Week will take place from 3 - 7 March, starting with an assembly on the 3rd, international finger food on the 6th and the Parade of Nations on the 7th.

• There will be a Variety Show in the GSS Auditorium at 4:15 on 4 March • GSS will host its first ever Saudi University fair on 6 March at 5:00. The fair will include representatives from Qiyas, Dar Al-Hekma University, the University of Business and Technology, Effat University and Batterjee Medical College (Male and Female Divisions). The event will be conducted primarily in Arabic.

• The school will organise a trip from 6 - 8 March to Abu Dhabi for students participating in the ISTA (International Schools Theatre Association) festival.

• TKS will host the U16 Boys SAIKAC Basketball tournament on 7 & 8 March • GSS students will participate in the Track & Field tournament in Bahrain on 14 and 15 March • Some other GSS students will participate in a MUN conference at BISJ on the same dates • The DP Art Exhibition will take place at 5 pm on 18 March in the University Library • A group of GSS students will go on a community service trip to South Africa from 20 - 25 March.

Variety Show TKS VARIETY SHOW Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to enjoy a varied performance of music, dance, and comedy, brought to you by the talented and hard-working young performing artists in the Secondary School!

Monday 4 March, starts at 4.15 p.m. and runs for about an hour 14

In Praise of Praise – A Psychologist’s Perspective A counter-intuitive view has gained traction in educational and parenting circles recently.

It argues that praise controls children, undermining their intrinsic motivation and stunting their independence and decision-making.

But are the dire warnings made about praise actually true?

The argument against praising children is two-fold: 1) Theoretical: Praise is a judgement, we shouldn’t judge, therefore, we shouldn’t praise, and 2) Practical: Extrinsically rewarding (e.g. praise, candy etc.) innately enjoyable tasks, can undermine this enjoyment.

I’ve two issues with these claims.

Firstly, who said that judgements are always bad? After all, don’t we judge all the time? Even unconsciously, by the choices we make, we judge what is worthy of our attention and what is not.

And what is more important than fostering values that we know will help our children be happy and successful in life (e.g. kindness, effort, responsibility etc.) and discouraging behavior that won’t (selfishness, cruelty, dishonesty etc.)?

Now to the data. While there is evidence that extrinsic motivators, when later withdrawn, can undermine intrinsic drive, this is not true in all contexts or for all individuals. Otherwise, artists and sportstars who get recognized and whose earnings increase, would be less motivated to paint or play sport, the more money they get. That’s clearly not the case!

In fact, this rather simplistic division of motivation into intrinsic (good) or extrinsic (bad) is itself problematic. Using sophisticated statistical analysis on data from over 6,000 people, research from Ohio State University found that people are motivated by 16 basic human drives – all of which are intrinsic. Trying to compare extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is akin to trying to compare an apple with a holiday in France – they

are two different categories. What looks like an ‘extrinsic motivator’ (e.g. money, food, praise etc.) can actually be explained by intrinsic drives. So, a child who values acceptance, will be motivated by praise. A child motivated by curiosity will not, unless the praise acknowledged this drive.

So, rather than rejecting praise outright, let’s ensure that our praise is tempered, linked to effort, specific to the value we want to encourage and linked to an innate drive.

Paul O’Callaghan (Dr) (School Psychologist)

Combating Relational Aggression Relational Aggression (RA) can be thought of as “using social status to manipulate relationships in a way that hurts someone else or others. It is using one’s influence, power, or popularity to isolate someone else and/or damage their ability to connect with others”. Research shows it peaks in middle school years but often elements of it can begin in elementary age years. Examples include exclusion, rumors/gossip, eye rolling, silent treatment and ignoring. Bystanders (children that are in periphery of the situation) can have a great positive impact on children that are affected. In order of effectiveness, strategies that bystanders can use when they witness RA are: *Support *Telling an adult *Speaking up *Moving away Support could be as simple as “Hey, don’t listen to her” or “it’s OK, you should come sit by us”. Telling an adult is useful because RA is often hidden and difficult for adults to detect on their own. Speaking up should be used with caution as sometimes the child speaking up can become a target. Moving away simply removes the audience for the perpetrator. The “Ophelia Project” conducts a lot of research in the area of RA and has found that 15% of bystanders intervene, but when they do they are successful over 80% of the time, within the first 10 seconds of the intervention. In sum, students can feel empowered that they can make a significant difference in helping the victim in these situations.

Further Resources: TheOpheliaProject.org 15

Running Victoriously

Someone once said that running is nothing more than a series of arguments between the part of your brain that wants to stop and that part that wants to keep going. Fortunately, Coach Abed’s thundering commands of encouragement to work faster and harder helped nineteen TKS students cross the finish line during the SAIKAC Cross Country 3.4k Invitational on the 10th of February.

Yet again TKS was successful in placing extremely well with four gold medals taken by U14 boys’ runner Youssef Abed, U16 boys’

runner Ben Powell, U19 boys’ runner Mohamed Abed and U19 girls’ runner Aliya Al Uariachi. They also managed to win two silver medals from U16 boys’ runner John Winfer and U19 girls’ runner Abril Soewarso-Rivera, and bronze medalist, Emils Ekers, a U14 boys runner. Everyone’s efforts and achievements have been superb with many personal bests achieved throughout the six-week season from sprint training sessions to groggy six a.m. runs. Let’s go, Sharks!

By Aliya Al Uariachi

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Arts Night Arts Night in the GSS Auditorium on Monday 11 February showcased the huge range of creativity that students engage in during their art classes.

From instrumental music, singing and acting short scenes to presentations on the process of creating a piece of visual art, students demonstrated their explorations and their learning. Finally, students treated the audience to a sneak preview of the grade 8 collaborative production. This is a fulllength production in which the students take on all aspects of staging the play, as actors, designers, musicians, technicians, set builders and painters…. Watch this space and don’t miss this exciting Rock ‘n’ Roll show - coming up in April!

By Claudia Kennedy Drama Teacher / Creative Arts Team Leader

Boxtree Workshop On 13 February 2019, all the GSS grade 9 Drama students attended a Drama workshop with the actors from the professional theatre company, Boxtree Productions. The company was visiting KAUST with their production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, uniquely written for the KAUST audience! Following some games and exercises to loosen up, students acted out scenes from the play guided by the actors. Together they explored the language, played with characterization and discovered the meaning and relevance of the play for the twenty-first century.

Students were intrigued to see how the scenes they practiced with the actors played out on the stage in the performance!

By Claudia Kennedy Drama Teacher / Creative Arts Team Leader

Our Precious Time A Grade 7 and 9 Girls TKS and Saudi Initiatives/ Thuwal Schools Collaboration In this year’s WEP week, a group of amazing girls from grades 7 - 9 and I took part in the activity called “Our Precious Time”. Throughout this week we prepared PHE and art sessions for a group of Thuwal girls. The sessions we made were only a small taste of what we TKS students take in these classes, and included basketball, movement, and yoga. One day we spent creating a beautiful collaborative mural and images representing Time, the theme of this year’s WEP. Seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces during the sessions made us proud as a group for the efforts we had put in.

The Thuwal girls got to experience

activities that were new to them, and we learned so much from our exchange. That is why I advise girls--both those who speak Arabic and those who don’t--to join this wonderful activity next year.

Malak Justaniah, Grade 9

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U14 Boys Football Tournament at The World Academy, KAEC The Joy of Football!

On Friday 15th February 2019 TKS participated in the U.14 Boys Football Tournament held at TWA, KAEC. TKS had 4 teams and there were 12 teams in total, including teams from Jeddah and KAEC. Games were played on the astro field in groups of 5 and 6 teams.

Each team played 4 or 5 matches. Games were won, drawn and lost between 8.30 am and 4pm. The teams learned different skills, tactics and strategies. We also learned to communicate, collaborate, cooperate and to score goals against challenging opposition.

A number of people deserve to be thanked for their work during this season. First of all thank you to the coaches Powell, Vasily, Bartelink and Parkin.

In addition, many thanks to the Activities Coordinator Mr. Ron and Athletic Director Mr. Davies for their amazing behind-the scenes logistical support.

Without a doubt football was the winner!

U14 Girls Football

Photo by Andrew Wright This year the U14 girls’ football squad had 49 players who played in four teams in a mini-tournament versus two JPGS teams that came up to KAUST from Jeddah.

TKS1 came 2nd, TKS2 were 3rd, TKS3 were 5th and TKS4 were 4th. Later, 40 players (3 teams) went to play in the 2018/19 U14 RSAC tournament at BISJ in Jeddah. The squad was so committed to coming to practices, and so many of us have improved with training. Our captains for the RSAC tournament were: Pearl Wright (TKS1), Timona Sladakovic (TKS2), and Julani Bartelink (TKS3), and they did such a great job of telling us where to pass, and what to do. Also a big thanks to coach Wright, coach Rodrigues, coach Matteo, and coach Zack for training us for the big

tournaments. We ended up getting: 2nd place (TKS 1), 3rd place (TKS 2), and an unlucky 6th place for TKS 3, but overall still better than U14 had ever done before.

Goal-scorers across both tournaments included Emilia Salvador (with 8), Sofia Daum (with 5), Meryll Napoles, Daphne Pising, Ella Powell, Layana Ghryani and Tailin Sladakovic (all with 2), and Anjum Alsabe, Haya Abdelmohsen, Sheera Firmansyah, Donia Saad, Pearl Wright and Yara Albatran (all with 1). Overall it has been a fabulous football season, and I am fortunate to be part of this fantastic squad.

By Leen Khayat (G7) and Andrew Wright

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U14 Netball On Friday the 8th of February, the U14 Netball girls traveled to the British International School of Jeddah to compete in a friendly tournament. The teams fought hard, showing great determination and enthusiasm. At the end of the tournament the teams finished with two wins, one draw and three losses. Overall this season, the girls showed great team ethic and were very supportive of each other which enabled them to learn as players and grow as a team. Coaches Te Haurawhiti, Kelly Maclarn, Marwah Ashrour, Kylie Johansen and Betsy Ryan were very impressed with the all-round commitment and effort by every player this season.

Written by Kylie Johansen

Players from left to right: Chloe Halverson, Lucy Ryan, Nora Gutierrez Avello, Aabish Imran, Sarah Sammam, Yara Elrez, Haadiya Shafiq, Kiara Kuwahara, Caitlyn Joseph, Ella Johansen, Maggie Ryan, Celine Rezeig, Arwa Alsabe, Juwana Almoazen, Clare Lennon, Virginia Castellani, Hala Amad, Yomna Nadeem, Noura Abediseid and Melissa Belmabkhout.

During the season, the girls faced many challenges but with perseverance, resilience, commitment and a positive attitude we were able to overcome these challenges. We practiced hard for weeks leading up to the tournament and it was so great that we were able to create three full teams. The girls cheered each other on and supported one another during the matches.

BISJ put up fierce competition. However, team spirit stayed high throughout, making the tournament even more enjoyable. A huge thanks to Ms. Kelly, Ms. Teddy,

Ms. Betsy and Ms. Johansen for their motivation and guidance. Overall, the sport was enjoyable and exciting.

The team’s hard work and practice didn’t go unnoticed and the coaches were super proud of us all.

Thank you for supporting us!

Written by Haadiya Shafiq & Aabish Imran Grade 6 Netballers

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Viva Voce Three cheers!

The Grade 12 IB Diploma students recently participated in the annual Viva Voce, a celebratory event where students reflect on the research process of their Extended Essay in an interview with their supervisors.

The Extended Essay is an element of the IB Diploma core, where students undertake an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper. It is an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of special interest to them, which is also related to one of the student’s six DP subjects.

The task itself provides an excellent foundation for students to practically prepare for university research.

The Viva Voce allowed supervisors to gain a better understanding of the students’ processes, helped students prove their engagement to the rigorous task, and provided audience members, most of which were DP Year 1 students, with valuable insight into the Extended Essay prior to embarking on their own research journey.

By Abril Soewarso-Rivera

“An interdisciplinary opportunity that allowed me to

explore the interconnectedness of both the biological and geographical concepts; gaining an overall understanding of the various human impact on Earth’s biological ecosystems.”

Zainab Harakeh, World Studies Essay

“The history EE enabled me to take a step back from

the prescribed coursework of the subject and to engage meaningfully and passionately with topics of personal interest while equipping me with various research and critical thinking skills that will prove to be useful in the near future.”

Zoha Qureshi, History Essay

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Saudi University Fair Come, See & Get Information for Your Desired College & University March 6th, 2019 5:00 PM TO 7:30 PM The KAUST School

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