The Wave - June 2021

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2021 Click here to watch the video

CONTENTS Director’s Message

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Counselors Corner

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From Kindergarten

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From Elementary

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From Secondary

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From The Director

Dear all, The end of the 2020-21 school year has finally arrived. In spring of 2020 we continued to think about the upcoming school year and when things would be “back to normal.” We hadn’t imagined that we would still be impacted by COVID-19 at that time. However, throughout the school year, we have continued to feel the effects of the ongoing pandemic.

As I reflect on the year, I am filled with pride. We started the year cautiously and positively with a robust approach to distance learning. That chapter came to a close as we moved into half days in the school building with our students for hybrid learning. By the middle of the first term we were rolling into full days and full classes, which was our model for the majority of the school year.

I am proud of our teachers and staff for their commitment to student learning and for additional efforts that were required. Teachers were tested weekly for COVID-19, they had to learn how to teach both online and face to face simultaneously, and they had to be prepared to move to distance learning at a moment’s notice if they or their class were moved into quarantine. Not only did they commit to student learning during the school day, but teachers volunteered after school to coach sports, put on a school musical, run an MUN conference, and so much more. We have a great deal to celebrate. Our students enjoyed WEP week, sports days, and face to face learning for the majority of the school year.

In these final weeks we have had to move back into Distance Learning for the safety and protection of our community. Again, the TKS team took on the challenge and pivoted quickly to make these final two weeks successful and meaningful. We have been a model for many schools around the world this year. Our plans have been shared and we have actively supported those in our region and beyond. We are truly living our vision of being “a courageously bold leader in education.”

Looking to next year, we are excited to welcome more students to TKS. Each year the school is growing and we look to have more students enrolled at TKS than ever before. We will continue our work on our Strategic Plan focusing on Elevating and Expanding Learning Opportunities, Enhancing Engagement through Connections and Contribution, and Ensuring a Commitment to Well-being. We look forward to welcoming you all back next school year. For those of you moving on to new locations, we wish you all the best on your transition. Have a wonderful summer and we will see you on August 24 for the first day of school!

Warm Regards, Dr. Michelle Remington

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TKS Counselors The TKS Class of 2022 has much to be proud of. With acceptances to universities in ten different countries, our students have been offered over 2.3 million dollars’ worth of scholarship money, thus far. Of our students who submitted applications and have received acceptances, 30% of them have been accepted to their first choice school. This year’s graduates will be enrolling in a wide variety of programs, such as Industrial Engineering, Medicine, Fashion Marketing, Finance, Computer Science, and various Biological Science programs. Our students, and parents, deserve a round of applause for their hard work, dedication, and perseverance. We wish these graduates a relaxing break before they embark on their post secondary journey and wish them a safe return back to our community in the future so that we can hear of their adventures and accomplishments. Congratulations Class of 2021!

TKS student have made commitments to attend the following universities:

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Vanderbilt University

University of California-Irvine

University of Aberdeen

Carleton University Pennsylvania State University

University of California-Los Angeles

Memorial University of Newfoundland

De La Salle University University of Virginia

University of Virginia Polytechnic Institute British Columbia and State University

University of Manchester

Marist College

Royal Holloway, University of London

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Note from Tiffany Hill, KG Principal

This year, we celebrate the 2020-2021 school year and our students, staff, and parents' perseverance and resilience through a year that challenged us, making us that much stronger as a learning community.

This year was unlike any other. Together we navigated distance learning, hybrid learning, and finally, the joyous return of all students to face-to-face learning. With the support and guidance of our KAUST community, students safely returned to TKS Kindergarten and filled the hallways with their voices as they laughed, learned, and grew with their friends and teachers.

This year Kindergarteners embodied the TKS Guiding Statements. They were courageously bold, moving through phases of learning, modeling in our community ways to stay safe as we entered our school. They demonstrated a high level of responsibility as they developed independence managing themselves, resources, and their relationships. They were agile as they adapted to new situations presented to them.

We are grateful to all who made this year possible; our flexible and determined staff, our supportive parent community, and our inspirational and innovative Kindergartners.

The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave. - Ronald Reagan Best, Tiffany

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Storytelling connects Kindergarten and Secondary students

By Aaron Thompson, Head of GSS Design & Candace Taylor-Weber, KG Educational Technology Coach

TKS students had a wonderful opportunity to engage in a cross-divisional collaborative project that brought together Kindergarten and Grade 9 & 10 MYP Design students. As part of their K2 Storytelling unit, Kindergarten students wrote and illustrated a variety of stories. The KG classes then digitized these images and shared them with GSS students. The GSS students brought these stories to life by applying their digital animation skills to create short animated movies. These were shared with the KG students and their families, which made a wonderful end to the school year, celebrating collaboration and the variety of technology and literacy skills developed for all.

Click to see the video! Video1, Video 2.

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Kaust Drones Visit to K2

By Katherine Adaci, Sezin Bozkurt Mutlu and Olga Pacheco Oreamuno On Sunday, May 31st, 2021 three K2 classes in the Kindergarten had a visit from Professor Eric M. Feron and his team to present the children with a certificate of commendation for their participation in the Robotics Short Story Competition.

The team brought with them three Kaust drones to show the children. They answered the children’s questions as well as spoke to them about robots and drones.

We would like to thank Professor Eric M. Feron and his department for their recognition and encouragement towards the participation of our youngest learners in this academic community.

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Note from Chye

De Ryckel, GES Assistant Principal

Wow! What a year for GES! This year has been unlike any other, and while it has been full of challenges, it has been an outstanding success for our students and staff. We often referred to this year as feeling like a marathon and what a sense of accomplishment we feel today at the finish line of the 2020-21 academic year.

The fact alone that we have been able to offer face-to-face learning for most of the year has meant so much for our students. That we have been able to provide in-person learning and do so in a safe environment for all is such a great success for GES. This year will be remembered for all the changes we went through, from distance learning at the beginning of the year, to hybrid half-day learning, and then to full-day learning. Despite all these changes, our students have proven themselves to be very resilient and clearly so happy to be coming to school each day.

Over the last several months of school we have established a steady routine with no further changes and we have seen tremendous growth in our students as a result.

While much of our focus this year has been on providing a safe learning environment for students, we have also implemented many other changes this year. We have new curriculum for mathematics and English language arts, made changes to our reporting and evaluation procedures, and have begun changes to physical spaces that will make the learning environment more innovative and collaborative.

We look forward to next year as we continue to move towards our new normal. We have learned so much from the experience of the past two years and that will help us make the most of the years ahead.

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Buddy Bench By: Erica Li, Tanishka Nagarajan, Paidi Ward, Razan Bakhsh, and Freya Olson.

For the past few weeks, Gardens Secondary School 6th graders, Erica Li, Freya Olson, Tanishka Nagarajan, Paidi Ward, Jack Louks, Diala Almozen, and Razan Bakhshs, have been working on a project for the 2nd-grade students, a Buddy Bench. Walking into the Design Hub every Tuesday to the smell of paint and wood chips, they’ve spent hours upon hours designing, planning, and painting the colorful bench.

The project began back in March when Ms. Mahri, a counselor at the elementary school, introduced the idea of the bench to Mr. Wooten’s 6th-grade advisory group. The idea was to create a place to sit for 2nd graders who want to play but have no one to play with. In addition, sitting on the bench would let other students know that they want to play during recess and are waiting for an invitation.

The 6th graders jumped at the opportunity to work on the project and help the 2nd-grade classes. Along the way, they were aided by Mr. Thompson in the Design Hub. Together, they designed a pattern of welcoming colors: red, yellow, green, and blue. Because of the bright colors, the bench immediately catches attention, letting students know when others are waiting to make new friends.

Today, the bench sits near the elementary playground and helps 2nd graders learn the importance of making friends and welcoming others to play.

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Note from David Tigchelaar, GSS Principal

This year students, parents and teachers had to demonstrate flexibility. We switched from Distance Learning to Hybrid, to Face-to-face and back to Distance Learning modes.

Teachers and students learned a lot about educational technologies and became better in creating and navigating course overviews. It was important for all of us to become more organised under these conditions. We also noticed that the organisation skills of the students need to be improved and we have a plan for that, with study skills courses and parent workshops but also implementing, more consistently, consequences for missing deadlines, poor attendance and academic integrity breaches . This year, as the pandemic was taking its toll, we wanted to be empathetic and flexible but we were reminded that clear guidelines and implementing them consistently supports students more than a lot of flexibility.

While we navigated the pandemic, we also worked on many other initiatives, mainly preparing for changes to the programme next year. We introduced K- 12 standards for most subjects and this process will be completed for all subjects next year. We prepared for the introduction of new High School courses for next year, created a credit-bearing internship programme, established a framework for modifications and personalised pathways, and started the development of a comprehensive Health and Wellbeing curriculum. We participated in Positive Discipline workshops, workshops for language in Gr 6 - 8 as well as workshops on how to create a curriculum architecture for each subject.

Next year we will also strengthen our Middle School structure with more dedicated MS teachers and MS classrooms and a more student friendly approach to assessment. We will take the integration of Language and Literature through to Grade 8 and prepare for the integration of Mathematics and Science in the following year, which will further strengthen our interdisciplinary approach as well as a homeroom experience in Middle School.

The co-curricular programme will also expand with the inclusion of golf, swimming, tennis, U14 badminton and an increased number of student clubs.

It was a hard year and students, teachers and parents are all ready for the holidays. We are however also looking forward to implementing all these initiatives when we get back in August.

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She Can Cup 2021 Women’s Football Tournament

By Andrew Wright and Wedyan Babatain. She Can Cup logo by Wedyan Babatain, other logos by teams On Friday, the 2nd of July, KAUST will be hosting its first ever women’s football tournament, the 2021 She Can Cup! At least three teams will be participating, including a TKS Sharks representative team, KAUST’s own Magpies Women’s Football Club, and Miraas Jeddah, who finished second in Jeddah’s inaugural 2019 Women’s Football League.

Organized in conjunction with Graduate Affairs and the Students for Sustainability group, the She Can Cup is part of a grassroots movement by the Saudi Sport For All Federation promoting women's empowerment and spreading awareness among girls and all members of society about the potential and competence of women. This is highlighted by the participation of Saudi Arabian women playing football at the Global Goals World Cup. If you are a TKS student who is here on July 2nd and interested in playing for the TKS Sharks team, contact Andrew Wright: andrew.wright@kaust.edu.sa If you are interested in playing for KAUST’s Magpies Women’s Football Club, contact Wedyan Babatain: wedyan.babatain@kaust.edu.sa

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Geometrocity: Building a City with Math

By Frank Vink, GSS Mathematics and Design Teacher Grade 7 students completed their geometry unit by building city districts using 3D paper models. The focus of the unit was on communication in mathematics and applying math in real-life situations. They worked collaboratively in teams, providing both opportunities and challenges. It allowed them to share and divide tasks, but they also had to ensure their districts fit together and included all required elements.

We started the project by brainstorming ideas for our ideal city and brushing up on vocabulary and formulas. Teams then drafted their districts, using a variety of shapes and making sure additional elements such as roads and parks were included.

Students learned to calculate the surface area for their buildings to determine the land cost, the volume to determine the building cost, and surface area to find the paint cost.

Students created and decorated geometric nets to construct their buildings: flat outlines that they assembled into 3D shapes.

During the project, students kept a journal in which they were challenged to communicate using appropriate vocabulary and terminology. Using a project booklet, they organized their work, allowing them to switch between different forms of mathematical language: words, numbers, formulas, maps, graphs.

Students made connections between the map of their district and the real-life sizes by scaling their ideas up and down. Throughout the process, they were asked to comment on their accuracy in size and cost, as well as on how realistic their district was compared to the real world.

We were very fortunate to be able to complete the unit while we were physically in school.

Students should be proud of the fantastic projects they created collaboratively.

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Fame! We’re Gonna Live Forever!

Ashna Wells Grade 10 Student The production of this year's musical was unique to say the least. Almost every aspect of the musical had to be adapted due to the pandemic but we didn’t let this get in the way of an incredible performance. This process started back in January and came to an end this past weekend at the red carpet premiere of a TKS Movie. This year there was a cast of 20 students, a crew of 7 and a band of 11, which makes this the smallest production in TKS history. There were countless rehearsals, production meetings and recording sessions before we could even get to the filming which condensed three months of preparation into a four day process. For these four days we worked from 8-5 and not one person was restricted to one job. Actors became costume designers, teachers were directing and producing and everyone was a stage hand when it came to setting up the filming equipment and preparing for every scene.

This project was not only challenging but an opportunity for so much growth and learning.

Covid meant that masks stayed on and no one was allowed to touch and like any other production team work did, in fact, make the dream work. It was truly fascinating to see the difference between stage acting in comparison to movie acting and I speak for all of us when I say that we all have a much greater appreciation for Hollywood movies. Making this movie meant that every scene took at least three takes for each angle, then add the spare takes for any mistakes and don’t even get me started on scene 2! Nevertheless, everyone persisted through every scene and every take and the hard work paid off.

At our red carpet event we were able to watch a TKS movie that celebrated the arts and hard work through tough times. Through determination and regular dance breaks came an incredible movie that we are all proud of. We’d like to thank Mark, Alex and Ryan for their incredible work with the cameras, sound and editing. Thank you to our teachers Mr.Webb, Ms.Phumelele, Ms.Johnson and Mr.Eduardo. Finally, a huge congratulations to the cast, crew and band for a job well done.

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Light It Up!

8th Grade Design Classes Create Arduino-Powered Lamps

By Jesse Remington, GSS Design Department Teacher To finish out the year in 8th grade design classes, students were given the challenge of researching, designing, and building Arduino-powered LED lamps.

The design project entailed: Researching and analyzing the problem: Research reasons why illumination is helpful (injuries, eye strain, etc). Research and analysis of similar products, learning how to program Arduino Nanos to light up LEDs and learning how to use Adobe Illustrator to design files to laser-cut acrylic or plywood faces for the lamps were also part of the research phase.

Developing lamp ideas that were personalized with unique designs: Pencil drawn ideas were created and students used 3D CAD programs to design photo-realistic renderings of scale virtual models.

Create/build: Students were able to come into school and pick up their lamp kits and put them together at home.

Present the product: Students created promotional videos that marketed their lamps. They used their physical lamps or the 3D files they created to make the videos.

Here are some links to some promotional videos made by the students Reina Kuwahara Isabella Palescandolo Rosario Gomes Molly Mycroft-Edwards Isa Khurram

Rital Al Ali Aabish Imran Salma Shah Habiba Shuaib Jana Hoteit

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Grade 8 Cam in Motion Project in Design In this project, students developed a design for a cam toy (examples click here). Students modeled their designs in 2 and 3 dimensions and then built them. Modeling in design is one of the most important ways we communicate, and students have been working on the modeling skills all year long:

Students built mini cam toys as models for their final products.

Design Ideas were developed and modeled in 2D.

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Design Ideas were developed and modeled in 3D. Here are some final products from the unit:

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Farsi, Mahmoud

AlSaihati, Ahmed

Badroun, Rasha

ElJishi, Dalal

Hassan, Amr

Khawaji, Badr

AbuZaid, Rowaa

Alyami, Reem

Ejaz, Maryam

Givero, Cyril

Holst, Bjorn

Bashammakh, Bader

AlKubaish, Ali

Eddaoudi, Manel

Gari, Ruba

Huang, Allister

Albader, Sadeem

Alghamdi, Abdallah

Dewi, Natasha

Fotea, Luca

CLASS OF 2021 Yildirim, Abdullah

AlMusaiteer, Abdulaziz

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Remington, Blake

Younis, Muhmoud

Tulley, Amy

Sleiman, Jenna

Shuaib, Jibran

Powell, Benjamin

Ross, Abbie

Sarhan, Rand

Shafiq, Faroze

Gul, Ghazala

Lai, Chelsea

Mohammed, Marwan

Mohammed, Raahat

Mohiuddin, Talib

Muji, John

McCulloch, Mhairi

Melebari, Hisham

Khojahbakkah, Mohammed

AlYahya, Mohammed

Imran, Muhammad

Irfan, Sumaiya

Mande, Vidyasree

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