Blog Archives

Celebrating Partnerships and Commitment!

10/29/2017

Our Campus International Soccer Club is going to the playoffs!!
Come out Monday, October 30th at 3:30pm to support them as they go up against Thomas Jefferson at Martin Luther King 1651 E. 71st Street.
This is the first time the team has gone undefeated and won their division.
Good Luck, CIS!

Thank you to Mr. Bubbett and Miss Chambers for their leadership and time as coaches! We are lucky to have former Soccer Stars as our coaches!!

Congrats to the 21 students who made the High-Stepping Team!
Clinics and Try-outs were held for one week, and these students showed determination and commitment to the process! Hard work pays off.
We are excited to watch you grow and to see you having fun while "Stepping" for CIS!

Thank you to Mrs. Laughbaum for her leadership and time as their coach. We are lucky to have a former dancer for the Lake Erie Monsters as the coach of our High-Stepping Team!

The 4th Monday of the each month is All School Morning Meeting.
In the past, every Monday was all school meeting. But with the lack of space to accommodate 760 students in one area...having All School Meetings takes commitment from staff members, students, and parents. We have to clear out all tables and chairs from the cafe the Friday before. Our custodians do a great job making sure the floors are cleaned and shiny for sitting on.
It is so important that we come together and celebrate our school as a whole...even if it's only once a month!
Thank you to all who help with this process!

On the 4th Monday Meeting, we also celebrate students who have been caught demonstrating one of the IB Attitudes.
Congrats to the following students for receiving certificates:
K-2
Grace Jones (enthusiasm)
Adonis Hood (enthusiasm)
Max Lopez (independence)
Meghan Mullin-Gray (commitment)
Gus Diamantis (empathy)

3-5
Aiden Duncan (enthusiasm)
Malia Ross (creativity)
Nora Larkin (independence)
Liam Herbert (curiosity)
Queen Hill-El (enthusiasm)

6-8
Aaliyah Sands (respect)
Earl Gaiter (cooperation)
Marc Rogers (empathy)
Layla Yarbrough (integrity)
Cameron Garrett (appreciation)

PARTNERSHIPS

Parent-Teacher-Students

Thank you to our families for coming out to Student-Led Conferences! It was wonderful to see so many smiles as we celebrated the commitment of our students to achieving their personal goals.

PARTNERSHIPS

Cleveland State University

Many of our students take part in after school tutoring services for reading, at the CLC in Julka Hall at CSU. These services are offered Monday-Friday from 5:00-6:00pm. Parents must call the CLC to sign up. The next sessions begins spring semester (January) and go through May. Click the tab below to learn more.

Community Learning Center

Music Building Waetjen Auditorium
Our musical performances are held on the campus of CSU at Waetjen Auditorium.

On Thursday, October 26th, our 5th-8th String Players participated in an all day
"String Fling" with Cuyahoga Heights Middle School.
The day ended with a concert and Obie Shelton doing the "Monster Mash."
It was a fun day of partnerships!

Dr. Streletzky, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics
at Cleveland State University

"Physics Fridays"
Dr. Streletzky brings a team of CSU students to work with the YMCA after-care for "Physics Fridays". He is currently working with classroom teachers to also bring these fun learning activities to each grade for their unit, "How the World Works."
Thank you, Dr. Streletzky for making science so much fun!

PLAYHOUSE SQUARE

CIS students are fortunate to have Playhouse on campus!
Thank you to Mrs. Fairman who organizes approximately 3-6 Playhouse trips for EACH grade level EVERY YEAR!! This takes a lot of commitment and we appreciate her work and our partnership with Playhouse Square.

On Friday, October 27th grades 1-5 went to see the musical, Hansel and Gretel.
Thank you to the middle school service groups who walked with our PYP students to model safe walking on campus. This was our first walking trip as a school. It was a beautiful day!

MC2 Stem School's
Fab Lab

Thank you to MC2 and Mrs. Grays who organizes fun learning experiences for CIS students on the mobile Fab Lab.

On Friday, Miss Dottore's kindergarten class enjoyed making wooden pumpkins!

Partnering to show unity against bullying!!
Wear Orange Day was a big success! Thank you to Mr. Mathis for organizing and all who participated... and especially those who Stand up, against bullying behaviors EVERYDAY!

Be the change you want to see in the world!!!

Cleveland Police

Thank you to Officer Tony and Officer Cruz who come to our school each week to help with Kindergarten lunch/recess, visit classrooms, and build healthy relationships with students. They have adopted our school for the year and plan to put in a Little Library on our playground.

Partnerships Around School

6th Science Lab with Mrs. Arens

Does height of ramp affect the distance of a car with travel?

SOLE in Mrs. Weber's 8th grade Individuals and Society. Click on pic to see their padlet.

How do Revolutions start?

Upcycle and Reuse

6th grade Science Lab with Mrs. Arens

A Midsummer's Night Dream Socratic Seminar in 8th grade

6th grade Science SOLE; What is the relationship between height and gravitational potential energy?

Mrs. Pohl's 4th grade flex at St. Peter learning about German Migration.

Everything is better with help from a friend! Thank you to all our partners.
Together, we are making the world a better place!

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Beginning 2nd Quarter in a Caring, Curious, and Creative Way!

10/21/2017

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Congrats to our PYP Grades 3-5 September Ambassadors who came to school Ready to Learn by being Caring!

Names (nominated by)

Dru Mango (Wells)
Michaela Cheeks (McCafferty)
Brooklyn Marett (McCarthy)
Dionna Daniels (Webb)
Vilne Zulkute (Outrich)
Briana Paradise (Grzelak)
Owen Pennington (Bubbett)
Delaney Starr (Hawley)
Emma Brazalovics (Hawley)
Rafe Gabrovsek (Guardado)
Sonia Juran (Glickman)
Nate Bennett (Kirby)
Adrian Rogers (Nasca)

We are CARING!

New Units of Inquiry

We are CURIOUS!

Kindergarten
Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are
Central Idea: Children learn about themselves and others by sharing and trying new things.

Grade 1
Unit of Inquiry: How We Organize Ourselves
Central Idea: A Community is shaped by its members.

First Grade's Provocation: Students were told to help themselves to popcorn for snack time. Students weren't given any directions as to how much they could take. Some took a little, looking back at friends to see if there would be enough. Others filled their bags up, excited to be able to take what they wanted. The bowl quickly emptied with some not able to have any popcorn. Students then wrote in their journals how this made them feel and what could have been done differently. The goal was to show how people's actions impact a community. After students finished their writing, of course, the first grade teachers brought out more popcorn for all to enjoy!!

Grade 2
Unit of Inquiry: Sharing the Planet
Central Idea: Environments change over time.

Grade 2 researching Ohio Animals

Grade 3
Unit of Inquiry: How the World Works
Central Idea: Matter and energy exist in different forms and interact in various ways.

Grade 4
Unit of Inquiry: Where We Are in Place and Time
Central Idea: Migration may be a response to human. circumstances.

Grade 4 opened up their unit of inquiry with a S.O.L.E question: Why do people migrate?

Ms. Outrich's class reflected on their SOLE presentations as a group. What a great way to practice being reflective!

Grade 5 ended there unit, Who We Are, and began working on unpacking their new unit of inquiry

For their provocation, Grade 5 completed this S.O.L.E. question...

How does where you live influence how you live?

On Monday, we'll find out what their Central Idea is

Grade 6 learning about Geographic Factors in early civilization during
Individuals and Society with Mr. Dudik.

Ms. Thomas' 8th grade Language and Literature class exploring,
A Midsummer's Night Dream
Students at the front are reading the roles of Hermia, Egeus, Lysander, Thesus, and Hippolyta. One of the students said, "Shakespeare is a savage!" We think that is a compliment to Shakespeare:)

We are CREATIVE!

Making aprons for our Teaching Kitchen during 4th grade Flex with Mrs. Pohl

Ms. Dottore and Mrs. Hawley's class made Pumpkin Fluff with their book buddies after reading together.

First Grade enjoying, Kids Love Musicals!

Ms. Bridie is a teaching artist working with Kids Love Musicals. Grade 1 students watched, The Wizard of Oz and then reenacted the musical under Ms. Bridie's direction. They assigned Learner Profile Attributes to the characters in the story during their discussions.
An amazing insight was made by David when he stated that the characters had everything they were searching for, but they needed some help to know it. What a thinker!

Expressing ourselves through art in PYP Grades K-3

Grade 8 enjoying their time with the True2U Program
Goal: Not to laugh.
Eric and Antonio were able to stare at each other without laughing for over 5 minutes.

Our music department had the pleasure of performing all week for various events held during the 61st Annual Fall Conference for the Council of the Great City Schools.

Featured in the picture above is our Chamber Strings playing at The Western Reserve

Our new CIS Woodwind Chamber group performed for the Council of Great City Schools Breakfast

High Steppers clinics and tryouts were held this week. We will find out who made the team on Monday!
We are so proud of all our risk-takers for committing all week, doing their best, and having fun while at it!

Grade 2 enjoyed beautiful weather at the zoo this week!
Here's Mrs. Hill's class having fun with friends!

Mrs. Silberberg took her advisory group to LemonBerry for some team building time. They named themselves the Lemon Ladies and Berry Boys.

Our Young Men's Group spent time at Cleveland State with Dr. Bynum, director of Black Studies and Mr. Pritchett from the Black Studies department.

Thank you to all who supported our book fair!
We love books at CIS and your purchase not only puts books in your child's hands at home, but helps us earn money for library books!

Thank you to the families who came to the high school meeting to hear about IB and College. It was exciting to have Paul Campbell, Head of Regional Development for IB Americas.

Paul Campbell

Click the button above to learn more about Paul Campbell's role in IB and the benefits of IB.

Thank you to the parents who came to Coffee Chat with the Principal

Thank you to the Council of Great City Schools and CMSD for highlighting our school during the conference with a school tour and a panel discussion on IB in an urban district and our partnership with Cleveland State University.

Great job to all the panelists and Moderator, Van Jones for the Townhall Meeting on,
"What Does Equity Really Mean?"

Don't forget to support our October Service Project and donate new socks for the homeless!!!

Boxes are located in the Atrium. Join us for Coffee Monday, October 23rd and bring a pack of socks!

Kindness Matters!

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Listening and Learning from Others

10/14/2017

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This week we listened and learned from others in many different ways. Some learned through activities across grade levels. Some classrooms had guest speakers or attended performances. Many classrooms learned from characters in books. As the quarter ended on Friday, most learned through reflection as they looked at their first quarter of work in preparation for student-led conferences. It's hard to believe that we are in the 2nd quarter of school already. Time is moving fast and we are learning in many ways.

At our K-2 Monday Morning School Meeting, we celebrated September Ambassadors who were selected for being Caring.

They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

For October, we are looking for students who are being Reflective

We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experiences. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and development.

This particular attribute is really at the heart of so much of what we do because it is the way think about ourselves and the world and work to learn from experience. October is the perfect time to focus on this attribute as we prepare for student- led conferences. Although, anytime is a great time to be reflective.

Please encourage and practice this attribute at home. Great moments to be reflective might include: When a discovery is made, when a challenge seems enormous, when you are emotional about an event, when you have accomplished a goal or when you have tried and not quite accomplished a goal. You might ask questions like: Why do you think that happened? What did you do to accomplish that goal? What was the most important thing that happened today? The funniest? The most frustrating? Do you have any unanswered questions? (Be an inquirer too).

Book Character Day for K-5 is Tuesday, October 31st

Instead of celebrating Halloween, we celebrate books! Here are the guidelines:

Choose a character from a book to dress up as who:
1.) Took action to make the world a better place
or
2.) Demonstrated one of the Learner Profile Attributes (list of attributes is on blog)

You must have your book with you on Oct. 31st and be ready to tell your class how your character did one of the above. Some classes may have additional requirements in the form of book reports or written assignments.

No masks, weapons or candy allowed
More information will come home from teachers as to when each class will present, additional requirements, and whether costumes may be worn or brought in.

Here are examples from past Book Character Days

4th Grade enjoyed learning from the Cleveland Museum of Art through their
Art to Go program

Students in 4th grade had the opportunity to study masks used for religion, entertainment and for cultural instruction during a visit from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cultures discussed include Native America, Japan, Indonesia, Africa and Europe. We discussed the form, function and causation of each of the masks studied and found that masks can have more than one function.

4th Grade also enjoyed learning through Traveling Trunks provided by The Western Reserve Historical Society

4th graders reading with kindergartners. Being book buddies is helping some kindergartners figure out what character they want to dress up as for Book Character Day!

4th grade sure learned a lot this week...and helped others learn!

Orchestra students in grades 4-9 learned from The Escher String Quartet from
New York City.
Click the link below to learn more about them or to watch their YouTube video.

Escher Quartet

Ruthanne, a friend of Ms Beers, came to talk to fifth grade about her life and answer questions about having cerebral palsy- a connection to their read aloud, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. They learned how despite having CP, she graduated from college, lives on her own and even went sky diving. The students made connections to the IB Learner Profile and attitudes that she has exemplified throughout her life.

5th Grade also enjoyed learning Capoeira with Ms. Glickman.

Click link to learn more

What is Capoeira?

Mr. Hicks working with his Young Men's Group
Learning how to make responsible choices at school, home, and with friends

Girls Basketball Team learning how to work together to win the game!

MYP Advisory Groups learning from others while preparing a feast in the Teaching Kitchen!

Raimeer celebrating his birthday with smoothies and friends in the kitchen!

This week we listened and learned in many ways. But whether it happened in the classroom, at lunch/recess, while listening to a speaker or performance....or on a play date at the park. The most important thing is that you listened and learned.

To truly make a difference in the world, we must take time to learn about others.
Know-Care-Do
The more you know, the more you care, and want to do!

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Beginning October in a Caring Way!

10/7/2017

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The entrance to the school now has all 6 of our units of inquiry painted on the wall.
Mrs. Guardado's 5th grade class posed for a photo by it.

MYP (6-8) Monday school meeting was tough as we had a moment of silence for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. Our band and orchestra played songs dedicated to the victims and their families. It feels as if every other week we are having to think of how to deal with tough issues taking place in the world with our students. Sometimes the magnitude of it all is so much, that you are at a loss of words. A student said to me afterwards, "Mrs. Bechtel, can you believe what happened?" I stumbled to reply trying to find words as the educator, still so saddened by the news as a mom/wife/sister/daughter/friend . He said, "I know, some people just don't make good choices, I wonder why that guy wanted to hurt people?" I looked down at him and said, "I wonder too."

It's important for our students to see us as humans, dealing with real emotions...knowing that they aren't always easy to process, but we keep attempting to communicate and express ourselves in healthy ways...choosing our words carefully and respectfully. After our music department played for us, I felt proud to be surrounded by such caring students and staff.

Congrats to our MYP Grades 6-8 September Ambassadors who came to school Ready to Learn by being Caring!

Names (nominated by)
Anaya Munro (Arens)
Sidney Richardson (Perry)
Mitchell Bradford (Mishaga)
Sidney Clemon (Weber)
Nathaniel Craun (Dudik)
Mason Dew (Orbash)
Vivian Cox (Thomas)
Cate Hudson (Taylor)
Brendan Quinlan (Grimes)
De’Sean Lewis (O’Rourke)

Congrats to Mr. Levy for winning
The Excellence in Teaching Award!

Excellence in Teaching Website

Our soccer team and girls basketball team celebrated their first win this week!!

Grade 3 began their new unit, How the World Works with a fun provocation led by Mrs. Hochman (PYP IB Coordinator)

Grade 3
How the World Works

Central Idea: Energy and matter exist in different forms and interact in various ways
Key Concepts: Form, Change, Causation

Mrs. Wells' Grade 3 Math Projects

Kindergarten learning through play!

On the Playground

In the Classroom

"Let's Dance 2017"

On Friday, October 6th we held our 3rd Dance-a-Thon to raise money for classroom materials, field trips, and family events sponsored by our PCO (Parent Caring Organization).

To help us get the party started, as they have done each year, The CAVS Scream Team joined us for the kick-off!

We have many fun events at CIS...but the Dance-a-Thon is one of my favorite days of the year! Thank you so much PCO and CAVS Scream Team for the time you put into making this day so memorable...on top of the money that is raised. Thank you to ALL who donated near and far! It's amazing to see all of the love from extended family, friends, and people who support our vision and mission.

Future CAVS manager

Most school spirit!

As of Friday at 4:00pm, this was our total amount raised!!!

Field Trips

4th grade trip to the aquarium

8th grade trip to The Maltz Museum

8th Graders were able to meet Holocaust survivor, Erika Taubner Gold. Our students asked some incredible questions. One student asked, " Do you think something like the Holocaust could happen again?"

Actions that Make the World a Better Place

In advisory, Ms. Orbash's students made cards to send to her friend's classroom in Las Vegas. Amy Langhorst teaches at Spring Valley High School where they had students and teachers with injuries after Sunday.

Ms. Thomas' advisory (Royals) enjoying some team building time by making parfaits together!

Grade 1 students in Mrs. Meaker's room reading their Bucketfiller slips given to them by classmates.

In Mrs. Hill's grade 2 class, Delani's cousin took time out of her day to be a guest reader

Guess what time it is?

Socktober!!!!

We will collect socks all month for the homeless. A box will be placed on each floor for students to turn in their donation of new socks.

For our All School Meeting on October 23rd, students will be able to wear their favorite pair of "Silly Socks" as we celebrate all of the socks donated.

Watch Kid President's video about Socktober.

Campus International Students WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!!

Enjoy your long weekend together. See you all on Tuesday, October 10th!

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Celebrating Partnerships and Commitment!

Beginning 2nd Quarter in a Caring, Curious, and Creative Way!

Listening and Learning from Others

Beginning October in a Caring Way!

Grade 3 began their new unit, How the World Works with a fun provocation led by Mrs. Hochman (PYP IB Coordinator)

Grade 3
How the World Works

Central Idea: Energy and matter exist in different forms and interact in various ways
Key Concepts: Form, Change, Causation

"Let's Dance 2017"

Field Trips

Actions that Make the World a Better Place

Author:
Dora Bechtel

Archives:
http://cissecondgrade.weebly.com/bechtel

Celebrating Partnerships and Commitment!

Beginning 2nd Quarter in a Caring, Curious, and Creative Way!

Listening and Learning from Others

Beginning October in a Caring Way!

Grade 3 began their new unit, How the World Works with a fun provocation led by Mrs. Hochman (PYP IB Coordinator)​Grade 3 How the World Works​Central Idea: Energy and matter exist in different forms and interact in various waysKey Concepts: Form, Change, Causation

"Let's Dance 2017"

Field Trips

Actions that Make the World a Better Place

Author: ​Dora Bechtel

Archives:http://cissecondgrade.weebly.com/bechtel

Grade 3 began their new unit, How the World Works with a fun provocation led by Mrs. Hochman (PYP IB Coordinator)

Grade 3
How the World Works

Central Idea: Energy and matter exist in different forms and interact in various ways
Key Concepts: Form, Change, Causation

Author:
Dora Bechtel

Archives:
http://cissecondgrade.weebly.com/bechtel