1. education
2. school

Dear Parents and Friends of the Albanian International School, welcome
to our March Newsletter! We’ve an active month teaching your children
and hope the following news and photos brighten your day!
An Introduction from the New Head Teacher
I wish to express my appreciation and patience in this transition of
moving towards a new and exciting period in the growth of AIS.
My name is Ms. Michel Demyen, the new Head Teacher/Director for AIS.
I have been teaching since 2001 and have taught in 8 countries and five International Schools
as well as Colleges and ESL Language Schools.
I am a certified Teacher Trainer and hold a Director of Studies Certification. I am currently
pursuing a Masters of Education in Adult Education. As a teacher trainer I supervised, mentored
or conducted workshops for up to 100 teachers in Malaysia, Albania, Kazakhstan and Canada
in a variety of academic settings on resource management and development, lesson planning,
as well as provided professional development workshops on teaching methods and techniques
in the classroom. I have written and published articles in social sciences and education, in
particularly the area of Eclectic Pedagogy.
As a teacher trainer I also l took the lead in the development and maintenance of a
positive coordinated educational program designed to meet the needs of all children and
the multilayered classroom of learning styles in developing differentiated lesson plans and
assessments. I guided teachers through the development, implementation, and evaluation
of curriculum and instruction, as well as assessment. As a result of my experiences I have
created a 30 hour professional development workshop for both native and non-native
speakers, with emphasizes on Teacher Knowledge Testing (TKT), as well as TEFL and IELTS
combined to improve Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
For 2015 academic year, AIS will be moving forward in its accreditation process and
developing a curriculum which will adhere to recognized standards in the Cambridge
Curriculum and across prestigious International schools. Due to the small classroom
sizes, the student-teacher ratio at AIS supports the endeavours of an elite, preparatory
international school, where students will be separated according to grade level. All staff will
become International Baccalaureate (IB) certified beginning in September 2015 in order to
start the process of meeting the requirements for IB Accreditation. We will be developing
changes in the timetable and schedule for the new academic year, which will be available in
June 2015.
I look forward to working with the staff and administration of AIS in implementing their
vision of the future of AIS.
Sincerely,
Ms. Michel Demyen
ESL After School Program
The ESL program is taking off! We currently have about fifteen students in the younger levels, and the adult
classes also have about fifteen. If any of you would like to participate, those with children in the program,
you may come for free. AIS children receive a significant discount. We believe even though your child may
have a considerable level of English, it could still benefit them to participate in our English as a Second
Language Course.
Scholastic Book Club
Once again our new Scholastic Catalogs are here! We sent a
catalog home with each student on March 26. Please take a look and order some books and workbooks,
which you and your child can share throughout the summer months. Reading and working through the
summer ensures that your child does not lose any information learned during the year. All orders are due
just after Spring Break, April 16th, 2015.
by Ms Barbara
Students of Month: Amla & Matia! Both of them have progressed more than we expected this year! They
both are model students, cheerful, helpful and kind to all of their friends in Preschool.
We added another subject to our school times: Health! We learned about
how our body works by reading : “My Busy Body” several times a week.
Matia
I bought 2 sets of new medical equipment for the kids to learn about and
play with. We added a box of surgical gloves for them to use when they
play veterinarian “animal” doctor. All of our stuffy animals are in good
health with our veterinarian doctors!
We would like to give a big “Thank You” to
Amla’s parents for donating a large screen
TV/Monitor to our classroom! The kids love
it and it makes it easier for them to see the
documentaries and learning games that we play
for them.
Mishel, Stefan, Rrona, Ben & Luke
I printed up this month the 3 meter by 2 meter
Universe Map and accompanying celestial
space objects for a new astronomy class we are
starting. Last week was the first lesson about
the sun and the eclipse.
Amla
Ms Ellen
Miss Korina is our student of the month. She has consistently provided the
entire class with model behavior. She is positive and helpful to her fellow
classmates. Her amazing comprehension skills allow her to recite poems,
and retell information to students about science. Most of all, her creative
imagination has given us fun and interesting interpretations of stories and
poems. Congratulations Korina in being the Student of the Month.
It is with excitement that I would like to announce that our Kindergarteners have completed the Story
and Poetry parts of our Curriculum. We have traveled the world, fought off Kings, been scared by spiders,
and wished the rain away. Some stories were funny, and some were sad, however many had lessons to
be learned about characters of people and things. I would like to congratulate the entire class on this
achieving our goal early. Now we will be moving onto numbers, mathematics, geometry and problem
solving. Homework packets will be sent home weekly and the expectation is for it to be completed by the
date indicated on the packet. Our current unit of language arts has been introducing reading into our daily
routine. The following unit focuses on the individual students working on developing their reading skills.
The remaining units will be focused on reading and comprehension. This should be an exciting time for all
of us, as we will see the hard work of the year coming together as a comprehensive.
Mr Scott Grades 1 & 2
This month we are focusing hard on reading fluency and verb tenses. The students are all
doing really well with standard words in past and present tense, and we are working on the
tricky words. This is a challenge especially with ESL.
In our computer class we have been learning how to use the Microsoft Paint program. Each
of the students has created specific scenes with required elements. So far they have done a
lake with a boat and fish, a beach, a forest with a campsite, a house, a castle with a dragon
and a few other free choice projects. They’ve been having fun and learning to use a valuable
program that they can use for other school projects in the future.
In math the kids have really been picking up the pace. All of the first graders are doing a
good job with learning their addition facts and understanding the concepts of “some more”
and “some went away”. The older kids are working at their individual paces and are making
good progress in their text books. Let’s keep up on that homework, and make sure that our
kids are doing the work themselves.
A fluency test was given at the beginning of the week and I am proud to announce that
every one of our 1st and 2nd grade students is reading in a range appropriate to their grade
level. This has been a big accomplishment for the year!
Grade 3-4 News By Ms. Juliana Berisha
During the month of March, the Grade Four students have been busy, between all the subjects, library
books, extra activities and rehearsals for the beautiful “Season of Giants” celebrations. At the beginning of
the month, they memorized and recited in class some beautiful poems, expressing love and appreciation
for mothers and grandmothers on International Women’s Day. They also participated at the Science Fair
with experiments such as, the naked egg, the floating egg, and optical illusions. Overall, they have been
great and have been trying to do their best in all the subjects.
In Math we reached lesson 97 out of a total of 120 lessons in the Saxon Math 4 textbook. We introduced
a new concept for each lesson almost every day, and had a review, when they needed more time to
understand a new concept. For each lesson, we went over activities and lesson practice. Understanding
how fractions, decimals, and percents are related are a very difficult concepts for 4th Grade, but we’ve been
trying to develop a conceptual understanding, and doing so, they’ve made some good progress. The home
work for each lesson includes different problems from all the lessons, from multiplications with two or
more digits, divisions with remainders, one step problems, fraction problems, etc. In the last lesson they
learned about classifying quadrilaterals and their properties. But don’t forget; please continue to supervise
their nightly math homework. Thank you!
In Science we’re almost at the end of Unit 4 & about to start Unit 5. This Unit was about some very
interesting topics, such as different environments & ecosystems, populations, habitats, different & unique
niches each animal has, producers and consumers, food chain & food webs. For the last one they also did
a project in class, consisting in constructing a food web that shows the relation between different food
chains. We also watched extra digital lessons online as well, so they can understand better each topic. The
last lesson was about natural resources and green energy. We’ve made discussions about how everyone
can help conserve nonrenewable resources to make Earth a safer and secure place to live for us and our
future generations.
In History we finished Exploration of North America from which they learned the history of North America
and how it was discovered by early European explorers. By now, they should know some important
facts and the main events of their life, from Columbus to Champlain. One activity they liked the most
was the individual project about one of the explorers which they chosen by themselves. The project
consisted in several pages, which included portraits, pictures and information about their voyages, what
they discovered and the colonies they settled. Can’t wait until the day of presentation! Next month we’ll
continue with the next content of the History & Geography book The Thirteen Colonies.
Ms Keli & 4th Grade enjoy the library
In English and Language Arts they’ve been
working on the 4th grade Grammar book and
been practicing cursive hand writing. We
finished Age of Exploration Unit 9 Reader. For
each new chapter they also wrote the summary
and new words in order to learn, practice
and improve their English. We also continued
with the reading comprehension pages and
spelling tests. In the Treasure Island book they
reached chapter thirteen and the story keeps
getting more interesting, as the voyage and the
adventures to find the Treasure Island goes on.
Grades 5 & 6
by Ms Louise
Once again Grades 5 and 6 have come on leaps and bounds during March. We have
dedicated lots of time to practicing our examination technique’s, we have also nearly
finished reading and analyzing Bridge to Terabithia, which both the children & I have enjoyed reading.
Once we have finished the book the children will have finished the novels & stories part of the curriculum
and we will move on to poetry & plays here the children will be studying Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,
sonnets & Carol Ann Duffy. In general the children’s vocabulary is improving and their writing style is
maturing due to developing their essay writing skills.
In History and Geography we are coming to the end of studying The Reformation. The students have really
enjoyed learning about Henry VIII and his time as King of England. For the last week of March they are
creating a project on a person or theme from the scientific revolution this will be used to determine part of
their final grade in History at the end of the year. In April we will be moving on to study England during the
Golden Age and Queen Elizabeth I which will also tie in to our study of Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre.
In Science we are learning about Fossils and how they are formed & used in today’s society e.g. crude oil.
We will be doing one focus lesson on the environment and changes that have occurred over time due to
the use of natural resources. The children have particularly enjoyed learning about dinosaurs and their time
on our planet, our next science topic is Oceans.
In writing and Grammar we have been focusing on prepositions, passive forms and extending our
vocabulary via synonyms. They have been incorporating their new knowledge into their essay writing and
this has lead to significant improvement over the course of the month.
Overall Grade 5 and 6 are doing extremely well and they are all a joy and a pleasure to teach.
Volcano demonstration
The Egg
Ms Ida Metaj
Preschool This third term we will start doing more paintings and drawings. We will start with Prints: How
to create Prints! The printing technique is used to create newsprint, books, posters etc, but we will use it
to create a masterpiece. Usually for this technique we use metal plate but as the artist that we are, we’re
going to make it more creative using potatoes stamps, stones, sponges, etc.
Kindergarten Looking and talking about works of art. After children have been introduced to some
elements of art and a range of artworks, now it’s time to analyze them and express their opinions. What’s
their first impression, what they notice first and how do they feel, observe and talk about: Children’s
games – Pieter Bruegel, -
The banjo lesson – Henry O. Tanner and at the end they will start to create
their own paintings of a playground.
1-2 Grade Hands on texture : Baskets, table cloths, ribbons, picture frames, all made by different media.
Sometimes artists might incorporate real objects into collages, such as pasting fabric, sandpaper, beads
and other items on to the surface. So let’s be like the big artists!
3-4 Grade This term we will do some steps back: We will be exploring the Ancient Rome and Byzantine
civilizations. - Le Pont –Du-Gard Aqueduct - France , The Pantheon – Rome , Byzantine mosaics , and
the Hagia Sophia - Istanbul. We will learn what is an aqueduct, how are they built. What are the arches,
keystone, lintel, and masonry. At the end they will choose their favorite genre and do their own ancient
masterpiece.
5-6 Grade Neoclassic Art, Romantic Art and a very big surprise to finish this term.
Physical Education (P.E.)
During this month I completed my scheduled programs for the 4th, 5th and 6th Grades.
They have all taken the fitness test, which included: PACER run, Push Ups, Sit Ups, Trunk Lift,
ant two flexibility measures; sit and reach for the legs and lower back, and shoulder stretches. The 2nd graders also took the test to show them what is coming. At the elementary level
(Kindergarten & 1st Grade) the students are exposed to experiences that encourage them
to enjoy more physical activity. Students were given the opportunity to develop basic skills,
including teamwork, problem solving, leadership and communication.
Girl’s P.E. Class
Newsletter for 1st and 2nd and 4th Grade for Albanian Language.
Klasa e parë ka arritje shumë të kënaqshme.Ata realizojnë në mënyrë të pavarur detyrat dhe
lexojnë e ndërtojnë fjali me fjalë të shpërndara.Arritje të shkëlqyera ka Emi dhe Sindi.Në
klasën e dytë kanë arritje të kënaqshme në përvetësimin e programit.Ata lexojnë me intonacionin e duhur dhe zberthejnë kuptimin e pjesëve me anë të pyetjeve.Klasa e katërt ka përvetësuar shumë mirë programin e zhvilluar.Ata tregojnë brëndësinë e pjesës sipas pikave të
planit.Gjithashtu, ata arrijnë të dallojnë grupin e kryefjalës dhe grupin e kallëzuesit në fjali.
Newsletter for 5th and 6th Grade for Albanian Language.
Gjatë kësaj periudhe nxënësit e kësaj klase kanë patur një përparim shumë të mirë, si në
gjuhë, ashtu edhe në lexim.Kanë marrë pjesë aktive në gjitha projektet që janë zhvilluar
me temë: “Përshkrimi i Kalasë së Tiranës”,”Fjalët dialektore të rrethit të Tiranës”,etj.Këto
projekte kanë pasur si qëllim njohjen e nxënësve me objektet historike të qytetit të tyre
dhe rritjen e dashurisë së tyre për të.Në programin mësimor janë njohur me shkrime të
autorëve shqiptarë dhe të huaj si Dritëro Agolli, Xhevat Beqaraj dhe përralla nga vënde të
ndryshme të botës si “Mulliri i pallatit mbretëror të Prusisë”, Përralla të Andersenit “Mbi
sipërfaqen e detit”, me mitet, etj.Në gjuhë kanë marrë njohuri nga sintaksa, kryefjala, përcaktori, kundrinori,etj.
We would like to take a bit of your time to give a big APPRECIATION to Vera the school’s
faithful chef! She makes yummy snacks, healthy meals, fruit plates, for our hungry students!
She also helps with the littlest students of the school: the Preschoolers. This month she
baked at banquet of cakes and pies for our first Open House of 2015! THANK YOU VERA!!