Lynx MS News
AIS West - December 2021
Hello AIS West Middle School Community,
Welcome to December! It's hard to believe that we are almost ready for the winter break and the end of Semester 1. Please note that there is no school tomorrow for teacher professional development.
I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for your partnership with us throughout this challenging first semester. I am happy to share with you that negative behaviors seem to be taking a turn for the better. From October to November we had a 22% decrease in unexpected behaviors. We attribute this to our restorative conversations, swift and consistent consequences and your partnership at home. By backing up our policies we are uniting together as we transition out of the pandemic and back to normalcy. Please accept our deepest gratitude. Let's keep this up in December and beyond.
We are wrapping up the term strong with culminating activities (see details for all classes below) and our Arts Week the week of December 12. We will have student performances daily, a Middle School Variety Show and an art exhibition. We will be sharing photos on our Instagram and videos through our YouTube page. See links below.
As you may have heard in the news, the Ministry of Health is now vaccinating children age 12 and up. You can register at the MOH website and get an appointment at Zayed Specialized Hospital very quickly.
We hope to connect with you through our Virtual Parent Coffee Talk next Wednesday morning. If we don't see you in the coming weeks we wish you a safe, relaxing Winter Break.
Your partners in education,
Chelsea Armstrong
Principal
carmstrong@aiswest.com
Mathias Sanders
Assistant Principal
msanders@aiswest.com
Reham Sherif
Administrative Assistant
rsherif@aiswest.com
Important Dates
December 2
Teacher Professional Development Day - No School for Students
December 9
Virtual Parent Coffee Meeting
December 12 - 16
Arts Week!
December 21
Last Day of Term 2/Semester 1
December 22 - January 8
Winter Break
January 9
Term 3/Semester 2 Begins
*Student and Teacher of the Month* Balanced
Student of the Month - Taya Khafagi
Taya was selected by her teachers because she embodies the BALANCED IB Learner Profile Attribute. Taya always knows how to keep a balance between everything she does. She also knows not only to help herself, but others as well.
Teacher of the Month --- Sophie Sewailem
Ms. Sophie is an inspiration to everyone in the middle school. She is victorious in triathlons, an incredible mother and a talented teacher. Congrats to Sophie for keeping her life in balance!!
Secondary School Library News!
Christmas has come early. The Secondary School library book order has arrived! We have almost 1,000 new titles that are being added to our AIS West Secondary School library collection. There are so many interesting books from cookbooks, to Makerspace, to more Harry Potter, travel books and more. The books are being processed and as soon as they are ready, we will share them with you!
What's Happening in Grade 6?
English 6 - Michaela Lucey - mlucey@aiswest.com - Sara Affify - saffify@aiswest.com
We are continuing to work in groups while reading Island Treasures: Growing Up In Cuba. We are also going to be working on writing our first literary essay, which will give us the opportunity to work on how to write clearly, cite evidence from the text, and use peer editing to improve our essays.
Geography 6 - John Lawrence - jlawrence@aiswest.com - Abdelkader Chabi - achabi@aiswest.com
Students are studying the affects of migration and how migration effects society. An interview of someone who has migrated is due. Students also will study spacial inequality in urban areas.
Math 6 - Vince Yung - vyung@aiswest.com - Michael Heard - mheard@aiswest.com
Students will multiply and divide positive and negative numbers. Students will also use the concepts of directed numbers (positive and negative) in real world situations.
Science 6 - Amanda Bailey - abailey@aiswest.com - Amanda Kerschen- akerschen@aiswest.com
We will conclude our unit on plate tectonics. Students will learn how an earthquake is created and research large scale earthquakes that have occured throughout history.
Arabic 6 - Ahmed Khattab - akhattab@aiswest.com - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
اللغة العربية: التعبير الوظيفي – التعبير الإبداعي / درس "إن و أخواتها " نحو – درس أنواع خبر إن - نحو / مراجعة على ما سبق دراسته .
AFL 6 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة (الترويح عن النفس ) النحو ( ضمائر الغائب) تحدث واستماع ( دبدوب وفلفول). الإملاء ( التنوين بالفتح)
French 6 - Edwina Nordquist - enordquist@aiswest.com
Students are preparing their final project presentation using what they have learned so far and new expressions on how to describe their family members.
Spanish 6 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
We will study all Spanish speaking countries, and their culture to make connection with their own culture. And we will learn some phrases commonly used in class.
Drama 6 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
Robotics 6 - Alejandro Corredor - acorredor@aiswest.com
Students will apply all they have learned by creating their own robotic solution to a daily life problem.
Physical Education 6 - Anders Nordquist, Marty Perry, Katrina Wards anordquist@aiswest.com, mperry@aiswest.com kwards@aiswest.com
Students are investigating different strategies in the game of Pickleball. Students are investigating how using different force and direction affect the flight of the ball. Also, how to move the opponent from side to side on the court.
Art 6 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
Students will learn how to make a Alberto Giacometti sculpture by using recycled materials, a tuna can and wire. Students will also use a plaster bandage to cover the sculpture. They will learn about gesture drawing and how to make the figure out of wire and plaster and paint it with acrylics.
Dance 6 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
We are super excited preparing the dance performance for Art/Tech week!
What's Happening in Grade 7?
English 7 - Sara Affify and Amira Nabhan - saffify@aiswest.com, anabhan@aiswest.com
Students will be introduced to different types of poetry such as blackout poetry and Haiku poetry. Students will also write their own poems applying what they have learned.
Math 7 - Michael Heard - mheard@aiswest.com
Students have been extending their understanding of directed numbers into operations with fractions. Students will attempt to apply these concepts to word problems with directed quantities.
Science 7 - Amanda Kerschen & Holly Holst akerschen@aiswest.com, hholst@aiswest.com
History 7 - Abdelkader Chabi and Daniel McCarville - achabi@aiswest.com, dmccarville@aiswest.com
Students will explore the different social classes in Ancient Egypt and will compare these social classes to to the ones existing today.
Spanish 7 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
We will study how to describe oneself and others in Spanish, using gender and number agreement in adjectives.
Arabic 7 - Sahar Mahmoud and Ahmed Khattab - smahmoud@aiswest.com, akhattab@aiswest.com
مراجعة عامة في اللغة العربية والتربية الدينية
Drama 7 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
French 7 -Edwina Nordquist- enordquist@aiswest.com
We will continue to focus on grammar, the different articles, le verbe "avoir" and negation.
AFL 7 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة (أبو قير وأبو صير ) النحو (مراجعة علي الضمائر) تحدث واستماع ( قصة النجار والرسام ) الإملاء ( علامات الترقيم النقطة والفاصلة )
Art 7 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
Students will cast masks using plaster bandages using different shapes. Students will learn about sculpture and how can they sand the sculpture with sand paper and paint with acrylic.
Dance 7 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
We are super excited preparing the dance performance for Art/Tech week
Arabic Social Studies 7 - Mohamed Ahmed - mahmed@aiswest.com
Physical Education 7 - Anders Nordquist - anordquist@aiswest.com
Students are investigating different strategies in the game of Badminton. Students are investigating how using different force and direction affect the flight of the shuttle. Also, how to move the opponent from side to side, forward and back on the court.
What's Happening in Grade 8?
English 8 - Amira Nabhan and Stacy Pape - spape@aiswest.com
Students will explore and dissect argumentative writing in order for them to be able to write a flawless argumentative essay by the end of this unit.
Math 8 - Amira Elsherif & Sophie Sewailem -aelsherif@aiswest.com, ssewailem@aiswest.com
Students have been analysing algebraic equations; and exploring different methods of solving equations to find the value of the unkown.
History 8 - Daniel MacCarville - dmaccarville@aiswest.com - Stacy Pape - spape@aiswest.com
Students in history class are finishing up a project on the Roman Catholic Church in Medieval Europe. Beginning in early December, the students will be learning about the decline of Feudalism, as evidenced by the Magna Carta, the Black Death and the Hundred Years War. An activity comparing historic pandemics of the past with Covid is planned.
Science 8 - Holly Holst and Kimberly Walker -hholst@aiswest.com, kwalker@aiswest.com
Students have mastered information on forces and are ready to conquer energy and how it is transferred, without loss, throughout the world we live in as it has since dinosaurs roamed our earth!
Spanish 8 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
We will review how to talk about family members and do comparisons in the family, like who is the youngest, eldest, tallest, etc.
French 8 - Edwina Nordquist and Iman Elarfaaoui- enordquist@aiswest.com, ielarfaaoui@aiswest.com
We are finishing Chapitre 2 Dans la salle de classe. Students will ask how often they do an activity, how well they do something and ask about preferences.
Coding 8 - Alejandro Corredor - acorredor@aiswest.com
Students will be finalizing their personal project which is to create a program with purpose using conditionals, images, functions and the basic programming structure of Processing.
AFL 8 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة (الكنز قبل ان يضيع) النحو (مراجعة علي الضمائر) تحدث واستماع ( قصة الفأر) الإملاء ( علامات الترقيم النقطتان وعلامة التعجب والاستفهام )
Arabic 8 -Ali Mansour - amansour@aiswest.com
اللغة العربية : الحال والتوكيد التربية الإسلامية : يسر الإسلام في الصلاة وغزوة حنين وحصار الطائف والعباس بن عبد المطلب + مراجعة على ما تم دراسته.
Art 8 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
The students will learn more about how Zentangles are a fun way to increase focus and creativity. Structured patterns are created from a mind that has been freed up from the cares of the world. Students will also learn how they can combine collages and zentangles to make fun and cool designs .
Dance 8 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
We are super excited preparing the dance performance for Art/Tech week
Drama 8 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
Physical Education 8 - Marty Perry, Katrina Wards, and Anders Nordquist mperry@aiswest.com, kwards@aiswest.com, and anordquist@aiswest.com
Students are investigating different strategies in a variety of Net and Wall Games. Students are investigating how using different force and direction when you strike an object help to create open space during gameplay. Also, how to move the opponent side to side, forward and back on the court.
AIS West Middle School
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