Lynx MS News
AIS West - November 2021
Hello AIS West Middle School Community,
Welcome to Term 2! This week starts our longest stretch of learning this school year. We are looking forward to diving deeper into our learning in November. Unexpected behaviors are beginning to subside and teachers are finding a rhythm to their instruction.
We want to personally thank you for your support and partnership as we have tackled the challenges that came with returning to school this fall. We will continue to reach out to parents on this journey. It truly takes a village! See the Important Dates section below for various workshops we have scheduled this month.
Please note that we have made a change to our tardy policy. Beginning November 7, we will no longer issue lunch detention for tardies. Instead, we will hold after school detention from 3:00 - 3:45 on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in Room 234. The reason for this shift is to give all students a much needed mental break and fresh air in the middle of the school day. Thank you to all parents who shared their feedback on this topic.
Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on November 11 through Zoom. You will be able to sign ups for conferences beginning November 8. Watch your inbox for more details coming soon.
The Middle School will be focusing on giving back to our community in the month of November. House teams are competing to see who can donate the most winter clothes and blankets to our needy neighbors in Sheikh Zayed and 6th of October City.
**We are in the process of updating students’ parent contact information and would ask that if you have changed phone numbers or email addresses to please contact the school offices to update it. Also, we need to get copies of parent IDs for the student files. Please see the link below for further information. The link goes to the main campus website but applies to us as well.
https://www.aisegypt.com/community/reopening-2021-22/annual-compliance-update
As always, our doors, Zoom screens and email inboxes are welcome to you. Please reach out at anytime with questions, concerns and feedback.
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
November 4
Grades 7 and 8 Parent Meeting on Zoom at 10:00.
November 7
After School Tutoring Begins
November 8
PowerSchool reopens to parents and students to view Report Cards and sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences.
November 10
Grade 6 Parent Workshop -- How To Read a Standards Based Report Card - Zoom at 10:00
November 11
Parent Teacher Conferences on Zoom - No Classes for Students
November 16
Parent Workshop -- How to Read Your Child's MAP Report - Zoom at 10:00
November 17
Steven Ritz of The Bronx Green Machine at AIS West!
November 22
Photo Day is Back! Grade 8 Group Photos, Grade 7 Individual Photos, Make Up Photos
November 24
House Carnival -- Tentative
November 25
Thanksgiving - No School
*Student and Teacher of the Month* Principled
Student of the Month - Abdelrahman Fouda
Abdelrahman was selected by his teachers because he embodies the PRINCIPLED IB Learner Profile Attribute. Abdelrahman is respectful to all teachers, staff and students. Abdelrahman has integrity, honesty and does the right thing when no one is watching. Congratulations, Abdelrahman!
Teacher of the Month --- Daniel McCarville
Mr. Daniel was selected as our Teacher of the Month because he is a truly PRINCIPLED teacher. Daniel is a deep thinker who works daily to do the right thing. Daniel is fair, honest and has a strong moral compass. We are so lucky to have Daniel in the Middle School. Congratulations!
Secondary School Library News!
This month we are hopeful to get our Secondary School library book order. We are thrilled and excited to share with you very soon alsmot a 1,000 new books added to our collection. Get ready for notices for when we will have a book reveal party.
Counselor's Corner - Angela Fushtey - afushtey@aiswest.com
A fresh new term is starting and it is time to check in on how we are all doing emotionally and academically. We are working on creating a sense of community this month in order to promote a happy learning environment. We will also be checking on those who are academically struggling and offering support.
What's Happening in Grade 6?
English 6 - Michaela Lucey - mlucey@aiswest.com - Sara Affify - saffify@aiswest.com
We are finishing up our introduction to literary elements and getting ready to start our first book, Island Treasures. We will get ready to read the memoir about a girl growing up outside of Havana by building our background knowledge of life in Cuba and learning about the characteristics of a memoir.
Geography 6 - John Lawrence - jlawrence@aiswest.com - Abdelkader Chabi - achabi@aiswest.com
Students will begin exploring National Parks. The essential question is "What features make national parks special and worth preserving". Students will map directions using topograhic maps.
Math 6 - Vince Yung - vyung@aiswest.com - Michael Heard - mheard@aiswest.com
Students will finish studying fractions with an assessment of division of fractions and mixed numbers and real world problems with fractions. We will also start with directed numbers in real world situations and on grids and graphs.
Science 6 - Amanda Bailey - abailey@aiswest.com - Amanda Kerschen- akerschen@aiswest.com
This month we will conclude our unit on physical science with a lab activity that investigates energy transformations. We will then begin learning about the processes of Earth, starting with continential drift, seafloor spreading, and plate tectonics!
Arabic 6 - Ahmed Khattab - akhattab@aiswest.com - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
اللغة العربية: درس درس "الطماع و الدجاجة " نصوص. / درس "إن و أخواتها " نحو. / الفصل الثاني "عزة نفس وطموح مبكر" - قصة علي مبارك.
AFL 6 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة (شرم الشيخ مدينة السلام) النحو ( ضمائر المتكلم) تحدث واستماع ( الأرنب والسلحفاة). الإملاء ( مد بالألف والواو والياء)
French 6 - Edwina Nordquist - enordquist@aiswest.com
In French 6, we will learn how to express needs and talk about likes and dislikes.
Spanish 6 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
We will discuss the Day of the Dead celebration, and we will learn how to greet and say goodbye in Spanish.
Drama 6 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
In Drama, students will be participating in a range of creative activities and Drama skits, such as “Is it time?”, “Synchronized Swimming” and “The Bubble Head Dance”; little productions for Fine Arts Week.
Robotics 6 - Alejandro Corredor - acorredor@aiswest.com
We have started the second part of the course and students have been learning how to build and program the EV3 Robots. During this month they are going to learn how to optimize them using gears and cogs.
Physical Education 6 - Marty Perry, Katrina Wards, and Ron Thomson mperry@aiswest.com kwards@aiswest.com, and rthomson@aiswest.com
This month in Middle School Physical Education we will be focussing on Concepts and Tactics in Net Wall Games whilst building positive personal and social behaviour.
Art 6 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
The students will learn about the street art, graffiti, and will study the most common graffiti artists in the world. Students will learn to design their own graffiti with acrylic painting.
Dance 6 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
Students are learning about Hip Hop Culture and will study basic Hip Hop Dance combinations.
Band 6 - Patricia Granter - pgranter@aiswest.com
This group of students is doing very well. They are right on track to be ready to perform in December.
What's Happening in Grade 7?
English 7 - Sara Affify and Amira Nabhan - saffify@aiswest.com, anabhan@aiswest.com
We will read our first novel; Kwame Alexander's Booked, and work on poetic form and annotation skills. Students will continue to hone their grammatical skills.
Math 7 - Michael Heard - mheard@aiswest.com
Students are learning to operate with directed (positive and negative) numbers. Students will make connections between negative numbers and measures encountered in our everyday world.
Science 7 - Amanda Kerschen & Holly Holst akerschen@aiswest.com, hholst@aiswest.com
This month we will be starting Unit 3 about the process that shape the Earth. This unit has a few really fun (and yummy!) activities.
History 7 - Abdelkader Chabi and Daniel McCarville - achabi@aiswest.com, dmccarville@aiswest.com
Students will start learning about Ancient Egyptian monuments. By the end of the unit, students will create a tour of Egypt which will be shared with a group of students in the United States.
Arabic 7 - Sahar Mahmoud and Ahmed Khattab - smahmoud@aiswest.com, akhattab@aiswest.com
قواعد:الفعل الصحيح والفعل المعتل/ نص فضل العلم والعمل /كتابة مقال عن فضل العلم والعمل/إملاء سبيل النجاح/ استماع: فضل العلم
Drama 7 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
In Drama, students will be participating in a range of creative activities and Drama skits, such as “Is it time?”, “Synchronized Swimming” and “The Bubble Head Dance”; little productions for Fine Arts Week.
French 7 -Edwina Nordquist- enordquist@aiswest.com
We will continue to learn the introduction of French grammar and learn how to use classroom directions.
Spanish 7 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
We will learn to use the verb SER and adjectives to describe people.
AFL 7 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة ( أبو قير وأبو صير ) النحو (ضمائر الغائب ) تحدث واستماع ( قصة الشجرة) الإملاء ( علامات الترقيم )
Art 7 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
Art students will create representational acrylic portraits inspired by Roy Lintenstien. In this process students will learn facial proportion and create their own pop portrait. Students will also start to learn more about acrylic paint.
Dance 7 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
Students are working hard to prepare a dance for the Arts Week in December .
Beginning Band 7/8 - Patricia Granter - pgranter@aiswest.com
Students in this class are doing very well. They have been practicing hard and preparing for their first performance during arts week in December.
Physical Education 7 - Anders Nordquist - anordquist@aiswest.com
This month in Middle School Physical Education we will be focusing on Concepts and Tactics in Net Wall Games whilst building positive personal and social behavior.
Video Game Design 7 - Alejandro Corredor - acorredor@aiswest.com
Students learned how to code video games in Arcade Makecode engine. During this month they will learn how to design levels and develop a three levels carboard maze in the makerspace.
What's Happening in Grade 8?
English 8 - Amira Nabhan and Stacy Pape - spape@aiswest.com
Students will start reading their first novel of the year, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. They will analyze the story while looking for clues to solve the mystery of the murders. Students are putting together their first literary journal based on their creative writing assignments.
Math 8 - Amira Elsherif & Sophie Sewailem -aelsherif@aiswest.com, ssewailem@aiswest.com
In November, students are learning how to use the distributive law to expand expressions, and how to use the inverse operations to solve linear equations.
History 8 - Daniel MacCarville - dmaccarville@aiswest.com - Stacy Pape - spape@aiswest.com
Students in History 8 have been studying the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, including doing a project on a specific Roman Emperor. Next up the students will be learning about the aftermath of the Roman Empire, the development of the Feudal Age, and the continued rise of Christianity, and the increasing power of the Catholic Church.
Science 8 - Holly Holst and Kimberly Walker -hholst@aiswest.com, kwalker@aiswest.com
8th grade scientists are using their knowledge obtained during the Motion unit to explore Forces! We're modeling forces in free body diagrams, calculating force when given mass & acceleration, and applying Newton's laws to real-world scenarios of physics.
Spanish 8 - Dolores Rodriguez - drodriguez@aiswest.com
French 8 - Edwina Nordquist and Iman Elarfaoui- enordquist@aiswest.com, ielarfaoui@aiswest.com
We will learn about accents and graphic signs and the different French articles. In géoculture, we will explore the South of France.
Coding 8 - Alejandro Corredor - acorredor@aiswest.com
Students learned how to create buttons and use the keyboard to create interactive apps. During this month they will explore how to use functions as a way to summarize and reuse code.
AFL 8 - Mohamed Hassan - mhassan@aiswest.com
القراءة (الكنز قبل ان يضيع) النحو (حروف العطف) تحدث واستماع ( قصة القنفذ) الإملاء ( علامات الترقيم )
Arabic 8 -Ali Mansour - amansour@aiswest.com
اللغة العربية: (نص في حب مصر) - (منتصر ومجاهد) - (العطف - النعت "قواعد") التربية الإسلامية (درس ثمرة عبادة الله - يسر الإسلام في الطهارة والصلاة)
Art 8 - Mai Hedieb - mhedieb@aiswest.com
Student will learn about monochromatic color and also the differences between tone, shade and tint. Students will learn about value and color scheme in painting. They will use the grid drawing method in their assignment.
Dance 8 - Lina Rodriguez - lrodriguez@aiswest.com
Students are working hard in preparation for Arts Week.
Drama 8 - Ilonka Meier - imeier@aiswest.com
In Drama, students will be working on scripts, skits and puppet theatre plays for Fine Arts Week. These projects are students led.
Physical Education 8 - Marty Perry, Katrina Wards, and Anders Nordquist mperry@aiswest.com, kwards@aiswest.com, and anordquist@aiswest.com
This month in Middle School Physical Education we will be focusing on Concepts and Tactics in Net Wall Games whilst building positive personal and social behavior.
Band 7/8 - Patricia Granter - pgranter@aiswest.com
Beginning Band: This class is doing very well. We are right on track for our first concert in December
Intermediate Band: All parents are asked to help your son/daughter set up a regular practice time. Minimum practice is 30 minutes three times per week. Many band members in this group are falling behind due to lack of practice. We are working towards a performance in late November.
AIS West Middle School
Follow us on Instagram @aise_west_middleschool
Counselor's Corner - Angela Fushtey - afushtey@aiswest.com
A fresh new term is starting and it is time to check in on how we are all doing emotionally and academically. We are working on creating a sense of community this month in order to promote a happy learning environment. We will also be checking on those who are academically struggling and offering support.
