Welcome back from a well-deserved break!

There is a great deal to get caught up on since before the spring break!

Before the break, we said goodbye to Anita. She and her family are back in Italy, closer to family. Their MKIS family will certainly miss them, and many friends will treasure Anita’s time here at MKIS, but we wish them all the best of luck back in Europe!

Most recently, I want to say what a great performance by several students in 4B and throughout the elementary school over the weekend. Their hard efforts were clearly displayed in the “Pirates” performance. Mikael, Victoria and Maia sang and danced to several tunes, while Florencia was busy helping with costumes behind the scenes. Several classmates and friends showed their support in the audience, and were impressed by such a wonderful show! Great work, Pirates!

In March, we ended our Ancient China Unit. Our grande finale was a museum where students displayed their hard work. Other grade 4 classes and our Grade 2 buddies were invited in to have a look at the display. We also invited in Mrs. Chisholm, Mr. French, and Mr. Lindop, to see our efforts. Earlier in March, Mr. Lindop was a special guest speaker. Mr. Lindop (Maia's father) teaches IB History at MKIS and was very excited for the opportunity to come in and share some fascinating information about Ancient China, and some of the more famous individuals from China's past, such as Emperor Q'in, Confucius, and the only Empress of China, Empress Wu. Students learned a lot from his visit, and were even more motivated to learn about the fascinating history of China. The museum was a success, and a great way to showcase the students' hard efforts and accomplishments. Students also created videos explaining their projects. You can see the 4B videos by following the link here. Mikael and Liam also worked hard on an extension project, compiling a lot of the information they learned on Ancient China. You can see the final product here. All students did a great job sharing what they learned with our guests, both orally, and in their writing and visual display.

On March 14th, (3.14), we celebrated "Pi Day." Pi (3.14) is a mathematical number that represents the relationship between the circumference and the diameter of a circle. As a celebration, students explored this mysterious number by measuring circular objects of various sizes a, regardless of their size. As a special treat, they got to measure some pizza pie and reward themselves with a slice after all of their hard calculations!

We have been studying electricity as a class. Students have been having a great time learning about circuits and magnetism, as they get to manipulate magnets, wires, batteries and lightbulbs to create various circuits and see how they all work together. WIth these materials, there have also been able to see why circuits sometimes stop working, and to explore the properties of conductors and insulators, and the importance of each.

Fame Jr. was a smash hit, performed in March by MKIS students from grade 4, all the way up to High School. Both Marina and Kiara had been rehearsing for many hours each week in preparation for this performance, and their hard work paid off. The performance was a spectacular display of hard work, energy and natural talent by all involved. All students involved should be proud of their success!

Fourth grade was also invited to the Grade 7 Medieval Fair. The MS students shared their knowledge with the Grade 4 students through games, displays, trivia stations and various other interactive stations. It was certainly a great experience for both grades!

MAPS testing will begin on Monday, April 14th. Please remind your child to go to bed early on Sunday evening, and to start their day Monday morning with a great breakfast. This test is not meant to be high pressure or stressful, but by the nature of a standardized tests, students will most likely be feeling the pressure and apprehension related to it all. Please help them come to school calm and mentally prepared. 

***Overnight Trip to Roots (Ipoh): April 24th-25th
This trip is fast approaching! Updates and contact numbers will be posted on Aspen several times a day. Simply log onto Aspen using your username and password to see these updates.  Please test that you can log onto Aspen before the trip so that you will receive these updates.

**You can always go to our 4B Photos page to see more photos from events in our class and around MKIS