International School Neustadt (Weinstraße)

Fastest Car of the World

2009-05-14T15:12:00.002+02:00

The Shelby supercar is the fastest known car in the world. The Shelby supercar is an American automobile manufactured near Washington and was founded in 1999 by the owner Jerold Shelby. They build the SSC Aero which has 1400hp which makes it the fastest production car in the world beating the Bugatti Veyron with 1001hp. The Car is also standing in the Guinness book of world records at 439km.
wikipedia.org

Ripstik & Wave board history

2009-05-14T15:00:00.002+02:00

26/2/2009
You may believe the Wave board is the original, but it was actually just the first brand that sold in the US. The original inventor of this two-wheeled skateboard was a Korean man who sold it in Korea by another name. Two American asked for the rights of the board and offered to pay money in order to build and sell it. The men however only paid the inventor 10% of what they promised, so the inventor took the idea to the Razor scooter company where they named the board the Ripstik.
source: wikipedia,me

Blackjack

2009-05-06T09:06:00.002+02:00

The history of Blackjack is unclear. Some people believe that Blackjack started in French casinos in the early 1700s where it was known as "vingt-et-un" The game became known as Blackjack because if a player held a Jack of Spades and an Ace of Spades as the 1st two cards, the player was the winner. So the Jack was the most important card and Spades are black, the game was called “Blackjack”. The goal of the game is to get a higher number than the other players, but the tricky thing is that you are not allowed to get more than 21 points. At the beginning you get 2 cards. But you can get more cards but you have to pay with chips one chip for a open card (not so good because every body can see what you got) or 2 chips for a closed card ( so only you can see). You can put money in the pot so at the end more money is in the “bank”.

Basketball

2009-05-06T09:03:00.008+02:00

Passing, dunking, dribbling, blocking, shooting, rebounding, positioning and also fouling is part of the game we all love named basketball?

Basketball was founded in early December 1891 in Springfield Massachusetts by a Physical Education teacher from Canada, named Dr. James Naismith. He came from McGill University in Montréal. He was an instructor at the YMC Training School, now named Springfield College. To keep his students occupied, and on a high standard of fitness level through the long New England winter, he imagined this new game that we call basketball. After rejecting most of his ideas he wrote down the basic rules and nailed a peach basket over the door of the gym at 3.05m high. Today the official height of the basket is still 3.05 meters, but the rules take up over 10 pages today. The main aim of this game is to invade the opposing side and score by shooting the ball into the basket. The professional NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Parker, etc… and until 2002, the all-star Michael Jordan earn millions and millions in one season of basketball!
I really like the game because it combines running, throwing, jumping and many more kinds of activities I like!!

Swine flu

2009-05-06T09:01:00.005+02:00

Swine flu, also known as Mexico flu, has spread over the whole world mostly by passengers of airplanes leaving Mexico City. The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the alert level to 5, the second highest. Some countries have already started to distribute their emergency medical reserves. There are over ten countries affected by swine flu already:

Countries hit:
• Australia
• Austria
• Canada
• China
• Costa Rica
• Germany
• India
• Mexico
• USA
• United Kingdom
• Spain
• Israel
• New Zealand
• Russia

The first case of Mexico flu that affected human population was in 1938. The symptoms that occur when you are hit are: fever, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhoea , lack of appetite, vomiting and coughing. There is no vaccine against it but you can try to prevent it by washing your hands often, avoid big events, avoid staying in small rooms with many people and stop kissing. When you get infected you can fight the flu with medications like Tamiflu, an antibiotic that you normally take when you get common flu.
Everyday there are more people infected with the virus and in Mexico more then 100 people have already died. In Mexico, where the Flu originated, all the schools are now closed, no one is on the streets anymore and when people wear masks in front of their mouths and noses they cannot breathe in the virus. People all over the world are scared of a global epidemic.

wikipedia.org

Rugby

2009-05-06T08:54:00.003+02:00

Rugby started in the year 1823 when the football player William Webb Ellis took the ball and ran with it into the goal. Although some people are not sure if the story is true, it is said to be the beginning of rugby and the trophy of the world championship is named after William Webb Ellis. In modern rugby, two teams with 15players on each side try to get more points than the opponents. Therefore they have to bring the ball behind the touch-line.
At the beginning they had no kits that protected them. Later the game got faster and more violent and the kits became more protective. But the rules haven´t changed that much.
The best national rugby team at the moment is from New Zealand. The best team in New Zealand is the All Blacks, and for the kiwi people they are the most popular team.

Swine flu: A new and even more dangerous virus

2009-05-06T00:22:00.007+02:00

Swine flu is the next big virus after chicken flu. It is equally dangerous, but harder to heal. It is newer, so at the moment, there are just two medicines for it. This new epidemic has already infected over 1000 people and killed about 65. It is very strong and spreads very fast. In the next few weeks it could be able to infect over 3000 people. This epidemic is the new no 1 world epidemic.
People handle it in many different ways: In some countries, the government gives out protectors ( facemasks)that the virus can’t spread out. In Mexico-city, all schools, kindergartens and universities are closed. Some people are even so scared, that they don’t leave their houses.
This epidemic also brings many costs with it. Who suffer the most, are tourist companies: they have to cancel every flight to or from Mexico-city. The only people who can really take advantage, are the pharmacy companies: they sell 5 times more medicine than normal.
The airports also have to prepare for the virus: The pilots and stewardesses need to look at every person for symptoms of swine flu: flying is a big problem: by flying a sickness can spread twice as fast as normal.
The two medicines we have for it are very expensive and don’t work so well. This makes the healing so hard.
It really is a bad sickness, but we will survive it!

The IB - Special

2009-05-05T06:36:00.004+02:00

The IB offers all three stages of education – Primary years, Middle years and Diploma years. They are very famous for their pre-university diploma.
IB-schools have very high standards:

They have been providing high-quality education for over 35 years: their curriculum is set from the world’s leading universities.
They try to encourage the students to be independent and global thinkers. They have to be able to work with others and still be independent.
They try to make the students think well about school. The students should feel at home in school. Therefore they try to create a nice learning environment.

This program is accessible in almost the whole world. There are IB – world schools 134 countries. Not all of these schools are private schools: over 50% of the students are in state funded schools. With this worldwide network, the IB is the biggest school-network in world.

What is swine flu and what should I do?

2009-04-30T15:29:00.005+02:00

Like people, pigs can get flu, but swine flu viruses aren’t the same as human flu viruses.
Swine flu doesn’t infect people often but there were rare cases of infected humans but all had close contact with pigs. But the current swine flu is different. It is caused by a new kind of swine flu and it is passed from person to person. The symptoms are the same as normal flu.
If you have the swine flu stay at home and if you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth. After that wash or disinfect your hands, this can help stop your flu from spreading. If you got flu symptoms and you have been in a risky area like Mexico, call a doctor immediately. Or if you where not in a risky country and you are still sick call a doctor just to be sure.

IS THIS THE APOCALYPSE???

2009-04-30T15:27:00.006+02:00

The world lives in fear because of the newest pandemic: swine flu …This flu gets transmitted from swine to swine, from swine to human and from human to human. In 2 weeks already over 1000 people have been infected and up to now around 8 people have died because of it.

In Mexico, pandemic level 5 (of 6) has already started. This means that almost every 10th person is infected and that’s why schools and other public places are closed. Events have been cancelled.

The symptoms of swine flu are:

a runny nose,
sore throat,
diarrhoea,
vomitting,
nausea,
coughing,
lethargy,
lack of appetite,
and fever

If you have most of the above symptoms over a short period of time, call a doctor. There is no medicine that can fight the virus completely. There are just 2 medicines that can block or weaken the virus. The low rate of death shows that you can survive the flu and develop anti- bodies against it.

source: Wikipedia, Morning news SAT1

Over 60 affected in just one week!

2009-04-30T15:26:00.007+02:00

Swine flu is caused by the pig´s respiratory system and this flu has spread in Mexico, Spain and even in Germany! Now the rate has gone higher. Over 100 people have died because of the Swine Flu. And 2 in Bayern (Germany) were shown to be Positive. Swine flu virus dies at a temperature of 70°C.

More than 60 people died because of swine flu in Mexico the first week of the epidemic. Now 3 people have the disease in Germany. And three others with the symptoms of swine flu. The symptoms are fever, muscle pain, dry cough, dry throat, and vomiting.

The flu spreads by coughing, kissing or even shaking hands! The flu can not get spread by food. To help protect yourself from this disease, here is a little list of ideas!
Source BBC

• Wash your Hands often with Soap and Water. (especially small kids)
• Disinfect Hands.
• Avoid touching the Mouth, Nose or Eyes.
• Cover Mouth and Nose and avoid Sneezing and Coughing from others that may have symptoms.

This disease is affecting the human population especially in Mexico. About 100 people now have a scary life in Mexico. You can get vaccinated but it will not help as much. Every second person in Germany has lost the habit of washing his hands, especially small Kids in Primary school. So be careful.
Source:BBC

About the IB

2009-04-23T15:30:00.008+02:00

The IB offers three programs of international education for students between 3 and 19 years. The programs begin with Kindergarten to Primary Years and end with the Pre-university Diploma years. The IB World Schools have high quality education. This program is available in 2607 IB World Schools in 134 countries.

You can also support the IB

2009-04-23T15:30:00.006+02:00

I can support the IB work with making IB programmes available in developing countries and to financially-disadvantaged students. If you find time and you have experience to offer, then read our information for volunteers to find out how volunteers make a big change to our work.

IB schools are different: the teachers share all their knowledge and experience with the students whatever the question is, plus these teachers are committed to the professional development of their knowledge.
Source: Sanjay

The IB student Programme

2009-04-23T15:28:00.003+02:00

There are 3 programmes / phases for students in the IB. These programmes are called:

Primary Years Programme (PYP) : Grade 1 to 5
Middle Years Programme (MYP) : Grade 6 to 10
Diploma Programme (DP) : Grades 11 and 12.

More services and information are on the official website of the IBO

Visit the website here:
http://www.ibo.org/programmes/
source IBO.org

Where is the IB around the World?

2009-04-23T15:22:00.001+02:00

The IB works together with private and state-funded schools in over 130 countries. The headquarters are in Geneva and there are representative offices in Bath, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Cardiff, Mumbai, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver. The largest office is the assessment centre in Cardiff in the UK was also the house for departments for finance, human resources, Information Technology (IT) and strategic planning. The research base is located at the University of Bath, also in the UK.

What are IB world schools?

2009-04-23T15:10:00.003+02:00

IB world schools can offer three individual programs. These programs are classified into three parts. These parts are called Primary years, Middle years and Diploma year programs.

The IB has been known for its high quality education for over 35 years. The IB curriculum represents the best from many countries. The challenging Diploma is recognized by the world’s leading universities. The IB maintains high standards by actively training and supporting teachers.

The IB encourages international-mindedness in IB students. To do this, they believe that the students must first develop an understanding of their own cultural and national identity.

The IB ensures that the programs they have are accessible to students in an variety of schools - national schools, international, private and public schools in 134 countries. The IB schools form a worldwide community. More than 50% of IB students are in state funded schools.

Source Sanjay

IB: Between 10% and 20% increase per year.

2009-04-23T15:00:00.003+02:00

Over the past ten years the rate of IB students has increased between 10% and 20% each year.
The IBO has 2,777 schools in 134 different countries.
In April 2004 there were only 1,709 schools whereas in April 2009 the number has increased to 3,164.
In 2009 the number of schools almost doubled.
Source BBC

Tennis

2009-03-05T15:39:00.004+01:00

Tennis is a ball sport, which comes from a French sport, called “Jeu de Paume”, which means “play with hand”. They batted the ball against a wall, which was on one side, so it flew over the net. On the other side, the audience sat and observed. This game, mostly was played in abbeys. The actual name “tennis” came from the old word “tennes”, which means hold.

The tennis field is 22m long and 11m wide: In the middle, there is a net.

In general, you need to try, not to let the ball touch the ground. If it does, the other person or team gets a point. The points are counted in a difficult way. If you have 5 points and the others are with two points behind, you get an “ultimate point”. It is counted like this: 5 - 10 – 15 - 30 - 40 – 1 point. Normally you play until 5 points are reached. If the ball hits the outside, the team, which didn’t get it out, gets a point.
Then there are two types of games: Single and double. In a single game the players just use the internal field.
In a double, the whole field is used. After every point, which go made the players change their positions.

I really like the game: I even play it. It is interesting and fast, which makes it really much fun.

Sources: All pictures are downloaded from Wikipedia.

POKER: POKING YOUR BRAINS AND WALLETS

2009-03-05T15:37:00.005+01:00

Poker is a five-card game which uses normal cards and money represented by tokens. It is different from other card games where, instead of playing all the cards out, the players bet as to who holds the best card combinations until:
1. A showdown where the person with the best cards wins.
2. All but one player have dropped out of the game.
Each player gets two cards and three cards are laid down and are counted as the last three cards for each player. The best combinations of cards from highest to lowest include:
1. Straight flush- AKQJ10 or 5432A.
2. Four of a kind- K-K-K-K.
3. Full house- Q-Q-Q-4-4.
4. Flush- J- 9- 8- 7- 3.
5. Straight- 10- 9- 8- 7- 6.
6. Three of a kind, threes, triplets and trips- 7-7-7-x-y.
7. Two pair- Q-Q-9-9-x.
8. One pair- 3-3-x-y-z.
9. High card- no combination; the highest card wins.
The history of Poker is thought to have evolved over more than ten centuries from various games, all involving the basic principals of ranked card or domino combinations and the use of ‘bluffing’ to deceive opponents. One popular belief is that a game similar to poker was first invented by the Chinese sometime before 969 A.D, when The Emperor Mu-tsung is reported to have played "domino cards" with his wife on New Years Eve.

Checkers: a History

2009-03-05T15:33:00.003+01:00

Checkers is a popular board game played in both America and England. The game is played on an 8x8 checkered board. Hence the name, Checkers. It is also called Draughts in England. The players begin by arranging 24 flat, wooden, cylindrical disks into piles of red and black. The players then arrange them on the checker board into the starting position seen here:

The row closest to the player is referred to as the “king’s row”. The darker color (contrary to chess) moves first. There are 2 ways to move: a simple diagonal move to an adjacent square or a jump, which is a move directly adjacent to an opponent’s square. Then the player would then “jump over” the opponent’s checker in a diagonal move to an empty square opposite to the opponent’s square. The square’s checker is then captured and added to the capture bin. When a piece moves to the opponent’s side, it is “kinged” and it is then known as a “king” which can move backwards. You win when you have captured the entire opponent’s checkers.

The History of Checkers dates back to the Mesopotamian cultures of 3000 BC. However this early form of Checkers used a different board with a different number of checkers and no one is sure of the rules. The next development in checkers was “Alquerque“an ancient Egyptian game which dates back to 1500 BC which used a 5x5 board. This variation was played in Europe for several hundred years. Around 1100 AD, a Frenchman had the idea of putting 12 pieces on an 8x8 board, called "Fierges" or "Ferses" it was soon brought to England and then later, America.

In my opinion, this game is unbelievably simple, which is why I prefer Chess over checkers because you need a brain to think strategically rather than simple guess work. However, this is still a viable way of passing time.

Handball

2009-03-05T15:32:00.007+01:00

Handball is a modern team sport. Handball is one of the fastest indoor sports. There are
Two different versions of handball - there is an outdoor version called outdoor handball and an inside version called indoor handball. Handball is an Olympic sport played in over 150 countries. You can play handball when you are fit and healthy.

You play handball with 6 court players and one goalkeeper per team. You have to shoot the ball into the goal on the opposite site.
Handball is played on a court 40 long and 20 meters wide. The game is two halves of 30 minutes each. The shots at the goal can reach over 100 km/h per hour. Handball is a game where you catch, jump, shoot, pass and save.
Handball is played with 4 officials.2 referees and 1 time keeper and one score keeper. Two referees are required because the game is so fast. For the 1 penalty you play you get a yellow card. For the second foul you play you have to go out for 2 minutes.

Handball started in the ancient world in Greece but the game wasn’t called handball it was called Urania.The real game Handball started in the 19th century in Berlin as an outside version. The inside version was invented 1906 by a teacher from Copenhagen.

The 21st Handball World cup started on the 1st of February 2009 in Croatia. The current winner of the world cup is France. France won the final against Croatia. France won the world cup already 3 times -1995, 2001 and 2009.

In think that handball is a very interesting and fast game. If you want to play handball you have to very fit and healthy because the sport is fast and you need to be in excellent physical condition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handball

Hockey

2009-03-05T15:15:00.006+01:00

In this article I will write about hockey and the history of hockey.

Hockey is the first of all sports played with an stick, such as cricket and golf. Hockey was not known as hockey until the 18th century. In Inner Mongolia and China people have played Beikow which is a game similar to modern field hockey, for about 1,000 years. Old drawings from Egypt showed hockey. The drawings are about 4,000 years old. The modern game grew from English republic schools in the early 19th century. The first club was in 1849.It was Blackheath in the south-east of London. There are different types of hockey such as: Field hockey, Ice hockey and Indoor hockey. These three types are the most played ones. Hockey was first played at the summer Olympics in 1880 and 1920. The successful hockey teams today are Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Australia. Hockey is a very popular Sport.

That was my small text about Hockey. I like the game very much because it is very interesting.
Source:Sports Hockey Book

The history of chess

2009-03-05T15:07:00.009+01:00

Chess was invented in India during the Gupta Empire (280-550 BC) rule. It was first called Caturanga. The Arabs took this game, changed the name and created new rules. The Arabs called it Shatranj. With the conquest of Muslims, armies attacking Persia, the Muslim spread this game till it reached Europe. There the name change many times for example:

Spain: ajedrez
Portugal: xadrez
Greek: zatrikion.

Chess was popular in Europe and the people started to change the rules in Spain and Italy. The game got known
As queen’s chess or mad queen chess
Because the queen was the most powerful figure in the game.

This was the first chess game from the gupta empire (280-550 CE)

The first modern championship was in London in 1851. The winner was a German named Adolf Anderssen. The champion from 2007 on is Viswanathan Anand, he won this title 2 times and is still the champion today.

Even today chess still turns like you see on this picture of a 3 player chess board.

Funny chessboard made.

source: wikipedia

Ryan Giggs signs Manchester United contract

2009-02-26T15:23:00.006+01:00

Ryan Giggs, a 35 year-old player, agreed for a 1- year contract extension with Manchester United until June 2010.

Ryan Giggs, who made his team debut 18 years ago, first played for Manchester City till he left the team in the 1990 - 1991 season. Giggs came from Manchester City and went to Manchester United in the 1990 - 1991 season. He was 17 Years old when he came to Manchester United. Ryan Giggs held a host of football records, including being the most decorated player in English soccer history. On the 11th May 2008 Giggs got the 1st
division English league title medal. Giggs was the first player in the history of English football to win two Young Player of the Year awards. Giggs was born at St David’s hospital in Carton, Wales. Ryan grew up in a town called Ely in Northern Wales.

wikipedia.org

Anti Polio vaccine

2009-02-26T14:50:00.014+01:00

During the next three days more than 20 million children in the west of Africa are expected to get vaccinated against Polio. This Project has mobilized 100s of thousands of volunteers from eight different countries to help these children!
The United Nations Children’s Fund is also working with the health Minister to try to rid Africa of the highly contagious and incurable virus.

Polio is a very dangerous sickness which is often seen in children. Polio is caused by an infectious virus, which can lead to paralysis or even to death. There are three stages of Polio: Mild, Normal and strong Polio. For Mild Polio some of the symptoms are headaches, vomiting, muscle pain, fever, nausea and stiffness. Polio can be prevented through vaccination which a 6 week child has to have in their vaccination schedule.

The figure above shows a child getting vaccinated. Source: Environmental News Network.
Source BBC

Dutch lawmaker filed charge

2009-02-26T14:50:00.013+01:00

This man got charged because of inciting religious hatred in speeches and a film he made about Islam last year. The lawmaker is named Geert Wilders and is in the Dutch parliament of the right-wing party for freedom. Nine people filed him with the court appeal. They charged him because of a 15 min long film called “Fitan” he made about terrorist attacks and to say that Islam is a threat for western society. The movie made complaints in the whole of Europe, the organization of the Islamic conference as well as from the USA which warned that this could spark riots. The movie starts with a picture of Mohamed with a turban shaped like a bomb. Then it shows translated portions of the Quran and then pictures from the 9.September and in the background you hear calls from the people who where in the trade center when the plane crashed.

source:BBC.com

photo from CNN.com

Satellite-crash over Alaska

2009-02-25T09:07:00.009+01:00

On the 11.2.09 two big satellites, one from the USA and an old one from Russia, crashed in 800km height. The problem is that this leaves a big cloud of space junk, which can break other satellites and even damage the ISS and kill people. However, this is not very likely, because there where also much other crashes in space, but this one was the biggest one until wow.
This crash did not have to do anything with the relationship between the two countries. it was just an accident. On the other hand, did also something happen in 2007, which wasn’t an accident: China shot down an American TV-satellite, just for fun? One year later, the USA made them self the same fun with a Chinese spy – satellite.

This is earth with all the satellites:

fron geo.de

Eden Project in Bristol

2009-02-05T15:16:00.008+01:00

A Parent came up with the Idea to fly to Bristol, England, to the Famous Eden Project, according to our new U. o. I. which we started in January 2009. The Plan is to take MS 2- MS 4 (But it is not decided yet) there and show them the whole-wide-world of the Environmental Concern.
This Trip would be in Summer Holidays!

This Company is all about the Environment, for example harvesting and other activities for Children. Like Art, Music and also Open air Concerts. They also have things like plants and animals etc.
Source: My Father

German lesson

2009-02-05T15:16:00.007+01:00

In the German lesson on 5 February, MS2 and MS3 began to write their own article about their neighbors: Police and zoll. They separated the group into two parts. The first ones went to the police, the other one to the customs. They interviewed, looked around and took pictures. On 10 February they will present a presentation about their object and will give a individually-written article to the teacher.
Our reporter was with the first group at the police garage. They found out much information! Here are some facts:
• The police garage just repairs police cars and motorcycles
• They need some special equipment for their job
• Police cars are damaged very often: There are about 250 cars around there that work, and 150 are damaged every year.
• The police also checks their cars by itself
• They have a big sock of components
• The highest place in the garage is the garage chief
• There are 6 people working in the garage

This interview was very interesting. The other group liked their interview, and where very excited, when they came back: They showed each other pictures and talked about the herd and saw things.

US-fight jet flys into a village

2008-12-10T09:15:00.006+01:00

A US-fight jet type F-18 crashed yesterday into the Californian village San Diego. This accident killed tree people and whipped out four houses. The pilot could come out of the plane in time. He is under shock.
The F-18 wanted to land in the near air force base Miramar, after a turbine was defect. The second one got defect over the village. The pilot first wanted to land on a flat land before the village, but that did not work.

Pennsylvanian teen charged for killing school enemies

2008-12-10T09:13:00.002+01:00

A Pennsylvanian teen got charged like an adult because he planed to kill classmates he did not like and then holding the gun at him to kill himself. Richard Yanis stole 3 hand guns from his father and then he told the police he planned to shoot classmates and at the end himself. Yanis (15) was charged for attempted murder in an adult court because juvenile law in Montgomery County does not include crimes with deadly weapons. The investigations started after Richard’s Father reported that 3 hand guns from a locked locker in the basement of his house where stolen. His son took a Smith & Wesson 357 Caliber revolver, a Smith & Wesson 22 Caliber and a colt 45Caliber.

source:BBC.com

Crash of military fighter kills family

2008-12-10T09:11:00.003+01:00

In San Diego (California) a fighter of the U.S. air force crashed into a house and killed a grandmother, a mother and two young children. The F/A-18D jet plane was trying to land at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The Marine Corps said that the pilot told them that he is having some trouble. The Man from Korea who lost two children, his wife and his mother in law did not blame the pilot who ejected and survived. He said in accented English: “I don’t blame him. I don’t feel any hard feelings. I know that he has done everything he could.” Authorities said that when the jet crashed into family Yoon’s house. One of the two children was less then 2 months old the other one was 15 months old. His wife Young Mi was 36 and her mother only 60 years, when the jet crashed into their house. And Dong Yun was at Work. Now an investigation of the cause has been launched.

Source BBC

Cancer overtakes Heart disease in 2030

2008-12-10T09:04:00.003+01:00

At the moment, Heart disease is the most “Popular” Disease which people die from. In 2030, Scientists say that Cancer will increase the rate of which people die. About Twenty-seven million new cancer cases are expected. The Heart disease rate will decrease.
Source BBC

Black hole in Milky Way

2008-12-10T08:48:00.003+01:00

There is a very big black hole at the center of our galaxy. German astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars that circulate abound the center of the Milky Way. This black hole is 4 million times heavier than the sun.
Source: CNN

Sony cuts 8,000 Jobs in 2010

2008-12-10T08:38:00.006+01:00

Sony has announced to cancel 8,000 electronic jobs, 5 % of division as well as shutting 10% of its manufacturing sites. The jobs should be cut in April 2012 but has not announced in which countries the staff would leave the company. The sad news was announced in Japan.
Source: BBC

Virus hits Facebook users

2008-12-10T08:36:00.005+01:00

120 million users got attacked by the virus Koobface. It sends messages to a person’s inboxes,pretending to be their friend. The messages say: you look funny in this new video. When you click at the link a massage tells you to watch “secret videos by Tom. DON’T FOLLOW THESE LINKS!!!!!!! If you do, a dangerou virus will attack your Computer.

Please don’t try to use Facebook anymore.
Source:CNN

Bird flu kills more than 20.000 chickens

2008-12-10T08:34:00.005+01:00

In Hong Kong over 80.000 chickens got killed because of Bird flu. They got killed on Tuesday after they discovered it in dozens of birds that had died at a farm in this area. The birds in an area of 3 kilometers (2 miles) where discovered dead. In a farm in this area had reported 60 dead chickens. After many tests they found out that these chickens had bird flu. Also in a other farm the government discovered Bird flu. These chickens had the H5 virus. This Virus killed people in Africa, Europe and Asia. Until 2003 over 200 people died on the H5N1. Not many strand of this Virus can be transferred by Human to Human transmission.

source: BBC.com

Middle school exam week

2008-12-09T23:27:00.006+01:00

From this Thursday to next Wednesday ISN middle school will have exam. This is also a practice for the IGCSE and IBO exam which will come fore MS4 in one and four years.
The rules are clear and strict:
• No talking: Not make teacher think you are cheating, because than you will earn a zero in the exam.
• No erasing things like Tippex or things like that. Just an eraser is allowed, but just at drawings.
• Just a bottle of water and a pen may come into the examine room.
• If you want to go to the toilette, a teacher has to come with you, to make sure, you don’t cheat.
These were the main rules for the exam. The LP’s will write the exam in three different rooms, mixed together, but so thet they can’t cheat: MS1 – MS2 – MS3 – MS4 – MS1 …. Before exam LP’s needed to sign a sheet for academic honesty, which, if you don’t sign it, means, that you can’t write the exam.

Suicide bomber from Köln arrested

2008-12-09T22:49:00.005+01:00

The suitcase bomber from Köln got captured. Yesterday the judgment got pronounced. He got life imprisonment.
He and his friend placed two case bombs in trains. If their plan would have bin successful, it would have killed hundreds of people with an over 15 meters big fireball. Only, because they did a mistake, the bombs didn’t detonate. If they wouldn’t have made this mistake, the bombs would have exploded and kill all these people.
Youssef El Hajdib (suitcase bomber) said, that the main points, why he tried it, were the Muhammad-catoons were, which got published in spring 2006 in the German newsletters.
During the lawsuit he often told wrong thing, to make himself look better.
After the judgment got pronounced he showed everyone the middle finger and said bad things to the judge.

Attacks in India

2008-12-09T15:35:00.005+01:00

At the moment, India is one of the most frequent lands in news. The situation in India is very tricky. Only in the last week attacks killed over 190 people and injured over 300. The government of India is sure, that a group of Islamists, which came in the land from Pakistan, caused these attacks. Because of this, the Indian government closed all the big airports in the land and set very strong controls to keep away other terrorists. Also the Pakistan government is ready to help, by solving the problems with stronger controls of people traveling out.

Suicide bomber atack in Afghanistan

2008-12-04T15:07:00.006+01:00

On Thursday, suicide bombers struck again in Afghanistan. A bomber detonated a prepared car at the entrance of an Afghan intelligence headquarter. Officials say that at least 1 police officer died. This attack was done in the city of Khost, the capital of the Khost province. This attack also wounded many passengers, including some agents from the intelligence center. Tahir Sabarai, the province deputy governor said that the bomber killed 1 officer and wounded 8 nearby people. The head of this province said that 2 officers got killed and 9 passengers got wounded. A second car next to the building exploded too. The military and some officers stormed the buildings around...
the photo shows a young suicide bomber in training.

source: BBC.com

The richest man of the world

2008-12-04T14:31:00.005+01:00

The richest man in world is Carlos Slim. He is 67 years old and has $59 billion in banks. He is the youngest son from the slim family. He recently lent $55 million to an insurance company.
Source: World record Book

Lamborghini designs four door prototype

2008-11-20T15:32:00.006+01:00

Lamborghini has made the last weeks very very interested in their new four door prototype the Estoque. It looks just like their Reventon but with four doors, a front engine with less power, and some changes of the chassis. It lies fully in the trend with its long front and short rear deck and two huge very Reventon like air intakes. In the back it has a very nice carbon diffuser and a huge also Reventon like exhaust. They made us even more interested by telling us that we could expect a 560 Hp engine from the Gallardo Lp 560-4 as well as a four wheel drive. It will maybe show up at the Paris motor show. It is said that it will be put on the Market to compete with the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide.

wikipedia.org

England vs. Germany

2008-11-20T15:26:00.007+01:00

England beats Germany
Yesterday, on the 19th of November England’s national football
Team visited Berlin (Germany).
The TV said it was an historic game because England and Germany often played against each other.
The English team had a handicap because most of their players from the good teams were injured.
In the first half, the score was 1:0 for England thanks to Upson at the 24th minute.
After the second half, Germany got new power and Helmes scored the equalizing goal.
The final goal was scored by John Terry (2:1) at the 84th minute with a header.
The Final score was 2:1 for England.

Source Newspaper

Russia sends more troops to Africa

2008-11-20T15:25:00.003+01:00

In the last weeks, Pirate attacks in Africa have grown in an abnormal fashion. Russia sends military troops there to secure tankers with oil and Gas. In this area, there is already an aid ship called Neustrashimy. It helped the crew of ships in many scenarios. But 1 ship is not enough for such a huge area so some more ships need to pack their crew and move there. The Russian government said in September their ships would work alone but the Neustrashimy grouped earlier also with the British ship HMS Cumberland to fight against the Pirates. NATO has already sent many ships (number unknown) to the Horn of Africa.

source:BBC.com

The world’s new fastest car

2008-11-20T15:08:00.005+01:00

The new fastest car is the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, the World’s most powerful car ever produced. The top speed is 256.18mph or 412.28 km/h. This car was Verified by Guinness World Records on October 9, 2007 as the fastest production car. SSC plans a limited run of only 25 cars with a distinctive number plate matching chassis numbers to protect its collector value. The price is non known yet but I think more than 2,000,000 Euro.

Fire in Berlin Airport

2008-11-20T15:01:00.006+01:00

Stephan Fleischer who is the spokesman for the Berlin Airport said that no one got hurt in the fire in which 135 firemen and 35 rescue vehicles have extinguished the fire. The fire started on Thursday morning, (20th November 2008). The 1,000-square-meter that burned was mostly used as a quarantine office.

Girl, 13, rejects life saving heart operation

2008-11-20T14:57:00.003+01:00

London (England), a 13 year old girl is at home with her family after talking with British authorities to allow her to refuse a heart transplant operation. Hannah Jones tells that she had enough of hospitals because she spent her last 8 years in the hospital. When she was only 4 years old she was diagnosed with leukemia. It was lately discovered that she has “corimopathy “that is a disease of the heart.
Source: BBc

Mars Mission

2008-11-19T08:37:00.004+01:00

Mars Mission
The Phoenix Lander has been silent since 2.11.2008 the experts of NASA said. They expected this would happen, but they hope, the Lander will work again in spring on mars (spring on mars
is in December).

The Lander worked for five months. It has scientific instruments on board, to examine materials on Mars. The scientists got a lot of information about materials on Mars.

NASA knows the reason for the damage on Mars. Dust storms covered the sunlight. This affected the Phoenix Lander which depends on solar energy to function.

Meanwhile winter is on Mars - the days grow shorter and shorter and the temperature decreases continuously. The Lander is now covered with ice and snow. Therefore the batteries cannot be recharged and the Lander cannot operate any longer.
But there is still hope that the Lander will restart next spring...

Arsenal's teen stars shot 3 victory goals in the match against Wigan.

2008-11-18T15:38:00.006+01:00

Jay Simpson scored his first Arsenal goals in a 3-0 victory over Wigan. The teenager shot the Londoner club into the League Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Simpson scored twice in the game against Wigan athletics. He scored the club into the quarterfinal under the last eight into the league cup.

Arsene Wenger, the coach of Arsenal London deployed a different team in the game against wigan athletics than in he game against Manchester united where they beat them.

Chris Kirkland's the keeper from athletics kept Wigan athletics in the game against Arsenal London. Until the teenager star Jay Simpson scored the 2-0 in the last 3 minutes before break. Vela, also a young player from arsenal scored the 3-0 in 70s minute against wigan athletics. The game finished 3-0.

Source BBC

End of World War 1 anniversary!

2008-11-18T15:34:00.007+01:00

On Tuesday, many presidents and representatives of Europe and the world held a remembrance speech, at Fort Douaumont where more than 300,000 men were slaughtered for over 300 days during a battle. Many veterans from other wars came too. Tuesday was the 90th anniversary of the end of World War 1. There are not alot of veterans of WW1 but the few that are still alive are all over 100 years old. A German veteran became 107 years old this year and a French one aged to 110 years old. But the oldest one is 112 years old. The whole war situation changed in the year 1917 when the United States joined Britain and France. In 1918 Germany signed the Treaty of Versailes. In the War, over 20.000.000 people died.

Archaeologists found 4300 years old pyramid

2008-11-18T15:33:00.009+01:00

Archaeologists found 19 kilometers south of Giza a 4300 years old pyramid .All that remains is a square-shaped 5-meter tall and 22 meters long structure that had get covered under 25 meters of sand. They calculated that the pyramid over 14 meters high. Since 2 years they work on it, but they actually discovered it 2 weeks ago. In Egypt there were already 118 pyramids discovered until now, but the specialists say that this one is a special one because it belonged to a queen. At the moment they can only think about, witch queen it belonged to, but they think, it belonged to queen Sesheshet, who is thought to have played a important role in establishing the 6th Dynasty. They only think, because near to her, there is the pyramid of her son Till, witch was discovered 20 years before. His two girlfriends were already discovered 100 years ago. In about 2 weeks they will find the chamber inside the pyramid, where they hope to find proof of its owner. Dieter Wildung, head of Berlin's Egyptian Museum and a leading Egyptologists in Europe, said, that their claim is very plausible and that this could be a very special found.

Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass in front of the found pyramid:

Gus the ugly dog!

2008-11-18T15:31:00.004+01:00

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida reports that Gus,
a Chinese crested dog, had cancer. He was 9 years old.

In the life of Gus, he won the World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the
Friday June 20, 2008 in Califoria.

Gus had one leg amputated because of a skin tumor and lost an eye in a dog fight.

The money that Gus won was used for his treatment.

Mars Lander „Phoenix” stopped working

2008-11-18T15:29:00.016+01:00

Last week the mars Lander „Phoenix” which landed on May 25, finally stopped working. This Lander landed near the pole of Mars. It needed to search for water in the form of ice.

After landing, it started to work and found ice a few centimeters under the sand. But a few days after a sand storm blew over the Lander and because of that, its solar panels that recharge its batteries ran low and stopped working. This sand storm went on for weeks and Houston (main control) thought that everything was over. But when the sandstorm went away the solar panels started to work again and after a short time the Lander got energy again. After this it went to work again but in November the Martian winter came and it stopped working again. On November 2 the last data was sent to earth. Now the representatives from NASA hope that the lander survives another disaster, like the sandstorm. Because of this mission to Mars, many people now know more about the soil on mars and can wonder if there ever was life on that Planet.

source: BBC.com

Child found under Floorbroad

2008-11-18T15:28:00.008+01:00

Child found under Floorboard

By Von Guradze MS2

A 1-year-old girl went missing last Sunday with her 2 siblings, 5 and 3 year-old girls. The father slept at the house from Sunday to Monday and woke up at 4:45 pm because of a call from her daughter in the Floorboard ! The girl was 1 day under there. She was unheard and the Police asked themselves how the child could go under there ! But she managed to go there alone.
The other two bigger siblings are still missing but hopefully they have a better story and will be found early.

Here is a Photograph of the Girl under Floorboard (8.11.2008,USA)

New teacher

2008-02-06T13:59:00.000+01:00

The ISN has a new teacher! Her name is Jessica, she is from America and visited the Middle School, last term. Jessica started this term as an assistant teacher in PY 4 in the Primary School. From August 2008 she will also be teaching all Science classes at the middle school. The middle school kids hope that she can teach us a lot of new topics in science. We are very excited about having Jessica as a teacher in our school.

Written by Laetitia and Nora (MS 3)

JUST DANCE DANCE DANCE…

2008-02-06T13:56:00.000+01:00

Hip Hop dance in the ISN!

With our Dancing teacher Christine we are learning a Hip hop dance to the song “Please don’t stop the Music”. And we are practicing very hard!

Our after school dance group are: Kristina, Valentine, Enya, Verena,
Anna and our very good dance teacher Christine!

By Anna (MS 1) and Kristina (MS 3)

Nostale

2008-02-06T13:54:00.000+01:00

Nostale is online were you can chat with other people. You sometimes get missions were you have to do something to turn into a special. Specials are pajamas which walk around in a pajama and hold a pillow. Pajamas can do music, sleep, dance and do a pillow fight. There are different people which you can talk to through out the game. There are people who give you cloth and food. The things that you buy cost money but not in real money.

There are sheep, wolfs, pigs and other animals. Animals can be caught and kept as pets. There is a black smith who puts hooves and other things on your animal. Some people are magicians who can heal your wounds.

By Philipp (MS 1)

Spore Fascination Biology

2008-02-06T13:53:00.000+01:00

In the first quarter of this year the new game "Spore" was released on the German market. This game is about creating a cell that evolves to a creature and then to a tribe.

This game is a funny game with good graphics and easy to control. Another feature of the game is that you can play against other people using an internet connection.

By Daniel Hauck (MS 2)

New Magazine

2008-02-06T13:52:00.001+01:00

(By Lilli & Amandine, MS2)

The Middle School of the ISN has a new Unit of Inquiry “Media”. The teachers used an idea of some LP`s for a whole school project. We are going to publish a magazine, a real one, which will be distributed in our community.

In Business Studies we thought about several ways of earning money, to cover the printing costs of our magazine. We also want to ask companies of our parents to sponsor our newspaper or to buy space and advertise there. If you want to sponsor or advertise in our magazine please contact Jacques at the ISN.

To get money we will start fund raising activities such as fun races, garage sales, selling our old clothes that we don’t wear anymore, sell self-made food, styling of bag packs, giving English, German, French or Math courses after school.Some other fund raising ideas we are considering are tutoring primary school children, cleaning shoes, producing a play for our community, sell old toys and much more.

If you have any other ideas please leave a comment on the ISN Times blog.

20 People killed in Sri Lanka

2008-02-06T13:50:00.000+01:00

January 16, 2008

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka- A bomb attack on a bus, most probably a Tamil Tiger attack, killed 20 people and wounded about 50 others. A military spokesman confirmed that the attack was “definitely” planned by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The latest roadside bomb attack by the rebels in Sri Lanka was in Bhutalla.
Please give a minute of empathy to all the dead and wounded.

By Philipp Oberbeck (MS 3)

New Unit of Inquiry: A World of Media

2008-02-06T13:49:00.000+01:00

For a new unit of inquiry, the ISN middle school is doing a world of media. In English class we are learning about different forms of media such as the newspaper, and how they are used. We also looked at English newspapers.

Our previous unit of inquiry was cultures and traditions, which had to do with international cultures and traditions. The new unit of inquiry also focuses on things around the world. MS1 will do a project about this new unit of inquiry where we have to choose five questions about media, and write a research essay about one of them. We hope to learn a lot from this new unit of inquiry.

By Christina Carney (MS 1)

Which soccer-team do you like the most?

2008-02-06T13:47:00.000+01:00

We, Delia Appelt and Sarah Wagner, voted in the English class 2 which soccer team has the most fans. We found out that the most people are not interested in soccer at all. But then with 3 votes Bayern München and two votes for Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen. Some of the people that like a soccer-team don’t even play themselves. This shows that some people are only fans of a soccer-team because they win or of some other reason.

We personally think that it doesn’t matter which soccer team you like the most, which soccer team plays the best or if you are even interested in soccer. And we are happy that the other students think that too.

By Delia Appelt (MS 2) and Sarah Wagner (MS 2)

Euro 2008

2008-02-06T13:44:00.000+01:00

This year in July the Euro 2008 will take place in Austria and Switzerland. The Euro 2008 happens every 4 years. The Euro association decided to have 16 teams to qualify for the Euro. Last year Greece beat Portugal. These are the disqualified teams:
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Denmark
England
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
F.Y.R. Macedonia
Georgia
Hungary
Iceland
Israel
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Northern Ireland
Norway
Republic of Ireland
San Marino
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine
Wales
These are the qualified teams:

Croatia
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey

By Tazzio Teeluck (MS 1)

Klinsmann, new bayern münchen manager

2008-02-06T13:43:00.000+01:00

After a long discussion it is now clear. Klinsmann is the new manager of Bayern München. He will have the new job at the 1th July 2008. Now I want to ask if everybody thinks that it is good that Klinsmann will be the new manager of Bayern München? I did a small survey and asked some people from the middle school.

Results:

Good: Bad:

5 people 4 people

So most of the people think that it is good that Klinsmann will be the new manager of Bayern München.

Philipp Seimetz (MS 3)

Field Trip Day!

2008-02-06T13:36:00.000+01:00

The Middle School will have a field trip next Wednesday to Heidelberg. We are planning a field trip to the Heidelberger art society’s film workshop. There will also be a field trip to the Heidelberger University. There we will learn some physics. The Ruprecht Karl University was built in 13.October 1386 with a church service. Later the university got bigger and bigger. Now it has 400 professors and over 25.562 students!
The whole MS is looking forward to it!

By Jorit Pfleiderer (MS 1)

This is the Heidelberg University’s logo

Movie Madness in Drama Class!

2007-12-07T09:36:00.000+01:00

(by Philipp O. MS 3 grade 8)

At the International School of Neustadt (Weinstrasse), learning partners are preparing for filming a movie. They are writing their own scripts, choosing music and designing outfits. Learning partners got together in groups discussing and brainstorming their movie ideas. The finished films will be shown on the Open TV Channel in Neustadt.

Our Drama mentor Jacques will show students how to use studio equipment properly to make a fantastic movie. The movie will be filmed around the Neustadt area. The Neustadt Offener Kanal TV Studio has agreed to lend their equipment to the Drama class for 2 days at a time providing that they produce material that can be broadcasted. The whole ISN Middle School is looking forward to this amazing event. This project will be assessed on broadcast quality, creativity, camera use, movie content, use of video effects and credit reel.

Good luck, all!

(N.B: Our philosophy at ISN is to engage our students in a child-centered, challenging environment where they take ownership of their learning experiences, becoming more knowledgeable, autonomous and creative in the process. Jacques, Middle School Coordinator, ISN)

Exhibition Day!

2007-12-05T10:30:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday, October 24, middle school set up their projects all over the school to present them to the parents. The parents graded them between a one and a seven. It was called Exhibition Day, and did not get many parents. There were posters of what the learning partners were doing in school, projects that they had done in the past, and a few Cinderella plays. It had projects from social studies, and posters from English. The posters showed letter writing, false friends, and more. There were also projects from business studies and mathematics on display. In maths, some people presented projects on famous mathematicians, and others presented their projects on recipes. There were some presentations in German which included poems. Some people were talking about their presentations, and one group of people was giving out food. The students worked hard, and had fun.

By Christina (MS1)

The Sad Goodbye

2007-12-05T09:55:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday, the 6.11.07, our favorite kitchen woman Ulrike said she has quitted. We are all very sad about it and hope that she will come back next year. She will leave us next week Thursday on the 15.11.07. People of the middle school were going to Sanjay and asked him if she can get another job on the school. He agreed but now we will hope the best for her. So Ulrike, please don't leave us! We will miss you and we will hope that we see you soon.

By Nora (MS3) and Laetitia (MS3)

Jokes!!

2007-12-05T09:52:00.000+01:00

How bad is the teacher?
He’s so bad he makes the chalk bored.
He’s so bad he gives aspirins a headache.
He’s so bad, his students compare test snores.

Meet the world’s toughest teacher
How tough is she?
She sends other teachers to the principal.
She grades students on fire drills.
Her tests are tougher than the roast beef in the cafeteria!
Math Problems
Young Larry stopped by the corner grocery store and read the following list to the clerk:

10 pounds sugar at $1.25 a pound
4 pounds coffee at $1.50 a pound
2 pounds butter at $1.10 a pound
2 bars soap at $.83 each

"How much does that come to?" asked Larry.

"Twenty-two dollars and thirty-six cents."

"If I gave you three ten dollar bills, how much change would I get?" said the boy.

"Seven dollars and sixty-four cents," stated the clerk who appeared to be irritated by all the questions.

Larry said, as he disappeared through the door, "I don't want to buy the item...that’s our arithmetic lesson for tomorrow, and I needed some help with it."
Would you please move your cars?

It had been snowing for hours when an announcement came over the intercom: "Will the students who are parked on University Drive please move their cars so that we may being plowing." Twenty minutes later there was another announcement: "Will the nine hundred students who went to move fourteen cars return to class."

Geography Class
Teacher: What is the axis of the earth?

Student: The axis of the earth is an imaginary line which passes from one pole to the other, and on which the earth revolves.

Teacher: Very good. Now, could you hang clothes on that line?

Student: Yes, Sir.

Teacher: Indeed, and what sort of clothes?

Student: Imaginary clothes, Sir.

By Phillip S. (MS1)

ISN Food Still the Same?

2007-12-05T09:50:00.000+01:00

Since the start of this school year, the ISN has a new caterer, “Maximillian”. All students were amazed about the variety and quality of food. The students said:
“Wow, this food is much better than the food from the previous caterer!”
Maximillian served us warm and tasty food. The previous caterer’s food was not tasty and not well presented. Now students feel like in a Gourmet Restaurant!
But, two weeks later the food started getting worse and worse. It is still a bit better than the previous caterer but Maximillian can and should improve their food. Sometimes there is not enough food for every one. Now there are two questions we should ask ourselves. The first is: Do students who don’t pay for food eat at ISN? Or do they don’t bring enough food for all children? We hope that Maximillian improves because otherwise sadly we will need to look for another caterer.

By Amandine (MS2) and Lilli (MS2)

Bullying at ISN?

2007-12-05T09:45:00.000+01:00

In many schools in Germany bulling is a big problem, but also at the ISN Middle school?
We will find out!We asked 7 people from MS1, 2 and 3 if they think bulling exists and if there is bulling at the table tennis. Because table tennis is very popular at ISN and there were complaints about bulling there. We also asked if the MS1 are the outsiders in the middle school. Because they came new into the middle school and the other classes were already together last year and became good friends

Are the MS1 really the outsiders in the middle school?No! 3 people out of seven thought that the MS1 are the outsiders and 4 people thought they are not. Also if they are new in the middle school people don't think they are outsiders. One of the people we asked was from the MS1 and he also thought that they are not the outsiders.

Is bulling really existing, or just exists in the imagination of the teachers?Bulling really exists! Everybody thought that bulling really exists. A lot of times teachers spoke about bulling and many bullies already have warnings.

Is the table tennis a place of bulling?Yes! 2 people thought that the table tennis is not a place of bulling and 5 thought bulling exists at the table tennis. Also about bulling at the table tennis the teachers already spoke about. Now the teachers take a look at the students when they play. There where complaints about bulling at the table tennis and Jacques asked people if they want to have table tennis times for each class. He said that they could make times for the MS1 and the MS2, 3. But the students voted that they don't want that because then they would have less time to play.

From this Survey we could see that bulling exists in the ISN. But our teachers are very strict and give warnings, luckily. One time a student was expelled from the school because of bulling. The teachers give first three verbal warnings and then they write a letter. If it still carries on they will have a talk with the parents of the bully how they are going to change the behavior of the child so that he doesn't bully anymore. If all this doesn't help then the child will be expelled from the school.

At the ISN bulling exists, but the teachers are very strict and the bully hasn't got a chance.

From Sarah MS2 and Delia MS2

Top Subjects!

2007-11-08T14:29:00.000+01:00

By Hannes and Philippo

Yesterday, 7th November, Middle School students of English Group 2, voted to see which are their favourite subjects.

The results of this survey were hard to evaluate. From the top 3: “Drama, Business Studies and Sports”, only one could be selected as most popular Middle School Subject. The group had to vote which is their favourite subject of the top 3. After the second vote the results were clear! The most popular subject is: Drama!

The teacher of the most popular subject was very obscure. But he gave us a smile. Congratulations, Jacques!

DNA Extraction

2007-10-20T15:39:00.001+02:00

Grade 8 (MS 3) learning partners at the International School of Neustadt (Weinstrasse) have discovered how to extract DNA from a living organism.

As part of their inquiry into genetics the MS3 learning partners were challenged by their Science mentor to extract DNA from a living organism to study under a microscope. “But how are we going to do that?” some of the LP’s asked.

As an inquiry based school that values autonomous learning and independent inquiry, learning partners were encouraged to research various methods to extract DNA and to write up a Scientific protocol to solve the problem.

LP’s researched and brainstormed ideas and started their investigation yesterday. They worked with enthusiasm and dedication and were rewarded with ample samples of DNA, which they studied under a microscope. Well done, MS3, with a job done well!!
To see a slideshow of how the MS 3 LP’s done the extraction visit our Middle School Web Blog (www.isnms.wordpress.com)

Changes to ISN online

2007-08-24T20:30:00.000+02:00

ISN learning partners are discussing and suggesting a new format and structure for the ISN Times online. They want to give more learning partners the opportunity to be involved in our newspaper.

Learning partners are engaged in voting to choose a new editorial staff. We will be up and running in the near future.

Dear Parents

2007-07-04T18:53:00.000+02:00

The time has come for us to say good bye and to wish all of you and the children a pleasant, restful and exciting summer break.

This has been a very exciting year indeed, with lots of ups and downs, but very successful nonetheless in terms of school development and student learning. In spite of having to catch up with a year’s work (undone or incomplete), there have been remarkable achievements by all children, both in terms of social, emotional and academic development. There is a lot of work ahead of us, both in terms of IBPYP implementation and monitoring / support of student progress. We will continue to develop and fine-tune our programme, continue to invest in teacher development and continue our acquisition of resources and equipment necessary to build a strong IB/SBW school. All of our work depends on your support for which I am extremely grateful. Your support this year has been a key element in all aspects of school development. Knowing that we can count on your wisdom, advice and positive criticism gives the strength and motivation to aim higher all the time. Thank you!

My thanks to all the Mums (and Dads!) who helped organise the end of year show, which I am sure, all of us enjoyed very much. We look forward to working with you again next year. Thank you to all the other Mums and Dads who helped support teachers in class, during play, in the cafeteria or during field trips.

Special thanks to PY4/5 children (led by Anna von Guradze and Jelena Strubel) who raised 450 Euros through after school cake sale and donated the money to the school. Play / leisure equipment have been purchased to improve the quality of student life at our school. A further donation went towards the purchase of fiction and non-fiction for our library. Well done PY4/5 for such initiative and caring attitude.

Thank you for your generous donation of books and tapes, Hi-Fi, Fridge and next year, even a billiards table !

A warm welcome to all the 22 new children who will join us next year. They are from Hong Kong, India, the UK, the USA, Thailand and of course Germany. We wish all those leaving us well at their new school or in their new jobs. We will miss the children very much but we respect your decision.

That will be all for this year. I look forward to another exciting and challenging year in your company. Have great holidays!

Kind regards,

Sanjay.

A healthy hunger?

2007-06-22T11:35:00.000+02:00

by Amandine (MS1)

A group of learning partner’s from the MS 1/2 class started to sell vitamin bombs to the ISN community!

The “Sweet and Sour” group sells fruit kebabs, sweet and sour fruit salad and other sweet specialities. The best thing is that your lunch is made in front of your eyes and that the lp’s are going to donate the profit to the SOS- Kinderdörfer and WWF charity organisations.

The customers have choices between the sweetest and most delicious fruit creations you can dream of. They can also create their own combinations. Just follow the tasty, delicious and sweet smell and you reach the “Sweet and Sour” stall!

Musical Rythms and drum making with Doris!

2007-06-08T17:43:00.000+02:00

by Amandine (MS1 - grade 6)

Big, small and colourful are the drums that MS1/2 are making. Every Friday is a new experience for the Middle school learning partners as they are creating drums in Doris’ Creative Arts class for the summer break show.

The lp`s are working in pairs or individually creating a drum. Doris is using a very simple technique to build the drums. You first have to form some rolls from clay and put them on top of each other, but you have to join the rolls with each other, so that no air can come in while Doris bakes the drums in a kiln, otherwise the drums would collapse. After the drums dried out you can paint them in any colour you want. Then, Doris bakes the drums at a temperature of 1200°C.

Today we covered our drums with leather, to produce sound. In our music lessons we are practicing our rhythms for the summer break show. Next week we will actually use our drums. I will update you on our progress and add some pictures of our musical instruments.

New games room

2007-06-08T11:49:00.000+02:00

by Dan (PY5)
In about two weeks time the library/welcome room area will be changed into a new games room. It will have a ping pong table, a baby foot soccer table game and a chess table, but the room will still have the library resource books in it. These books and resources will move to the Lern atelier. On Wednesday, 6 June, they started to put new shelves into the lern atelier/media center.

Dolls out or not?

2007-06-03T19:33:00.000+02:00

By Leatitia Gerbes (MS2)

Are dolls in or out? That is a really good question. I have asked some people from the kinder garten, the PY 1/2 and some older students and teachers if they play or have played with puppets and dolls.

All the little girls from the kinder garten or the PY 1/2 are playing with dolls. Some from the older classes haven’t played with dolls but the most have played with them at some time. Even most of the boys have played with them sometimes.

So to answer this question I think dolls are still very much in if you are younger.

Library is sparkling again!

2007-05-25T12:32:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Clara’s and Valentine’s initiative
by Amandine Hegner (MS1)

Is that room shining? Oh, yes it is. It’s our library!
Clara and Valentine, two learning partners from PY 2/3, have been sorting books and looking after our library.

They even sorted our big encyclopaedias according to size. “It’s just fun sorting the books in our library”: both said “We are helping our community and environment.” Actually, they didn’t want to sort the library, it just happened by chance! They were searching for a book for their “15 minutes’ silent reading session” and came up with the idea to sort the library books when they saw the mess on the shelves. They still have not finished sorting the books, maybe because some people destroy their work, but it’s fun for them to sort them again. From time to time they read a book, which is very, very good, reading is important!

Thank you Clara and Valentine for being caring and principled.

A grand concert

2007-05-21T10:06:00.000+02:00

by Tazzio Teeluck

More than a hundred people attended a concert in Hambach on Saturday. About 50 musicians, from the age of eleven to fifty played in the orchestra. One of our musicians that took part was Anna Lena, an ISN middle school student, who played the drums at the concert. She played with a lot of concentration on her instrument and during the parts that she had to play in the concert.

After the concert she gave a demonstration of her musical talents by improvising on her drums. When she demonstrated her improvisation skills, I felt that I wanted to study music as well.

I wish that there were other children from ISN who could see Anna Lena play that evening. It was really an exciting concert.

ISN first parent open day, 9 May

2007-05-10T11:23:00.000+02:00

by Delia (MS2)

At yesterday’s open day for parents the ISN Times reporters were busy and interviewed parents. I interviewed PY 4/5 parents and one parent from PY 2/3. Parents said that if they could change something in the school they would like to see one teacher per grade level and also more resource materials. Most parents can see improvements in the way English is learnt at school. Tazzio’s mother said that she can see improvement in her son’s German. Tazzio, one of our foreign students studies German as a Foreign Language.

I used the opportunity to ask the parents what they would like to see on our ISN Times parent’s page. They said that they would like to see events, projects their children are doing at school and also advice on how they can help their children at home.

Does Global Warming exist?

2007-04-20T13:35:00.000+02:00

by Jacques

In our former unit of inquiry we have debated whether global warming will influence our health. Capital Area Technology Center a high school in Augusta in the USA, has made a CD for us about Global warming. In turn we are currently busy doing a power point presentation on Global Warming and Health that we want to send to them within the next 2 weeks. In our Science lesson last week we decided to try and prove that Global Warming does exist with an experiment. We are currently analysing and interpreting results and will publish our results next week in the Middle School- Science Blog.

If you would like to see a power point photo show about our investigation please visit the Middle School Science blog at http://isnscience.wordpress.com/

ISN on TV

2007-04-20T10:13:00.000+02:00

By Dan Whiting (PY5)

On the first day of the new term the ARD TV came to interview Sanjay and see what our school is like. They brought a field journalist, camera man and a sound man. First they just filmed us and then they interviewed Sanjay. They asked him about what he thought about our school. He said that our school trains us to be ready for the future.

The TV crew also filmed Jacques´ curriculum planning meeting with the middle school group. A few days later Benedict brought a disk to school with the recorded program on it. The whole of PY 4/5 watched themself on TV.

If you are interested to see the recording of our school that was broadcasted on the Tagesschau, click on this link.

www.tagesschau.de/sendungen/0,,OID6629306_VID6629744_RESreal120_PLYinternal_NAV_,00.html

Angles;shapes and Power Point?

2007-04-19T16:11:00.000+02:00

By Victoria Tann (PY4)

You may ask what angles and Microsoft Power point have to do with each other. But PY 4/5 have connected the two together to make a PowerPoint presentation on angles and shapes. They have partnered up with a classmate and created a PowerPoint presentation each. They have shown these creations to Sanjay and the rest of the class on the 26th, 27th and 28th of March.

The deadline was supposed to be on the 26th of March but only one pair managed to finish by that time so Sanjay has had to extend the deadline to the 27th and the 28th. By the end of this week they will have finished this maths unit on angles and shapes and are frantically finishing off last minute reflections. The things they had to include were: The use of a protractor, Different triangles and calculations.
We will gather up more info on what PY 4/5 are getting up to in maths in the next issue

Guided tour on the move

2007-04-19T16:10:00.000+02:00

By Dan Whiting (PY 5)

PY 4/5 are taking on the challenge of creating guided tours of Neustadt in English. It was Sanjay’s idea, but the class thought it was brilliant. Sanjay and Wolfgang have made an agreement with the town council on making the tours and they said that it was a very good idea. In the future they will be showing people around Neustadt and its landmarks. They will now be working for the tourist information bureau. It will be a challenge that will be continuous and will last for over a year.

A bite at meditation

2007-04-19T16:09:00.000+02:00

By Tazzio Teeluck (PY5)

Meditation classes at ISN were initiated by a boy, in MS 1, who thought that we needed more time to relax. He also thought that teachers had to relax themselves from time to time.
If you would like to participate in the meditation program you could contact us at ISN. This activity happens every school day except Wednesdays. I have taken part in the meditation class and I thought that is was a marvellous activity because this kind of activity has to do with breathing and making the brain work better by relaxation and concentration. After this meditation activity my brain was refreshed.

If you would like to take part in the meditation classes it starts at 12:30 to 12:45. The names of the leaders are Philipp Oberbeck and Delia Appelt. Good luck and I hope you will have a wonderful relaxing time with the gurus

Changes to the ISN Times

2007-04-14T14:50:00.000+02:00

by Jacques

The ISN Times (edition 1) was posted to all parents at the end of the previous term, by email, which caused the school server to crash.

I thought it a good idea to have an online edition of the “ISN Times” and have created this blog on behalf of the editorial staff.

I will meet with the ISN Times editorial staff this coming week so that we can decide on the layout and format of our e-news.

Is our school different from others in the community?

2007-04-14T14:42:00.000+02:00

by Dan and Tazzio

We have interviewed Sanjay on how our school is special and different from other schools. Sanjay said that our school runs an international program called the International Baccalaureate program. This program is run in more than 2000 schools in the world and more than half a million pupils study this program. In our school, here in Neustadt, the medium of instruction is English where as in other schools the medium of instruction is German or Dutch. Our school is also different because we have to follow some basic international school rules like small class sizes for example 15 in early years and not more than 25 in other years.

In our school we value positive attitudes like independence, cooperation, respect etc and attributes such as being principled, caring and open-minded as much as knowledge and skills. We found out that because our school is an international school most of our teachers here studied at universities abroad and they have also worked in many different international schools in the world. Our school accepts students from many other schools and many other countries without having the children take any special entrance tests.