Director's Message
Dear KIS Families,
Thank you for those who have taken the time to complete the on-campus survey. This information is extremely helpful. If you have not done this and are interested please do this as soon as possible: SURVEY
We will begin reaching out to each family to confirm and share more specific information. We will continue to keep the community informed as we take each step towards phase II.
Next week, we will have our second Parent-Teacher Conference meetings. The focus for these meetings will not only be to know more about how your child is doing, but to also support student voice and self-advocacy for their own learning. This is the first time KIS is doing such a format, so we look forward to seeing how things go. In the end, we want all of our students to be active and vocal participants in their own learning and the classroom.
Sincerely,
Luke Woodruff
Director
Kyiv International School
Key Dates
January: 22 January - KIS Movie Sunday
27 January - Parent - Teacher Conferences - No School for Students
February:
20 - 24 February - February Break
Phases to Reopening Campus
PARENT PORTAL
Would You Like To Join PTO?
Feel the call and would like to join our PTO team? Reach out to kozakconnect@qsi.org.
If you are a new parent at KIS, feel free to join KIS Moms & Dads group on Facebook to stay connected.
FAQs
ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE SCHOOL
DI's Message
Dear Elementary and Middle School Families,
Have you been enjoying the showcase of Passion Projects each week? Don’t worry, we still have more to share...KIS students are creative, talented and inspiring!
January 27 Conferences: You should have received an email with the conference time and meeting credentials. If the time we have reserved for you and your child does not work for your family, please write to the office as soon as possible, another conference time may be available.
The conference conversation will have two parts, time to discuss the narrative report and then time for students to present their feedback. Students started crafting their feedback this past week and will use the first next school days to clarify their messages. Parents, please read your child’s narrative report carefully and bring any questions or concerns for discussion to the conference. If you have a question for a different teacher (like a specials class, for instance), please email the office and we will organize for that teacher to also attend.
As always, feel free to write with questions or concerns.
Elementary Office: kiseloffice@kyiv.qsi.org
Middle School Office: kismsoffice@kyiv.qsi.org
Best regards,
Mrs. Carla Grossman
Carla Grossman
Director of Instruction
carla-grossman@kyiv.qsi.org
School Day Schedule
Passion Project Showcase
Larion - Modern City Minecraft
Larion enjoys playing Minecraft. He decided to build a city and different places which are important for comfortable life. And of course, he can't imagine his city without McDonald's! He has used all his creativity and imagination to build it. Also, there are many other buildings in his city like a supermarket, hotel and shopping center. Larion has many ideas what to build next.
Status of Project: In Progress
Mentor: Ms Anna Plakhotniuk
- 7 & 8 YO Projects
Tomas - Building a dog in Minecraft
Tomas loves building different things in Minecraft. He used a wolf mob as a model to build the dog. He also made a ball and a 2D friend for his dog.
Status of Project: Done
Mentors: Ms. Julia M., Ms. Anastasiia
- 7 & 8 YO Projects
Polina - Play The Recorder
Polina's Passion Project is to learn as many songs on the recorder as possible. She is using Recorder Karate and has already passed the Blue Belt Level having learned about 25 songs. Currently she's been working the song for the Black belt.
Status of Project: In Progress
Mentor: Mrs. Svitlana Ionova
- 9 & 10 YO Projects
Avrora - Music's New Generation
Avrora’s Passion Project is Music. She composed her first musical work being inspired by one popular rock band.
Currently Avrora’s song consists of 3 completed parts.
Status of Project: Done
Mentor: Ms. Alina Fishchuk
- 12 & 13 YO Projects
Jane - Baking
Jane found her passion in baking. During her Passion Project lessons, she learns the secrets of cooking various delicacies, learns new interesting recipes, combinations. The result of her work you can see in the picture above :)
Status of Project: In Progress
Mentor: Ms. Kateryna Luzhetska
- 12 & 13 YO Projects
SECONDARY
DI's Message
What’s going on in Secondary?
Our focus in the coming week will be on our Feedback and Advocacy Conferences which will replace the traditional Parent Teacher Conferences on January 27th. If you would like to arrange a conference with any of your student’s teachers, please contact marianna-kotelnykova@kyiv.qsi.org and she will arrange this.
Students received information about the process this week by email and we will be discussing this process in Morning Mindset on Monday. Students will work with a mentor to help them brainstorm and formulate their ideas. While this is a new endeavor for our students, we feel that evaluating and advocating are important life skills, and we hope that teaching and using these skills in a comfortable and supportive setting will give them confidence to do this in other aspects of their lives.
National Honor Society Volunteer Project
Our KIS NHS Chapter has initiated a volunteer project with The Atlantic School, a Ukrainian school that offers classes in English. Our students are facilitating (virtually) a debate club, a cinema club, a homework club and an arts club for this school. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to work with others and help students in Ukraine improve their English skills in a fun and engaging manner. All KIS secondary students are invited to join this initiative if they are interested and should reach out to NHS president Omkar Nayak for more information: omkar-nayak@kyiv.qsi.org
Student Emails
Students should not use their school emails for any outside communication. QSI is concerned with the security of our systems and will block emails from outside our KIS community.
Sincerely,
Rachel Geary
Director of Instruction
rachel-geary@kyiv.qsi.org
School Day Schedule
LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH
External exams, DELF certificates
Our tradition of taking external exams for international certificates in spring is coming back. The French Institute in Ukraine has already scheduled DELF Prim (for 7-12 y.o. students) and DELF Junior (12-17 y.o.) examination sessions.
The online registration for DELF Prim will start in February and the exams will take place in May (11th – A1 level and 12th – A2). If you are interested, be tuned – soon, we will have more information. For DELF Junior, you will be able to sign up in March and the examinations will be organized in April (5th – A1/A2, 6th – B1 and 7th – B2).
The A/B levels correspond to QSI courses as follows:
A1 – French 1 (Secondary), French Intermediate I/II Elementary
A2 – French 2, French Advanced I/II Elem
B1 – French 3, IB French B year 1
B2 – French 4, IB French B year2
Your teacher will help you to choose the appropriate level and to get ready for the exam.
Parlons français!
Sincerely,
Sergey Berezhny
LOE Coordinator
sergey-berezhny@kyiv.qsi.org
WHOLE SCHOOL PORTAL
KIS Winter Contest
Thank you all who participated in the Winter Contest!
This time we had not that many submissions, and yet have the winners!
Minecraft Winter Village
Elementary:
1st Place - Deleena P.
2nd Place - Chi De
Secondary:
1st Place - Mariam A.
2nd Place - Fedote G.
Short Winter Story
Elementary:
1st Place - Lev I.
Middle School:
1st Place - Anhelina R.
Snowman
Elementary:
1st Place - Alan S.
Secondary:
1st Place - Aditya S.
StuCo and PTO would like to acknowledge the effort of every participant of this contest and give a special "participation" award to those who didn't win this time.
Like we did before, please expect to be contacted by the PTO representative to receive the prize.
P.S. We've put up a short video to highlight the submissions. Enjoy!
CAS Book Review
12+ The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang is a brilliant graphic novel about the breaking of normalized beauty standards. The story follows a prince that secretly feels beautiful in dashing ball gowns and the life of a dressmaker that refuses to confine to regular beauty standards. The story, also is drawn in a bright and colorful fashion, manages to dig deep into the idea of beauty and its followers.
I think almost everyone has often wanted to break the stereotype and wear something they want, but others would find it acceptable. Most of us teens also struggle with the sense of self, and discovering who we truly are. This story asks the question of, do you want to stay true to yourself or keep everyone around you happy with lies that hurt you?
I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever struggled with the image of self and had to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others.
CAS Book Club
Read a good book on the topic of issues of global assistance or global significance? Please share your review with us! How to do it? It's very simple, just use this FORM.
LEARNING STORIES & WEEK HIGHLIGHTS
This Is Us: Educator Profile
Bob Hume
Titles: Secondary Teacher
Why am I teaching: I didn't! I was going to be an auto mechanic (don't ask). After I worked in a copper / zinc mine for a couple years, I decided I'd rather do more thinking than shoveling. Even after I got my Ed degree and had worked in a few Canadian and international schools, I had other ideas. When Leanne and I got back from working in Saudi Arabia, and we had some money in the bank, we paid ourselves to be an actor (Leanne) and a writer (me), but it didn't work out financially, so we came back to teaching after a 9-year hiatus. After settling in to the reality that I would, in fact, be teaching for a living, I realized it was everything I really wanted -- a relevant, important, meaningful place in which to contribute with creative energy. Go figure.
Favourite Quote: "You cannot think your way to a new way of living. You must live your way to a new way of thinking."
Favourite thing about KIS: I love watching the grad ceremony. It's the best part of being on the team that gets our students over the last couple hurdles, and out the door with energy and enthusiasm.
Science News from the Classroom
Teacher: Sarah Lopert
Our 5 Year Old Classroom Students have been working really hard on Life Science: Plant and Animal Habitats/Systems Unit.
This week students should collect shoeboxes, glue sticks, scissors, and other small art supplies to ma
“Meet The Composer”
Teacher: Kateryna Luzhetska
Have you ever heard a group of 9 years old argue over whether Mozart or Beethowen was better? No? Well, I have 😊
This year 9yo students are learning about Musical Eras and the most famous composers.My teacher gave me the best of all: Believing in me!
Teachers: Yulia Vazhka and Lisa Chupryna
Being a safety netting teacher is like being a mother of many children, whose help every child needs. It is important to understand that all children are different, with different characters, different abilities.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dear Campus Community,
As you know, we have Classifieds section on the Connect Page of the school website. The Section contains the following branches:
If you have an announcement you would like us to place there, please email kozakconnect@qsi.org .