Student Community Services
The educational philosophy of the International Baccalaureate program focuses on the development of the whole person. This includes community service as a requirement for all students. Community service can be performed at several levels - in class, in school and in local communities - depending on the developmental stage of the student. Here are some recent examples:
- Student Profile: An overview of GAIS students
- Ice Cream Social
- Halloween Party
- Student Council Petition to School Society
- Voluntary Work at Sunny View Assisted Living,Cupertino
- Food Drive, Palo Alto
General Student Activities
- French Class Field Trip to San Francisco
- IB Project: Man <-> Nature
- Peace Web Site after Sept. 11th, 2001
- Art Exhibition at SFO Airport
- Student Life at the German-American School
Student Profile: An overview of GAIS students
TBA soon
Ice Cream Social
Student report: On October 3rd, the German National Day, the student council organized a big ice cream social in front of the gymnasium. Helen Dang and Julian Stahl were responsible for shopping. Lena Walther took care of the posters. On that day Mrs. Kispersky let the student council members leave the 4th period 10 minutes earlier, which gave them time to do the last minute preparations. Ceri Williams and Lena Walther distributed Otterpops, while Claire Fusilier collected the money. Angela Moore supported opening of the ice cream packages. Teresa van Osdol, Julian Stahl and Alexandra Miller sold cold soft drinks. The student council made a profit of $30 on a total income of $50.
Halloween Event 2002
Student report: On October 31st, our school had a Halloween party. While 1st - 4th Grades were carving pumpkins, the 6th - 8th Grades were setting up games and a haunted house. After the pumpkin carving, there was a parade and something to eat which was followed by the opening of the activities. They were not only fun for children but also for the parents. With the combination of these events, Halloween was a huge success!
Student Council petition to school society
As part of learning about how democracy works, the student council presented a petition to the parents at a School Society meeting. The students asked to have the day after Halloween off, instead of some other day previously chosen by the Board. They presented their petition to the parents and addressed questions. The vote of the parents was in favor of the students' proposal.
Voluntary Work at Sunny View Assisted Living, Cupertino
As part of a school project, students from the fifth through eighth grade visit the Sunny View assisted living retirement home. They visit on a regular basis and bring joy to the people living there through singing, crafts, games and conversation.
Student report: On October 9, 2002, the fifth through eighth grade classrooms visited the Sunnyview Retirement Home in Cupertino in order to bring joy to the residents there. We sang, told stories and did arts and crafts with the residents. Some of the students had already visited this retirement home last year and even had the opportunity to work with the same person as last year. Some of the residents had Alzheimers, a common condition where people quickly forget past events. Sometimes it was not easy for us since many of the older people could no longer hear well. Therefore, we had to speak especially loudly and clearly. Some of the students even send letters to the residents throughout the year. The older people there are especially thankful for such contact.
After the trip to the retirement home we went to a park where everyone was able to speak about their experiences.
Here you can see some impressions of the visits. Click on a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Food Drive 2002
span class="bold">Student report: In November, six students from the sixth grade class (Lena, Teresa, Ceri, Helen, Julian and Konstantin) were in Palo Alto to distribute food to people who could not afford to buy it. First, we sorted the food onto shelves. Then one person was allowed into the room that looked like a shop. People received a lot to eat. They were only allowed to come twice a week.
IB Project: Man <-> Nature
Following this year’s ski vacation the students of 5th through
8th grade worked for 4 weeks on a complex IB unit. The central theme
was: What relation, if any, exists between man and nature? The subjects
of English, German, Math, History, Arts, Geography, Music and Biology
were included in this unit. The students tried to find answers to
this complex question from different angles. In English they wrote
poems about nature, and read them aloud to background music that
underlined the atmosphere of the poem. In Technology they developed
a questionnaire regarding energy consumption that was sent to Germans
as well as Americans to allow a comparison between the people of
the two countries. The results then were evaluated in Math in the
"Introduction to Statistics" unit. In Geography the focus
topic was the rain forest. Strong interdisciplinary planning by
the subject teachers supported this unit, and the characteristic
curriculum was taught in every subject.
The unit culminated in an activity for the students in which they
applied all aspects of what they had learned. The parents were invited
to this final event so they too could learn what the IB program
really means. They worked in teams with the students to find answers
to the question. The parents were surprised by what the students
had learned and with connections they were able to make. The results
of all the teams were demonstrated on posters:
Peace Web Site after Sept. 11th, 2001
Our students put together a peace web site after the events in 2001. Here you will find what they thought.
Art Exhibition
In 2002 our 4th Grade students participated in an art contest. The results were exhibited in the San Francisco Airport (see News). These are some of the pictures exhibited.
"Herbststurm", Keiko Wolff, 2002
"Die stille Brücke", Keiko Wolff, 2002
Picture to the music of Beethoven, 2002
Picture to the music of Debussy, 2002
Flags of the world
Keiko Wolff, 2002
Erik Ziegenbalg, 2002
Expressionism/Cubism
"Die einsame Wolke", Nils Krueger, 2002
Berkin Deniz Cakmak, 2002
Erik Ziegenbalg, 2002
Student Life at the German-American International School
Our kindergarten children turned into school children on their 1st day of the new school year 2003/2004. as usual in Germany, many of them are proud of their big "Schultuete".
Here are some pictures from the graduation ceremony of the school year 2001/2002. Click on a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Pictures from the students' Surfing Course 2002. All of our teachers have their special and unique skills, some of which are evident outside of the classroom. Jens-Peter Jungclaussen demonstrates his skills on the surfboard as a windsurfing/surfing instructor. His lessons are of particular interest to the children. Click on a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Some DAS parents joined Jens-Peter for a special adult course!
Students frequently prepare presentations. Below is a picture of a product presentation that the children made for their technology class. They invented a product, built a prototype and did a sales pitch to the parents of the class.
Here are some pictures from our 2002 Christmas Concert.
