Hear from the Head

TIS Family,

Happy Mother’s Day! Many countries have a specific day set aside to celebrate mothers or honor them as part of a wider celebrated day. Whether your culture has this tradition or not, I do encourage you to specifically dedicate some time to acknowledge these amazing people in our lives.

I’d like to share two amazing examples from my life. First, my wife is an amazing mother to our children. She uniquely cares for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. If you have multiple children like we do, then you also understand that these needs are different for each of your children. Yet, somehow, she meets each of these needs individually. Another great example is my own mother. After 35 years as an Elementary teacher, my mother recently retired. Having a teacher for a parent was special in my life. She taught me a love for education that continues to manifest itself in the way I view education today.

So, a special thank you to the mother of my children, my own mom, and the moms who represent the TIS community. You are all greatly loved and appreciated.

Advanced Placement (AP) Testing
Many of you are well aware that we are completing the end of our first week of AP testing. That means only one more week to go! If you have a student who has completed all of their testing, well done. If you have a student who is testing next week, I highly recommend they get good sleep. The best thing for your student at this time of the year is to ensure they sleep well. If you have a student who will take AP testing sometime in the future, I want to encourage you to be patient. The time will come soon enough, and our students are always well-prepared.

Re-enrollment
The end of business today marks the end of our early re-enrollment season. I want to thank everyone for the great response in getting this work completed. If you have yet to make your decision regarding next school year, we’d love to talk to you and answer your questions. Knowing this information as soon as possible helps us ensure we are well-prepared for next school year. However, enrollment is always ongoing, it is only the early bird re-enrollment that comes to a conclusion today.

Thank you for all of your support. Have a wonderful weekend!

School Wide Announcements

Re-enrollment

To ensure you don’t miss the early-bird discount, please pay the re-enrollment deposit of ¥35,000 per student today. If you need help with the re-enrollment process, please contact the Admissions office.

Parenting a student with ADHD

Hello, parents! Chris and Shelley Cotton will be starting a parenting group, specifically on the area of kids with ADHD. The first meeting will be on Tuesday, May 21 at 8:00 p.m. at Starbucks in AoCheng (NorthEast corner). If you are interested in knowing more about this group, please contact Shelley Cotton at shelley.cotton@tiseagles.com.

Upcoming Events

Divisional News

ECC & Elementary

Some dates to keep in mind:

May 15 – *Muffins with Mom
May 17 – Elementary Concert
May 24 – SCIPMYLO
May 27 – 31 – Grade 6 Spring Trip
May 29 – 31 – Grade 5 Spring Trip
May 31 – June 1 – Grade 4 Campout
June 6 - Step Up Day
June 6 - Kindergarten Parents learn about Grade 1 at 2:30 p.m. in the Innovation Space
June 11 – Kindergarten Graduation
June 12 – Grade 6 Graduation
June 12 – Last Day of School

*Muffins with Mom - Please look for the note that came home with your child last Thursday. There are several different times based on grade levels.

Please look for slips for Papa John's to come home with your child for SCIPMYLO. Then you will receive tickets, which is how you will be able to get your pizza on the day of SCIPMYLO.

Grade 4 Minority Group Expo

On May 23, Grade 4 students will be having their annual Minority Group Expo. In social studies, students have been studying one of the 55 minority groups in China. They wrote an informational essay, created a diorama, and made an artifact on the minority group that interested them. Please join us for this special event. It will be after lunch from 12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Secondary

2024 - 2025 Science Fair

The Tianjin International School Science Fair is CHANGING!

In previous years, we have had all projects in a single judging bracket with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards given to the top three projects. This has worked well for as long as TIS has been holding the annual science fair.

However, after discussions with parents and internal discussions within the STEM department, we have decided to CHANGE things up!

Starting with the Science Fair this coming November 25 (date subject to change), we will have awards in two categories:

• “Application-Based Science” projects: Awards will be given for 1st and 2nd place
• “Experiment-Based Science” projects: Awards will be given for 1st and 2nd place

The judges will also pick two “Best of Show" projects that will be invited to advance to the Sichuan International Science Fair. The two “Best of Show” awards may or may not be awarded to the 1st place winners from each of the categories above as they will be selected by the judges as the two projects most deserving of advancing to the next level of competition, regardless of category. (For example, “Best of Show” projects might be awarded to 1st and 2nd place winners in the same category.)

Another big change is that I am stepping down from the science fair lead position and passing it off to the most capable Mr. Barta. So, if you are interested in participating in the 2024 Tianjin International School Science Fair, please send an email with your group member names to jonathan.barta@tiseagles.com, and you will be added to the TIS Science Fair Canvas page.

Here is some additional information concerning the Science Fair that may be useful as you make your plans:

The Science Fair is open to all Grades 9 – 12 students. The main rules of the Science Fair are as follows:

1: The project must be 100% original.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What already exists that is similar to my idea/topic/project?
• How is what I am doing an "original" application of my idea/topic/project?
• How is my idea/topic/project adding to the existing body of knowledge?

2: You may have no more than three team members, but they CAN be from multiple grades (9 – 12).
3: You must complete the project approval process BEFORE you perform your experiment (found on the TIS Science Fair Canvas page).
4: You must have a Science advisor (TIS Science staff in addition to any other qualified scientist) who is kept up to date on your project, its progression, and adjustments you are making.

Timeline of how a student should expect to progress their project:

1: Group formation and topic selection, January 2024 – May 2024
2: Students will have used the summer to do extensive research to ensure their chosen topic/project is fully original. While TIS staff will assist with ensuring originality, it is the STUDENTS’ responsibility to research their projects.
3: By the first week of school, students should have chosen a Science Advisor and given them a copy of their proposal for them to look over to make recommendations. This can be done earlier!
4: By the end of August, project proposals are submitted to the safety review committee to read through and approve BEFORE EXPERIMENTATION BEGINS. This can be done earlier!
5: Experimentation/design-build are completed by the end of October.
6: Data analysis, project summary, and presentations are nearly completed by the middle of November.
7: Project boards and presentations are prepared to be presented to judges during the Science Fair, November 25 (date subject to change).

Again, any interested parties should send an email to Mr. Barta at jonathan.barta@tiseagles.com so they can be added to the TIS Science Fair Canvas page for resources and additional direction.

Thank you so much for considering Science Fair. I can’t wait to see what you will do in the coming year!

Athletics

May 11: ISAC – Beijing/Tianjin schools MS Basketball Boys play at WAB in Beijing. Girls play at IST.

Parents are more than welcome! Go Eagles!!!

House Points Total