Principal's Pen

ECC & Elementary

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year. We have a lot of major events and fun activities coming up for students and families. The next major event is SCIPMYLO. This is a long standing TIS tradition. The way it works has changed slightly over the years. Though it has been a long time since we have done a whole school SCIPMYLO, I am very excited as it was one of my highlights years ago.

As a whole school, SCIPMYLO encourages and allows opportunities for students of different ages to get to know each other. We hope that as many parents as possible can come, and help, and cheer on the students. It should be a fun day filled with excitement. We will be playing in House teams to work towards a SCIPMYLO Cup that will be announced after lunch in the Gym. It should be a great and exciting time, and we hope all parents will come to experience this fun time.

Please be sure to read your child’s newsletter to ensure that you know all the fun things happening at the end of the school year.

Miss Barsalou

Secondary

Dear Parents,

There are just a few more weeks in school and still so much to do! I appreciate all of our students’ and teachers’ hard work in completing AP weeks! These days were filled with challenging and grueling tests. I am confident that our students were both well-prepared and did their best! I’m proud of our school’s reputation of excellence, and our students proved themselves of academic excellence these past two weeks.

We also have Spring Trips May 27-May 31. I look forward to hearing stories and seeing great pictures as our students travel all over China to learn about different cultures and build memories together.

Then after Spring Trips, our seniors will have an opportunity to complete their senior presentations. These presentations are some of my favorite things all year. Seniors get 20 minutes to present their journey here at TIS in front of their friends, teachers, and parents. Students will provide evidence of how they demonstrated the LifePlus 9 Qualities for Life while here at TIS. They also have an opportunity to tell their story and give us a glimpse of what their future looks like. After answering questions from a panel of teachers, and if they pass the rubric, seniors will have completed the last thing required for graduation. All of these presentations are open for friends and parents to come watch and support our seniors. A schedule will be sent out soon, so please mark your calendars and come cheer our seniors across the finish line!

Mr. Way

School Wide Announcements

Upcoming Events

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.

ELS

After school Levels and ELS classes will end next week. The final class will meet on Wednesday, May 22.

Divisional News

ECC & Elementary

Some dates to keep in mind:

May 17 – Elementary Concert
May 24 – SCIPMYLO
May 27 – 31 – Grade 6 Spring Trip
May 29 – 31 – Grade 5 Spring Trip
May 30 - June 1 - Grade 3 Field 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

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 about the minority group that interested them. All are welcome to see and hear what the Grade 4 students have learned this year. By Grade 4 classrooms. From 12:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

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: Fun soccer game Staff v Student 3:40 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.
May 22: Fun basketball game Staff v Student 3:40 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.

Let’s have FUN!!

House Points Total