Last Friday, our faculty and staff spent the day visioning for our future as a school. The focus centered around students and how relationships in the school, community, and world can support student learning. This nexus of relationships and student learning is one that we are committed to strengthening as we move forward in our evolution as a school.
Christian Talbot, Middle States Association President, captures just one of the directions of our work:
"We need to reimagine the design of “school.” We have mostly designed “school” based on the assumption that learning happens in the brain in our skull. In reality, the mind extends into the body, our environment, our relationships...[this] idea is bigger than a building, a curriculum, or even a community."
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Tomorrow is the last day to bring items for the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. All donations can be dropped off at the reception area.
- Medical supplies: bandages, gauze, antiseptics, pain relievers, first aid boxes, sterile solutions, masks, gloves, etc.
- Clothing: warm clothes for adults and children, blankets, winter jackets, etc
- Baby products: powdered milk, baby food, wet wipes, diapers, bottles, etc.
- Non-perishable food items: canned food, energy bars, instant noodles, condensed milk, nuts
- Hygiene supplies: soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, towels, etc.
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Ms. Evdoxia Adelfopoulou and her Grade 7, 8 and 10 students of Native Greek Language & Literature studied an article by Demetrios Rhombotis, which reveals the actions taken by Greek people living in the USA during the 1960s to support the African American people’s fight for justice and freedom. The students discussed the courage and revolutionary spirit of these people, as well as their invaluable contribution to safeguarding black people’s fundamental rights. The lesson focused on exploring the Greek immigrants’ relations with the American community during the Civil Rights Movement and instilling in the students the values of equality, justice and solidarity. |
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Mr. Konstantinos Kakaroudis and his Secondary Physical Education-Health students discussed Kobe Bryant’s life and achievements and how his work ethic can be transferred and adjusted to any aspect of the students’ life. |
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Kindergarten celebrates 100 Days of School
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This special day dates back to 1979. Kindergarten teacher Lynn Taylor, in California, celebrated the 100th day of school in her classroom to help children understand the concrete lesson of the number 100. The event evolved to develop students’ understanding and recognition of numbers up to 100 and it became part of the school culture. It’s ideal for supporting math milestones and counting skills in Kindergarten.
Counting the days in school is an integral part of their morning routine and encourages students to learn how to count by 1's and 10's while also developing a better understanding of the place value of the numbers.
The Rockets celebrated their special day by counting to 100, marching around the school and singing a special song, and challenging themselves to build a tower using 100 unifix cubes and another one using 100 books!
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Grade 1 - focus on Kindness
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This month, Grade 1 students have been focusing on kindness. They explored what kindness means and how we can be kind. They read several books and used those to perform a role-playing activity on acting kindly to others by empathizing and including everyone. We also had a special parent visit and watched the film '
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse'. Students explored and shared their emotional responses to this film with their peers. In another activity, they worked on the Compliments Wall. The poster above is outside our Grade 1 classroom, in which children compliment their peers who recognize actions or behaviors they appreciate.
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Girls in Science - International Day of Women
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To celebrate International Day of Women (March 8) and Girls in Science day (Feb 11), we had the honor to have a guest speaker, Dr. Maria Moysidou, in Grade 4. Maria is the chief of the Molecular Biology lab at MyLab laboratories and a teacher at the Metropolitan College in the program of Biomedical Science and Podiatry and the master program in Medical Genetics. She talked about a scientist's role, the stereotypes, and gender equality. We explored what a scientist does and what values, such as curiosity, creativity, and communication, are essential for him or her to possess to innovate.
Students engaged in a team-building activity with balloons to better conceptualize the significance of active listening, coordinate efforts, and respect others for the benefit of the group. Also, we read books about the accomplishments of women throughout history and the globe in all kinds of disciplines and scientific fields, we sketched portraits of the ones that inspired us the most and we watched YouTube talks about personal testimonies of having access to higher education and equal opportunities to the STEAM workforce.
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Secondary Greek Native Students - Musical
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As part of their Greek native course with Ms. Adelfopoulou and Ms. Kika, our Grade 7,8, and 9 Greek students attended the Musical “Ena vima ti fora” at the Radio City theater this week. The musical is about the story of a 12-year-old girl who is trying to face all the new changes and situations as she heads into her teens.
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Tsiknopempti at Elementary
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Our Elementary students enjoyed tsiknopempti as it is traditionally the day where they can dress up and be anything they want!
Students were encouraged to come dressed up in unique and imaginative costumes, and we saw some great costumes, which you can find in the picture gallery.
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Basketball and Soccer tournaments
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The Pinewood High School basketball team won third place in the ACS Tournament in Athens this past weekend. |
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The Pinewood Middle School soccer team played 4 games in the Junior Aegean Tournament: 1 win, 1 draw, and 2 defeats. |
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The secondary Student Council e-published for the first time the monthly Pinewood times, written by and for students! |
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Students of Grades 11 and 12, are exhibiting artworks they created during their International Baccalaureate (IB) Visual Arts course. The young artists have explored a variety of subjects and challenges in order to create engaging and meaningful artworks while experimenting with painting, sculpture, digital art, photography, printmaking, and video art.
There is a wide variety of topics that the students explored, all requiring the audience to think critically about the issues depicted and consider the many small and big adjustments that our world requires today. The audience is called to contemplate trending topics of the literal and symbolic manifestation of trauma, body image, and mental illness, as well as recurrent topics about our life cycle, the natural world with its beauties and its horrors, and a novel viewpoint on Greek mythological female characters.
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The opening of the exhibition will take place in the Remezzo Gallery space in Kalamaria, on Thursday, March 16, at 18.00. The artists will be presenting their work and will be available to answer questions. The exhibition is curated by visual artist and art teacher Ms. Konstantina Kapanidou.
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Book Week is a celebration of reading and imagination, and it is a fantastic opportunity for all of us to enjoy the fun of reading.
Click below for an overview of some exciting events and activities planned for Book Week.
We hope these two weeks will inspire students to love reading and to appreciate the power of stories.
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Greetings from NESA, with a reminder that Session 2 of the second semester of NESA Parents as Partners 2022-2023 is coming up in just under two weeks:
February 28, 2023, 4:00-5:00 pm GMT+2 (Athens, Greece time)
Please note that NESA does not communicate this offering directly to parents: we rely on you to spread the word and share the InfoPacket and reminders with your school and parent community.
Parents may register for all spring sessions directly with NESA via the following link:
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A recording will be uploaded to the InfoHub after the session. |
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ELEMENTARY
Feb 27: Clean Monday (no school)
Feb 28: Jewelry club Exhibition
Mar 2: Bookmark Competition Winners
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SECONDARY
Feb 20-24: Entrepreneurship Week
Feb 27: Clean Monday (no school)
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