Grade 6 Seven Modern Wonders of the World

To conclude their inquiry into ancient civilizations, geography key themes, map making skills and settlements, Grade 6 students carried out a research and decision-making activity, to produce a list of their own Seven Modern Wonders of the World, following their inquiry into the original ancient modern wonders of the world, created by the ancient Greeks. Each presentation of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World had to have their own set of criteria, by which the students who created them, considered them to be a 'Wonder'. In turn, the class collaboratively devised a set of criteria by which to judge each others' presentations of their Seven Modern Wonders of the World. Special mention goes to Belva and Cala, and Laia, whose two presentations were deemed to be the joint winning presentations by their class of peers. 

The question is, which presentation of the Seven Wonders of the World do you consider to be the most wonderful?

Here are some examples of their presentations.

Akira, Jae, Mohamed and Oskar:

Polly, Theo and Michelle:

Laia:

Heather:

Belva and Cala:

Lucas and Jacques:

 

Grade 8 Students' Science Research Published Online!

 

Grade 8 Students at AISM explored how scientists use evidence to study the process of evolution. They took part in an academic research process and wrote about what they discovered. This magazine is the result of their efforts. It is 100% researched, written, edited, laid out, and published by students. Take a look and see what they were curious about when exploring evolution. The results will blow you away.

Please click on the image or on this link to see the magazine.

Amazing Grade 8 Human Rights Essays

For their final summative assignment in Individuals & Societies, the Grade 8 students were asked to produce a formal research essay using criteria adapted from the Grade 12 Extended Essay rubric to explore and evaluate a chosen human rights topics of interest. They were asked to use peer-reviewed academic journals to inform their research as they followed guidelines adapted from AISM's Big 6 Research Planner.

Here are some examples of the work they have produced (click on the images below to go to their work):

The MYP Personal Project Virtual Exhibition is Live!

 

Grade 11 students did an amazing job with their Personal Projects, with a very wide variety of topics being explored through this milestone experience.

Please get comfortable and spend a bit of time exploring the Virtual Exhibition so you can get a sense of what the students did, read some of their reports and see some of the products of their projects.

personalproject2021.aism.co.mz

Buffalo Voices Podcast - The Grade 11 Core Retreat

Grade 11 students just had a Core Retreat in which they were able to dedicate some time to the Core of the IB Diploma. This is made up of Theory of Knowledge (TOK), the Extended Essay and Creativity, Activity and Service. 

In this podcast, Sam Sherratt finds out more about the retreat, what happened and what impact it had by chatting to Gabriel Di Mauro (IB Diploma Coordinator), Rui da Silva (Extended Essay Coordinator), Colleen Fletcher (CAS Coordinator) and two Grade 11 students, Rylan and Jana.

AISM Radio · Buffalo Voices Podcast - G11 Core Retreat

Grade 10 Student's Poetry is Published!

 

Olinda, in Grade 10, blew us all away with her powerful poetry during the MYP Personal Project Exhibition and during the Buffalo Talks Author's Night a few months ago. She even impressed author Mia Couto so much that he invited her to join him and other authors at the Fundacao Fernando Leite Couto right then and there during the event!

The next part of the Olinda's story as a Poet has just happened, with two of her poems being published in the Minfo Femme magazine.

You can read her poems on pages 16 and 17 below.

Congratulations, Olinda!

The Grade 12 Extended Essay Exhibition 2021 is live!

 

Click on the image to visit the Extended Essay Exhibition

Grade 11 and 12 students go through the process of planning, writing and publishing the extended essay as part of the IB Diploma Programme. This is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

The extended essay provides:

• practical preparation for undergraduate research
• an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of personal interest to them, which relates to one of the student's six DP subjects, or takes the interdisciplinary approach of a World Studies extended essay.

Through the research process for the extended essay, students develop skills in:

• formulating an appropriate research question
• engaging in a personal exploration of the topic
• communicating ideas
• developing an argument.

This year, AISM students have written essays about topics ranging from the ideal diets for basketball players to the relationship between childhood experiences and criminal behaviour, from the discrimination and exploitation of minorities to Turtle nesting in Mozambique, from the effects of social isolation to Korean cuisine and social media! The diversity of topics is amazing, and something our school, and this cohort of students, can be very proud of.

Crucially, the extended essay is a powerful reminder of how important it is for students to be curious about the world, to develop strong interests and to develop the skills involved in personal inquiry.

Please enjoy exploring the Extended Essay 2021 Virtual Exhibition!

Sharing the Planet in Grade 2

In our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry, Grade 2 learners have been inquiring into living things in different environments and how humans share those environments with living things.

We met with one of our parents, James Hogg, who is an Environmental Scientist and avid bird-watcher. He shared information about different habitats in Maputo and the birds we might encounter in each habitat. We also  learned about the importance of planting indigenous plants to support local wildlife.

We were also inspired by Jadav Payang, the man who planted a forest, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wanagari Maathai, who told the story of the Hummingbird taking action.  We decided to plant indigenous trees and reached out to Ms. Colleen who taught us about the Spekboom plant, a super plant amongst plants!  She kindly shared some cuttings with us that we were able to plant and will be caring for on campus.  

Furthermore, we have been reading poems and stories about different habitats, and the 2H  Hummingbirds decided to write their own to show appreciation for the Earth.

Photo by John O'Nolan on Unsplash

Grade 7 are Spoken Poets and Activists!

The current unit in 7th grade Integrated Arts is "Activism in the Arts". We're looking at some of the visual art, music and performance art that has come out of activist movements around the world. All students created a spoken word poem about a cause of their choosing. Spoken Word Poetry has become a popular performance art among young people especially as they share their voices to help change the world and show their own power for good.

Here are some examples of the spoken word poems that Grade 7 students have been producing.

Zara:

Ver no Vocaroo >>

Kate:

 

Francesca:

Raisa:

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Powerful Poetry by Grade 9 Students

 

Grade 9 students have written, performed and produced videos for a variety of powerful, and personal, poems. These poems have been curated on the AISM Grade 9 Poetry Slam website. 

Click on the titles across the top of the webpage in order to access the pages for each individual poem, and don't forget to click "More" and scroll down the right-hand side of the webpage... there's more amazing poems there too!

4L Have Strong Opinions About Our Planet

How do you address your audience in a persuasive way? 

Grade 4L spent the last 8 weeks diving into deep issues around the world in our Sharing the Planet unit:

Central Idea: Interactions within environments have consequences

Lines of Inquiry:

• The cause and effect relationships within the environment
• How interactions impact environmental balance and sustainability
• How advancement in technology changes and affects the world around us.

Changing people's thinking about how we treat the planet was 4L's purpose behind learning how to write a strong and persuasive opinion text. 

We learned how to persuade readers by using a strong and bold thesis, reasons to support that thesis, and finally, examples to help us elaborate about our reasons. 

Please take a few minutes to read our published pieces and learn how you can share our planet responsibly.

We Need to Stop Poaching by Maelle

Stop Water Pollution by Mufaro

We Need to Stop Poaching by Elliana

Is Air Pollution a Problem? by Monica

We Need to Use Less Plastic by Hannah (coming soon!)

Deforestation Needs to Stop by Maia

We Need to Stop Deforestation Now!! by Makai

Climate Change by Tomas

Feel free to leave a comment on this post and share your opinions about sharing the planet too.

Photo by Richard Gatley on Unsplash

My Happy Place - A Poem by Joy Winter

 

Photo by Joy Winter

Kindergarten's Urban Safaris!

 

During their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry, Kindergarten students are learning about the living things that share our environment:

Central Idea: When we look closely and wonder, we learn appreciation and respect for living things in our environment.

Lines of Inquiry:

• The features and behaviours of living things
• How features and behaviour connects to where they live (habitats)
• Respect and appreciation for living things

While the AISM campus was closed, they were challenged to go on an "urban safari" around their homes to see what living things they could find. Then, they were asked to document what they saw and record their ideas and thoughts about the features and behaviours of living things in their environments.

Here are two of those urban safaris!

Many thanks to Arielle, Pedro and their families for sharing these wonderful explorations and documentation with us.

Photo by: Rikki Chan on Unsplash

"Dear World" by Mariana in Grade 3S

 

Dear World,

Everyone needs to “STOP RACISM” because you can't judge people by their color. Just because a person is a particular color, does not mean they are not nice or as special as anyone else. In fact we are all humans with: family members, eyes, nose, ears, bodies, lives, and friends. Maybe not all of us have shelter but we all learn and we need to support others and accept them the way they are.

My opinion is that it is very rude to be racist. Like what happened to Jorge Floyd, American police killed him just because of his skin color, and that's not right. He was: a dad, a brother, a son and most of all a young man and he was a human. It's unfair you are making people lose their self confidence and people will feel sad, anxious, a loser and uncomfortable with who they are.

Everyone has the right to be loved, have a family, have friends that love you. Everyone has the right to have freedom to be themselves, and live with freedom with no one judging them. People need to feel free in this world and feel confident with themselves.

“DON'T BE RACIST”

From: Your Mariana in 3S
To: Our amazing world!

Image from: https://www.gcftf.org/statement-against-racism-and-inequity/