As Pre-K started their week of review and celebration they worked on an activity that involved many skills...Paper Pattern Chain.Students we asked to create a paper chain to use next week as decoration for their virtual end of year class celebration.They were asked to make any pattern, AB, ABC, ABB or any design they liked and count how long they made their chain...below are a couple of creations.

Students from Arabic Middle School were given an activity to research, learn and present about a famous person of choice. This could be anyone from scientists, authors, activists, politicians and so on. It was such an interesting project for the students as they get to research and find out more about famous people who made a big change and impact in life. Some of the chosen ones were Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Taha Hussain, Ghazi Algosaibi and many more. The students were given the freedom to choose the way they wanted to present their learning. They explored different programs and apps like Loom and Imovie. It is impressive to see the great work our students are producing.

What a fun way to learn Math! This week students of grade 1 had an exciting Virtual Math Class where they played Virtual Bingo. Students grouped in 4 or 5 played in one go. The game used virtual manipulative that popped up the subtraction bingo questions and grid. Children had to respond in turns, and as a team they could win a bingo if they all managed to get 5 subtraction questions in a row correctly! What a great engaging way to connect and motivate each other!

Nursery students have a 5 week science project of how to grow plants. The project involved choosing and planting seeds and watching the plant’s progress as it grows. Students kept track of their plants progress and sent pictures of them selecting their seeds, planting, watering and adding compost. The students enjoyed the whole experience of gardening and its benefits. This project helps students to work on their patience and responsibility and encourages healthy eating. They are currently in their week 3 of the seeds project and excited for the upcoming two weeks of progress.

After grade 6 completed a unit about the circulatory system, they were asked to take their learning one step further and create a model.  The students went above and beyond as they created models using cake, Mine-craft, clay to name a few.  This activity was such a great experience for students to explore, plan, innovate and create! Next, they will create the digestive system!

Grade 1 had a virtual show and share - bring your pet to small group meetings! The students were excited to show off their pets and talk a little bit about them. They talked about their pets' names, what they eat and what they liked to do! This was a fun and great opportunity for the students to practice and build effective communication and listening skills.

In a recent unit in Arabic class, grade 9 have been studying various articles. This requires a good understanding of new vocabulary as well as understanding the main idea of the article. Grade 9 Girls studied an article about the "Danger of smoking" and were asked to present as a group discussing this topic. They presented a very good virtual group presentation and they linked “Dangers of Smoking” to the pandemic (COVID-19). 

Grade 10 students in Ms. Richardson and Dr. Bicker's classes are creating a virtual World War II museum, as part of their Project Based Learning. Students will research battles in Europe and the Pacific, to create two of the rooms in the museum. In addition, they are able to personalize their museum, by creating two further rooms of their choice. Students will also be creating a gift shop selling replica items and books that are representative of the war. On completion, students will take their classmates on a journey through their museum. The students are very excited to show off their final work!

Students of Grade 6 and Grade 7 were asked to watch a speech given by H.M the king to all students in Bahrain. This activity was given in Citizenship class, students were to listen to the speech, analyze it, and write up a short analysis. Their analysis was written and displayed on the padlet. The students selected different parts of the speech that they thought was important and they all came up with great analysis!

Nadir, a grade four student, recently wrote a persuasive essay to his teacher about a project he designed to support Robinhood Army Bahrain and the BSPCA. Through his essay, Nadir communicated his desire and experience stating, “I want to do a fundraiser because it helps the people and animals living in Bahrain. I have done a fundraiser previously for BSPCA, Feed the Need, Save the Children, UK and volunteered for Saturday Biryani Party for Workers.” Nadir went on to identify the need, a possible solution and explained his plan to carry out the project. 

With approval from his teacher, Mr. Blackbourn and support from his family, Nadir organized and ran a fundraiser selling homemade hand-sanitizer bags. This event was designed with recent health concerns and social distancing in mind; customers selected their bag and deposited their money in a “money box” outside his front door. This ingenious plan kept him and his customers safe, while contributing to a good cause.  Nadir sold out of bags and raised 100 Bd, all of which will support some great organizations. 

Deep learning continues in our middle school as Grade 6 learns about the organelles in plant and animal cells! Through RVIS’s virtual learning platforms and regular calls with Ms. Kneyse, students were able to develop an in-depth understanding of this essential scientific topic. In order to assess students’ understanding Ms. Kneyse challenged her class to demonstrate their knowledge in a creative and virtual way. Ms. Kneyse was impressed with Zain’s work commenting, “I love her creativity in demonstrating her understanding of what we have studied!” The virtual school experience continues to develop new and innovative ways to assess students, allowing for more freedom and creativity while still effectively guiding teaching. We are so thankful to have such a talented group of teachers and students who continue to make the most out of this new learning environment.  Check out the full video!

Pre-K Students were given a great activity of creating a rolled paper structure. This activity was a creative way for the student to practice cutting, pasting and independence. They explored length by using long, short and medium length sheets. The paper structures produced by the students were wonderful and they enjoyed creating them!

KG students recently learned about different creatures in science. Xoren, a KG student, was so fascinated by this science unit. She went, searched and collected different things that the creatures need in their habitat. Then she created a wonderful diorama habitat and a few creatures all by herself and filmed the process!  The end result was marvellous and so creative!

Grade 6 girls class had a terminal project for drama. The project involved students selecting the text that they wanted (an original piece of writing, a poem or a story). They made creative choices about how to present their work, and then filmed or recorded them. This was a summative final project for Drama, part of the wheel classes in middle school. Grade 6 girls delivered wonderful and creative work!

In advisory class Grade 6 boys gave a presentation after 2 weeks of preparation. The topic was given to them by their teacher Dr. Amin, and he asked them to research and have their slides ready in 2 weeks.The whole class listened through each student's presentation and had the opportunity to comment and start discussions. This was a great opportunity for students to learn from each other and to work on their debating skills.

Ms. Lama is working with her Grade 1 Non-Native Arabic students to practice their Arabic in a new and fun way. Students were asked to read and practice a list of Arabic sentences and once confident, to teach someone of their choice how to speak Arabic! The students enjoyed teaching and filming themselves giving Arabic classes to their parents and/or siblings!

Ms. Rania and her Non-Native G9 Arabic class are continuing to develop their language skills from afar using Padlet. Students were asked to read a short Arabic story about Friendship and to record themselves. Then they were asked to create a short description of what friendship means to them. They were asked to explain it in both Arabic and English. This topic was chosen to allow students a chance to express their feelings about the friends they are currently missing during virtual school. Ms. Rania stated, “I am very proud and happy with the continuous effort and progress of my students”.

Pre-K students were asked to listen to an online story, “Carla’s Sandwich” which is about a student who kept bringing weird sandwiches to school and her classmates would give her mean comments about them. Despite that, she thought they were creative and unique! After listening to the story, students were asked to make something they like to eat. Alice chose “tagliatelle”  and helped make it! She loved making it and even more enjoyed eating it!

Carl Davies conducted the floating rice experiment to study the impact rice would have on buoyancy. His hypothesis was that the bottle will not float unless it is completely full of rice. During the experiment, Carl tested bottles with different levels of rice to see if they would float or sink, pressing them to the bottom of the container with a stick and seeing if they would come to the surface. Upon completion of his experiment he concluded his hypothesis was correct. He was very excited and enjoyed the whole experience.

Wesal, from Mr. Fields class (grade 5), and RVIS math coach Beth, meet on Google Hangouts three times a week. This was a session in which they were sorting true and not true equations to review adding and subtracting fractions. The review was completely student-led in that she chose the equation, decided if true or not true, and then explained her reasoning. This is the beauty of synchronous online learning with Google Slides and Google Hangouts.

Students from Grade 2 were asked to grab some sidewalk chalk and go outside to draw something they can interact with. Examples included: pretend to have butterflies, super powers or to build a snowman! The students went above and beyond with their wonderful interactive artwork. Some the student artwork included a bicycle they pretended to ride, shooting hoops and walking a dog. It is amazing to see how creative our students at RVIS are!

Through her Grade 12 psychology class, Ms. Richardson’s students applied their new knowledge of operant conditioning to create a brochure to help new teachers with classroom management. Aiden, a Grade 12 student, suggested positive and negative reinforcement for encouraging or influencing certain behaviors. While using negative punishment like taking away privileges for more serious infractions like academic dishonesty. 

Ms. Richardson commented, “I love two things about teaching Psychology. The first is that students don't really know what to expect when they start the class. The second is watching them quickly realize how applicable it is to their everyday lives! For this project, students applied the concepts of operant conditioning (rewards and punishments) to give some ideas to new teachers about how they could manage their classroom. Let's just say, they had some very interesting ideas!”

Ms. Gaynor is working to get her students outside!  Through Seesaw, Ms. Gaynor had students spend time in their favorite spot at home, and draw a picture of what they see. Linking to literacy and science, students then labeled their picture to create a diagram to share with the class.  This is Mark who chose to work in his garden. His labeled diagram can be seen below.

RVIS is fortunate to have fantastic learning coaches working with teachers and students across the school. Fiona Al Rowaie is our literacy coach, Beth Terry is our math coach, and Rao Olayeye is our technology coach, all of whom are highly knowledgeable in their respective fields. Their support and guidance has enabled teachers to rapidly shift to an online environment learning and deepen the teaching and learning practices that is occurring. 

During Virtual School our coaches have been curating and creating a wide range of resources for teachers to use and have also been co-teaching alongside our staff.  Luke Meinen, our LEVEL 5 manager, has also been incredibly supportive, working alongside our coaches to create the new RVIS Virtual Learning Resources website. 

Thank you Fiona, Beth, Rao and Luke for going above and beyond in supporting the entire RVIS community.