• Students will have a transition year in their preparation for the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades MYP structure.
• 5^th and 6^th grade will focus on learning/applying a high level of organization and preparation to support the level of learning in the remaining years of Middle School.
• Students will be introduced to the IMS Team’s policies and procedures.
• Students will be receiving instruction from teachers with very directed subject-specific training for MYP.
• Students are assessed against predetermined assessment criteria and not against other students.

Please click here: The IB Mission Statement 

• The first week of Middle School an “Arena Check-In Week” will take place. This is a week of organization, team building, and introduction to IMS policies and procedures. The week will culminate with an IMS Parent, Student, and Teacher Potluck in the IMS Forum.
• The first lesson every Monday morning will be designated as an advisory period for continuing support, preparation, and organization.
• All 5^th grade teachers will be planning and implementing lessons directed at preparing and teaching the students how to be successful in the IMS in the first Units of Study.
• Staff will be prepared to support students in case of any confusion or difficulties throughout the process of change.
• Each 5^th grade student will be assigned to a buddy group for the Arena Check in and these will also be their Yard Duty groups.
• An organizational workshop series—Organizational Skills, Study Skills, Time Management Skills—will take place throughout the Middle School years.
• An Internet Safety workshop series (Safety and Security, Digital Citizenship, Research and Evaluation, Be an Upstander! Addressing Cyber Bullying in Schools, Keeping Track of Privacy and Digital Footprints, How to Respect Creative Work in a Copy-Paste Culture) will also take place throughout the years.
• Scheduling for Grade 5 is prioritized to support their organization and transition.
• We will focus on involving the parents in the MYP Years (potlucks, coffee meetings, workshops).
• Academic support teachers will be incorporated as needed.
• A Special Support Teacher will be incorporated as needed.
• The Community Action Service (CAS) requirement will be adapted by grade level in the MYP Years (10 hours in fifth grade) and CAS opportunities will be posted to ManageBac.
• Students will be introduced to an online communication platform (ManageBac). This will be used for communication about formative and summative tasks, grades, and school events.
• Any specific question for a teacher outside of the regular school day should be sent to the teacher as an email (@gais.org).

• All students will be assigned to an Advisory/Homeroom teacher. This teacher will be their main contact person and Advisory/Homeroom teacher throughout all Middle School Years. The teacher will help to organize and attend all field trips with the students. They will meet every Monday, first lesson, to address topics such as: social/emotional lessons, organization, planning, document preparation/collection (for field trips, etc.), team building activities, review of ManageBac and IMS policies/procedures, etc.

• The homeroom teacher and the final assignment of the subject teachers will be announced by August 1^st.

Organization

• Students in grade 5 will be assigned a locker.
• Students will be assigned a location for jackets, backpacks, and lunches.
• Students will be taught to use a Pendaflex organizer to keep their worksheets organized.
• 5th grade student books will remain in the classrooms where lessons occur, unless they need to be used for homework.
• Currently looking into using electronic textbooks when legally permitted.
• Students will receive a daily planner for recording assignments and for coordinating with homework club or Hort and will also have assignments posted on Manage Bac.

Time Management

• Most summative assessment tasks will be completed during the lessons.
• Students will be supported in organization and time management in order to complete tasks.
• Students will be given a 5-minute transition time between classes and after breaks. They may also be given a 5-minute break during “double lessons” if needed.

For an overview of subjects being taught please click here: IMS Subjects 2013_2014 

For an overview of how much is being taught in German or English please click here: German/Englisch IMS 

• Electives sign up for the 2013_2014 academic school year will take place at the end of May 2013.

• In the last three years we had 100 percent successful transition (acceptance rate) into high schools.
• The 2011–2012 academic school year was the first year that the German/English track was implemented. In the past, all lessons were conducted in German except for U.S. History, U.S. Government, English, and the third language (Language B) courses. This in no way affected smooth transition into U.S. or International High School systems.
• The recommendation is that students take the subjects that offer the option of choosing between the German/English Tracks (Humanities and Math) based on the student’s dominant language so that successful learning of the topics is the main focus at these times (as opposed to learning of a language); however, the final choice is up to the parents and student depending on the educational path they may choose to follow. The students will not be allowed to switch from one track to the other during the school year without teacher recommendation for serious academic issues in which the language of instruction is the factor for the recommendation.

• The Humanities courses grade grammar and use of vocabulary as part of its subject-specific criteria. The focus in Humanities will, of course, be on the content studied; however the course will also focus on the students’ abilities to transmit their knowledge and understanding through non-fiction writing tasks (Essay, Research Reports, Current Event Reports). They will also be required to read high-level texts and write in the language of instruction. Therefore, the student should be strong in the language selected (German/English) in order to get the most out of the Humanities class.

First we need to explore: What is the main purpose of homework?          

• Practice of skills and concepts students has learned at school.
• Finishing work that wasn’t completed in class for different reasons (e.g., poor time management, lack of organization, failure to focus) or to promote responsibility
• Support of time management and organization skills through long-term projects
• Individual research

When is homework effective?

• When it has a clear academic purpose (promotes growth)—no busy work.
• When it is relevant and differentiated, so that students can do it effectively.
• When it encourages students to communicate and share their learning outside of the classroom. (e.g., family topic discussion, interview a family member, community project).

In discussing our homework policy we agreed on the following statement:

When assigned, homework must be meaningful and support the lessons. It is up to the teacher to carefully monitor the time spent on this work so that the student’s need for leisure time and rest is not compromised. As a daily average, students should not do more than:

• Grades 1–2                     30 minutes
• Grades 3–5                     45 minutes
• Grades 6                          60 minutes
• Grades 7–8                     90 minutes

We agreed not to give homework over the weekend or over the breaks.

If students have mastered a specific skill or concept at school and worked hard throughout the day, teachers might decide extra homework is not necessary. Nevertheless there are some daily homework assignments that are valuable and should be consistent. Students should spend time every day reading. For German comprehension, every student is assigned an Antolin account and students could use time at home to work on-line. Practicing vocabulary and math facts should be ongoing projects. Having flash cards at home can be very helpful. For other helpful programs, students might want to contact their teachers directly.

Parents might also want to ask students about long-term assignments and help them manage their time, so that they don’t feel overwhelmed the day before a summative assessment is due.

Students will adjust to the demands of more homework as they face these challenges and as they grow older and more mature. Our goal as an IB School is to find a balance for each individual student—they are at the center of their learning. Therefore, we provide a modified program, to meet different needs.

• Students will not be required to have a laptop in Grade 5, although they will need to have access to a computer at home.
• On-line research/technology-based projects will be completed using: classroom computers. With budget approval, a Mac Book Laptop Cart and iPad Cart will be specifically in place for use by 5th grade students.
• Currently, we are in the process of checking with legal about the use of optical character recognition (OCR) for digital textbooks. Subsequently, there may be a rental requirement for iPads as of 6^th grade.
• The IMS offers many on-line resources to guide research as well as links to resources provided by the curriculum.
• Teachers will provide resource links that are approved for student use.
• The school provides software to monitor the student activities.

• Computer use will be limited in 5th grade as this is viewed as a transition year.
• Most computer-based projects will be completed in the lessons; however, students may need to complete some computer-based activities at home.
• Students and parents will have access to ManageBac for student progress, academic calendar, and other related material. They should access ManageBac at least once or twice per week.
• There will be weekly/daily digests with information about the IMS available on-line as well.