FIS Monthly Bulletin

January/February 2009
Volume 1 Issue 5

Dear FIS Parents,                        

I sincerely wish you had a wonderful Chinese New Year! 

Saying good bye to the once-in–a year Spring Festival, we now start a new semester.

We had sent you the Report Card of your children during the past winter holiday, hoping it will help you keep track of your children’s performance in school.

This winter holiday, eighteen students joined the Turkey trip organized by FIS.  They did a very good job representing the school at various cultural exchange activities with our Turkish friends.  It was a joy to see our students take this chance to open their eyes and broaden their international vision.  We hope they continue to grow as high-qualified global citizens.

In this new semester, we are proud to announce that the number of students in FIS has again increased. There were 17 new students who joined our FIS family last Feb 4th, our first day of the second semester. To ensure that the level of our teaching quality keeps pace with the increasing number of students, we also welcomed two new teachers to the FIS family, Mr. Charles Iannuzzi and Mr. Hu Chen Xiang.

We warmly welcome all of our new teachers and students to FIS!

Lastly, FIS is planning to have a series of activities during the month of February. This includes a Presentation and Art/Photography Exhibition of the Turkey Trip, as well as a Science Fair. 

We would be grateful and honored if parents expressed interest in these activities and visited our school to attend them. Your children will also be greatly encouraged if you come. We believe activities like these help students develop their talents while learning in school.

I am wishing all our students more achievements and success in this new semester!

Best Regards,

                                  
Jack Chang
Director of Fudan International School

A Message from the Math Department:

OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH TEAM ALSO PARTICIPATED IN THE AMC8 CONTEST LAST NOVEMBER AND THE RESULTS CAME IN LAST MONTH.

• Our school Math Team is awarded for OUTSTANDING PROFICIENCY ON THE AMC8 CONTEST BY A CERTIFICATE OF MERIT which is given for a team score of 50 or better.

CONGRATULATIONS!

But the real rewards come from challenging each student with mathematics that is new, different and “outside the box”. The problems of the contests are hard, but designed to be within reach. Just  by participating  in the contest our students should still feel a sense of  accomplishment, because the problems are meant to be more challenging than routinely encountered in math courses in the school.

We hope that by participating in these contests we can challenge and inspire our students to learn more mathematics which will open many doors to them in their future careers.

Eligibility for AMC 10 :
A  student in a program leading to a high school diploma, and  under 17.5 years of age on the day of the contest and not enrolled in grades 11 or 12 or equivalent.

Eligibility for AMC 12:
A Student in a program leading to a high school diploma, and under l9.5 years of age on the day of the contest.
11 and 12 grade students cannot take AMC 10 but 9  and 10 grade students may choose which contest they take.

The students who score 100 or above or finish in the top 5% on this AMC12 or students who score 120 or above or finish in the top 1% on the AMC10 will be invited to take the 27th annual AMERICAN INVITATIONAL MATHEMATICS EXAMINATION (AIME) on Tuesday March 17, 2009 or Wednesday April 1, 2009.

CANADIAN MATHEMATICS COMPETITIONS
On February 19, 2009, Thursday, our students will participate in the following contests which are organized by the CENTRE FOR EDUCATION IN MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

• PASCAL CONTEST for grade 9 students.
• CAYLEY CONTEST for grade 10 students.
• FERMAT CONTEST for grade 11 students.

We wish our students who will enter the contests the best of luck!

Ms. Hale Dere

Sponsor of math competitions

Strings Class 
The Beginning Strings classes made a good push for the Christmas Holidays in December, learning "Jingle Bells," just before the break!  Now, we are moving forward into the second semester, having recently learned "French Folk Song" and other country's melodies.  As we further develop our skills with scales, arpeggios and other technical studies, we will soon begin to play music with four separate parts!  Remember, practice makes permanent, not perfect!  So, practice patiently, beautifully, and in tune! 
-Mr. Sam Matthews, Strings Teacher

The FIS Boys Basketball team

The winter season of extracurricular activities at FIS is nearly at an end. As the weather grows warmer, indoor activities will give way to spring activities, and students will begin bringing their easels outside while others dash out onto the soccer field. While the full roster of activities has not yet been finalized, FIS hopes to retain its most popular clubs while also providing some new and exciting offerings.