Spotlight on Students: Nina Bustamante
Outside the classroom, our students are richly talented in music, the arts, sports and other areasand many of them spend countless hours practicing these talents. Nina Bustamante, a dedicated gymnast, is one such student.
Nina started training in gymnastics in the United States at a very young age. Since her family moved to Thessaloniki in 2005, she has continued to compete quite successfully in Greek gymnastics. She maintains a rigorous schedule, training 3 to 3.5 hours every day. Hence, she is an exemplar of the student-athlete—exceedingly dedicated to her sport, but managing to stay very involved in school activities and maintaining honor roll-level grades. Although Nina trainsat an elite level, she cannot compete on the Greek National Team with her other club teammates, as she is not a Greek citizen. However, she currently participates in both Greek and USA Gymnastics in hopes of doing university gymnastics in the United States.
Last month, Nina traveled to the U.S. and trained for a month at M&M Gymnastics in Wisconsin, the home of Chellsie Memmel, a world champion and Olympian, and a hopeful again for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London. Chellsie's parents are the coaches, and her sister, Skyler, is a Level 10 Gymnast and Nina's good friend. Nina, who is competing at Level 9 this year, participated in the 2012 Team Spirit Invitational hosted by M&M Gymnastics, which gathered girls and boys from Wisconsin and Illinois. The M&M Level 9 Team, of which Nina was a member, placed second. Although her two top events are beam and floor, she performed best on vault and uneven bars—a good lesson for all athletes that anything is possible! Most importantly, she made remarkable progress in the time she trained at M&M and is trying to keep up the momentum here in Greece.
Nina’s invitational performance qualified her for the Wisconsin State Championships in March, an opportunity for her to travel to and compete again in the U.S. Through this, she hopes also to make it to Regionals in April. We wish Nina the best of luck in the upcoming State Championships…and hopefully Regionals!
To see Nina in action on beam, click here. Also, view some amazing photos documenting Nina’s poise and grace as a gymnast in the accompanying slideshow.
Early Years Program’s Hands-on Learning
 Last week, the Pre-K1 (3-year old) class ended their weather and clothing unit with a fun-filled pyjama party. Each child, and Mrs. Ann, wore their coziest pyjamas and snuggled down in a big bed. Of course, hot chocolate and biscuits helps to make everyone sleepy—but not for long! Arousing version of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and Chase the Flashlight Beam soon had the class wide awake! 
Meanwhile, next door in the Pre-K2 (4-year old) class, a volcano was erupting! The students made their very own volcano from papier mache and crowded round to see it erupt! A combination of soda, vinegar and red food coloring made the perfect lava. A wonderful way to end their unit and the week!
Year of the Dragon
Students in the Elementary school celebrated Chinese New Year last week by studying the Chinese zodiac and creating both a feast fit for the Emperor and beautiful artwork reflecting this year, the Year of the Dragon. Each student learned his or her “animal” sign on the zodiac. Click here for a full Chinese Zodiac where you can find your birth year and the characteristics that you possess, according to Chinese philosophy.
Book Week Competition
As part of our upcoming celebration of books during Book Week on February 20-24, our Librarians have designed a wonderful competition that involves creativity, teamwork and Pinewood! We encourage everyone to participate in this very special event! The flyer that your child will receive from school outlining the rules of the competition is attached here for your viewing. In addition, the Librarians and Secondary English department are busy preparing many exciting activities for our students during Book Week, whose theme is “Are books still relevant in today’s society?” More details as the week nears.
International Schools’ Assessment Administered on February 8-9
What is the International Schools’ Assessment (ISA)?
In February, all students in Grades 3–9 took the International Schools’ Assessment. In its second year at Pinewood, International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) is an annual assessment program that has been specially developed to measure skills in mathematical literacy, reading and writing of students in international schools.
ISA is based on internationally endorsed reading and mathematical literacy frameworks and the results provide descriptive information about what students know and can do. Each test took between 45 minutes and 1 hour to administer and included both multiple-choice andopen-ended tasks.
How will Pinewood use the results?
At the teacher and school levels, we will analyze data to determine general patterns of performance and use these as one of the many ways in which we review and improve our educational program. Importantly, the results provide data to you, your child and us about his/her learning.
What information will I receive as a parent?
In the Spring, Pinewood will send home information about your child’s results in the form of an individual report provided by ISA. It will give you a detailed record of your child’s performance in mathematical literacy, reading literacy and writing.
At Pinewood, we view standardized testing as another important assessment for providing you with clear information about your child’s progress against credible, objective international standards. If you have any questions about the ISA at Pinewood, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher, advisor or Dr. Giampapa at your convenience. You may also visit the ISA website.
Reminders
- Report Cards for students in Middle and High School will be sent in the mail on Tuesday, February 7th. You are welcome to drop by Ms. Andrianopoulou’s office and pick it up in person on this day, too.
- Please be sure to visit our Activities page to view next week’s After School Activities schedule. Note the NEW activity, Destination Imagination, on Mondays!
- Our librarians invite you to read the article of the week, and to view the February Library News.
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On Saturday, February 11th, a Diplomatic Training / Political Science simulation A100 took place. The training course imitates the official course that all new American diplomats must take at the US Foreign Service Institute. This event took place at the Bissell Library at the American College of Thessaloniki. Two groups of students from Anatolia and Pinewood participated in the training. The program included a variety of skill workshops, such as: watching a video and answering some questions, taking notes, public speaking and cable drafting. Another exercise was to present and plan an event for the celebration of July 4th at the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain. Participants were divided into two groups and assigned different roles. After that, they presented plans, ideas and critiqued each other. Students then interviewed with a committee of established training staff members such as David Wisner, Stelios Kelaiditis, and Constantinos Constandinidis. The members of the committee individually interviewed students to determine their hypothetical positions in the U.S. Foreign Service. The simulation concluded with students presenting the flags from their assigned countries. We are pleased that Pinewood’s Dimitrios Filinadas, ’13 and Anna Maria Kartali, ’13 took part in this simulation.
