HS Art

The SIS art department is led by Ms. Christine Wiest and her fabulous aide Ms. Aris Susana.  High School students have the opportunity to take multiple art classes throughout their high school career.  This year SIS is happy to offer the following courses.

Art I (grades 9 & 10) and Art II (grade 10)

Art I and Art II courses are designed to offer students an opportunity to extend their art learning from middle school into a more advanced curriculum that serves as both a general survey course and a preparatory course for those students who may choose to study art more in depth in later years, such as enrolling in an AP art course.  Art I and Art II are currently focusing on line, an element of art. Art I students are concentrating their art on the work of Bridget Riley, while Art II students are diving a bit deeper into line while focusing on creating animals out of zentangles.

Art Portfolio Prep (formerly known as Pre-AP Art grade 11) and AP Art (grades 11 & 12)

This course is for serious art students who would like to undertake greater artistic challenges through the practice of sustained art making involving more complex compositional, technical, and conceptual problems.  It is equivalent to a first-year college art class. This course helps the student to develop a strong individual direction and gives a solid foundation for a possible major in Art at the college level.  This course is spread over 2 school years allowing students to have adequate time to create the 24+ high quality artworks that are required for the AP Studio Art Portfolio submission.  

You can access more information about the portfolio submission here.   Artists are currently working small, quick assignment focusing on emphasis (a principle of art) and composition. Their finished pieces of art will be used in their Breadth section of the AP portfolio. 

Scenery and Set Design (grades 9 – 12)

This is a brand new course offered at SIS.  The course covers the fundamentals of the process of designing for the theatre.  Learning how to “see” and developing points of view and approaches are also studied. The course will cover basic techniques of the principles and practices of scenic design for stage. Included are design functions, construction, painting, modeling, history and theories of design.  Ms. Wiest will work closely with Ms. Leadbetter, the theater arts teacher, to coordinate scenery and props needed for the theater productions. Currently artists in this class are working on prop prototypes out of paper. They will soon begin creating their “real” props using various materials such as cardboard, paper mache, wood, and foam.

MS English

An overarching goal of Middle School English at SIS is to further the students ability to comprehend a diverse range of literary texts and to deepen the students ability to critically read, discuss, and write about literature. This year in English Language Arts the Middle School has begun the year focusing on short stories. Prior to studying a story the students are given vocabulary to help further their understanding of the plot of each literary work.

The students then engage in a before reading exercise to help frame their understanding of various aspects of the story including theme, plot elements, and narration. The students are typically engaged in a variety of grouping strategies in order to discuss the content of each assigned story. They are also tasked with making connections with the text as well as identifying figurative language in the reading. Upon completing their reading students reflect on the reading in a variety of after reading exercises. For example they might create a cartoon strip where they illustrate and outline various scenes from the story replete with captions and academic vocabulary.

In terms of their writing the middle school students will begin the year focusing on narrative writing in which they write an essay based on a past experience in their lives. In this writing unit students focus on narrative technique, voice, and structure. They will study and review how to prewrite, draft, and edit both independently and with a partner. Judging from the students enthusiasm towards the first two weeks of school this promises to be a fun year of learning in Middle School English Language Arts at SIS!

Library

Welcome back to school! It is with great pleasure that I, Ms. Pam (Library Teacher), and my partner, Ms. Ririn (Library Technical Services Director), welcome back all our patrons to our SIS Library.

How We Use the Library

Our Library is the hub of learning at our school. With over 36,000 print and online resources available to you, our SIS Library is easily one of the best libraries in East Java, Indonesia.

Middle School Students:

Reading is a habit that we hope to maintain in our students. Our Middle School English and Social Studies Teachers have been very active in bringing their students to the Library to checkout books and to do silent reading within our Library space. Our Secondary Students are allowed to checkout up to 8 books at a time.  

High School Students:

Our High School Students find that the Library is a great place to study and to work on projects. We welcome classes to do their lectures, research and whole group projects in our library space. Secondary students also find that our online resources are some of the best research tools available to them.

Parents:

We would like to extend an invitation to our parents and families to register and be an SIS Library Patron. You may ask any of our Library staff for a Library Patron form to fill out. This membership allows you to checkout as many as 8 books at a time. We have a collection of board books, picture books, beginning and junior fiction chapter books, young adult books, magazines and newspapers that you can peruse for yourself and for your children. As a parent, you may also access our online resources. Please ask our Library staff for the username and password.

Library Hours

With the changes in our bell schedule, our new Library hours are now from 7:45 am to 4 pm.  Students come during designated hours for library lessons as well as during their breaks. Parents and families are welcome to come to the Library any time to sit, chat and enjoy our Library collection.

To view our print and online resources,  you may visit our webpage: SIS Library which is our Destiny Catalog portal. If you need any assistance in navigating our catalog, please come and have a chat with us, and we will be happy to walk you through our resources.

Ms. Ririn and I look forward to a year of serving you and your children as your Librarians.