Challenge #13

With the next few days being Eid, a major festival for most RIS families, this week's challenge is about holidays. Holidays can be fun and relaxing, but many holidays also have special meanings.

Your challenge is to learn four facts about a holiday. Sounds easy, right? But...the holiday you choose can not be a holiday from the country, or the culture, or the religion that you are from. This is your chance to learn about a ceremony or festival from a different part of the world, then share your knowledge with your family, friends, and teachers. For example, read about Mexico's Día de Todos los Santos, or Nepal's Dashain, or Brazil's Carnival, or Western Samoa's Teuila. Every country has its own special holidays and observances, so there will be plenty of information for you to gather.

Do your research, and then find Mr. Smith before Friday at 1:18pm. Tell him the holiday you chose, the country where it is celebrated, and four fascinating facts. Students who complete this challenge will be recognized here on Friday afternoon as a Holiday Facts O'Plenty Master of the Week. Good luck!

Wow!

Are there no limits to the fantastic abilities of RIS students? This challenge has brought out some truly stupendous physical feats. Congratulations to Jihan [Gr.2], Minhye [Gr.1], Valeria [Gr.6], Hyung-Wook [Gr.1], Sofia [Gr.5], and Daniela [Gr.5] for their flexible tongues; to Burak [Gr.7], Saud [Gr.5], and Saud [Gr.7] for their flexible ears; Rithwik [Gr.1], Latham [Gr.1], Layan [Gr.1], Joshua [Gr.4], Mutahar [Gr.7], Melissa [Gr.4], Amina [Gr.4], and Lora [Gr.2] for their flexible fingers; Haruka [Gr.8] and Pranu [Gr.2] for their flexible backs; Majeed [Gr.3] and Nicole [Gr.3] for their flexible legs; Javier [Gr.6] for his eyebrow lift; Ola [Gr.6] and Will [Gr.5] for their stretchy arms and necks; Roanne [Gr.1] for her rolling rrrr; Yura [Gr.4] for her rope tricks; Zeynab [Gr.4] for her singing; and Fiffy [Gr.8] for her strangely snapping fingers. You are all incredible and you are all our Uniquely Talented and Undoubtedly Amazingly Skilled Masters of the Week!

Challenge #12

This week's Challenge is brought to you from a great suggestion from Badr [Gr.3], who came up with the idea while sitting comfortably in a full-lotus position while waiting for the bus last week.

We all know that RIS students have some amazing skills and abilities. Many of you speak two or three languages. Many of you play more than one musical instrument. Many of you write beautiful poetry or are able to solve Math problems faster than your teacher! There is almost no end to the list of reasons why you are all awesome in more than one way.

But what is your special physical talent? What can you do that is weird or wonderful? Can you sit in the lotus position? Can you move your ears without touching them? Can you make your thumb bend back to touch your wrist? Can you lock your hands behind your back and bring them together over your head? Can you stand on one foot and lift your other foot over your head? Can you turn your tongue upside down? Can you clap your hands together more than 100 times in a minute? Can you bend backwards and touch your feet to your head? What can you do?

Show Mr. Smith your incredible physical talent before Friday at 12:37pm. He'll probably ask you a question or two about what you are doing. All students who exhibit their amazing or unique skill will be recognized here on Friday afternoon as a Uniquely Talented and Undoubtedly Amazingly Skilled Master of the Week. Good luck!

Kind souls

This week's challenge was about performing a random act of kindness. While many of you surely did something amazing for someone this week, these three very thoughtful students told Mr. Smith about something they did to make another person smile. Congratulations to Lora [Gr.2], Rithwik [Gr.1], and Nahan [Gr.8], our Random Act of Kindness Masters of the Week. Thanks for being so wonderful!

Challenge #11

*Don't forget to make some art for Mr. Smith's wall for the Special Weekend Challenge! He has already received five amazing pieces, and has room for a lot more. Submit it to him before tomorrow at 9:09am to be recognized here as a Creative Genius Interior Decorating Master of the Weekend.

This week's challenge is about being kind, something that RIS students have no trouble with! Your challenge is to do a Random Act of Kindness. Do something kind for someone for no other reason than what you do makes them smile or feel appreciative. You can do something small and simple, like lending your friend a pencil or helping them with some work. It can be something larger and more involved, like organizing a game during playtime to help your teacher or cleaning up the dinner dishes to give your mom and dad a little break.

Let Mr. Smith know the kind thing you did for someone else before Friday at 9:09am. He will ask you a few questions about how you made the other person feel. All students who did something kind will be recognized here as a Random Act of Kindness Master of the Week. Good luck!

Special Weekend Challenge!

Can you help poor Mr. Smith? He moved a few things around in his office, and now has a HUGE wall with no decoration! It's so plain and boring...

You know how much Mr. Smith loves the big, bold, bright, and beautiful pictures that so many of you make. This special weekend challenge is to help him make his plain white wall colourful. Make a picture and be sure to put your name on it, then give it to him before Wednesday at 9:09am. Use your imagination and big brain to create anything you want. You can even talk to Mr. Smith on Monday if you need some help getting started. [But here's a little hint now: he loves mountains, books, orangutans, waterfalls, and giant turtles.]

Mr. Smith will put the art on his wall on Wednesday, and all students who make a picture will be recognized here as a Creative Genius Interior Decorating Master of the Weekend. Good luck!

W[onderful poems] O[verflowing] W[ith leaves and ideas]!

This school has some amazing poets! Come to the library to see the outstanding acrostic poems submitted by Sena [Gr.2], Monica [Gr.2], Jihan [Gr.2], Rithwik [Gr.1], Monica J. [Gr.2], Pranu [Gr.2], Rufat [Gr.2], Hyung-Wook [Gr.1], Lora [Gr.2], and Fiffy [Gr.8], our Acrostic Poet Masters of the Week. Great work, everyone!

Challenge #10

Last week you were challenged to learn about the weather, and needed to find information on the internet or from books. This week's challenge is about the seasons, but you will need to use your creativity to find the answer from inside your own big brain.

You need to make an acrostic poem from the word fall or the word autumn. Most of you have probably written an acrostic poem in Language Arts class. You know that the acrostic word is written up and down on the page, and that each letter of the word becomes the first letter of a new word or sentence. The new words or sentences will have some connection to the acrostic word.

The picture above is an example that a student did for the word spring. You can see that all of her new words or sentences across the page are connected to the original word. She even decorated the acrostic poem to start to make it look big, bold, bright, and beautiful.

All students who make an acrostic poem for the word fall or the word autumn, make the paper big, bold, bright, and beautiful, and give it to Mr. Smith before Friday morning at 9:09am will be recognized here as an Acrostic Poet Master of the Week. Good luck!

Challenge #9

With the weather changing these days to much cooler and drier, some people are already starting to miss the hot summer temperatures. It is natural to think about the climate when the seasons are changing, so this week's challenge is about finding some answers and interesting information about all kinds of weather.

Find the answers to the following questions using books, encyclopedias, an internet search engine, or by asking your mom or dad. Write the answers and your name on a piece of paper, and give it to Mr. Smith no later than Thursday at 3:07pm. All students with correct answers will be recognized here on Friday as a Meteorological Historian of Extremes Master of the Week. Good luck!

1. What was the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth?
2. Which place on Earth gets the most annual rainfall?
3. Which place on Earth has recorded the highest wind speed?
4. Which is the driest desert on Earth?
5. What is the most rainfall ever recorded in one day?
6. What is the greatest range of temperature ever recorded in one place in one day?
7. Which capital city has the highest annual temperature?
8. Which capital city has the lowest annual temperature?
9. How much rain did Seoul get in 2009?

Sixteen thousand words!

People say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and these words all say congratulations to our Finding Beauty in Everything Shutterbug Masters of the Week. Thanks, everyone!

Haruka [Gr.8] - These are my lovely Teddy Bears in my room. There are 12 Teddy Bears.

Faris [Gr.1] - This is my brother. He is funny with my teddy bear.

Javier [Gr.6] - This picture of the sunset was when I went to the beach in Chile on Febuary 2010. This picture is from the balcony of the apartment in the beach.

Mr. Altay – Here I am pretending to be a bird at a farm in Izmir, Turkey.

Sena [Gr.2] – This is my lovely brother Eren.

Lora [Gr.2] - This is our family cat Murphy. Murphy likes to sleep in the closet with my dad's underpants and socks. Sometimes he also likes to sleep in a plastic wash basin.

Rithwik [Gr.1] – This is my mom at a replica of the Taj Mahal in India at Aiinsworld.

Ms. McIntyre – People enjoying the fountains on a hot day in Seoul.

Ms. Meyer - This is a picture of my friend Carmen, whom I travelled with to Cambodia.  She too is capturing a magnificent photo of the Angkor Wat Temple.

Pranu [Gr.2] – Red, pink, and white flowers. Pretty flowers everywhere.



Ms. Howard – A photo of a hot-air balloon taken from another hot-air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey.



Mr. Smith –The ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus, Turkey are amazing.

Mr. Alexander - Here's one of my clearest photos from my roof at Chuseok.

Sofia [Gr.2] – Here is my photo.

Ms. Kim – The beautiful sunset in Prague.

Nahan [Gr.8] - This photo is taken from the peak of one mountain located in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir.

Challenge #8

A shutterbug is a person who really loves to take photographs. A shutterbug looks at the world differently than everybody else. Everything, no matter how spectacular or how normal, can be the subject of a beautiful photograph if the shutterbug takes some time to try and take the best photo possible.

This week's challenge is much different than the others, and you will need some equipment and some help. You need to do three things: take an amazing photograph; write one sentence to explain what it is; and email both to Mr. Smith before Thursday at 8:37pm (when you should be going to bed to get a good night's sleep!). You may need your mom or dad to help you upload your photo onto your computer and send it, but they will be glad to help. Mr. Smith's email address is lee.x.smith@gmail.com.

All photographs and explanations received before Thursday at 8:37pm will be posted here on Friday, and the photo-takers will be recognized as a Finding Beauty in Everything Shutterbug Master of the Week. Good luck!

Great teachers

Parents have finished their homework, and have written so positively and glowingly about their favourite places. Five incredible students teachers have made a few corrections and given some positive and constructive feedback. Thanks to Lora's mom, Samar's dad, Nahan's mom, Pranu's mom, and Sena's dad for their work, and congratulations to Lora [Gr.1], Samar [Gr.8], Nahan [Gr.8], Pranu [Gr.2], and Sena [Gr.2], our Teaching My Mom or Dad To Do Some Great Homework Masters of the Week!

Challenge #7

You are students at RIS, but we know you can be great teachers too! Sometimes you share your ideas with other students in your class, with your friends on the bus, and even with your teachers in your classrooms.

This week's challenge is about being a teacher, and your students are...your mom or dad! To complete this week's challenge, you will need to sit with your mom or dad (or both) while they do some homework. Their homework is to write a short paragraph (between five and eight sentences) about their favourite place in the world. They can write about a country, a city, a building, a museum, a beach, a park, a river, or whatever they think is their favourite place to go. You need to remind them to write good sentences with detail, to remember their capital letters and punctuation, and to write neatly on the lines.

The second part of their homework is to draw, or print from the computer, a picture of that place. You ask your mom or dad to sign their work, check everything when it is done, put these two parts together, and give it to Mr. Smith no later than Friday at 10:00am. All students who submit this homework from their mom or dad will be recognized as a Teaching My Mom or Dad To Do Some Great Homework Master of the Week. Good luck!

Special Weekend Challenge!

It's the first of October, the weather is getting cooler, the trees are starting to change colour, and the leaves are already falling. For this special weekend challenge, pick up a leaf and give it to Mr. Smith on Monday. The bigger, the better! Everyone who brings in a large and colourful leaf will be recognized here as a Leaf Collecting Master of the Weekend. Good luck!

Solved!

A fantastic job done by twelve math brainiacs with this week's challenge. Congratulations to Hyung-Wook [Gr.1], Rithwik [Gr.1], Abdulaziz [Gr.1], Lora [Gr.2], William [Gr.2], Sena [Gr.2], Pranu [Gr.2], Monica [Gr.2], Melissa [Gr.4], Yasmin [Gr.7], Fiffy [Gr.8], and Haruka [Gr.8], our Number Chain Puzzle Masters of the Week. Great work!

For everyone else, here are the patterns that these super-solvers discovered in the number chains...
for Grade One, add 4.
for Grade Two, subtract 7.
for Grade Three, subtract 13.
for Grade Four, multiply by 2, then add 2.
for Grade Five, multiply by 14.
for Grade Six, multiply by 391.
for Grade Seven, number squared.
for Grade Eight, number cubed.

Challenge #6

Let's get those big brains moving again after the holiday. This week's challenge is about finding the patterns in number chains. Look at the first few numbers, think about what the pattern is, then use that pattern to figure out the next two numbers in the sequence. Write your answers and your name on a piece of paper and give it to Mr. Smith before Thursday at 3:00 when you go home. All students with correct answers will earn the title of Number Chain Puzzle Master of the Week. Good luck!

For Grade One students...
4, 8, 12, 16, __, __.

For Grade Two students...
73, 66, 59, 52, __, __.

For Grade Three students...
181, 168, 155, 142, __, __.

For Grade Four students...
6, 14, 30, 62, __, __.

For Grade Five students...
21, 294, 4116, 57624, __, __.

For Grade Six students...
11, 4301, 391391, 153033881, __, __.

For Grade Seven students...
3, 9, 81, 6561, __, __.

For Grade Eight students...
2, 8, 512, 134217728, __, __.

Challenge #5

Many of you are amazing artists! Your colourful pictures are already up on the walls of the classrooms and the hallways. But you know that this building has a lot of space to be decorated.

Let's start in the library...

Ms. Howard has some space near the library door, and wants to make a Picture String. Your challenge is to draw and colour a picture of your favourite character from a book. On the front of the paper you will also need to write the character's name and your name. On the back of the paper you will need to write one or two sentences to explain why that character is your favourite character. When all of your pictures are collected, Ms. Howard will clip them to string and hang them for everybody to see.

Remember to make your picture big, bold, bright, and beautiful, then give it to Mr. Smith before Thursday at 3:00. All students who submit a picture will be recognized as a Picture String Art Maker Master of the Week. Good luck!

Challenge #4

This week's Challenge is a little bit different than the last three. All you need to do is count and do a little bit of Math...sounds easy, right?

For students in Grade One and Grade Two, count the total number of stairs in the school, from the lunch room all the way up to the roof. Write your name and your answer on a piece of paper, and give it to Mr. Smith before you go home on Thursday at 3:00.

For students in Grade Three and Grade Four, count the total number of student chairs in the lunch room and the total number of green chairs in the auditorium, then add these numbers to the total number of stairs in the school. Write your name and your answer on a piece of paper, and give it to Mr. Smith before you go home on Thursday at 3:00.

For students in Grade Five and Grade Six, count the number of windows in the gym and the number of teacher chairs in the lunch room. Multiply that sum by the sum of the total number of student chairs in the lunch room, green chairs in the auditorium, and number of stairs in the school. Write your name and your answer on a piece of paper, and give it to Mr. Smith before you go home on Thursday at 3:00.

For students in Grade Seven and Grade Eight, multiply the product of the Grade Five and Grade Six answer by the number of countries represented at RIS [Can't remember how many countries are represented here? Check the blog from August!]. Divide that product by the total number of teachers with an 'r' in their name [for example, Ms. Sawlor]. Write your name and your answer on a piece of paper, and give it to Mr. Smith before you go home on Thursday at 3:00.
 
You'll need to count very carefully, because one small mistake will prevent you from finding the correct final answer. All students with a correct answer will be recognized here on Friday as an I-Know-My-School Math Puzzle Master of the Week. Good luck!

Challenge #3

You know that the dolphin is our school mascot. Dolphins are intelligent, playful, social, and compassionate - just like RIS students! Before Thursday at 3:00 when you go home, draw a picture of a dolphin on a piece of paper and give it to Mr. Smith.

You will need to remember the Four B's of Drawing for Mr. Smith - big, bold, bright, and beautiful. Your drawing should be on a separate piece of paper (not in your notebook), should be almost the full size of the paper, should be neat, and should be coloured carefully. Make sure you write your name on your paper.

Students who have put in the time and effort to make a great piece of art will have their pictures displayed in the school, and will be recognized here on Friday as a Dolphin Art Master of the Week. Good luck!

Challenge #2

Before Thursday at 3:00 when you go home, write a joke on a piece of paper. Take it to Mr. Smith and tell him the joke to try and make him laugh. If he laughs at your joke, you win!

Your joke can be long or short, but it can't be a "Knock knock" joke, because Mr. Smith has heard all of them before. You will have to practice your joke at home, because Mr. Smith will only laugh at jokes that are told smoothly.

This is going to be a much tougher challenge than last week. We all know that Mr. Smith is Mr. Serious, and he only laughs at very funny jokes.

All successful students will be recognized here on Friday as a Puzzle Joke Master of the Week. Good luck!