The Indian Embassy invited to their annual Christmas Carol Singing on the 14th of December 2017 and the choir of the Nelson Mandela School was invited to perform along with the choir of the Tagore School and the 5th Grade of the Clemens-Brentano-School. The atmosphere was full of joy, light and togetherness, fit for the magical Christmas time. We were welcomed by the first secretary of the embassy and after a moving speech of father Thomas from India about forgiveness, togetherness and generousity the NMS choir was the first one to perform. Under Mr. Beaner’s conduction the choir was able to thrill and the pleased audience sang along. Beside the usual (and unusual) seasonal Christmas songs Mr. Beaner rehearsed additional songs with the students, the most admired by the audience being „All Of Me“ by John Legend with a moving solo by Gnima Hecht.

The other performances were beautifully presented and thoroughly enjoyed, the NMS students singing along with the fellow choirs, cheering them on and showing their support. The ambassador thanked the teacher and students personally and even the chaperones were not forgotten with a sumptuous bouquet and a collection of Indian stories.

The Hour of Code can be done by any teacher in any yeargroup. No sign-up is required, the lectures are game-based and intuitive. Have a go and see what the Hour of Code is all about; a safe and fun environment to learn the basics of programming.

The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code”, to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Check out the tutorials and activities. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 200,000 educators worldwide.

Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path. This is the 5th year that NMS participates, we hope that many classes and teachers join in!

Annemieke Akkermans, 06.12.2018

On this evening, there was a short sketch performed based on “Private Peaceful” (a novel by Michael Morpurgo) and a moving recital of poems by a renowned selection of World War One poets (for example Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves and Richard Aldington). It was especially profound as following each poem, one candle was blown out so we were left in the dark at the end. A selection of lapbooks could also be explored – where one element of life during World War 1 was deftly designed and displayed. It was a thoughtful evening and the pupils did a very good job of recreating the catastrophe of war. 

Jeremy McIntosh and and Sarah Dent
15th November 2017

As part of our study of Forces and Motion in Grade 6 I always ask the children to build a roller coaster demonstrating the principles of:

1. Gravity
2. Friction
3. Magnetism
4. Potential and Kinetic Energy
5. Renewable and non renewable sources of energy
6. Newton’s Laws of Motion

This year the roller coasters from the 6B were particularly spectacular! And the children demonstrated a deep understanding of the concepts involved. Please have a look at the photos of their work.

Janine Keller
Science teacher 6B

For digital skills@home and in school!
For Students, Parents, Teachers & Educators

The Nelson Mandela School Cool Tools are collected, shared and written by NMS teacher and Head of IT Annemieke Akkermans. Her favourite cool tools for educators are interactive, promote engaged learning, are free of charge and don’t require the creation of an account. Check out the latest Cool Tool!

Bildungsserver: Medienbildung 

An unlikely Cool Tool this time, but certainly worth sharing, especially for the German speakers among us. My colleagues at the Medienbildung department from the LISUM have worked hard to improve the content pages of the Bildungsserver. Teachers, students and parents, interested in German resources for media literacy - please check out this link to the materials for the Basiscurriculum Medienbildung. 

Puppet Pals

As mobile Learning is all around us and as this is such a true COOL tool, we’re making an exception to share a resource that is only available on the App Store for iPads or Phones - for now. Recently our fifth grade visited the HU for a Digital Storytelling workshop with students from Professor Petra Anders. They worked with Scratch, already a firm favourite Cool Tool at NMS. We were introduced to various new tools, which absolutely deserve a spot in the Cool Tool Department… The first one is PuppetPals. With Puppet Pals 2 kids can create animated cartoons. This free app offers a few backgrounds and different characters to choose from, as well as the option to use your own photos: Simple finger tracing allows for objects of photos to be cut out. Sound can be recorded in sync with the cartoon action, making this app wonderfully suited for digital storytelling. My students loved it and actually, the student-teachers couldn’t get enough either :)

Toontastic

Another mobile app, this one being available both on the AppStore and on Google Play for Android, so teachers (and anyone :)) with tablets; eat your heart out! With Toontastic students can draw, animate and narrate their own cartoons. The app won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award ("Toontastic 3D is a wonderful creative outlet for all budding storytellers, young scientists, or those who increasingly blur the lines between the two - perhaps this is where the next documentary makers and Pixar artists will get their start.”) and is rated highly with 5 stars by Common Sense Media. In language lessons Toontastic can be used to retell a story or to tell an original tale, in Social Sciences or other subjects the app can be used to present a specific topic and in Art the possibilities are unlimited… or just get going at home and enjoy; learning is bound to happen when using this app!

Avid Media Composer

Video editing has become easier in recent years, with free and userfriendly tools such as Moviemaker and iMovie or even the wonderful Magisto app, which automatically puts your videos together, including music and some funky effects. Especially great for homevideos, but what if you want to join the major league? Then it makes sense to opt for a solution like Avid – which now comes to your doorstep (or rather your inbox) free of charge! Try Avid’s Media Composer and make your Hollywood (or Babelsberg) dreams come true. Even though the most top-notch options may have to be paid for, you can get started today with the best editing software used to produce award-winning feature films and series.

• http://www.avid.com/media-composer-first

The Nelson Mandela School team has won the debate against the Loreto College team, from Manchester, winners of the UK Competition 2016/17. Congratulations!

The 7th Debating Matters International Final in 2017 showcased the best debaters from the UK and Berlin 2016/2017: Loretto College team from Manchester, UK, headed by Fran Tattersall, against the Nelson Mandela School team from Berlin, headed by Nihal Adler at the Battle of Ideas event at one of the most glorious venues in London – The Barbican.

Die Schule bedankt sich bei den Organisatoren des Festival of Nations für die vielen, vielen Jahre der perfekten Organisation eines der „Markenzeichen“ unserer Schule!

Frau Virginia Temper, Herr Ivos Piacentini und Frau Beate Zander-Zeidam

Why don’t you get your class to create a wonderful coding project and Participate in the Coding Cup 2018? Details here: http://www.code-your-life.org/Mitmachen/1340_CodingCup_2018.htm

Coding combines literacy, numeracy and creative skills, teaches problem solving and algorithmic thinking (and is great fun). Teachers, ask your students. Students, ask your teachers! Parents, bring in your expertise and host a workshop... 

Some useful links and easy to use programs can be found here:

• To learn and practice coding basics for everyone: https://code.org
• First coding steps: Scratch, https://scratch.mit.edu/
• Basic Scratch ideas: https://medium.com/scratchfoundation-blog/10-things-to-try-right-now-with-your-child-on-scratch-and-scratchjr-defd7f8ad0d1
• For older students, teachers and parents: Codecadeny offers great free learning videos and entire courses with hands-on learning, on for instance HTML, Java, Python, Ruby, Sql: https://www.codecademy.com/

If you want to work with a class set of Calliopes, contact Annemieke Akkermans (details).

Well, the weather was quite good, at least compared to the two days before, and here are some pictures.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch an unsere 44 Schülerinnen und Schüler der Sekundarstufe, die am 23.09. bei Sonnenschein die 4,2195 Kilometer erfolgreich bewältigten. Auch in diesem Jahr trafen wir uns traditionell im Sony Center, gemeinsam mit dem Team der Grundschule.

Insgesamt starteten 10.051 Schülerinnen und Schüler aus ganz Deutschland beim diesjährigen Mini-Marathon. 10 Schüler bzw. 10 Schülerinnen bildeten wieder je ein Team. Einen herausragenden 4. Platz und Platz 29 von 47 teilnehmenden Mannschaften erreichten in der Wertung der Oberschulen unsere Mädchen.

Unsere Jungen erreichten in ihrer Wertung Platz 8 von 80 teilnehmenden Teams.

• Alle Detailergebnisse und mehr Fotos

The mini-Marathon was held on Saturday, 23rd of September 2017. There were 28 students from the Primary who ran and all were able to finish the race. This was the most number of students who participated from P23. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped organize the event for the school.

Congratulations to all runners! The NMS Community is proud of your achievement!

Berichte von zwei Projekttagen im Bauhaus-Archiv mit Schülerinnen und Schülern der Leistungskurse Kunst am 7. und 20. September 2017.