Upcoming Events
5 October: PSG Bake Sale
5 October, 9:30am: Fall Festival Planning Meeting
7 October, 8:30am: Town Hall with Dr. Garrett
7-8 October: U19 Soccer Tournament
10-14 October: Spirit Week
*Monday, 10: Pajama Day
*Tuesday, 11: Twin Day
*Wednesday, 12: Teacher-Student Swap Day
*Thursday, 13: Red and Black Day
*Friday, 14: Character Day
12 October: Parent Teacher Conferences, noon dismissal
13 October: Parent Teacher Conferences, regular dismissal
12 October: PSAT
17-21 October: Fall Break!
27 October, 6:30pm: 4Cs of 21st Century Learning Webinar
29 October: Fall Festival
Dear QSI Community,
October is here. Lots will be going on this month including Parent Teacher Conferences and Fall Break. Please read this latest edition of the Howling Wolf.
The Howling Wolf is our school newsletter that spotlights our students learning and celebrates our community events. You will receive it every few weeks. This is just one of our school communication channels, including homeroom teacher newsletters, direct emails from QSI administration, Instagram, and Facebook. We aim to communicate in various ways to ensure that our community knows what is happening at QSI International School of Astana.
Thank you for being part of our community!
Joshua Garrett
Director
Academic Perspective
Future Success: Educating the ‘Whole Child”
What qualities do we want to encourage in our students as they grow towards adulthood? In a study conducted by Lynn Stoddard, parents responded to this question by highlighting qualities and characteristics that they would like schools to develop in their offspring. These qualities included:
- an inquiring mind
- ability to acquire own knowledge
- ability to feel and recognize truth on different levels
- ability to show initiative
- to have integrity
- a develop imagination
- interpersonal skills
They also wanted alternative approaches to schooling which were not merely based on academic achievement and getting into university. Similarly, as educators and parents, we also need to prepare our students for life in the 21 Century, and this requires a new approach to educational practice and policy; an approach that will develop the ‘whole child’.
Skills required to survive and compete in today’s world are significantly different from those required 50 years, 20 years or even 10 years ago. We live in a global economy, which expects our students to think critically and creatively, to evaluate huge amounts of information, to solve complex issues and problems, to collaborate and communicate well.
Without doubt, we still need to build a strong foundation in mathematics, science, reading, writing and other core subjects, but these alone are not sufficient for life-long learning and success.
When we base the main reason for schooling on testing, and other aspects of measuring academic progress, we fail to address other needs in our students. We
also increase the chances of the students becoming bored, becoming less motivated and inclined to drop out of school.
Measuring academic achievement and teaching core subjects are still vital aspects of schooling, but we need to move beyond a narrow curriculum, otherwise we will have failed to adequately prepare our students for a successful future
In short, we need to develop the ‘whole child’. If all elements of the child are developed both at home and at school, our students will thrive. To do this, we need to provide them with as many opportunities as possible. This can include outdoor learning, art and music, field trips, activity-based learning, after school activity program, physical fitness opportunities, an integrated and a ‘hands-on’ approach to teaching and learning.
Above all, we need to consider, what works best for children. What must we as families and educators do to ensure their success? Answering these questions pushes us even further to review what a successful learner is, and how we should measure success.
For certain, a student who feels connected to school is more likely to want to attend and to stay in school. Students who have access to challenging and engaging academic programs are better prepared for further education, work, and civic life. These elements must work together, not in isolation. That is the goal of whole child education.
Dr. Bock
Director of Instruction
Technology Appreciation Week!
We had a great time in September celebrating Technology Appreciation Week! Staff decorated their bulletin boards, students created multi-media assignments on technology use throughout the ages, students completed a Seesaw activity about what technology used to be like, and we all dressed up on Friday! Enjoy some of our photos from the week!
STEM: 21st Century Skills in Action
STEM based education does more than integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - it brings interesting and often real-world problems to students' attention and forces creative and collaborative solutions to emerge. Through STEM challenges, students learn to communicate their ideas, persist when things go wrong, embrace failure, take risks, learn from their mistakes.... and so much more! The very definition of a STEM challenge means that it is a hands-on problem solving activity, and we humans learn in no better way than through getting our hands dirty (and sticky!) and through working out the kinks from what went wrong the first time.
STEM combines the best from both traditional academics and 21st Century Skills to prepare students for a global future where jobs are yet to be invented, but critical thinking and collaboration skills will sure to be in demand!
QSI Astana
Statement of Purpose
Mastery Learning
At QSI Astana we expect every student to achieve academic success because of our mastery learning program. Through mastery learning, teachers are able to create learning environments where students have the time as well as support to master the learning objectives in each subject. As teachers, we use assessments to guide our instruction as well as model new learning concepts for students with the strategy “I do, we do, you do”. Strategies like this empower our students to attempt new learning concepts with confidence because the teacher demonstrates how to do it first, then walks the class through it collectively, before releasing the student to try it independently. In addition, mastery learning allows teachers to personalize learning for students through differentiated instruction. This is a teaching approach that tailors lessons to meet each student's individual interests, needs, and strengths; Teaching this way gives students choice and flexibility in how they learn. Mastery learning allows students to work at their own pace, however it still holds students accountable for achieving the learning objectives of each unit in every class. Most importantly, our mastery learning program has built-in interventions that support students, who were not successful at achieving the learning objectives the first time, with additional support such as lessons being retaught by the teacher in one-to-one instruction during enrichment time. This cycle continues until each student has achieved proficiency in the subject, which allows our students to be passionate about their learning and achieve academic success in the classroom.
Success Orientations
QSI Astana believes that character education is at the foundation of all we do. We focus on seven Success Orientations in every class and at every age. Students are evaluated each quintile on these Success Orientations, and they are explicitly taught in the classroom and in whole school assemblies. They are:
Trustworthiness
Aesthetic Appreciation
Responsibility
Group Interaction
Independent Endeavor
Concern for Others
Kindness and Politeness
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Parent Support Group
2022-23 Executive Board
President: Kelly Wise
Vice President: Stefanie Hendricks
Co-Secretary & Room Parent Coordinator: Norma Celis
Co-Secretary: Yekaterina Begalinova
Co-Treasurer: Kristin Hughes
Co-Treasurer: Hilary Garcia
Student Liaison: Sara McKinley
Kazakh Liaison: Dinara Absattarova
News and Information
Menus for the Month
