Our finalists to the Oxford Reading Competition 

- Middle School - 19 Jan 2012

I have always thought that reading a book and finishing it is a rewarding achievement on the persona level, but to be acknowledged by a prominent jury as one of the top twenty in all Lebanon for reading a certain book is the most rewarding achievement of all. Kamar Kotob and Mohammed Kawatharani, two Grade 9 students (French section), got the chance to experience that with their participation in the Oxford Reading Competition.
They were both selected among the top twenty finalists in this prestigious competition which is held annually on a national scale where schools from all over Lebanon participate, encouraging their students to read classical books and to present their understanding in a form of written entries. The British Council, a chieft organizer of this event, reviews hundreds and hundreds of entries in an attempt to select the top 20 entries from all over Lebanon.

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Hiba Chamandi - English Teacher.

Un café Philo en CM2!!!!!!!  - Elementary School

17 Jan 2012

Mettre les apprenants dans des situations de la vie quotidienne, leur poser des questions ouvertes afin de susciter leur réflexion et de briser la routine des situations d’apprentissage traditionnelles me sont des priorités en tant qu’enseignante. Certaines situations permettent, de plus, de découvrir en eux de véritables penseurs: ceci s’est réalisé dans le cadre d’un café philo mené par les élèves autour de la migration et de son effet sur l’individu, la culture et la communauté.
Les petits philosophes ont changé la disposition de leurs tables, tenu leur tasse de thé et pris la parole pour exprimer leurs points de vue et perspectives concernant les difficultés que rencontre un immigré dans le nouveau monde. Ce point de départ les a menés très loin, ils ont pu discuter de manière réfléchie la question du métissage culturel, de l’adaptation, de la xénophobie et de la tolérance.
Une synthèse collective a suivi la discussion et a été écrite sur les cahiers:
«Il faut être ouvert d’esprit et tolérant afin de s’adapter à un nouveau pays, mais il ne faut pas oublier d’apprécier et de préserver sa propre culture».
Nancy Karout

دمج التربية الدينيّة في وحدة الهجرة  - Elementary School

12 Jan 2012

انطلاقا من المحور البحثي" أين نحن في الزمان والمكان" تعلّم تلاميذ الصف الخامس الأساسي عن وحدة الهجرة ، وقد تمّ دمج مادة التربية الدينية في هذه الوحدة البحثية من خلال دراسة الهجرة النّبويّة الشريفة التي تعتبر جزءا من تاريخنا الإسلامي حيث اطّلع المتعلمون على الأحداث المهمة التي رافقت هجرة الرسول محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم من مكة المكرمة إلى المدينة المنوّرة، وتعرفوا على الأسباب التي أدت إلى هذه الهجرة الشريفة ونتائجها التي أثّرت على مجرى الدعوة الإسلامية مدركين بذلك كلا من مفهومي السّببية والتغيير. >>> المزيد

فدوى القطب

A wheel chair for 500.000 plastic bottle caps - Preschool

12 Jan 2012

By instinct, kids are born to be very curious having strong will to learn. This motivates them to acquire and absorb information from their surroundings.
Thus the school community works together as one to develop the students’ skills reflecting the IB learner profile. For that, 8th grade students visited the KGIIB class and took the initiative in explaining the concept of “Recycling” and its consequences for the sake of living in a healthy environment. >>>MORE
Nadine Wehbi / Assistant Teacher KGII B

Authentic Teachable Moments - Preschool

12 Jan 2012

“Who we are” is the transdiciplinary theme under which KGII learners are inquiring about being “Balanced”. Within their inquiry, they figure out the balanced choices needed for a healthier life style, acquire and apply a set of transdiciplinary skills: social, communication, thinking, research and self management skills that are valuable not only in this unit of inquiry but also for any learning that goes on within the classroom and outside the school.
Although, Kids exercise all the time without even thinking of it they were curious to know more about its importance and its different kinds. Thus, in an attempt to construct a meaningful learning about what a healthy life style is and to deepen learners` understanding about exercise, we offered them an authentic opportunity to visit a health club and interview its trainers. During the visit, they actively observed the health club, determined the different kinds of exercises, >>>MORE
Rana Nakouzi - Homeroom Teacher KGII A

Tell me what you eat, I tell you who you are… 

- Preschool - 12 Jan 2012

Health and Social Education has always been part of our PYP programmes at HHHS. It is integrated throughout the curriculum and school-life in many ways as it aims to prepare students for life by developing their ability to make choices and to evaluate and make decisions about possible health hazards which they may face.
Having inquired about what a balanced and healthy diet looks like, KGII ”A” students became more aware of what to choose to have in their food diet everyday. They were able to switch from drinking canned into fresh juice. It was also evident that they started to include various fruits in their daily snacks, and fresh vegetables with their sandwiches. Their actions show the extent to which students were affected positively by the unit on health and well being that helped them differentiate between healthy and unhealthy food.
Darine Yassine - Assistant teacher - KGII “A”

Student Council Bidding Farewell to 2011 …Welcoming 2012 - High School

7 Jan 2012

Celebrating the end of 2011, the student council at Houssam Eddine Hariri High School organized a small event to cherish the moments of the past year as they welcomed 2012 with ardor and optimism. Students from Gr. 12 prepared a video that highlighted all the events of 2011 on international, national, and school levels; ranging from the Arabian revolutions to both Ajaltoun and AMMUN conferences. The student body also enjoyed the talent show that included dances and singing performances of beautiful songs and melodies. And in an effort to get all students to participate, some of the council members prepared games; one of them was “Family Feud” which was based on surveys prepared by the students themselves. Everyone was laughing and arguing lightheartedly as they debated the answers to the game. >>>MORE
Lara Houshou – Grade 12
(Photography by Sami Sabbagh – Grade 12)

 حفاظاً على تاريخنا........حفاظاً على مسرحنا - Middle School

7 Jan 2012

"ما تمحو ثقافتنا" " الشعب يريد إسقاط المول" هما جزء من شعارات كثيرة أعدها تلامذة صف التواصل الفني في المرحلة المتوسطة معبرين خلالها عن رفضهم للقرار الجائر بحق الثقافة والفنون في لبنان، والمتمثل بقرار إِقفال مسرح بيروت التاريخي الذي سمح بإزدهار الفن والمسرح في ستينيات القرن العشرين من أجل هدمه و إقامة مركز تجاري مكانه.
بعد عرض القضية عليهم و مناقشتها فيما بينهم، قامت كل مجموعة بتقديم الشعارات و المشهد المسرحي الذي عكس آرائهم، تطلعاتهم، و مطالبهم.
هذا و قد خُصص حائط داخل قاعة صف التواصل علّقت عليه الشعارات و الرسومات و الصور تخليداً لذكرى هذا الصرح الثقافي و الفني العظيم.
عبد الوهاب قصير- أستاذ التواصل الفني.

Grade 12 Camping at School - High School

5 Jan 2012

Between the green we got to know each other more. We laughed and cheered as we chased the stars of the night.. Our voices echoing in the midst of a freezing evening.. We marched together and barely slept; renewed our friendships and made new ones. It was one of those nights to remember.

Jad Merhi, Gr12.

Student-Led Conference 2011 - Elementary School

5 Jan 2012

On the twenty forth of December 2011, our learners were provided with the opportunity to share their learning process and academic progress with their parents by leading their own conferences. Learners have set short term goals and decided on strategies to achieve their target, revealing responsibility for their own learning and consciousness towards their strengths and weaknesses. Together, the learner, teacher(s), and parents determined what each will do to help the learner move closer towards targeted educational goal(s).
Using the portfolio, learners independently reported the level of performance during the first unit of inquiry by explaining their knowledge and understanding of the concepts, their application of transdisciplinary skills, their demonstration of values and attitudes, and their involvement in self-initiated actions and inquiries, which altogether fostered the development of certain attributes of their IB Learner Profile.
Since our learners have learned how to prepare for and conduct a student-led conference, parents may build on this approach by encouraging their children to conduct conferences at home and on regular basis.

Dina Jradi, PYP Coordinator.

Facebook with Literature - High School

1 Jan 2012

Eleventh graders were asked to reflect on their outside readings in a very avant-garde manner. Instead of submitting regular book reports or presenting short novel talks, I asked each student to create a Facebook profile page for the main character in his assigned book. This gave my students the opportunity to think about characteristics, interests, activities, quotes and some creative license to flesh out the details. Students created the profile pages as a starting place for further posts and discussions between the other characters from the various books assigned to class.
“We used to believe that only an author can talk about his characters,” says Yasmeen Nasser who was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, “however, in this project we used our imagination to get into the character’s heads. Being in Santiago’s shoes, I interpreted his clothes, his favorite quotes, his dialect, his interests… and I tolerated all that reasonably well.”
Lana Fayad who was reading Emma Donoghue’s Room- the number one IndieNext pick by independent booksellers for September 2010 - says, “I used Facebook as a social networking site, but I’ve never used it before as an educational tool. Creating a profile page on Facebook that accurately reflects the personality of the five-year- old Jack, made me better understand his motives and his psychological turbulences in the plot of Room.”
“This project increases my understanding of online communication and the positive benefits of appropriate use of social network sites,” Dima Kobrosli says.
While we were wrapping up the lesson, my students suggested if they could go on and create some of these for historical characters. One wanted to take on Ghandi and another Cleopatra. I always consider a lesson successful when students aren’t ready to stop the learning!
Mona Majzoub - Director of Students' Affairs and Guidance Department

YOUNG ENVIRONMENTAL ARTISTS - Elementary School

21 Dec 2011

During the first unit of inquiry “The Eco-citizen”, grade four students played the role of environmental artists when they developed their sense of appreciation to nature and thought of positive human activities that preserve it. Students were engaged in a global issue that strengthened their international-mindedness and their participation as global citizens. Students were environmental designers; they observed and created designs within the school playground. In addition, they home-researched natural and unneeded materials for the purpose of reusing them in creating 2D and 3D compositions. After shedding the light on artistic techniques and media, students created their sculptures, taking into consideration the subject and how it can be expressed symbolically; For example, a group represented planet earth in the form of a bitten apple because of pollution. Enthusiastically, students accomplished and presented their artworks. It was remarkable how students have taken the initiative to act responsibly towards environment by constantly using recycled materials.
As a result of this inquiry, students have gained deep understanding of using what they know to interpret arts and deepen understanding of themselves and the world around. Moreover, they discovered that arts have the power to influence thinking and behavior.
Safaa Badih-Visual art teacher

العالم بين أيدينا  - Elementary School

20 Dec 2011

من أجل تعزيز مفهوم سمات العقلية الدولية ونشر ثقافة الآخرين والتقرب من تقاليد وعادات الشعوب، قامت مكتبة القسم الإبتدائي بتوجيه التلاميذ لقراءة القصص المختلفة والمتنوعة باللغتين العربية والأجنبية والقيام ببحث متكامل عن البلدان التي تتحدّث عنها هذه القصص ومن ثم المجيء إلى المكتبة وعرضها أمام الأقران وبعد ذلك وضع عنوان هذه القصة مع إسم الكاتب ودار النشر على خريطة العالم السياسي المعلقة على جدران المكتبة والتركيز على اسم البلد وموقعه جغرافياً وتحديد أهم صفاته وعاداته وتقاليده.
كان لهذا النشاط الأثر في توجيه اختيار التلاميذ للقصص المبنية على ثقافات الشعوب المتعددة والمختلفة.
مكتبة القسم الإبتدائي

المواطن البيئي  - Elementary School

20 Dec 2011

من خلال العمل على الوحدة البحثية المواطن البيئي قام متعلمو الصّف الرّابع بدعوة متعلمي الصّف الثّالث لمشاركتهم في نشاط رياضي يهدف إلى تنمية المهارات الجسدية على أن يكون رسم المشاركة فيه هو تقديم بذور و شتول لزرعها داخل المدرسة مظهرين اكتسابهم لمفهوم المسؤولية محاولين إحداث تغيير إيجابي في مجتمعهم الصّغير .
معلمات التربية البدنية في القسم الإبتدائي
نسرين المصري و سارين أبو ضاهر

تلاميذ صفوف المرحلة المتوسطة يختبرون أبحاثهم في مختبر العلوم    - Middle School

17 Dec 2011