It is our hope that within this Eagle-i posting you celebrate with us the amazing learning within the AIS Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) programs. Middle School has also shared Junior Cohort coding projects from their Engineering and Design program. While we are unable to gather in person for special events this year, we are no less enthusiastic about the deep learning showcased within these links. By making this work public and easily accessible, we hope you will join us in celebrating the arts and the important role they play in helping our students to be Empowered Thinkers, Effective Communicators, Global Citizens, and Well Rounded Individuals.

Elementary School Art

Our elementary students are Art Superstars! Students contributed a maximum of two artworks, one created for Online School and/or one personal artwork made at home. Students in Grades 3 and 4 submitted a video of themselves explaining their artwork, which you can enjoy in these movies! This year has been unusual and challenging for art learning at home but our elementary students shine strongly in their Artwork created during Online School. Well done Grade 1 JR – 4 students!

Elementary School Music

Elementary and Early Childhood music took on a whole new life during Online School. We were able to access so many powerful online tools to help us create and respond to music. Students were able to compose their own songs using sites such as Soundtrap and Chrome Music Lab. They were also able to take photos and videos of their performances and share them through the use of Seesaw and Google Classrooms. Online School may have been different, but it did not keep us from learning all the wonderful elements of music and putting them into practice.

Middle School ART

We have had such a tremendous year in Visual Arts. The quality of work from all of our students has been fantastic. That is not to say this year has been smooth sailing. Online learning reared its ugly head at the start of this semester proving a challenge for us all. But, Ms. Bacon is happy to say, that did not hold back our talented artists and we are very proud to showcase just some of the brilliant work produced this year by our Middle School.

Middle School Music

Music in the Middle School at AIS is designed with collaboration and teamwork at the heart of our student’s learning. However, the lack of opportunity for real-time collective music-making during Online School required a refocusing on the more personal and introspective forms of music-making. 

Students in Grade 7 and 8 expanded their skills as composers and producers, using the online music software Soundtrap. They learnt about the building blocks of music –  form and structure, melody and harmony, rhythm and tempo – and used these musical components to create highly original and creative compositions. The stand-out works are curated in a Youtube playlist for each Grade, designed for listening during times of study and concentration, or equally for relaxing and recreation.

Students also used this period of time to hone their individual instrumental talents as solo performers. From the many successful videos that were submitted, there are three remarkable performances highlighted here. Sunny’s piano performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Venetian Boat Song’ is delicate, captivating, and sophisticated. It’s an exceptional performance that shows a high level of maturity from this talented student. Christina’s performance of ‘July’ by Noah Cyrus went above and beyond the brief: not only did she sing the song with feeling and elegance, but she also played all the instruments superbly, recording each track herself using Soundtrap. Finally, the duet performed by Zena and Kitty of Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Someone You Loved’ is genuinely beautiful, showcasing the film-making talents as well as musical competencies of these two fine musicians.

Middle School PERFORMANCE

Online School brought a series of challenges and opportunities for students in the Grade 7 and 8 Performance courses. We took this as a chance to transform our idea of what a performance space is, how to do creative, collaborative work remotely, and how to use media as an enhancement to live performance. This video documents some of the milestones and highlights of the Online School sessions. You will see clips from some original monologues, fairy tales adapted as Greek tragedies, and devised theatre scenes. Students have developed their use of: using apps like Zoom to rehearse, record and share performances, lighting their performance space, video/audio editing, and of course, collaborating when all members of a group are in different places, and in some cases, different times. We are very proud of our developments and resiliency at this time.

Middle School Engineering, Design and Innovation

Please explore these Junior Cohort coding projects from our EDI program. Students learned coding and programming through Code.org and Scratch. Our G5 and G6 students also designed, built, and tested balloon-powered vehicles. Find all the projects here.

High School Art

Here you can find a collection of artworks that were created during this academic year. Some of these works were made during Online School demonstrating this year’s classes perseverance despite the challenges they faced. We hope you enjoy browsing the collection and reading the artist statements attached.

High School Music

The 2019-2020 school year provided a unique opportunity for HS students to showcase their musical talents in a multitude of ways. Students wrote songs of their own, put music to a poem of their choosing, and to add their own special touch to muted video clips through the use of student written dialogue, sound effects, and music. Here are original works by our HS Music students. For all of our HS Music creations, please visit this link: Exhibition Materials

High School Drama

AIS Redbrick Company Presents — Grease: The Parody! The High School Drama students of AIS have used their knowledge of Grease in order to create these short parody films for your amusement. Please enjoy!