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Contents News from the Headmaster 1 - 2 Mayfair Information 6-8 Arts & Music 17

All-School News 3-4 Pre-K & Elementary News 9-11 Il Foro 18

PPAC Notes 3 Middle School News 12 Book & Library Resources in Rome

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Falcon Flyer Distribution Policy

4 News from the Counselor 13-15 Rome n’ About 20

PTO Corner 5 Sports Briefs 16 April Calendar 21

AOSR - VIA CASSIA 811 Phone: 06-334-381 Web:WWW.AOSR.ORG April 2006

April Important Dates

3 Qtr 4 begins British Choir Concert 4 After school activities

session 2 begins NHS Induction Ceremony

6 Report Cards Distributed

Grade 5 Musical

Jungle Book 7:00pm Soccer & Tennis: AOSR hosts Naples 7 HS Talent Night 10 PTO Meeting 9:30am 14 - 25 NO SCHOOL SPRING BREAK 26 School Reconvenes

May Important Dates

1 No School, Italian National Holiday

4 Parent Book Club

Meeting 9:30am 13 AOSR Mayfair

11:00am - 4:00pm

AOSR FIRST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL TO RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL CREDENTIAL!

By Dr. Larry Dougherty, Headmaster

Continued on page 2

As a result of a comprehensive review of all of AOSR’s programs, the visiting team from the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges unanimously approved the school’s re-accreditation. This review is an audit of all aspects of the school, including facilities, finances, governance and all academic programs in the school. Moreover, we applied for the International Credential, which analyzes schools in terms of school climate, their philosophy and mission, the school’s commitment to an international approach to education, foreign languages, ESL and the effectiveness of these programs for an international student body. AOSR passed this review with flying colors and we are now the first international school to be recommended to the Middle States Association to receive this credential. OUTSTANDING SCHOOL CULTURE Dr. Hank Cram, Executive Director of the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges, was the Chairperson of the Visiting Committee. In addition to Dr. Cram, the visiting team was composed of ten educators who came to the school from international schools across the world. After their review, Dr. Cram highlighted the most important aspects of the report. He noted that the school had made great progress since the last report which was completed eleven years ago. The Committee commended AOSR for an outstanding student culture. He noted that whether students were here for six months or six years, they loved the school, respected their teachers and liked the international climate of the school. He concluded that it “is cool to be smart at AOSR.” The committee members went to eleven different student advisory meetings in the middle school and high school; they visited classes and talked to students at the bar and in the cafeteria. Some members commented that they had never seen a group of students so positive about a school. The positive school climate was also documented in our report.

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All School News

STUDENTS The school gathered data using the NSSE Survey, which was given to students, parents, faculty and support staff. The com-plete assessment was available for the Visiting Committee. The student survey was divided by elementary and mid-dle/high school. Elementary students generally expressed a high level of satisfaction with the school. Because of the high degree of turnover of students, one of the critical goals for AOSR is making students and their families feel welcome at the school. Eighty five percent of the elementary students indicated that their family was welcome at the school. Elementary students were quite complimentary about their teachers—92% indicated that the school does a good job teaching students and 97% indicated that their teachers want students to learn.

ASSESSMENT A second area which Dr. Cram cited for a special commendation was our assessment procedures. He praised the school for focusing assessment efforts on helping individual students through the pre and post testing we do in reading in grades 1-8 in which we use the Gates McGinitie reading tests to monitor student growth each year. He also commended the use of the ERB writing assessment that is given annually and the way that AOSR uses the data to track children’s growth as they progress through the grades. He praised the school for using assessment procedures that permit teachers and administrators to focus on each student as a measure of our success. As he noted, schools like AOSR could just rely on our excellent AP and IB results. While these are important indicators of our success, our assessment procedures focus on important instruc-tional goals across the school for all children. QUALITY OF THE REPORT AND DOCUMENTATION Dr. Cram and members of the visiting committee were effusive in their praise for the quality of the written self-study and the back up documents provided by faculty in each program area. They noted that the excellent reports and the back up information allowed them to examine our school thoroughly and recommend re-accreditation with confidence and enthusi-asm. We received unanimous votes from the visiting committee on all twelve standards required for re-accrediting our school. They also unanimously recommended that AOSR receive the new International Credential. Dr. Cram noted that we had done a tremendous job on this document in his conversations with me. The visiting team also noted that in completing the Reflections self-study, AOSR had achieved the objectives for which this protocol was designed. We had successfully analyzed the school from top to bottom. Every program area in the school has analyzed the strengths and established goals for future improvements. A clear road map has been developed that will take AOSR to even higher levels of excellence. A great report card does not mean that we can rest on our laurels! STRONG LEADERSHIP FROM THE STEERING COMMITTEE A requirement of the Middle States Association is that the assessment is led by a Steering Committee, a majority of whom are faculty. The visiting committee praised the excellent work and leadership of the Steering Committee. The AOSR com-mittee was ably chaired by Molly Bianchini, our high school librarian and AP/IB English teacher. Her organizational skills, writing and editing skills and strong leadership were critical to the success of our work. The members of the com-mittee are Susan Prideaux, Elementary School Coordinator, Sarah Ellyson, Middle School Coordinator, Angela Santan-gelo, Middle School Coordinator, Belinda Fiochi, AP/IB Coordinator and high school math teacher, Jessica Di Cori, Ele-mentary Resource Specialist, Miriam O’Brien, Reading Specialist, Gabriella Gangi, MS/HS Italian teacher, Susan Haight, parent representative, Dr. Beth Pfannl, Associate Head of School and Dr. Larry Dougherty, Headmaster. Each member of the Steering Committee was assigned to work with two or three of the groups preparing individual sections of the report so the Steering Committee could monitor the progress of each group. The committee has met weekly for several months and began working over a year ago. However, as Dr. Cram noted when he met with the Steering Committee, their work was not done; it was just beginning, as now they will have to ensure that the goals and objectives established through this process are carried out over the next five years. The Middle States protocol requires that the Steering Committee provide the leadership to carry out the goals and objectives developed by the school and by each program area. The membership of this core group may change over the next several years but the Committee must continue to provide the leadership to move the school forward. In five years the Steering Committee must prepare a progress report. In five years a small committee will visit the school again to review the improvements that have been achieved as a result of our plans. This Steering Committee will be at the heart of the fu-ture growth of the school.

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All School News

PPAC Meeting Notes March 27, 2006

• The headmaster discussed the Middle States Accreditation team

visit. • There is a homework club every Tuesday from 15:30 – 16:45 for all

MS and HS students. The club is run by Ms. Buckley and is free of charge.

• Parents are pleased that children have the school diaries as they are important for parent/teacher communication and learning organiza-tional skills.

• Good idea to put speed bumps in the parking lot. • Importance of healthy snacks for ES children. • ES: Italian Native Program reviewed. Teachers are working to-

gether to ensure that the program is covered in all classes. • PTO Staff Appreciation luncheon will be on Wednesday, April 12th.

Next PPAC meeting is Monday, May 22, 9:30 hs, PTO Boutique.

The Parent Book Club/Discussion Group had its 3rd meeting on March 16th and the discussion was varied and lively. Issues such as, how to talk to our children about cer-tain topics, how "bullying" behavior is addressed and the sharing of parenting tips were discussed. The group is facilitated by school counselor Elizabeth Escobar and clinical psychologist, Dr. Simona Reichmann, who has volunteered her time. The group agreed that while we will use certain books (see list below) for focus on a par-ticular topic, participants DO NOT need to actually read the book in order to gain in-sight from the group. You can order these books on the web by going to the UK ver-sion of Amazon.com.uk. The group meets every other Thursday at 9:30 in the cafete-ria, with the next meeting taking place on May 4th at 9:30am, so please mark your calendars accordingly and we hope to see you soon!

Parent Book Club/Discussion Group

Reccommended Reading: • And Words Can Hurt Forever: How to Protect Ado-

lescents from Bullying & Harassment by James Gar-barino and Ellen DeLara

• The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander: From Pre-

school to HS by Barbara Coloroso • Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggressions in

Girls by Rachel Simmons • Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understand the Social

Lives of Children by Michael Thompson (and others) • Mom, They're Teasing Me: Helping Your child Solve

Social Problems by Michael Tompson

• Parenting with Love and Logic by F.W. Cline and Jim

Fay • The Manipulative Child: How to Regain Control and

Raise Resilient, Resourceful and Independent Kids by E. W. Swihart, et. al.

• Discipline That Works: 5 Simple Steps by Joyce Divi-

nyi • Keys to Developing Your Child's Self-Esteem by Carl

Pickhardt • The Second Family: How Adolescent Power is Chal-

lenging the American Family by Dr. Ron Taffel.

Please note the following addition to the Semester I 2005-2006

Headmaster's Honor Roll GPA 4.00 Shafiza J. of the 6th grade continues to earn her place on the Headmaster’s Honor Roll with a 4.00 GPA. Keep up the great

work! Our apologies to Shafiza J. for this omis-

sion from the March Falcon Flyer.

FALCON FLYER CORRECTION

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The AOSR website is available to all. The site was created by Geoff Miller, the school’s IT Manager, Mr. Lars Rahm, MS and HS computer teacher, and Mi-chael G, AOSR alumnus. All school computers run the intra-net version (or “beta) of the website. Students, Teachers, and the Administration are able to access in-formation on a daily basis, download forms necessary for student trips, set-up their own web pages with classroom syllabi and homework assignments. Parents can access the current issue of the Falcon Flyer in its entirety with the click of the mouse. Go to the URL www.aosr.org.

All School News continued

The Falcon Flyer is a project of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). Its’ purpose is to provide AOSR information, news and events. The hardcopy version of each Falcon Flyer is distributed to the YOUNGEST child in your family. Look for it in the bottom of the littlest one’s backpack. Pull it out! The Falcon Flyer is all about YOUR children, YOUR school and YOUR community. If you don’t re-ceive it, please call Joanne Hoberg in the office so we can correct our list. The current copy of the Falcon Flyer can always be accessed on the www.aosr.org webpage. It downloads as a PDF file, so you can send pages, articles, or photos from the web version as an attachment to an email to family and friends. Falcon Flyer Committee: Claudia Sobral, Suz-anne Datin, Susan Haight, Marlene Kachatourian.

FALCON FLYER DISTRIBUTION

The next Falcon Flyer will be published by May 7, 2006 Next Deadline is Wednesday, April 26th, 5:00pm,

To make comments, suggestions, or volunteer to help on the Falcon Flyer, please send an email to ptonewsletter@aosr.org.

by Ms. Hogan, ASA Coordinator The second session of ASA is now well under way and most of the courses are already full. One of our new courses is an Acting Workshop which the students are enjoying very much. 3-on-3 basketball on Saturdays is very challenging and the students are really improving their game. Swimming is more popular than ever and we are glad that the students are interested in being able to swim a good variety of strokes. Badminton is being en-joyed by all 3 schools; ES on Wednesday, and MS and HS on Thursday. Thank you for participating in the program.

By Ms. Rahm, High School Librarian The library’s facilities were home to the accredi-tation process. The fiction room in the library was used as a display area where teachers’ binders and students’ work were displayed. The librarians did their best to make the accreditation team members feel at home at AOSR! On February 13, the librarians had the pleasure of welcoming the annual Vatican Library School visit. Fifty students and their instructors enjoyed a reception and a talk offered by Ms. Bianchini and supported by Ms. Rahm. New Books have arrived and are displayed in the “New Books” area right behind two comfortable white chairs. Have a sit and enjoy them. Thanks to the PTO!

HS Library News

AOSR Website

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

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PTO Corner

By Susan Haight

This month the Boutique will only be open for two days! We will be open to sell and receive spring and sum-mer items on April 4 and 11. Our Blue Tags will go on Half Price Sale on April 11. (Vendors please collect unsold items you would like back on April 4.) The Boutique will be closed on April 18 and 25 while the school is closed for the spring break. We will re-open on Tuesday, May 2 for our final month this year. As spring has now truly made its entrance, all ski items including clothing and equipment will be removed from sale on April 4. This will be done to make room for our summer items. Please note that this will be done regard-less of the color of the ticket. If you would like to retrieve any unsold ski items, please come in by this date. Items re-moved will be donated to charity. We are always in need of plastic and paper bags and would appreciate your donations of shopping bags. In preparation for Mayfair, we are also happy to receive any books in any language that you would like to donate. These can be delivered any Tuesday to the Boutique during our normal hours of 9:30 – 2:30. Thank you! AOSR PTO

by Cathy Garbinsky, PTO Secretary

Spring has sprung, birds are chirping and our days are longer! With longer days the temperature is also rising and we’re beginning to slowly shed our winter cloaks. Mayfair is only 5 weeks away. The planning for Mayfair is in full swing – a variety of international food booths are being organized (yummmm), book fairs, music, prizes,

games, and the booster bar. So make sure your calendar is marked for Saturday, May 13th. In addition to the PTO’s many activities, it also has social events such as cooking lessons, museums, going to restau-rants, etc. Parents join us for some fun!

Dear Parents,

On Wednesday, April 12th from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. we will be celebrating Appreciation Day for our dedicated teach-ers, administrators and staff. The PTO needs the parents’ assistance to make this luncheon a success by sending a dish (one item per family) to school (in the teachers’ lounge) the morning of April 12. This is a small way to show our appreciation for their hard work. Please help us make this a special event! For any questions please contact Grazia Deulus at 06 3630 4287 or alboino_deulus@virgilio.it

Elementary and Middle School: side dish, main dish, pasta or salad.

High school: dessert.

Thank you very much and we are counting on a big partici-pation!!!

AOSR Mayfair Saturday, May 13th

11:00am-4:00pm

Next PTO MEETING Monday, April.10 , 9:30am

in the Boutique

Donations of baked goods will be accepted at the bake sale table on the morning of Mayfair. Please bring your donation by 11:00am. Contact Sarah Ellyson, MS Coor-dinator 06.33438.336.

Boutique News for April TEACHER APPRECIATION LUNCHEON Wednesday, 12 April 2006

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Dear Students, Parents, Teachers and Staff, It is time once again for AOSR’s annual Mayfair festival. Mayfair will be Saturday, May 13th. As usual we expect this to be an exciting, fun-filled day for all. This year we have desig-nated that all profits from the Mayfair will go to support the science program at AOSR. This year there will not be an auction, but, there will still be games, food, entertainment, and best of all RAFFLE Prizes!!! We are actively seeking donations for raffle prizes. If you want to make a donation for the Mayfair, please contact me. So, show your support of AOSR science programs – buy and sell lots of raffle tickets. You might even win that week-end get away you’ve been dreaming of or pick-up that new IPOD you have always admired, or maybe get your husband a new grill so he can help with dinner! All for the price of a raffle ticket – only One Euro per ticket! Anyone in the community is welcome to pick-up a packet and sell. However, we do require a signed permission slip for students to sell raffle tickets. Permission slips for student participation have been sent home; please sign and turn-in the permission slip. The class that sells the most tickets will be treated to an old-fashioned ice cream/pizza social. Student ticket sales must me submit-ted by May 5th to qualify. Raffle tickets will be available from the following individuals: Elementary School High School Susan Prideoux Kelly Hendrickson sprideaux@aosr.org catapilargirl99@yahoo.com Tel: 06/334381 (ext. 350) Tel: 06/35452781 Middle School Ginny Newburg

Elizabeth Escobar bunchberryplace@hotmail.com jojoinoak@aol.com Tel: 06/80704731 Tel: 06/334381 (ext. 389) PTO Mirella Csapo dcsapo@hotmail.com Tel: 06/68891776 Good Luck selling those tickets. And, while selling, don’t forget friends and family

back home – wouldn’t they just love to win a new IPOD? Sincerely, Denise Graham Mayfair 2006 Raffle Coordinator

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Cari studenti, genitori, docenti e staff, Come ogni anno è arrivato il momento dell’AOSR Mayfair festival. Mayfair sara’ Sabato, 13 Maggio. Anche questa volta sarà una giornata di divertimento e svago per tutti. Quest’anno la scuola ha deciso di destinare I proventi del Mayfair al miglioramento dei programmi di scienze. Non ci sarà l’asta come l’anno scorso ma ci saranno lo stesso giochi, intrattenimento , cibo per tutti i gusti e , soprattutto, i premi della lotteria. Al mo-mento stiamo cercando donazioni di premi per la lotteria. Se volete offrire premi o donazi-oni per la Mayfair, vi prego di contattarmi. Dimostrate così il vostro interesse e sostegno ai programmi di scienze della scuola – com-prate e vendete biglietti della lotteria. Potreste magari aggiudicarvi quel weekend fuori Roma che agognate da un pò o vincere il nuovo Ipod che avete solo ammirato da lontano, o forse il barbecue grill per vostro marito, che così magari vi aiuterebbe a mettere insieme la cena! Tutto questo al prezzo di un biglietto – solo Un Euro! Chiunque della scuola può chiedere i blocchetti da 10 biglietti e venderli. Per permettere agli studenti di vendere i biglietti è necessaria l’autorizzazione dei genitori. Le richieste di autorizzazione sono state inoltrate alle famiglie, siete pregati di firmarle e di farle pervenire alla scuola. La classe che venderà il maggior numero di biglietti otterrà la possibilità di festeggiare con pizza e gelati. La vendita di biglietti da parte degli studenti per concorrere deve essere finalizzata entro il 5 maggio. I biglietti saranno disponibili presso le seguenti persone: Elementary School High School Susan Prideoux Kelly Hendrickson sprideaux@aosr.org catapilargirl99@yahoo.com Tel: 06/334381 (ext. 350) Tel: 06/35452781 Middle School Ginny Newburg

Elizabeth Escobar bunchberryplace@hotmail.com jojoinoak@aol.com Tel: 06/80704731 Tel: 06/334381 (ext. 389) PTO Mirella Csapo dcsapo@hotmail.com Tel: 06/68891776 Buona fortuna per la vendita dei biglietti.. E non dimenticate amici e parenti, non

piacerebbe anche a loro vincere un nuovo Ipod? Cordiali saluti Denise Graham Mayfair 2006 Raffle Coordinator

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INTERNATIONAL FOODS COURT AOSR MAYFAIR

2006

THE DATE IS SET FOR THE BIG DAY - SATURDAY, MAY 13TH - FROM 11:00 TO 4:00 PM! TO MAKE THIS DAY A FUN-FILLED ONE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND A SUCCESSFUL DAY FOR OUR SCHOOL, WE WILL NEED YOUR HELP! THE INTERNATIONAL FOODS COURT (IFC) IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR SECTIONS OF THE MAYFAIR, WHERE ALL FAMILIES OF AOSR FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND CULTURES WORK TOGETHER AND PRESENT A WONDERFUL DISPLAY OF DELICIOUS FOODS THAT REFLECT THE SPIRIT AND THE DIVERSITY OF OUR SCHOOL. We would appreciate it, if you could bring a special dish from your country so that everyone can taste it, and you may taste the dishes of others as well. You will soon be contacted by your region coordinator requesting your assis-tance in preparing food and / or volunteering your time to work at Mayfair 2006. Thank you in advance for your help and we do hope that you will join us to make this Mayfair a colorful and a successful event. Moshira Zelenka Phone: 06-3036-1196 Cell: 338-680-1215 email address:karel-zelenka@libero.it

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Pre-K and Elementary School News

News from the Computer Lab by Mr. Tebo

Elementary computer classes are learning fabulous new things. In the younger grades, students have been using KidPix to make family books. This activity gives them great

practice using the mouse, keyboard, and other tools. The middle grades, 2 and 3, have been working on many tasks. Second graders are designing and making birthday invita-tions, mini-biographies, and calendars. Third graders have made some amazing toy advertisements with Publisher and now are making maps of the classroom. Fourth and fifth grade students have been working hard on web pages. They have also started making concept webs showing what they do each day at AOSR. In April, Mr. Tebo is going to use the booster bar, bake sale, and PTO money to buy cam-eras for the class. The students will start using them to learn photography and graphic design. Thank you to all the parents and students who helped make the booster bar and bake sale such successful events.

Kindergarten Corner Ms. Natale & Ms. Berton

The month of March has been an exciting one. We have been learning our letters, Y, B, F and G. We are learning many more sight words and are reading every day. Every day we are practicing our bumpy and smooth blending of words. We had a very interesting visitor to our classrooms this week… a bee! Miss Natale caught him and we all got to look at him up close. Perfect timing because were learning all about bees and the jobs they do and the way they talk to each other. If you happen to walk by the kindergarten class-room and saw a group of us wiggling and waggling, we were doing the wiggle waggle dance. You should know that we were just talking like bees! Bees are fascinating! A lot of time was spent in kindergarten, planning our leprechaun traps. We read about leprechauns and then we talked in groups about how we would build our leprechauns and then we drew pictures of our traps and wrote about them. Finally we went home and built a trap with our families. We had some amazing traps! I am sorry to report that we missed the little elves again this year! Better luck next year Kindergar-ten! We also will be learning about flowers and air and wind and kites. We hope to be producing some great work. Come by and see anytime!

Pre-K Celebrates Dads and Special Friends The children enjoyed preparing for our annual Special Friends and Father’s Day Breakfast on Friday, March 17. We appreciated having so many dads and friends come to spend time with us. The children were proud of the work they did getting ready for this special day; from baking muffins to preparing a framed drawing to printing their handprints to “shaking” homemade but-ter!

Mayfair Book Competition Donate the Most Books and Win a Prize!

During the week of April 3 through April 13 all Pre-K to Grade 5 students are asked to bring, to their classroom any children's or adult fiction or non-fiction books that they would like to donate to Mayfair. We are also accepting DVDs, Cd's, and Videos. The children may deposit their donations in the specially marked box in their classroom. On Thursday, April 13 each student in the class with the most donations will receive a treat. We are accepting tape cassettes but they are not counted as a donation in the competition. Thank you for your participation and have fun!

We took cream and shook it in a jar until it became butter. Mmmm!

Sharon and her dad enjoy some “class-made” muf-fins.

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Pre-K and Elementary School News

by Ms. Ruth Lotero As the weather warms and flowers bloom, thoughts turn to spring housecleaning. Here in the elementary library I am reminded that it is time for children to clean out their back-packs and put their books at home in order. What does this have to do with the library at school? Several children here are famous for carrying library books back and forth to school in their backpacks, without manag-ing to remember to bring them into the library. Please en-courage your child to return books, when they have finished reading them. Note: Books are due when your child is fin-ished with them…this could be after one day or several weeks; one reading or many, many readings. Returning books does not need to be done on your child’s library day. Books may be returned before, after and during school, any day. If a child has trouble remembering to return books, I remind them. If now that it is spring, they still do not re-member books they have finished, I will be sending a note home eliciting your help in finding them. When cleaning up and arranging books at home, please note that library books have a white, taped barcode on the back with AOSREL(elementary school) or AOSRHI(high school) showing they are AOSR library books. Library books should also have a “spine label”…a white label with lettering or numbering on the spine, to allow us to put the books in order on the shelf. If you find any such books floating into any area of your home, they could be returned to us. Spring is also a great time for storytelling. I have presented stories about the spring holidays of Holi, Purim, St. Patrick’s Day and, coming up soon, Passover and Easter. Spring Break is also a great time to read a non-fiction book of interest, or that fiction book that was too long to read dur-ing school. Come into the library and check out some good books for you and your child’s/children’s break!

On Thursday, March 9, the 3rd through 5th grades were treated to a visit by author, Caroline Lawrence, the writer of the ROMAN MYSTERIES, a series of mysteries solved by young children and teens from Ostia, during ancient Roman times. Ms. Lawrence spoke to a spellbound audience of children, teachers and parents for almost an hour and a half, dressed in ancient Roman attire and wielding artifacts that she talked about, interweaving an excellent power point pres-entation about her books, Roman murals, art and artifacts and current Rome. She then changed into her street clothes and met the students in their classrooms to answer questions about her work, how to be a writer, and about her life. She then signed books that children already owned or bought that day. To prepare for her visit, Ruth Lotero, the librarian, read a biography written by one of Ms. Lawrence’s 11 year old fans, talked about her books and shared information from Ms. Lawrence’s website, and read passages from some of her books. The library was given a set of all ten of her cur-rent books by Lion Bookstore, and the library had two other sets. ALL of these books are currently out and being read by the eager 3rd through 5th graders who enjoyed their day with Ms. Lawrence.

AUTHOR OF ROMAN MYSTERIES SERIES VISITS AOSR

Spring house-cleaning and the Elementary Library

GRADE ONE - Ms.Tebo & Ms.Tausend Welcome Spring! In March we tried to catch lepre-chauns and learned about dental health. We worked very hard in reading. Students learned about whales, the life cy-cle of salmon, and mammals. In math we have been practic-ing our facts and played some fun math games. We even finished math journal 1. In writing we wrote about lepre-chauns and tooth fairies. It is great to read all the creative stories the first graders are writing. The tooth fairy pillows turned out fabulous! We send a BIG thank you to all par-ents who helped with this project. Students will be bringing them home soon. In April stay tuned for a field trip to Villa Ada to see tadpoles and frogs! And finally…a warm wel-come to Ms. Katherine Antinucci who will be replacing Ms. Tebo for the remainder of the school year.

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Elementary School News - continued

GRADE TWO - Ms. Prisco & Ms. Ciuffreda An excited group of Second Graders went on a full day field trip to Blera. This is a wonderful experimental archeological site. The children observed and participated through hands-on activities. Demonstrations included smelting metal, light-ing fire, and seeing early man’s tools. They became arche-ologists using sieves, trowels, and buckets. They drew, mapped, and classified their findings. They also ground corn and made coil pots. We would like to thank all of the Second Grade parents who accompanied us on this adven-ture. Better Late than Never! The Second Graders celebrated Fathers Day on March 24th. They invited their fathers or relatives to share a Fathers’ Day breakfast. The children danced the Tarentella and a square dance for their guests. The guests were then invited to join the fun! At the breakfast the children presented their Fathers’ Day awards and framed cave paintings to their fathers.

THIRD GRADE NEWS Ms. Rumsby &

Ms. Chiaramonte

First of all a big welcome to Ms. Becker, our student teacher, who has joined us in 3rd grade. Already the sounds of furniture being moved and music filter through letting us know of her very well received arrival. A big thank you to the Mencacci family for our won-derful, as always, visit to the coffee factory. Lorenzo (5th grade) did a great job as our guide and is an excellent inter-preter. We all came away with our gift bags and the smell of Palombini coffee will soon be pervading our AOSR commu-nity! What a journey back we had with lightning bolts, hail-stones and torrential downpours, a fantastic first hand view of the water cycle and Zeus’ wrath. We have begin our study of amphibians and are learning about the weird and wonderful ways these animals breathe. 3rd graders were particularly interested in how cer-tain toads drink! Many of our students have found pollywogs in their gardens. We will be going to Villa Ada (unless it rains) along with 1st grade and Pre-K 4 on April 13th to com-plete our study, maybe a certain animal with long ears, who is good at hopping and sort of fits in seasonally will pay us a visit there! Watch this space.

GRADE FOUR - Ms. DePaolis & Ms. Piccirilli Please pass by and look at our window display. You will see “kingdoms” that the students made in geogra-phy after studying map directions. You can also read our “Just So” stories that are inspired by Rudyard Kipling.

GRADE FIVE - Ms. Hogan & Mr. Waters & Ms. Wheeler Roll Up! Roll Up!

The curtain is about to rise on fifth grade’s most anticipated show –

The Jungle Book! Here is the exciting news, Everyone is sure to enjoy our performances. Just come along and bring a friend, Unless, of course, you’d rather bring two. Not only does everyone get to sing and dance, but it also has: Great costumes, great scenery, great acting, and great music. Lots of fun and laughter for all. Everyone has been rehearsing day and night. Be prepared to see elephants, wolves, monkeys, vul-tures and bears, Oh, and don’t forget the panther, tiger and the beau-tiful village girls. Obviously, we need to mention the main character – Mogli. Keep the dates in mind – April 5 (student perform-ance), and April 6 (7:30pm)

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Middle School News

By Sarah Ellyson, Middle School Coordinator

Sixth Grade Field Trip: On Friday, March 31st, the entire Sixth Grade em-barked on a journey to the Museum of Roman Civili-zation in EUR and explored Ostia Antica to support their current study of ancient Rome.

MS Teacher Mary Campanile, ESL Middle and High School English as a Second Lan-guage teacher, Mary Campanile, was an attendee rep-resenting AOSR at the 2006 TESOL Convention and Exhibit, “Daring to Lead,” which took place March 15-18 at the Tampa Convention Center in Florida, USA. The convention featured more than 900 lecture and discussion sessions given by 2,200 speakers from more than 65 different countries. Among the variety of topics were language testing and assessment, tech-nology in language learning, bilingual education, edu-cation standards and refugee / immigration concerns. There are now more people in the world who have English as a second language (2 billion) than who learned it as a first language (less than 1 billion). So, conferences and association of like-minded profes-sionals have become an increasingly important venue for information sharing, demonstration of best prac-tice, and introduction to new thinking.

Science Fair The 7th grade scientists are exploring spe-cific experiments for the upcoming Science Fair, sched-uled for Monday, May 8, 2006. Research topics already include the following: the making of mozzarella, the inner workings of a human eye, taste zones on the tongue, tsu-namis, bacteria and antibiotics, healthy teeth, hot air bal-loons, wind energy, and the gravitational pull of the Earth, Moon and Sun, just to name a few. Please plan a stop at the AOSR 7th Grade Science Fair!

Fruit Fly… don’t bother me…The 6th graders have reached a very exciting point in their science curriculum. Students are learning about the principles that control he-redity by crossing two types of fruit flies and following their traits through three generations. As one student, Emma J writes “The specific question we are trying to an-swer is what color eyes a red-eyed (wild) fly and a brown-eyed (sepia) flies’ offspring will have.” This week the off-spring have started arriving and we are surprised to find that as of now they all have red eyes!! Strange! Soon we will cross the offspring and see what color eyes their off-spring have. Julia P claims, "I'm having a great time look-ing at fruit flies in their vials. They reproduce so that we can look at the babies and see what color eyes they have." This investigation is a lengthy one and leads students to the same conclusions that Mendel reached in his study of pea plants in the nineteenth century.

SCIENCE NEWS

Visiting Musicians from London for Middle School Students to Enjoy! The Middle and High School Students were enter-tained by a choral group from the American School of London on Monday, April 3rd. An impromptu per-formance of our ES choir also took place.

AOSR welcomes Daniele Dattilo and Eny Jones to the TEAM!

There was a small reception to meet both of the new Mid-dle School teachers on Friday afternoon, March 24th. Daniele Dattilo (ddattilo@aosr.org) is working with the Eighth Grade Study Skills and Eny Jones, ejones@aosr.org is teaching the Seventh Grade Geography classes. If you missed the reception, please welcome them when you see them on campus!

Upcoming Middle School Events: Thursday, April 6: 7th Grade Bake Sale Thursday, April 13: 8th Grade Bake Sale Friday, May 5: BBQ, Talent Show and Dance (date changed from original April 28) (5:00 pm – 10:30 pm) Monday, May 8: Science Fair with 7th Grade student projects on display.

13

News from the Counselor

by Ms. Kate McKenna counselor@aosr.org

Dollars and Sense

Investment Ideas for Parents

A few months ago I had lunch with an old friend who had recently received a bonus from his employer. When I asked him what he did with this unexpected income, he replied, “I spent all of it with the click of a mouse.” Immediately, I glanced around his apartment expecting to see a new computer, a flat-screen TV—something that smelled new. But to my surprise, he replied, “You won’t see my purchase in this house—we bought our son his college education.” Looking over at his fourth-grader I thought, “What a smart in-vestment.”

In this issue of the Falcon Flyer, I thought I would take a moment to encourage parents to start thinking about various educational investment options. In a recent MSN article entitled, “7 Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund*,” Liz Pulliam Weston discusses smart saving options for US parents. Pulliam, a personal finance columnist for MSN Money, writes: “Got kids? They'll probably go to college someday, and every dollar you save for them now could spare them from a buck or two of student loan debt later. You can put up to $2,000 a year into a Coverdell Education Savings Account (see "College Plans for the Rich, Poor and In-between*"). and withdraw the money tax-free for qualified elementary, secondary or college expenses. (Unless Congress renews the leg-islation, the ability to use Coverdell money for elementary and secondary school costs is scheduled to expire after 2010.) The ability of parents to contribute is phased out when modified adjusted gross income is between $95,000 and $110,000 for single people and between $190,000 and $220,000 for joint filers. But parents can always gift the contribution money to the child, and then have the child make the contribution. Another good option for many families: state-run 529 college savings plans. Some states offer tax breaks for contribu-tions, and the money grows tax-deferred. (The ability to avoid taxes on withdrawals is scheduled to disappear after 2010, but again, Congress may act to extend the legislation.) For more information on picking a plan or on college savings in general, visit MSN Money's Saving for College Decision Center*.” * 7 Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/Preparationtips/P143385.asp?GT1=7923 * College Plans for the Rich, Poor, and In-between http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Savingforcollege/P59863.asp * Money Saving for College Decision Center: (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/collegeandfamily/Savingforcollege/Savingforcollege.asp).

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11th Graders Need to Register by April 28th

SAT I Reasoning Test Or

SAT II Subject Tests Note: You are allowed to take 3 SAT II Subject Tests in one sitting

Many Selective Colleges in the US require the Math SAT II and two Subjects of your choice.

Saturday, June 3rd This is extremely important

ALL 11th graders should consider taking this test even if you are not sure if you are going to college in the States. Many of the UK, Canadian, and European Universities will expect you to have an SAT score because you have attended an American Overseas High School.

All registration is done ONLINE.

Visit: www.collegeboard.com (AOSR’s CEEB Code is 748480; our TEST CEN-TER Number is 58380). Testing begins on Saturday morning at 7:30 and ends around 1:30. It is extremely important for 11th graders to take this test in the spring—please do not wait until the fall of next year.

TESTING INFORMATION: AOSR will serve as a Testing Center for the upcoming SAT I, SAT II, and ACT Tests. SAT I and SAT II tests will be administered at AOSR on May 6th and June 3th for students who have registered online through The College Board (www.collegeboard.com). Students who did not register in time may attempt to test “stand-by” by arriving to the school the morning of the test at 7:15 am. The extra testing spaces are distributed on a first come first served basis! The ACT will be administered again in June. For information on ACT registration, please see Ms. McKenna.

News from the Counselor continued by Ms. Kate McKenna

counselor@aosr.org

15

Sports Briefs

By Doug Kneeland

Parents of Falcon Athletes Do you have a son or daughter who is com-peting in high school sports at AOSR, or who is in Middle School and would like to compete in sports when they enter High School? Join the Parents of Falcon Athletes and help to support our teams. Contact Carolyn Grosso at: 06-3036-1525.

Soccer The AOSR boys soccer team started the season with a convincing 5 – 0 road win over Aviano. This immedi-ately got the attention of the European Stars and Stripes newspaper, that complained that AOSR has too many Italian soccer players. Hey, where do they think we are, the moon? The Falcon boys came back the following week to paste Sigonella 8 – 1. AOSR has established itself as the clear favourite to win its 5th European soccer champion-ship in the last 6 years, and its third straight. But the highlight of the first home soccer weekend was not the easy win for the boys, which was expected. Rather, the day belonged to the Falcon girls, who thumped the trash-talking Sigonella team 4 – 2. Rebecca B scored three goals to lead AOSR. This was a sweet victory for AOSR, since Sigonella is strong in girls sports this year. The AOSR girls team also showed a lot of determination by rebounding from a season-opening loss to Aviano.

Spring is here, and so are the Flying Falcons. The AOSR soccer and tennis teams have started the season with strong performances against two of the strongest sports schools in the ASIL (American School Italy League). On Saturday March 18, the Falcons traveled to Aviano in northern Italy. The AOSR tennis team won convinc-ingly, 6 - 2. The Falcons are led by Roy F, number 3 in the European individual tournament last fall. Roy trans-ferred from Marymount for his senior year. The Falcons also have strong girls and boys doubles teams. The following Saturday, the Falcon tennis players got to sleep in for their first home match of the year, and they got up in time to dominate Sigonella 7 -1.

Tennis

Look Out Italy, Here Come the Falcons!

AOSR Sports Schedule April – May 2006

April 1 Tennis and Soccer: AOSR at Vicenza

April 8 Tennis and Soccer: Naples at AOSR

April 29 Tennis and Soccer: Milan at AOSR

May 6 Tennis: Livorno at AOSR

May 13 Tennis and Soccer: AOSR at Marymount

May 18 - 21 Soccer: European championships in Germany

May 18 - 21 Tennis: Mediterranean championships – venue tba

16

ARTS at AOSR

7 In One by Kip Hendry

7 in One, the high school theater’s evening of one act plays, barked, screeched, and sang,

with comic reverie and its audience roared along in delighted laughter. After six weeks of rehearsals, 26 students from both in and beyond the theater class put on a show of clever, sometimes even poignant, wit combined with an appropriate modicum of monkey business. As a director, I can tell you that it is invigorating to work with students who love the stage and bring such joy and light to the theater. All three performances exploded with life and spontaneity. Behind that fresh and polished performance lays hidden an enormous amount of work, effort, and dedication. My congratulation is not only for the marvelous performances the students brought to the stage, but for their persistent creativity and support of one an-other in their work. Bravi! I have never had so many departing actors, both seniors and others who are moving on, in a cast and I wish you glorious things in all the stages of life that are to come. NOTE: For anyone hoping for a copy of the DVD, please let me know immediately, or sooner. All 178 of the pho-tos I have of the show are available on the AOSR internal Falcon page. Below are two pictures from 7 in One.

Music at AOSR

AOSR Spring Concert The AOSR Spring Concert was held on Thursday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. on the AOSR Cafeteria Stage. The High School Chorus, Ensemble, Middle School Choir and Elementary Choir performed.

Ms. Rebecca Bailey led seven students to the Mediterranean Association of International Schools annual Middle School Honor Choir hosted in Casablanca, Morocco between March 22-26. Katherine B, Alexandra M, Franziska N, Oliviero F, Lindsay S, Tair S, and Claire A, participated in the event with students from Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, Mo-rocco, Italy and France. Congratulations to AOSR's talented Middle School singers!

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Il Foro

Dentists Dott.ssa C. Lorincz & Dott. D. D. Karpel Via Cassia, 515—Pal. B (2° P. int. 4) Tel. 06.3350522 Cell: 335.814077 www.lorincz-karpel.it E-mail: studiocassia@lorincz-karpel.it

Organic food and natural products Love for healthy eating

Beverages, meat, grains, legumes, sauces, dressings, fruit and veggies, dairy, baked goods, dairy, yeast, egg and gluten-free foods, snacks, cereal and energy bars, oil, wine, complete line of products for newborns, wa-ter treatment systems, non-polluting detergents, subject related magazines and books and much more! Tastings of organic foods every day. Home delivery service, tel/fax 06 45424773 e-mail: info@ilovebio.it Do you want to take a FREE cooking course? Come in and find out how!

VIA GIULIO GALLI 66C – CASSIA GIUSTINIANA

500m from the Giustiniana train station, 4th cross-street on the right going towards Olgiata.

www.ilovebio.it

Thank you to Rachel Lask for the beautiful 2006 Mayfair logo.

AOSR Mayfair May 13, 11:00am-4:00pm

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The AOSR High School and Elementary School libraries will lend books to all families as well as students in the community, The HS library has approximately 5,000 refer-ence volumes, and , with the ES library, there are 25,000 books on the lending stacks, in addi-tion to the monthly magazine subscriptions, and with the recent contributions from parents, embassies and donations from the PTO, the library has grown both in volumes and technologi-cally (with internet access and color scanners). The Elementary School library has age-appropriate literature for the Pre-K to Grade 5

set. These are available for loan --- just bring in your Parent ID card. Parents must register to check out books from the High School library. Registration number is available from the HS librarian. The largest lending library in Rome is at the Santa Susanna Catholic Church on Via XX Settembre. This library has approx 12,000 volumes and, while the books are all in English, the library is open to people of all nationalities and religions. You must obtain a library membership. Books are loaned for a period of 2 weeks. They have a wonderful lit-erature collection, including the entire fiction collection of the British Council . In addition to ten shelves of British lit-erature, the Santa Susanna collection includes six shelves of American literature, two of French, one each of Italian, Rus-sian, Asian and German. It has much non-fiction as well: four shelves of American history, two European, one of World War II, 1 1/2 of Italian history, and one each of Vatican and Roman history, as well as a half shelf each of Latin Ameri-can, Austrian, Asian, Irish, and Middle East history. There is a whole shelf devoted to Vatican mystery series done by Ellis Peters. The hours, terms, and directions can be found on the website: www.santasusanna.org/library. The British Council, at Via Quattro Fontane ("Four Fountains") #20, has a large collection of videos and some DVD's. Videos and DVD's can be rented for one (new releases) or two weeks (classical or older films). They have an extensive Shakespeare collection, including those produced for the BBC. They have rooms of linguistic study material. These resources are mainly for teachers of English rather than the general public. This, too, is a subscription library, and costs E80 for full annual borrowing privileges. Their phone is 06-478141 or email at sac.roma@britishcouncil.it. More info is available at: There are two other libraries with large collections that encourage library use but do not allow borrowing. The American Academy on the Gianicolum Hill (phone 06-58461) has a 130,000 volume collection of classical studies, art and architecture. They do not allow borrowing but do have two beautiful reading rooms, one of which was designed by acclaimed architect and alumnus, Michael Graves. The Centro per Studi Americani (National Center for American Studies) on Via Caetana near Largo Argentina (which is also a beautiful building) doesn't seem to have a working web-site but it is a wonderful tourist destination. Also, the British Council Library and the American Academy often have cultural evenings including "meet the author" usually in English or Bilingual English/Italian. The American Studies Center also hosts seminars and "meet the author" evenings, but they tend to be in Italian. People who join these libraries can get onto mailing lists for invitations. In addition, for little readers, the Bibli Bookstore, at (www.bibli.it, in Italian only) in Trastevere hosts a story hour every Sunday afternoon, sometimes in English. It has a cinema, a live music venue, and a tea room. Lion Bookstore, at Via dei Greci 33 (near the Spanish Steps), is run by AOSR alumni. They have a wonderful collection of new English language titles and a wonderful painting gallery and exhibition space. They can be reached by phone at 06-3265-4007. In addition, Feltrinelli International, on Via V.E. Orlando (at Piazza Republica) and The Almost Corner Book-shop (06-5836-942), (Via dal Moro, Trastevere) have good non-fiction and fiction collections, also in English. Happy reading!

BOOKS & LIBRARY RESOURCES IN ROME

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School Information

Headmaster: Larry Dougherty 06-33438-331 Headmaster’s Secretary : Domenica Losani 06-33438-331 Associate Head: Beth Pfannl 06-33438-326 Principal’s Secretary: Alessandra Cozzi Cathy Garbinsky 06-33438-326 Admissions: Don Levine 06-33438-300 Reception/Secretary: Joanne Hoberg 06-33438-300 Financial Consultant: Elisa Bruno 06-33438-338 Boarding/Finance: Estelle Dougherty 06-33438-339 College Counselor: Kate McKenna 06-33438-327 School Counselor: Elizabeth Escobar 06-33438-389 Nurse: Diane Cullen-Moore 06-33438-321 After School Activities: Christine Hogan, Margaret Ciuffreda 06-33438-320 ES Coordinator: Susan Prideaux 06-33438-350 MS Coordinator: Sarah Ellyson 06-33438-336 Resource Room: Ellen Buckley 06-33438-302 Jessica DiCori 06-33438-390

All telephone and internet address corrections should be emailed to principalsoffice@aosr.org.

AOSR Via Cassia 811

00189 Rome, Italy Internet: www.aosr.org

School Number: 06-334-381 Fax: 06-3326-2608

Helpful Resources: Wanted in Rome—www.WantedInRome.com -- a biweekly print and free web publication which lists news, features, and events of interest to the English-speaking community in Rome. It also sponsors a free classified ser-vice including housing. Roma C'E —www.Romace.it — A great resource for movies playing in and around Rome for those who can handle a little bit of Italian. The "Cinema" reference on the homepage sends you to a screen where you can choose to see where a movie is showing and when, by selecting either title ("titolo"), type ("genere"), director ("regia"), ac-tor ("attori"), or nationality ("nazionalita"). You can also select movies that are in their original language ("versione originale"). English Yellow Pages – www.englishyellowpages.it — A terrific, free print and web directory of all English-speaking businesses in Rome, Florence, Milan and Naples. More than just a phone book, EYP sponsors a free clas-sified service, great reference information (weights and measure conversions, national holidays, basic vocabulary, and maps) as well as a photo gallery of people and events in the English/US community here in Rome, which are able to be downloaded from the website! On-line Public Bus and Train info in Rome—www.atac.roma.it—The Rome's public transportation agency offers an on-line directory, in choice of either Italian or English, giving address-to-address directions, using public bus, metro, and tram lines, AND plotting it out on a map! On-line Train information and reservation service for Italy -- www.trenitalia.it -- Italy's vast national train service is available on-line, in English. Times, train types, trip duration, cost, and purchase is easily accessible. For daily Italian newspaper and radio news in English, see www.AGI.it/english, a special service by Agenzia Giornalistica Italia on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister’s office. The American —www.theamericanmag.com — is a new monthly magazine for Italy’s English-speaking community, including a huge list of restaurants. American citizens may want to register with the US Embassy and ask to be included on the e-Embassy Rome email list to be notified about security alerts and other important information for Americans living in Italy. Call 06-46741 or send an email to USEmbassy@lb.bcentral.com. Rome Airport Information (Fiumicino or Ciampino airports) including flight arrivals and departures can be found at www.adr.it.

Rome n’ About

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