Bill's Blog

Middle School Classroom Observations: 7th Period November 25, 2008

November 26, 2008November 26, 2008billkralovec

Yesterday I did an unannounced visit to the Middle School classes in the afternoon. I took a photo in each of the class rooms I visited.

Above, two seventh grade students are learning the papier mache technique. They are creating a Galapagos Tortoise to enter in the Children’s October Exhibit of the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade. The theme of the exhibit is the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. Other classes are also entering projects.

Below are some photos of some of what I observed. You can see the flickr.com account for some more photos. It was nice to see literally 100% of the students engaged when I first stepped into each room. One downpoint was only 33% of one class had completed their homework assignment. This has been a topic in recent teacher meetings on how to get students to do their homework.

The 6B class is learning how to write a book report. Gal is doing a book report on the Spiderwick Chronicles — The 6B class is learning how to write a book report. Gal is doing a book report on the "Spiderwick Chronicles"

6A student Conor draws the steps of cell division (mitosis) in science class

"Use the word ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in a sentence."

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Wednesday November 26, 2008

November 26, 2008November 26, 2008billkralovec

Daily Bulletin: Wednesday November 26, 2008

Today is Day #1. I will be at the HS all day today. I will have my usual Wednesday afternoon Admin Team meeting at the LS.

ISB Time: We will be on the assembly schedule today. During ISB Time (10:50 – 11:50 AM) today, we will be holding our annual NGO Community Service Fair. The fair will take place in the bubble. All grades will have forms to fill out during the fair as they attend the presentations by each organization. I expect that all teachers will be also attending to monitor student behavior. If things are going smoothly, then you will be dismissed. All students need to be at the fair for the full hour. The STUCO President and Director of the Anglo American School of Belgrade will be special guests at the fair.

Discipline Update: This section is confidential and will not be published on the internet. It is for internal communication among the teachers only.

School Leadership Council Meeting: Today after school in Room #17.

Parent-Principal Coffee: Tonight at 7:00 PM in the HS Computer Lab. Maja Kelly and I will be making short presentations and handling parent questions and concerns.

ISB Hooded Sweatshirt Sales: These will be on sale this afternoon at the MS, tonight at the Coffee, and Friday afternoon in the reception of the high school. The PTA sold many during yesterday’s LS Parent-Teacher Conferences.

The SPACES Media Expo Committee would like to ask you a question: What will you be eating for lunch next Monday? A soggy sandwich you found in your locker or a large, hot, cheesy slice of pizza? The lucky designer of the winning SPACES logo will find him or herself and friends dining on pizza next Monday. Voting for the logo will take place on Thursday, Nov. 27 and Friday, Nov. 28. Entries will be displayed on the screen in the lobby. Anyone can vote; cast your ballot with Bojana in the HS office.

HS Math Competition: Organizational meeting at lunch on Friday in Ms. Marija’s room. Everyone is invited to attend.

Purchase Order 2009-2010: A reminder to all that the PO for next year is due by the end of this week. You will want to prioritize into category 1-2-3. We will meet next week to negotiate the final amounts. Once again we will have approximately $XXX,XXX to work with for all departments.

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Tuesday November 2, 2008

November 25, 2008billkralovec

Today is a Day #4 and I will be in the MS the entire day today. Branka and Bojana will be handling any discipline issues.

Lunch in the Library: Due to repeated occasions of food debris and litter in the library, there will be no lunches allowed to be eaten in the library. There has also been too much disruptive behavior in the library. The following notice is posted by the librarian:
The Library is a space for reading, writing, and quiet conversation.
No one should suffer from another’s noise, mess, or disruptive behaviour.
·         No food or drinks
·         No music, videos, or gaming
·         No mobiles or online telephony (skype, gtalk, etc.)
·         No behaviour that disrupts other’s ability to learn.

High School Knowledge Bowl Competition: Students interested in joining the team are asked to meet today at lunch in Mr. Slough’s room.

Hooded Sweatshirt Sales: Our PTA has asked me to let you know that today during LS conferences, they will be taking pre-orders for new ISB sweatshirts that they are selling. There are 3 different styles of sweatshirts available. Samples of the shirts, and pre-order forms will be in the LS library for interested parents and/or staff members during the day on Tuesday.
HS Receptionist Update: The receptionist will begin training on Monday December 8. A new desk is being designed and built for her and will be ready by December 15th. We are currently in contract negotiations.
High School Math Competition: Mrs. Vuckovich will be holding an informational meeting at lunch on Friday. The competition takes place in Bucharest on February 13-14.

Why Asian Children Are Better at Mathematics: An interesting idea from Malcolm Gladwell, the author of “Blink” in his new book “Outliers”. He reckons that it is the Chinese language and organizational system for numbers that makes mathematics easier for them. The Guardian has an excerpt at this link.

History of New Belgrade

November 24, 2008November 24, 2008billkralovec

Ljiljana Blagojević in her blog, “Art-E-Fact” has a nice post on the history of New Belgrade.

“New Belgrade is a modern city, built in the second half of the twentieth century, on the marshy plain bordered by the rivers Sava and Danube, stretching between the historical cities of Zemun and Belgrade.[1] The terrain of this modern development, most dramatically beheld from the position of the ancient Belgrade fortress, served for centuries as a no-man’s-land between the borders of the two empires, the Ottoman and the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian.[2] Devoid of any urban structure, it fulfilled the function of a cordon sanitaire, observed and controlled as no-connection-zone between the Orient, where Belgrade, as it were, marked its end point, and the Occident, of which Zemun was the, first, even if modest and marginal, port of call. In the short period between the World Wars, with the unification of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia, when the river Sava ceased being a state border, various planning strategies for the urbanization of this terrain were elaborated. Common denominator of all of these, otherwise widely divergent strategies was that they primarily envisaged the new development on this site as an expansion of, already uncontrollably sprawling, city of Belgrade. When the actual construction began in 1948, albeit in the changed socio-political conditions after the Second World War, the new city was conceived upon totally different premises. Most significantly, New Belgrade carried a potent symbolic function of being conceived as a new capital city of the new Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia.”

Above is a photo of a typical New Belgrade apartment building I took in September of 2008.

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Monday November 24, 2008

November 24, 2008billkralovec

I am posting my Daily Bulletin this week in anticipation of my Principal – Parent Coffee evening on Wednesday. The Bulletin will be posted on our school’s web site beginning in January 2009.

Today is Day #3. I will be in the High School.

Illness: Milica is not going to be in school today as she is under the weather.

HS Health Screening: Dr. Lily will be screening students today so expect students to be pulled out of classes sometime this morning. This is the annual hearing, vision, etc. testing.

Second Quarter Progress Reports: A full report will be distributed to teachers later today in anticipation of today’s faculty meeting. Thanks to Bojana for compiling these and the teachers for getting them in on time.

HS Faculty Meeting: We will be meeting in the HS Computer Lab. If everyone can make it, we’ll begin at 3:15 PM and be out of here by 4:00 PM. Topics include the following:
•    analysis of second quarter progress reports (10 minutes)
•    compile list of students to be put on academic probation for second semester (10 minutes)
•    discussion of tardies / use of Serbian in classroom (10 minutes)
•    arranging of after school “extended learning opportunities” (students that need to make up a missed homework assignment) (10 minutes)
•    teacher professional development / evaluation – goal setting (5 minutes)
•    divide grade 10 students into two even groups for next semester’s non-math classes (5 minutes) – grade 10 teachers only
Please let me know if there are any other agenda items for possible inclusion. Thanks.

HS Boys’ Basketball Practices: The boys will have the following practice tmes this week:
•    Monday Nov 24 4:30 – 6:00 PM
•    Tuesday Nov 25 3:00 – 4:30 PM (Tuesdays are with the marines)
•    Friday November 28 4:30 – 6:00 PM (Faculty vs. Team)

Knowledge Bowl: Mr. Slough will be hosting an organizational meeting after school today for all interested students. Everyone is invited to attend.

ISB Time This Week: Our CAS Coordinator Vladamir has organized our NGO Community Service Fair. This will take place during the ISB time 10:50 – 11:50 AM. The grades 9-11 will attend the fair as well as guests from the Anglo-American School of Belgrade.

Discipline Update:
A student will be serving a lunch time detention today for using facebook in DT class and being argumentative with a teacher.

The top 20 tardy students served a lunchtime detention with me on Friday. I feel stronger measures need to be taken and parent meetings with me will be arranged for this week.

Performing Arts Update: Students are getting ready to perform at the ISB Holiday Dinner on Thursday evening. Both MS and HS students are also holding extra rehearsals for next Thursday’s Winter Music Concert.
Sign up sheets for ONE ACTS auditions are posted on the Performing Arts Bulletin Board. The auditions will be Tuesday December 9 and Wednesday December 10. One Acts are SHORT plays (5-15 minutes in duration) that rehearse once or twice a week after school. These sign ups are open to ALL HS students! Students who have other after-school commitments can also participate in One-Acts, provided they have some free time after school. Some of the one acts are student-directed, some teacher-directed. If any teachers want to act or direct, please let Mrs. Sands know.
One Acts performances are March 20 and 21. Rehearsals will begin in January.The One Acts are sponsored by the ISB Thespian Society Chapter 7335.
MS/HS WINTER CONCERT: Thursday December 4, 2008
HS PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO
7:00-7:30 MS CONCERT
(6A and 7A General Music Classes AND MS CHOIR)
7:45-8:30 HS CONCERT
(HS JAZZ/BLUES COMBO, HS String Duet, HS CHOIR)
We ask that MS Parents attend the MS portion of the concert, and HS Parents attend the HS portion. We do not have enough space in the Performing Arts studio to accommodate all parents from both levels at the same time. Please plan to attend and support the MS and/or HS musicians as you will hear a variety of musical selections from music classes and performance ensembles at ISB.

The New Ride “Edelweiss”

November 23, 2008November 23, 2008billkralovec

We drove quite a bit this weekend with our car. Great to have some freedom! The car is a sweet 1996 Honda Odyssey that we bought from the Swiss Ambassador, hence the name “Edelweiss”. It has an Edelweiss sticker on the front passenger side hood and I think we’ll keep it.

The car is in excellent condition as the Swiss take good care of their cars. We are happy with the space and comfort of the car. With three kids, we needed something that we can all fit in. We hope it is a good car for us. It cost $6,800 and cars are generally more expensive in Europe than in the USA.

A nice aspect of working at ISB is we get diplomatic plates and status. The “CD” sticker indicates Corps Diplomatic and the 144 M on the black and yellow plates indicate we are part of the USA mission. The US Embassy has been very nice to us here. They allow us to shop in their commissary, invite us to many functions, and we get the diplomatic plates.

Today Nadia and I are not feeling that great, Nadia worse than me. Tough to be sick with kids. All I feel like doing tonight is a bit of school work, read a book, and go to bed. We have to feed, bathe, and put the kids to bed however. We ate lunch in Zemun, I had a great fresh water river fish while Ocean at a lot of pasta. There was a light dusting of snow that collected on windows of cars and so I taught the boys how to make a snow ball. We also went to Delta City Mall to by a GPS so I can figure out where to go. Belgrade is a big city and we need it.

Ready for another week of work! Happy that basketball is starting!

Genex Tower

November 23, 2008November 23, 2008billkralovec

This cool looking building is one of the landmarks we use to find our way around New Belgrade. I took this photo from the highway entering Belgrade from the airport. We call it the “Zepter” building because of the advertising sign on the left, but it is actually called the Genex Tower. The official name is “Western City Gate” and it is the first thing one notices upon entry to the city.

Genex was a state-owned company dealing in foreign trade and tourism. They also built the Intercontinental Hotel in Belgrade and a hotel in Kaponik, a ski resort in southern Serbia. The tower was completed in 1980, the last year of Tito’s rule in Communist Yugoslavia. On the left side are 30 floors of residential apartments and on the right side are 26 floors of offices. The bridge and tower between the two buildings serves as a restaurant which we will have to eat in. It is not one of the projects featured on their web site however. They have done many engineering projects in Serbia and eastern Europe.

While researching the building, I learned that it is designed in the architectural style called Brutilism. The name comes from the French and refers to raw concrete. The style flourished in the 1950’s – 1970’s. Critics think that it is alien and out of touch with the local landscape and culture. It is the dominate architectural style of New Belgrade. Brutilism was also associated with socialist, Utopian ideals, hence the use here.

I like the look. This is my first time in Eastern Europe and I have never seen a place that looks like New Belgrade before. After WWII, the communists drained the swamps on the other side of the river and built many Brutalist buildings. Over half a million people now live in New Belgrade. I like going over because it is spread out and feels more like the USA with wide streets. I want to learn more about New Belgrade and the buildings and you will see future posts on the subject.

Underneath the Towers (courtesy of Wikicommons)

Family Journal: November 22, 2008 – Shopping

November 23, 2008November 23, 2008billkralovec

It was a shopping Saturday as we ventured out in our new car yesterday. Despite the cold weather, we were warm and comfortable in our car, a 1996 Honda Odyssey. After 4 months of taxis and buses, it was a welcome change and instilled us with a sense of freedom. We drove around Belgrade Saturday morning and eventually ended up at the US Embassy Commissary. Nadia picked up her order of turkey, 2 hams, yams, and cranberries. She also bought three baskets full of that good old American processed “food” that we can’t live without. Lucky Charms, Tostitos, fruit roll-ups, and Mac & Chees. Long shelf lives, packed with preservatives, and a good helping of corn syrup…

We then drove to the largest supermarket in Belgrade, Tiempo. It is like a Sam’s Club or one of those big warehouse bulk shopping places in the US. As you can see from above, we stocked up on everything. We finished our shopping day by going to Galerija Podova and buying a carpet for our basement. We have transformed a room in the basement as a guest room. We are anticipating more visitors over the holidays and want to make it nice for them. It also gives us another room for the kids to play in.

Nadia’s ear was bothering her and she is still battling a cold. She went to the clinic last night while I watched the kids. Went to bed early.

Two of Serbias Winter Staples - Cabbage and Potatoes — Two of Serbia's Winter Staples - Cabbage and Potatoes

Family Journal: Thursday November 20, 2008

November 21, 2008November 21, 2008billkralovec

Owen and Oliver are shown above boxing. We are boxing this week at home and they love it. They have some “socker boppers” and they are following in the long tradition of the Kralovec boys of beating the heck out of each other. At least they are doing it now in a controlled environment. I am teaching them to jab and move, protect their face with the gloves up, etc.

There was frost on the grass a couple of mornings this week and I also saw a flock of large birds heading south – winter is on its way! Today it is warm and raining.

Ocean is walking all over the place. She prefers to walk than crawl now. Gotta run.

2008 – 2009 School Photos

November 19, 2008November 19, 2008billkralovec

Once again it is that time of year. The boys recently received their annual school photos. The photographers airbrushed Ollie’s stitches between his nose. Ollie is in the Early Years program and attends school all day. He has really improved his speech this year and is growing up fast. He is such a character!

I remember that my mom had all of our school photos posted on the stairwell. She started from age 1 and went all the way to our senior photo. Perhaps we’ll do that with our children.

Below is Owen’s kindergarten photo. Once again he is in kindergarten as we wanted him to be with his own age group. He has been a little bored, but we try to supplement his learning and his teacher, Ms. Vicki, gives him some extra assignments.

I’ll be sending photos to Grandma and Grandpa! You can see how much they have changed this past May when we had photos done at Escuela Anaco.