We are organising a fair to celebrate Earth Day and need your ‘clean’ rubbish for our different activities. Such as: egg cartons, cereal boxes (not collapsed), plastic bottles (not squashed) with tops, fabric scraps, jam jars, yoghurt pots, plastic containers, magazines, newspapers etc. Donations of the following items - packets of herb seeds, compost, old batteries and light bulbs will also be gratefully received. Please leave your donations on the fourth floor in class B2.

Many thanks, August and Laura, 7B Environmental Club

On 19^th March the annual Rome International Schools Association Conference took place.Staff from Rome's international schools were invited to take part in a variety of workshops presented specifically by teachers for teachers. All types of topics and subjects were discussed from First Aid for teachers to innovative teaching techniques, understanding and spotting dyslexia and even the importance of art education. The conference aims to strengthen the bond between Rome's international schools by openly sharing information, knowledge  and experiences between teachers.

This year’s conference was voted a roaring success by the presenters from Rome International School.

On Tuesday, we had two Danish choirs visiting Rome International School. These choirs, hailing from Horsens and Copenhagen, performed for our students in Grade 3 to 9. After the performance, our students got to sing themselves as well during short workshops.

This week, the Elementary School celebrated the Indian festival of Holi, which marks the arrival of spring. Since this festival is known as the ‘festival of colours’, the celebration of it was a bright affair.

We're creating photo galleries of all the trips our Middle and High School classes went on last week. So keep an eye on the 'Gallery' section of our web site. Did you take some nice pictures, and do you want to share them with the world? Send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ! And if you're a RIS student and you want a copy of these photos: there are high-resolution versions on the school server...

Today is Father's Day. So that means of course there's a lot of making presents going on by our younger students, but we had some fathers in as well, to start the day with a breakfast with their son or daughter! A very nice start of the day, visited by a lot of our families...

To celebrate International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future, our Parent/Teacher Association held a breakfast on 8th March with coffee and tea and cakes and sweets. The PTA would like to thank all that contributed to this morning.

Roma versus Lazio: a fiercely fought football contest not for the faint hearted, two teams of gladiators battling for victory and, more important, pride. The Stadio di Olympico will be busting to the brim with supporters representing both sides combating in song.
In contrast to the derby, Roma and Lazio are working together to instruct our pupils in hockey and cricket respectively. This year SS Lazio hockey club have  formed a partnership with RIS to teach our young athletes about the fine game of hockey, proving them with the opportunity to represent the school in the upcoming inter schools tournament. Presidente of SS Lazio Hockey Club Francesco Rossi kindly offered a link with RIS after a recommendation from Karin Troiani’s father.
Roma Cricket Club have also formed a partnership with RIS and send qualified representatives to teach our Middle School pupils cricket techniques and prepare them for the tournaments here in Rome and in Florence. Thanks to the hard work and effort from Alfonso Jayarajah, who established the Rome cricket team in 1980. It wouldn’t be completely for the first time RIS students would enter that tournament: A couple of our students, Avi from Grade 8 and Alessandro from Grade 9, have already represented Rome last year.

Mr Douglas
PE Coordinator

Well done to all the Elementary Student Council Students that took part in organising the Second hand RIS Book Sale 2011! You did a great job working hard to advertise the event, collect the books, help out with the pricing, set them out and finally sell them!

We managed to raise 210 euro! The Elementary Student Council will now decide how this money will be used for the Elementary School Library.

Special thanks should be also given to all parents and teachers that supported this event.

A new issue of RIS Report is out! This month's magazine contains a report of the Grade 11 trip to London, on the celebration of the Chinese new year in elementary school, contributions from our head of school and both our principals, introductions to the new Photography club and Chemistry club, and more!
The latest issue is available in our main hall, or you can find the PDF version here.

The new teaching method Rome International School adopted at the start of this year, bringing the iPads into the classroom for our High School students, features in the latest edition of Applicando, a monthly computer magazine for Mac users. In a nine page feature article in the March issue it outlines the exciting new possibilities the tablet pcs offer to teachers and students. You can read the article in the school foyer.

Students from our Creative Writing Club recently joined in a short story competition. In no more than a thousand words, they were supposed to write a story about the central idea of ‘diversity’, choosing an opening sentence from five given options.
In the category ‘High School’, the winning entry is the story ‘Diversity’ by Nicoletta Pellegrini from Grade 12, about a girl who takes a journey to an unknown destination after receiving an anonymous text message.
In the category ‘Middle School’, the best story came from Ginevra Bianco from Grade 7A, who wrote 'Different Aspects, Different  Personalities, But All the Same Inside', about animals trying to figure out who of them is the best. 
First runner-up in this category is Elias Olivera Graversen from Grade 8B with his story 'Sometimes It's Good When Life Changes'. Second runner-up is Greta Arancia Sanna Grade from 7B, with her story 'Together to the Moon'.

Nicoletta and Ginevra win 20 Euro Feltrinelli book vouchers with their winning entries.

Rome International School held a Creative Writing Competition in February. Contestants were asked to write a story of no more than a thousand words, on the topic of ‘diversity’ and starting with one of five given opening sentences. The following story is the second runner-up in the category 'Middle School', written by Greta Arancia Sanna.

Together to the moon

“The first time I saw them I had a strange impression,” said Sniff. He had just arrived in the country side with his family. The other mice were strange in his opinion. He was a city a city mouse and was moving in the countryside because the city was too dangerous and full of cats whom Sniff had never seen. After he and his family had unpacked the little things they had bought they all went in the fields and father mouse said to begin working by picking corn for Winter.

Rome International School held a Creative Writing Competition in February. Contestants were asked to write a story of no more than a thousand words, on the topic of ‘diversity’ and starting with one of five given opening sentences. The following story is the first runner-up in the category 'Middle School', written by Elias Olivera Graversen.

Sometimes It's Good When Life Changes

Sometimes it’s good when life changes. Other times it’s bad.  A good place to begin is at the bench beside the supermarket. Mom, dad and I had bought some snacks in the supermarket, and some DVDs from the foreign seller right outside the shop for tonight. Or so I thought. There was a boy sitting next to us with his cute puppy.

Rome International School held a Creative Writing Competition in February. Contestants were asked to write a story of no more than a thousand words, on the topic of ‘diversity’ and starting with one of five given opening sentences. The following story is the winning story in the category 'Middle School', written by Ginevra Bianco.

Different Aspects, Different  personalities, But All the Same Inside

The first time I heard them arguing in a lively way I thought I was dreaming. It happened on a bright summer afternoon and I was dozing under a shady oak tree when I realised that three four footed animals were getting into a row. “I’m quite different from you”, a horse was saying to a donkey and to a mule.

Rome International School held a Creative Writing Competition in February. Contestants were asked to write a story of no more than a thousand words, on the topic of ‘diversity’ and starting with one of five given opening sentences. The following story is the winning story in the category 'High School', written by Nicoletta Pellegrini.

Diversity

The last thing I said to them was "I’ll be back", the truth is that I never returned. We had just finished sipping a cup of warm vanilla tea. It was winter and I loved it because it kept me warm. I used to love to clutch it tightly into my hands, it made me feel safe, it made me feel at home. Home! What memories lie beyond a simple word such as home! It meant the world to me back then, now it has lost all its connotations, it’s like a faded black and white picture of the past at which you initially smile when you have quick glance at it, but if you stop and look at it closely, you start to notice all the details and all the past storms abruptly back.

The following is a contribution by Jacopo Siniscalco, Grade 6. Photo by Ginevra de Blasio, Grade 6.

18th February was the last day of school before the long waited for February holiday. But it was also a period of sweat, victory and fun: the second Sports Day of the year. It wasn't a new event, but the tension and excitement were still superbly high.

The day before, when it was officially stated the event, Sports Day was the only topic the students were able to talk about,  especially from Grade 3 to Grade 6, the lucky chosen to participate at the games.
During the big games, all the teams (named after the Greek and Roman gods),  were dressed in their House Colors,  after the example of the world famous saga of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, except poor Mercury, who's color was the same as the school uniform: blue!  Some of the games were the same as the time before, like the basketball relay, the first game performed during the morning sports period. Some were new, like the stick relay, in which two strong people held a thick branch, and the third, lightweight, sat on top of.  All of them were really cool , so I think we all should congratulate mr. Bernieri and mr. Douglas, who worked hard and did a fantastic job.
But even the students involved in this special, almost unique day, did a remarkable job, since the teams were very good, and at least all of them had a time in which they were at lead, starting with Jupiter, and finishing with our winner, Mercury.  It managed to win all the rope-pulling games.
I noticed that the results were almost the same as last year's: is someone cheating?! Or are the teams unbalanced, with an excessive number of ‘special people’ in Mercury?

This week is Book Week at Rome International School. That means there will be all sorts of activities going on in the school that have to do with books. These can range from a visit to the Keats Shelly House in Rome for our High School students to a puppet show of Snow White for our Elementary School children.
Other activities include visits from the Arion and Lion bookshops to our foyer, a short story competition (about which you will read more soon on our web site and in the next issue of RIS Report), visits to Spanish and French libraries for the students who take these lessons, and ‘paired readings’: our older students will be reading to our younger ones.
One of our Grade 6 students, Livia Alegi, wrote the following preview about Book Week in Elementary School for the February issue of our school magazine:

Book Week is coming!

This year, it’s Book Week at Rome International School from 28th February to 4th March. It will be a week full of special events that will involve books. Books about mystery, adventure, romance, and animals, and even fantasy books.

The Lion Bookshop and Arion Bookshop are  both coming to the school with a stand, so students will have a wide choice of books to buy, read or to advise the school librarians to buy it if the libraries don’t have that book. The author of Lindsey and the Jedgar, Elizabeth Wahn, will come to school, and talk about her book: how she came up with the idea for the story, as well as about her book in general.
Students from the Middle and High School are going to read to Elementary School students (Grade 1 to 6). The best stories for the youngest grades are stories that involve animals, books with ryhmes or books
that include funny things. For the older students in the Elementary School, the best choice would be a book that contains episodes from different books, especially from the adventure and mystery genre. Hopefully,
the students will like what they hear, and they will want to continue to read the story. Grade 12 will read to Grade 6, not from a traditional paper book, but from eBooks on their RIS iPads.
Just like every year, each teacher in Elementary School will choose a book to read. Students will choose which story they prefer, then they will go in the teacher’s room and the teacher will read it to his or her class.
Eoin Colfer, the author of Artemis Fowl, will talk via web with us, answering questions written by students. He will talk about how he invented the characters, and where and how he got the idea for his books.
RIS’s book week will be full, and it will be exciting, just like reading! So carry on reading, because that’s the best way to travel!