On May 18, 2018, the school bell rang for the last time for grade 12 students at the European School. The grade 12 students had their last symbolic class with their homeroom teachers. After classes, they celebrated the last day of school. They said goodbye to the school and scribbled messages on each others’ t-shirts. Meanwhile, younger students organized a goodbye concert for our seniors. As the grade 12 students head out into the world, they wish to leave their legacy behind and the tradition of tree planting is their way of saying farewell. Together they planted the tree in the school yard and, before leaving, they wrote autographs on the Alumni Wall. Sophio Bazadze, the Academic Director of the European School, wished them success in their future endeavors.

On May 17, 2018, Grade 2 students from Georgian Program had a demo lesson on road safety awareness. Major Levan Tsiklauri delivered a road safety talk. He described the police duties and taught children basic street safety - explained how street lights work, how to cross the road, what zebra crossing is, etc. Students learned to identify traffic signs. In the end, our guest speaker answered children’s additional questions.

On May 16, 2018, Grade 1 students from Georgian Program reviewed the transdisciplinary unit about coexisting with nature. Children discussed living and non-living things, good and bad bacteria, the effects our bad habits have on our health, etc. They exchanged viewpoints on environmental responsibilities and how to reduce our environmental impact on human health and natural world.

The European School main hall hosted the premiere of William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” on May 16, 2018. The play offered our students an opportunity to showcase their acting, musical and screenwriting skills. They worked on the stage design, provided backstage support and performed on stage with equal dedication and enthusiasm. Lika Kobuladze, an actress at Tbilisi Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre and the head of the Drama Studio of the European School, helped our students direct the play.

On May 16, 2018, Georgian Program grade 7B students participated in an open lesson themed as “I Will Swim over the Sea.” Students read famous works of literature, recalled and discussed popular movies, and brought scripted characters to life.

Giorgi Ovashvili, the Georgian film director and screenwriter, visited the European School on May 15, 2018. He sat down with the grade 9 students from Georgian Program. Our students learned about his works and discussed the movie the Other Bank which he directed in 2009.

Currently, the PYP grade 4 students are inquiring into the unit “Energy”. One of the lines of inquiry is “Renewable and nonrenewable energy”. To take a closer look at wind turbines, and find out first-hand how they generate electricity, the students visited a wind farm, located in Gori which is currently the only wind farm in Georgia. The students interviewed the electrician, who provided them with some information about the onshore wind farms. Our students had a great time and found the trip very enjoyable! Part of their next project will be to design a model for the country, using only green energy.

On the 11th of May PYP organized an ‘appreciation day’ as part of their ‘countdown to summer’ (summer countdown). Each day of the summer countdown is in alphabetical order and is very exciting for our students. For appreciation day, PYP students wrote letters and made cards for their teachers, the administration and all of the members of the European School Staff to show how much they appreciate their efforts and simply to say, ‘thank you’.

On May 10, third graders participated in a special Geography competition. As students have been inquiring the unit “Oceans, seas and river of the Earth” they learnt about continents, oceans and other bodies of water. Students also learned how to work with maps and identify different bodies of water, like rivers and seas. Thus, to summarize all their knowledge, a special Geography competition was held. Students from both grades were divided into 4 groups. The competition consisted of 3 rounds. In the first one, students had to answer the questions about the topics they have covered through the unit. Second round was about map search, kids had to choose a card with a body of water written on it and they had to find it on the map. For the final rounds kids had to create actual maps. In the end of the competition the winning team received certificates and globes for their hard work. Between the rounds, students also had the opportunity to performed songs and dances. All our students enjoyed the competition, and although winning was important to them they displayed great teamwork and used their knowledge acquired during our lessons.