Dear friends of Stella International School!
Every time we compile the monthly newsletter we run out of space: the newsletter is a joint production of teachers and students – we have so much more to say! Today you will find a brief selection of some of the highlights of everyday school life – from projects, creative activities, academic achievements and preparations for Easter to the baptism of one of our secondary teachers.
We have had intensive weeks of school enrollment at all three locations – and the registrations continue. As the Stella schools are relatively new, many families are only just discovering them and are still hoping to get a school place. There are still places available, especially at our new Seebenstein and Salzburg locations. In Vienna, we are already working intensively on the move to the new location in DonauCity, which will take place at the end of June during the summer.
I hope you all enjoy reading our newsletter and wish you a happy and blessed Easter!
Sincerely yours
Heidi Burkhart & the team of Stella International School
Contents
- Stella Salzburg
- Stella Seebenstein
- Stella Seebenstein Kindergarten
- Stella Seebenstein Elementary School
- Stella Seebenstein Middle School
- Stella Vienna Kindergarten
- Stella Vienna afternoon care
- Stella Vienna Elementary School
- Stella Vienna Secondary School
Stella Salzburg
You can find the current Salzburg Newsletter here.
Stella Seebenstein
The middle school visited the primary school on Austrian Reading Day and gave the children a different kind of reading lesson.
Our Evi was surprised for her 30th birthday!
Not only children are grateful for such a great teacher! Our Evi is a role model in all areas. The team at Campus Stella Seebenstein has every reason to celebrate!
On the last day before the Easter vacations, we walked the Way of the Cross in Seebenstein with our school chaplain Mr. Thomas Kenner together with the secondary school and the elementary school. This prayer helps us to better understand God’s love for us humans.
Stella Seebenstein Kindergarten
The chickens are out at Stella Seebenstein kindergarten! 😊
In March, we learned lots of interesting things about chickens – using all our senses! Starting with the feathers of the chickens, a delicious egg dish and a visit to our chickens in the garden! Together with Mia and Evi, we discovered that there are many different hens that lay different colored eggs.
The second major project in March was a visit to the “Mater Salvatoris” convalescent, residential and nursing home in Pitten. In preparation for this, we made flowers for the elderly and gave them to them during our visit. We also sang “traditional children’s songs” such as “Green, green, green are all my clothes”, “Cuckoo, cuckoo calls from the forest”, “Who wants to see hard-working craftsmen” and “Ringing, ringing, the post is here” with them.
It was a very exciting trip and the first time we traveled together by train.
At the ponds in Seebenstein there is a carved Way of the Cross and we walked this together with Evi before the start of the Easter holidays. Before that, we talked about four special encounters: Jesus meets his mother, Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross, Jesus meets Veronica and Jesus meets the weeping women.
Stella Seebenstein Elementary School
Spring has sprung! In our school garden we find primroses, violets, daffodils, primroses, spring knot flowers, spring snowflakes, tulips and a forythia bush. This also pleases the teacher’s heart, because in this case they don’t need to get any illustrative material. Mother Nature has prepared everything perfectly for us😊!
The craft lessons were busy sawing, drilling, painting and gluing. We are proud of our creative “Easter resurrection tombs“. 😊
The 3rd class working together.
Presentations are also given in the 2nd grade, even with a showpiece.
We love the Mother of God! That’s why a large poster about our heavenly mother is a must in our classroom.
“With both feet on the ground and your heart in heaven!” That’s teaching at Stella Seebenstein!
Stella Seebenstein Middle School
We are trying out a new sport: Country field hockey.
After many weeks of work, the comic: David and Goliath is finally finished. After the last pictures were glued on, we decided to set the comic to music and made a short movie out of it – a real masterpiece!
Our ski days were changed without further ado due to the warm weather: Atrip to the Wartmannstetten climbing park.
The team spirit and mutual support on the courses was really nice to see. We learn for life:
A big thank you goes to our secondary school principal Stefan Grill for donating two new soccer goals! These are in use almost every big break.
Stella Vienna Kindergarten
During Lent, all the teachers plan to take the children to church. They discuss how to behave in the church. In keeping with Lent, selected Stations of the Cross are also looked at with the children and worked through in a child-friendly way.
Our older children visited the fairytale theater Apfelbaum in March. The journey on public transport alone offers many learning opportunities for children. They watched the play “Sleeping Beauty” in the theater. The children were particularly fascinated by the puppeteer who skillfully guided the puppets.
Stella Vienna afternoon care
The days in the after-school care center are also dedicated to Easter preparations. Easter baskets are made in all groups, which the children can then fill and look for after the Easter vacations. We also dye eggs ourselves. Wonderful patterns were conjured up on the eggs using rice and food coloring.
Excursions are an integral part of our daily after-school program. This time, two groups visited the Zoom Museum and attended a “wax workshop“. The children were able to get to know this versatile material and try out how soft wax really is, when wax can grow and what wax is important for. Great drip sculptures and bright wax pictures were created.
Stella Vienna Elementary School
In the month of March, class 2A presented books in an unusual way, namely through creative reading boxes! The hard-working “Lama-Kinder” put a lot of effort into turning their ideas into colorful and inventive boxes!
We have been making notebooks in our workroom during craft lessons. Many stories have already been written in the notebooks, drawings have been drawn and initial research ideas have been created! 😊
Stella Vienna Secondary School
It was incredible to see how many great ideas the pupils had for the new school in the school’s internal drawing and art competition on the subject of “School of the future”. The winning pictures were selected on the basis of a points system and it was a very difficult decision given the exciting entries. All the work will then be presented in the new school building.
The pupils in the first classes demonstrated how quickly something can be made with their hands using a piece of fabric and yarn, as they each created their own bags and had a lot of fun with them.
The first art commissions arrived in the 3rd grade, as the printed works were not only met with enthusiasm by the pupils. How good that the carefully prepared prints can be reproduced at will!
The topic of pressure was dealt with in the 2A physics lessons, and there was even a homework assignment for the pupils and parents at the end. Photos should be used to document how the students operate a compressor at a petrol station to determine/adjust the tire pressure on a bicycle or car.
As a voluntary homework assignment, 2A also had the task of producing a non-Newtonian liquid. This is a liquid that behaves like a solid when subjected to high pressure (e.g. hitting it) and behaves like a liquid when immersed slowly. In this video, Boris and Boris’ dad demonstrate this. If you have any questions about the preparation, please contact the 2A pupils.
On February 29, our sports teacher Alexey Volochschuk received the sacraments of initiation – baptism, confirmation and first communion – and our school community celebrated with him! Father Leo Kropfreiter, who taught him as a teenager, traveled from Kazakhstan especially for this purpose. Many of our boys helped with the ministration, the girls from the 3rd and 5th grade rehearsed some songs. Professor Spalek kindly took care of many organizational details and the buffet. It was a wonderful celebration and the personal testimony of Professor Volochschuk after the ceremony made a great impression on many of us.
