Next week, we will have a great week of celebrating our diversity and commonality as an Internationally minded school. Thank you to all those that have been able to volunteer their time to visit classrooms to share about their own home cultures. Many of the teachers and parents in the younger classes have already begun welcoming visitors!
Story-teller Visit
We had a special guest author/storyteller from America visit our students this week. Mr. Fox has written 16 books but his specialty has been storytelling (he has told over 400 stories!). He spent the morning with PK1-G5 students telling fables around the world in an interactive way. We were impressed with his way of storytelling through body language, facial expression, and dramatic sound effects! In the afternoon, Mr. Fox held a parent workshop about the importance of telling stories to children and how this strengthens the relationship in the family all the way to adulthood. Of course, he also gave a quick training to parents on communication skills using their whole body. Once again, we thank the PSA for co-sponsoring Mr. Fox’s visit.
French Bilingual Program Concert
For our participation in the Week of the French School Abroad, the FBP students invited their international friends to a concert in the Gecko Theatre. Every French school located abroad organized events throughout the week to promote French education and culture. The French Bilingual Program wanted to share their passion for singing! Five international primary classes joined us for the event. It was the first taste of the upcoming International Week and Bazaar!
Maths Olympiad
On Saturday, a group of 16 G5 students represented SIS at the 2019 Math Olympiad held in Guangzhou. Students from AISGZ as well as the Canadian International School battled it out in a series of challenges ranging from a complex one-hour long problem to a series of shorter tests over the course of nearly three hours. In the end, SIS took home medals in first, second, AND third place! A huge congratulations to these creative and knowledgeable mathematicians for all their hard work and dedication over the past month.
Parent Learning EDU: PYP Workshop on Personal, Social, Physical Education
Ms. Dani, Mr. B, and Ms. Cheung held the first PSPE parent workshop this week. The interactive workshop discussed how physical education is more than just sports and games. We showcased how PE is also taught with an inquiry-based approach and how PE is connected to the whole school curriculum. We explored deeply into these 3 strands: Identity, Active Living, and Interactions—and how ALL teachers are responsible to teach these. Lastly, we enjoyed a bit of fun in playing the same games as the children do—but with a focus on developing our Approaches to Learning (or ATLs) such as, communication, thinking, social, research and self-management skills.
WASC Self-Study
Our faculty has been busy completing a self-study for our upcoming Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) re-accreditation visit April 19-23, 2020. This process of reflecting on our beliefs, ensuring our curriculum is documented, our practices are aligned and areas that we self-identify for improvement are the backbone of the self-study. As with the PYP visit, the re-accreditation team will verify our findings and then provide us with recommendations that we can add to our action plan.
First Aid Training
As a school, we want to ensure that all the adults who work directly with students can respond to any accidents that might occur.
On Friday afternoon, all our teachers took part in an extensive First Aid renewal process that involved reading, demonstrations and assessments. The First Aid certificates are awarded by Emergency First Response organization which is based in Australia.
4B Showcase
Grade 4 students invited their families to their classroom to view the growth they have made since the beginning of the year. Students shared pre and post assessments, goals, their reading and maths problem solving skills.
Next Week:
25th-29th Nov International Week-see additional information from your child’s teacher to volunteer your time
Wed 27th Nov and Thurs 28th Nov Drama Club presents Pirates 5pm in SPAH
Thurs 28th Nov Yucai Primary School No. 3 visiting Grade 2
Fri 29th Nov International Day Parade at 8:30am on the field (STUCO Spirit day-dress in something that represents you)
Sat 30th International Winter Bazaar!
Upcoming:
Mon 2nd Dec Parent Learning EDU: PYP in Mandarin 8:15-9:15 @ Gecko Theatre
