Author: Cebu International School

Admin News

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease update

An official  Info Brief was emailed to all registered parent emails yesterday with a comprehensive update of the current Coronavirus (now officially being called 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease by the WHO). Please ensure you read this email (and all Info Briefs) promptly to ensure you are aware of schools plans in response to the virus spread.

If you did not received this email, please check your spam box first, and then contact your divisional secretary to check your email address (please ensure you update your contact details with the school immediately if they change so as to ensure you are getting our communications, and are reachable when needed. 

I would like to highlight the following from the Info Brief:

• CIS is currently not accepting walk-in visitors (visitors must rearrange their visit in order to allow us to screen them for potential threat).
• If you have travelled outside of Cebu within the past 14 days, please inform our clinic (avilla@cis.edu.ph) stating when and where you travelled, and any info regarding the potential exposure you may have had.
• Please keep your child home if they have any flu-like symptoms. You need to obtain a doctor’s note before returning to school. All returning students must check in to the clinic with their medical note upon return before going to class.
• Field-trips to high risk areas not permitted (any threats to be identified on Risk Assessment Form and trip viability considered). Our Feb 18-21 WWW trips are being reviewed, but please note under our Threat Matrix protocols, many are still viable at this point, while others may need to be cancelled  depending on the risk assessment of the particular trip.

The health and safety of our students entire school community is our highest priority. We will constantly do our best to  ensure we use the most appropriate risk mitigation procedures possible to address the threats we are facing.

Notice of Regular Corporation Meeting

Then General Membership Meeting for all CIS Corporation Member will be on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 5:00 pm at the Olive and Walnut Room, Oakridge Executive Club, AS Fortuna Street, Mandaue City.

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

Chinese New Year Assembly

Our Mandarin students across all MHS grade levels have been working hard over the past weeks in their classes to prepare for the celebration of Chinese New Year, and we were able to share various aspects of Chinese culture in our school-wide assembly on Monday morning. It is exciting that our students are able to learn not only the Mandarin language at CIS, but also explore the culture which provides a context for the language and then share it with the broader CIS community.

Our assembly included a wide range of performances and experiences unique to Chinese culture including a dragon dance, fan dances, Mandarin songs, Kuaiban (wishes for the New Year) and Tai Chi. It was wonderful to see such a diverse array of performances representing various aspects of Chinese culture. Thank you to our Mandarin teachers for coaching and preparing our students. Students, we appreciate your talent, skills, and having the courage to perform.

Extended Essay Cafe

As many of you know, a core component of the IB Diploma Program is the Extended Essay, or EE for short. Our students spend a year and a half working on this written research project in the subject of their choice and with the help of a faculty supervisor. The essay is a 3000-4000 product which prepares them very well for the type of paper they will craft at university.

In order to celebrate their completion of this rigorous endeavor, Cebu International School held its second annual EE Cafe on January 28th and 29th. Over these two sessions, our Grade 12 students were given the opportunity to present their findings to faculty and fellow students. Additionally, they discussed the process, including the challenges and triumphs, of such a research project. 

This was also a symbolic act for the students, allowing them to heave a sigh of relief now that their EE journey is at an end. Finally, this event gave our grade 10 and 11 students further insight into what they will need to do in the road ahead.

Archival EcoHouse Field Trip

by Mr. Jonathan Denton, MHS Assistant Principal and MYP Coordinator

Our Grade 6 and 8 students this week kicked off their Interdisciplinary Units (IDU’s) with a field trip to the Archival EcoHouse and participated in workshops with members of the “Light of Hope Foundation.” An IDU in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) is when two or more disciplines come together to teach a unit for a specific purpose. That purpose could be aesthetic/literary synthesis, personal expression, cross-over tooling, complex explanation (students draw on expertise from more than one discipline to develop a more complete or complex understanding of a phenomenon), contextualization, or finding a practical solution to a real world problem.

Over the course of the Third Quarter the disciplines of Science and Design will collaborate to investigate concepts relating to energy and sustainability. Grade 6 students will be designing solar powered lanterns using the principles of parallel and series electrical systems which will be donated to the victims of the Taal volcano eruption and their families. One of the biggest challenges will be to produce a product that is both “outside proof” and generates enough energy to power a 5 watt bulb.  Grade 8 students will be looking at how much energy is lost or wasted when it is converted from one form to another. They will be looking at designing innovative solutions that can lead to more sustainable uses of resources.

As an introduction, students visited the Archival EcoHouse where they saw first hand some innovative ideas in sustainable living. Amongst these were rainwater catchment systems, solar panels, aquaponics and tree towers. There were also excellent examples of recycling everyday waste with plastic reinforced cement bricks, recycled wood, and vermiculture, where worms are used to break down organic substances. The day continued into the afternoon with students learning about and experimenting with harnessing solar power in a workshop given by the team from the “Light of Hope Foundation.”

Our students reflected that:

I think how the people that live in the eco-house used solar panels to power their entire house really stood out for me. I learned how to create a simple solar-powered lamp that does not require a lot of money, it is easy to make and it can light up a large area. It influenced me that every little action can affect global warming. I would change anything about this trip because I think it was perfect. The reason that I say this is because we first learned about how solar energy can be used and then we learned how to create one.-  Ziyang 

What stood out to me was the amount of waste the worms could produce, I was surprised that their excrement could be used as fertilizer. I was able to learn about how the eco-house sufficiently uses everything they can to reduce waste, including compressing non-biodegradable items into bricks used for paths, as well as collecting rainwater into the pond. I learned that even at home, there are a lot of ways to save our habitat little by little. I have always thought that using it (solar-powered products) was more than unnecessary due to some of its expenses on the market. However, I now understand how quickly our world will drown in plastic and waste. I think that those products could actually benefit and help out with parts of the global warming crisis, and can reduce the number of carbon emissions produced by non-renewable sources of energy. – Yi Chen

Thank you to our Grade 6 and 8 Science and Design teachers, Ms. Nice, Mr. Ron, Ms. Christine, and Ms. Gerri for putting these excellent units together.

Grade 8 Mural Unveiling

by Mr. Ron de Villa, Design Teacher

A wall by the CIS parking grounds is now occupied by a colorful display adding to the current murals that represent our school’s global connectedness. Some 48 hands were on deck for the creation of these murals, which took countless hours to complete. After months of hard work by our Grade 8 students, 6 new murals were unveiled on January 21st.

Weeks before, the students planned to create murals based on the key concept of communities, focusing on the ideas of fairness and sustainable development. As the students went through the design process, they also needed to keep an eye out for some important elements as mural paintings require their designs to be very large and would reflect the community it is placed in.

It was a delight to be able to see all the brainstorming and planning, discussions, designing and redesigning, and students’ creativity evident in these murals – showcased for all to ponder on. As they unveiled their creation, the students were able to deliver quite clearly and articulately what messages they intended to convey through these amazing works. 

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

Naturally the pressing issue on many of our minds to the Coronavirus and how to manage its spread. You will be aware from the communications shared with the CIS community by Dr. Underwood, our school superintendent, that the school is taking this situation very seriously and we are acting on the most up to date and accurate information possible through our various official sources. It is also very important that as a school community we do not overreact or become fearful by listening to the many untruths circulating through social media or through general conversation, as these untruths can cause unnecessary worry among our CIS families. I want to let you know however that CIS doing all it can to monitor and manage the situation.

As always, regular and thorough hand-washing with soap and water is still the most effective way to control the spread of any sickness, including the Cronoa virus. The second most effective way of preventing the spread of is though regular use of alcohol-based hand gels, but this is secondary to soap and water. It astounds me the number of times I am in a bathroom and see both adults and children exit without stopping to wash their hands. Many of us do not take the time to wash hands before eating either. CIS is currently stepping up is vigilance in ensuring all children and adults are regularly and thoroughly cleaning their hands.

The second way CIS ensures our environment remains hygienic and clean is by cleaning all classroom surfaces daily with disinfectant. This happens every day and is one of the reasons sickness is controlled well within the CIS environment.  We also use ultraviolet light machines in classrooms on a regular basis, and currently, every classroom receives a 30 minute deep clean using ultraviolet lights once a week, in addition to the daily cleaning with disinfectant. But remember, our most effective defense is thorough and regular hand-washing.

The PYP Exhibition

The CIS Grade 5 students are currently embarking on their PYP Exhibition (PYPx) journey. The PYPx is the final significant learning experience for students in the PYP programme and is a challenging journey where students are guided to use the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they have developed throughout their time in the PYP to investigate and take action around an area of personal interest or personal passion.

The Central Idea (major focus area) for the PYPx is;
Through our inquiry, we can discover responsible ways to influence change in the world around us.
The deep understandings the students are working toward are;

• To realize I can have a voice in this world that can influence change

• That I have a responsibility to know the impact of my personal choices

• That I will develop and use the skills of reflection and metacognition to make create personal growth and change

• To create sustainable action

Throughout the PYPx learning journey, students will be seeking community members to interview and finding local businesses, NGO’s and volunteer organizations to visit. The PYPx is a whole school project, not just a grade 5 process and we would value any input you may be able to offer. Recently one of our parents has put us in contact with a local advocate who is working to reduce single-use plastics in the Philippines. This is one fine example of how community members can assist with the PYPx learning journey. If you feel you are able to support this learning process in any way, please do talk to one of us at school.

Mangrove Planting

by Grades 2 & 3

Book Drive

by KG and Grade 1 Team

Dear Parents,

We are looking forward to Week Without Walls.

During this week we will be hosting a local school for a playdate.

The KG and Grade 1 classes would also like to take this opportunity to donate picture books that are either new or used that are in a reasonable condition.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could contribute and place these books in the lobby of the elementary school beginning next week.

Thank you

College/Career News

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor & Alumni Liaison

College/University Visits for Jan-March 2020

SAT Test Dates for School Year 2019 – 2020

For students who are planning to study in universities/colleges that require the SAT exam, below is the schedule of the SAT tests. Please take note of the test dates and registration deadlines.

To register for the SAT, you may log on to www.collegeboard.org. If you need assistance, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph or call 261-0247 local 112 to set an appointment. You may also visit her office from 7:15am to 3:30pm.

Sports, CAS, and Activities News

by Mr. Ace Pierra, Sports & Activities Director

ISAC 2 @ British School Manila

We congratulate our ISAC teams for a successful second season of ISAC. Our boys football team bagged the first runner up trophy and girls basketball is sixth place this year. Go dragons. 

We also congratulate the well deserved ISAC All star awardees, Summer, Liam S., Yoji and Tatsu. 

CAS Project in Progress

Led by: Venise and Dana 

Every Saturday, young volunteers from Kalinangan Youth Foundation, a non-profit service organization, visit Barangay Huyong Huyong to teach the kids Math, English, and Catechism. This Barangay—or community—is located within a quarry in the mountain province of Cebu, right along the Pit-Os road. 

During these visits, the volunteers gather a group of children around a “manggahan”, which is an open area surrounded by mango trees. The children sit on the soil or on top of each other as they try to listen raptly to whatever lesson the volunteers are giving. 

This is not an ideal teaching situation.

While these kids do get a form of education, they are not privileged with the right environment for growth and development. They do not have a proper place to learn within the community, which makes it difficult for volunteers to facilitate activities. Moreover, the “manggahan” is not a conducive place for learning as it serves as open grounds for children to get easily distracted, and most end up playing with each other halfway through the session.

We felt that this was a problem that needed to be addressed. There is no worth in coming every Saturday to teach kids when the quality of education is not the best that it can be. So we asked ourselves: “What can we do to give the kids a better environment for learning?”

First things first: we give them a proper place to sit. There is an old dilapidated chapel located at the center of the community. It is used only during Sundays to facilitate Mass, and during the rest of the week it remains unused. We thought it was the perfect place to relocate; however, there were no chairs in the chapel. Even if we brought the kids there, the situation would remain the same: they would sit on the floor, and they would get sidetracked.

In light of this, we decided to raise funds for chairs and a table. We would remodel the chapel to become a classroom on Saturdays, while still functioning as a Church on Sundays. This meant funding Monobloc chairs and foldable tables, which are both easily kept.

So we raised funds. We gathered donated clothes, bedsheets and belongings to sell during a Garage Sale held in Mahogany last November 30, 2019. We raised awareness about our cause and were blessed with generous donations as well. We held our last sale last Saturday, January 25, and we placed an order for the chairs and the tables too. These will soon be placed in the chapel, and hopefully the children and the volunteers will have a much more meaningful—and much more fun—environment for learning!

But the project doesn’t just end there. With the funds left over, we plan to renovate the chapel. Tiles have already been obtained to cover the floor with, and we plan to place a proper gate in order to preserve the work done. We may also work with the children to paint the walls with vivid colors, and we will continue to volunteer every Saturday to make sure that our original goal is being met:

That these children receive the best quality education we can give them, even if it is only for one day every week.

After all, learning is essential to growth, and all children have the right to learn. 

Here’s to a successful and sustainable CAS project! Cheers!

Rummage Sale (WWW)

PTA Announcement

by PTA Board

Every year the PTA sponsors meals for the musical production cast and crew during the days of their dress rehearsals and performances. If you would  like to donate any amount (think the cost of a large pizza), please give your payment and the name of your family on business to Ms. Loida, the CIS Cashier, marked for the PTA Production Dinners.

Thank you as always for your support and involvement!

Admin Notes

As our ISAC sports teams left to compete in basketball (girls) and soccer (boys) over the weekend in Manila, we were also making final preparations for our upcoming GIN conference (MHS) and Week Without Wall activities in February. The recent volcanic activity in Luzon and Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has caused some concern with these activities, so I wanted to make a brief comment here to update you on what we are doing to mitigate the heightened risks.

a) It is part of our regular protocols to carry out Risk Management Assessments (RMAs) for all trips. These include oculars of the sites to be visited (some overseas trips rely on 3rd party oculars), a thorough consideration of all possible risks and how to mitigate them, and investigation and research into specialist data (such as that provided by the CDC and other experts who know more about some of the risks).

b) If there is a high risk of health or safety, the trip is cancelled. This has already been done to an earlier WWW trip, for example. For others, there may be some risk still involved, but it could be determined that the risk is manageable, providing plans are in place to act on a risk immediately to ensure the safety of the students. An example of this is the current ISAC trip, where there are multiple “back-up” plans for all sorts of eventualities such as another eruption in the vicinity.

c) For events outside of Cebu involving travel, at the moment we are proceeding with plans, but will closely monitor the situation and may end up cancelling a trip if it becomes inadvisable to travel.

d) For potential school-wide threats, the school’s Crisis Management Team develop threat matrices in advance to ensure we have contingencies planned for in the event they happen. We have such a matrix for the Wuhan coronavirus, covering a comprehensive range of planned actions over three potential stages of an outbreak: The first level is when the global threat becomes known and we need to prepare for if it spreads, a medium-level threat plan for if the virus is confirmed to have reached Cebu, and a high-level threat plan for if the virus enters the CIS community. If you would like to know more about this matrix, please feel free to contact the school.

I would like to conclude with an assurance that the safety of our students is a paramount concern for us, so all decisions are focused on what we can do to ensure they are safe. As we prepare for activities that may have extraordinary threats, we will inform you of decisions that are being made, with reasons, so as to ensure you are kept fully aware of what is being planned. We can but hope the current threats to our trips diminish soon, but we must be prepared to face them if they do not, while attempting to carry on with our program as best we can.

Xīn nián kuài lè  (Happy Chinese New Year), and enjoy the long weekend. Students, see you back at school next Tuesday!

Regards,

Dr. Gwyn Underwood (CIS Superintendent)

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

One privilege we have within an International school community is the opportunity to celebrate the various nationalities and cultures represented in the school.  This week has been influenced by the build-up to the Chinese New Year celebrations, while last week was consumed by our Sinulog preparations. As international school stakeholders and advocates of the International Baccalaureate (IB), holding an international perspective and learning to value and appreciate the attributes of each culture we interact with is of enormous importance.

The ultimate goal of the IB is to develop internationally minded people. These are people who are inquiring, knowledgeable and deeply caring, and who realize that may all hold differing perspectives, values and beliefs, yet still come together peacefully to collaborate around important issues. It is about developing a perspective of deep mutual respect and appreciation, being aware of one’s impact on the world around us and having a commitment to life long learning. And these are the attributes we need, and our children need to successfully navigate the world of tomorrow.

School is about ensuring children can read, write and do mathematics, but it is also so much more than this. It is the passionate, internationally-minded, life long learners who will lead tomorrow’s world. Today’s Chinese New Year’s Celebrations here at CIS was an important part of this.

I trust you all have a wonderful Chinese New Year.

Mandarin Class

by Ms. Jinhua Zou, ES Mandarin Teacher

新(xīn)年(nián)好(háo)！Happy Chinese Lunar New Year! 

Chinese New Year is a traditional festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the Lunar Calendar. January 25 is the date of Chinese Lunar New Year in 2020. To celebrate the Year of the Rat, the Elementary School Mandarin students showcased various performances to welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Beginning the assembly on Friday January 24th the Elementary School students performed musical acts coupled with dance performances. During the Elementary School Friday Assembly, Jia Qi played a wonderful piano piece as an opening for this special event. Students from Grades 4 and 5 brought the dragon and lion dance to the stage to share this festive portrayal with the audience. Kindergarten and Grade 1 students coupled with their guest singer Jia Lei sang “Happy New Year” to deliver the festival vibes. The Grade 3 students presented a story about the Monster “Nian” to explain both why and how Chinese people celebrate the New Year. Finally, students from Grade 2 presented an amusing song titled “12 Zodiac Animals”. Over the course of this holiday period ES Mandarin Class students also enjoyed learning about Chinese cultures during interactive “Kahoot!” competitions. This offered students a fun and challenging way to learn about Chinese Lunar New Year.

During the lead up to the assembly commemoration Elementary School Mandarin students also did several culture-related activities. The students learned how to prepare and cook dumplings with their guests from Spanish and EAL class. Afterwards they shared different dumplings flavors with their friends and teachers. They also practiced Chinese paper cutting. This involves cutting the fish and character of “春(chūn)”（Spring） and pasting on the windows outside of the Mandarin classroom. Mandarin Ab initio students from Grade 11 also joined the celebrations during class time. These students practiced writing “福(fú)” (luckiness) with brushes onto red rice paper. As one of the most important holidays in Asia Chinese New Year is best celebrated through its traditions and with those we care about.

The Mandarin students wish you all:

Happy New Year! 新(xīn)年(nián)快(kuài)乐(lè)，恭(gōng)喜(xǐ)发(fā)财(cái)！

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

This has been a busy week in the MHS, as students have worked hard to prepare for next week’s Chinese New Year celebration, have made final preparations for the ISAC competition (including a school-wide Pep Rally on Monday), and also prepared for the upcoming GIN and MUN conferences. We have also conducted meetings during ELO sessions to get ready for our coming Week Without Walls and are gearing up for our school production in two weeks. Of course we continue to be busy learning and mastering subject content and skills in the classroom. It is wonderful to be a part of a joyful school where students are engaged and so much constructive activity abounds, and also where students greet me each day with a smiling face and a kind word.

Parent Coffee on Academic Integrity

On Wednesday morning we held our most recent parent coffee, during which Ms. Laplana and I led a discussion on the subject of academic integrity. We had a strong turnout of parents and enjoyed a lively conversation on this important topic. We were able to establish a clearer understanding of academic integrity and the various ways students can find themselves, whether intended or not, committing academic misconduct. Parent table groups examined scenarios in order to evaluate examples of misconduct and what the students in those scenarios might have done to avoid committing these infractions.

As we explained, ultimately, academic integrity is a choice to act in a responsible way whereby others can have trust in us as individuals. It is the foundation for ethical decision-making and behavior in the production of legitimate, authentic and honest scholarly work. If we had to summarize the essence of academic honesty, it would be that:

We give credit to others for their words

We give credit to others for their ideas

As we discussed, most students, when they commit academic misconduct, do so because they are afraid- either fearful that their work is not at a high enough level of quality to earn a top grade, panicking because they don’t have enough time, or fearful of disappointing their teacher by not meeting a deadline. As I shared in the parent meeting, it is much better for our students to be honest and open with their teachers, who genuinely care for them and desire to help them. It is far better for them to admit that an assignment is not finished and that they need an extension than to panic and submit work that is not entirely their own.

The importance of academic integrity at a rigorous school cannot be over-emphasized. Since we derive our measurement of student mastery of content and skills from the work they produce, if students are not honest about that work, our entire process of assessment is compromised. It is impossible for us to gain an accurate sense of a student’s true understanding and their mastery of content and skills if the work they submit is not their own. Also, since such acts might cover over a student’s weaknesses, it may impede our ability to recognize deficiencies and, as a consequence, effectively work with that student to help them improve.

Finally, we discussed the consequences of academic dishonesty. We really do believe that a violation of academic integrity creates a teachable moment, but also that the student must learn and not repeat the mistake. Because our focus is on learning rather than the grade which comes as a natural result, when a student is found to have committed academic misconduct for the first time, he or she is required to redo the assignment correctly. It is actually a benefit for our students to make such a mistake at this stage of life and learn a difficult lesson rather than later in life when the consequences could be much more severe.

Please find the link below to access the slides from our Parent Coffee presentation: Parent Coffee Morning presentation on academic integrity

Also find a link to the HUB, where you can find the Student Parent Handbook in the documents tab on the left, which contains our official school policies on academic integrity on pages 30-32. http://cis.edu.ph/hub/

2nd Annual EE Cafe

by Mr. Head of English Department / EE Coordinator

On Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th, Cebu International School will be hosting our 2nd annual EE Cafe. This is an opportunity for our grade 12 students to show off all of their hard work during the long, strenuous Extended Essay journey. We cordially invite members of the CIS community to attend and greatly encourage family members of the grade 12 students presenting to come and support them. The event will be held in the Media Center both days. On Tuesday, we will begin at 9:40 and on Wednesday at 9:15.

Alumni Spotlight

The Music Man School Production

Tickets are now available for sale!

Tickets for this year’s school production, “The Music Man” is now on sale and can be purchased at the CIS Cashier!

Tickets are ₱350 for reserved seats or ₱300 for general admission.

There are 3 shows this year:
Friday, February 7 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 8 at 2:00 pm & 6:30 pm

We hope to see you all there!!!!!

Clinic News

by Ms. Arlene Villa, School Nurse

PTA News

HAD & Sinulog Family Day

Last weekend was a fun event to commemorate a great Cebu tradition, the Sinulog Festival, as well as our 2nd House Activities Day for the year! We had 2 local contingents visit our school for a parade and field performance and we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch thanks to the PTA and committee. Enjoy the photos!

College/University Visits (Jan-March 2020)

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor & Alumni Liaison

SAT Test Dates for School Year 2019 – 2020

For students who are planning to study in universities/colleges that require the SAT exam, below is the schedule of the SAT tests. Please take note of the test dates and registration deadlines. 

To register for the SAT, you may log on to www.collegeboard.org.  If you need assistance, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph or call 261-0247 local 112 to set an appointment.  You may also visit her office from 7:15am to 3:30pm.  

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School News

Ocular visits for Week Without Walls courses

Our Week Without Walls experience is just over four weeks away. The past two weeks many of our MHS teachers have been working behind the scenes to prepare for their WWW courses. Several groups have conducted ocular visits in order to accurately conduct Risk Management and Assessment appraisals and evaluate various aspects of the student activities and experiences; others will be happening soon. These visits are particularly critical for overnight courses such as the Kool Adventure Camp and the Great Luzon Adventure, for courses which are new, or for courses that contain new elements which need to be assessed. We will also be planning mandatory parent meetings leading up to the overnight courses (much like we do for other student travel experiences like ISAC and MUN). This careful planning and intentional risk evaluation will help to ensure our students’ safety on these Week Without Walls courses.

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Community, 

Friday concluded our cultural activities with a jeepney ride between the two CIS entry and exit gates. As I moved between the various experiences this week I noticed just how respectful and engaged our CIS students were toward our local culture.

Another area of success within the elementary school this year has been the EY1, 2 and 3 composite classes. A composite or a multi-grade class is when students from two or more grade levels are in the same homeroom class. This has been the common educational practice in many national and international schools throughout the world and has proven to have a number of educational benefits within elementary schools. In the 2018/2019 school year, CIS moved to a composite class model for KG and Grade 1, then during this 2019/2020 school year, CIS moved to an EY1 & 2, and EY 2 & 3 composite class model. This has built a stronger academic community and having teachers work more closely together to ensure academic and social/emotional programs are more closely aligned. When visiting our early years area of the school, the learning energy is very tangible.

In addition to this CIS has created greater alignment between the grade 2 and 3 classes, and the grade 4 and 5 classes. Much of their planning is done together in a collaborative manner and many of the learning and teaching experiences are taught in mixed groups together. It really is powerful to see students from different grade levels engaging in the development of skills and knowledge in a collaborative way, as this is a philosophy that lies at the heart of our IBPYP programme.

As a principal, I am very grateful for the caliber of teachers we have at CIS. They are skilled, knowledgeable and work together as a collaborative team to design and implement the best possible learning experiences for your children.

A Grade 4 Story

by Grade 4 and Grade 5 Camp

I’m so excited for February! We are going to have camp outside of school for two nights! I know I did this last year when I was in G3, but at that time it was in school, and now it’s outside school. When I was in G3 my teacher was Ms. Anjana. She was nice , she let us play Twister and we watched a movie called Ice Age. Later, half of the class saw the moon but the other half was already sleeping. Those who saw the moon slept around 11/12pm. The next morning we ate pancakes with syrup.

This year I ́m  just more excited, I think it’s because itś two nights and I’m going with our new teachers called Mr. Sten and Ms Carolyn! I wonder where we will go and are we actually going to sleep in tents?

Wellness for the Whole Child (and their parents)

Part 2: Movement

by Mr. Dale M. Wood, Middle and High School Principal and Ms.Evangeline Villagonzalo, Guidance Counselor

Back in November, Ms. Villaganzalo and I shared some thoughts from the book How to Make Disease Disappear by Dr. Rangan Chattergee. To recap, for our lives to be free from illness, there are four pillars of health that we need to maintain which are simple aspects of daily life whose impact and importance is often taken for granted. The four pillars are: RELAX, EAT, MOVE, and SLEEP, and the idea is to create a balance across all of these pillars. As we begin the second semester we want to remind students to maintain balance and holistic health by focusing on the third pillar, MOVE, and suggest some ways that we might practice it more effectively.

We are starting to appreciate how critical physical movement is as research demonstrates just how damaging sitting can be- both to your body and your brain; it has been observed that our brain activity slows down and our brain waves resemble those of a sleeping person after just 25 minutes of passive rest. 

As an encouraging point, since the day I began serving the MHS community at CIS, I have been impressed with how intentionally our teachers incorporate physical movement within their classrooms. In too many places, teachers can become so caught up in delivering their lessons that they forget their students have been sitting for too long. Since the teacher is engaged physically and cognitively, he or she may mistakenly perceive that the students are experiencing an engaging lesson. However, as I visited classrooms this week at CIS, I was again struck by the amount of physical movement our MHS teachers are incorporating into their lessons. Our teachers at CIS are striving to engage students and place them at the center of learning, enabling them to be active participants which often involves physical movement. This was not only in PHE class, but also in core academic classes like I&S, Design, and Mandarin.

One of Chattergee’s key suggestions for all of us (parents, students, and teachers alike) is to walk more, the aim being to reach a threshold of at least 10,000 steps per day. This could be as easy to accomplish as going for a morning stroll or using the stairs instead of an elevator throughout the day at work. For students this could mean taking a walk around the field after lunch or during their morning break rather than hanging out with friends (or they could walk together). Another suggestion would be to take part in some form of strength training regularly (at least twice per week).

For parents, Dr. Chattergee suggests that we can incorporate movement in the office or at home while going about our daily activities, but it must be intentional in order to become a habit. For example, he recommends the 5-minute kitchen work-out, where the following exercises can be practiced for a 5 count using just your kitchen counter as support:

• Squats
• Calf raises
• Push-ups
• Triceps dips

The benefits of movement as part of your daily routine include a reduced risk of cancer, improved mental well-being, a better overall quality of life, and a reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes. Some simple exercises to promote physical movement can be viewed on Dr. Chaterjee’s website: drchaterjee.com. For our students, Semester 2 After School Activities are beginning January 28. Consider joining at least one active option when choosing clubs, such as soccer, dance, cooking, or badminton in order to have a more balanced, healthier semester.

Sports and Activities Director’s News

by Mr. Ace Pierra, Sports and Activities Director

Community Service: The Culture of Giving

We’d like to thank the faculty and staff of CIS for sponsoring the Noche Buena package of the Umapad Dumpsite families during the holiday season. CIS has been in partnership with this community for years. A couple of years ago, a CIS family donated a covered activity center for the community and this year we turned over two new classrooms for their preschool learning center.

CIS Receives an Award from the Department of Education

The Department of Education and LGU at Lapu-Lapu City handed a plaque of recognition to Cebu International and its partner Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation. The recognition was made due to the unwavering support and invaluable cooperation that CIS extended to the local schools of the divisions of Lapu-Lapu City.

The highlight of the event was when the annual report was presented to everyone, which showed significant change on the Promotion Rate and Drop Out Rate of students who benefited from the yellow boats. The data shows that a significant number of students are now going to school and have been given support by stakeholders in establishing continuous and sustainable learning experiences. 

CIS has been in partnership with Caohagan Elementary School for years  and will continue to support other local schools in the city, in the region and in the nation through its service learning and CAS Program.

College/University Visits for Jan to March 2020

by  Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor & Alumni Liaison

SAT Test Dates for School Year 2019 – 2020 

For students who are planning to study in universities/colleges that require the SAT exam, below is the schedule of the SAT tests. Please take note of the test dates and registration deadlines. 

To register for the SAT, you may log on to www.collegeboard.org.  If you need assistance, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph or call 261-0247 local 112 to set an appointment.  You may also visit her office from 7:15am to 3:30pm.

Book Drive

by KG and Grade One Team

Dear Parents

We are looking forward to Week Without Walls. 

During this week we will be hosting a local school for a playdate.

The KG and Grade 1 classes would also like to take this opportunity to donate picture books that are either new or used that are in a reasonable condition.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could contribute and place these books in the lobby of the elementary school beginning next week.

Thank you.

Admin News

Welcome to semester two! We hope you had a restful time with your families over the break, and are feeling refreshed and ready for a productive second half of the year.

Even though we only had a 4-day weekend, things have started so well that it feels like we are weeks into the semester already! The faculty and staff came back a week before students for a PD (professional development) day, where after a session exploring how we can build our organizational health and organizational IQ (OIQ), we worked on curriculum tasks, discussed divisional issues and planned for upcoming activities and events. The non-teaching staff also had a PD day, focusing on activities that build teamwork and collaboration.

Students have now quickly settled into a learning routine, and we are looking forward to a great semester. MHS reports were released today help provide feedback on how students have been doing over semester one, and that the feedback provided helps guide them on areas the can focus on to improve their levels in the coming semester. (Note: MHS S1 Reports are available via the CIS HUB. Please contact Ms. Kim del Rosario, MHS Secretary if yo have any questions.)

We have a number of upcoming events to be aware of. Next week is Philippine Culture Week, starting with a special assembly (7:30-7:50am on Monday, to which parents are invited to attend if they wish), culminating in our annual Sinulog Family Day on Saturday Jan 18th. The organizing team and facilities staff have been very busy getting ready for a wonderful day of culture, food and fun!

Keep checking for details, as following Sinulog day we have: ISAC 2 @BSM, Chinese New Year activities, Semester 2 After School Activities (starting Jan 28), our annual Musical “The Music Man” (see poster below), and our Week Without Walls activities. It is great to see so many extra- and co-curricular activities supporting our academic program, helping our students to develop social and academic skills in a holistic manner.

Regards,
CIS Admin Team

CIS Clothing Drive

Week Without Walls is fast approaching and for this, the Middle High School members of the Paknaan Hospital and Daycare Center (also known as Cebu Institute of Medicine Community Medico-Social Services) will have a rummage sale to raise funds for future activities and projects that will benefit the people in Paknaan. Thus, we encourage the entire CIS community to take part in this activity by donating clothes that are in good condition. Donation boxes are located in the Elementary and MHS lobbies.

For the CIS Sinulog Family Day on Jan 18, only 2 guests per child are allowed. Extra guests will need to pay P300 (to be paid at the cashier).

The Music Man production is fast approaching and we are selling tickets soon, watch out for this space for more ticket-selling updates!

College/University Visits for January – March 2020

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

Today was a wonderful celebration of learning here at CIS. Ms. Natasha and Mr. Mike, our band teachers, arranged a small performance for the grade 4 and 5 bands. This was to be a short presentation to the grade 2 and 3 students, however once the lower elementary grades heard about this, everyone wanted to join. The result was a wonderful celebration assembly, joined by many of you from our parent community. As a school, we are so grateful for your constant support of us. Our class parents do so much to coordinate important class events in the school, and your willingness to be on campus so frequently builds the strength of our school community.

This weekend CIS will host our annual Tree of Giving Christmas sharing for the Umapad, Mandaue children. This community will visit the school on Saturday to take part in a range of games and enjoy some nice food. All children will leave with a gift from theTree of Giving, donated by you.

As we draw to the end of the first semester it is clear that a great deal of growth and learning has taken place across the school. The ATL (Approaches to Learning Skills and Attitudes) are highly evident within our students and it is exciting to see the level of personal ownership our students have over their learning. This can be attributed to the commitment and skill of our teachers who work very strategically to guide your children onto their next learning steps, and who care deeply for their social and emotional well being. I had a great deal of fun this week watching the EY 2 and 3 students build towers with the giant magnetic tiles, observing KG/G1 teachers conferring with individual students, and grade 4 students problem-solve to develop Lego Mindstorm projects in the Makerspace.

As we move into the final week for school, I encourage you to take part in our school events to the degree that you are able to. I trust you will all have a restful and enjoyable holiday season in the weeks ahead.

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle & High School Principal

In last week’s Newsflash I shared about the MHS assessment approach and philosophy in relation to our end-of-semester summative tasks. As I mentioned then, our teachers are seeking to think innovatively and create assessment experiences for our students which combine a high level of critical thinking, creative thinking, and relevance, so that students may demonstrate mastery of course content and skills and can also recognize the importance of what they are doing in relation to their own personal lives and the broader world context. We are also intentionally seeking to develop our students’ ATL skills through these assessment tasks.

I am excited to highlight some of these summative tasks our students are engaged in so that you can see how our philosophy is being lived out across grade levels and subject areas within the tasks our students are performing in their respective classes. Not only are these project-based tasks fun (joyful), but they also promote deep learning as our students fully engage with content and apply their skills.

Grade 6 Individuals and Societies Projects

The presentations you see taking place in the photos below are the result of several weeks of preparation. Students first studied where fossil fuels come from, how they are made, what energy is, how electricity is collected and transferred, and the contrast between renewable and nonrenewable resources. Once the students developed a foundation for these concepts, they partook in a larger inquiry-based project.  They were required to find credible sources, use note-taking skills, paraphrase information, and use APA formatting for in-text citations and bibliographies. After writing scripts that incorporated their collected research, students created documentaries and board games to share what they had learned. On Wednesday morning several other classes visited this class in the cafeteria annex and were able to learn from these Grade 6 “student teachers”.

Grade 7 Drama Performance

For the culmination of this semester’s Grade 7 Drama class, students have been quite busy rehearsing over for the past two weeks in preparation for their final performance summative. This project was a student-led activity where students were given a chance to write the script and collaboratively direct one of the two plays entitled “Tangled” and “Cinderella” incorporating those melodramatic elements. They presented their summative presentations on Friday, the 6th of December, 2019 during ELO time where most of the elementary students were able to witness their magical performances. 

Grade 8 Design Mural Project

by Ms. Gerri Jumao-as, IB Art / Design Technology Teacher

A few weeks ago, we shared an article about our new Design courses and the design process, and we focused specifically on the Grade 8 mural project to demonstrate student learning in this subject. A few weeks later the murals are now nearly complete. Basing their murals on the key concept of communities, students looked into the ideas of fairness and sustainable development. The Mural Painting unit looked at morals and shared responsibility which is a central aspect of being a member of any community.  Using the elements/principles of art, students designed and painted a mural in the school’s parking lot to show form and delve into expression while at the same time considering different perspectives.

Mural paintings are relevant as they bring art into the community as well as promote awareness of specific issues. Through these images the Grade 8 students are highlighting 6 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which the UN has established as the blueprint to achieving a better and more sustainable future.  Our student murals this year addressed global challenges such as poverty, climate change, inequality, environmental concerns, peace, and justice.

The students have worked hard on their murals and are now in the finishing stages.  Below are some of the students’ reflections.

Student Reflections:

We feel our mural turned out pretty well. This is because of the tonal values applied in the forms which were applied well and made the painting more interesting. We have heard others say they liked our mural a lot. Though we are not finished, it looks well done.  My group and I have faced many struggles during the mural painting. A challenge that we faced was the countless arguments we had with some members misinterpreting instructions, which led to more problems. We were also taking too long to finish some parts as others took long to accomplish their parts. We overcame this by communicating with each other, and the pressure of the deadline made us work better.  We, however, did not finish on time and had to work outside of class time. –Sofia, Jack, Maki and Zhandy

The goal that my group has chosen is Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. This goal is mainly about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development to provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. Specifically, this includes number  of issues ranging from drug problems to corruption within high authorities in government. These controversial issues would lead the whole world toward negative consequences. So, we want to remind others of the importance of peace and justice which can be sustained through strong institutions. We decided to add symbols that represent peace within our mural- for example, the dove with an olive branch in its beak, rainbow around the Earth, and the justice sign to represent peace.  –Ami, Rebecca, Sam and Ryan

The mural is coming together pretty well. Although we faced a few challenges when making the mural, we managed to work through them and believe we have done a good job.  We struggled in applying tonal values and in mixing the colors to find the right shades. We often got the wrong shade and had to restart all the painting of a particular part.  We also struggled in writing the catchphrase “Earth Year: 2050”, as the writing would either be slanted or the font was not good enough. We have overcome these challenges by trial and error; we had to restart and try again so many times. This is also one of the reasons why we took so long with our mural and struggled with finishing it.  –Liam, Mahati, Minseong and Vincent

Grade 10 History Harkness Discussion

Last year we implemented the Harkness discussion model as an inquiry-based classroom strategy in MHS. This is a student-directed discussion model (with the teacher as observer who then provides feedback on the quality of the content and style of the discussion) which lends itself particularly well to the IB framework as students are asked to collaborate, communicate, evaluate, and apply their knowledge. Our Grade 10 History students used the Harkness method to demonstrate their understanding of events surrounding the Second World War, using prepared notes from their research to engage in addressing and answering complex questions related to this historical time period.

Grade 10 Physical & Health Education 

For this unit, our grade 10 class is learning the sport of badminton. Badminton is a racquet sport played using rackets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. We usually play with pairs, also known as doubles. Through this sport, we learn many things such as the following: teamwork, communication, focus, and determination. First, badminton teaches you how to focus through having to pay attention to the game and the shuttlecock. Second, playing with a partner teaches you how to communicate and work together as a team to win. Lastly, you learn determination through continuing to stay motivated throughout the whole game, whether you are losing or winning. I am enjoying this unit very much, and have learned a lot through the games we’ve played in class. – Bianca, Grade 10

Grade 11 TOK Harkness Discussion

A couple of weeks ago, we featured the Grade 12 TOK Presentations in the Newsflash. Of course to get to the stage where students are able to do this effectively they need training in order to develop their skills. Harkness Discussions are a very useful method to address key TOK topics and help students engage cognitively as well as consider their classmates’ alternate points of view. For this particular discussion students had prepared notes in relation to two areas of knowing: Natural Sciences and Human Sciences. For example, students discussed the scope of knowledge within the natural sciences as well as the limits of that knowledge, ethical considerations, the relation between faith and science, the difference between scientific theory and fact, the nature of scientific theory (as opposed to other types of theories), etc. 

It is a genuine pleasure listening to our students discuss, debate, and grapple with topics at a level we would expect to encounter at university level. As I mentioned previously, TOK is a unique course in the IB curriculum as it guides and challenges our students to investigate what they know and how they know it, and helps them develop critical thinking skills which are relevant for analysis across their other courses. High School students are, by nature, curious and often struggle to find their own beliefs, identity, and voice, and TOK actually creates a framework where they can explore and develop these areas.

The Internal Assessment in the IB Business Management course

by Choco Laplana, MHS Assistant Principal & IB DP Coordinator and Emily Cornet, IB DP Business Management

A key component of the IB Business Management course is the Internal Assessment (IA), which students work on from April of 11th grade until November of 12th grade. For the IA in Business Management HL, students must choose a business to work with, and then identify a problem that exists. Students come up with the underlying causes for the problem, and then propose solutions that the real-life business could make.

Throughout the research process, students are engaged in interviewing employees at a number of levels of the business, surveying workers and customers, and analyzing data that they are able to access.

IA TITLES

PTA News

Dear parents,

Once again, we thank everyone who helped make the PTA Christmas Bazaar such a success! We were very proud of how our students conducted themselves, whether performing, fundraising or being ambassadors for the school.

We also want to express sincere thanks to the teachers and school staff who volunteered time at the bazaar, and to our amazing facilities and marketing teams. We couldn’t have run the event without you!

We will discuss more specific results from the bazaar at next week’s PTA Coffee Morning on December 11 at 7:30am in the Canteen Annex, where we will also assemble and distribute Christmas gift bags for the security and maintenance staff. Many hands make light work, so we hope to see you all there!

Elementary News

by Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

Over the past 12 months with the ongoing assistance and support of the PTA, we have been able to add to the quality of the indoor and outdoor learning spaces in elementary school. This began with the building of the large sandbox in the main elementary playground, followed by the up upgrade to the sandbox in the lower elementary playground. Over the summer the school maintenance team developed and opened the lower elementary garden area, and then we moved on to laying of the artificial grass. In addition to this, the PTA has helped subsidize the creation of the elementary Makerspace, as well as additions of rich literature to the classroom libraries. This week the lower elementary playground has been supplied with four new high-quality tricycles, subsidized by the PTA.  When they were delivered this week the students were instantly excited about the addition to their outdoor learning space.

Book Week and the Living Library

Last week was Book Week and all classes worked on their door decoration. The grade 4 door was about a book called The Wild Robot. We read it in Grade 3. First, we covered the door with newspaper and we stuck real leaves to the newspaper because we’re not allowed to stick anything on the glass. We also made the main character, Roz, out of cardboard and recycled cups. It was very fun!

During book we also had the living library. Several visitors came to our school to talk about the challenges and successes they have had. Arnold Balais and his story of the challenges he has had to overcome were particularly inspiring to us.

By the Grade 4 and Grade 5 Students

Dragon’s Print

Have you ever heard of TOK? Just a mention of this acronym is enough to make many IBDP students’ stress levels spike, but its purpose is still relatively obscure to those who don’t take the DP. In truth, TOK is one of the three components of the IB Core and is supposed to complement and enhance the overall academic experience. As this year’s seniors begin their TOK presentations next week, Axelle M. demystifies TOK and tells us why it gets such a bad rap, but also why we shouldn’t fear it. Read about her experience on our website, http://dragonsprint.cis.edu.ph/!

PTA News

by PTA Board of Officers

Dear parents,

Thank you for all of your donations to the Pre-Loved Book Sale. We made over 8,000 pesos last week! A big thank you to the parents who volunteered their time to sit at the booth. You can bring pre-loved books in all year long, and we will make these book sales happen regularly!

Congratulations to Grades 5 and 6 for returning the most stamped passports at International Fair Day! They each won a pizza party sponsored by the PTA.

Please let your friends and family know about the upcoming CIS PTA Christmas Bazaar (see poster following this article). Tickets are only 50 pesos, and we have a lot of high-quality vendors that you will not find anywhere else but our bazaar! Let’s make our biggest fundraiser of the year the biggest one we’ve seen in years!

Thank you

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

A Focus on Design

One of our steps CIS has taken in our incremental implementation of the MYP this year is the creation and development of Design classes for our Middle Years grades. Inquiry and problem-solving are at the heart of MYP Design, a subject that challenges students to apply practical and creative-thinking skills to solve authentic problems and generate deeper understandings about concepts such as development and innovation. Design requires the use of the design cycle as a tool, which provides the methodology to structure the study.

The cycle may ask students to identify and justify a need for a product, this may involve working with a client. The student then needs to research and analyse the effectiveness of existing products, develop their ideas through detailed design specifications, drawings and plans. The cycle then asks students to create a solution, documenting and justifying changes made to their plan, this involves the application of different technical skills. The final stage of the cycle involves testing and evaluating their solution. In MYP design, a solution can be a model, prototype, product or system independently created and developed by students. MYP design enables students to develop not only practical skills but also strategies for creative and critical thinking.

These images show how Grade 8 student Kathleen U. developed her ideas about social classes and poverty for the Mural Project. Keep your eyes ready for the walls of the car park as her design becomes a mural.

Mr. DeVilla, one of our new CIS Design teachers, reflects that “the design cycle doesn’t follow a linear pattern, but rather, is always open to re-evaluation and re-imagining”. The cycle may continue even after a conclusion or solution has been reached. Although new to Design, it is one of his favorite courses because “each student comes with different ideas in relation to a theme and has the flexibility to explore them.”

Jessie Saclo, one of our CIS Design teachers describes this course as “encouraging students to think critically regarding aspects of design and be adaptive depending on the type of problem they encounter.”

If we review some of the key critical thinking skills (thinking is our ATL focus for November), such as Analysis, Communication, Creative thinking, Open-mindedness, Problem-solving, and Self-regulation, we will see that Design class serves to develop all of these. However, just as with other high-level skills, critical thinking does not just come naturally, even given a high IQ. You need practice to develop them and this takes time. Furthermore, it is not solely dependent on prior knowledge, but involves traits like inspiration, the synthesis of ideas, and experiences where design is applied to real-world situations.

At the moment our Grade 8 Design classes are in the middle of completing their wall murals for the parking lot area directly in front of our future dorm facility. These murals represent the culmination of a long process involving our students’ engagement with the design cycle.

Each group was presented with a Statement of Inquiry and was tasked with choosing one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (i.e. No Poverty). They also were invited to create and problem-solve to design a mural to represent that goal and specific issues related to it pictorially/symbolically. Each group actually had to generate two designs and evaluate which one better communicated their message about the global issue. Students collaborated with their teams, sought feedback from peers and teachers, and presented their products to administrators for final approval.

They are currently in the process of transferring and painting their designs on the walls as you can see in the pictures below.

Grade 8 Paintings and Reflections

The grade 8 mural painting project is going very well. My group’s mural is called Earth: Year 2050. The year 2050 is significant because it is the year when all the global goals should have been achieved. Using other murals as inspiration, we created an image we think will be the future if we do not complete all the global goals. We started creating the mural around 3 sessions ago. The first session was where we sketched out the whole mural with pencils. The second session is when we started painting. We started from the top of the mural, moving down every session. The mural painting project is something I have looked forward to for a long time, so this project is very fun for me. Every class we go out to walls in the parking lot and set out materials to start painting. I think this project is going very well for us and that future murals by other classes would be fun experiences for them as well.

– Mahati, Vincent, Liam and Minseong

Our sustainable development goal (SDG) is Life Below Water. This goal is meant to promote awareness for marine life and keep the ocean clean. We represent this in our mural by painting factories on top of clouds that are raining plastic and dirty water into the ocean. The struggles we have faced so far is working and communicating well together. Another challenge we had was being able to finish a lot of work because we need time to walk outside, get materials ready, mix paint, then clean up, and go back, it takes a lot of time out of painting. Working outside has been a pretty rough experience due to all the insects and heat we have to work with. – Sofia, Zhandy, Maki and Jack

We are drawing a scene with hands reaching for clean water to show a view of survival and people fighting for water. There is a drop of water coming out from the hose and everyone is trying to get that drop of water.  I think the mural painting it is going well because we have drawn the hands on the wall, the words and the hose. We have also painted half of the background.  Our group finds the size of the wall and colors challenging. The wall was bigger than what my group thought and it took lots of time to accomplish drawing the design. We also struggled with the mixing of colors.

We are working well as a group. At first, we had a small conflict but we were able to figure out the solution and build good teamwork. When someone is painting the background, others help them or work on the other parts. In the future sessions, we will apply gradient better in the background because it is not really obvious.

– Swan, Dennis, Bryan, and Natalie

To start off the project we had to choose a Sustainable Development Goal. Our group decided to choose Goal number 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities. We chose this goal because it is something we are passionate about and it allows us to cover the most topics. We then had to create 2 sketches that we believe would portray our goal. In these sketches, we used symbols to represent different social issues relevant to the world today. For example, we used hands with labels (of different social issues) pulling the Earth apart to help the audience see what will happen if we continue to let these problems control us. After finalizing our designs and choosing one to work with, we presented our pitch to the principal and superintendent. In this presentation, we talked about our design specifications, what our designs represented and much more. We then made changes to our design based on their suggestions and we got them approved. Currently, we are on our 3rd session for painting our murals and we are following an action plan we have previously made. So far things are going to plan and we are trying our best to make our mural pleasing to the human eye. – Bella, Zeke, Max and Esther

Our first unit for Design this semester is the mural painting. We were formed into different groups and the first task was to choose a Sustainable Development Goal. My group chose SDG 1: No Poverty. To brainstorm, we researched different existing murals that have to do with spreading awareness about poverty. After all the research, each of the groups made two designs, picking a design that is preferred more. After presenting to the Administration Team, designs were finalized.

After making the final changes, it was time to proceed to the actual painting process. We first received the materials we needed. Each one of us started with sketching the final design onto the wall with a pencil. As we worked, we had to record a time-lapse of the whole working time span and take pictures in between so we could record the progress. My group luckily finished sketching in the first session, so we started painting the next day. The challenges my group dealt with were scaling up the design onto the wall and adding tonal values. We are working on a bigger space and we found it difficult because the final design we drew was on a smaller paper. We are working with a water-based medium; therefore it was difficult to blend different shades of a color. It was fun to see the group work together while spreading awareness through a mural painting. – Kathleen, Jandra, Eric and Dongmin

Grade 11 Field Trip

by Ma. Socorro Laplana, Asst. Middle & High School Principal/IBDP Coordinator

On November 6th, 2019, the 11th grade class went on a field trip in order to learn real life application of what they are learning in their classes. They visited three places: Cebu Doctors Hospital for Psychology, Cafe Georg for Business, and University of San Carlos for Biology. There, students explored and inquired. Here are some photos that were taken during the trip!

At the Cebu Doctors Hospital PET scanner room

At Cafe Georg- interview with the owner, Ms. Bunny Alcordo

Being a sole trader can be difficult when managing the business as they will have to think of new ideas and implement these by themselves compared to having a core group who can merge ideas and delegate tasks. I also learned that although opening up a store in malls are pricey, there’s more traffic/customers. -Amanda

I learned of how the many factors to consider when starting a business especially in malls with their high risk and high reward with the risks being high rental space price and also for them, not suitable facilities. However, the rewards that come with starting up in a mall is the amount of possible customers. Another thing I learned was the importance of word of mouth as this form of marketing ensures whoever is being told that the goods sold is of good quality.  -Miggs 

The business owner’s talk taught me the challenges one can face when starting a business. Being a sole trader can be difficult because there are no other people who can support you while making tough decisions for the business or organization. Lastly, the visit to Café Georg taught me about the need to keep pushing forward if you want to succeed and create your own business.   -Yoji 

At the University of San Carlos Entomology Lab

Entomology is disgustingly alluring: the study of insects requires both meticulous attention and morbid curiosity – Venise 

I saw how college research works and how they’re funded. I also saw how they conduct their research and how useful the application of their research is to our world – Justin 

Elementary News

by Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Language Week Activity in Elementary

Leading up to International Fair Day, the Elementary Language classes celebrated World Language Week by exchanging activities between the Spanish and Mandarin classes. Students from each grade experienced different activities taught to them by their peers in the other language classes.

The Kinder and Grade 1 students played a Dance and Freeze game with number songs in Mandarin and Spanish. Students were able to count from 1 to 10 in both languages after the experience, and because the Mandarin writing system is different from other languages, Mandarin students taught some Mandarin Characters to the Spanish students.

The Grade 2 students practiced and sang songs in 4 different languages. The students gathered together to sing ‘Two Little Tigers’ in English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Cebuano. They were proud to share this song at the International Fair Day performance as well.

The grade 3 students learned about parts of the body and chose to sing the ‘body parts song’ to each other, and practiced how to greet each other in Spanish.

Grade 4 and 5 students worked diligently to develop a station exchange activity. The Spanish students made the Kahoot Game with fun facts about their Spanish speaking country, while the Mandarin students made a slide show to present to their Spanish guests. The students particularly enjoyed playing the Spanish Kahoot!

Book Week Character Parade

by Aimee Sesbreño, Early Years 2/3 Homeroom Teacher

One of the highlights for our book week celebration is our “Book Character Parade” held this morning. Students came to school with their favorite book character costumes on. Parents were also very supportive in helping prepare their children’s clothes and props. Some wore fancy clothes and dresses and some even made their costumes using recycled materials. The elementary classes went around the MHS building while the MHS students, teachers and parents stayed in designated areas to watch and support our young learners. We ended our parade with DEAR (Drop everything and read) time in the media center while the rest went back to their Homeroom classes for their culture talks/story time. It was indeed a successful parade. Thank you all for taking the time to dress up and showcase your favorite book character. Enjoy the rest of the week!

Middle High School News

Living Library

On Wednesday, our Middle & High School students, together with a few students from Grade 4 & 5, attended the Living Library where they listened to stories from our different guests. They were able to hear and know more about being a filmmaker or producer, a marketing manager of one of Cebu’s community malls, a para-athlete, and an entrepreneur of an eco-friendly store!

Grade 12 Character Parade

The seniors put a little flavor into their Book Week Character Parade by dressing up as the same characters.

For Book character day the senior class dressed up as Handmaids from “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. We studied this book in English HL last year, and we wanted to use a book that we learned about. The Handmaid’s Tale is actually a controversial novel about an oppressive dystopian future wherein women are indoctrinated into reproductive servitude, but our dressing up was not meant to poke fun at this depiction of females. Instead we hoped to demonstrate an awareness of how the issues raised in the book still apply today and express our intention of keeping such foreboding conditions in fiction.

– Axelle, Grade 12

Dragon’s Print

Dragon’s Print published four articles this week to celebrate Halloween in conjunction with the annual Book Week. First, we rounded up some of the costumes that stood out in yesterday’s Character Parade and compiled them in one place. Want to get into horror literature? Take our quiz to find out which author you’re most likely to enjoy reading, and then once you’re done, test your strategy skills and see if you can survive our haunted house quiz!

Lastly, if you enjoy dark stories that take a turn for the twisted, you will surely delight in our two-sentence horror stories. These quick two-liners will surely leave a chill down your spine!

Visit http://dragonsprint.cis.edu.ph/ to read all our write-ups!

Elementary News

by Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

The CIS Guiding Statements can be seen on display in various places around the school. I have one in my office that I refer to regularly. The CIS Guiding Statements consist of the CIS Vision, Mission, and Core Beliefs. Although I value and agree with all the CIS Guiding Statements, as an elementary principal, it is the first two Core Beliefs that resonate most strongly with me.

1. Learning is a joyful, creative and open-ended exploration.
2. Each child’s curiosity needs to be identified and nurtured (morally, socially, physically and academically) to reach their potential.

On Friday 25th October, following the elementary assembly, a group of parents spent some time exploring the PYP approach to learning mathematics. Currently CIS is transitioning from teaching the Common Core (American) math standards toward adopting the ACARA (Australian) standards. This is where our math content comes from and is similar to other schools all over the world. What is different however is our How, the way we teach mathematics. Mathematics is a joyful, creative, open-ended exploration where each child’s curiosity is nurtured in order to reach their potential.

I encourage you to join us for our PYP learning sessions to understand more about your child’s learning here at CIS. Our next PYP Learning session will be Friday 29th November, 2019.

Grade 4 Book Week Preparations

by the Grade 4 Students

Next week is Book Week so we started doing our door decoration this week. It’s about a book called The Wild Robot. We read it in Grade 3.
First, we covered the door with newspaper and we stuck real leaves to the newspaper because we’re not allowed to stick anything on the glass. We also made the main character, Roz, out of cardboard and recycled cups. It was very fun!

International Fair Day 2019

Student Reflections

Chloe – Grade 5

Last October 19, 2019, CIS celebrated the International Day. I was chosen as one of the emcees of the Parade of Nations and the experience was great. Students from different countries were acknowledged and they’re given the opportunity to welcome everyone in the event using their mother tongue. It was actually my first time speaking on stage like that and it really helped me be more confident when talking in front of many people. Being an emcee is a great opportunity to boost your confidence and bond with higher grades! Other than being an emcee, I also had the chance to perform with other elementary students and some middle-high schoolers. We showed a little teaser of this year’s production called The Music Man. We danced while everyone was eating lunch, so we had the chance to show everyone our fun performance.

Lea – Grade 9

This year’s International day was so fun! Students prepared different activities which celebrate the school’s international mindedness. Variety of foods from different countries were displayed in the dome and I was able to enjoy them right before performing on stage. It was actually my second time dancing in this event, I danced for Mandarin class last year, but this time was very meaningful to me. It was an exhilarating feeling.  It was my first time doing a proper dance on stage. The dance was a little teaser from this year’s production of “The Music Man,” that will be shown this February.

Grade 12 Psychology IA Presentation

by Ms. Choco Laplana – IB DP Psychology

The grade 12 Psychology students presented their findings last Tuesday from their replication of an experiment. This is the Internal Assessment requirement for the Diploma Programme for Psychology Higher and Standard level.

We are proud of the work of our young researchers! Thank you to the parents who attended to watch their children present their findings.

Here are some reflections from the students on the IA experience:

When assessing the internal assessment as a whole, one must be principled by being honest about their findings as the analysis and evaluation both rely on the facts regarding the process and data collected from the experiment. I was principled in using data that aligned with my group’s and refraining from discarding or altering data values. In the evaluation section, I remained principled by providing statements, which were all true, to help support an advantage or disadvantage of either the procedure, design, and/or sample. –Dean

I think I was principled in how I analysed and presented the results of my experiment. I tried to interpret the data in an honest way and to not alter it to my own advantage. –Andrea

I believe I was principled because I was analytical, and I tried my best to recognize what is right or wrong in my IA. –Lei Sitrij

ISAC Season 1 – Volleyball

ISAC is officially in season! Our boys and girls volleyball teams are off to Southville International School in Manila to compete with 6 other international schools for the volleyball win. Let’s wish them all good luck and good health as they represent the school. Go, Dragons!!

College Counseling News

College / University Visits for October & November

SAT Test Dates for School Year 2019 – 2020

To register for the SAT, you may log on to www.collegeboard.org.  If you need assistance, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph or call 261-0247 local 112 to set an appointment.  You may also visit her office from 7:15am to 3:30pm. 

PTA News

Dear parents,

We’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped during last Saturday’s International Fair! Whether you ran or helped at a booth, contributed cash donations, or bought lots of food, the day was a great success in large part because of your involvement.

If you’d like to find out more about how much money we earned and how it might be spent, please come to the PTA Coffee Morning next Wednesday, October 30, at 7:30am in the Canteen Annex.

Next week is Book Week, and we will be holding our pre-loved book sale the whole week! Come take a look and refresh your home libraries before and after school all next week in the canteen annex.

See you next week for all the fun!

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

Managing Homework in MHS

It’s been a great first quarter getting back into the flow and rhythm of the school year. Along the way we have had several small breaks and long weekends which have allowed extra time for students to master content and complete assignments. Having said that, we now enter the second quarter and the pace, as well as the workload, can be expected to increase a bit.

You may recall my writing about this topic in last year’s newsflash, but I think that we, as parents, often do see the same concerns emerging year after year with our children. One of the inevitables in school life is homework, but it doesn’t have to consume all of our family time or make our children miserable. I want to offer a couple of thoughts to help ease some of the pressure and to help with conversations you might have with your children at home. There is actually some research right now claiming that homework has no benefit; however, alternate studies show that students who do their homework enjoy many benefits. I think the crucial variables here are the nature and quality of the work students are doing at home.Here are some thoughts to share with your children as to how they might better cope with the workload and pressure to perform:

1. The focus should be on learning rather than on grades (though strong grades will be a natural by-product of that learning). Students should be, first and foremost, building their personal cognitive library and a toolkit of skills which they will take with them to whatever path lies beyond high school. Students should remember that it is the quality of your work and the quality of the thinking that matters rather than the quantity.

2. Be a proactive learner in class. Take notes, pay attention, and ask questions- these things can help you comprehend the material better in class which will make your homework both easier and less time consuming.

3. Know when good enough is truly “good enough”. Perfectionism can be a killer and usually is unsustainable. Do what you need to do to effectively complete the assignment… and then… move on. Get to your next assignment. Most importantly, be good to yourself. Eat well. Get some exercise. Get enough sleep.

4. Prioritize your assignments. Our 4-day rotation is a blessing since we only have a maximum of 4 assignments due each day. However, if there is a big assignment coming up, don’t wait until the night before to begin. The summative assignments are the tasks where you demonstrate mastery of important knowledge and skills. Whereas your formative assignments are critical for practicing and developing your skills, the summative assignments need to take priority- if you must choose.

5. Manage yourself and manage your time at home. Try to plan out how much time you will need for each assignment. Set a schedule and stick to it. If you are struggling with a question, don’t be afraid or too proud to ask for help. Reach out to your teacher and see them the next day if possible.

6. Start your homework as soon as you get home. Take breaks in between your tasks and reward yourself for devoting yourself to periods of quality work time; the brain really loves to be rewarded for accomplishing goals.

7. Finally, remove distractions so you can work more productively.
When we are distracted, it is easy to make mistakes and squander time completing even the simplest tasks. It is also important to know yourself as a learner. If listening to music is a distraction, have the self-discipline to turn it off. Find a quiet place, concentrate, and focus on learning.

Most of all, be proactive in communicating with your teachers. If you are struggling to complete your homework because you have a test the next day, reach out to your teacher to explain. Your teachers are in this profession because they care about you and your learning. It doesn’t mean that your teacher will always be able to give an extension, but he/she may very well do that. A teacher can’t say yes if you don’t ask.

Language Week

by Ma. Socorro Laplana, Asst. Middle & High School Principal, IBDP Coordinator and Elaine Jin, Mandarin Teacher

As part of International Week, the World Languages team launched the “language week” where each day students tried out a new language. Monday is Cebuano, Tuesday is Spanish, Wednesday is Mandarin, Thursday is Korean and Friday is Japanese. Students had to say aloud some sentences in these languages in front of a judge thereby earning a point for their homeroom class. The class with the highest number of points by the end of the week wins a free dress day. Check out some photos below.

Language Exchange in Mandarin and Spanish Class

by Elaine Jin, Mandarin Teacher

During the International Language Week, the ES and MHS Mandarin and Spanish class exchanged language classes. In the MHS, the Grade 10 students experienced how to be a language teacher. The Mandarin and Spanish students divided themselves into three groups, the number group, the color group and the greeting group. They designed a 10 minute mini lesson and taught classmates basic vocabulary about the numbers, colors and greetings. The Grade 10 students enjoyed playing games and learning new languages.

Elementary News

by Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

International Day Preparations

Dear Elementary Community,

Over the past week, elementary students have been working in vertical grade groups to prepare their international day games and activities. In past years each class decided on a country they would like to represent at the International Fair Day, this year however we asked students from KG to G5 to select a country they would like to learn more about. Students were then grouped according to their choices and have worked together to learn about their country and prepare games and activities to share with others in our community. This process has honored our belief in student choice and agency, while still providing a structure to ensure quality learning has taken place.

On Saturday 19th October students will be eager to share their learning with you. Each student will be scheduled to serve at their activity for a section of the morning. Following the activities, food, and clean-up, students will be able to leave International Day at 1.00 pm.

Grade 3 student Reflections on Wheels Day

Elementary School Events

Friday 24th October

• Elementary Assembly in the media center (7.30am – 8.00am)
• PYP Parent Education Session: Math Learning and Teaching in the PYP (8.00am – 9.00am)

College Counseling News

by Jennifer Basa, College/Careers Counselor/Alumni Liaison

SAT Test Dates for School Year 2019 – 2020

For students who are planning to study in universities/colleges that require the SAT exam, below is the schedule of the SAT tests. Please take note of the test dates and registration deadlines.

To register for the SAT, you may log on to www.collegeboard.org. If you need assistance, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph or call 261-0247 local 112 to set an appointment. You may also visit her office from 7:15am to 3:30pm.

CIS Book Week!

October 28 to 31, 2019

by Dan Monfre, eLearning Coordinator

BOOKMARKS AND POSTERS!

Create a bookmark or poster that answers the  question “Who do you read?” All posters or bookmarks should include a photo of an author that you love to read and some of their most famous books and quotes.

LIVING LIBRARY!

The media center will host a living library on Oct. 29, at 10:00 – 11:30.  Local professionals will come and share their stories. Students will have a chance to talk in small groups with the guests and ask questions. 

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ!

D.E.A.R. time will take place in all ELOs and HRs on Thursday, Oct. 31st at 9:15 to 10:00.

CHARACTER PARADE!

Everyone is invited to dress up as their favorite book character on Thursday, October 31. The parade will start at 7:30. Elementary students will parade through the MHS building, showing everyone their exciting and creative costumes.

BOOK DOOR DECORATING!

Homerooms should each choose a book, series, or genre and decorate one of the doors of their homeroom class. For complete rules click here. One MHS and one Elem HR will win a pizza party! Doors will be judged at 10 on Thursday, Oct. 25th.

STORYTIME!

MHS Students and Parent volunteers are invited to come read stories to the elementary classes. Students should use this form to sign up for times to read.

Who is reading?

Come by the media center to check out our board of disguised readers and see if you can determine which teachers are reading the books. There will be a box to submit your guesses and a raffle will be held with the students who get the most correct.

Dragon’s Print

by Russell Greene, English Teacher/EE Coordinator