Newsflash: April 8, 2022

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-12 Principal

This week in our Newsflash you’ll note reference to the way our Grade 5 students are exploring their passions as they work towards their PYP Exhibition along with an advertisement for our upcoming MYP Personal Project Showcase in May. Both initiatives provide students with the opportunity to initiate a self-directed study as part of the culmination of their work in the PYP and MYP. The work our teachers do to scaffold our students through this process is integral to their success and I would like to highlight how fortunate we are to have two exceptional educators in Mrs. Underwood and Mr. Denton leading our students through these projects. We also have a large proportion of our staff acting as mentors for our students and I would like to highlight the benefits that this approach provides.

 Mentoring in the sense of these projects provides our students with access to additional support and perspectives. Typically, students are matched with a mentor based on the mentor’s personal and professional interests, and how they may align with the topic or exploration that a student is interested in. The mentors meet regularly with the students over a sustained period of time in order to provide advice, direction, expertise and inspiration.

 While all of our mentors are teachers at CIS and therefore experienced educators, project-specific training has been provided to them in order to maximise their effectiveness. In the case of the PYP Exhibition our teachers have been provided with professional development on how to be an effective mentor and the lead teacher scaffolds their work with students with clear expectations for each session. 

In addition to supporting our students’ development of skills and knowledge, mentoring in this sense provides students with positive role models. Sustained engagement provides a strengthened sense of identity, communication skills and interpersonal relationships. It helps to develop confidence and raise aspirations.

 Here are a few thoughts on the mentoring process from our Grade 5 students:

 “My mentor has been very helpful as I explore how nature walks can help with mental health. She can help me research quickly and find resources that I can read and include in persuasive writing.”

 “She is really good at taking all of the messy ideas that I have in my head and consolidating them into a clear idea and line of inquiry.”

 “It’s great to work with someone that’s not my regular teacher because I get to know about other perspectives and have someone else to look up to and ask questions.”

 Providing mentors to our students is an important initiative that helps to individualize our students’ educational experiences. It helps to further develop our sense of community and I know that from a mentor’s perspective, it is a rewarding experience.

Upcoming events of note

• April 11-15 Mid-semester Break (Easter/Holy week)
• April 18: School make up day (Day B)
• April 26:  Parent Coffee Meeting 9-10 am ← Save the date!

Please refer to the CIS Event Calendar (http://cis.edu.ph/school-calendar/) for the complete calendar of school events.

Grade 5 PYP Exhibition: Mid-Journey Update

Mrs. Aimee Underwood, Grade 5 Homeroom Teacher

The highlight of Grade 5 each year is the PYP Exhibition (PYPx), which unites students, teachers, and other members of the learning community in a culminating, collaborative learning experience.

Over the past few weeks, our Grade 5 students have been busy exploring their passions and connecting them to local and global issues through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). Their passions and issues are as diverse as the students themselves, ranging from fast fashion to green architecture, inequality in coding to child refugees, invasive species to music therapy, and more!

Through the process of their inquiry, the students are deepening their knowledge and understanding, sharpening their ATL skills, and challenging themselves to consider how they can demonstrate their IB Learner Profile attributes to “help create a better and more peaceful world” (IB Mission Statement).

Below are some surveys that the Grade 5s will be grateful for if you can help fill out, so that they can collect more primary data for their research:

• Mental Health and Well-Being (Anna): https://forms.gle/jAe7fYnheKWLjEbMA
• Fast Fashion and Consumer Behavior (Aubrey): https://forms.gle/sPEi1SpkZre91zox6
• Tanks and Military Technology (Sam): https://forms.gle/iNvhrGazsrfqbe9i9
• Jaguars (Dave): https://forms.gle/G9J1BPqev3srYYzV9
• Deforestation (Riku): https://forms.gle/cajq7TY1QqeWYjnj8

As we head into the last half of the PYPx journey after the break, we look forward to seeing how the students will take action and publicly share their learning with the wider community. Stay tuned

Language Acquisition Classes

by Mr. Antonio Melgar, Language Acquisition Teacher

MYP Spanish – Grade 6/7

Grades 6 and 7 students discovered how to talk about  food around the world, the food pyramid, classifying the foods into categories,  and how to mention the most famous dishes. Also, they are learning how to explain the process of preparing a simple dish in Spanish and discussing what is healthy and what is not.

Grade 8 and 9

This term we focused on discussing how  globalization is a process that affects us all in diverse ways. We talked about famous people from our countries, and how they became global,  and how a language can be global, and how accents and idioms make a culture richer and more international. Also, how by using or consuming products from other regions of the world we enhance our knowledge and discuss  how our small actions can help make our planet sustainable. And applying past tense is a great tool to talk about it!

Grade 10

This term we focused on the environment and how our actions can lead to either preserving or damaging it. As this is a multilevel class, students also discussed global warming and its implications, idioms and colloquial expressions as a way to convey meaning across cultures and how food is something that unites us. 

Personal Project

MYP Personal Project

SEL Tips

Dragon’s Print

After 2 whole years of learning remotely, our return to normality is nearing. Despite us being comfortable in our own humble abodes, face-to-face (F2F) classes have begun, meaning that we students who are able to return to campus will have to adapt. Read about a few days in the life of a Grade 11 Student getting used to full F2F days at http://dragonsprint.cis.edu.ph/.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

April 9
Saturday
1:00PM
Link to Register

EVENT

Ritsumeikan University (Japan) : Ask us! : Why choose Ritsumeikan & What undergraduate programs are offered

April 13
4:30 – 5:30pm
Link to register

New Zealand University webinars: (in cooperation with Beacon Academy in Manila) 

April 21
Thursday
7:00 – 9:00pm
Link to register

April 23, 25 & 26
Link to register
(pick the schedule/time zone that is works for you)

Glion Institute of Higher Education (Switzerland)
Masterclass 1: Discover the New World of Luxury

SAT Update

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.