Newsflash: December 13, 2019

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

Today has been a wonderful celebration of student learning community relationships. I feel very fortunate to be part of a wonderful community such as CIS. You and your families are truly special and it is at times of celebration such as today that the wonder of our community is really evident.

I am also continually impressed at the quality and caliber of our CIS teachers and support staff. They two are an essential part of what makes CIS work, as are our CIS students, the focus of each day at CIS.  As we go our various ways over the coming three weeks the elementary team at CIS wish you and your families very well. Have a very happy holiday season.

Elementary Art – The Slime Story

“The SLIME Story”

“Ms. Thea, can we make slime?,” asked Clare innocently. “Nah… I dunno, well, maybe next week, not right now Clare, ok? We’re still busy doing our Papier Mache Earth Project in connection with the Sharing the Planet Unit.”

Two of the other girls had also asked the same question, and recieved the same answer. “Besides,” I thought to myself, why do Slime? It’s gooey, and messy…and I’ve been studying it for about a month and I still can’t seem to get the recipe right.“ (Of course, I didn’t let the girls hear me say this to myself.)

I was personally discouraged with my Slime Recipe up until I tried using Contact Lens Solution. A friend of mine, organizing an Art Party for her daughter had requested me last November to design art activities for a kiddie party and the top of her list was Slime. “My daughter loves art and science, and she loves slime, you have to do slime.”

I went around CIS asking teachers like Ms Weng, and Ms Stefanny how they made Slime and they gave me good advice. Contact Lens solution was really an ingredient that I hadn’t tried. Later on I learned that this solution contains boric acid (this is the famous Borax on the Youtube Slime Recipes) and it really, made the solution gooey and sticky. Without this, it was just plain old glue, no matter how much dishwashing liquid or other stuff that I added. So I was determined to try Contact Lens Solution.

Back to the Grade 2 class. In comes Irene who says, “Ms. Thea you are so unfair!!!” “What? Why?”, I pleaded. “You told Clare and the Grade 2 Js that they would make slime.” “I did?”, I asked. “Uh-huh,” she replied, “Why didn’t you tell our section that we would do it also?”

I kept silent. Then in came the Grade 2 Js. Bella, Thea and Clare marched in, holding their jars and their cute little slime containers. “Oh. Did you girls think we were doing slime today? Because I really wanted you to work on the Earth project”, I said to them.  “WHAT?? Yes we’re doing slime! Yes you told us! Remember you said ‘We’ll do it next week’…And Ms Thea a promise is a promise!!!”, they all chimed.

So I was stuck. With my promise.

I had to act fast. I had all the ingredients that day, except for Baking Soda. Think, Thea, Think. I said to myself. Okay we have glue, we have contact lens solution, we have glitter… we just need some baking soda. Where could I find baking soda? “Ms Amarga!”, I thought to myself. I know Ms. Amarga has a lot of stocks of different stuff in her classroom and she’s always so kind to lend me things. I went over and asked for some, leaving the Grade 2 with Ms Eva. I hurried back with the baking soda. And our adventure was about to begin.

I had only to do a small demo of Slime and soon they were all crowding with their containers saying, “Me, Me, give me some glue!!!” “Okay calm down,” I told them, “So how do we make slime?”

 (This was our inquiry). A bit of glue… yes that’s it, hold out your containers—I poured glue into their containers one by one… a bit of contact lens solution… and a pinch of baking soda… and you can add some glitter…”They all obeyed perfectly, there was no need to motivate them on this lesson, because they had all already desired to do Slime. We all mixed our individual slimes, and some were successes instantly, while others hardened due to too much activator.

“Okay now you have to take it out of the container with your bare hands and massage it.” “What?!”, “that’s gross,” said some students. “It’s part of the process and it all washes off with water, don’t be afraid,” I reassured them.

It was like a big Science Art Experiment. “Oh no! Mine got all hard,” exclaimed some of them, they had added too much contact lens solution and too much baking soda, and this made their Slime solid. “Okay, try again…” Ms Eva and I said to those who wanted to make new ones after the first tries flopping…. They patiently remade their slime. Pretty soon, it was like no one wanted to leave the Art Room they were all so busy with their Slime! They kept adding and adding glue, I said, “Okay that’s enough sorry guys, time is up!”

In the end they all had big smiles, and their joy was a joy for me as well. The tables were coated with glue, I was so grateful to have maintenance workers that come in and clean the room. I was fulfilled and happy because my students experimented and succeeded with something new and artistic. They all left the Art Room happy that day. Why? Firstly, it was an activity of their choice that they prepared for. Secondly, we succeeded in achieving the Slime result. Thirdly, the process was so messy and gooey, and just simply kid-friendly.

I learned from this experience, that often as an educator we can be so serious and have our own goals for the children. But when we loosen up and try things that they themselves request, we give them responsibility over their own choices, we actually make ourselves vulnerable when we choose their idea over our own, and we humble ourselves to cooperate with what they want, not what we want. They also enjoy because it’s an activity they want. I’m not saying we will no longer do serious drawing and practice drawing skills, but Slime was a nice adventure and break from the more planned classes, wherein I as the educator I decide what to do. In this case, it was three Grade 2 girls who decided what they were going to do. They were determined to make Slime, they brought their containers to school with big smiles on their faces and they inspired me to take this up as an Art Activity for them. Their determination to do it inspired me to be determined also. Their joy upon making it made me joyful too.

“This is why I’m still an Art teacher,” I thought to myself, “to hear shrieks of joy and delight when kids are making something new, when they are excited about what they are making, and are enjoying the process, not too worried about the end result.”

It’s like how Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” I think all kids are artists, we educators, just have to step back and assist them sometimes, and not always insist on our own ideas, because they actually already have the idea of what they want, we can just be humble and help them achieve it.

Middle/High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

Semester One of the 2019/20 academic year has now drawn to a close. It’s been a wonderful five months of building relationships, teaching/learning for relevance, and challenging our students with appropriate rigor to help them develop holistically.

This week we continue to highlight some of the unique and student-centered assessments our teachers have engineered over the past weeks to reinforce and deepen their students’ understanding and skills, develop ATL’s, and allow them to create quality performances and products of which they can be proud. As educators, few things bring us as much joy as watching our students shine and effectively perform challenging real-world tasks.

We hope all of our families enjoy a time to rest and be refreshed over the holiday, knowing that we will return to build on the foundation established during this first semester.

Grade 7 Science Project: Water Crisis in the Philippines

by Ms. Nice Uy, MS Science Teacher

On Monday, December 9th, 2019, the grade 7 Science class presented their research projects, The Water Crisis in the Philippines, as part of their summative assessment. This task allowed them to apply their knowledge and skills as to how to separate soluble and insoluble substances in light of our Mixtures Unit this second quarter. Their goal was to ultimately address an issue and propose solutions regarding the water crisis in the Philippines. Students were given a sample of dirty water – a mixture of saltwater, sand, gravel, charcoal and dried leaves. Their task was to create a method for cleaning water and make a model based on the design they had constructed. They were required to find ways to use different separation methods to produce clean water in the end. This culminated with students presenting their research project to the school administrators.

Dirty water sample- students were tasked with producing clean water as their output.

Student Reflections:

Our assessment was about separating mixtures. We did a filtration project by making a filter using natural items. This task connected to the statement of inquiry; ”Systems can be used to observe in order to develop a model to explain the function of humans and its consequences to impact society.” Yes, it was a bit challenging because there was so much going on. Also it was confusing when filtering. And we didn’t really know how to make it. We could have finished the project more easily by following what the teacher said and by listening and cooperating better instead of talking and interrupting. We could have improved the project if we had finished the filter earlier so we would have had much more time to finish the slides. – Rosie and Avery

Raising awareness about the water crisis in the Philippines is important because we see how water is needed for people’s basic daily necessities, especially for drinking and hygienic purposes. Many of the water sources Filipinos rely on are unsanitized. For this project, we had to use methods to purify contaminated water. We created a model that uses the filtration process for the contaminated water. Then, we then distilled the water we filtered using a distillation apparatus. We both did our part. One of us did the pounding for the charcoal for our filtration model, and one of us conducted the distillation process. We made sure that all our materials were in the right place during this project. We both made sure that we were able to address the water crisis in the Philippines by being intentional in finding ways on how to purify water using effective methods. One of the challenges we faced was communicating with each other. Another challenge was how we managed our time because we also had some other classwork and other upcoming summative tasks for different classes so it was a bit hard to balance, but we were able to resolve these issues. – Rasmus and Fiana

There are many countries that have a water crisis and the Philippines is one of them. According to water.org, out of 107 million Filipinos 7 million rely on undistilled water sources. We wanted to stop that, so we have made an effective and cheap filter that could be used by the locals. We found the project a bit difficult for we had to find materials that we usually don’t use like charcoal. Also, we had to find out how these materials helped us in filtering. We planned it specifically before we made our filter. We could have collaborated more to finish the report faster so we would finish the ppt before time. It would be better since we would have more time to revise it. – Lloyd and Jiyeon

Grade 12 Group 4 project

by  Ms. Jacqui Street, DP Biology Teacher
       Ms. Christine Enrile, DP Chemistry Teacher

On December 10 and 11, the grade 12 students conducted the Group 4 Project, an interdisciplinary activity in which all Diploma Program and IB Certificate science students must participate. The Group 4 Project aims to achieve the following goals:

• Introduce students to the idea that Science is a group activity performed by teams with a mixture of scientists from different disciplines
• Encourage understanding of the relationships between scientific disciplines and the overarching nature of the scientific method
• Develop and apply information and communication skills in the study of science technology
• Raise awareness of moral, ethical, social, economic, and environmental implications of using science

To realize these goals, the students analyzed a topic or problem which can be investigated using Biology, Chemistry and/or Physics. The students worked collaboratively across disciplines to explore a commonly believed myth using The Scientific Method. The research problems the groups explored included the dependence of pain tolerance on gender, possibility of abseiling down a mountain using duct tape, maximum weight capacity of geometric shapes, effect of salt in water on electrical conductivity, basic purification of water, how friction can save lives, static electricity, heat absorbance of different colors, and the effect of air pressure on the flight height of drones. Students culminated their activity through the video presentations which chronicled their hard work.

The Group 4 Project enabled our students to apply critical and creative thinking and have fun as they planned, designed, conducted, and documented their work.  

Here are some of their reflections:

In our Group 4 Project, we investigated how much weight different shapes can hold by folding paper into columns and stacking books on top of them. It’s a simple experiment but we were able to appreciate the physics behind architecture while trying to present it all creatively. It was a fun deviation from the academic reports that we’re used to doing for the IB! —Axelle

Our group looked into the myth that wearing black makes you feel hotter. Through collaboration and following the nature of the scientific method, we found out that it’s not a myth after all. The Group 4 project was enjoyable as it allowed us to step out of our usual classroom set-up of working individually and only within our Group 4 classes (Chemistry or Biology). The highlight of the two days was watching the hilarious videos that each group created. This was certainly a nice way to end the quarter. — Alya

The Group 4 Project is a significant aspect of every senior’s IB journey. This Tuesday and Wednesday, the senior class took part in this yearly tradition of investigating a “myth” through applying the scientific method. Our group decided to research the myth that you should not swim during a lightning storm. This experiment was memorable to me, as I believe we were able to successfully carry out the entire process in two days. In this span, I was able to overcome all difficulties with the experiment and group members. The days prior to the experiment was quite chaotic because we had no direction and inefficient communication, but when we met on the first day, everything fell into place. We were able to assign roles, finish our tasks, and wrap up the entire experiment on the first day. This was an unforgettable experience that helped me realize several things; my ability to work well and adapt to others, and how prominent the scientific method is in our daily lives. The Group 4 Project was genuinely the highlight of my senior year. – Katrina 

Grade 10 Business Advertising Unit Summative

by Emily Cornet

Over the past month, the students in the 10th grade Business course worked in small groups, creating videos to advertise CIS. During the course of the project, students had to storyboard their plans, prepare and conduct interviews of students and teachers/staff, and film scenes from across the campus. They then put together their advertisements using their technology skills, and last week they presented to an audience that included administrators, the Marketing Department, as well as a handful of other teachers and students.

Even though only students were our main highlight for the perspectives, we showed their different perspectives because they represented different parts of CIS. We also showed the different nationalities that are represented in this school. – Deandra

I learned about the different styles of making an advertisement. First, we have to thoroughly plan what we are going to focus things. We have to take into consideration on what people think so we can reach a higher number of individuals. Lastly, the video has to be visually pleasing and keep the audience wanting to see more. – Keenen

I learned about the different styles of making an advertisement. First, we have to thoroughly plan what we are going to focus things. We have to take into consideration on what people think so we can reach a higher number of individuals. Lastly, the video has to be visually pleasing and keep the audience wanting to see more. – Sean

This project taught me that advertising can be done in several different ways. It would be best to add voice overs or text to make it more interesting and informative.  – Elena

Tree of Giving

by Levi (Student Council President) & Deandra (Student Council Vice President)

On Saturday morning, December 7th, the MHS Student Council’s annual Tree of Giving took place. Along with the Student Council members, a group of students volunteered their time to help celebrate the Christmas spirit with the children from the Umapad dumpsite in Mandaue City. It was a meaningful event where our CIS students helped the Umapad children celebrate Christmas by playing with them and sharing the gifts our school was able to gather over the past fwe weeks. Our guests were children who don’t have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, and it was heartwarming to see our students show care for others and give back to the community through this event. After sharing food and playing with the children, the event concluded by sharing nearly 400 gifts that our CIS community was able to gather.

We would like to thank all of the students, teachers, staff, and parents for their role in making this event possible! We could not have done it without all of you!

Alumni Spotlight

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VISITS for January – March 2020

by  Ms. 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.

PTA News

by CIS PTA Board of Officers 

Dear CIS community,

CIS Anglers Club

by  Paul – G12 

Last Friday the CIS anglers club organized a fishing seminar. We had a special guest Mr. Hitoshi, who is from Palms fishing Japan to talk about shore casting to the anglers. This was the first ever event of its kind held in the Visayas. It was open to anglers all over the Philippines and we had people fly in from Manila, Bacolod, and other places to attend this seminar, we also have two alumni, Shoji Castillo and Timothy Cusi present. 

The seminar was a really great event and myself along with the other anglers were able to learn so much. Shore casting is a type of fishing that is just beginning to take off in the Philippines, so it was a great privilege to be able to be taught by a professional on the subject. We also had many giveaways for the people who attended, one of them was a new fishing rod! Our elementary students was also given the time to sit down and had a short basic fishing orientation. It was attended by the members of the Elementary Scouting Club. 

At the end of the seminar, Mr. Ace announced that I was gonna be a field tester for Palms products in the Philippines! This is an incredible opportunity for me and I owe a big thanks to Mr. Ace, and Palms Philippines for giving me the opportunity. Mr Ace is the current brand ambassador and sponsored by Palms Japan. 

I couldn’t get the smile off my face for the rest of the night! The seminar was such a great experience, and it was something I surely will never forget. The following day, my dad and I took Mr. Ace, Mr, Hitoshi, and the Palms distributor for the Philippines Mr. Jun to Badian to go fishing. We were able to catch a few fish by shore casting and jigging. Although we didn’t catch any big fish due to bad weather but it was still a great experience! Everyone had a great time and it was overall a great experience! Big thanks to Mr. Ace, Mr. Hitoshi, Mr. Jun and the school administration for making all of this happen!