Newsflash: May 15, 2020

Admin News

Thank you one and all for your endurance! It is hard to believe we have now completed week eight of RL. It is also amazing to think we now only have 3 more weeks until the end of the school year! We can do it—and what an amazing accomplishment it will be!

I will be sending an Infobrief shortly to the CIS Community with some details about staffing for next year that we usually send out at this time of the year. For now, we have a few announcements about current developments.

1. CIS moves to a Modified ECQ from May 15-May 31 – CIS Remote Learning confirmed to continue through to the end of the school year

[Stop Press: Since publishing, the IATF has returned Cebu City to ECQ level]

As you may have heard in the news, Cebu City has now been placed on a Modified ECQ from May 15 through to May 31. The conditions of the MECQ are similar to the ECQ with regard to our operations, so as we expected, we will continue with RL. (A detailed report of details of the MECQ, ECQ, and GCQ is available in a news report here). After initially being classed under a General Community Quarantine (GCQ), Mandaue and Lapulapu Cities have also been recommended for the MECQ by the IATF – a report is available here)

Even if we are moved to a GCQ level after May 31, we only have one more week, and our students (under 20-year-olds) will still be required to continue their quarantine under that level. This announcement serves as official confirmation that due to these continued restrictions, CIS will need to finish out the 2019/20 school year virtually.

2. End of Year Events

We will continue to hold as many of our regular events as possible if we can adapt them to be held virtually. The event organizers for the various end of year events are in the process of planning for these adaptations, and details will be communicated to you shortly.

3. 2020/21SY Opening Planning

We are in the process of researching options for what conditions we need to implement at school to ensure the safety of our students and teachers when we open our campus physically for our 2020/21SY (hopefully in August as planned, but that depends on the restrictions at the time). We are fortunate to have time and other schools’ experiences of doing this now to draw upon to help us plan. Over the next few weeks, we will be inviting input from a variety of stakeholders into the various options we are considering, so if you have an interest in this area, please do let me know! I will be giving more details and possible dates in our next Infobrief.

Our Remote Learning program (and many parent’s work) was interrupted for a number of families over Wednesday and Thursday this week, reportedly due to an unfortunate loss of connection from PLDT Fibre lines being damaged by two separate accidents! Our teachers scrambled to adapt their lessons to cater to students who were unable to join online, and alternative arrangements were given so the students had the opportunity to make up any work missed over that time. Thank you both students and teachers for working through that problem. This is the first major issue with our connection in 8 weeks, so at least we can be thankful for that. Also, it was interesting to note that some found it harder to cope with loss of internet over two days than being on lockdown for eight weeks!

Have a restful weekend, and we hope the learning is smoother next week, as many of our students look at summative assessments and preparing for our upcoming celebration of learning events!

Regards,
Dr. Gwyn Underwood
Superintendent

Middle and High School News

by Mr. Dale Wood, Middle and High School Principal

Our students, now having completed week 8 of remote learning, are keeping calm and creating on within their respective classes. Our teachers continue to create learning engagements for their students to keep them moving forward in the curriculum while striving to make it relevant to them. They are modeling the kind of creativity we want to instill and inspire in our students.

As we are gearing up for our end-of year assessments, I want to highlight some of the learning experiences, as evidenced through our students’ products, which have been taking place in MHS this week. We have now entered our end-of-year assessment window, and our students are also beginning or are already in the process of producing culminating projects for their courses to demonstrate their mastery of course content and skills.

Our Grade 6 Individuals & Society (I&S) class designed and created Covid 19 Propaganda Posters.

For our unit on Propaganda students were asked to design a poster on paper (A4 size or larger) using one of the propaganda techniques they have been studying. The poster was meant to take a message from what they know about Covid-19 and exaggerate it a bit to really convince people that the message is true, even though the facts may be skewed or paint an incomplete picture. This message could either be positive or negative in nature. They were also asked to include a drawing or drawings in connection with the celebration of art week which needed to be colorful and draw in the audience’s attention. 

Our Grade 8 Science class, for their summative task for the Rocks and Minerals unit, were tasked with the goal of incorporating their knowledge of rocks and minerals to design a substantial test for rock/mineral identification. Students served as rock lab experts for a client who has sent them a rock sample for detailed analysis, seeking to know if the rock would be suitable for any specific task or function. The students role was to provide the client with a detailed analysis (in the form of a formal report) of the specimen.

This project combined several important subject skills, requiring students to demonstrate their knowledge within this unit and apply this knowledge in a novel situation. They also had to meet course standards in Criterion B, which focuses on inquiry and design. Students were expected to formulate a detailed analysis to identify the rock’s estimated/observed age, physical (density/hardness/luster/streak)/chemical properties, mineral content, possible location to obtain or mine this, and current market value of the rock per kilogram. Finally students needed to formulate a conclusion about its appropriateness for the purpose. The formal report also needed to include the problem that you’re investigating, a hypothesis related to your problem, evaluate any variables you need to look into your investigation and how you plan to gather your data, articulate materials and procedures, and present a detailed analysis and results.

To add an element of creativity, students were given the flexibility to choose their own format for the report for as long as it looked professionally done by a rock lab expert as well as contain all the expectations above. The statement of inquiry focused on how scientists discern patterns in ecological systems and use them to identify ways to develop and manage natural resources around the world. 

Please find one student sample of this finished product below:

Sample Product – Zhandy J.

Grade 11 Internal Assessments

Our final highlight for the week focuses on how our Grade 11 DP students, in the midst of remote learning, have begun working on their Internal Assessments (IA’s) in most of their classes. One of the things that sets IB apart from other rigorous “college prep” curricula is that its assessment of students is not purely test-based. In sharp contrast, IB builds in the ability for students to explore, under the guidance of their teachers, aspects of their respective subjects that are relevant and/or intriguing to them. Our IA’s range from conceiving, designing, conducting, and evaluating their own science experiments to delivering Individual Oral commentaries in World Language and Language and Literature to crafting independent study and analysis of real-world businesses.

The IA’s present a wonderful opportunity for our students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and, if they are motivated and diligent, often serve to raise their grades in their IB subjects. It is wonderful to see our DP teachers adjusting to this IB requirement and leading students through these assessments while all are at home (for example, guiding students to begin their science IA’s while they don’t yet have access to the labs).

Elementary News

by Mr. Glenn Davies, Elementary Principal/PYP Coordinator

Dear Elementary Community,

As we draw near the end of the academic school year, all teachers are engaged in writing report cards for their students. Report card writing is always a stressful time for teachers as they are adding many additional hours to their regular teaching and learning workload. Teachers take the responsibility of report card writing very seriously, and each report card that is written represents many hours of thought, assessment, and cross-checking various pieces of qualitative and quantitative data to ensure the report accurately represents each student.

The Reporting Process – seeking parent input

A significant portion of this semester’s learning has taken place at home. Teachers have done incredible work, planning, delivering, and providing feedback to ensure high-quality student learning is maintained and our CIS curriculum outcomes are achieved. In the report card, the teachers will be reporting on this curriculum outcomes.

The report also highlights the IB Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills and attitudes. These are the skills and attributes students use and develop while learning. As parents, you have also done incredible work, many of you taking the role of teacher-facilitator.  As a lot of learning has happened in the home context and we value your perspective on how your child has demonstrated the ATL skills and attitudes. You will all have received a survey that enables you to efficiently give us some data about the ATLs at home. There is also a place for parents to write an example of where they have seen this ATL skill. Some parents may not feel confident writing an example in this section, so if you do not feel confident to list an example, please leave this section blank.

Three-Way Conferences
During the week of May 25th to May 29th, 2020, CIS Elementary will hold remote Three Way Conferences (3WC). The focus of this conference will be to discuss the ATL section of the report that you have contributed to. During this conference, you will have the opportunity to give verbal examples of the ATL strength and goal areas. This will enable parents to give their ATL examples in person.

The 3WC will replace the Celebration of Learning Student-Led Conference usually held at this time of year.

Important Dates in Elementary
Please find a summary of the important dates connected to elementary.

• Thursday 14th May – ATL Report Survey emailed to all elementary parents.
• Monday 18th May – Reminder sent to families who have not had the opportunity to complete the ATL Report Survey.
• Wednesday 20th May – ATL Report Survey closes at 3.00pm.
• Tuesday 19th May – Three Way Conferences (3WC) sign up schedule sent to parents.
• Friday 22nd May – Student non-contact day (curriculum working day for teachers, student work catch-up day)
• Monday 25th to Friday 29th May – Three Way Conferences (3WC) held remotely.
• Friday 5th June – Grade 5 Moving-Up Ceremony / Report Cards emailed to parens / Final day of school for students.

Spanish Activities

by Ms. Gloria Rodriguez, Spanish Teacher

Mandarin Class

by Jinhua Zou, Mandarin Teacher

This week Mandarin reviews the food topic with activity making healthy delicious sandwich, the student learns the ingredients in Mandarin. They were making sandwich for breakfast and even lunch.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

The IDP Virtual Fair is scheduled on May 23 and 30 with institutions from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.

Please find below the list of participating institutions and registration details:

May 23, 2020 at 1:00 pm – 6:00pm (Australia & New Zealand). To register, please click on this link.