Newsflash: October 25, 2019

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!