Admin Notes
by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent
We have had an interesting and informative Book Week this week, thank you for joining in the activities. We will include pictures and event reports in next week’s Newsflash, but for now, I wanted to recognize the efforts of those who contributed in any way, particularly Ms. MJ and the Book Week Committee members, alumni speakers & visiting authors, and students and teachers who participated in the activities.
As we have a lot of media for you this week, I will keep this admin section short, and just finish part 3 of our coverage of the SEL “CASEL 5”, which outlines SEL competencies that are useful for our students, as well as adults!
SEL Competencies: The CASEL 5, Part 3
(refer to the Sept. 24 and Oct. 15 Newsflash for Parts 1 and 2)
Many of the CASEL 5 competencies may seem to just be common sense. And yet, it is often so challenging to apply them to real-life situations, and particularly in a crisis like the COVID pandemic, where factors outside of our control pressure us into feeling like we cannot do anything. It is critical to keep in mind that in fact, we have total control over our decisions – even if some decisions are off the table for now! Consider the following competencies now – how can your awareness of these competencies help you to prepare yourself for the next time you are faced with difficult decisions?
RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING:
The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being. Such as:
- Demonstrating curiosity and open-mindedness
- Identifying solutions for personal and social problems
- Learning to make a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, facts
- Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions
- Recognizing how critical thinking skills are useful both inside & outside of school
- Reflecting on one’s role to promote personal, family, and community well-being
- Evaluating personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional impacts.
(Source: CASEL’s SEL Framework)
*Click here for a link to a poster summarizing the CASEL 5!
Dates for your attention
- Monday, November 2: National Holiday (All Saints’ Day)
- Monday, November 8: School Holiday (Compensatory holiday for faculty professional learning weekend)
- Tuesday, November 23 at 9-10 am: Parent Coffee Meeting. This is a monthly meeting where you get the opportunity to chat with fellow parents, receive details of topical areas, and ask parent-related questions. The November meeting will be run by our PTA – please join us!
Refer to our online School Calendar a complete listing of school events
Enjoy your weekend!
Physical & Health Education
by Coach Jay, PHE Teacher
Early Years
Early Years students have been participating in simple games that focus on improving individual physical fitness. Games include This or That, Stop Light, Virtual Hide and Seek, Freeze Dance, and Ball Gymnastics. We were also able to do locomotor and non- locomotor exercises and distinguish the difference between the two types of movements.
Kinder/Grade 1
For the past few weeks, K/G1 students were actively engaged in different PHE activities. They showed eagerness and enthusiasm every time we had synchronous sessions. They also showed interest in animated exercises like Chasing and Dodging Games, Freeze Dance, and Mr. Hippo’s workouts. Students enjoyed receiving virtual trophies and toys after each PHE session.
Grade 2 & 3
Grade 2 and 3 students have been responsible in working on their PHE asynchronous seesaw learning engagements. Likewise, they have been consistently performing our fitness activities with high endurance during synchronous sessions in PHE. Keeping them physically active is not much of a challenge nor a struggle as they all enjoy playing and exercising with their classmates simultaneously even if it’s in a virtual set-up.
The Grade 4 and 5 students have been working really hard on performing different superheroes’ workouts. They have shown great endurance, flexibility and strength during our fitness challenge and most especially in our 60-second challenge which has brought them to the next level of their fitness. All of them have mostly achieved the skills needed at their age. Currently, Grade 4 and 5 students are extremely engaged in creating their movement sequence of the song titled “My Own Drum” by Missy Elliot. They are looking forward to their virtual dance presentation in front of the other PHE students from the other grade levels.
K/G1: How We Organize Ourselves
by Ms. Claudette Colinares & Ms. Belen Tubilan, KG1 Teachers
In our Unit, How We Organize Ourselves, we inquired about how “Systems evolve in response to human needs.” Our inquiry led us to talk about the different goods and services in our community and the systems involved to have these goods and services available to us. Using Google Earth, we explored and saw many different communities. We discussed the diverse needs of each community and shared ideas on what goods and services could be made to fit our needs. To deepen our understanding, we built our mini-community. We designed what it would look like and what goods and services are available in it. We identified the systems in our mini-community that provide goods and services. Here are some responses from our KG1 students:
Marselle
Alivia
Yoyo
Pierre
In Math, we are learning about the different two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. We described and drew two-dimensional shapes such as squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles. We went for a shape hunt and looked for three-dimensional shapes in our house. In Literacy, we are continuing to develop phonological awareness and practice recognizing and reading sight words and emergent text. In celebration of Book Week, we had DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time and shared our favorite books with the class.
Grade 4 & 5: Philippine Language and Culture
by Freshal Abcede, G4/5 Phil. Lang. and Culture Teacher
The Prehistory of Philippine Pottery
As Grade 4 and 5 explorers continue to unearth the different traditional arts in the Philippines, we started to look into the prehistory times of pottery this week. We went on a virtual field trip to the National Museum of Anthropology – Philippines. In the museum, the students witnessed different forms and types of pottery that tell us how ancient people lived and interacted with other countries. Moreover, we looked closer at the common and different jars’ designs and exchanged ideas about their meanings.
Grade 10: Drama
by Ms. Stefanny Hermias, Drama Teacher
In our unit one “Creative Body Movement”, Grade 10 students have been exploring facial expressions, expressing themselves without words and learned different improvised body movements. Each of them contributed a series of unique movements to create and choreograph a three-minute summative performance. Students recorded their own choreographed body movements and combined their final videos together. The summative ‘edited’ video was showcased in one of our Monday assemblies. They also had an opportunity to do live performances via Google Meet. Grade 10 Art and Grade 6/7 PHE students graciously accepted our invite to be the audience and witnessed the summative presentation of Grade 10 Drama students.
Grade 10 Students Unit 1 Reflection
Bella
Max
Liam
As we begin our second unit on “Voice Acting and Characters”, Grade 10 students have been doing pre-assessment activities such as One Word Scenes and Voice Over.
Grade 11: History Internal Assessment
by Ms. Joy Pierra, History Teacher
The Internal Assessment (IA) or the historical investigation is one of the fundamental requirements of the IB History course. It comprises 25% of the IB grade for HL students and 20% for SL students. The investigation consists of four sections; identification and evaluation of sources, investigation, reflection, and bibliography. Students are given one year to complete this requirement.
The IA allows students to apply the methods used by historians in their investigation of the past. It will enhance their historical skills such as their research skills, analysis and interpretation of data, drawing conclusions, and decision-making.
It also allows students to assess the challenges faced by historians in writing a historical investigation and determine the factors that could influence the outcome of their work.
Our Grade 11 students started their internal assessment by choosing a personal historical interest. With this, they formulated a thesis question to be the focus of their investigation.
Here are their thoughts about History IA:
Katrina G.
Selly P.
Chesca V.
Grade 11: Service Learning
by Katrina, Grade 11 Student
The Grade 11s are taking on a new project: CIS Sewpports and Drop Your Share!
CIS Sewports has the goal of supporting the livelihood of two mothers from Umapad Mandaue who lost their jobs due to the lockdown. These mothers were tailors of branded sports apparel in Lapu Lapu City clothing factory. They’re in need for a new source of income, so the CIS Sewpports end of the project are aiming to provide that. Two sewing machines have been anonymously donated and will be given to these mothers alongside fabrics and ideas from the CIS Sewpports group. They’ll also help market the mothers’s products online to further support their self-sustained business. Furthermore, they’ll help create the designs for the products using research, and gather materials (such as fabric scraps) for the mothers to use. The objective is to empower the community and expand this king of livelihood among the mothers who are unemployed in Umapad Dumpsite.
On the other hand, Project Drop and Share takes care of the communities affected by the lockdown through donations from our own CIS community! There will be 5 boxes placed in the CIS lobby: box 1 for hygiene supplies, box 2 for educational materials, box 3 for toys, box 4 for food, and box 5 for preloved clothes. The boxes are decorated really nicely by the team, you’ll be sure to spot them! We encourage you to donate if possible, as not only are you supporting the Grade 11’s dream, you’re supporting the lives of multiple communities too. These communities have been supported by CIS for many years, and we want to keep that up.
Language Acquisition Department
Last week during the culture week, we hosted a language challenge activity for ES and MHS. We got over a hundred responses on Flipgrid! Each participant is learning 5 basic conversations in 5 different languages from Monday to Friday. Grade 3 in ES and Grade 7 in MHS has the highest participant and best performance for this new language experience activity. Congratulations to Grade 3 class and Grade 7 class!
College/Careers Counselor Corner
by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor
Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)
DATE
October 30
Saturday
9:00am – 6:00pm
PH time
Link to register
EVENT
University of Hong Kong
Virtual Open Day
October 30
Saturday
9:00 PM
Zoom link to join
November 3
Wednesday
10:00 PM PHT
Link to register
Joint Info Session on the World Bachelor in Business
(University of Southern California, University Bocconi, HK University of Science & Technology)
November 3
Wednesday
6:15PM
Link to register
HK Polytechnic University & HK University of Science & Technology Info Session – talk to Admission officers and current students
SAT Update
The dates below indicate that registration is open. However, it is highly likely for future dates to be cancelled depending on quarantine restrictions.
| 2021-2022 TEST DATES* | Registration Deadline |
| August 28, 2021 | CANCELLED |
| October 2, 2021 | CANCELLED |
| December 4, 2021 | November 4, 2021 |
| March 12, 2022 | February 11, 2022 |
| May 7, 2022 | May 5, 2022 |
| *The Optional SAT Essay and Subject Tests have been discontinued. | |
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.
Dragon’s Print
It’s Spooky Season, and it’s time for everyone to get in the spooky Halloween spirit, literally. We’ve got a list of horror stories to set you up for the perfect Halloween! From nostalgic reads such as Coraline to the darker and graphic Junji Ito, we’ve got something for everyone.
