APIS Update (online) November 2013

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Online

ISSUE 17.

UPDATE 5 7 WO LGYE-RO 45GA-GI L , NOWO N- G U, S EO UL , 1 3 9 - 8 5 2 , KOREA ■ T. 0 2 .9 0 7 .2 7 4 7 ■ F. 0 2 .9 0 7 .2 7 4 2 ■ WWW. APIS .S EO U L.KR

IN THIS ISSUE:

■ Publishing Parties ■ Field Trips ■ KAIAC Music Festival

IN THIS ISSUE: ■ ■

■ Student Achievements Elementary Chinese & Japanese ■ Parent Coffees Faculty Retreat ■ Christmas Recording

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Second Grade's Publishing Party: Authors As Mentors

by Elaine Lee

Adelia presents her story to 3rd grader, Margaret.

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Amber reads her story to onlookers from 1st grade.

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uring our second narrative unit, our writers used different authors as their mentors to lift up the level of their narrative writing. We used authors including Angela Johnson, Ezra Jack Keats, Eve Bunting, and Donald Crews. We found the different crafts they used in their stories - strong lead, sound words, comeback lines, dialogue to show feelings, surprise endings, and ellipses - that make their stories interesting. As writers, we borrowed ideas and decided to see if we could use these crafts in our own writing! Our writers had fun experimenting with the different crafts while keeping in mind the goal of making their stories more interesting.

Hey Everyone, a Starbucks Poetry Cafe!

Welcome to grades 2 and 3's Poetry Cafe!

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or the first time in APIS history, a Publishing Party has ventured out beyond the walls of the school campus. In late November, Ms. Iwanuk’s 3rd grade and Ms. Lee’s 2nd grade classes took their “Poetry Café” on the road to the Kwangwoon University Starbucks. After a short bus ride, students “poured” into the coffee shop and enjoyed a refreshing hot chocolate before presenting their original writings to parents, friends, and other APIS faculty. Overall, everyone thought the Poetry Café was a great success and will certainly lead the way for other classes to expand their publishing horizons.

Students enjoy their hot chocolates.

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Lulu reads her poem to friends, parents, and teachers.

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Grade 3 Explores City Hall and the Korean War Museum

By Grade 3 Students

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ur grade 3 class has been studying the Korean War and the local Seoul government in Social Studies. First, we went to City Hall to see where the local government works. We saw the meeting area where the government meets and debates issues. We also saw pictures of all the past mayors of Seoul as well as the mayor’s office.

We saw a picture of what the old City Hall looked like. Now it is a library!

Then we went to the Korean War Museum. We learned about what Korea was like before, during, and after the war. We also saw how the Korean war happened and why it started. We learned that North Korea wanted to take over South Korea but South Korea wanted freedom. South Korea got freedom by fighting the North Koreans in 1950. Then the United Nations helped South Korea and, in 1953, the fighting ended.

To show what we learned on our field trip, we took along iPads. We took pictures of important things. When we got back to school we used the pictures to make iMovies. Then we recorded our voice explaining what the pictures were about and all the things we learned. Making the iMovies was

AWESOME!

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First Graders Learn About Our Community

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tudents of all ages love the chance to leave the school campus, have a break from their regular classes, and go on a field trip with their friends and classmates. Teachers love it even more when their field trips can help students make connections between things they are learning in the classroom with the world around them. On November 26, the Grade 1 class had the opportunity to extend their learning outside their classroom with their field trip to Dream Forest.

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Recently in their Social Studies unit, their class has been studying why people live in social groups and how there are different types of neighborhoods in a community. At Dream Forest, students went up the observatory tower and identified buildings that make up our community. They also learned how people depend on their physical environment and use maps, globes, and geographical techniques to better understand their environment.

To encourage the students as writers for their Writing Workshop curriculum, they also visited a special exhibit called the “Sang Sang Tok Tok Book Playground”.

Here, they observed and learned how other illustrators use pictures in their picture books. They also participated in activities like mask making, and cartoon drawing. The students had a great time looking at the different illustrator’s art pieces and exploring the exhibit together.

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Louise Schattle Wins First Place in Swimming Contest

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ouise Marie Choi-Schattle (Grade 3) won first place in the 50-meter breaststroke for her age group in the girls’ competition at the 17th Goyang Mayor’s Swimming Competition on October 27. Louise came in first place with her record at 49.17 seconds.

Goyang Mayor’s Swimming Competition attracts approximately 500 participants each year, and contestants compete in freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly races. While Louise started swimming lessons at age five, she joined the swim team at the Olympic Memorial Citizens Sports Center after entering second grade. In the weeks leading up to the swimming competition, she says she practiced for one hour each day - three days each week with the swim team and the other days on her own.

“When I finished the race, I saw all the other kids getting out of the pool. I was second to get out.

I'm slow at getting out of the pool, and I thought, I would probably win the silver medal. Then when I went up to my mom and dad, my brother suddenly came running and hugging me, and my mom said, you were the first! I felt really happy,” said Louise.

Congratulations to Louise!

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Louise beams at the camera with her award and medal.

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Fun Hands on Learning in K5

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n Ms. Landy Hwang’s K5 science class, students learned about trees as a valuable resource within our environment. For a fun and engaging way to understand how trees benefit humans, K5 students learned to bake a cake together as a class, using ingredients that come from trees such as apples and nuts. The students also learned how fruits and nuts provide protection for the seeds of the trees so that new trees can grow and multiply. Elliot Suh (K5) said, “We learned that in the middle of the apple, there are lots of seeds.” Ms. Jamie Shin (Grade 2 student, Johan’s mom) volunteered to aid the K5 students as they took charge of the entire process of making and baking the cake from scratch. And, of course when they were finished, they all enjoyed the “fruits of their labor” by eating the cake together!

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E L E M E N TA R Y N O T I C E S ■ Elementary Christmas Concert December 19

■ Winter Vacation Begins December 23

■ End of 2nd Quarter/ End of 1st Semester December 20

■ Christmas December 25

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Music as a Team Event

KAIAC Festival Update

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High School Orchestra at the KAIAC Music Festival.

n Tuesday, November 5, the APIS High School music department, including its band, orchestra, and chorus programs, participated in the KAIAC music festival held at Seoul International School (SIS). Much like sports teams, the APIS ensembles practiced together in preparation for a competition with other international school ensembles. Having rehearsed the music since August, the student musicians were well-prepared to perform their best. Each ensemble (Chorus, Band, Orchestra, and Jazz Band) was given time to warm-up and then perform on stage in front of the judges. Though quite nervous, the APIS students performed beautifully and received top marks from the judges. Our High School Chorus, in particular, received one of the top ratings at the festival! Here are the results:

High School Band: Gold, Gold, Gold High School Orchestra: Gold, Silver, Gold Jazz Band: Silver, Silver, Gold High School Chorus: Gold, Gold, Platinum In addition to the excitement of music competitions, our student musicians got to participate in various clinic sessions given by the judges. The opportunity to interact with top professional musicians and conductors was a real treat for our students. Also recognized at the festival were individual musicians. Jinwoo Choi (Jazz Band – tenor saxophone) and Sarang Yang (HS Band – tuba) received awards for outstanding musicianship and leadership from the KAIAC judges. Congratulations to all for a fantastic performance at the KAIAC Festival 2013!

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Parent Coffees on CPM

Secondary parents learn how College Preparatory Math better equips students with the skills they need to be successful for college.

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o facilitate communication between the parents and the school, the APIS administration organizes a series of Parent Coffee meetings throughout the year.

During the second week of November, APIS secondary division hosted a series of Parent Coffees on CPM (College Preparatory Math), a new math resource which utilizes standards-based, and research-supported tasks to advance the mathematical skills of students of varying ability levels.

The Parent Coffee, which was led by APIS Curriculum Coordinator, Elaine Park, was the follow-up meeting after the CPM information session on October 28.

Ms. Park introduced the recent trends in research and said, “Education is changing not only in response to the changes in the global community, but also in response to brain-based research.

These changes are requiring a different set of skills, including leadership, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, collaborative, and technical skills.” She explained how the Common Core State Standards are moving this direction, and as a result, how SAT and AP tests are changing.

At the parent coffees, math teachers were also present to demonstrate what a typical lesson would look like. “I ask students to work as a team to understand the question. Whenever a team gets stuck, I intervene and help them find the answer. Basically, teachers are facilitating and intervening the entire time,” explained Mr. Beatty who teaches Middle School Math and Science Ms. Park also shared some of the comments student made on the new math classes. While there were students who felt comfortable with the traditional approach of the teacher lecturing and students taking notes, there were also many students who commented, “friends can help me understand,” and “I realized there are different ways to approach a problem.”

“It takes time,” says Ms. Park but adds, “CPM is structured in a way that enhances learning retention. Hence, students will be able to understand deeper.”

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Soaking in the Art Works of Buk Seoul Museum of Art

By Megan Pendleton

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n October 30, students in AP Studio Art and Art History classes spent the morning at the newly completed Buk Seoul Museum of Art. As one of the AP Studio Art programs, the exploration of artistic opportunities in one’s own community, and in conjunction with studies of contemporary artists in class, is an opportunity that cannot be missed. “We saw different styles of drawing to inspire our work,” said senior AP Art student Kyunghwan Sul (Grade 12), “It was better to walk around, to see it for yourself, than just on the board in class”.

This quaint museum of contemporary art is located right here in Nowon, close to Hagye Station.

Contemporary art is art of our current time period, being produced today. Technically, all art is contemporary in the time period it was created. The work by Korean artists at Buk Seoul spans the past 50 years and ranges in medium from photographs to sculptures to paintings. “We saw Korean history, how hard life was for the past 40 years,” said Brown Yoon (Grade 12), a student of both AP Art and Art History.

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The art students were first given the chance to wander from gallery to gallery, exploring the museum’s collection and special exhibitions.

In the spirit of art appreciation, students were asked to choose a work of art that spoke to them and spend 30 minutes focusing on the piece, answering questions in their journals, and soaking in the work. The students also completed a scavenger hunt throughout the museum, exploring the museum’s extensive art library and getting to know the galleries. The students returned to APIS with new ideas and inspiration to continue in their studies.

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Brian Kim Wins First Prize in History Competition

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rian Kim (Grade 12) recently had the opportunity to compete in a national history competition. Brian said that his interest in Korean history really began when he moved to Korea in 2004.

For the first time, he was able to see historical places such as palaces in person and it made him want to learn more about the nation’s history. He has continued to develop a love for history and hopes to continue this passion next year when he heads to university and hopes to major in history.

With this love of history, Brian decided to join a student from another school to compete in the 2013 National Students’ Storytelling Competition on History and Cultural Heritage held by the Cultural Heritage Administration under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. This competition is held annually with the goal of encouraging the next generation to be leaders in the dissemination of Korean history and cultural heritage to the global community. The competition was divided into two rounds. During the first round, students had to create a documentary about a place. Brian and his teammate decided to create their documentary on Unhyeon Palace. They visited the palace and filmed their documentary on location. They were selected as one of only five high school teams to advance to the 2nd round. During the 2nd round, they presented orally about Unhyeon Palace. They took a creative approach, acting like a tour guide and the owner of the palace, to tell the history of the palace in a more interesting way. They received a great reaction as everyone was amused and they ultimately won first prize based on their performance! Congratulations to Brian and his teammate on this great achievement!

Brian poses with his award.

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Chris Kim's Research Published in Science Journal

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hris Dae Hong Kim recently accomplished, by his senior year of high school, what many scientists strive to do throughout their careers; having his research published in a top-tier science journal.

Chris says he came across an interesting research paper on a submarine that explores the deep sea to detect copper and metals. Combining this with his interest in biology, he formulated a research topic and contacted the author of the research paper, Professor Suw Young Ly of Seoul National University of Science and Technology. “I was really excited when the professor expressed his interest in my research topic,” says Chris. Chris then asked an APIS Junior, Jackie Lee (Grade 11), to join the research and the two, with the professor and university science lab team conducted experiments and collected data to write the award-winning research paper titled, “Investigation of Water Safety in Nontreated Drinking Water with Trace Toxic Metals.”

The collaborative research paper has been published in Toxicology Research, which is registered in KCI (Korea Citation Index) & Scopus, and is also currently on the SCI (Science Citation Index) waiting list. The research strives to find simple and easy ways to detect copper. “Copper in the body leads to numerous diseases and can be lethal even if there is really a small amount. But it isn’t easy to detect copper – you need to experiment in controlled, lab environments, which is time-consuming and not cost-effective. This is why I explored other ways of detecting copper,” explains Chris.

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While having research published in a journal is one big achievement for a high school student, Chris and his team also won an award for their research on diagnosing diabetes. Similar to the research on detecting trace toxic metals, this research finds a simple, and less painful way to diagnose diabetes by using a silver coated electrode. The competition was hosted by Korean Oil Chemists’ Society.

Chris and his team won the Grand Master Piece Thesis Award, which was given to the top 3 research papers out of 100 entered in the biology category.

Chris says he enjoys his Biology class the most and eventually wants to be a science researcher. Outside of class, he enjoys playing drums, is part of the varsity soccer team, and takes part in numerous club activities including those which he founded called NOW (Nobel Prize Winner), and MLF (Micro Loan Foundation) a club that helps African women start their business through micro finance loans.

Chris and his research poster.

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SAT Tests at APIS

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n November 2, 40 APIS students came to APIS to take the standard SAT, SAT subject test, and/or SAT subject tests with listening. APIS was sanctioned by the US Department of State as a closed test site for the SAT. As a closed test site, only APIS students can take the exam here. Only a few test sites in Korea were allowed to offer the November standard SAT and APIS was one of those sites chosen.

Students took the SAT in November at APIS.

Ms. Shana Russell and Ms. Kirstan Beatty organized and supervised the exam along with other teachers who worked as proctors for the day. Two officials from the testing service also came to monitor the exam and provide the testing materials. Overall, the exam was a great success as the officials felt our students were well monitored and the exam was coordinated effectively. APIS plans to offer the SAT again on the other test dates this year. Now, students just have to wait and see to find out how they did!

SECONDARY NOTICES ■ Secondary Christmas Concert December 18 ■ End of 2nd Quarter/ End of 1st Semester December 20 ■ Winter Vacation Begins December 23 ■ Christmas December 25

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Teachers Celebrating Thanksgiving in Seoul and Abroad

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Christmas Recording with Zachary Luginbill

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n December 20, the Christian Life Department along with APIS’ Drama Team, will be presenting a school-wide event, “A Christmas Carol.” In preparation for the Chapel service, Chaplain Zach Luginbill and a number of students have been hard at work writing and recording the music soundtrack for the play. We spent a few minutes with Zach recently to ask him about the music side of the production as well as his personal thoughts on Christmas.

Where did the idea for the Christmas recording come from?

For the past few years, to help APIS celebrate Christmas, we’ve enjoyed an all-school Chapel that includes elementary and secondary altogether in the gym. Last year was so much fun as we performed Charlie Brown’s Christmas while playing live music with the familiar Christmas tunes.

So when it came to planning for this year’s Christmas chapel, which is an original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, the Christian Life praise team immediately began working on original arrangements of Christmas songs to go along with the performance.

How will the songs be used?

One of the great parts about Christmas is that it is a time of year all ages can celebrate together, which is shown with this recording project because there are students from elementary, middle school, and high school all joining together. It is our hope to share this recording with the APIS community as a gift so that the “Sounds of Christmas” will fill our homes and lives. Then, on December 20th the songs will be played live during the Christmas Carol all-school chapel performance.

Were all of the songs written by you?

Christmas carols have been sung for many generations since the birth of Jesus. Some of the songs will be familiar such as “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” but to help connect to the message of the Charles Dickens play we have added some additional lyrics. The first song begins with the words “What good is it to gain the world but forfeit your soul? The spirit of Christmas can melt a heart of stone.” Then the music builds into the refrain from “O Come O Come Emmanuel” where we sing “Rejoice, Rejoice.” It has been a great joy to work with the APIS praise team students to bring these songs to new life for Christmas as we celebrate God coming to earth for us!

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What involvement have the students had in the recording process?

Mr. Sim’s recording class has done a great job of using the new recording studio, having been trained to run the soundboard and equipment as engineers. The praise team musicians and vocalists have also grown since our last recording project, “Love is Armor”, and have played with more confidence and freedom. I am really proud of everyone who has been involved especially by sacrificing their time as busy students to give and serve to help celebrate Christmas together. Mr. Woodrow’s visual arts classes are also helping with the logo design for the cd and it has been great to have their involvement as well.

What excites you about these songs?

Some of the most beautiful music has been composed about Christmas, but they are also some of the more difficult songs to play as well, with minor chords and harmonies that aren’t usually sung in today’s pop songs. I’m continually blessed to see and hear students rise to the challenge and play with enthusiasm during the recording process and it really shows whenever you listen. I am also excited about how these songs connect with the themes of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol where one of the main characters Ebenezer Scrooge, who hates Christmas, slowly begins to hear the beauty and sound of the season as the spirit works on his heart. December 20th will be a great celebration of what God can do in our lives during Christmas.

Why do you love Christmas so much?

As long as I can remember, I have always loved Christmas. The presents and gifts were great, but I have early memories of singing together as a family, and the candlelight service Christmas Eve which always warmed my heart. The power of Christmas is it can bring people together as we love and enjoy one another as family. Jesus came as a baby to show us that God wants a relationship with us. The people who were there at the first Christmas looked upon Jesus with wonder at what God had done.

Mary even sang when she heard the news. Family and singing have always been a part of Christmas and those are some of the reasons why I love this time of year. I hope you enjoy the “Sounds of Christmas” in your celebration this year too!

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Serving Our School and Beyond

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s a K-12 school, it is always a special treat to see the oldest high school students interacting with the youngest kindergarten students. Recently, APIS students from the Service Learning and Leadership class have been volunteering their time in various ways throughout the school.

Several groups have teamed up with the K5 and Grade 1 class to work as buddies. During their “buddy” time, they plan lessons, activities, and games to help younger students with their reading, writing, and community social science curriculum. Another group from the class is helping with the after school Lego robotics class by assisting students with their mini projects. Groups can also be found running soccer and basketball sports clinics for middle school boys, recording a music album to raise school spirit, creating documentaries to share with patients at Samsung Medical Center, and even volunteering at an animal shelter. All of these activities are part of the Service Learning and Leadership course here at APIS. The goal of the course is to encourage personal growth, develop and utilize leadership skills and interests, and to work on service experiences throughout the year. Ultimately, this course helps the school reach the goal that by graduation all students will be able to demonstrate responsibility and Christian values as citizens of the world.

W W W. A P I S . S E O U L . K R EDITORIAL TEAM: ■ Euysung Kim Director ■ Nicole Suh Art & Design Editor ■ Josephine Shim Communications & PR Team Leader ■ Ashley Stapleton Writing / Editing Staff ■ Brian Beatty Writing / Editing Staff ■ Soora Koh Communications Officer