Newsletter Feb 06, 2015

06th February 2015

KG INVENTION EXHIBITION Kindergarten students got the chance to share their ideas and creations this week in the “Kindergarten Invention Exhibition�. For the previous six weeks, the students have been inquiring into innovations, the history of different ideas and products and how to develop their own inventions using the creative process. They identified problems in the world around them and tried to come up with practical solutions to those problems. People who came to the exhibition were blown away by the way that these young students think, the sophistication they are capable of and their confidence when talking about their work!

Sam Sherratt IB PYP Coordinator

SCIENTISTS IN ACTION Last week the EE4b students were discovering many ways that water changes and the different ways water moves.

They had a great time exploring and looked the part in their white lab coats.

Casey Bucheler Early Explorers Teacher

View on mobile device?

Slide to see more.

GRADE 2 MINI ART EXHIBITION The Grade 2 students came into school and presented their first ever mini exhibition to their parents, family members and friends. The exhibition displayed a number of artistic pieces in a wide variety of forms, including canvas paintings, posters, animations, models and masks. The title of the exhibition was ‘We All Have A Story To Tell And Can Choose How To Tell It’ and is part of their current unit of inquiry. The Grade 2 students have chosen a story to tell about their lives and over the past 6 weeks they have been working on a form of self-expression to tell it. The children were involved in every step of the process, from transforming their ‘studio’ classrooms into ‘art galleries’, preparing their speeches and even promoting their event. On the night, the children were very excited and they confidently presented their story and answered questions about the creative process behind their piece.

The evening was a great success and was enjoyed by all who attended. Many thanks to all the parents, family members and staff who attended the exhibition.

Catherine Brown Grade 2 Teacher

Grade 1 Experiment 1B were experimenting with measurements by doing a fun play-based activity. The children must work together to measure each other and design their own clothes. An activity like this embodies the ISHCMC mission statement. The children are energized, fully engaged and empowered in their our learning.

Robert Higginson Grade 1 Teacher

MATHEMATICS COMPETITION SuperT Mental Mathematics Competition 2015 The class finalists have nearly finished and during February the Category finalists will be decided. The Primary School competition is happening and the results of the lower class finalists should be known before the TET holiday.

In High School there are 4 categories. The Category 9 is the largest and includes all students born in either 1999 or 2000. The category finals have changed this year to incorporate students from different Grades to be participants in a particular category as decided by their year of birth. The category finals will be conducted out of class time and the draw for the competition will be done before 5th February.

Once the category finalists have been decided we will wait for the students to participate in the International finals, which will happen in the first week of May. Good luck to everyone!

Rae Deeley Mathematics Leader of Learning

Young Makers Challenge Vietnam’s first Young Makers Challenge has come to a close. Over the past four months, students from across the city have been developing unique Intel Galileo projects in a contest applying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to real world problems. Hopefully a few were inspired.

The Young Makers program is organized by Intel Vietnam and Everest Education, in partnership with the Center of Science and Technology Development at the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union.

ISHCMC students were awarded third prize for the Automatic Window Closer. Students included Yeon Shin Kim, Jae Won Uhm and Ye Gyun Lee. The design was described as simply genius, as less is better. This team used an elegant solution to design their own rainwater sensor. They used guitar string and the basic property of water as a conductor.

Well done to everyone involved!

GRADE 10 FIELD TRIPS The Grade 10 visual arts classes went on a field trip last week to explore spaces, and to photograph and sketch a sense of place.

We went to Minh Dang Quang Pagoda, Ben Thanh market and Tao Dan park. Students were instructed to capture a sense of place through manipulations of angles, framing and mark making. The students will produce intaglio prints on concertina booklets that will express outside space and inside space. The start of this exploration has been very successful and the fieldtrip was a blast.

TET FOOD DRIVE The Tien Phuoc Orphanage Group will continue to collect rice, noodles, sugar, cooking oil, milk powder and nappies for their visit to the orphanage. Items can be left in the canteen area from until Thursday, February 12th.

Sports

The ISHCMC Scuba Rhinos will once again be heading to Nha Trang to complete their PADI Open Water + Advanced Courses.

This trip is also open to all PADI certified divers: students, friends, teachers + family.

We depart from ISHCMC at 3pm on Friday 6th March and fly to Nha Trang. We dive on Saturday + Sunday mornings and return on the overnight sleeper train Sunday night.

The cost, including all transfers, shared Hotel accommodation, all meals and diving is $350/7,500,000vnd Enquiries + booking: Ms Naomi at ISHCMC or jeremy@divevietnam.com

PTO New Parent Morning Tea Last Tuesday the ISHCMC PTO hosted a coffee morning for over 50 people to welcome new parents to our school. This is always a lovely morning and an informal way for us to meet our new families. Voice of ISHCMC welcomed us with a song and then introductions were made explaining the role of the PTO and our activities including the Rhino Hut and Booster Club. We warmly welcome all new families and look forward to you being part of our ISHCMC community.

PTO activities If you are interested in joining our parent choir Voice of ISHCMC they meet every Tuesday in the Meeting room at 1:30pm.

Rhino Hut is open every Friday morning and afternoon. Drop by and talk to Line if you’d like to get involved.

Booster Club is run by Anette, Pauline and Molly. They would love your help with baking, selling, or supporting! You can find their information on the PTO Board, near the Rhino Hut. PTO upcoming events Some exciting events are planned for this semester!

March 5th – 6th – PTO Used Booksale March 21st – PTO International Day April 18th – Trash and Treasure Sale If you would like to find out more about these events and activities visit the PTO page on Firefly, or email PTO@ishcmc.edu.vn PTO Saturday Sports PTO Saturday sports has commenced. We are still taking registrations for the next week so please feel free to join. Sports for this term are: Soccer (EE4, KG, G1) at 8am Field hockey (Grades 2-5) at 9am Basketball (Grades 2-5) at 9am Basketball (Secondary) at 10am Cricket (Grades 2-6) at 10am For more information contact Ginny Condra gcondra@gmail.com We are looking for some administrative help with this program, just a few hours weekly. If you can help, please get in touch with Ginny.

BREAKFAST SALES AT PTO SATURDAY SPORTS The Grade 12 parents would like to hold a Graduation celebratory dinner for the students and teachers. To raise money for this, there will be breakfast sales from 8 to 11 am at the PTO Saturday Sports with a selection of sandwiches, fruit cups, banana bread, lemongrass juice, iced tea. These breakfast sales will take place on Saturday, February 28th, March 4th and April 11th.