Primary Years Update

School Update

Primary Years Update G1 ‘Mini Cactus’ Field Trip

By Ms. Valerane

In connection to the G1 UOI 5 “How the World Works”, the G1 students attended a ‘mini cactus field trip’ held at Concordian International School on Wednesday March 24th 2021. The students had a most unique authentic learning experience about special plants called cactuses or cacti that thrive in very hot and dry climates.

The presentation was led by Primo’s (G1S) Mom (Khun Yong) and 4-5 staff helping her, along with some wonderful G1 moms who also assisted our students in their cactus planting.

Primo’s Mom provided an informative video and powerpoint, for us to watch and a large selection of cactuses, planting tools and materials for all our students and teachers to use as they participated in the cactus-planting activity! The students were thoroughly absorbed in watching and listening to the information offered and they especially enjoyed their engagement in choosing 4 cactuses and with the assistance of the many adults, learning to plant the cactuses which they later took home to care for.

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There were many ‘Aha!’ moments, both for the students as well as for the teachers, some examples being, that ALL cactuses have flowers, seeing the seeds from some of the cactuses and that not all cactuses have spines, about transpiration and how cactuses survive in such harsh, hot, dry climates, and how many different kinds of cactuses actually grow in certain parts of the world.

WOW! What a wonderful way to learn about cactus plants!

School Update

Grade 2 PE UOI Integration

By Mr. Raymond

The 11th of January to the 26th of February 2021 was an exciting time in Grade 2 because the PE department co-led the UOI on Human Body Systems. Our activities and games were focused on health and fitness as it aims to follow and connect with the unit's Central Idea, "Different systems in the human body need to be maintained in order to stay healthy".

The students learned various physical exercises and activities and connected them with their effects on different systems in our body. For example, students learned different cardio and strength exercises and how these types of exercises can affect their respiratory and circulatory systems.

Also, part of their task was to check their pulse and count their heartbeats per minute after every activity. Through this, students were able to identify the important functions of certain body parts when they exercise. Students were also able to learn that some exercises can bring their heartbeats down and can help them mentally such as learning the basic yoga poses. They also learned the importance of healthy foods for their body.

In PE, activities are already expected to be physical. This unit has made PE become more meaningful because it helped students understand how their body systems work when they exercise. It also helped the students learn that physical and mental exercises have positive benefits for their body and health.

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School Update

Grade 4 Migration Journey: Where We Are In Place and Time

By Ms. Sunnie & Mr. Jon

Grade 4 has been inquiring into Where We Are In Place and Time and focusing on human migration all over the world. They began this unit with a meaningful and interesting campus moving provocation which involved both forced and unforced reasons.

They also brainstormed migration’s definition in Chinese and they came to imagine and think about the challenges their own families or ancestors faced during their migration journeys.

Students used their research skills by synthesizing forms and purposes of migration from our school community migration stories, Chinese idioms, and poems (ie. Three moves by Mencius’ Mother, In the Quiet Night, Homecoming, Song of the Parting Son). They developed their communication skills by asking questions, interviewing guest speakers and speaking to their family members, especially their grandparents, to understand different factors and backgrounds that shape a person and family’s identity and culture. Moreover, they reflected on how they might cope in a situation of migration through class discussion and watching some videos (i.e. a Canadian who migrated to China 10 days prior vs. a Canadian who migrated 10 years ago).

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School Update

Grade 4’s Adaptation Composition for Recorder

By Mr. Sebert

Composing music is a challenging process especially if you are not musically inclined and knowledgeable in music. But my Grade 4 students were able to come up with their own original melodies that they played on their recorders. You might wonder how they did it!

Students collected data from some different types of sample migration graphs, as well as their own surveys, and displayed their understanding of migration’s different forms, reasons, and changes. They analyzed this data to learn their effects on people, destinations, and home countries in the real world. They used a tree diagram to create a migration family tree and learner profile tree to show which learner profile attributes might be important when migrating to a new country.

From these amazing experiences, students in a group finally generated information all about human migration and used it to create a brochure to promote migration for positive reasons. They then presented this across the classes. For all of the students, this was a good opportunity to become more open-minded and appreciative of the adversity faced by others in our world.

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With these thoughts in mind, students created their own migration stories in English. With a strong focus on nonfiction over the past two units, our learners were given the freedom to express themselves as fantastically as they pleased as they crafted compelling stories of migration involving push and pull factors. They began by creating immersive story worlds with handmade maps, integrating themes of Math and Geography as they created fictional worlds based on realism. To distinguish themselves as Grade 4 authors, they were inspired to go deeper and show their character’s thoughts and feelings through dialogue as they experienced awe and hardship throughout their journey. Some of our writers claim that their books are only the first in a series of stories yet to come. We can’t wait to see where their creativity takes them!

Prior to the Grade 4’s work on composition, they had a unit on learning and playing seven songs with their Recorders - following the military ranks as they succeeded from playing one song at a particular level to the next. After that, we gleaned from the Adaptation Composition wherein the students change the melody but retain and use the rhythm and form of the existing song. Aside from providing a few examples to the students, we have also talked about how to create a melody, discussed Tone Intervals, and affirmed that the only instrument that they must use in playing the melody is the Recorder. Adding more excitement to the task is the factor that this is a group work and everyone has to agree in terms of melodic creativity and to play the song as a team. Through and through, each one contributed and did their part to produce their team’s original melodies. You can check and listen to some selected students’ works with this Youtube link.

School Update

Primary PE

By Kru Tiew

As many of you know the COVID-19 Pandemic led to some difficult times for PE in Grades 3, 4 & 5 this semester as we had to do PE online learning for a short period of time. However, after the classes resumed as normal at school, all students were happy to get back to in-person PE and enjoyed playing with their friends.

Grade 5 Dragon’s Den

By Ms. Lindsay

During UOI #4 Grade 5 students explored the concept of economics. Students inquired into various economic systems; the needs, wants and demands of local and global communities.

Students were then challenged to create and pitch a product or service to the Dragons, otherwise known as the judges. All four classes had students deliver their pitches within their individual class, but only one group from each of the four classes was chosen to go to the final Dragons Den round. In the final Dragons Den round the students were judged by MYP teachers as well as the Grade 3 teachers.

The four finalist groups included: • The OZERS pitching an air purifier: Matt and Ryu • The JTIP group pitching hand sanitizer wrist bands: Icon, Proton, Jimmy and Tiger • The Falcon Vision pitching a foldable T.V: Ami, Becky, Diya and Marwin • The Innovites pitching a tablet + speaker + vanumer: Tul, Nia, Gong and Kon Qu The overall winner was the JTIP hand sanitizer group; Icon, Proton Jimmy and Tiger. We are proud of all the grade 5 students for working together and creating such creative and innovative pitches and products.

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In this semester, there were racket units for badminton and table tennis which helped the students to improve their hand-eye-foot coordination. Then Grade 3&4 students played football in the next unit to practice football skills and understand rules and regulations by playing matches in class. Playing matches is also another good way to promote a sense of fair play and sportsmanship. G5 students had a gymnastics and dance unit to increase body flexibility. After practicing in class, time was allocated for them to choose a song and create the movement sequences on their own as a group. This activity could help encourage them to express their ideas and creativity very well.

This semester, we have noticed that many students are showing much improvement in their sport skills and some of them continue practicing by joining after school activities such as football, table tennis and badminton @SAs. Some students had a hard time with some sports units in PE, but they still tried their best to participate in PE and activities games which can help to promote a good attitude towards sports.

As we are coming to the end of the school year we can see that all activities, games and sports in each unit that students have learned support our students to develop their motor skills, sports skills and good health awareness and they will be ready for the next school year.

School Update

INFORMATION ETHICS: Teaching Students about Copyright Law and Plagiarism By: Ms. Mharvie

Schools around the world have been facing challenges with academic dishonesty or what is commonly referred to as plagiarism.

Teachers and students both need to know the ethical concepts of sharing, ownership, and the importance of honoring someone else’s material or work.

Plagiarism. They were taught the importance of citing sources, especially when using someone else’s ideas, images, and music for all academic assignments and projects. We made sure that they had in-depth guidance on how to properly cite sources using MLA 8 style with respect to their grade level. Students learned about the core elements of citation and were able to practice citing sources using MLA 8 style that was based on the citation guide made by Kathy Schrock for Grades 1-5.

Students were introduced early to copyright law and plagiarism, as we believed that by building a strong foundation of understanding about being honest and authentic, they can develop a better sense of responsibility and respect that will help them cultivate a good sense of character that will help them succeed both in school and in life.

While we live in an age where most of the information can be accessed and are available online, while many of our young students are well-versed in navigating technology independently for research and personal exploration, most of them are not aware of the underlying ethical issue of using this information and the Compiled by Mr. Craig, PY Dean of Students idea that not everything on Google is a public domain. Thus, some of these students unknowingly ended up committing academic dishonesty or plagiarism.

During library classes, students from Grades 1-5 were introduced to the topic of Copyright Law and

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In an effort to stop this from happening, the PYP Library and the whole Library Team had been working so hard over the past few years to try our best to help the students and the community become aware of the importance of valuing academic integrity. The library provides classes about copyright law and plagiarism, posters, leaflets, and citation guides that are available on the library websites.