Primary Years Update (3/2016-2017)

School Update

Student Council Mission Statement

2016 STUCO Christmas Gift Drive F

ourteen enthusiastic PYP Student Council students (from Grade 1-5) were asked to represent our school to deliver 30 gifts from our Christmas Gift drive to the Concordia House Welfare Centre in Bangna, which is one of the community centres that Concordian supports.

Having these opportunities to build connections with our local community really helps us to develop understanding and tolerance. Please read below some student reflections:

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● I learned that money isn’t the most important thing.

They also have courage, but they don’t have everything that we do. I would like to go and teach them new things.

(Aarpita, G1M) ● Even though we did something really small (giving our time), they didn’t waste it. Every action should not be wasted. Newton’s Third Law is true, every kind action has an equal and opposite appreciation. With this organisation, I want to set up different donations that support Concordia House, such as school supplies so that they can have all the tools they need to learn.

(Prinn, G5K) ● Today reminds me when in ICT class, we watched a video, ‘A good deed no matter how small is never wasted’. (Kyla, G5K) ● Some children don’t have parents to look after them.

We are very lucky. (Dear, G5K) ● I learned that outside the city is a lot different to inside the city. We have more sunlight. (Libang, G2C) ● I wanted to spend more time with them, to learn from them, and have fun. (Angie, G5J) ● I think giving them an education will give them a job when they are bigger, and then they will be able to look after themselves. I learned that some people have parents that are really young and have to still go to school, so they can’t take care of their children during the day. It made me feel good when I heard that because the centre Concordia is there to help them and their families. I hope that we can go back and see them again.

(Stephen, G5K) ● I felt sad when I learned that some of the kids have no parents. I wish that one day the Student Council could help more!! I feel sad that some of the kids are sick and have uncomfortable or unhappy lives. I really hope my 20 wish will come true! (Doudou, G4CT) ● I am happy that they had fun today. Places like Concordia House can help stop bad things from happening to these children. I learned the real power is not to be rich or awesome, but to care for others. (Im, G4R)

● I felt very sad once I knew the stories behind the children who were at Concordia House, such as a child whose parents are both in jail. There was also a very small child, and he had heart surgery. There were many sad stories. I think that we should all support their community, so all of the children get a better education and more opportunities. (Charlie, G5Y) ● I saw another perspective of Bangkok. We should support them in education so they can look after themselves when they grow up and have a better future. It makes me sad to know that the welfare center is less comfortable for learning.

Their materials are limited. We could raise money for them by a bake sale. (Poj, G4R) ● When I went to this place, I realized that we are so lucky to be able to have nice food, good clothes, and a safe place to live. That’s why I want to spend more time there so they will be happy, because I know they have very hard lives and they don’t have visitors very often. (Kyla, G5K) We are so proud that these compassionate students have demonstrated the integrity and commitment to be part of this learning experience.

Ms. Rachel and Ms. Kim PYP STUCO Advocates and Teachers

Concordia Centre Collecting the gifts.

Singing London Bridge is falling down

School Update

EPIC ACTION

2016 whole of school FROM PYP STUCO STUCO Christmas Drive thank you!

This year we have a total of 57 PYP Student Council members, students with conviction, who stand firm and proud, and want to make a difference in our school community.

We started by surveying students to find out what action they wanted us to take. We then created 5 Action teams (Green Team, Playground, Technology, Food waste and Events). We worked hard on our action plans this semester and achieved the following: • Green Team - presented the movie ‘Never Too Late’, raised money for solar panels for our MYP library.

• Playground - sent detailed emails to Mr. Laurent about ordering new equipment • Technology - encouraged teachers to use technology more and gave them a list of great websites to use • Food waste - developed list of rules that we could follow to stop wasting food • Events - organized the massive 2016 STUCO Christmas Gift Drive and ran a competition about the King. We have more ideas such as organizing a sports and speech competition, and selling tickets to raise money.

In the future we look forward to making many more improvements to our school. So far, we have done a stupendous job, but our future can be so much more exceptional.

2016 PYP STUCO

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id you know that last year we did a Christmas gift drive? Last year our school community donated more than 370 presents that we gave to children that live in our communities that do not have as much as we do, such as the Small Slum organization and Concordia Welfare Centre.

We did it again this year. It was such a very positive and appropriate way to focus on a holiday activity, which follows in the spirit of how His Majesty the King devoted so much of his time, energy and ingenuity to acting kind to those who need it most. All Student Council Members, from PYP, MYP and DP worked hard to support this activity to get everyone involved.

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6 days was all that it took for our Concordian community to donate more than 500 gifts. We exceeded our target this year! This picture does not do justice, to what together as a community we have achieved, or the difference it will make to the children receiving them. We should be very proud of the commitment we have shown. It is very clear that we all demonstrate and believe in our Mission statement!

Thank you to our EY, PY, MYP and DP community for your generosity in supporting this year’s Concordian STUCO Gift Drive.

Over the Christmas period, these gifts were delivered to many of the welfare centres that our school supports, such as Concordia House, the Blind School in Pattaya, the Small Slum and Camillian Home (both are in Bangna). The rest of the gifts were distributed to other local welfare centres.

PYP STUCO Elections

Thank you again, and we all hope you had a very safe and happy holiday with family and friends, 2016 Concordian STUCO

21 President, Lina Cheng (5Y) and Vice President Praew Pantisoontorn (5Y) meeting with Mr. Laurent

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Communicating different perspectives

School Update

It’s Never Too late

The “Never Too Late” movie was first released at our own Amphitheater on 6 and 9 of December, 2016. Grade 5 students had a mission to open a Solar Power Station here at Concordian.

We worked tirelessly for longer than six months, driven by a very passionate sense of responsibility to protect our Earth, and to influence others to do the same. And, we succeeded! With everyone working together we raised B11,190 ( and that’s not including the funds from last year) for the CIS solar power station and B5000 for PYP Student Council!

The ‘Never Too Late’ movie was not only created by Grade 5 students, but it has an original soundtrack that is composed and performed by Khao Jao (Grade 6). Very much like the recent documentary ‘Before the Flood’, the 40 minute movie presents a very compelling, action packed adventure that reminds us how precious our environment is, and how instrumental each of our actions are, in protecting it. Mr Yuri was heard saying after watching the movie, ‘That was the best movie I have ever seen.’ And Khun Varnnee was so impressed that she recommended that the solar panels could even be installed in the MYP library.

Ms. Kim (5K) It’s our most anticipated movie of the year… If we work together, we can change the world.

I was lucky enough to be one of the privileged to get a sneak preview of this fascinating movie. After watching it, I was completely inspired to take action. To stand up and scream ‘Never Too Late’ (and I think I actually did!).

Prinn (Grade 5 student) has brought together a collection of stars aged from 10 to 12 years, who have worked tirelessly together to create this masterpiece.

As you have probably heard, Prinn not only produced, wrote, directed, managed the props and edited this movie, but also had one of the leading roles. The other talented main actors; Lina, Kanoon, Book and Kyla (all from Grade 5), alongside the Movie Manager Angie (Grade 5) present a very compelling, action packed adventure that reminds us how precious our environment is, and how instrumental each of our actions are, in protecting it.

To top it off, the original soundtrack by our exceptionally talented musician Khao Jao (Grade 6) supported this dynamic team.

This project is sustainable – it will continue into our future. Check out this website for more This movie is well deserving of all the Academy information.(http://nevertoolatemovie.weebly. Awards it could win, and the visual effects are extraordinary. Don’t miss out on this one of a com). lifetime event! Check out the website to watch The N2L team it! .

Khun Varnnee purchasing her movie ticket (http://nevertoolatemovie.weebly.com).

Movie release 6th Dec .

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Mr. Laurent congratulating Prinn on his success

School Update

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ave you ever wanted to do something fun while also helping your school? If you care about students in Concordian, you must watch Prinn’s movie. It’s about saving the world with the power of teamwork, and it would definitely help Concordian students a lot. Action movies are also really popular and kids would really love this movie! Solar panels are also amazing, because it can help our school generate improved kinds of electricity. Finally, this movie teaches all the kids the amazing moral of teamwork and never giving up. You should definitely watch the movie!

You should watch the movie, because if you buy tickets it will go to the fund for solar panels to give our school clean and pure energy straight from the sun. Most normal electricity sources are from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Using solar panels will help prevent global warming. The sun was the energy for all life forms, so it is very helpful to all of us. So you have to watch the movie!

This movie was made by the motto “If we all work together, we can change the world!”

I think the students of Concordian should watch this movie, because they will learn this good motto and will continue to make differences around the world. They will value the motto a lot. Kids will understand the true power of teamwork, and the fact that anyone can make a change, whether it’s big or small. If they watch this movie, the kids will be inspired to do things that can change a little part of this school.

So don’t forget, “If we all work together, we can change the world!”

By Kyla Jayapurna (5K)

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id you know that when you use plastic cups, you create pollution? At our school we’re using plastic cups everyday for drinking.

Everyone in school must stop using plastic cups.

If we continue to use plastic cups, our health will be really bad and we could even get cancer from the chemicals and pollution that they cause. We will also save a massive amount of money for our school.

Did you know that plastic cups have a long life cycle? When it is in the landfill, it takes longer than 50-80 years to decompose. Plastic cups are polluting our earth. Animals die, and our ecosystem is being damaged. Every time we use plastic cups, we create more pollution, which makes our world full with chemicals and toxic air.

Khun Varnnee is also paying a lot of money to buy these horrible plastic cups that are polluting earth. Instead of buying these plastic cups, we could pay for another ASA activity, so students could have more fun. Why don’t we install water fountains, so we can use water fountains to drink water instead of plastic cups?

We can save our nature and save money for our school. Do it now. Do it today!

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School Update

By: Lina Grade 5

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i! I’m Lina, just an ordinary G5 student.

Today I will update you on what’s been happening in our Primary Years (PY) at Concordian International School. The PY has many events going on every single month.

Some are big and some are small, some are boring and some are really exciting.

This year the PY started off the year with a mysterious event called the ‘Student ‘Council Elections’ I say it was mysterious because no one knew who will represent this year’s student council and the anticipation was killing us!

Guess what? I was in it too! I participated in the elections and I was chosen by the PY students to be their president! The student council group and I worked really hard on organising various events such as, the ‘Gift Drive’, where we celebrated Christmas by bringing in presents to school and then donated them to a foundation. We also organized ‘Spirit Week’, where we raised the school spirit and donated money for welfare.

teachers who helped us throughout all the 9 weeks ofexhibition. It was a great experience for me, because I had a chance to arrange my own field trip and mentor meetings. It was also really exciting to get a chance to change classes and explore different kinds of teaching styles from different teachers. This exhibition was really meaningful and we are all really lucky to be able to work on it, because it taught us about real life lessons, techniques on researching, and most importantly on being a good leader. The most valuable knowledge that I learned from this exhibition was to be an EQ or emotionally intelligent student, not a perfectionist, but rather a student who is excellent at academics, thinking, and life skills.

For me, this was the best PYP year ever!! We are all very lucky to be a part of Concordian International School; a school that not only promotes academic excellence but also nurtures young people to become moral and intellectual leaders, people of dignity, integrity and compassion who want to make a difference in All this being said however, one of the most the world. excited events for me was the G5 exhibition! Grade 5 students worked really hard on it. We all did weeks and weeks of research on the topic of our choice and one that we were passionate about. We had mentors and

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School Update

By: Jinnie Grade 5

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i! My name is Jinnie, and I’m from G5J. I’ve been at Concordian for 9 years. Every year is an amazing year because I learn a lot of information and every teacher has different teaching styles. This year however is the best year ever because it is the last year that I’m going to stay in PYP. This year has been a crazy year because there were a lot of events happening. For example, ‘Spirit Week’, and a visit This year we also had an amazing authorfrom author ‘Korky Paul’. visitor named Korky Paul. He is also an ‘Spirit Week’ was a great event for our school illustrator! Korky Paul came to our school and and also the community, because every student we learned a lot from him about writing books, donated at least 50 baht and once summed up, we how to illustrate them, as well as how to keep were able to raise over 10,000 baht! Spirit week a positive attitude towards various challenges was also a week where students could dress that we come across in our lives. His personup in different themes for the day. Monday was ality and how he illustrated books was very ‘Book Character’ day; Tuesday was ‘Twin’ day; interesting and fun. Korky Paul also taught us Wednesday, ‘Crazy Hair’ day, Thursday, ‘Career an important lesson which was that drawing Day’ and Friday, ‘Pajama’ day. My favorite day didn’t have to be perfect. I learned simply by of the week was ‘Pajama’ day and ‘Twin’ day, seeing how he drew. He was such a creative because when I wore my PJ’s, I felt more relaxed and man and always thought “outside of the box.” not that stressed. I also liked ‘Twin’ day because I dressed up the same as 2 of my other friends, which This was truly a wonderful year! I know I will made us look like triplets. This event impacted our miss the PYP and will always remember all the community in a positive way because we donated amazing teachers that helped me get this far. money to a charity and improved our school spirit. Thank you so much everyone!

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School Update

By: Praew

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am Praew from G5Y. I am in a process of doing the grade 5 exhibition. I consider myself a risktaker, because I like to try new things and challenge myself, such as giving a speech. In my opinion, every year our school has changed so much that I couldn’t believe how amazing it has become.

The yearly changes to the facilities alone are truly impressive! Teachers at our school have different teaching styles. All of our students can feel their passion when they teach us. The most important thing however is that our teachers truly care for all of the students.

2017 Centerstage The PYP Centerstage was where students showed their incredible talent such as singing, dancing, and playing instruments. We had around 5 judges that awarded prizes to the performers for their mind blowing performances. Even though some of us didn’t make the final cut, I believe everyone was very brave and showed that they too are risk takers. I am sure that their parents are very proud of them no matter what the results were. In my opinion, everyone was a winner on that day. However, I’m sure it was an extremely tough decision for the judges to choose, because all of the talents were exceptionally amazing.

G5 Exhibition Grade five exhibition is a really big project that includes all of the learner profiles and attitudes.

We literally need to come up with our own Unit of Inquiry, which includes many tasks such as lines of inquiry, central idea, concepts, and so much more. By completing the exhibition, which is an essential part of the Primary Years Program we were able to demonstrate what have we learned so far. However, we got to choose the topic we were interested and passionate about and investigate more about it. Researching about our favorite topic was astonishing, as it allowed us to find the most interesting information and create graphs by using the newly found knowledge. My exhibition topic was “Healthy vs Unhealthy Food”, and my group members were Tonnam, Jinnie and Putter. This was a really challenging project as we only had 8 weeks to complete it. At first, 8 weeks seemed like a lot, but time flew by so quickly! To me, this meant that we were really enjoying it. After I finished my research, 3 weeks passed by! Nevertheless, the most important part of this project was ACTION, because it allowed us to improve our community based on the topic that we inquired into. My action was to improve our school’s snacks. Thus, to make the exhibition booth interesting, we needed to interact with the audience instead of letting the audience read the information themselves. We needed to let the audience experience a real life situation to attract people, because if we simply showed them the information on paper, the audience would not find it so interesting. To attract people, we needed to make a “hook” that was different from others. For those who didn’t have this experience yet, you will learn a lot from this, I am sure.

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School Update

Manie (1B) “I feel happy because my mom and my dad can come in my class and look in my Portfolio.”

Hymn (K2) “I liked Student Led Conference because I am happy to come with my mommy and daddy. It is fun to show them my work.”

Brilliant (3W) “My favorite part in the Student Led Conference was when I played the Math Game with my mom - multiplication squares- it was very fun. I beat her! I also showed my portfolio and she was very proud of my work!”

Napee (4G) “I think Student Led Conferences are important because we get to Airi (1B) show our parents what we learned. I think student led conference is hard Then they know that we are improv- work! ing! I prepared a lot of different kinds of assessments to share like the rainforest persuasive op-ed. Student Led Conferences are a chance for our parents to learn something from us. My favorite part of the sharing is when I get to share my reflections.

We get to show our parents what we think of the things we did in our UOI. I think some parents get out is probably some thoughts like, “This is good-my child improved a lot” or “This is totally worth it because my child is improving.” etc.......My thought about this is this is a very good idea. We get to prove to our parents that we are not wasting their money. Also it is exciting to show our work to the parents.

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School Update

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Activities and Events

Communicators, Enthusiasm

W Day!

hat an incredible year in terms of Sports‌ and on that note what an amazing Sports

As the school keeps growing so do our Sports Facilities and what an impact these new Sports areas have had on the teaching and learning in PE this year.

Grades 1 and 2 had the privilege of using the New Soccer Field and the New Playground as well as the PY Gym for their stations including gymnastics, muay thai, rugby, javelin throw, dodgeball, races with jumpy balls and hockey.

Although Grades 3, 4 and 5 used sports facilities already known to them like the Blue Court and the big Soccer Field, they had some new and exciting activities this year including basketball, badminton, football, hockey, high jump, hurdles race, javelin throw (heavy ones), tug of war and T-ball (baseball).

Students demonstrated perseverance and motivation throughout Sports Day! It was great to see so many parents and teachers participating in the activities and supporting and encouraging our Concordian dragons! FUN was definitely the word of the day!

Sports Day is always a great way to celebrate all the skills the students have been developing over the year and a chance for our community to come together! I am proud to see how many of the Learner Profile Attributes and Attitudes our students displayed Confidence, throughout the day!

Indrpendence

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Respect, Cooperation

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Activities and Events

Courageous, Commitment

Balanced, Caring

Empathy

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THE O R

Activities and Events

GA NI Z

S ER HUN VARN TH K NE WI E

by Rachael Watson Centerstage 2017 Judge

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WINNERS

AI

BAM

CATHY

nybody who has seen the Centerstage show, will understand when I say that the level of talent is outstanding! I have had the honour of sitting on the judges’ panel for the past two years and the students never fail to amaze me with their dedication, confidence and pure talent. This year was an especially difficult year to judge as every act deserved to win!

To those who did not make it through this year’s auditions: Please try again next year! You were all so fantastic, and some of you were so close to getting through!

As with any show of this scale, we must give thanks to the wonderful staff behind the scenes; without whom Centerstage could not happen! There are too many to name personally but our special thanks should go to Mr. Sebert and Mrs. Maricor for their hardwork and dedication for turning this program into a reality.

CHEERLEADER

GIA _ PROUD

MIND

THEME SONG

EMCEE

HARMONIE

KHAO MAI

KHAO WAN

KYLA

LING

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MAGGIE

JINNIE PRIM

PUD

PAI AAYUSH THOR

Activities and Events

TITAN

PIM

PRAEW PIANO

TECHNICAL STAFF

RIO

PLUM

MICKEY

PROUD

POJ

PURIT

TROY

NINA NINJA

RISA MEMO

JUDGES

SUPERNOVA JUDGES

CENTERSTAGE PERFORMERS

THAI SONG

MON MAN

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Activities and Events

The Songkran Festival in Concordian International School 2017 Sa-was-dee-wan-Songkran kha.

“Play water nicely in the correct way as you should according to Thai culture. Be careful and ongkran, or Thai New Year. The word try to use the least water as possible to help the Songkran is derived from Sanksrit and means environment”.

“Astrological Passage”. Songkran starts on from Thank you for all your help and support and the 13th of April to the 15th of April. being involved in our Songkran Ceremony in 3 Conventionally, friends and family celebrate sections (EY, PY, MY/DP) this year.

Songkran by splashing water on each other in the form of a wish for a year filled with blessings.

Special thanks to “Mituna Sonnpan and Friends

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Songkran’s ceremony in Concordian International School was held on Friday, the 7th of April 2017. The Thai department has organized the ceremony for all Concordian students - “Rod Nam Dam Hua” or the pouring ceremony. The students had a great memorable time by pouring scented water on the hands of teachers to show their respect and in return, the teachers gives students advice and blesses them.

Due to the passing of the King Rama 9, the extended mourning period for one year, the Thai Department has agreed that we should only have the Songkran ceremony and no fun outdoor activities.

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Group (class of 2018)” G11 for a Fantastic Exhibition “From Siam to Thailand: The Story of Rattanakosin Live History Exhibition” It made our Songkran day very special.

By: Kru Dear

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