IGBIS Weekly Newsletter. Issue 132, Week 2, November 2017.

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 132. Week 2. November 2017.

Supportive parents during Phoenix House Activity Day on November 9th (More photos ~ Pg. 9 & 10)

Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School 2 News from Elementary School Mr. Simon Millward Elementary School Principal 2 News from Secondary School Mr. Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal 6

Elementary Music Notes

~ Pg. 3

Grade 4 Field Trip to Kuala Selangor

~ Pg. 4

Buddy Time ~ Pg. 5 IGBIS Senior Drama Company 2017 IGBIS Postcard Competition Winners

~ Pg. 6

~ Pg. 7

Secondary House Basketball

~ Pg. 8

Phoenix House Activity Day

~ Pg. 9

PVO News ~ Pg. 11 Capoeira Classes ~ Pg. 13

Nov 15, Wed • U15/18 Boys Football Friendly vs St Joseph’s International School @ IGBIS | 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Nov 16, Thu • SMK Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh – English Immersion Program | 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm • U13 Boys Football KLISS @ ISP | 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Nov 17, Fri • Secondary Swimming KLISS @ IGBIS | 8 am – 1 pm Nov. 10, Fri • Open Day | Nov 10 & 11 - 9:00 am - 12:30 pm • ES Assembly: Chinese @ L3 Drama Room 8:00 am – 8:40 am

Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, The Phoenix House Activities Day (PHAD) yesterday was certainly the highlight of this week. It was great to see everyone in our community; students, teachers, office and support staff and parents all wearing their house colours and taking part in the activities. Some of the special stories shared afterwards were those that spoke of small children finding a new friend in secondary school, or other children who, for the first time shone as leaders and encouragers of others in their team. Apart from that, the morning was certainly lots of fun and raised house spirit.

Congratulations to Mr Lovesey and members of the organising committee.

Thanks are extended to members of our PVO for assisting with snacks at PHAD and in particular for organising the first PVO Social that was held last Friday night. The ambience, the food and the great company were second to none! We look forward to the next PVO event!

This weekend (November 11-14) will be a break for students as our teachers will be attending professional development training at school on Monday and Tuesday. We wish all of our families a relaxing weekend.

Anne Fowles Head of School

From the Elementary Principal Wow, the end of this week has been huge. On Thursday we had our Phoenix House Activity Day (PHAD) which was organised by the PE department. The emphasis of the day was participation, building spirit and a sense of community with our houses providing this backdrop.

At our Friday assembly the Chinese department showcased the student learning across the Elementary school. It takes a great deal of preparation to put on an assembly and we were pleased that the students were able to share what they have been doing so far this year.

The multi-age house teams that spanned from KG to Grade 12 meant that many students were interacting with people they had never met before or even considered having a conversation with.

It was a great opportunity for the students to show the IB Learner Profile in action. I certainly witnessed students being caring, but also being risk takers as they engaged in activities that took them out of their comfort zone.

On Friday (and Saturday) we had one of our ‘Open days’. These days are great opportunities to showcase the teaching and learning in practice as we open our doors to prospective parents. As usual the parents were impressed not only with our facilities but what they saw in the classroom, we hope that these days enable us to grow our community even more.

The variety of activities meant that students were balanced as they engaged in physical challenges, house chants and painting to name a few engagements.

Whilst there was an emphasis on spirit and community building there was the element of competition ever present and the teamwork and drive teams showed was admirable.

A big thank you goes to Mr. Lovesey and the PE department for organising such a successful event.

Reminder: Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th November there is no school for students. These are teacher professional development days. We are fortunate that Tania Lattanzio from Innovative Global Education is coming to IGBIS to help develop our understanding and practices of conceptual understanding.

Dates for your diaries: • Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th: No school for students, teacher only days.

• Friday 17th November: Season 1 Activities and Athletics ends • Saturday 18th November: PYP Parent University #4: 8.30am - 11.30am: PVO room • Wednesday 22nd November: Elementary Friendly swim meet: 4.00pm - 5.30pm • Thursday 23rd November: PVO meeting 8.00am - 9.00am

Simon Millward

Elementary School Principal

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Elementary Music Notes Susan Bal-Short Elementary Music Teacher ...............................................................................................

Get ready for Phoenix - a musical story!

Preparations are now beginning for the Elementary School Production which will take place on 29 March 2018. The students are currently exploring and developing a storyline about a Quest to find the reclusive Phoenix bird. They will need to follow some intrepid fireflies and insects through the Kingdoms of Terra, Aqua, Aer and Ignis before all is revealed with a spectacular finale (which

remains top secret).

This musical journey will feature music composed, sung and danced by the students. Each item is linked with special songs and music to link the Kingdoms and the Quest together, hence the early preparations. It’s actually only 21 weeks away, including the holidays!

As a collaborative project, the visual arts team are also involved in the preparations and Ms Elli is collecting any spare used plastic shopping bags for a special project. Please bring your plastics into school and leave them with either Miss Elli or myself.

Grade One - exploring elastics for their item into the Kingdom of TERRA. The students are working as an ensemble using the element of levels in dance to produce interesting shapes for their spider webs. They are also using mathematical elements to make geometrical shapes within their performance. This was their first day experimenting with the elastics.

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Grade Two - creating movement with boomwhackers for their performance in the Kingdom of AQUA in their quest for the Phoenix.

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Grade 4 Field Trip to Kuala Selangor Ms Kari Twedt PYP Teacher ...............................................................................................

Grade 4 students are learning about ecosystems in their unit “Sharing the Planet”. To gain a deeper understanding of how ecosystems work, the students recently visited Kuala Selangor Nature Park, near the mouth of Sungai Selangor, a one hour drive from school.

The day was hot, and sometimes rainy. The mosquitoes were as hungry as they always are. There was a lot of walking involved, but there was so much to see along the way.

Students observed many animals living in a mangrove forest, a tidal wetland and a secondary forest, including mudskippers, crabs, eagles, mosquitoes, and monkeys. They recorded what they saw and back in the classroom, they have been speculating, discussing and learning about how these animals interact with each other and depend on their environment.

“I found it fascinating.” - Nina “I found the mangrove forest very interesting and mysterious.” - Nate “The brackish water lake system was extraordinary.” - Andrew

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Buddy Time Early Years and Grade 6 students, as well as Kindergarten and Grade 7 students have been enjoying several Buddy Mornings lately. The smaller buddies love showing their older friends around their classroom and engaging them in all kinds of activities from building blocks to reading stories, drawing and exploring apps on the iPad. They’re even getting mess with paint and potting mix (not together, of course). Judging by these pictures, it may even seem like the big kids are having even more fun that the little ones.

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News from Secondary School PHAD was a tremendous success this week and it was incredible to see the involvement of our students, parents and staff in this important community event. I was particularly impressed with how our secondary students worked with the younger students in their house, showing wonderful community and team spirit.

The Global Issues Network (GIN) also put on a bake sale to raise awareness of the initiatives they are currently undertaking at the school. I also enjoyed some nice snacks at the PVO booth in the morning - all in all, a great day!

A host of sporting fixtures have been taking place and continue on into next week, and the secondary production is also upcoming - on November 28th. I encourage parents to check the calendar through the Splash Page - it can also be found here: http://igbis.edu.my/news-events/upcoming-events/ As there is no school on Monday and Tuesday of next week, I encourage families to enjoy the long weekend!

Best regards,

Mr Rashid will begin additional Malay classes next week.

Information has been shared with students, there will be a class for intermediate/advanced students on Mondays at lunch time and a class for beginner level on Fridays after school. Students or parents should contact Mr Rashid for more information.

Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal

IGBIS Senior Drama Company 2017

Jon Suffolk Performing Arts Teacher ...............................................................................................

The students are really enjoying the challenge of this interesting ensemble play. All the performers play a number of different clowns, changing hats continually throughout the performance.

The Senior Drama Company 2017 is preparing a production of Noel Grieg’s “Do We Ever See Grace?”, a thought-provoking play centred on the lives of Young Grace and her older self, Old Grace.

Set in a circus clown show the play explores how all the people in the world who are laughed at, mocked and scorned somehow develop a vigorous resistance to injustice. Grieg’s overriding desire was ‘to create a piece that is full of anger and ideas but that was not a grim piece of social realism.’

So come along and enjoy “Do We Ever See Grace?”

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Light refreshments will be served from 6.30pm, prior to the performance.

Wednesday 29th November 7.30pm in the IGBIS Theatre.

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IGBIS Postcard Competition Winners We had an amazing response to the postcard competition and it was incredibly difficult to choose just six pieces of art to turn into postcards. We debated, shortlisted, debated some more, and finally came up with six entries that we thought showcased not only how wonderful our school is, but showed what our students thought of the school and their learning. A big thank you to all those who entered the competition and congratulations to all our winners.

Wayne Demnar

Presenting prizes and certificates to just a few of the winners of the postcard competition.

Postcard Competition Judge

Winning Entries

Tom Hirano, Grade 1 Tia Snooks, Kindergarten.

Aveesha Nanayakkara, Grade 4 Narisa Widiarta, Grade 2.

Zi Xuan Lee, Grade 5

Nur Shahidah Azmi, Grade 11

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Secondary House Basketball Tim Bartle Athletics Director ...............................................................................................

Wednesday’s AMP time this week had the Grade 9 and 10 students back in their House Teams to work through a series of basketball-related skills and challenges. There were free throws and backwards shooting, students dribbled through obstacles blindfolded and they practised passing and defensive movements.

It was a great opportunity for everyone to work in their House Teams in preparation for the Phoenix House Activity Day! Well done to all the participants and thanks to the PE Team, Grade 9 and 10 Homeroom Teachers and Coordinator for their support.

1st: Ignis 2nd: Aer 3rd: Aqua 4th: Terra

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Phoenix House Activity Day Sean Lovesey Head of PE ...............................................................................................

Thursday November 9th marked the biggest house event day of the school year, the Phoenix House Activity Day (PHAD). Student from Kindergarten all the way up to Grade 12 worked in their house teams to complete activities and challenges designed to build team spirit and collaboration. This is my first year at IGBIS and I was so impressed to see how well our Secondary students worked with their younger teammates and how positive and enthusiastic everyone was.

Events like this take a team to be successful and I am so grateful for the work of the PE staff, teachers, staff, students and parents for their efforts in making it such a successful event. It was awesome to see everyone out in their new House shirts, representing their team with pride.

The teams earned 200, 150, 100 or 50 points to their overall House Points Tally, depending on performance and team spirit. With the activity points and bonus spirit points, we ended up with the following results:

1st - Aer 2nd - Terra 3rd - Aqua 4th - Ignis The overall race to the House Cup is still close with Activities and Athletics Team participation and many competitions happening throughout the school year contributing to the team score.

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PVO News

Julie Arcidiacono Community & Events Coordinator ...............................................................................................

PVO Social Our inaugural PVO Social last Friday was a big success. Nearly 90 tickets were sold and parents and teachers enjoyed a fun night with good laughs, delicious food, entertainment and non-stop dancing. Everyone looked stunning in their “white with a touch gold” outfits and the beautiful decorations glittered and reflected the theme as well. Well done and a huge thank you to PVO event committee members Fathima Azaha Hamza, Felicier Suppiah, Karishma McDonald, Marissa Sin, Mei Ping Lai, Meng Meng Liew, Shamina Nordin, Pappu Sruthi, Rozita Mat Shah, Sheau Ming Wang, Sujatha Josen and Wei Ling Poon for making it happen.

Here are what parents and teachers had to say about the event:

“Thank you for an amazing night. It was so much fun.

I have not danced that much in forever. It was the dancing and music (and company, of course) that made it so good. “ “Well done to all the PVO team. It was great fun last night. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. “ “Beautiful venue and event!”

“I was so impressed when I walked into the hall. There was a great party feel from decorations to food to music.

The Mummies were all dressed so well, Daddies and Teachers added more sparkle to the mood of celebration.

Looking forward to next year’s social night.”

“Thank you to all committee members for making the night happen. I had a great time. “ “Great company, good food and music, and fantastic atmosphere!”

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Holiday Bazaar The countdown has begun for our Holiday Bazaar. This year the Bazaar will follow the Christmas Assembly on Wednesday, 6 December from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. If you would like to be a vendor, please email julie.arcidiacono@igbis.edu.my for a Vendor Agreement form. We are aiming for 50 vendors this year, so keep an eye out on our Holiday Bazaar webpage to view the list of confirmed vendors and their goods for sale.

Feel free to invite your family and friends to enjoy the Bazaar as well! If your guests are planning on attending and will arrive separately, please pick up their printed/numbered invitation from your classroom parent representative. Guests will need to show it to our security guards upon entering the school.

For more information, contact any one of the PVO Holiday Bazaar event organisers: Sujatha Josen, Shamina Nordin, Mei Ping Lai, Flora Remeo, Wei Ling Poon and Fathima Azaha Hamza.

PVO Meeting Our last PVO meeting of the year will be on Thursday 23 November 2017 from 8:00 - 9:00 am in the PVO Room. The agenda will be shared with you by email a week before the meeting.

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Capoeira Classes What is Capoeira?

Capoeira originates from Brazilian martial art infused with dance and elements of game play, music and folklore. Today Capoeira is an even broader concept referring to the art of personal development on a both physical and intellectual level. Capoeira classes incorporate a number of elements: • Music and Rhythmics • Gymnastics and aerobics with elements of martial arts • Acrobatics Michael Dziobkowski aka Empolgado (Capoeira alias) is a Capoeira coach who has been gathering experience in various forms of martial arts, such as Taekwondo, Judo, Boxing, and acrobatics, for the last 15 years.

In 2002 he joined a Capoeira group called Beribazu. In order to learn different methods of training and teaching, Empolgado took part in various workshops and training all over Europe, training with respected coaches such as Mestre George, Mestre Acordeon, Mestre Toni Vargas, Mestre Bailarino, Mestre Peixe, Mestre Barrao, Mestre King Kong, Mestre Luiz Renato, and Mestre Umoi.

Capoeira is recognised as a martial art. However, nowadays instructors introduce new elements to their Capoeira workouts. Capoeira classes aim to cater to all spheres of development, with roda (circle) remaining as one of the original Capoeira routines during which capoeristas play/fight in semi-contact, where strategy and creativity are the key components.

IGB International School will host morning classes for all interested parents on Tuesday mornings from 8.00am to 9.30am in the Level 2 gym next to the swimming pool. If you are interested in joining the class and starting your day with a good workout and positive energy, please let us now via email at impolgado.d@gmail.com.

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