Newsletter August 2014
Table of Contents Message from the Principal page 01 Pre-K & K1 Updates page 02 K2 Updates page 03 Grade 1 Updates page 03 Grade 2 Updates page 04 Grade 3 Updates page 04 Grade 4 Updates page 04 Grade 5 Updates page 05 PE Updates page 05 French Updates page 06 Vietnamese Updates
Message from the Principal Dear Parents, Welcome to this first newsletter of the 2014/2015 academic year. Having only been back at school for a short while it will be a shorter newsletter than usual, but should give you an idea of what the students are doing over these first few weeks. For my part, I would like to start by thanking all the parents who found the time to come to the first tea/coffee morning, on Friday 29th August. What was scheduled to be a one-hour meeting turned seamlessly into a two-hour event, and I found it very useful to get so many ideas and comments. It was something we all agreed should become a regular part of the school calendar, and I will find a time every month when we can have a similar event. You will see, as you read this newsletter, some names new to the school, and these will include our new PYP2 teacher, Ms Audrey, and our very welcome Ms Lakshmi, who is covering for K2 until the permanent teacher arrives. Holding the whole of PYP together, we have our new PYP coordinator, Ms Sacha. Now we have opened the Middle School,
page 06 Science & Maths Updates page 07 Humanities Updates page 07 Music & Drama Updates page 07
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we have subject specialists for English (Mr Jan), Maths & Science (Ms Mridula), Art (Ms Katherine, who will also be teaching the PYP), and Humanities (Mr Ron). Apart from the monthly newsletter, we will be in communication on a regular basis with all parents, especially from the PYP homeroom teachers, so please get into the habit of checking your e-mails daily. If you suspect some e-mails are not getting through to you, please contact the School immediately, and we will check the e-mail system. And with that I will leave you to read the rest of the newsletter, and hope that you will take the opportunity to visit the school whenever we host an event. As I always say, successful education requires the team of parents, students and school to be working in partnership, and being physically connected to the school buildings helps to cement that partnership. Bryan Manditsch Principal
Update from our Classes
Upcoming Events
September
Pre-K & K1 Updates by Ms. Michele We have had a fantastic start to the new school year in Pre-K and K1 class. We have welcomed five new children to the class – Abby, Leo, Duc Anh, Tata and Ha Vy and the children have settled in really well and no one cried on the first day!
We are all excited to be in our new, super large classroom and we now have space for many different activity centres to enhance the children’s learning.
Sep
5 Sep
8 Sep
17 Sep
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Spirit Week Assembly
Mid-Autumn Celebration
Open Day
Family Fun Day 9h30 - 12h00
K2 Updates by Ms. Lakshmi
Grade 1 Updates by Ms. Stephanie
FROM THE K2 ROOM! BOY!!!!! What a happening week! The ‘real’ fully fledged K2 class started on Monday, the 25th, with a B-A-N-G with 8 little kindergartners! And how can I miss out Ms. Lakshmi and Ms. Huong! Having broken the ice on day 1, we set the ball rolling for the new theme ‘Relationships’ – perfect and appropriate for beginning a new academic year in a new class. The focus is on PSEL (Personal and Socio-Emotional Learning) with the child’s emotional health being the top priority. The child’s learning is at its peak when he / she is emotionally well settled. This leads to maximum receptivity to ideas and increased uptake in learning. Various exciting activities and conversations, (hand printings, measuring heights on a height chart, drawing a self-portrait, reading the story ‘NO! David’ by David Shannon, discussing families, learning names of the days of the week, months of the year and associating them to birthdays… PHEW) are keeping us busy both mentally and physically!
Welcome to Grade 1 for the 2014-2015 school year! We have gotten started straight away with our daily Readers & Writers Workshop. Every morning we read different books, watch interviews with authors and illustrators, and learn all about how books work. We then think about how we can use these new ideas in our own story making work, and publish our own books.
The children are being guided towards increased awareness of ‘The Self’ with the prime focus on the feeling ‘I am special’, taking the self – esteem of the child to an all new high. We are also getting to know each other simultaneously. The coming weeks are going to see more sub topics covered under the same theme. All in all, a great week comes to an end and we are all braced and poised for a greater week ahead! See you in the next newsletter. CIAO! Have a great weekend!
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Grade 1 Updates by Ms. Stephanie
Finished student books are added to the class library.
Grade 4 Updates by Ms. Penny
Grade 2 Updates by Ms. Sacha & Audrey Hello from PYP 2! Our year started off with Ms. Sacha leading the ten Grade 2 students in introductions to each other and the school. There are some old faces and new ones-Welcome to all! Our second week brought another introduction as Ms. Audrey joined the class, allowing Ms. Sacha to return to her duty as PYP Coordinator. Ms. Audrey is new to both ISV and Vietnam and looking forward to an exciting year. This month we will begin our first unit of inquiry of Who we are, with the central idea, ‘The choices people make affect their well-being.’ We will be investigating what it means to have a balanced life-style, how the choices we make affect or health and the different sources of information that help us to make choices, among other things.
Grade 4 has spent the last two weeks getting to know each other and starting our first inquiry. The central idea for our inquiry is: New digital media changes the way in which people access information and connect to each other. As part of this inquiry each student has started to set up his/her e-portfolio where they will share all their fantastic work this year. We have started using our email accounts to send messages and soon will start to reflect on our learning using blogs. These are quotes from our new students about what they like about their new school. Kevin and Nicky: We enjoy playing soccer at lunchtime. Jong Hyun: I like P.E. because it is fun. Seung Kyeom: I like meeting new friends.
Grade 3 Updates by Ms. Anna Grade 3’s current unit of inquiry is: People build and organize spaces for living and learning. Grade 3 worked together to build a house out of blocks. Grade 3 thought carefully about the different spaces, and the house they built, included fun play equipment, an excellent security system and a washing area that recycled water. They considered privacy, safety and decoration. Grade 3 is creating a glossary of different types of buildings. So far, they have 45 different types of buildings listed.
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Grade 5 Updates by Mr. Robert
PE Updates by Mr. Liam
Welcome to Grade Five
Greetings all,
Firstly, it has been wonderful to meet all the Grade Five students and they have settled in now. So it’s time for the hard work to begin! In mathematics, we will be investigating how to measure the perimeter and area of objects like the football field, swimming pools and the school campus.
In writing, we are learning to write scientific procedures. In inquiry, we have started our unit on forces. We will be investigating gravity, friction and pressure through a variety of experiments. Finally, we are learning to draw bush landscapes during our art lessons.
I would like to update you on the activities we are focusing on this term. To this point the students are participating well in all activities. During PE, I have noticed students being very helpful to one another assisting others when needed. This is great to see as we are concentrating on cooperative games at present, with a major focus on working together to achieve a common goal. We have received even more new resources in the PE department, which allows more sports and activities to be planned. Swimming also has begun and we are assessing the students to identify what students need to develop or improve on technique. I look forward to working with the students this year and following their progress. Regards, Mr. Liam Chadwick
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French Updates by Ms. Perrine
Vietnamese Updates by Ms. Mai
Bonjour et bienvenue en classe de français! Je suis ravie de retrouver tous les élèves pour une nouvelle année pleine d'apprentissages. Les enfants ont commencé à travailler sur les salutations. Après avoir appris quelques phrases incontournables, ils ont crée une bande dessinée. Ils ont tous eu beaucoup d'imagination. Bravo à eux!!! Voici quelques travaux réalisés par certains enfants de grade 6 et 8. Ils sont tous affichés sur les fenêtres de la classe de français, venez jeter un coup d'oeil! A bientôt, Perrine.
Niya - Grade 6
Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Mai Vu and I am the Vietnamese teacher. There are many exciting things ahead of us this year, and I am keen to get started. During the Vietnamese lesson, the children will encounter many experiences in listening, speaking, reading and writing. From now, we will do a lot of fun activities to celebrate one of the most famous festivals in Vietnam: TẾT TRUNG THU!!! It really is a good example of the traditional culture of the Vietnamese.
Sangmin - Grade 6
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Humanities Updates by Mr. Ron
Science & Maths Updates by Ms. Mridula Hello and greetings to everyone! I am Mridula Bardhan and this year I will be teaching Mathematics and Science in the Middle School. During the first four weeks, students will be reviewing Numbers and Sequences and learning new concepts under the Number System in Mathematics. In Science, our young scientists will be developing an insight into the nature of Science, its importance and applications every day and everywhere. They will then focus on the Scientific Skills required to be developed in order to go through the process of problem solving following the Scientific Method.
In Middle School Humanities, students are focused on various epochs in history. In the sixth grade, we are doing an introductory unit on the Renaissance in Europe. Students have been doing oral presentations on scientists and musicians from that period. In the seventh grade, students are learning about the beginning of the Roman Empire. They have drawn cartoons depicting the story of Romulus and Remus and are reading a section of our textbook.The eighth grade students are exploring the economic dynamics of sixteenth and seventeenth century England, primarily the differences between the rich and poor. In geography, in all grades, we are identifying countries of the world and will be creating presentations based on countries and continents.
ISV Gallery
Music & Drama Updates from Mr. Daniel Welcome back to Music and Drama at ISV. It's going to be a great new year with many special events on the calendar providing us with many opportunities to sing, dance and act. In the near future we have Mid-Autumn festival where will sing my latest song 'Táşżt Trung Thu.' I will be beginning Rhythm and Rhyme ECA- a fun performing rate based ECA for Preschool Children. This will take place on Tuesdays. Mr. Jan and I are also in the early stages of preparation for a school production ECA- this will likely be a musical or a play with songs. This ECA will begin next quarter after October and run until March 2015 culminating in our school's first big show. More information to follow! We are also looking into the interest in offering individual music lessons at the school. We will be ending out a questionnaire very soon to gauge the general interest and feasibility of this. Watch your inboxes! It is very exciting to be back at ISV with many new faces and talents to nurture. I am certain it will be a fun filled and expressive year! Mr Daniel
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Contact Us International School of Vietnam No. 6-7 Nguyen Cong Thai, Dai Kim Urban Area, Dinh Cong, Hoang Mai, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tel: +84 (0) 435 409183 Fax: +84 (0) 435 409187 www.isvietnam.org inquiries@isvietnam.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/ISVIETNAM