RIS Newsletter October 2012

RAINBOW INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OCTOBER NEWSLETTER “A nation`s durability depends on the education of young generations" In this issue!

In this issue!

Greetings! I hope all is well with you. Things here are great!! The 1st Quarter is upon us and there are many events that will be taking place at RIS. When you talk with your students, make sure that they keep you up to date on all the wonderful opportunities they are having at school. I enjoy having them here and look forward to seeing their smiling faces each day. Please look for information sending you about setting up a conference with your child`s teachers in the Parent-Teacher Conference Day. We have a goal of 100% parent participation. We can only accomplish this with your assistance and cooperation. We realize there are many activities and events that fill our calendars. Sometimes we seem to lose focus with all that goes on throughout the school year. Our main purpose is to provide students with the best educational opportunity possible and to help them achieve academically. We really need parental help to ensure that the homework is being done and that studying for tests are priorities.

One other quick thing that I need to mention, that is very important. Whenever possible, take time to read with your students. It doesn’t matter how young or old they are a good story or book is a wonderful thing to share. The Faculty and Staff are reading many wonderful books this year and are trying to share a love of reading with our students. However, there is no substitute for what takes place in the students own homes. You all do a great job of supporting your students and it is greatly appreciated!! Have a fantastic academic year!!

Principal`s Message ... 1 Principal`s Message ... 1 Awards ......................... 2 ESL Corner ................... 2 Events ........................... 2 IMYC for the MS .......... 3 Member Spotlight ...... 3 Congratulations! ........ 4 Winter Social ............... 3 Investigators ................ 5 District Goals ............... 4 Field Trips ...................... 6 Committee Chairs ...... 4 Student Council.......... 6

Thanks,

Iman Nishiki (Grade 2) Kazuki Fujimoto (Grade 7)

Rainbow International School Mission Statement Rainbow International School enables students to achieve academic excellence while being encouraged to be global leaders who promote global peace through equity, innovation, diversity, integrity, community, care for the environment and self-respect.

Audri Ayman (Grade 1) Iman Nishiki (Grade 2) Wang Chun Lam (Grade 3) William Kim (Grade 4) Miju Rahman (Grade 5) Liyan Siddiqi (Grade 6) Daniela Oh (Grade 7) Cheng Hao Yeh (Grade 8)

2-32 YANGJAE 1-DONG, SEOCHO-GU, SEOUL, REPUBLIC OF KOREA 137-886 PHONE + 82 2 571 2917 FAX + 82 2 572 2916

info@rischool.org

ESL

Corner

ESL 1-3 Learning Environment When you come and visit ESL 1-3 you will discover a positive a learning environment, a place where students are comfortable to challenge themselves to enhance their learning.

Learning Letter Sounds The ESL classroom is a place of encouragement and smiling faces. Throughout the day all learning levels stop by our class to ask questions or to share something that is special to them. We are very grateful to be able to contribute to so many lives and watch R.I.S. students excel in life learning.

Making Fruit Salad We promote and embrace all styles of learning. Our daily lessons always involve hands on activities. Take a look at some of our recent class activities.

Our Beginner Group just finished learning about different shapes, colors, and food. Each student made a colorful picture out of the shapes and colors they have learned and wrote about their picture. Also, they created a very hungry caterpillar with their writing!

Interviewing Friends Our Developing Group takes every chance they can to use their new technology as a learning tool in class. We have recently used our iPad's to research how to make a kite. Come visit our classroom to see what else we have been busy learning.

Building Words with Letter Tiles

Researching How to Make a Kite

Middle School ESL Students Get Creative AND Responsible!

by Ms. Jaclyn Jones, Middle School ESL teacher Students in middle school ESL are working together to prepare a skit for the school-wide assembly on responsibility! They have defined responsibility as, “Doing the things In this issue! you are supposed to do,” and they have also listed specific tasks Principal`s Message ... 1 that students should be responsible for. At the 2assembly Awards ......................... each student will each play a role in explaining the concepts Events............................

2 to the student body, such as, “Do your Member Spotlight .......

3 time for homework!” and “Be on class!” Middle school ESL students Social ................

3 areWinter building their relationship skills as they team up to convey the District Goalsefficiently ................ 4 message and accurately. They are also using Committee Chairs eye-catching ...... 4 creativity to make and engaging visual aids. Good work, students!

7 Things Your Quiet ESL Students Are Not Telling You  I’m hearing too many new words.  It’s too hard for me to do this on my own. Can I work with a classmate?  Please don’t put me on the spot.  Please, be patient with me. I’m trying my best.  I need some time to think before I answer.  I don’t care about “Mr. Smith” from the book. This is boring!  I don’t understand your handwriting.

Phonics Games

UPCOMING EVENTS! Teacher PD Day/October 26th

No School/October 26th Parent-Teacher Conference/October 27th/9:00AM-3:00PM

IMYC for the

Middle Schoolers

Grade 8 News

Hanguel Day (Korean Alphabet day)

We began a new International Middle Years unit (IMYC) on Thursday, October 4th. The new unit our 8th grade students will be working on is called Identity. The big idea is “Our sense of self, and that of others, is continually developing through our different interactions and impacts on how we exist in the world.” During our focus in this theme we can see examples of how interaction between different cultures helps individuals and communities to develop a sense of identity, and to understand that of others. Students will consider their own sense of self in terms of their cultural values and how these impact on the choices that they make.

For our entry point students created self-portraits and completed I AM Poems.

We made a big T-shirts celebrating on the Hanguel day!!

Do you know the Korean Alphabet day?

The Korean Alphabet day is the 9th October.

The great King Sejong made this letters about 500 years ago for he felt the compassion for common people who couldn't express themselves without writing system like this.

The Korean Alpabets consist of basic 14 consonants and 10 vowels. * Consonant (14) :ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋㅌ ㅍ ㅎ * Vowel (10): ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ We can make a word with a consonant and a vowel.

The Hanguel is so creative and easy to learn so we Koreans are really proud of this.

tolerance

integrity

success diversity

Parent-Teacher Conference Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC) will be held on Saturday (9:00AM – 3:00pm). It's a chance for you to ask questions about the class or your child's progress. It is also a time for you and the teacher to work together as a team to discuss ways you both can help your son or daughter.

Grade 5 Students

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

Diversity is who we are at Rainbow International School.

It means more to us than what country we come from, what we look like, and what language we speak.

RIS Students are Compassionate Community Participants ESL 4 – 5 Our ESL program focus on improving students’ language skills including speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension in a fun way. There is a weekly vocabulary to enhance their English. There are various activities in the lesson to cover every aspect of language skills. Students make the most of their Ipad and MacBook and the smartboard by reading e-books, doing SMART lessons, researching, and using educational apps.

Furthermore, students have a homework folder to take every night to prepare and review the lesson.

Shaping Up in Third Grade!

Grade Six Social Studies

Our bodies are the most valuable things we’ll ever own! It’s our job to keep our bodies fit and healthy because it has to last us a lifetime!

With this in mind, the Grade Three students have been learning all about how best we can do that through our Shaping Up IPC unit. So far, we’ve learned about the human skeleton, muscles, and organs.

Among many things, we’ve put together a life-size skeleton, memorized the names of certain bones and muscles, and became scientists to investigate the effect of vinegar on chicken bones.

In sixth grade middle school social studies were are exploring our creativity and how the world around us channels their creative spirit into productive and usable products. This week we looked at the War Khasis tribe, from India, and how the create suspension bridges using only natural materials such as rocks, trees, roots and dirt. After examining images of these beautiful creations the sixth grade class was tasked with making their own. They were provided materials of popsicle sticks, wire, art straw and rocks. Their goal was to make a bridge that could hold the weight of a water bottle and was at least 2 - 3 inches in height and 6 inches in length using only the materials provided. They got their creative juices flowing and created several structures that fit these requirements. They'll be able to become members of the War Khasis tribe in no time! Jerry and Joshua completed the sturdiest structure but everyone did a fantastic job. Head on over to the sixth grade social studies blog on LMS to view the kids in action!

As we continue our study on our bodies, we will explore how to eat a balanced diet, all about the benefits of physical activity, and even about the spreading of germs, how much sleep we need, and how food advertising influences us. We can’t wait to see what’s in store in the upcoming weeks! Watch Video

Home Visits Dear Parents, RIS teachers will now be available to visit our students through home visits. We feel meeting with student’s families at home provides a unique opportunity for our teachers to better understand their students as well as a chance to develop a closer relationship with our RIS families.

Tolerance

integrity success

diversity

3

INVESTIGATORS Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.

Chinese proverb

Grade 4 & 5 Crime Scene Investigators Training!

Over the next three weeks Grade 4 & 5 will be following a unit of work on a theme that focuses on ‘Scientific Enquiry and Materials’. This unit of work is titled, “Investigators.”

These days we have lots of science knowledge at our fingertips; it can be found quickly and easily on the Internet. The science knowledge in books and websites is what other scientists have discovered in the past.

To discover new things ourselves we need to be able to be able to ‘do’ science not just ‘know’ about it.

During this unit we will be focusing on Science. In Science we’ll be finding out: • About several ways to investigate in science • How to make sure our investigations are well designed and reliable • Ways to: collect, record, interpret and present our findings • About several materials and their properties Watch Video

RIS MASCOT School Mascots are a terrific way to boost school spirit! They are thought to bring good luck. Do you know what the RIS mascot is?

It’s the bottlenose dolphin! To celebrate our mascot, and promote the protection of species and their habitats, we recently adopted a bottlenose dolphin from the World Wildlife Fund.

Don’t be surprised to see our new dolphin friend out and about in the community. The grade 4 and 5 students will be solving investigations along with their marine CSI partner.

RIS has adopted a Bottlenose Dolphin!

During our unit we will learn how to ‘do’ science.

We will learn several, important, scientific skills. These skills can be used in a whole range of scientific situations. However we will use these skills to investigate one branch of science: materials and their properties.

We will also see how these skills can be applied to one real world context – the exciting world of forensic science!

Fight the Flu! * Why do we need a flu shot?

A cold is not very serious, because it can disappear in a week. But the flu is very serious; it can often cause side effects. So, you can't prevent the flu by having a shot. * How often do you get a flu shot?

People should get the flu shot every year. Flu viruses can mutate very easily, because of that a previous flu shot can't help you anymore. * The effect of flu shot.

After you get a shot, you still can't avoid all types of viruses. If you get a shot, it takes two weeks for the maximum amount of new antibodies to start to fight viruses and help prevent you from having the flu for more than 5 months. * When to get the flu shot?

In Korea, the flu spreads out from January to March. Therefore, the best time to get flu shot is from September to November.

Where to get the flu shot?

Somang NaeGwa hospital provides flu shot. The hospital provides discount for RIS families.

Staff, students and parents who have medical insurance can get the flu shot for 15.000 won.

Hospital: Somang NaeGwa (Internal medicine doctor)소망내과의원 Location: 1-26 Yangjae 1-dong.

Hana Bank 2nd floor Phone: 02-571-0875 Time: 11:30AM-5:00PM Tue-Thu 11: 30AM-06:00PM Mon-Wed-Fri

RIS Students are Critical and Creative Thinkers - Independent Learners - Effective Communicators

- Healthy Individuals

Real-Life Experiences Field Trips!

Field Trips

STUDENT COUNCIL

Student Council in R.I.S. acts as a student government, giving students a voice in determining school activities and environment. Student Council helps the students to promote harmonious relations throughout the school, organize school events, work on studentfaculty relationship and get involved in all aspects of school to improve the environment.

Through student council, students learn leadership and responsibility.

Student Council meetings run weekly during the extracurricular time.

Grade 2 and 3’s Field Trip!

On October 18th, Grade 2 and Grade 3 went on a field trip to Seodaemun Museum of Natural History. We had a lot of fun exploring the 3 floor museum.

Each floor taught us something new about how the Earth and humans have changed over time. The students were very excited to see real life dinosaur fossils! Starting on the third floor, we explored how the Earth was created, along with the various rocks that exist around our planet. On the second floor we began to see the various dinosaur fossils the museum has on display.

Field Trips!

Watch Videos of the Student Council

1. Intro 2. Spook-O-Rama 3. Spirit Week

The students were also excited to look at various animals that can be found on different continents. There were polar bears, hawks and jaguars on display, along with many others.

We finished our tour of the museum with a 3-D show about what a typical day in a dinosaurs life would have looked like. The students really enjoyed and learned quite a bit!

Hooray.....Let's go on holiday!

In Grade one we have started a new and exciting unit called 'Hooray, let's go on holiday'. As our Entry Point we went on a field trip to 'Mr Sand, let's play!'. This was a great starting point to help the students visualize getting excited and going on a holiday. While there, we were guided through 6 different stations. The first was a short puppet play about how pebbles turn to sand and then sand turns to mud.

Next we moved to a pottery area. We took mud and made fossil necklaces.

We made sand art with colored sand, searched for buried treasure in the sand, played in an ant house, and had some time in a sand playground. Thank you Ms Kim for leading our first field trip in grade one :) More Photos

Everything from the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex to tiny dinosaurs that are believed to have been birds.

More Photos 2-32 Yangjae 1-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 137-886 Phone +82-2-571-2917 Fax +82-2-572-2916. info@rischool.org

www.rischool.org