NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER2013
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER E!"#$%& I'()*+,(& C-+,./,(& D,0)+/,(&
Greetings from the Principal Dear Parents and Guardians, Thank you to those parents who attended Student-Led Parent-Teacher Conferences on October 18th and 19th Please continue to communicate with your child’s teacher throughout the school year. The teachers are best able to speak about the specific academic, social and emotional needs of your child. SLPTC are a very important time for parents and teachers to work together to continue the great academic growth that students are making this year. If you were unable to attend your conference, please contact your child’s teacher to set up another time. Parents are a vital component in student success in school and it is very important that parents and teachers are working together to help enhance student learning. We appreciate your efforts! We have been working hard this year to provide students with an understanding of Korean Culture. Students have experienced the Korean Cultural Village, The National Museum and the Korean War Memorial so far this autumn. Our Character Word for October was Fairness. Teachers have been able to educate our students on the importance of Fairness. Students learn more about the concept of -fairness- by being involved in different activities provided by teachers. A student from each grade level earned Fairness Certificate by demonstrating exemplar fairness behavior. Our November Character Word is Responsibility. We look forward to continuing the development of our ethical individuals throughout this school year. Emin Huseynov
Principal
Parent Teacher Association (PTA) R.I.S.’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has begun meeting this year. We are looking to plan some exciting events this year that involve parents, teachers, and students. Our new PTA president is Ms. Nandini, Pranu in grade 5’s mom. She has many exciting ideas that she is bringing to PTA this year. This year’s secretary is Mrs. Ahn, the 3rd grade ESL teacher, and she is looking forward to working closely with parents throughout the school year. The greatest thing about PTA is that you can become involved in so many different ways. Whatever talents and interests you have we can use in our PTA activities. If you are interested in becoming involved with PTA please e-mail Mrs. Ahn at kimberly.ahn@rischool.org.
“The highest result of education is tolerance.” Helen Keller
Telephone +82(0)2-571-2917 Facsimile +82(0)2-572-2916 2-32 Yangjae 1-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 137-886 WWW.RISCHOOL.ORG
November Newsletter 2013
RESPONSIBILITY
Character Word for November:
Responsibility
What is responsibility? Being accountable for what you do, for your actions and behavior. Doing the right thing at the right time, so others can trust and depend on you.
What are ways you can show responsibility? Complete your homework and chores on time without being reminded. Follow through on your commitments, even when you don't feel like it. Accept responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them. Don't make excuses or blame others. Take care of your things and those of other people. Return items you borrow. Find out what needs to be done and do it. Make wise choices, such as choosing to eat healthy foods and wearing a helmet. Always do your very best. Others are counting on you!
.
Popping Up Some Math Facts in Grade 3! Greetings from the Grade 3 classroom! Lately, our friends in Grade 3 have been busy memorizing their addition facts. We made it a class goal to have all of our addition facts up to 12 memorized! We are keeping track of our progress by adding kernels of popcorn to our buckets every time we complete a math facts quiz accurately under 30 seconds. If everyone in the class succeeds, we will have a popcorn party!! Although some may see math drills as boring and repetitive, it is my firm belief that drills are necessary in the elementary classroom. Basic addition (and multiplication) facts should be automatic because being fluent in the basics makes advanced math easier to grasp and understand. However, drills should not be the sole form of instruction, as this will produce students who do not understand the bigger concepts. In order to produce strong mathematicians in Grade 3, we are focusing on the big conceptual ideas through practice in problem-based lessons with our new Singapore Math program while drilling the students during break time or the beginning of each lesson. We have seen such an improvement in every single student’s addition skills this quarter. We are so proud of the work you have done! Let’s see if we can get that popcorn party soon!
“I am responsible for doing the work I need to do today even though it may be hard.” Helen Keller
What a month it has been in Social Studies! Wow! What a month it has been in Social Studies! We cover a lot
of different material in each class. A lot of what we do is research projects, looking up facts and trying to make conclusions on what occurred in the past based on the information that we have now. Each grade is in a drastically different spot to explore and enrich themselves in each section of history. Sixth grade took a step back and started looking at geography for the last month. We discussed the five themes of geography. We also looked at the tools that geographers used and what was found on maps. All of these will keep coming back in history, as we use the maps to help us understand where and why a piece of history happens. The unit ended with a Key Note presentation with examples of the five themes based on their home countries. Seventh grade also stepped away from history to focus on geography. In seventh grade, we worked really hard on incorporating technology into the class. Instead of a normal paper, we worked hard in the Google Docs program on our MacBooks, writing several interesting facts for all of Europe, Southern Europe, and then, more specifically, on Italy. We worked really hard in understanding how to create a Google Doc, including how to add in a table of contents, headings, and other information. Eighth grade has been looking at the Russian Revolution. We have especially been focusing on the vocabulary that is relevant to the Revolution. We are starting to move into Communism and Totalitarianism. They seem to enjoy the topics, and they especially enjoy reviewing their vocabulary. We played a game of charades to practice some of our vocabulary words! All of the classes have been working really hard to learn how to make a Works Cited page, to show where they have gotten their sources from. This is a very difficult task for them, but they are doing a good job with it. Only practice will help each and every one of them be better at it! Overall, the Social Studies classes have been very busy with research and becoming better at it. The opportunities to continue exploring can only increase!
Character Education -FAIRNESSWinner Awards! Grades
Name
1
Ritaj Jalal
2
Tyma Al-Masoud
3
Humaira Sharipova
4
Alexander Kwon
5
Eugene Lin
6
Semanur Saglam
7
Joshua Seo
8
Semanur Saglam
Five Open Resources for ENglish Language Arts 1. K12 Open Ed - ebooks 2. Welcome to Lit2Go ETC 3. 21st Century Literacy 4. Stufun.com 5. Student Interactives - ReadWriteThink
November Newsletter 2013
GRADE TWO
Spirit Week! The Grade 2 students had a blast participating in Spirit Week! Some of our favorite days were 'Orange Day' and 'Costume Day'! The students showed excellent school spirit and felt closer as a class community.
Grade Two Acrostic Poem All the leaves fall off the tree, Under our garden. Trees don't have any clothes. Under the tree there are Many insects! No snow.
First and Second Graders` Field trip to LATT Theatre The Grade 1 and 2 students have been studying the IPC unit "The Stories People Tell". We began this unit by visiting a nearby Children's Theatre. The story was about a dragon who wouldn't share the world with the other animals. It had a strong moral and the students learned valuable lessons through story-telling. It was a bilingual English/Korean performance, with lots of catchy songs and audience participation. It was an educational and inspirational experience :)!
No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers.
November Newsletter 2013
ACTIVITIES
Grade 5: Museum of the Wonderful World
Grade 5 has been learning about the wonderful world we live in during IPC. As a class, they have studied different types of maps, researched about biomes, created models of the earth’s layers, demonstrated how the earth and sun move, made the moon’s phases, investigated the many kinds of landforms, and made videos to show how natural disasters affect people’s lives. Everyone’s favorite project through this unit was creating the moon’s phases out of Oreo cookies. Student’s worked in groups to draw the moon phases on paper and then they were able to break apart Oreo cookies to show how the moon changes its look according to its position with the earth and sun.
Debate E.C. Club Competes in Ilsan! During the months of September and October, the Debate Club E.C. spent time preparing for a Roboethics Debate Discussion that was held on October, 25 at the Kintex Center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi-do. R.I.S. sent five boys to the competition. They were June in grade 4, Pranu in grade 5, Joshua in grade 6, and Razi and Juel in grade 7. The boys each prepared a speech about their thoughts regarding the use of autonomous military robots in combat. They all worked very hard and represented R.I.S. outstandingly at the discussion. At the end of the competition the boys each received certificates, medals, and robot kits. We were also invited to come to next year’s competition.
The most selfish one-letter word…
“I”
AVOID IT
The most satisfying two-letter word…
“WE”
USE IT
The most poisonous three-letter word…
“EGO”
OVERCOME IT
The most used four-letter word…
“LOVE”
VALUE IT
The most pleasing five-letter word…
“SMILE”
KEEP IT
November Newsletter 2013
SPIRIT WEEK Our second annual Spirit Week sponsored by Student Council, was celebrated in the last week of October. Members of the Student Council voted on the themes for each day: Monday- Class Color Day, Tuesday- Jeans Day, Wednesday- Crazy Hat/Hair Day, Thursday- Costume Day, Friday- Pajama Day. For one week RIS had a festive atmosphere and was filled with enthusiasm and we wanted to fill you in on the fun.
We started off with showing our school spirit by wearing class colors and it turned our hallways into rivers of rainbows. Among all the grades, grade 1, grade 3 and grade 4 stood out by showing 100% participation! Jeans Day was held on Tuesday and it was chance for the students and faculty to pull out their jeans from their closet. “Jeans Day made me happy,” said IT teacher Mr. Bang, “because I love wearing jeans so it was fun to wear them to school.” The festivities continued on Wednesday with Crazy Hat/Hair Day. Students walking into the school with their popping hairstyle was a sufficient spectacle. We could sense the air of autumn in Gulmeena (grade 2)’s leaves weaved hair style. Also in grade 2, Taima’s beautifully done hairstyle exclaimed awe from many people. “Crazy Hair Day was my favorite and everyone loved my hair. I loved it too!” said another star of the day Faisal(grade 3) who could be spotted from far away with his glitter hairstyle since it was shining like stars in the night. There was a mere heresy that some teachers had hard time undoing their hair to go to home visits.
Questions Your Child’s Teacher Would Love to Answer 1. Thursday was the most dynamic day. Students took great pleasure in being able to show off their alter-egos with all kinds of costumes from mummies, to Woody from the Toy Story and many more. Joshua(grade6) who was dressed up as mummy said, “It was interesting to see other creative costumes. I can’t wait until we have the Spirit Week again next year.” Thursday’s level of enthusiasm just kept building until all the faculty members of RIS did a fashion show in front of the students. Students applauded wildly at Ms. Alison’s perfect explorer’s costume and Ms. Walter’s doll costume. It was great to see the faculty(including Mr. Lee and Ms. Park) get in on the school spirit. Student Council held a candy sale to make the day unforgettable. Last but not least, Friday was Pajama Day. Everyone was cuddled cozily in their pajamas and created bizarre sights of students playing soccer in their pajamas. Some impressed their peers by bringing their pillows to finish off their pajama fashion. It was a very lively week at RIS. It was one full week of Students competing their creativeness. “It was great to see the school spirit and the passion. We felt like a big family,” said Ms. Alison.
What academic standards do you use, and what do I need to know about them?
2.
How will you respond if or when my child struggles in class?
3.
What are the most important and complex (content-related) ideas my child needs to understand by the end of the year?
4.
Do you focus on strengths or weaknesses?
5.
How are creativity and innovative thinking used on a daily basis in your classroom?
6.
How do you measure academic progress?
Five Open Resources for Math
So thanks to all for making Spirit Week 2013 a huge success!
1. Free Lessons from Math Teaching Resources 2. Teaching Channel Common Core Video Series 3. Free Lessons from LearnZillion 4. Khan Academy Common Core Map 5. Share My Lesson Common Core Database
November Newsletter 2013
FIELD TRIP We had a big fun in the first trip the whole school participated. We went to Korean Folk Village built b y S a m s u n g C o m p a n y. A l l s t u d e n t s w e re enthusiastic to go to this trip because along with the Korean culture they were able learn about other countries too. At first, the guides told about the Korean culture and Folk Village. After that we visited the World folk Museum. In these houses, there was stuff from various countries’ history such as traditional clothes, kitchen utensils, furniture. Also there were remnants of war because these countries helped South Korea in the Korean War.After the going around the village we went to watch traditional and fun performances. One of the performances included Korean traditional rope acrobatics. After that we watched Equestrian Feats performance. It was the most exciting performance for kids. Addition to that we watched a traditional wedding ceremony. It was a priceless experience. In the end we had a picnic with delicious meals and end our trip with a magnificent group photo.
E!"#$%& I'()*+,(& C-+,./,(& D,0)+/,(&
www.rischool.org
RAINBOW INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 2-32 Yangjae 1-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 137-886 E-mail: info@rischool.org Phone: +82-2-571-2917