JUNIOR SCHOOL
EAGLE EYE
SEKOLAH PELITA HARAPAN
VOL.
10
DEC 2021
Director of Learning’s
Message
Holidays! Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day at the end of November. We gather with our friends and families and take time to reflect on the many blessings God has granted over the past year. Those blessings are symbolized by a feast (traditionally including a large American gamebird called a turkey) and other pictures of harvest and abundance. French theologian, John Calvin, said that giving thanks is a precious privilege since we know God wants us to enjoy his blessings.
Mr. Barry Eugene Shealy at seeing a school full of children. Not long ago, a very high infant mortality rate meant few children were seen. So, a school full of children was a sign to him of God’s blessing on Papua.
From Thanksgiving, we move to consider the ultimate source of our blessings. Advent is celebrated by Christians world-wide during the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It is a time of anticipation as we look forward to the coming of the Christ-child. Advent is a time of hope. Our hope is for rescue from our own imperfection and self-centeredness, endurance in the challenges of this world, and safety in the life to come. This hope is not empty but based on the truth of Jesus’ work for us.
By God’s grace, SPH is experiencing a blessing as well. While moving from months of online school to hybrid is challenging for our teachers it is a great encouragement to again relate directly to students. We have endured a challenging time that is not completely over. We hope that, out of this experience, our students will develop resilience and the ability to be Flourishing Learners and Servant Leaders amid whatever future challenge they face. Our world needs principled, caring, risk-takers who have a Christ-centered desire to impact the world both locally and globally. And that is the vision of SPH.
Our hope coming in the form of a child is appropriate. Children are a sign of blessing in scripture (Psalm 127:3). The hope of Israel was seen in Zechariah’s prophetic image of streets full of children playing (Zechariah 8:5). I saw a similar vision as I traveled to Papua recently to visit SLH schools in the interior mountains. One Papuan father spoke of his joy and hope
I pray for health and safety for your family as you enjoy the holiday break from school. May our hope be strengthened as we meditate on the Christ-child and as we see the joy of the children and students around us.
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Kindy 1
Pet Day
by Ibu Patricia
Our K1 friends had a wonderful opportunity to play with some pets at school. This event gave us time to connect with our friends in person and make real-world connection with the unit of “Sharing the Planet.” On that day we observed various characteristics of animals. We saw how the chameleon changes his color; how rabbits hop on grass; and how a puppy can learn so many tricks! We also saw that different animals need different habitats. The koi fish lives in the water, while the guinea pigs live on land. Lastly, we saw how well these pets are being taken care of by their owners. The cages of the hamsters are kept clean; the puppy dog is taken out for a walk each day; and the reptiles are given food that they like. Oh what a memorable day that was!
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Kindy 2
Expressing ourselves through the Arts!
by Mr. Ian Ramos
The K2 class has been learning about feelings and emotions. We have worked hard every day to identify how we feel on a specific time and day, and we are learning how to express it appropriately. We have learned that sometimes you don't feel happy all the time and there are things that could make you sad, upset, excited, silly, or even scared. We try to tell others how we feel by drawing out daily emoticons using post-it and playdough. We also learned that we could express these emotions in other ways such as the Arts. The K2 children that we could use different forms of arts to express how people feel. To help us understand this, we invited a few friends to our class.
We had singers come to our class show and tell us that we can use songs to express how we feel. They sang a few songs that showcased different emotions. We also had a guest violinist who displayed how she uses her violin to share ideas and emotions to the listeners. Mr. Joel, our Art coordinator joined us as well to show how visual artists use different colors and strokes to convey emotions. This was an exciting activity as we were able to do it face-to-face. The k2 children enjoyed working with brush and paint as they painted a Christmas tree together with Mr. Joel.
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Kindy 3
Water for all living things! by Mrs. SungJi Choi
K3 enjoyed learning about water in term 2. Water is essential to all living things. Through the class discussion, they learned that all living things need water to survive. They also learned how people use water in many ways. One of the exciting ways to use water is by experimenting. K3 students enjoyed doing some experiments using water. They observed how water moves using a snow cabbage leaf and food coloring. K3 also learned about the water cycle. It was interesting to see how our nature recycles water naturally through the water cycle. At the end of this unit, the students talked about how we can be responsible in using water and save clean water. Thank God for creating water for us!
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5
Grade 1
Healthy Choices by Ibu Melia and Ibu Hanny
In our second Unit of Inquiry, Who We Are , the Grade 1 students learn how personal choices determine the quality of life. They learn how some choices can lead to a healthy life, while other choices can lead to an unhealthy life. They also explore the meaning and importance of personal hygiene as well as physical, emotional and spiritual health by inviting different guest speakers throughout the unit to speak and share about the above points. They learn to reflect the choices they make through their personal log and then plan to make better choices for themselves. At the end of the unit, each student creates a poster to show his or her healthy habit in a day.
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Grade 2
Once upon a time by Miss Ella Stories connect people. In grade 2, we learned how stories have changed throughout the years and we also learned how stories shape the culture one lives in. We had amazing and enthusiastic parents who came to our zoom classes to share with us a story from their home countries. We also learned the different kinds of stories (fables, fairytales, folktales, etc.) and we became risk takers as we wrote our different stories. We really enjoyed learning about stories this unit and we thank God for the gift of creativity that He has given His creation.
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Grade 3
We like to Hybrid Hybrid! by Miss Soo Hyun Bae Another term full of EXCITEMENT! This time, a whole lot more EXCITEMENT! Junior school was finally re-opened to the students and let me tell you, the teachers and the whole Junior School staff were excited! The busy footsteps of teachers going back and forth, decorating, cleaning, re-shelving, re-stocking, and humming to the thought of seeing the students again. If you still could not tell how excited the teachers were, well there is a music video about it! Our grade three hybrid begin on Friday, November 19 and we started it with a Scavenger Hunt! Students were assigned to find different types of resources, some were easy, and some were difficult. Everyone worked hard searching high and low for their resources. By the end of the activity, the students learned to appreciate and became much more mindful to the resources they have found. Learning to love, care and take responsibilities for the creation God created for us. - Grade 3 Esther Bae
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Grade 4
Where We Are
in Place and Time by Ibu Irene Tjandramihardja
In Grade Four, our second unit of inquiry explores a topic, entitled “Where We Are in Place and Time”. The students have learned about some explorations through the viewpoints of forms, causations, and perspectives. They have discussed that during the explorations, the explorers encountered challenges along the way. The explorers had to go through vast oceans and the fierce storms. Quite often, they were confronted with raging rivers that they needed to cross, apart from the severe weather conditions.
The students have also looked at the motivations of the explorations. Some explorers sailed the seas to find new lands, gold, and spices. Some others, like the missionaries, would like to spread the Gospel and bring peace. The Fourth Graders have enjoyed the sharing moments from the two guest speakers: Wes and Esther Dale. They are both missionaries from Australia and have lived in the interior village of Mamit, Papua for many years. As our students delved into “the Age of Exploration” (the period of time when European explorers set out on voyages of discoveries and trades), our students have discovered that the interactions with the indigenous people and their cultures often resulted in some kind of “oppression and exploitation”. This perspective of injustice has made us evaluate the actions of the explorers.
Students’ Reflections 1. Isaac Alexander What I like about this second unit is that I had to make a 3D model for my final task. I chose to make a Viking longship. It was not so easy to make the Viking longship. I had to make it out of a cardboard and painted the ship so that it looked almost similar to the real ship. What I have also learned from this unit is that Leif Eriksson also travelled to North America, which is now known as Canada, and made a brief settlement there. Leif’s father was also an explorer who left Norway and started the settlement in Greenland.
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2. Jayden Djajasaputra
For my summative task, I chose Christopher Columbus. He was an interesting explorer. Christopher Columbus wanted to find the shorter way the eastern Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean. He thought that he had reached the intended area when he arrived on an island in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus’ discovery of the new land opened the opportunities for the Europeans to come and settle in the Americas (the North America and South America). When Columbus met with the Taino (the indigenous people who lived in the Caribbean Islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico), he treated them well. However, their good relationships turned bad because Columbus forced them to mine gold for him and the Taino were enslaved. At the end of this unit, I learned that we need to see the perspectives of other people. I should also be kind to other people and treat them well.
3. Audrey Sapphire Pangestu
4. Mark Mann
I chose to do some research about Mary Kinsley who was both a writer and an explorer. She traveled to Africa. Mary Kinsley inspired other women to not easily give up because she thought whatever men could do, women could do, too. She also shared her knowledge to the European people about the new species of freshwater fish that she found in Africa during her exploration. In her book, she also wrote about the African culture and how the African people were treated unfairly at that time. Mary Kinsley never gave up on her dreams, even though other people laughed at her. That’s why Mary Kinsley inspired me not to give up when I face difficulties.
This second unit was fun because I learned about several explorers. In this unit, I could pick my favorite explorer. The teachers did not decide the explorer that I had to do for the summative assignment, and I chose Leif Eriksson for my final project because once I read a book with my Dad about the Viking adventure and this book inspired me to know more about the Vikings. That’s why I chose to do some research about Leif Eriksson. The second reason I picked Leif Eriksson is because Leif explored and landed in Newfoundland, Canada. This is the country where I am from. I also did a lot of interesting activities in this unit such as making a boat and I had to pretend to be an explorer and planned everything that I needed for an exploration.
5. Segang Lee I chose to learn more about Christopher Columbus. I am interested in knowing how he interacted with the indigenous people (the Tainos) during his exploration. His actions were not always nice to them. In my perspective, Columbus had to respect the Tainos and their culture.
Grade 5
Sharing The
Planet by Ibu Ida Sriguntari
Do you know that you, children, have rights that are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? The grade 5 students have been exploring child’s rights and how to share opportunities and resources equally under the Sharing the Planet transdisciplinary theme.
Going further, we invited Mrs. Nancy Long who has been supporting some refugees who live temporarily in Indonesia. She introduced us to Rahmat, one of the refugees. He has been living in Indonesia for about 6 years and still waiting to be transferred to another state or country that has agreed to admit him. The refugees who live in Indonesia are not only adults but also children. We learned that many of these refugee children do not get their rights, especially the rights to education as they cannot go to formal schools.
Rumah Faye was our first exploration spot. Rumah Faye is one of Indonesia’s leading independent organizations for children that aims to save Indonesian children from human trafficking, violence and exploitation. The grade 5 students had the privilege to meet virtually with Faye Simanjuntak, the founder of Rumah Faye. She shared that since learning this unit, in grade 5, she kept thinking about child trafficking and wondering how she could help them. She took action by creating Rumah Faye when she was 13.
Last but not least, we explored how bullying is also against one of the child’s rights. We watched a movie called “Chrissa Stands Strong” and listened to Ibu Mira’s presentation related to bullying. A bully intends to cause pain, either through physical harm or hurtful words or behavior, and does so repeatedly. We learned that we must stop bullying as each child has the right to be safe.
Watching “Beyond the Blackboard” movie was our next exploration activity. This movie was about how a teacher made a difference in the lives of homeless children who lived in a shelter. It has opened our eyes to know that they are many children out there that do not get their rights to education, play, safety, etc.
What’s next? After exploring and going through these learning experiences, the grade 5 students will write an action plan to help children around them to get their rights. We’ll see what amazing actions the grade 5 will take to make a difference to children around them!
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Grade 6
Identity and Truth by Miss Angie Lee Whew! This term was quite a whirlwind of events for grade 6! We had our Who We Are unit in which we explored different developmental stages starting from conception into puberty, and explored the various factors that shape and influence our identity. We wrote autobiographies for English class and had an Identity showcase for our UOI summative, in which we were allowed to use any creative medium to represent who we are!
We also had our Grade 6 Virtual Retreat and enjoyed two days of learning about the truth that we believe in with Mr. Geoff who joined us from Australia! We were in Teams for various small group activities as well as competitive games, so we came up with a team name, cheer and flag to represent our groups! Here are some reflections from some of our Grade 6 students.
“A comment I have for the teachers and Mr. Geoff especially, is that they put the time and effort into teaching us a lot about God. Especially Mr. Geoff who took the time to teach and set up this learning session. Overall, I would like to thank Mr. Geoff and every other teacher who was responsible for organizing and teaching us during our 2 day retreat.”
“The thing that was most helpful about the messages are that I could understand more about Truth, Trivia, and the true Truth. A lot of my questions were answered.”
“Everything was fun, especially the ice breakers, and I learned a lot during the lessons. I look forward to the next retreat, and wonder what it would be like if it were offline.”
“The thing that was most helpful about the message was that it inspired me to be more faithful to God and it reassured me that since God is with me, everything will be fine.”
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As we wrap up Term 2, we look forward to exploring our How We Organize Ourselves unit in which we explore the world of entrepreneurship and will get to hear and learn from three different guest speakers as well as create our own business plan to understand first-hand the various components that need to be considered to become a successful Entrepreneur.
Virtual Virtual Retreat Retreat
Virtual Virtual Retreat Retreat 15
PYP Column
Key Concepts by Ibu Ratna Putri The key concept is one of the elements of the PYP. As parents of PYP students, you may be familiar with the term "key concepts". You certainly read the term everytime you read newsletters or a new unit update from Year Level Lead Teacher. What is the PYP key concept? Before we begin with more explanation of the PYP, let's see the definition of a concept.
Concepts monarchy as the governmental type of the United Kingdom, are some examples of facts.
A concept is a "big idea"—a principle or notion that is enduring and is not constrained by a particular origin, subject matter, or place in time (Erickson 2008). Concepts represent ideas that are broad, abstract, timeless, and universal. Concepts may be subject-based or transdisciplinary. Government, for example. As a concept, "government" is broad, abstract, timeless, and universal. On the other hand, the name of the first president of a country or
The inquiry in the PYP is a concept-based inquiry. It is a powerful vehicle for learning that promotes meaning and understanding, and challenges students to engage with significant ideas. Purposeful inquiry is supported by a concept-driven curriculum (Wiggins, McTighe 2005).
Key Concepts Seven key concepts drive the teachers and/or student-constructed inquiries at the heart of the PYP curriculum. The key concepts provide a lens for conceptual understandings within a transdisciplinary unit of inquiry.
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In each unit of inquiry, three to four key concepts are used to drive the inquiry. PYP students will use all the seven key concepts as lenses for conceptual understanding in each grade. Throughout the PYP years, from K1 to grade 6, PYP students will use the same key concepts in approaching each inquiry unit. The key concepts help students think conceptually and connect one subject to another.
Differentiating concept- and fact-based learning Concept-based learning moves beyond facts and leads to breadth and depth of understanding. Simply said, concepts are BIG IDEAS that help us UNDERSTAND. Knowledge, on the other hand, is related to FACTS that help us KNOW. The table below shows the distinctions of facts and concepts.
In conclusion, key concepts provide a lens for conceptual understandings associated with a transdisciplinary theme. Concepts facilitate depth and complexity in learning and provide a structure for conceptual understandings. Conceptual understandings build upon the knowledge and skills to extend and deepen student learning. Compared to simply learning or memorizing isolated facts, locked in place and time, conceptual understandings are changeable, contextual, and may be elaborat- ed or reinterpreted (Milligan, Wood 2010).
"The key concepts help PYP students to unlock the door to their inquiries." The content of this article was taken from the IB Learning and teaching. IBO. 2018. Learning and teaching. Geneva, Switzerland. International Baccalaureate Organization.
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