TRILINGUAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Member of association of christian schools international
ST. MARK’S
Member of australian council for educational research
Affiliated with hanyu shuiping kaoshi chinese proficiency testing
Member of
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
international schools association of thailand
2016-2017 Newsletter Vol. 5
A c a d e m i c a l ly A s p i r i n g
C a r i n g ly C h r i s t i a n
Experientially Enriching Sports Day 2017 IGCSE Students Creating Business Ideas Let’s Make a 3D Solar System Editorial Advisory Board: John Ruangmethanon, Dr. Listati Liu & Tanyanun Subsompon
Featured items in Students’ S P A C E: Melanie Pepyat , Chaloempat Lohrattanasane & Hinano Morioka Artwork & Cover Photography: Keurkoon Phoomwittaya
Editor: Dean Leaman Writer: Keurkoon Phoomwittaya
Copyright © 2017 by St. Mark's International School Read Newsletters Online at http://stmarks.ac.th/
At St. Mark’s we facilitate an environment that welcomes all students to play and learn together regardless of nationalities or ages. At our recent Sports Day, friendships were built among students as well as parents as everyone joined in practising teamwork. In this issue you will read
UPCOMING
EVENTS Social Work Day
14 March 2017
and ideas of our students, including our IGCSE students’
Term Break
6-14 April 2017
creative business ideas. We hope you enjoy!
Student-Led Conference
1 May 2017
not only about recent St. Mark’s events, but the thoughts
Blessings, Editorial Team
New Books Available at the Library This semester St. Mark’s English Department aims to focus on reading comprehension for our students. Because of the importance of developing a life-long habit of reading, we continually add new selections to the library that students can take home to read at their leisure. Our books are suited for a variety of age groups and our school librarian would be happy to help your child with his or her selections. At St. Mark’s, we aim to instill in students a thirst for knowledge, through both fictional and non-fictional works.
Students Showing Respect and Appreciation on Teachers’ Day 2017 On 19 January 2017, St. Mark’s Thai Department facilitated the Teachers’ Day celebration during our regular Thai Culture Assembly time. This event was held to give our students the opportunity to show their thankfulness and appreciation for their teachers. While Thai Music members were playing songs, our students paid respects as well as gave flowers and cards to their teachers. A special video, produced by Pannaruj Anantawittayanon in Year 8, was presented as part of the programme and students who wrote the best essays on the topic of ―Teachers’ Day‖ were awarded prizes by our School Principal. We watched footage of the lives of our St. Mark’s teachers and listened to our students’ thoughts about ―who a teacher is to you.‖ To watch our video please visit https://goo.gl/luiICo
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Razzmatazz Entertainment at St Mark’s
Can relationships that have been torn down ever be the same again? Mr. Lowell Tauszik the founder of Razzmatazz Entertainment was here at our school to demonstrate about relationships with friends, parents and God through his magic show. Mr. Lowell Tauszik, a well-known Christian entertainer, came all the way from Florida to perform a special show on the theme of ―kindness and compassion‖ during the morning assembly on 1 February 2017. He told stories through the use of shows that excited all. The newspaper that was ripped became the perfect piece again. The rope that was cut off became one long rope again. He connected the idea that he introduced to the story of The Good Samaritan from the Bible. It was a fun-filled morning watching the show!
Chinese New Year Crafts & Fun Games The special time we awaited had finally arrived. We celebrated joy, friendship and prosperity at school on 27 January 2017. We learned to craft Chinese New Year themed items such as lanterns and chicken hats. In this special time we joined in a chopstick competition with our classmates. We had to use the chopsticks to move as many M&Ms to another plates as we could within a limited time. After putting on red paper tails, we practiced stealing tails from our friends while protecting our own. Oh no! We all lost our own tails! We all burst out with laughter when the game ended.
Yoonjee (Year 8) Won 1st Place in the Presentation Contest held by The Embassy of the Republic of Korea and The Korean Education Center Congratulations to our IGCSE student, Yoonjee Lee, for again winning the first prize of 15,000 Baht for her presentation at the Sheraton Hotel on 17 December 2016. Yoonjee had previously received an award of excellence from the My Dream International Foundation for winning the Southeast Asia Youth Dream Presentation contest held in Vietnam. Her recent presentation in this contest, held by The Embassy of the Republic of Korea and The Korean Education Center, was on Hwaseong Fortress, the wall surrounding the centre of Suwom, the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do in the Republic of Korea. UNESCO selected the fortress as a World Heritage site in 1997.
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SPORTS DAY 2017!
St. Mark’s students, teachers, and parents were back at Ramkhamhaeng University again for the ultimate St. Mark’s Sports Day. This year we came to participate in unusual challenges with new team members.
Our Early Years students went into the grassy area in the middle of the Sports field while our Primary and Secondary students participated in the class sprints on the running track. Afterwards, the chosen runners from each team showed their teamwork in the 80-metre relays where we made the turn-around at the 40-metre mark. Our parents also competed with each other in our special parents relay.
Traditionally St. Mark’s has organised Sports Day teams according to house colours, but this time we divided our students into 4 new teams – Wolves, Lions, Eagles and Panthers. Before the warm up, each team representative from Year 8 gave a short speech to the audience.
In the St. Mark’s Mini Marathon we ran around the track at different distances suited to our ages, followed by The Mystery Relay on the grass field. The events not only tested on our speed, but also our ability to balance ourselves while using the T-ball bats as poles to spin around.
―Sport is one of the ways to keep us motivated. It shows us that not everything is easy but anything is possible. We need to work hard to achieve our goals. We are hardworking, smart, fearless, and strong. We are the Wolves!‖, Krittapi Sansak said.
The Tug-Of-War game was one of the most popular events amongst both students and parents. After the students competed, parents also competed against our teachers. With the team spirit and secret tactics of our parent community, they became this year’s champions. Lastly, Year 6 and Year 8 students took the final challenge of competing against Mr. Javier in our Monster Marathon.
―Sport is not just winning or losing. We want to have fun with the sports. We are the Lions! I know you can do louder than that! Again, we are Lions!‖, Pannaruj Anantawittayanon shouted, calling for the huge roaring power from all team members. ―Sport is something that lets us work together as a team and we are the Eagles!‖ Chaloempat Lohrattanasane said, leading the audience to shout along, ―Eagles! Come on!‖
St. Mark’s Sports Day 2017 ended not only with medals, but also fitness, smiles, memories, and friendship. Big cheers to the Sports Day coordinators, staff, students and parents for making this day a community celebration of victory.
―We believe that sport teaches us how to work in team. We are the Panthers‖ Melanie Pepyat said and everyone went, ―rawr, rawr, rawr‖!
To watch our video please visit: https://goo.gl/Tcciy6
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Class Activities Focus Welcome New Friends to The ABC-123 Carpet! Hurray! Our teachers made the new carpet to help us learn the alphabet and counting. This semester we met new friends who just joined in our Nursery class, too. We welcomed them to join the journey with us. Every day when we sit here on the carpet our teachers tell stories that help us imagine and feel like we are in new places. We are glad to have new friends to learn, play and imagine with.
Year 1 Number Bonds Activity Year 1 students began to build a foundation of calculation. We learned to add and subtract with examples from real life. We used many methods to solve Math problems such as drawing Number Bond charts, counting, and drawing pictures and lines.
Our teachers
gave us the chance to show our answers in front of the class. We really enjoyed using the whiteboard markers to draw pictures and numbers on our plastic sheets.
Thai Lessons For Foreign Students Our Thai teachers provide special Thai lessons for foreign students in which they learn both writing and speaking at the beginning level. We offer both one-on-one and group classes according to student ability. We have students who arrive with no Thai background at all and now they can already write sentences and join in Thai conversations with their classmates.
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Special Feature
Igcse students Creating Business ideas Our experience in the world is changing constantly because of innovation within the context of business. As part of our IGCSE entrepreneurship course, our students created their own business ideas that would attract target customers living in the digital society of today. One of the projects, inspired by new media technology, was a virtual reality service which not only included features for entertainment, but also developed into a facility for improving the everyday lives of those who are injured or have broken legs. All of our business ideas came from student’s observation of real-world problems. If you do paper work and then accidently spill something on it, you may think that your assignments are ruined. This problem is solved if you have a ―Smart Iron‖. Or if you want to enjoy your motorbike-riding experience even more, our Year 7 students are proud to present you with all-in-one helmets. You can see a projection of a map, see the rear view, choose your favourite music, and reply to messages if you have this helmet on your head. To watch our business presentations please visit https://goo.gl/3gPUEJ
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Extra-Curricular Activities Let’s Make a 3D SOLAR SYSTEM
The wonder of Creation is all around us. But have you ever wondered about the space outside of the earth? We are proud to present to you our 3D Science and Arts integrated project. In our Creative Arts ECA we applied what we learned from Science into our crafts. We looked at a representation of the Solar System and drew cartoon versions of it on white paper. We shaded blue colour from dark to light, and then put the stars on the top of paper poles in our Solar System. Now our pieces of arts are 3D – bringing you to imagine along with us. Students learn better when they see scientific concepts in pictures. Making the unseen come to life visually, and with their own hands, also help them remember more... and have a lot of fun!
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Passing a Ball into Hula Hoop Goals Every Wednesday our Ball Games ECA members practice new activities. Our teachers prepare a variety of games using many types of balls; from little colourful balls to basketballs and footballs. One of our favourites is the game of passing a football into Hula Hoop goals. We try to catch the balls where the hula hoops are placed, while other members act as barriers so that the other teams cannot collect points.
Student council Sports
On 6 – 9 February 2017 our Student Council ran the Sports Campaign for health, teambuilding, and friendship. This project was organised before Sports Day to call our students to get ready and getting in shape. We played Pingpong, Badminton, Football and Flip the Bottle together with friends from different classes. What makes our school community unique is that we play together and become friends regardless of ages or nationalities.
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STUDENTS’ S P A C E A place for free writing and creativity that lets your imagination spark
One of the popular social media right now, Musical.ly What is musical.ly?
Musical.ly is a free app that allows users to create and share music videos. Users can easily share their music videos to their friends and to the world. It has been popular through different ages and many people are enjoying it. Users can pick songs that they like and can easily create music videos which are up to 15 seconds long. Users can also comment on music videos made by other users. Musically is allowing users to share their happiness. How popular is it? In 2015, it became the most downloaded free app in over 30 countries including United Kingdom, Canada, America, Philippines and Japan.
Also in July 2016, there were
more than 90 million users and 12 million new videos were posted every day. Facts about Musical.ly superstars
Annie Leblanc
Lisa and Lena
Her birthday is on 5th of December 2004
Their birthday is on 17th June 2002
She is 12 years old
They are 14 years old twin, from Germany
They have earned more than 15 millions fans on Musical.ly and over 8 million followers on Instagram
She has more than 7 million fans on Musically and 2.2 million followers on Instagram
Loren Gray
She has a Youtube channel called Acroanna which has around 1.2 million followers
TEENAGE magazine is made by our Year 8 students as part of their English subject.
Her birthday is on 19th of April 2002
She is 14 years old
Editorial and Graphic Designer Team:
She is well known, as Loren Beech on social media, including Youtube, Instagram and Younow
Melanie Pepyat
She has more than 13 million fans on Musical.ly
Chaloempat Lohrattanasane Hinano Morioka
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The Benefits of Team Sports jobs and other interests.
Today’s generation of children is fighting the worst obesity epidemic in history. Giving kids an excuse to exer-
THE THREE P 'S
cise is reason enough to consider team sports. But calories aside, team sports have other benefits to kids—
Just as they must practice spelling, math and any other
social, emotional and physical ones.
skill, kids need to learn that being part of a sports team requires the three P's … practice, patience and persis-
Here are some things that team sports teach that go
tence. Whether it’s showing up to practice when you’d
well beyond scoring, batting, shooting and winning.
rather be home with Legos, waiting your turn on the sidelines, or doing the same drill over and over again,
E GO CHE CKS
the three P's of team sports translate into important life Any parent knows that a child can be extremely egocen-
lessons.
tric. But that ―my way or the highway‖ attitude will have to stay in check on a team sport. When a kid sees that
ANO THE R RE AS ON FO R F AMI LY TIME
everyone gets to play, they hopefully start to think about
Playing catch in the yard, heading down to the local
the group as a whole, and not just themselves. Even
soccer field for some drills … these types of outings with
better, they learn to be happy for other player’s suc-
your kids can mean a great deal in our busy parenting
cesses because they see how it benefits the team.
culture. While the official reason may be practicing for the team, an even greater benefit is the time you get to
P OSI TI VE ME NTORS
spend together. Sometimes, in between dribbling and
A dedicated, thoughtful and skilled coach can have an
lay-ups, an important truth is revealed or an opportunity
amazing impact on children. In fact, sometimes your
presents itself to teach a value.
child will respond better to an objective coach than he
Source:
will to his own parent. When kids have early, positive
https://www.education.com/magazine/article/
Ed_Benefits_Team_Sports/
experiences with coaches, they continue to seek out and learn from mentors who can help them with school,
Written by Lucy Rector Filppu
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV 10
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Guided by Christian philosophy, St. Mark's International School aims to provide quality Early Years through Secondary education, enabling each student to achieve their fullest potential by becoming confident, motivated, optimistic and responsible young citizens.
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