Newsletter 2016-2017 vol 6

TRILINGUAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION  Member of association of christian schools international

 Member of australian council for educational research

 Affiliated with hanyu shuiping kaoshi chinese proficiency testing

 Member of

ST. MARK’S INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

international schools association of thailand

2016-2017 Newsletter Vol. 6

Academically Aspiring - Caringly Christian - Experientially Enriching

Siam Serpentarium Field Trip Planting Bean Sprouts Editorial Advisory Board: John Ruangmethanon, Dr. Listati Liu & Tanyanun Subsompon

Editor: Dean Leaman Writer & Artwork: Keurkoon Phoomwittaya

Students Voice Teenage Problems Featured items in Students’ S P A C E : Melanie Pepyat, Nazneen Ngan & Netanya Pisutboriboon Cover Photography: Glenn Pagatpatan & Keurkoon Phoomwittaya

Copyright © 2017 by St. Mark's International School Read Newsletters Online at http://stmarks.ac.th/

We are delighted to have our new campus spaces

UPCOMING

that bring new perspectives to our staff and students.

EVENTS

In February we gave our students the opportunity to go outside of school for field trips to the Siam Serpentarium and Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital. Some of us

Term Break

went to participate in International Math Challenge VI

Student-Led Conference

and received medals from the competition. newsletter

includes

a

special

feature

This

6-14 April 2017

Coronation Day (Holiday)

entitled,

Visaka Bucha Day (Holiday)

―Students Voice Teenage Problems‖. We hope you enjoy reading.

Blessings, Editorial Team

Extension and Redesign of St. Mark’s Campus Our basketball court is now open. We have extended its size and painted it in distinctive St. Mark‘s colours – blue and yellow. In our eco-friendly zone, our students are welcome to relax and enjoy the view of the garden, the fish pond and the trees. In the Primary and Early Years school building, more bathrooms have been built and are now open for use.

As our school community is growing, we have added additional CCTV cameras around the campus to enhance the security of our students. In addition, the fingerprint scanners are now operational at our new school entrance.

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1 May 2017 5 May 2017 10 May 2017

St. Mark’s Students Grab Medals from International Math Challenge On 25 February 2017 our Year 6 and IGCSE students participated in the 6th International Math Challenge hosted

by Pan-Asia International School in collaboration with King Mongkut‘s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.

Congratulations to our students for winning bronze and silver medals in the competition amongst 268 contestants from 34 international and bilingual schools in 11 countries.

St. Mark’s Open Day — Semester Two On 8 March 2017 St. Marks‘ administration held a Young Learners Open Day to inform prospective parents of the school‘s vision and curriculum. We presented past community events and class activities. In addition, visiting families were shown a model of our forthcoming campus on Srinakarin Road.

Literacy Numeracy Day 2017

On 8 March 2017 our Early Year through Primary

students

participated in fun competition

activi-

ties as part of Math and Languages subjects.

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Immersive Exploration at Siam Serpentarium We knew it was going to be an adventure for us when

At Snake Planet,

we witnessed over 70 types of

we packed extra snacks and brought our hats to

snakes that we had never seen before. While waiting

school.

All of us, from nursery to Year 5, put on

for the show time in the Naka Theater the staff at the

sneakers and got ready to leave the school for the

museum invited everyone to try their hand at guess-

short journey to Siam Serpentarium on 17 February

ing snake‘s names.

2017.

swers received prizes.

Those who gave correct an-

The Immersive Snake Museum let us experience the

To watch our field trip video, please visit: https://goo.gl/nryNXO

world through the eyes of a snake. We learned about how snakes are born, hunt, survive and reproduce.

As the show time began, we walked into

the

indoor

stadium to watch a stunning performance relating to Thai tales about mankind snakes.

3

and

In this fieldtrip we

learned

about science, literature relating to snakes and

perfor-

mance art!

——————

A Tour of Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital

Our Year 6 and High School students met medical practitioners and learned about health care technology.

We walked

through different departments and observed the daily routines of medical staff at the hospital.

In addition, Samitivej Hospital gave us a lecture on relevant health issues that are generally faced by teens today.

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Class Activities Focus Molecular Model Building After learning the theories of molecular composition, Year 7 built models to present molecules.

In this hands-on activity we chose

coloured balls that represent different components such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen and put them together. In other words, we translated formulas of molecules and concepts into solid objects. It began with something simple, and then we practiced to build more complex molecular models.

Planting Bean Sprouts Pre-prep students sang and danced along with a song about God‘s creation of wonderful flowers and plants.

Afterwards, everyone went to the new school garden to plant bean sprouts. This activity was part of our Science lesson.

Forces and Machines Year 5 built their wheeled machine and figured out the effort needed to pull different weights. Together as a team we built the machine, as well as measured and analysed the results.

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Special Feature

Students Voice Teenage Problems

Our Year 8 students had the opportunity to voice out on the topic of “Teenage problems” in English class. The speeches presented were related to issues found from research as well as their own experience. ―What all teens have experienced before is staying up too late at night. Most teens are always seriously active at night. But when they have to go to school they become zombies in the morning and they can‘t even study in the class.‖ – Krittapi Sansak

―My topic is about bullying. There are many types of bullying such as making fun of our friends or a serious crime.‖ – Pannaruj Anantawittayanon

―Bullying can happen anywhere – at school, in our neighborhood, and even online. When bullying happens online, it is called cyberbullying.

People who engage in cyberbullying use technology to send mean and hurtful messages or just make negative comments about that person who is the target of the bully‖ – Hinano Morioka

―My topic is on Body Image. Teenagers who think a lot about how they look can also compare themselves to other people. They focus more on making themselves look better. They could also get bullied on how they look like, and they can feel pressure on it‖ – Yoonjee Lee

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―People with a social anxiety disorder have very excessive fear of social situations and any situations involving talking. It often goes unnoticed because it is not as obvious as problems such as obesity or anorexia. A lot of time people who have social anxiety disorder won‘t know it.‖ – Aaron Sirisambhand

―Most of people get stressed when they have to study or when their parents push them too hard. ‖ – Chaloempat Lohrattanasane

―It is a confusing stage of life being a teenager. It is the stage when we have to go through things to become adults. There are two type of peer pressure — positive and negative peer pressure. An example of negative peer pressure is such as buying BMW you can‘t afford because all your friends have luxury cars.‖ – Andrea Parreno

―Sometimes teenagers get depression and violence from their families. When those problems get really bad, teenagers may lead themselves to do wrong things such as killing themselves…

Tell them that you would do anything to stop them from committing suicide. Most importantly, remove guns, pills, medicines, or anything that lead them to killing themselves.‖ – Melanie Pepyat

Often, problems that teenagers face can lead to negative end results when they think there is no one understanding them. Giving them a voice and listening to their thoughts helps them feel more empowered. The pathway from teenage to adulthood is challenging, but those problems are building them up to cope better with the things they will face in adulthood.

To watch our video, please visit: https://goo.gl/KAD41n

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Extra-Curricular Activities MATH OLYMPIAD CLUB In the morning, before classes, we gather together for the Math Olympiad ECA. We were given Maths problems that we needed to figure out and find solutions.

Doing Maths is like

playing puzzles.

Once you find a part of the answer, you get a clue that leads you to the final answer. We believe practice makes perfect. The more we do maths, the faster we can find the answers.

Mandarin Conversation Game As we entered into our Mandarin classroom we saw many white cards on the table.

Mr. Jia He prepared a fun flipping card game for us.

The challenge was to remember where the pictures cards were and to match them with the correct vocabulary. While we were playing this game our teacher encouraged us to speak Mandarin.

We practiced our conversational great

skill

fun

in

and

had

Mandarin

Conversation class.

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STUDENTS’ S P A C E A place for free writing and creativity that lets your imagination spark

Popular Culture Column

by Melanie Pepyat Year 8

Ariana Grande‘s third album has been re-

says ―something about you make me feel like a

leased. ―Dangerous Woman‖ is a song that she

dangerous woman‖.

made. ―I want to be empowering my fans,‖ Ari-

dangerous so she is trying to make her fans

ana Grande recently said about her new single

feel dangerous, too.

‗Dangerous Woman‘. ―I feel like my personal

Even she herself feels

Dangerous Woman has been really famous

growth is reflected in the sound. To me, a dan-

with people around the world. It is famous be-

gerous woman is someone who‘s not afraid to

cause she is known as one of the famous sing-

take a stand, be herself and be honest.‖

ers worldwide. She is proud to let her fans lis-

Dangerous Woman sounds really empowering.

ten to her song. She feels really proud of her-

The song sounds really dangerous of her start

self too. Lastly Ariana Grande is feeling really

in 2014 ‗Love Me Harder‘ with The Weekend.

thankful for her fans, thank you for supporting

It is dangerous because in one of the lyrics it

her and loving her from then to now.

Students’ Arts

Netanya Pisutboriboon Year 5

Nazneen Ngan Year 5 9

Calm Parenting: 3 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Child is Angry

by Debbie Pincus, a therapist and coach in the Greater New York and an expert in the art and science of parenting calmly.

1. Don’t take it personally. So

You‘ll be surprised how this will

Think, Options, Proceed. A con-

many parents think their children

defuse your child‘s anger, because

versation could go something like

are extensions of themselves, and

calm is contagious.

this: ―I know you‘re upset you

that‘s not true. Don‘t fall into the

couldn‘t go to the sleepover, so you

trap of taking on their emotions or

3. Wait for your child to ask for

hit your sister. Next time you get

blaming yourself. By not taking

help. So often as parents we want

upset, slow down and take a

their screaming or anger personal-

to rush in and manage the situa-

breath. Think about how you want

ly, you will stay objective. This al-

tion, but that often leaves children

to respond. Review your options,

lows you to think clearly and make

feeling powerless and even more

and then proceed to action. How

better parenting decisions.

angry. Kids don‘t like being forced

can you react in a healthier way

to change, so don‘t add fuel to the

next time instead of getting into

2. Find the space between their

fire. Instead, wait until they calm

trouble?‖

action and your reaction. This

down and find a moment when

means if your child is blowing up,

they seem open to talking. Help

Children love feeling accepted in-

take a deep breath, pause, and

them discover their triggers—the

stead of judged or criticized and

give yourself a minute (or ten!) to

things that make them upset. Make

will often strive to change on their

calm down . Finding some space

a game plan for how to cope in the

own when they feel safe. Commit

helps to avoid that by getting

future.

to being a calm parent and help

grounded and calm. When you are

your home be a calmer place for

ready, you can respond to your

A good method for older children is

child without raising your voice.

the STOP acronym: Slow down,

both you and your children.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

— Psalm 103:8 10

900 Rama 9 Rd,Suanluang Bangkok 10250, Thailand Email: info@stmarks.ac.th Phone:

+ 66-2-300-5463

www.stmarks.ac.th

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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