St. Mark's International School Newsletter 2017-2018 vol.4

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

2017-2018 Newsletter Vol. 4 Mar 2018

Academically Aspiring - Caringly Christian - Experientially Enriching

Christmas Event 2017

Scout Camp 2018

Editorial Advisory Board:

New Soccer ECA Featured items in Students’ S P A C E :

John Ruangmethanon & Dr. Listati Liu

Sirasilp Tingsomchaisilp, Miguel Pansoong, Ruthai Laimthong, Matthew Ngan, Thien Buathong

Editor & Writer : Connie Chiang Artwork & Cover Photography: Raiwintha Larpsiriwat

Copyright © 2018 by St. Mark's International School 1

Read Newsletters Online at http://stmarks.ac.th/

Welcome to Semester 2. This semester we have many interesting activities to share with the St. Mark’s Community. From 10-12 January, our High School students went to Scout Camp at Khlong Lan National Park while our Primary School students went to the Pine Resort. Everyone enjoyed the camping and other fun outdoor activities. This semester our school also offers a new Soccer Extra-Curricular Activity for students who are interested in improving their soccer skills. We hope they enjoy training with our new soccer coach. Please read further to know more about our student’s achievements that took place at school and beyond.

Blessings, St. Mark’s Editorial Team

Teacher’s Day The 16th of January is Teacher’s Day in Thailand. It is a day for students to remember and show respect to their teachers. At our school, a ceremony was held in the school gymnasium from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Students presented gifts of flowers, cards, and sweets to their teachers. A skit was performed by students to depict some of the difficulties that teachers face in the classroom. The entertainment drew laughter from the audience for a happy start to the day.

Natchayathorn Warawet Grabs Silver Medal in Thai ASMO 2017 Natchayathorn Warawet (Year 4) competed in the Asian Science & Maths Olympiad (ASMO) where she won a silver medal in the Thailand Year 4 Maths Category. The medal was presented to her at an awards ceremony held in January 2018.

ASMO is an annual maths and science competition participated by primary and secondary students from across Southeast Asia. Competitions are held at the individual and also at team levels.

Eldrick Loh won a Bronze medal from middle board tournament (13x13) in “Tuagom Go Tournament” Eldrick Loh (Year 1) has been playing “Go” since September 2017. He participated in the "Tuagom Go Tournament" on 14th January 2018 for youth not older than 15 years old. It was the first time for Eldrick to join a Go competition, and he won a Bronze medal from the Middle Board Tournament (13x13 grid lines). Altogether, there were competitions for three different board sizes: 19x19 ,13x13, and 9x9 gridlines.

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St. Mark’s students won 10 medals in International Math Challenge VII Congratulations to our students’ success in receiving 10 medals at the recent International Math Challenge VII, held on Saturday, February 24, 2018 at King Mongkut Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang.

This year’s International Math Challenge has grown to become very large, with around 700 participants from 38 schools, and it has become truly international, with schools from 17 countries participating.

St. Mark’s International School has been participating in the International Math Challenge for the 5th consecutive year, and in the past, our students have never failed to bring back medals and award certificates. Our students have always been recognised for their high level of mathematics competency in this international competition arena.

The competition was divided into 3 categories, and we are pleased to announce that our students have won in every category, with their results as follows: Category 1 (Year 4-5) : Patham (Silver Medal), Subin and Cleojai (Bronze Medal) Category 2 (Year 6-7) : Nazneen (Silver Medal), Weerin (Bronze Medal) Category 3 (Year 8-9) : Tampraphon (Gold Medal), Thien and Thananchai (Silver Medal), Pannaruj and Andrea (Bronze Medal) The most notable performance goes to Tampraphon of Year 8, who has won Gold in Category 3 (Year 8-9), which is the highest level for this competition. We would like to congratulate his family on this stellar achievement.

Chanaporn (Year 3) and Waraporn (Year 4) Leelapraphal won prizes in “2017 Fifth Korean in Thailand Dreamer’s Event” On 21 October 2017, The Korean Association and The Korean Education Center in Thailand held a competition titled, “2017 Fifth Korean in Thailand Dreamer’s Event” at the Jasmine Hotel. Chanaporn (Year 3) and Waraporn (Year 4) Leelapraphal participated in these competitions for primary school stu-

Share your child’s success story with us!

dents, and both won prizes. Waraporn won first Did your child win a music competition, give a speech that people love, achieve in sports or an arts contest? place in the Writing Contest, and received her prize Please send your story along with a few photos to ad- from the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea. min3@stmarks.ac.th Chanaporn won third place also in the Writing ConWe would like to keep a collection of wonderful stories test, and received her prize from the Principal of the for our upcoming newsletters. Your child’s story will Korean Education Center in Thailand. be an inspiration to our school community!

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St. Mark’s Christmas Event 2017 Christmas: “Give Love on Christmas Day” Last Christmas St. Mark’s community celebrated a very meaningful event. In collaboration with World Vision Foundation of Thailand, a child-focused humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization, and following the theme, “Give Love on Christmas Day,” we organized a fund raising activity where we donated money from the fund raiser to help orphanages with their operational costs.

Early Years and primary students presented a Nativity play for everyone to remember the true meaning of Christmas. We had fun fair activities where students enjoyed the play and a raffle draw for everyone to feel excited and suspenseful until the draw of the major prize. High school students put on a big production that they called “Crazy House.” The play was a big hit with everyone. There was also a competition of Nintendo games where primary and high school students competed with each other. Last but not least, parents enjoyed playing basketball against some male teachers. We had a simple Christmas celebration, but a very meaningful one.

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St.Mark’s Scout Camp 2018 This year’s Scout Camp was held from 10 to 12 January. As it was held in the beginning of Semester 2, Scout Camp provided an opportunity for students to bond with each other, welcome new students into the community, and set the momentum for an active start to the semester.

The first day of Scout Camp for Year 1 to 5 students was held at the school, and included activities on learning the camp song, a scavenger hunt, ball games, and creating a team banner. On Days 2 and 3, students enjoyed an

overnight

trip

to

Pine

Resort

in

Pathumthani Province, north of Bangkok.

They took part in team-building activities that included ball games, climbing, and biking.

They enjoyed an evening around a campfire singing songs, telling stories, and roasting marshmallows.

Year 6 to 9 students visited Khlong Lan National Park in Kampaengphet Province. Khlong Lan was designated as a national park on 25th December 1982, as the 44th national park of Thailand.

It is part of Thailand’s Western Forest

Complex and contains waterfalls, rapids, hiking trails, teak and bamboo forests, with deer, wild pigs, macaques, and birds as the dominant wildlife.

The students enjoyed swimming at a waterfall and hiking to the peak of Chong Yen (1,340 metres above sea level). Team building activities included games in the evening, building a dike using natural materials such as stones, erecting their own tents, and cooking some dishes to share dinner with the whole group.

On the last morning, students visited Kampaengphet Historical Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site, before returning to Bangkok.

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To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/N4DcQq

“Student’s Reflections on Scout Camp” “The trip to Kamphangphet Historical Scout Camp was excellent. The food, bus, location, environment, tent, activities and the service was really good. I hope we will have another great scout camp like this next year.” – Kyu, Year 8 “I definitely learned a lot through this trip. This year’s Scout Week is my personal favorite trip. It was definitely a fun and unforgettable experience.” Andrea, Year 9

Teamwork: “The next day we went in the forest to build the dike. We used rock and the sand bag to build the dam.” – Primmy Year 8 “We were all involved in lifting sandbags. It was a very hard task so we decided to roll them instead which made the sandbags move much easier.” – Tan Tan, Year 8 “We got the sand bags and rocks then passed to the next person. After we constructed the dike, I felt that I was so proud of what we had achieved as a big group.” Xin Ni – Year 9

Camping: “The park rangers guided us through making our very own tent. We made some of our own food that night and ate it with joy. After dinner, we went to a meeting/activity room where we played games and talked to coach each other.” – Thien, Year 8 “I found it really complicated to set up our tents. We made a lot of mistakes erecting the tent but eventually got it to stand up properly.” – Melanie, Year 9 6

Student Life To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/e4xpgX

Learning to visualize the magnetic field lines The Year 8 students were learning to visualize the magnetic field lines created by magnets using iron filings and to plot field lines using a plotting compass.

The space surrounding a magnet where it produces a magnetic force is called a magnetic field. Magnetic field lines are used to represent the magnetic field, they give an idea of the intensity of the forces and their direction.

Light & Shade Year 3 Students learned about lighting and shading on an object. This is the first time that students from Year 3 learn how to use basic oil pastel techniques on their artwork with light and shade. They enjoyed painting with the new techniques that they have learned from the teacher.

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Egg Drop Challenge (Physics in Action) Year 7 and 8 homeroom class were set the task of designing a device that could be used to drop a raw egg from various heights. As part of the brief the students were told that the winner would be the designer of the device that could be dropped from the highest position without the egg breaking. However, if more than one device was successful at the maximum height then the design that used the cheapest and lightest materials would be awarded first place. On the day three designs were able to be dropped from the equivalent of the second floor of a building. However, Tampraphon Lohrattanasaneih was awarded first place based on his simple design made from only the cardboard roles from toilet paper packets.

To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/rTxiRU

Pre-prep students enjoy learning Thai Music The angklung (or angkalung in Thai) is a musical instrument from Indonesia but commonly played across Southeast Asia. It is made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, similar to Western handbells. Pre-prep students are having fun in Music Class as they learn to play the instrument which is done through shaking the instrument. Performers in an angklung ensemble play just one or a few notes, but altogether complete melodies are produced.

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Extra - Curricular Activities

To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/uVwRA7

St. Mark’s Soccer Academy We are pleased to inform on the commencement of St. Mark’s Soccer Academy, started in January of this year.

The aim of the Academy is to

develop our students to excel in this sport, with opportunities for students to engage in various soccer tournaments. Conducted by a certified Asian Football Confederation trainer, Mr. Raiwintha Larpsiriwat, the academy operates daily (except on Wednesday) between 3.20 – 4.30 pm. For more detail, please contact our School Office at parent@stmarks.acth 9

ECA Alive Club The Alive Club ECA teaches children about the Bible. It teaches children how to memorize God’s word, it teaches moral lessons from the Bible, and most importantly it teaches children about God himself.

For the past several years the Alive Club has been focusing on participating in Bible drills. Bible drills teaches children to memorize the Bible verses and to be able to find passages in the Bible quickly.

The Bible says in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” We hope that the lessons taught in the Alive Club will continue to develop even when the students become adults.

School improvement: As we enter the hot season, we still would like students to have the opportunity to play outdoors without too much exposure to harmful UV rays. A mesh tarp has been placed over the school playground to provide some shade over the jungle gym yet also allowing light to filter through.

The

tarp also helps to capture leaves that fall from overhanging trees.

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STUDENTS’ S

P

A

C E

A Place for free writing and creativity that lets your imagination spark!

by Sirasilp Tingsomchaisilp, Preparatory Class

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by Miguel Pansoong, Year 5

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by Ruthai Laimthong, Year 6

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Magnetic field Year 8 students used iron filings to visualize the magnetic field lines created by magnets.

by Matthew Ngan, Year 8

by Thien Buathong, Year 8 14

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

+ 66 -2-300-5463

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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