weekly bulletin of the stonehill international school ... · ganesh chaturthi ganesh chaturthi is...

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Weekly Bulletin of The Stonehill International School Volume 7, Issue 111 7 September 2018 FEATURED STORIES Language B at Stonehill From left: Samantha Kidd (Spanish), Fabiana Peinado (Spanish), Huixian He (Chinese), Raji VK (Hindi & Host Culture) Lisa Ng (Chinese), Dorothée Chareryon (French & Spanish), Neena Mehrotra (English B), Catherine Viart (French) and Rajat Jain (Hindi) CONTENTS 01/FEATURED STORIES 05/MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL 06/WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS 08/PRIMARY NEWS 10/SECONDARY NEWS 12/ PTA NEWS THE TIGER IMPORTANT DATES SEPTEMBER 8 th FOUNDER’S DAY & INAUGURATION OF NEW MPH (11:00am ONWARDS) 13 th SCHOOL CLOSED FOR GANESH CHATURTHI FESTIVAL 14 th SCHOOL CLOSED FOR STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY 18 th SEMESTER 1 AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES (ASAs) BEGINS 20 th PTA STAFF APPREACIATION BREAKFAST

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Page 1: Weekly Bulletin of The Stonehill International School ... · Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great devotion all over India. Lord Ganesha is one of the best-known

Weekly Bulletin of

The Stonehill International School Volume 7, Issue 111 7 September 2018

FEATURED STORIES

Language B at Stonehill

From left: Samantha Kidd (Spanish), Fabiana Peinado (Spanish), Huixian He (Chinese), Raji VK (Hindi & Host Culture) Lisa Ng (Chinese), Dorothée Chareryon (French & Spanish), Neena Mehrotra (English B),

Catherine Viart (French) and Rajat Jain (Hindi)

CONTENTS 01/FEATURED STORIES

05/MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL

06/WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

08/PRIMARY NEWS

10/SECONDARY NEWS

12/ PTA NEWS

THE TIGER IMPORTANT DATES

SEPTEMBER

8th

FOUNDER’S DAY & INAUGURATION OF NEW MPH (11:00am ONWARDS)

13th

SCHOOL CLOSED FOR GANESH CHATURTHI FESTIVAL

14th

SCHOOL CLOSED FOR STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY

18th

SEMESTER 1 AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES (ASAs) BEGINS

20th

PTA STAFF APPREACIATION BREAKFAST

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Bonjour, I’m from Lyon, France. Before Bangalore, I taught in Turkey, China and Hong Kong in IB schools. Besides teaching, I enjoy trekking, hiking, going to the gym and meeting new people. This year, I am teaching French and Spanish for MYP and French for DP. In MYP French, we will be working and learning about the leisure and entertainment; celebrations and customs (service unit); how to have a healthy life; and school and work life. During lessons, students do a lot of group work. They are engaged in a variety of projects to practice the language they are learning as much as possible. Dorothée Chareyron Head of Language B Department French and Spanish Teacher

MYP and DP Spanish

MYP and DP students are busy building their linguistic skills while engaging in learning activities designed to provide them with opportunities to experience the richness and variety of Spanish-speaking cultures. Throughout the year, and across the variety of different year groups and phases, our students will be exploring topics ranging from “Who am I?”, to the impact of Human Rights on health and well-being. We’re already off to a great start and looking forward to an exciting year ahead.

M2 and M3 students taking a “chocolate” brain break to help them reset and refocus before the next

session of the lesson.

M4 and M5 students getting to know each other at the beginning of the year.

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D1 students learning about culture by dancing Bachata.

D1 students practicing their speaking skills with brief partner role-plays.

M1 Spanish students holding their passports that they made in class.

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D2 Spanish students making informative posters about eating disorders for a campaign.

Ms. Fabiana Peinado, Ms. Samantha Kidd, and Ms. Dorothée Chareyron Whole School Spanish Teachers

DP Hindi

Namaste. I am and Indian and a native speaker of Hindi. I have taught Hindi for the past 12 years and this is my second year at Stonehill. This year I am teaching Hindi for P8 to D2 students. Apart from teaching, I love to spend time with my family and write short stories.

D1

We kicked off the year by discussing the five themes we would be using throughout the next two years. For the first semester we will be focusing on three themes, which we conversed about in detail by venturing into subtopics. We started by taking a prior knowledge assessment to assess our levels and see where we stood. This helped us understand the amount of effort we would need to put into the subject. We read a newspaper article related to our first theme, paying attention to difficult words, idiomatic expressions, and synonyms. Then we wrote reflections based on what we had understood so far. As we got deeper into our first theme, ‘Identity’, we watched a video titled, ‘Ladki Haath se Nikal Jaayegi”. This highlighted the idea of young girls struggling to achieve an education due to their traditional societal roles. Another activity we did was read to about women trying to find their identities in Indian society through various means. For example, we read about saleswomen in Kerala who fought for their human rights. Most recently, we learned about our assessment criteria and the changes that the IB has made to the grading system. This helped us better understand the expectations the IB has from us, and how we can meet, and perhaps even, exceed them.

D2

For the D2s, this year started by completing a couple of examination style practice papers. Focusing on the written assignment, we had a brief discussion about it in the class emphasising on its rationale and task. We also had an introduction of the individual oral presentation, in which the students were briefed about its weightage, importance and various ways to prepare for the presentation. Rajat Jain Whole School Hindi Teacher

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

PTA Barbeque It was great to see the Stonehill community come together and enjoy an afternoon of delicious food, fun activities and connecting with new and old friends. I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to our PTA for putting this together. A special thanks also to our cafeteria, facilities and support staff who worked tirelessly to ensure we had a wonderful day.

10 Year 10K Fun Run On Sunday 23rd September we will host the Stonehill 10 Year 10K Run. There will be a range of events organised, including a 5K run in which students can participate. We are encouraging as many parents, teachers and students to sign-up and run for fun. You can register for the event using the following link - Stonehill 10Year 10K. Nut Free Zone Please remember that we are a Nut Free School. We have children at the school who have a severe, potentially fatal, anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. Students should not bring nuts or products containing nuts to school. Health, Safety and Security We are always looking for ways to improve health, safety and security on our campus. This week, we installed four Automated External Defibrillators across the campus. At the beginning of the year, all academic and administrative staff completed the certified, internationally-recognised, online course ‘Child Protection in International Schools’. Last week, all staff also completed fire extinguisher training. All students on campus have now participated in a scheduled Fire Evacuation Drill and Lockdown Drills.

Fire Extinguisher Training Child Protection Course AED Installation

With best regards, Simon McCloskey Head of School

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

Page 7: Weekly Bulletin of The Stonehill International School ... · Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great devotion all over India. Lord Ganesha is one of the best-known

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great devotion all over India. Lord Ganesha is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. He is known for his elephant head and can be seen in a variety of places – as an idol in the puja room where he is worshipped; at the entrance of the house as protection; on calendars, wedding invites and cars to engender blessings and good wishes and so on. Lord Ganesha is worshipped to invoke blessings, wisdom and prosperity. He is considered as ‘Vignahartaa’, which is Sanskrit for ‘remover of all obstacles’ and is addressed by 108 other pseudonyms. During Ganesh Chathurthi people bring idols (murtis) of Lord Ganesha to their homes worship for a duration 1 day to 11 days, depending on each family’s tradition. During this time, it is common to see processions held with music playing on the streets and people dancing to religious songs. The massive idols are elegantly decorated; temples are festively decorated with flowers and lights; and a general atmosphere of revelry and celebration is palpable in the air. The festival ends with the idol being carried in a public procession with music and celebrations, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a lake, river or ocean. Ms. Raji VK Host Culture Teacher

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PRIMARY NEWS

Thoughtfully Approaching Children’s Artwork

Recently a woman I know posted a photo of her child’s artwork on Facebook. The photo depicted a small box neatly painted green with various designs and embellishments on it. The caption said, “My son brought this home from school today. I asked him what it was. When he said he didn’t know I told him to throw it in the trash.” We might ask ourselves, how could the parent in this story be so critical of her child’s artwork. It might surprise you to know that she has a PhD in Education. We’ve all thrown away children’s artwork when the time seemed appropriate, as it would be next to impossible to save everything. Likewise, we’ve all witnessed examples of what we might consider not being the child’s best work. But it was the manner in which the parent was so immediately dismissive of the piece which I would like for us to consider. Aside from likely hurting the feelings of her son, the parent missed a golden opportunity to better understand the thinking dispositions behind the artwork. You might be saying to yourself that you didn’t know there were such things as thinking dispositions in art. You are not alone and that’s why people sometimes don’t know how to respond to original, age-appropriate children’s artwork. What are thinking dispositions in the visual arts and why are they important? In the book Studio Thinking 2 – The real benefits of visual arts education (Hetland 2013), the authors, along with researchers from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero and others, present eight Studio Habits of Mind. These habits of mind are thinking dispositions that are nurtured in the visual arts.

Studio Habits of Mind (Hetland 2013)

Observe – Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary looking requires Envision – Learning to picture visually and imagine next steps Express – Learning to create works that convey an idea, feeling or personal meaning Develop Craft – Learning to use tools and take care of the art studio Engage and Persist – Learning to embrace problems, develop focus and persevere Stretch and Explore – Reaching beyond capabilities, playfully exploring without a plan, embracing the opportunity to learn from mistakes Reflect – Learning to think and talk with others about artwork, making judgements Understand Art Worlds – Learning art history and current practice, learning to interact with other artists

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“Explore” pieces and “care” pieces are both important to develop Studio Habits of Mind In the PYP visual arts class, we give equal importance to artwork that results from exploring with materials and artwork that is carefully crafted as a special take-home or show piece. Studio Habits of Mind develop through both types of art making. As members of the school community, I encourage everyone to thoughtfully and joyfully approach the children’s artwork, asking questions such as: “What’s your favourite part of the work and why?” “What was most challenging?” “Tell me how you did this.” Not everything about art can be easily expressed in words, but these questions will help the students to learn to talk about some aspects of their work and reflect on the process. Ironically, soon after the woman I know posted and ridiculed the photo of her son’s green box on Facebook, I came across a remarkably similar green box by Jean Pougny in the Pompidou Centre in Paris. I imagine it’s worth a small fortune. Like many modern art pieces, the significance of the piece is in the original thinking behind it, rather than any special technical skill of the artist. By seeking to understand the process and thinking behind it, we learn to recognise it’s value. Resources: Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sheridan, K.M. (2013). Studio thinking 2: The real benefits of visual arts education. New York: Teachers College Press Mr. Ron Gresham PYP Visual Arts Specialist

SECONDARY NEWS

Secondary Back to School Orientation

The Secondary Back to School Orientation on Saturday was a huge success with over 150 parents attending the event. Parents were extremely appreciative of all the tireless efforts of staff to enhance the learning experience for their children. This was followed by the PTA Barbeque that was exceptionally well planned and organised with a lot of engaging activities, which were enjoyed thoroughly by everyone.

DP Camp for Parents

The DP Camp for parents is was held today, 7th September, from 8:00am to 3:00pm. Thank you to our DP coordinator, Ms. Manpreet Kaur who organised the event and the many parents who attended The event included session on Introduction to the Diploma Programme, Academic Honesty, Extended Essay, TOK, CAS, Internal and External Assessments, Role of the parent, College Counselling, University Placement and Stress and Time Management.

Introduction to PowerSchool and ManageBac

The next Secondary School presentation focuses on Introduction to PowerSchool and ManageBac and is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 12th September from 7:50 to 8:50 am in the Primary ICT Lab. Mr. Jitendra Pandey, MYP Coordinator, and Ms Katherine Steen, Whole School Technology Coordinator will present this session.

Early Leave/Late Return for School Holidays

Parents are not encouraged to withdraw children during term-time for vacations. Parents are also asked not to ‘leave early’ or ‘return late’ in order to extend scheduled school holidays. In cases where students will miss routine classes because of voluntary absence, the school does not provide extra work for them to take on vacation. The school is sometimes asked to ‘authorise’ absences during school time for family vacations or other trips. It is not the school’s policy to do so.

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Attendance

If a student’s attendance falls below 90% during the year (without extenuating circumstances), parents will be asked to attend a meeting with the Principal. The school reserves the right to request students to repeat the year if attendance is lower than 90% by the end of Semester Two, as stated on page 36 of the Parent- Student Handbook.

Late or Absent

If your son/daughter is absent or late, please send an email to the secondary secretary with a copy to the homeroom teacher by 7:30 am [email protected] or telephone 080-4341-8300 Ext. 8555 (Ms. Saathi Banerjee) or Ext. 8511 (Ms. Tanuja Arora) Secondary Student Council On Tuesday, 4th September elections to the Student Council were held, with 238 students voting. All office bearers obtained more than 100 votes. The following is the list of student council members for the academic year 2018 – 2019.

OFFICE POSITION NAME Chair Srika Ramani-D2

Co-Chair Kao Kamizono-D1 Vice-Chair Ben Hummel-M4 Treasurer Soobin Park-D1 Secretary Shreya Ramanan-M4

Events Coordinator Anna Boas-Dykes-M4 Publisher Tayyibah Kazim-D1

CLASS REPS M1A Rishaan Mukherjee M1B Krish Budhrani M2A Sarah Landers M2B Wil Andre Calayan

Blas M3A Alexander Vanetten M3B Trusha Walia M4A Skye Moonsamy M4B Vincent Scherer M5A Tanish Jain M5B Neil Sairam D1 Venkateshwaran D1 Ann-Sophie Roehri D2A Marie Hummel D2B Lea Cepeda

Long Weekend for Students

Please note that Thursday, 13th September is a holiday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The school will also be closed for the students on Friday, 14th September due to a scheduled staff Professional Development day. Wishing you a pleasant long weekend next week, Narendra Mehrotra Secondary Principal [email protected]

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PTA NEWS

Upcoming PTA Events

Teacher Appreciation Breakfast - September 20th

Details and Time TBA soon!

Parent Coffee Morning and talk courtesy of Bluefoot Tours - September 27th Details and time TBA soon!

UNCLAIMED Raffle Prize: TV and Sound System

We drew the ticket for the raffle prize contest for a TV and sound system from the PTA BBQ. However, nobody came forward to collect the winning ticket.

If you have the WINNING TICKET NUMBER 862, please claim your prize!

You have until midnight Tuesday, 12th September. If the ticket goes unclaimed after that time, the prize will be donated to Morning Star Ashram. We request you to remind your friends to check! If you are the winner, please contact Liliana Montoya on +91 99729 25573. Thanks to your generosity, we raised INR 71,000 for shoes. We will now be able to buy new shoes for every one of the 140 boys at Morning Star Ashram, as well as hats and socks. These will be donated on 8th September. Thank you for your support Stonehill PTA Charity Team

Stonehill International School

259/333/334/335 | Tarahunise Village Post | Jala Hobli (Bangalore North) Bangalore 562157

T +91.80.43418300 | E [email protected] | www.stonehill.in