MYP Newsletter January/February - Issue 3 by Raha International School

MYP Newsletter

This week marks the end of the semester, so our MYP students are halfway through another busy year. This newsletter outlines many of the events and activities that have happened, and continue to happen each day in the middle-years.

With semester reports going out this week, it's important to remember that teachers work hard to assess our students across the four MYP assessment criteria.

Grades awarded at this point are simply an indication, at this point in time, of your child's progression. In the MYP we do not 'average' grades; progress is rewarded. Throughout the year students generally improve their results and the final grade awarded is based on both consistency and recency. Simply, lower grades are dropped in the final report if a pattern of improvement is established.

It has been an absolute joy putting this issue together!

What a semester it has been here in the MYP at Raha’s Garden’s Campus. This week has our budding thespians strutting their stuff in Into the Woods – the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication by a number of teachers and students.

On another note, how wonderful was the global village this year? If you missed it, make sure to mark it down on the calendar next year. A huge shout out to our Parent Team and the whole Raha community for their contribution to the event!

As always, we strive to maintain a very healthy balance between academics and extra-curricular activities. As can be seen in this (fairly comprehensive) snapshot in the next few slides, Raha is a thriving place, with incredibly passionate and dedicated staff, providing opportunities and pathways for our wonderful student body. Have a lovely Mid-Term break, reflect on your child’s academic successes in their report, and we look forward to another actionfilled period as things heat up in more ways than one over the next five months!

Best wishes,

HEAD OF SECONDARY

Paul Ede

DEPUTY HEAD OF SECONDARY

ISSUE

January / February 2023

MYP CURRICULUM Vaughan Kitson

In this issue…

• Spotlight on International Mindedness: MYP Decoded Podcast Episode 8

• International Day

• Student Support

• Maths Anxiety

• Homework Data from MYP Student Survey

• Design highlights

• Miscellaneous learning snapshots

• Music & Performance

• Art

• Sports & PHE

• Grade 9 trip to Expo City

• Grade 7 trip to Masdar City

• Personal Project

• Library

• F1 in Schools

• Teachers Golf Comp

Relive the sounds of International Day [from 15 minutes into the episode]

What does International Mindedness look like in an IB School?

Episode 8

Saturday 4th of February 2023

An International Day to remember!

Student Support

Giving Praise

It’s that time of year when students have adjusted to their new school routines and especially their week 1 and week 2 timetables. However, how do we keep our kids motivated if they worked hard but still did not achieve what they expected? Building self-esteem is so crucial to young teens and teenagers. As a parent or caretaker, it is also important to know how to approach children with praise. Please look at the article “How to give praise that builds kids’ self-esteem" by Amanda Morin.

Knowing your Strengths Activity

Have your child acknowledge their strength. Make a strength chain together and hang in their room. Click here to download the activity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7snnRaC4t5c&t=276s

Often people are heard to be saying “I’m not a maths person”. But you don’t hear people saying, “I’m not an English person” or “I’m not a Design person”.

Not everyone needs to be fluent in Calculus or Geometry to say they are a maths person! But feeling comfortable with numbers and statistics in the increasingly complex world in which we live helps us make sense of what is going on around us. Everyone can be a maths person, just like everyone can be an artist or writer.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Start here to gain a better understanding:

“Many people incorrectly believe that being good at mathematics means being fast at mathematics. It doesn’t and we need to dissociate mathematics from speed. When we value fast computation we encourage a subset of learners who compute quickly and discourage many others, including deep slow thinkers who are very important to mathematics. We no longer need students to compute fast (we have computers for this) we need them to think deeply, connect methods, reason, and justify.”

More detailed information about Maths Anxiety and how to respond to it can be found in a pdf in

[In the MYP section of the Secondary School Webpage]

HOMEWORK in the MYP

The ANNUAL MYP STUDENT SURVEY in December presented teachers and students with opportunities to discuss a number of important aspects related to learning, teaching and assessment in the MYP here at Raha.

An aspect which is a constant source of discussion / debate, is the issue of Homework.

The charts on the next two pages are the perceptions provided by students…

Please discuss with your child, and perhaps reflect on the time he or she spends working at home

DESIGN

Grade 6 DESK ORGANISERS

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/761272490

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/761255981

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/784407636

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/761274589/

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/766681092

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/763441497

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/762509094

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/744972795

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/762476971/

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/763114528

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/762451751

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/762446858

Grade 6 Game Design

Grade 7: Up-cycled Clocks

Grade 7 Eco-Friendly House Designs

Grade 8 F1 Car Designs

Grade 9 – Flat Pack Farms

Grade 10 Product Design

Arabic B

We are now entering the grammar items “expressing opinions Pensar/Creer que / Opinar que + justify your opinions” in order to use them in context when writing an informative blog about art and/or an artistic expression and answering the Factual question:¿Qué tipo de arte te gusta/gustó más?

Español

SEE

THINK WONDER G8

G7 Spanish

Students are exploring of hobbies and leisure time. They research different websites to be able to create a project in groups on a pamphlet where they offer free time activities. They help themselves at the same time with the vocabulary of Languagenut and create the pamphlet with Canva

G8 Spanish

We are learning about cities and directions. Marko is presenting his email that he has sent to his friend introducing his city and recommending places to visit in the city.

G8 FRENCH

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMERISM

Inquiry Question: Comment pouvons-nous consommer sensiblement? / How can we consume more responsibly?

Students explored how to consume more responsibly by first working out how to budget for a week with 100 Є or 400 AED, having to pay for 3 meals a day, transport to and from school, entertainment and a gift for a friend. In groups, they then presented their budgets and findings to each other and they also gave feedback to each other by peerassessing their speaking skills in French. Some of the groups budgeted for free transport by walking to school and others even managed to save some money. Bravo G8s!

Grade 7 Arabic A students doing a presentation about family in French

Grade 10 differentiated project on the environment: "Peut-on sauver notre planète?".

Grade 6 Microbiologists in action ��

Grade 7 students are embarking on a journey through the Middle Ages at the moment. They're currently exploring daily life in Middle Ages Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. Soon, students will investigate the Middle Ages in Britain and will compare and contrast daily life in both civilisations in efforts to understand historical perspectives.

Individuals & Societies

Designing a DRINKS CONTAINER

G7 Maths

Future Mozarts & Eric Claptons in action!

TUNEFUL TUESDAYS

Spotlighting…

Aishani Sarangi

Aishani achieved a DISTINCTION in the Grade 5 ABRSM Piano

Examination

Looking forward to see her competing in the upcoming Abu Dhabi Young Musician competition, along with more of our talented performers.

MUSIC RECITAL

Into the Woods

Behind the scenes…

ART highlights from Semester 1

Our all-conquering u11 and u13 CRICKET teams

Coaching at Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Tchoukball was created in Switzerland by Hermann Brandt, who was concerned by the numerous serious injuries among athletes resulting from sports prone to aggression and physical contact. He believed that sports should be not only for champions, but also contribute to the creation of a better and more humane society. He designed tchoukball to contain elements of handball (it is played with hands, and the balls used are similar), volleyball (as the defending team must prevent the ball from falling) and squash (since there is a rebound).

Grade 6s battling it out

Grade 9 EXPO CITY Trip

What-a-feature at EXPO CITY ��

Grade 7 Masdar City

7th February

The G10 PERSONAL PROJECT Exhibition: 22nd February

Open to Parents from 5 – 6.30pm

The collection of ideas this year is incredibly diverse; students learning to code to make encryption machines, students learning to crochet to make items for charitable donation, students dabbling in electrical engineering to make plant watering systems, dynamo generators to charge phones, and a young lady who promotes reading and community spirit by building and installing a book exchange.

More Personal Projects to look forward to…

LIBRARY goings-on…

In library classes the early year focus has been ‘citing and referencing’ in the MYP. With abundant access to information, it’s an essential skill of the 21st century and learning MLA order doesn’t need to be a bore.

Students opted to be part of a 30-day challenge to boost their Lexile Measure. Using their school subscribed accounts for developing comprehension skills in library lessons, the student undertook extra practice on their own time with huge gains across the board.

Grade 6 volunteers gained points for their team while promoting their literacy skills in the ‘big book relay’ – a competition which has just opened for Grade 7.

World Read Aloud Day

February 1st

MYP students volunteered to read to Early Years students to incorporate BUDDY READING into the day.

As we move toward March, we are gearing ourselves up for the UAE month of reading and our 2023 edition of “Raha Reads.” As always, we have a huge range of exciting prizes so be sure your children get involved!