St. Mark's International School Newsletter 2017-2018 vol. 3

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

2017-2018 Newsletter Vol. 3 Sep 2017

Academically Aspiring - Caringly Christian - Experientially Enriching

Together For Peace

World Vision Famine Project Day

Editorial Advisory Board: John Ruangmethanon & Dr. Listati Liu Editor: Dean Leaman Writer, Artwork & Cover Photography: Keurkoon Phoomwittaya

6 Ways Kids Can Change The World

Featured items in Students’ S P A C E : Together For Peace Art Exhibition & High School Video Production Copyright © 2017 by St. Mark's International School Read Newsletters Online at http://stmarks.ac.th/

In October we organised „Together For Peace‟, an International Day event in which everyone shared happiness and great memories. We enjoyed seeing participation from our community throughout the month. In collaboration with World Vision Foundation of Thailand, High School students demonstrated their leadership potential by organising a Famine Project. Every event that happens in our school community is valuable and we welcome you too to share your stories with us. (see page 2).

Blessings, St. Mark‟s Editorial Team

Loy Krathong Activity On Loy Krathong day, our students learned to make beautiful Krathong through a special hands-on activity.

Some Primary and Secondary students volunteered to assist Early Years students in this activity.

Special thanks to all of our Thai teachers and parents for their preparation and for helping the children make their Krathongs.

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

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Math Olympiad Questions of the Day Throughout the semester, our students have been waiting to see the new Maths problems that we post in front of the School Office.

Some of them wait excitedly to answer the questions every day. Students who achieve 5 points within a week receive prizes.

Abigail Moller Grabs Gold and Silver Medals in SAT Swimming Competition 2017 Our school would like to express our congratulations to our young swimmer from Year 2, Abigail Moller, who recently received medals in her second swimming competition.

She was awarded medals in 2 out of the 3 races in which she participated: - Gold Medal in Freestyle 50m Age 7 Female - Silver Medal in Backstroke 50m Age 7 Female Last December, when Abigail was 6 years-old, she demonstrated her talent for swimming by competing in the Thailand National Games swimming competition at the 7 yearold level. Although Abigail was younger than other competitors, she won a gold medal and a bronze medal in the competition.

Ms. Janitar Somboonsakdikul, Abigail‟s mother, shared about Abigail‟s learning experience, “Our family is so proud of her as a little girl who is learning to compete as well as to accepting that winning is not everything. Sometimes you win, sometimes might not. But the most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing.”

Share your child’s success story with us!

Did your child win a music competition, give a speech that people love, achieve in sports or an arts contest? Please send your story along with a few photos to admin3@stmarks.ac.th

Abigail continues to develop her swimming skills and always has fun when she is in the swimming pool.

Congratulations, Abigail! We wish you all the best in future competitions.

We would like to keep a collection of wonderful stories for our upcoming newsletters. Your child’s story will be an inspiration to our parent community!

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Together For Peace

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace — Psalm 29:11

On International Day, the St. Mark’s community

Mexico, China and Greenland.

gathered together to enjoy student performances

Our shows included dance, singing, musical in-

and to learn about the varied cultures around our

struments, and a special film production entitled

world. This year our program was themed

“Greenland Is Not Green”, presented by our High

“Together For Peace” and symbolised our school’s

School students. The winners of our Together For

aim to develop the shared value of accepting cul-

Peace Arts Contest were presented awards for

tural diversity and embracing the various national

showing fabulous creativity suited to the theme.

identities of others. St. Mark’s is a place where friendship can happen no matter where children

Students and parents had a chance to travel

come from!

around the world on their special one-day-tour passports to play games. Once completing the

We welcomed the assembled parent audience with

journey they received prizes and joined in an inter-

a parade representing Iran, Mongolia, India,

national buffet prepared by our School and par-

Peru, Argentina, Indonesia, Russia, Canada,

ents.

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To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/Ct693W

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To watch our event summary video please visit: https://goo.gl/VfRL5U

World Vision Famine Project Day On 18 October, St. Mark’s students and teachers

edly for the completion of their first famine fasting

participated in the Famine Project Activity led by

experience. They had a countdown from 10 to 1

the World Vision Foundation of Thailand and our

and everyone shouted “Yay!!” as they accom-

High School Students.

plished the goal.

Before starting off with making D.I.Y notebooks for

“Well-done” to our Famine leaders from Years 7 - 9

the funding of breakfasts for kids, World Vision

and our school nurse, Ms. Vea Gaygon, who coordi-

presented videos about the issue of nutrition for

nated this special activity with the assistance of our

children. In the 4-hours fasting program, our stu-

teachers and students, making this activity a great

dents experienced the hunger of children in poverty

success.

and made D.I.Y. notebooks for the funding of the

A special thanks to World Vision Foundation of

World Vision nutrition program. We also presented

Thailand for giving our students a real world learn-

a cheque for 12,640 Baht in donations from our par-

ing experience and helping them to be contributors

ent community.

to our society.

Our students danced joyfully as they waited excit-

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Student Life Science Is All Around

Living Things Around Our Campus Here on our campus, surrounded with plants and wonderful creation, our Year 1s explored, seek out living things and list in their workbooks. Walking inside the spacious garden area, they watched the fish swimming around a little pond, discovering plants, and small insects. As the adventure concluded, they sat in a circle, discussing, and classifying the different types of living things they found.

Mandarin Word Bubbles Game Our Year 8s had a small class competition with their Chinese vocabulary.

Two students competed together at a time. They had to listen to the words given, and make a check mark on the right spots. The one who found the

Video available in Parents’ Gateway

word first then wrote the Chinese character on the board.

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Fishergirls and Fisherboys Count The Fish With Cheer Our Year 2s crafted their own fish using coloured paper. They attached clips and put magnets on the tips of fishing poles.

As Ms. Gigi counted “Three...Two...One...

Go! they had to pull up as many fish as they could and see who caught the most.

We love how our teacher always integrates Arts and Science, making her lessons fun!

Moldy Bread Experiment Our Year 3 class did an experiment to find out how fast mold would grow under various conditions.

They put some water on pieces of bread and placed them around the school.

After a few days they compared their results to see the effect of temperature on mold production.

Guess The Thai Word Game

Video available in Parents’ Gateway

To review the Thai vocabulary that they learned in class, our Year 3s had a class challenge. In this game, one person had to do an action, while the next person guessed the word the action represented.

When they got the correct answer, the last member wrote down the word correctly. Everyone kept cheering for their classmates!

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Extra curricular Activities Smashing Table Tennis Balls Our Table Tennis ECA members have learned to apply different smashing techniques. After a smash for the first try, the trainers give more balls for practice. It is fun to learn sports – come and join our happy time with us!

Paper Bags Craft Creative Arts, which meets on Fridays after school, is one of the most popular ECAs among our young learners. Here they learn to use materials available for presenting their creativity and handiwork.

Here they transformed plain brown paper into paper bags that can be useful for storing their work, putting small snacks inside, collecting things or other varied uses.

Our Creative Art ECA is a fun time for all. While the work requires concentration, it is all done in a relaxed manner and provided inspiration to start their weekends.

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6 Ways Kids Can Change The World Changing the world is a hard job. Best to start early, don‟t you think? Here are a bunch of ways you can help your kids live a life of social justice.

5. Kids can give their money 1. Kids can be kind If your kids have their own disposable income, from Wouldn‟t the world be better if we all made „we are

birthday presents or a regular allowance, then they

kind to people‟ a stated value, a mantra, in our homes?

have the power to make a difference in the world at

Let‟s treat unkind behaviour just as seriously as run-

whatever rate they choose. Let‟s make sure they know

ning onto a road, worthy of an important conversation

how powerful they are.

and

restoration.

If they don‟t have money of their own, brainstorm ways

Let‟s model kindness to our kids and help them grow in

they could earn money that they can donate to whatev-

kindness each day.

er cause has captured their compassion. I bet your

opportunities

for

learning

and

neighbours would find an appeal to do some weeding 2. Kids can be conscious consumers

or wash a car pretty irresistible if it‟s so a child can respond generously to needs in the world.

Recent research showed that parents at home were asked more questions per hour than the Prime Minister

6. Kids can practise hospitality

during parliamentary question time – I‟m sure this is not a surprise to you. The study found question-asking

„Hospitality‟ has been distorted, in much of the modern

peaked with four-year-old girls asking a question every

world, into having your friends over for dinner, but his-

one minute and 56 seconds. But what a great oppor-

torically, including in the ancient Christian practice, it‟s

tunity – what a great window of time – to help children

about welcoming the stranger who needs food and

understand the true cost of consumer goods and mod-

shelter and care – hence the related English words

ern living, and engage them in social justice living.

„hostel‟ and „hospital‟.

Encourage your kids to practise this kind of hospitality.

Kids often love learning about supply chains. Give

If social hosting isn‟t just about friends, that might

some thought to how the things they consume or use

change who they choose to invite to a birthday party,

daily were produced and tell the stories to your kids –

or for a play date (or it might not – this is a hard one

or let them research that stuff themselves.

even for adults to learn, so go slowly).

Maybe they can proudly open the door to guests you

3. Kids can look after the earth

or they have invited or serve them food or drinks. If they‟d rather help out away from the spotlight, they can

Take them to the recycling station and the landfill so

make up a bed for someone you‟re hosting or help with

the „away‟ isn‟t hidden. Most recycling businesses wel-

the dishes.

come public visits to see what happens behind the scenes – what a cool adventure that could be for your

Extracted from: http://sacraparental.com/2014/10/15/6-

kids, right? Take some friends and make a day of it.

ways-kids-can-change-the-world-blog-action-day/

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STUDENTS’ S

P

A

C E

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

‘Together For Peace’ Art Exhibition In October 2017, our students participated in an art competition on the theme of “Together For Peace”. The purpose was to create an open opportunity for students to express their own world view. The artworks received show students‟ ideas about such topics as having a peaceful home, having a happy eco-friendly environment, expressing kindness and contributing to society, as well as more complicated issues surrounding politics and wars. Awards were presented to our winners at our annual International Day event on 20th October.

The students who won the art competition are listed below: Janine Jirasakuldech (Pre-Preparatory), Phawipunya Indarakris (Year 1), Quiller Boudah (Year 2), Chanaporn Leelaprapal (Year 3), Netanya Pisutboriboon (Year 4), Cleojai Ruangmethanon (Year 4), Justine Henin Arellaga (Year 5), Patham Laosakulporn (Year 5), Weerin Arunsakul (Year 6), Wadfah Charoenchai (Year 6), Tanatpong Anantawittayanon (Year 8), Matthew Ngan (Year 8), Melanie Pepyat (Year 9) and Xinni Zhang (Year 9).

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Our High School students filmed a short video about Greenland

for

our 2017 International Day. They creatively ered

cov-

interesting

topics; from geography and history to agriculture, culture and

To watch our video please visit:

tourism.

https://goo.gl/VfRL5U

Greenland is actually not green..

A: Let‟s talk about Greenland Intro for 5 seconds (montage) A: Greenland isn‟t actually green. It is actually white because of all the snow and ice.

B: Greenland is located in North America on the northern hemisphere of the world.

C: Hi. A: Get out of our video unless you have something to say C: I-I-I do….I don‟t F: Do you know anything about Greenland?

C: Nope. Not at all.

B: As you can see, many people don‟t know about Greenland. Why Don‟t We start with some basic facts then?

D: Greenland is part of the kingdom of Denmark E: Greenland has less than 57,000 inhabitants, the reason probably being the climate and the difficulties people have to face.

A: People living in Greenland- also known as Inuits - have to face the harsh conditions of Greenland. Greenland has an Arctic climate with average temperatures that do not exceed 10° C in the warmest summer months.

C: Wow… that‟s cool! AHAHAHAHAH cool? Get it?

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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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