Nearing the end

Hi everyone
well we are certainly in the busy and frantic race to the end of the year. Our current unit of inquiry is all about CHANGE and the students are looking at how they have changed and the changes that face them next year. Last week they had a taste of Grade 6 with Shadow Day where they attended Grade 6 classes for the day. This was a positive experience for most and the feedback from them was good. i think it also answered a few questions they had.
recently in math we have been doing some geometry and in particular transformations and tessellations. this gave is a great opportunity for some real hands on work.
please keep in mind the end of year concert and for Grade 5 the small graduating gathering. I will advise a time and date for these soon.
Please also remember the reading Challenge sleepover on Friday night, should be fun.
Mike

Here are a couple more images from exhibition.


Some exploring of tessellations in Geometry.

Exhibition

15th March, 2013



Dear Fifth Grade Families,

We would like to send you some information about our upcoming Exhibition Evening.

The evening starts at 7:00pm but we require ALL students to be present at 6:30pm.

Dress is semi formal, so no blue jeans please.
(No ties required for the boys but nice tidy trousers and shirts.)

Exhibition is the culminating event for the Primary Years Program. The students have been working very hard and are excited to share their work and ideas with you.
If you have any questions regarding all that we are doing, please stop by or send us an email. We’d be happy to help you understand the process that your student will be working through.
Thank you for your continued support at home.
Best Regards,
Sarah Mueller and Mike Stanley

Looking at things from a different perspective

Hi everyone
recently we have been studying about the Easter story but looking at it through a different perspective.
We spent quite some time reading the different Gospels and watching Skit Guys clips to identify all the different characters involved in the Easter story. The students chose one of the characters and wrote the story from their characters perspective.
The students produced some fine pieces of writing. This particular story was written by Yerine


Mary

‘Crucify him! crucify him!” the crowd hollered.
“Yeah crucify him!”. the priest said
I was one of the crowd, but I didn’t want know what to do. I was puzzled. I didn’t want to crucify someone, but i also didn’t want to be the only one who was standing still.
But a minute later I realized that i was not the only one who was standing still. I saw a woman standing still looking at the man who was going to get killed. Her eyes were filled with tears. then tears rolled down her cheeks. i thought, ‘who is that woman?’. she must be someone who is close to the man.

“I have no choice, I will lead this fairly, by democracy. Since the crowd wants to crucify Jesus ......”

What? oh now I get it! the man is Jesus, and the woman crying is Jesus’s mother Mary!
I thought, now I get the whole thing. I mumbled under my breath. “Oh... Jesus...my baby...”

Mary looked so depressed and sad. Even though I don’t have a child, I had a feeling how Mary would feel now.

‘According to democracy, everyone voted for Jesus. So I will follow the crowd.”

I looked at Mary, she was still crying. Pilate let go of Barrabus, the bad guy, and then said, “Soldiers!”
Just then a group of soldiers marched toward Jesus. Then they started to nail Jesus on the cross.
“AHH!!” Jesus groaned. Blood came out. It was violent. I tried to cover my eyes but my hands did not move because my whole body froze. It was monstrous! shocking!
I looked at Mary, of course she froze too. I mean how would she feel if her one and only son is getting nailed to the cross? In front of her?
You know readers, this was not the end.
They pierced Jesus ribs with their spiky spears. More blood came out. It was horrible, yucky awful!!
when I looked at Mary, she was already on the floor crying with all her might. Even though I did not vote, I felt guilty. I don’t know why but i felt guilty. Is it because I am one of the crowd and i felt like I had voted? Umm I don’t know.
I wonder how Mary will get over this agony?

“Ahh!!” Jesus kept screaming. I could feel that scream was full of pain. Then for the last time the soldiers pierced spiky thorns through his head.
“Yeah” the crowd cheered.
As time went by Jesus became weaker and weaker.
At last Jesus died.
I cried. Not as much as Mary, but I wept and wept.
John, one of the apostles took Mary back home.
I thought, “Mary will take time to recover..”

The next morning it was time time for Jesus to be buried. Mary was the first person to come see Jesus in the tomb. Just one second before Jesus got put in the tomb, Mary held Jesus hands and mumbled.

‘Take care.. take care..”

Something a little different

Hi everyone
Well the last quarter started with something a little different. On Monday the students were given a cooking lesson in the cafeteria by J and J catering.
This involved ALL the hygiene items you see in the pictures. We made some Mandu which we then had the pleasure of cooking and eating. It was a lot of fun and a new experience for some.

Action Day

Dear Parents, 

Next Thursday, March 21, the grade five students will be participating in Action Day in the basement lobby and the cafeteria. 

Action Day is an event that has taken place annually with the goal of explaining world issues the students are studying for Exhibition and sharing how others can help. 

The students will be organizing games, selling items, and sharing information. Each game or item is around 500-1,000 won. The students can bring a small amount of money to participate in this event.

Thank you for your support of our students who are taking action. 

A week of planning

Hi everyone
This week has been busy with the students deciding on actions to take for Exhibition. We discussed at depth about what is an action and what types of action we knew about. We decided on 4 types of action which we are going to take over the 6 week period.
1. Direct action: which we said was person to person.
2. In direct action: where we would help a group or organization.
3. Advocacy: we plan to raise awareness for our chosen issue.
4. research for action: in depth research about what is really the problem so we can be informed about how to make a difference.

Some fantastic ideas and planning has occurred and the students are really becoming specific on the actions and steps they need to take. Not too much detail from me at this stage as we would like some surprises to share with you on Exhibition evening on the 17th of April.
Enjoy the photos from the week.
Mike.

A sharing time

Hi everyone
Last Thursday we had a time of sharing our research and our Inquiry process so far. Students and teachers from other grades came down to see and hear what the students of 5M and 5S have been up to. We have 10 groups studying different areas of interest. The initial research part of the process is over and the students have gained a deeper understanding of what their chosen topic is about. The next step is that the students will decide what to do with this new knowledge, "what else do I want to know and how can I use it to make a difference?"
During the next 2 weeks the student groups will put together an action plan including 'Action Day' and the date for this is next Thursday the 21st of March, from 10:00 till approximately 1:30. This will cover all the lunchtimes of the Elementary and Secondary.
Meanwhile here is a few photos from Thursday.
Mike

Research Presentation

Tomorrow in the last block of the school day the students will be presenting and sharing their research for the build up to Exhibition. The students have chosen areas of interest and in small groups have researched their topics, finding interesting facts and organizations that are involved in those areas. This is to build up the students background knowledge and to provoke interest and questions that the students will want to investigate further.
If you can make it to Grade 5 tomorrow at 2:15 we would love to share our research with you.
Mike

Elementary Ski Trip

Hi everyone
Below is information about the upcoming elementary ski trip. Please fill out the forms your child has bought home and get the back to school as soon possible. any questions or problems please contact me by phone or email
Mike

Elementary School Ski Trip - Grades 3, 4, and 5.
Saturday 2nd March - 8.30am - 5.30pm
Konjiam Ski resort


Students from Grades 3 to 5 are invited to participate in a one-off After School Activity - a ski trip to Konjiam Ski Resort. Students will be given ski school lessons in the morning and afternoon with an instructor, a free lunch, and transportation to and from school.
Students who are interested in attending the ski trip must return the attached permission slip with W90,000 to the Elementary School Office by Tuesday 26 February.
Students will need to wear their ski gear and bring a backpack for their own personal items. If students wish to hire a locker for security they will need to bring W1,000. The school bus will leave GSIS at 8.30am and arrive at approximately 9.30am. The students will be taken to hire their ski equipment and meet their ski instructors. The first ski lesson will start at 10.30am. Lunch will be at 12.30pm. The afternoon ski lesson will begin at 1.30pm and finish at 4pm. We will return our hire gear and get onto the bus by 4.30 so will be back at school by 5.30pm. Teachers will be accompanying the students on this trip, but we would like to invite any parents who would be prepared to chaperone a group for the day to apply on the permission slip. We will contact the parents who have been selected as Chaperones by Thursday, 28 February. Please note that as you are assisting a group of students for the day, you will not need to pay any fee for ski school as a parent chaperone, but will also be charge for lift and hiring gear.

What to bring:
Wear warm thermal under-clothes, including leggings (tights) and long-sleeved vest under your top.
Wear ski pants.
Have warm, thermal socks, gloves and hat and helmet.
Have a warm jersey and a warm ski-jacket.
Have some spare socks and gloves in case yours get wet!
Wear snow boots.
Healthy snack for after skiing on the way home.
If you have your own ski boots, skis and poles, please bring
Please note: Ski Trip is for Ski-ing only - not snowboarding.

Permission and Payment Return slip
Name of student:..........................................Grade:....................................................
Payment enclosed of W 90,000
Student’s shoe size:................Height...................cm Weight............................kg
Contact details (for emergencies) Name of contact person:....................................
Phone number for emergency contact person:.........................................................

Willing to be a Parent helper/Chaperone: Name:........................................................
Contact information: email:.............................................Cell Phone:...........................

Gearing up towards Exhibition

Hi everyone
Lunar Break has come and gone and with it begins our exciting build up towards Exhibition. This is the opportunity for students to choose areas of interest to complete their own unit of inquiry on. Sometimes discovering what that area of interest is challenges the students and we have been doing a lot of work identifying issues and problems in the world. Bringing those big issues down to a manageable size where the students can find out about, and then decide how to do something about it ( take action) is the challenge. Getting the students to talk about their research and areas of interest at home would certainly help.
As you can see by the photo we have made a good start on identifying issues to research and by the end of this week the students will be well on their way with the research part of the process. Group work and the sharing of ideas is a major part of this unit, so honing those cooperation and collaboration skills will be important to a successful unit.
There will be a couple of opportunities for you to be involved in the exhibition process along the way with a mini research fair and Action Day being planned. We will give you more information regarding dates and times once the students have planned out and timetabled the process and time-frames for exhibition. Below is some of the big issues we are looking at so far.

Week three in semester two

Hi all
Well we have had a really good start to the second half of the year and this week we went on a field trip to the Korean War Memorial Museum. This is an amazing place and the displays and information are incredibly well put together. Even since the visit with last years Grade 5 class so much more has been added especially to the floor with the history and story of the Korean war. The students enjoyed the day finding out more about conflict and this prompted some really good discussion in class, specifically around one of our lines of Inquiry, Causes of conflict.
The challenge ahead for us in this unit to to discover how and why 'Peaceful solutions to conflict lead to a better quality of life'.
We spent some time at the end of the week putting together our shared knowledge and understanding of the Korean War, producing timelines with what we considered were the most significant events.
Over the next few weeks we will continue to look at current events to gain a better understanding of the problems and issues in the world, and more importantly try to think of ways that our action can make a difference. This leads us nicely into our exhibition unit.
I have shared some photos from this week.
Till next time
Mike

Semester 2 begins

Hi everyone
Welcome back to an exciting second half to the year. We were very sad to lose Souta at the Christmas break but we have three new students this semester. Alexandr, Suhha and John have all started this week.
Our unit of Inquiry for this quarter is about sharing the planet and in particular the issue of conflict. We will be looking at a lot of different conflicts, researching ones that we know about but also trying to broaden our knowledge on some more unfamiliar ones. An important part of the unit will be discovering ways in which we can find peaceful solutions to conflicts.

Just before we finished in December we undertook a small measurement unit where we investigated area, perimeter and circumference. We used this knowledge to create scale models of Castles. I have included a couple of pictures of some of our final products.

I would like to give a special thank you to the wonderful Grade 5 Mum's who helped provide a (farewell to Souta, Christmas party and birthday cake for me) combined celebration on the last day. We had a lot of fun and it was a great way to say goodbye to our friend Souta.

Over the next few weeks we will start preparing for the Exhibition unit and because of this we have started looking at current events. Through this I am hoping to get the students better prepared about some of the issues going on in the world in which they are living.

I am also going to post some of our math strategy videos in the next couple of days, so keep a look out for those.
Mike