Blog Post
Mission
The International School Yangon is a community of compassionate global citizens.
Vision
We aim to develop lifelong learners who will be a force for positive change in the world.
Dear Parents,
Thank you for attending International Day; it was a wonderful event. Thank you to the Parent Association for helping organize this event. Thank you to our Student Council for organizing the movie night tonight. Please remember students should be accompanied by a parent.
Upcoming events include a Holiday Bazaar organized by Grade 5 students on the 14th of December. Students in a variety of grade levels will be selling holiday-related items made at school to raise money for service learning projects. Also, coming up is the Broadway Show on the 9th of December when our Elementary School choir will be performing along with secondary school students.
We will break up for the winter break on December 16th with a special holiday assembly. Santa will visit this assembly.
Thank you for all your support; it is appreciated.
See the POP award recipients below.
Ms. Sandy Sheppard
Elementary School Principal
Dates to remember
2nd December – 6:00 PM Elementary School, Movie Night; see information below.
9th December – Broadway Night
14th December – Grade 5 Holiday Bazaar
19th December – January 6th – Winter Holiday
Join us tonight for some
Movie Night fun
*Students should be accompanied by a parent.
CELEBRATING
We love to celebrate good work! Congratulations Grade 3S on wonderful note-taking in class.
You are fabulous!
We would love to see you at this event.
Care to the Least Centre – flip flop drive
The Care to the Least Center (CLC) Service Learning group are having a flip flop drive. Between now and the start of the December break there will be a basket on the front steps where you can donate flip flops. Ideally they would like children’s sizes for 3 year olds to 16 year olds. Alternatively, you can donate 10,000 ks. for this campaign at the ISY business office. Thanks in advance for your donations.
Emergency Drills
This week ISY held a routine fire drill with students and staff. From time to time we carry out these drills in line with our emergency planning management program to ensure everyone knows what to do in a real emergency. We have already held some fire drills this year as well as lockdown and earthquake drills. We will continue with other emergency drills throughout the year.
If you have any questions on our emergency procedures please contact our Head of Health, Safety and Security, John Whalen (jwhalen@isyedu.org).
Four Square
With the popularity of 4 square at ISY, we thought the students might enjoy a 4 square tournament.
The tournament was played in pairs in a knockout-style format. Each team played at least two games. There were two divisions in the tournament, grades 2 and 3 and grades 4 and 5 divisions.
The tournament has been running for four weeks, and now we are down to the final games.
LOST PROPERTY
Lost property needs to be collected before the last day of school. Items not collected will be donated to local charities. The lost property can be found in the School Office.
HOLIDAY BAZAAR
The Holiday Bazaar will be on the 14th of December from 1:00 – 2:00 PM in the covered court area. This event is organized by Grade 5 students. The event includes a Grade 5 performance, selling of holiday-related objects e.g. Christmas cards, a book sale, and the Parent Association branch, Connecting Parents will be serving tea, coffee, and cookies for parents. All are welcome.
More information to come next week.
MAKING RAIN
STRATEGIC THEME UPDATE
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
At ISY, technology integration is an important strategic theme to support the development of lifelong learners. Technology is integrated into every subject at every grade level, and specialized Computer Science courses are offered to our High School students. As technology, which involves coding and programming, is now woven into the fabric of our everyday lives, we know that coding is a beneficial skill for the future. Our After School Activities (ASA) program provides opportunities for students to pursue their interests in this area.
Celebrating Diversity
International Day is one of my personal favorite events at ISY. It’s a day to celebrate our cultural identities and share unique, diverse perspectives. As a learning community, we encourage our students to celebrate diversity and cultural perspectives. How at home can we encourage our children to celebrate diversity?
- Read: Literature is a wonderful way to open the door to a new perspective. Reading with your child from a wide variety of perspectives, authors and genres will expose them to understandings of diversity.
- Expose your children to a wide range of people and experiences: Visit places outside your norm and bring awareness to the unique differences of these experiences.
- Be open to questions: When children are curious, they ask. Be open and honest with your answers. If you don’t know the answers, seek resources that can help.
- Encourage change: When diversity isn’t celebrated and exclusion occurs. Help your child see that they can promote inclusion and acceptance.
If you have questions or would like to learn more about how ISY celebrates diversity, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Patty at escounselor@isyedu.org. She is available to support all ISY families.
WORLD CUP FOOTBALL
A group of students has started recording the world cup football scores. This can be found on the window of my office. It is a great place to see how your favorite team is doing and a great way for students to get involved in the fun of the cup.
GRADE 4 LEARNING STORY
Stage 1 of Fourth Grade’s Composting Project
In support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around Climate Action and Sustainable Cities and Communities, Ms. Davis and Mr. Nixon began teaching the fourth grade students about composting.
Looking around the school environment it was noticed that there is a lot of food being thrown away. This observation motivated the fourth graders to take action and get involved in composting.
Compost is a pile of organic waste that breaks down or “decomposes” into a nutrient rich soil over time. Most children in the fourth grade had never composted before, so this was a whole new learning experience for the students. Parents were notified about the upcoming science project and each student brought a plastic container to school to begin the composting process.
The process has begun. Fourth graders have been adding what they need to their food scraps, such as leaves and water, and they learned they need to turn their compost regularly. Although they are in the beginning stages of the composting process, they have learned enough to know the importance of composting. They shared their learning and encouraged others to do the same in the last ISY elementary assembly.
The composting process is part of the cycle of life. It happens naturally on the forest floor when dead leaves fall and decompose, nourishing the soil underneath. Nourishing the forest floor provides the nutrient rich soil for new plants to grow. These kinds of big changes have not happened yet with the students’ compost; however, students will be making predictions, writing, drawing and observing the changes that occur over time.
In a month or so we’ll check back in with the fourth grade students and see what is happening with their compost. In the meantime, composting at home is a good idea. It is said that organic material makes up between a quarter to a half of our total household waste. Composting can reduce the amount of trash in our bins and the tremendous amount of space it takes up in our landfills.
If you would like to learn more about compost and how to begin composting yourself, this Trash Hero website below can be helpful in guiding you through the process.
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ASSEMBLY
We had a great assembly today with presentations to celebrate the United World Schools and Grade 2 presented their wonderful shoe cleaning project.
The International School Yangon
20 Shwe Taungyar Street
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar
+95 (0) 9 880 441 040