SISB VOICE
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM SISB CHIANG MAI
OCTOBER 2018 | ISSUE 2| VOL 1                                    WWW.SISB.AC.TH
INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR
OUR GREEN SCHOOL 
   We are proud to announce
that SISB Chiang Mai has
been recognised as the first
school in all of Southeast
Asia to be awarded the
Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design
(LEED) Silver certification by
the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) in
recognition of our school's
environmentally friendly,
healthy, efficient and cost-
saving campus buildings.
 
   As the preservation
and protection of the
natural environment UPCOMING
becomes an ever
ACTIVITIES ...
increasing priority, we
take pride in the fact During October and November
that we not only teach we have a number of exciting
our students about the activities, including;
importance of
protecting the natural
environment but we Halloween
also practice these - Wednesday 31st October
teachings during our
daily life at school. International Day
For more information
- Friday 16th November
about the Leadership in
Energy and
Environmental Design Loy Krathong
awards you can visit - Monday 24th November
www.USGBC.org
 NURSERY AND KINDERGARTEN
   SISB Chiang Mai believes in high quality holistic education,
which means we provide an education that is not only
designed for successful academic achievement but also to
develop resilient, thoughtful and caring individuals to become
successful in all areas of life. Over the next few weeks NK will
be introducing the children to the Learning Outcomes.

   The SISB Learning Outcomes focuses on the development of

the whole child as a learner. This will equip the children with
the skills, attitudes and strategies to become enthusiastic and
effective learners as well as a well rounded person . The profile
consists of 10 traits. These are Communicator, Risk-taker,
Caring, Principled, Knowledgeable, Balanced, Thinker, Inquire,
Reflective and Open-minded. We will focus on 2 main traits
each week.

   Once a child demonstrates a particular trait they will be

awarded a special certificate which they can take home to
share with their families. To support your child at home, you
could also start using these terms to reiterate what they are
learning at school.

   As always, if you would like any further information about

the Learning Outcomes, please ask your child's homeroom
teacher. Thank you for your continued support.                           
                                      Teacher Amy
 NEWS FROM PRIMARY 
    The children here at SISB Chiangmai have had a fun
filled month (September) learning English language
applying the STELLAR approach. All of the children have
been using various educational technologies to enhance
their inquiry based education which includes using a
multitude of new apps on the school I-pads. One of the
children’s favourite apps is ‘Doink’, a programme which
allows our pupils  to release their creativity by producing
presentation videos, drama performances and even
animations for their projects.

   Coding is a large component of your child’s education

and this has been taught by using several fun coding
programmes on the Chromebooks.

   Reading is a major part of the STELLAR approach and this

has been catered for by a differentiated reading scheme
using the new Raz Kids reading and comprehension
programme. Raz Kids is SISB Chiangmai’s newest
educational tool which allows our teachers to cater for
each and every child’s specific reading level whilst at the
same time allowing each child to enhance their reading
skills at a steady and enjoyable rate. 

   Finally, our primary students are now familiar with the 10

SISBC learning outcomes which each and every teacher at
SISB applies during their lessons. These learning outcomes
enable and ensure that all of our pupils are continuously
learning inside and outside of their classrooms by being
inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators,
principled, open minded, caring, risk takers, balanced and
reflective individuals.

   In summary our primary pupils have had a strong start to

the academic year and I know that each and every one of
them will continue to develop, learn and grow month by
month.
                                                        Teacher Chaz 
 HALLOWEEN IS COMING 
     On October 31, 2018, SISB will host our second annual Halloween
celebration. Halloween, also known as All Hallows Eve, occurs annually
on October 31 and is part of a yearly remembrance of the dead.

    Halloween traditions are believed to have originated from ancient

autumn harvest festivals. Some also believe that they developed in
relation to Christian celebrations to honor saints and the recently
deceased, which traditionally occur at the beginning of November.
Today, Halloween is celebrated in many countries around the world but
is most popular in Western countries such as the United States, England,
and Ireland. Similar holidays are observed in Latin America and the
Philippines.
    This year’s Halloween celebration
    Several activities are traditionally associated with the celebration of
at SISB will include a costume
Halloween, such as the donning of costumes that model supernatural
parade, games, and trick-or-treating.
beings, fictional characters, or celebrities. It is customary for children to
Students are invited to wear
go trick-or-treating while in costume on Halloween night; children walk
costumes to school instead of their
from house to house requesting candy and other treats by asking the
school uniforms. Parents can attend
question, “Trick or treat?” Other popular Halloween activities include
the costume parade, at 8:00 AM, to
playing games, pumpkin carving, and seeking out haunted places.
take pictures and admire the
students’ costumes. After the
   SISB strives to introduce our students to cultures and customs found
costume parade, parents are asked
around the world. In doing so, our school chooses to celebrate popular
to leave campus and the student
Thai, Chinese, and Western holidays, such as Halloween, throughout the
activities will begin in the
school year. Our students and staff members generally originate from
classrooms.
either Thailand, China, or a Western nation, so the events we hold are
We hope to see you here!                     
either very familiar or a completely new experience for those involved.
                              Teacher Sarah

SEESAW: A DIGITAL
PORTFOLIO 
       SEESAW is a fantastic application that is a
student driven digital portfolio. It's primary use
for teachers is to document progress and for
formative assessment (ongoing assessment). It
also allows parents a glimpse in to the
classroom and your children at work. Current
research from St. Catherine University in the
United States has commented very positively
on the use of digital tools in early elementary
classrooms; as long as the tool is used correctly.    Please do not expect individual
We know how much parents love to see their photographs of your child. Teachers try to
child at work and always try our best to provide do this when time allows, but have been
these pictures. Parents should however note instructed by me to focus on teaching as
that SEESAW is a tool that we actively use to SEESAW is merely one tool and we cannot
further the education experience and compromise the learning journey for the
photographs are only a very small part of why sake of photographs. After speaking with
we use it. Teachers have limited time during the you all during our 'Meet the VP' session, I
day and have therefore been given guidelines know that you all agree that education
for SEESAW use. This will hopefully ensure that and learning must always come first.
the SEESAW experience is a positive one for all Thank you for your continued support.
involved.                                              Teacher Tommy

21ST CENTURY EDUCATION  that when our students speak,
   Our students were born in the
21st century. Their education
should reflect that.
    In our world, it is not enough
to be schooled in rote
memorization and assorted
facts. Our lives today are marked
by a rapidly changing world,
digital workplaces and
marketplaces, and global
interaction. At SISB, we are
preparing students for the
environment they will enter as
young adults. They are called
21st Century Skills.
   Before the 1980s, schools were
focused on the acquisition of
content, particularly in literacy
and numeracy, because with a
fluency in those areas, students
would be able to acquire
knowledge independently
throughout life. Today, those
skills have been expanded. We
no longer need to know what
year the Russian Revolution
began; we can find it at our
fingertips in less than a second.
But if we are curious about the
Russian Revolution, we need to
know the following:
+ What words and skills do I
need online to find answers to
my questions?
+ How do I formulate questions
that examine the topic critically,
rather than just accepting what I
find on the page?
+ How do I apply that
knowledge to other endeavours?
+ How do I communicate my
understandings to others?
   Within the 21st Century skill
set, four skills -- the Four C’s --
have been identified as being
crucial components of a
successful education:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Creativity
   Collaboration is a crucial part of
most workplaces today. Brilliant
minds working in isolation are a
thing of the past; today’s
problems and technology require
interaction among professionals
with specific skills. No one person
can build a space shuttle, create
an iPhone, lead a country or cure
disease. It requires many minds
with disparate skills, able to work
together. To foster that in our
students, we are big on projects
at SISB! You will see students
huddled together as they build
towers, construct letters, or plan
scientific experiments. Our
classrooms reflect that, with
space for students to come
together in creative ways to solve
problems.
   Communication, of course, is
essential for Collaboration as well
as survival in our current era. To
succeed, students learn how to
express themselves clearly and
kindly. Merely having an opinion
is not enough; students must be
able to support their ideas.
+ “I agree with Student A’s idea,
and I’d like to add that …”
+ “I disagree with Student A’s idea,
because … “
+ “Could you explain your idea,
please?”
  These are the kinds of sentence
structures that help students to
refine their communication skills.  Century Skills will give them the
  Reading and writing in at least
three languages (English, Thai,
and Chinese) will help students to
communicate across borders.
    Critical Thinking skills promise
they are not merely parroting
memorized facts. Rather, they
learn to question what they see
about them. What does this
mean? What is the writer’s
intention? Is this writing bias?
How does this connect to other
things I have learned? How can I
apply it to other topics?
  Critical thinking requires
learning from multiple sources
in order to see different
perspectives on an issue. It is the
difference between followers
and leaders; those who think
critically can make change by
seeing all sides and forging new
pathways.
   Creativity brings us to
innovation. Creativity allows us
to see different modes of
expression and new solutions. It
is not only aesthetic. Creativity is
flexibility, an ability to bend,
change, and originate. Creativity
in science allows students to
formulate original hypotheses,
building on earlier knowledge.
Creativity in literacy is what
allowed students this month to
write their own scripts, inspired
by “The Wizard of Oz.” In art, you
can see our students’ creativity
in their stunning diverse self-
portraits. In Thai and Chinese,
music and video reinforce
language learning. And in math,
students use creativity to solve
word problems and find new
ways of attacking a problem.
   A list of facts won’t carry our
children to successful adult lives.
But content infused with 21st
toolkit they need to thrive in any
environment.
                           Teacher Lisa