February 2017

Spotlight on Primary

St. Andrews

International School

Green Valley

Primary Notices

On Friday 13th January, we were pleased to hold a Parent workshop devoted to understanding the PYP/IB Approaches to Learning as well as the STEAM initiative. Those who attended had a fun-filled hands-on experience similar to those that our students have. After learning about the skills that are essential to learning, the parents were given a quick challenge where they had to create something that could support a basketball for at least 10 seconds. The parents’ choices were limited by the materials that were given to them, but that certainly did not limit their creativity. The parents were so engaged in the process of designing, reflecting, and creating that the time flew by. Thanks to all those who were able to attend. Here are some examples of their designs.

PARENT WORKSHOP

Unit of Inquiry - Mighty Machines

The Reception children went to ‘Big C

Bakery’ this term to find out how

machines help us to make work easier.

Lots of parents were interested and came

along to find out too! Mr. Nic was in

charge of the bakery and he very kindly

showed us around the cooking areas

where all the breads and croissants are

made. He had prepared dough for us to

make croissants and we learned a special

technique of folding, rolling and shaping

dough. We saw the enormous bread

mixing machine and helped Mr. Nic put in

the flour, water, yeast and salt. Everyone

watched as the bread went into the big

ovens and we counted 12 bread loaves

onto each tray. We can now talk about

how bread is made and know that

machines really do help to make baking

easier!

Term 2 Activities Underway

The Term 2 Activities are now underway. This term we

have added a number of new options for students. We

are happy to have added Ballet run by teachers from the

Russian School of Ballet in Jomtien. We also have a group

here providing an activity about Robotics and another

activity focused on learning chess. This is in addition to

the SNAG Golf and Kung Fu activities that are still going

on.

In addition to these wonderful activities, we are also

offering other activities such as: English Booster, Drawing

Skills, STEAM, Lego Club, Art (Batik, Painting, Drawing),

Team Challenges, Primary Music, Girl’s Sport, Yoga and

Mindfulness, Maths, Phonics, Keyboarding, ICT and many

more.

LEGO

Ballet

SNAG Golf

Year 5 Overnight Trip to Bangpu Conservation Area

Nampetch in Year 5

On Thursday 18th January 2017, Year 5 went to Bang Phu.

We went in a giant coach. All students sat on the top floor!

We each got 2 cards with our names on them; one went

around our bags, while the other was around our necks (on

a string). It was super fun in the bus. There was music and

a movie. It was such a long time (about an hour or two)

until we arrived at a restaurant.

When we got in the restaurant, there were tables already

booked for us. There were tons of seagulls around the res-

taurant. I loved watching them trying to catch fish. Birds

look so graceful when they fly. Then super Jay-Jay (our tour

guide) called us, and we lined up and walked to a man-

grove information center. We played one game (called

Bear, Fish, Mosquito I think) before we sat down in lines of

seven to listen to a man explaining how to plant man-

groves. The man spoke in Thai so Prem and Epee were the

translators.

When we arrived, we went over bridges to get to the area

we’d plant mangroves in. After that, I thought I was going

to fall in the river because I watched too much Animal

Planet. but I felt super weird in the mud but we had to

stand in it to plant the mangroves. After I planted one, I

painfully walked over some tiny rocks to wash my feet with

river water. Then I released a crab with Zaara. We finished

that and watched other crabs being set free from the mar-

ket. The coolest thing was when we went bird watching. I

saw tons of mudskippers!

That was all so fun, but I was relieved that we were going

back in the bus. When I heard we were almost at the hotel,

I was so happy. We were going to have dinner. My room

number was 207, with Zaara and Thea. We arrived at the

hotel with free T-shirts and the key cards to our rooms.

Thea, Zaara and showered very quickly and just waited. We

had dinner, lots of meat, but better than lunch. Plus we got

dessert: Ice cream! Everyone got some. The flavors were

chocolate and strawberry, and I had chocolate. Then the

fun starts. We walked to a room with a fake bonfire and sat

down. There were so many games!

The next morning, we received a wake up call. I quick-

ly picked it up and put it down. We were ready and

changed after minutes. It was soon time to go to the

Ancient City! It was amazing! We went inside a tem-

ple, (it was beautiful) we even went to the floating

market (I got an axe, a snake cube and a bird string

puppet)! Then it was time to go. We made sure we

had our stuff, got on the bus and went to school,

waiting for our parents to pick us up and take us

home.

Year 5 Group photo at Bangpu Conservation Area

Year 5 Overnight Trip to Bangpu Conservation Area

On Thursday the 5th of January, Year 5 went to Bang Phu, and it was awesome.– by Prem—Year 5.

When I arrived at school I stayed in the classroom. When it was 8:30 Ms. Emma led us to a double decker bus. We put our bags

into the bus. The bus monitors gave us nametags, which showed our names. Then, we set off. When we were on the bus, the bus

monitor put ‘The Minions’ movie up on the big screen. When Minions ended, we listened to some music.

When we arrived at the restaurant for lunch, we immediately started eating. The food tasted great. When we finished eating

lunch, we went to the information centre. At the information centre, we learned how to plant mangroves. The person who was

explaining how to plant mangroves spoke Thai so Epee and I had to translate for him. We also played ‘Mosquito, fish and bear’

which was like ‘rock, paper, scissors’.

Soon we started planting mangroves. It was quite hard but I got the hang of it after doing some. I planted three mangroves in total.

When the mangroves were done, we went to free some crabs. It was quite funny because Thomas’s crab’s leg snapped off. So Ms

Emma had to save it by getting a block of cement and pushing it into the water.

Then we went back on the bus, we went to our hotel which was called Rimkhobfa. Rimkhobfa means edge of the skies. When we

arrived at the hotel, the teachers let us go to our room for some free time. After that, we went down to eat dinner.

On the next day, we went to the ancient city. We also got to go to the floating market (which was awesome) because there were

lots of things to buy. Later we went back onto the buses and went back to school.

Primary Sports Days– Phuket are champions

On Monday, February 6th, the students from Year’s 3-6 com-

peted in their annual Sports Day competition. This year’s per-

formances were certainly memorable. Students were award-

ed points towards their Island Community. During the day,

the competition was fierce, but in the end, the Phuket Island

Community came through on top. Well done to all students

for trying their best and having a great time while doing it.

Students competed in events such as: 400m, Relays, 60m

sprint, Long Jump, High Jump, Discuss, Javelin, Tug-O-War,

and more. It was so nice to see so many parents out to watch

the action.

Thank you to the PE department and all of the teachers who

helped out during the day.

Year 1 Learning Journey: Give Me Shelter

Year 1 presented their Learning Journey to their parents,

family and friends. Students in year 1 have been working

on their Unit, 'Give Me Shelter' in which they had to

conduct a series of science experiments to test the basic

properties of materials, research the different types of

shelters found around the world, study the different

types of materials used in constructing shelters and why

these were chosen. This culminated in students choos-

ing their own shelter, which they designed, and then

constructed using recycled materials. They then present-

ed this during their Learning Journey - what an amazing

job they did! Well Done, Year 1!

Early Years Students: Learning about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths)

You have heard the term STEAM used more and more

around our school. STEAM stands for SCIENCE,

TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART, and MATH. Recently,

Kindergarten and Reception have been learning

collaboratively about STEAM. They learned what an inventor

was and created their own invention. Each participant

started with 1 paper roll. They were all very imaginative

when creating their inventions. During this activity we used

our fine motor skills, our inquiring minds, our spatial

awareness and our communication skills.

Upcoming Events

Book Week

March 20th – 24th

We will be welcoming visiting author Tanya

Landman who will be here on March 20th and 21st.

During this time, Tanya’s books will be available

for purchase.

International Day

Friday February 24

We are excited about the upcoming International Day

celebrations here at St. Andrews Green Valley on Friday,

February 24th. The day is sure to be one of the community’s

favorites with our International Parade and the amazing

lunch put on by our school’s parents.

8:30am Flag Parade

9:45am International Activities

11:30amInternational Buffet

1:50pm Assembly

Year 3 EAL Maths Week Activities

During Maths Week, EAL students in Year 3 Danielle, Alisa and

Kenneth were busy learning some patterning concepts and

applying their skills and knowledge while beading and playing

board games.

Danielle and Alisa communicating while playing a boardgame

Ken

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Year 3 Trip to Jump XL

Year 3 had an amazing trip to Jump XL, which is located in

Harbor Mall. We were able to have fun and be active at the

same time. Who could ask for anything more? We measured

our heart rate before during and after our exercise and came

to a conclusion as to why our BPM changes so much.

This was a great tie-in to our Unit of Inquiry, which focused on

leading a healthy lifestyle.

New Sensory Room

Thanks to a dedicated team of Secondary students, we are lucky to have a

new Sensory room. You might be wondering what a Sensory room is for?

Well, a Sensory room is essentially a therapeutic space specifically de-

signed and utilized to promote self-organization and positive change such

as the development of stronger communication skills. The room is there-

fore designed to develop a person’s sense through special lighting, music

and objects.