Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35 ISPS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER CONFIDENCE EXCELLENCE INTEGRITY 1 ISPS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER MISSION ISPS is a vibrant learning community dedicated to developing passionate learners who strive for excellence and pursue their unique potenal. We encourage resilience, innovaon and collaboraon, preparing students to act with confidence and integrity as caring global cizens. VISION Inspiring thinkers and doers to shape a beer world. MOTTO Difference Makers, Future Shapers ISPS Contact #: 633-4777 WHAT’S INSIDE Dates for your Diary May 25 NHS Inducon Ceremony: 6 pm, Theatre 26 Gr 10 MYP Personal Project Exhibion 29-2 (June) ES AAPPL (Gr. 4 & 5) 29-2 (June) Arts Fesval 30 Indian Arrival Day (Naonal Holiday) 31 Coffee Morning: Grade 8 - 9 Transioning Session for Parents: 7:30 am, Cafeteria 31 Opening of Arts Fesval: ..5:00 pm June 1 MS/HS Parenng Workshop 1-2 HS Turtle Tagging Trip to Matura 2 PTO Book & Uniform Sale: 8:00 am - 2:00 pm, Gym 3 PTO Garage Sale: 8:00 am - 12 noon, Gym 3 Community Family Fun Day; 3 pm—6 pm FROM THE DIRECTOR Elementary Notes 2 ES Counselor’s Corner 3-4 Dept. of Language Acquision 5-6 Cross-Curricular Field Trip 7 Athlecs 8-9 Community Noces 10-13 Calendar 14-15 Cafeteria 16 Dear parents, Yet another week has flown by here at ISPS and we look forward to another very busy short week ahead. Thank you to parents who aended the transion meeng held in the MS for the move from G5 to G6. The changes from ES to MS were discussed and there was a good dialogue about the differences between the ES and MS programme offerings. The PTO held a very successful Annual General Meeng on Tuesday evening. During the AGM, elecons were held for Parent Directors to the ISPS Board and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Carol McIntyre and Lou-Anna Ferreira-Paerson for their appointment to the ISPS. Carol was voted in as the Parent Director and Lou Anna will be the Alternate Parent Director. We would like to thank other candidates stepped forward and offered themselves to serve the ISPS Community. I would like to thank Nicolas Walter for the two years he served as a parent Director on the Board. The new 2017-18 PTO is: President—Rosie Ramsingh-Ramroop Vice President— Kathryn Hadad Second Vice President—Elizabeth Aleong Treasurer—Catherine Ollivierre Secretary—Michelle Brown Standing Commiee: Cultural Commiee Chair— Genevieve Jodhan Communicaon Secretary Chair— Andrea Chan Wai Hong Hispanic Chair— Catherine Desmoineaux I would like to thank the PTO for all of their efforts this year in support of the school and our kids. They helped organize numerous events to bring the ISPS Community together: Welcome Coffee Mornings, the IFF, Parang and Carnival limes, etc. Hearty congratulaon to our new inductees to the HS Naonal Honor Society, the ceremony will be held at school tonight. The members of the Naonal Honor Society are selected from high school using criteria based on scholarship, leadership, service, and character. These new inductees have shown a dedicaon to community service, leadership in school organizaons, and exemplary character. Grade 10 students will be presenng their Personal Projects on Friday. The Personal Project is one of the highlights of the enre Middle Years Programme, as it marks the culminaon of a student’s MYP journey. It is a student directed project on almost any topic, based on one of the MYP Global Contexts. Next week is Arts week at ISPS. There will be an art exhibion, A talent show, music recitals and a drama producon. Our students are eager to showcase their many talents. A reminder to parents that there will be no school on Tuesday May 30th as T&T celebrates Indian Arrival Day. Enjoy the weekend J. Barney Latham Director MAY 30, 2017
Transcript
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
MISSION ISPS is a vibrant learning community dedicated to developing passionate learners who strive for excellence and pursue their unique potential. We encourage resilience, innovation and collaboration, preparing students to act with confidence and integrity as caring global citizens.
VISION Inspiring thinkers and doers to shape a better world.
Dear parents, Yet another week has flown by here at ISPS and we look forward to another very busy short week ahead. Thank you to parents who attended the transition meeting held in the MS for the move from G5 to G6. The changes from ES to MS were discussed and there was a good dialogue about the differences between the ES and MS programme offerings. The PTO held a very successful Annual General Meeting on Tuesday evening. During the AGM, elections were held for Parent Directors to the ISPS Board and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Carol McIntyre and Lou-Anna Ferreira-Patterson for their appointment to the ISPS.
Carol was voted in as the Parent Director and Lou Anna will be the Alternate Parent Director. We would like to thank other candidates stepped forward and offered themselves to serve the ISPS Community. I would like to thank Nicolas Walter for the two years he served as a parent Director on the Board.
The new 2017-18 PTO is: President—Rosie Ramsingh-Ramroop Vice President— Kathryn Hadad Second Vice President—Elizabeth Aleong Treasurer—Catherine Ollivierre Secretary—Michelle Brown
Standing Committee: Cultural Committee Chair— Genevieve Jodhan Communication Secretary Chair— Andrea Chan Wai Hong Hispanic Chair— Catherine Desmoineaux
I would like to thank the PTO for all of their efforts this year in support of the school and our kids. They helped organize numerous events to bring the ISPS Community together: Welcome Coffee Mornings, the IFF, Parang and Carnival limes, etc. Hearty congratulation to our new inductees to the HS National Honor Society, the ceremony will be held at school tonight. The members of the National Honor Society are selected from high school using criteria based on scholarship, leadership, service, and character. These new inductees have shown a dedication to community service, leadership in school organizations, and exemplary character. Grade 10 students will be presenting their Personal Projects on Friday. The Personal Project is one of the highlights of the entire Middle Years Programme, as it marks the culmination of a student’s MYP journey. It is a student directed project on almost any topic, based on one of the MYP Global Contexts.
Next week is Arts week at ISPS. There will be an art exhibition, A talent show, music recitals and a drama production. Our students are eager to showcase their many talents.
A reminder to parents that there will be no school on Tuesday May 30th as T&T celebrates Indian Arrival Day. Enjoy the weekend
J. Barney Latham
Director
MAY 30, 2017
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
Dear Parents, Grade 5 students worked feverishly on their Global Citizen presentations, and they accomplished the expectations of the PYP Exhibition. Mentors and teachers guided the stu-dents through the process, and they were proud of their students’ achievement. We thank the ISPS community who visited the event, and we appreciate your feedback. Science fest kicked off with excitement, and this year we saw students’ exploration on atoms, electricity, earth-quakes, volcanoes, matter, habitats DNA extraction and much more. Thank you to the students and teachers for the wide range of experiments. May and June months are packed with events, and the upcoming Arts Week begins on May 31 at 5:00 p.m. Stu-dents will be showcasing one piece of art from their portfolios. Please make every effort to join us during the week of events. Many of our families have notified us that they are leaving, and we invite parents to attend the session Families on the Move on June 5, at 7:30 a.m. in the cafeteria. Please con-tact Ms. Hyndman, counselor, for more information. In addition to the parent session, Ms. Hyndman will be pre-paring students for their transition to another school. This session will be held in the second week of June. At the end of Grade 5, one fifth grader is nominated for the Mr. Jeffries award for demonstrating the following: Open-minded; Caring; selfless attitude; involved in com-munity service, in and/or outside of school; Relates to stu-dents, teachers and parents well; Integrity; honest and principled in interactions with others and Self-motivated and a good communicator, thinker etc. Also, the student has to be enrolled at ISPS for at least 6 months. Teachers and students go through a process for the nomination, and the award is announced at the final assembly on June 14th. Suzette Julien Elementary Principal
Elementary Notes May 25, 2017 Volume 14 Issue 16
Summer Camp 2017
Information will be placed on the website
and you will be notified
Summer Camp forms are now available
at the front office
Session 1 : June 26– June 30
Session 2: July 3-7
Session 3: July 10-14
Summer School will be held in the mornings from
9-11 a.m.
Monday to Thursday.
You will be notified if your child is required to attend.
May 29—June 2 Arts Festival
June 5 Families on the Move
June 13 KG Transition Ceremony
June 14 Grade 5 Ceremony
Primary Years Program (PYP) Grade 5 students celebrate with their mentors after
exhibition They surprised their mentors with snacks and pizza during their lunch. Thank you mentors!
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
To help all kids to be aware of their words and actions and to encourage and build community spirit by being kind to each other. It has been found that kindness increases when it is noticed “unsuspectingly” and brought to the person’s attention afterwards. This was the rationale behind appointing “detectives” each week. This was soon abandoned as more and more ISPS personnel – teachers, administrative staff, security, assistants - were noticing “heart-warming” acts and reporting back to me what they had seen or experienced. Very soon, kids also wanted to share about someone who had been especially kind to them – someone who had made a difference – and in many instances, the recipients said it was a little act but it did wonders to lift their spirits – and many times, the acts were from students they normally did not hang out with.
While we are not the first school with a Kindness Tree, here at ISPS, it has taken on a life of its own. Kids at ISPS have always been helpful and kind – but the awareness and excitement about being kind has cer-tainly increased. It has been a huge joy to see how happy students are when other students have received hearts and are rec-ognized for their kind actions. Little acts of kindness are becoming the “norm” – open-ing doors for each other, offering to help if someone is hurt, older students looking out younger ones….
And while most students are over-joyed when someone from their class receives a heart, there might be understandable disappointment for others, who are consistently kind in their words and actions. We stress that there is still time left in the school year and when you least ex-pect it, someone will be on hand to catch your kind deed or kind words so continue to be kind - which is our ultimate goal – habitual and uncon-scious acts of kindness.
We do recognize however that this may be difficult to grasp for younger grades and the disappointment may be greater for some. To minimise this and to encourage especially the younger students to continue to be kind, we:
Asked teachers to recognize kindness and acts of gratitude in their individual classrooms. This way, each student has a greater chance of being recognized for prosocial acts and research clearly shows that “you get more of what you notice.”
Regularly remind students that someone is always on the look-out for kind words and deeds
and we still have lots more days left in the school year – so keep being kind.
Ask parents to start a kindness tree or kindness jar at home to further reinforce the message and the concept that kindness needs to be noticed and cele-brated so that it can become a way of being.
We still have two and a half weeks left in the school year – ample oppor-tunity to notice even more random acts of kindness among our students. Meanwhile, let’s enjoy a tiny snap-shot of the prolific blooming of our very first Kindness Tree…
Pamela Hyndman
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
Gave up his turn to do the Smartboard calendar, “which they all love,” to another student who was celebrating his birthday that day.
Maeghan 5W
for consistently giving their teacher a hug at the end of the school day. “They check in with me and ask if I am alright. This makes my day.”
Kimaya 5W For consistently giving their teacher a hug at the end of the school day. “They check in with me and ask if I am alright. This makes my day.”
Alexander 2J Freely offered his ‘red nose’ to a teacher who had lost hers.
...ES Counselor’s Corner...
2017-2018 PTO Standing Committees President Rosie Ramsingh– Ramroop Cultural Committee Chair Genevieve Jodhan
First Vice President Kathryn Hadad Communication Secretary Andrea Chan Wai Hong
Second Vice President Elizabeth Aleong Hispanic Chair Catherine Desmoineaux
Treasurer Catherine Ollivierrw
Secretary Michelle Brown
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
The Elementary School had embraced the Canadian AIM methodology (Accelerative Integrated Methodology) in which authentic learning is achieved through scaffolding techniques which use storytelling, gestures, active collaboration and repetition. The use of high-frequency vocabu-lary, introduced with gestures and contextualized in stories, drama, songs and dance, allows students to rapidly achieve levels of oral and written proficiency rarely seen with conventional methods. On behalf of the Elementary School Spanish program you are cordially invited to attend performances of their "Teatro Cafe" on Wednesday 31st May.
During the school day there will be a series of short plays in Spanish put on by the Elementary school grades 2 to 5. They have been working hard on them all year and the works are lots of fun.
If you are able to attend please arrive in time to take your seat before the start of the performance. (See ad on Page 10)
Elementary (Gr. 2-5)
Carolina Prieto, Suzanne Galt
Spanish 2 students are researching and presenting information to their classmates about places to visit in Trinidad. The objective is to create a brochure directed to Spanish-speaking students on an exchange trip. In order to achieve this objective students are learning how to express a range of communicative functions such as how to extend and respond to an invitation, give advice, express obligation, express future plans, and express wishes and feelings. They should be able to apply these concepts to other unfamiliar situations.
48 Horas En Trinidad
Spanish 4 students are learning how to express their ideas and preferences related to choices of tertiary education and professions. They have read and conducted interviews of persons in different professions to ask them about the
Students watched the Argentine movie “Un Cuento Chino” to get a glimpse of Argentinian culture and daily life and have the opportunity stretch their listening and comprehending skills. Students found it to be a touching and affecting story based on incredible true events.
Spanish 4: Un Cuento Chino
Spanish 4: El Mundo Laboral
steps and reasons for their choic-es. The objective is to be able to conduct a conversation on the topic and to be able to read and understand related information. Students are also learning how to express themselves in relation to the topic in complex sentences using the subjunctive mode with adverbs of purpose and time.
Department of Language Acquisition Spanish
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
Unlike the other courses (Mathematics, Sciences, etc. ), parents and learners alike rightfully expect a certain level of fluency during the foreign language apprenticeship. This legitimate expectation from stakeholders in the education business, we all agree, requires that we be aware that two types of fluency co-exist:
The in-class fluency.
The out-of-class fluency ( unsecured environment, the fear of making a mistake and to be laughed at, inhibit the ability to speak)
Both are organically linked; for the in-class fluency is indispensable to a well-structured and knowledgeable display of out-of-class fluency. In the case of the in-class fluency: Students who happily take responsibility for their learning of any foreign language and the French language in particular, excel. To develop their appreciation of French literature, the curriculum is designed in such a way that from French 2/MYP year 2 the learners are introduced to
it by a comparative approach through the study of different types of texts; the six components of communication and then exploration of some classics of French literature such as “La chèvre de Monsieur Seguin” by Alphonse Daudet (Example of prose) ; “Ode A Cassandre” by Pierre de Ronsard; “Demain dès l’Aube” by Victor Hugo (Examples of Poem) and or the “Fables” [ the Hare and the Tortoise- the Crow and the Fox...] by Jean de La Fontaine. Illustrations of some of these
works demonstrated their understanding and appreciation for the literary works they were exposed to. These are reflections of their hard work and their positive motivation. Simply put; it underscores their favourable disposition towards the foreign language of their choice or that is chosen for them. In our classes, we prepare our charges not only for speed and perfection (AP exam), but also for fluency and developing an appreciation for French literature as a lifelong apprenticeship, which other courses need not worry about. A satisfactory fluency in French requires: being engaged in the language learning process, being patient and building one’s self -confidence.
Yves Johnson High School French Teacher
Department of Language Acquisition French
For this May 2017 issue of the newsletter from the modern language department, permit me to raise the issues of the acquisition of language fluency and the appreciation for the French literature.
Julia Fernández
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
Students viewing and learning about one of the 'green living walls' .
Students listening
attentively.
Group shot on the
rooftop.
A group of High School students accompanied by their teachers Mrs. Sharpe and Ms. O’Donovan paid a visit to the RGM Building, Savanna East this week.
The building is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building in Trinidad and Tobago and received its LEED Silver certification in March 2017.
The group was given a tour of the impressive building and learnt about its engineering and architectural design as well as
its sustainable practices. RGM’s building promotes a concept that is healthy, highly efficient and cost saving as reflected in its ‘green living walls’, solar panels, rainwater capture for irrigation
and water generating systems all enclosed in a sealed exterior of insulated glass windows and walls.
Sub
mitt
ed
by:
Ju
dy
Shar
pe
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
After School Activities Registration Forms for Session 1, 2017-2018 will be available from May 29th..
Thank you for supporting our After School Activity Program.
National Secondary Schools’ Basketball League— North Zone:
The League is finally over. Our Boys’ Under 20 and our Girls’ Open teams have given up their Championships. Congratulations to Fatima College, who came away victors over ISPS U 20 Boys on Friday. The game was very close and very heated. Fatima won the North Zone Championship by just 2 points in the last five seconds of the game. This year the League was extremely drawn out. It started in January and should have end-ed in April. However, it was affected by Carnival and the availability of the JPC. The final round of games clashed with CXC and CAPE, and our own AP exams. It was very difficult for ISPS to field teams during the last rounds or even stage proper practice sessions. Here are our results in the North Zone Basketball Schools League: Girls’ Open: 2nd Place Boys’ Under 17: 1st Place Boys’ Under 20: 2nd Place Thanks to the coaches (Albert Sprott, Allison Dickman, Kori Sickles) and athletes for an outstanding job.
Thursday 25th May, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 24, ISSUE 35
Scheduled for Thursday 8th June. At our gym and the start-time is 6:00pm. All athletes who have competed on teams for ISPS (Rugby, Volleyball, Swimming, Basketball, Soccer, Track and Field)
are invited. All parents and other guests contribute a minimal fee of $100 TTD. Dinner is included. Deadline for returning forms: June 2nd (CLICK HERE FOR FORM) Call (620 6866) or email [email protected]) Ashmir Ali for more information.
MS Coaching Schedule:
We would like to see more students involved. Learning new or developing skills would allow ISPS teams to be more competi-tive next year. It would also provide more opportunities for greater participation. Please click here if you are interested.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
2:30-4:30 Rugby
3:30-5:30 Soccer
3:30-5:30 Volleyball
3:30-5:30 Basketball
LLB Primary School Tournament:
Hardball A 3rd Place Gabrielle Mackenzie, Haleigh Fabres, Dominic D’Arcy and Elias Ali in the most challenging group of the tournament represented ISPS. These players showed good poise and control throughout the matches. They communicated well as a team, which kept them in the hunt for the win.
Haleigh and Gabrielle were awarded the sportsmanship award for the second consecutive year.
Hardball B 4th Place The team of Johnathan Fernandes, Dylan de Verteuil, Jason Braithwaite, Isaac Reiber and Marcos West Rodriguez played in the hardball B category. The schools in this category were, Dunross, Rosewood, Bossiere, and St. Monica’s. The games in at this stage weremore competitive as players found their rhythm. ISPS won two out of the six games during the round robin stage and placed fourth in this group.
Green Dot 3rd Place The green dot team members were Gideon Reiber, Adam Mackenzie, Inara Chin Lee and sister Abigail Chin Lee. This was our spirited group that fought for every point. Gideon and Adam worked well together but had to overcome tough challenges from the other schools. Inara and Abigail were the pair to beat as they won every match keeping us in the hunt for the title. ISPS made it through to the second round, however, with strong plays from
the opposition, the second round proved to be tough. The girls stayed true to form while the boys continued to struggle. To the boys credit they came roaring back to win their final game 11-3 which helped us secure the third place finish in this category. I would like to congratulate all players for their sportsmanship and a huge thank you to all the parents for their support, especially Mrs. Mackenzie for organizing the teams and Mr. D’Arcy for his attempts to secure the courts for a practice. I would like to thank the students for being courageous, exhibiting good sportsmanship and shining examples of ambassadors for ISPS.
(Ricardo Lue Shue)
Hardball A team Haleigh Fabres (Grade 6)
Elias Ali (Grade 6) Dominic D’Arcy (Grade 5)
Gabrielle Mackenzie (Grade 5)
Hardball B teams Johnathan Fernandes (Grade 5)
Dylan de Verteuil (Grade 5) Jason Braithwaite (Grade 5)
Isaac Reiber (Grade 6) Marcos West Rodriguez (Grade 3)
Green Dot Ball
Gideon Reiber(Grade 4) Adam Mackenzie (Grade 3)
Inara Chin Lee (Grade 4) Abigail Chin Lee (Grade 2)
Please send in gently used books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, cookbooks, etc. All reading levels of books are appreciated. There will be collection boxes in the Green Room. and throughout the school.
We will be having our Book Sale on Friday 2nd June in the Gym. This will be open to students and parents. Any surplus books will be sold at the PTO Garage sale on Saturday 3rd June.
Proceeds of this sale will go towards helping out a children’s charity called Sponsoring Wings of Hope.
Click logo for more info. on charity.
Friday 2 June, 2017
Parents interested in Financial Aid can find the form here.
