KSM Newsletter December 14th 2012 - The King's International ...

Newsletter
issue 14, Term 1
Weekly newsletter for King’s School Manila
www.kings.org.ph

Headteacher’s Message
By Janet Brock
Dear Parents,
I am sure you will all agree our Christmas Concert was a fitting way to end our first term at King’s School
Manila. The children sang beautifully and looked extremely smart in their uniforms. I was very proud of
them.
An interesting fact:
The carol ‘Twelve Days of Christmas” originated from the 16th Century and was written at a time when
priests were being persecuted for their faith and they used this carol to teach people about their faith without
getting in to trouble. Each present actually has a hidden meaning;
1 Partridge in a Pear Tree = Jesus Christ
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity or the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Trinity
4 Calling Birds = The Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament or The Catholic Church’s five obligatory
sacraments: baptism, communion, confirmation, penance and last rites
6 Geese-A-laying = The six days of creation
7 Swans-A-swimming = The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids-A-milking = The eight beatitudes or the eight times a year that Roman Catholics in those days
were required to receive Holy Communion
9 Ladies Dancing = The nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords-A-leaping = The Ten Commandments
11 Pipers Piping = The eleven apostles, excluding Judas
12 Drummers Drumming = The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed
May I wish all of you a family filled Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Janet Brock
ducklings
News
Making, Baking, Dancing & Singing
The last week of term is a good time for
reflection and relaxation. We have certainly
reflected a lot as we have looked back on
all the things we have done since August!
The end of our first term has arrived and
we have celebrated well by making, baking,
dancing and singing our way into the festive
season. The dusting with glitter finished
and the dusting with flour began!
After the Christmas assembly on Wednesday
we shared our baking with the performers
and the audience. There is certainly a lot of language to be had measuring, cutting, greasing,
cooking and tasting! The Ducklings enjoyed all our cooking activities and I recommend you let
them help out with the cooking during the holidays.
Next term is shaping up quite nicely and we have some new and exciting curriculum activities
planned with learning Mandarin and venturing into the swimming pool and also playing our
part in the school Pantomime! Please keep in contact with me, as you prepare to come back to
school in January, if you have any questions at all.
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Kingfishers
Poetry to Life
Magic Boxes at Christmas time
NewsBringing
For young children, a little magic and imagination goes a long way in helping their creative
writing to shine.
The Kingfishers have completed a 3 week unit on Poetry where they have been reading, studying
and bringing to life the poem ‘My Magic Box’ by Kit Wright:
My Magic Box by Kit Wright
I will put in the box
the swish of a silk sari on a summer night,
fire from the nostrils of a Chinese dragon,
the tip of a tongue touching a tooth.
I will put in the box
a snowman with a rumbling belly
a sip of the bluest water from Lake Lucerene,
a leaping spark from an electric fish.
I will put into the box
three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati,
the last joke of an ancient uncle,
and the first smile of a baby.
I will put into the box
a fifth season and a black sun,
a cowboy on a broomstick
and a witch on a white horse.
My box is fashioned from ice and gold and steel,
with stars on the lid and secrets in the corners.
Its hinges are the toe joints of dinosaurs.
Finally the children performed their poems to the class, showing their magic boxes and imagining they were placing
all of their favorite things inside.
Their finished poems were really imaginative and descriptive and the children have taken their boxes home, very
proud of their achievements!
The children have taken their favorite parts of the poem and drawn beautiful pictures of their
own interpretation of the line.
They have also chosen some new words from the poem and found out what they mean, for
example ‘Ancient’.
And then we began to think about creating our own magic boxes that contained all our favourite
things. The children tasted a range of different foods, smelled some interesting new smells and
listened to a variety of sounds to elicit some new, descriptive vocabulary. For example : ‘The
smell of fresh, zesty lemo’, The scrumptious taste of creamy hot chocolate’ or The thundering
roar of a lion’ and then they worked on creating poetic sentences for their own poems.
The children looked at the layout of the poem and learned how to form a poem using verses
and repeated lines. They then wrote their own poems using this layout and all the wonderful
vocabulary they have learned.
Alongside this we made our own magic boxes using shoe boxes, tissue paper and plenty of shiny
and sparkly bits.
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eagles
NewsCool King’s!
As we have come to the end of a brilliant first term
at King’s it seems appropriate to reflect back on the
activities of the first term.
Recently children completed a writing assessment
where they were asked to write a welcome letter
to new children to explain important information
about our school. We tried hard to arrange the
information in paragraphs. We also wrote a nonchronological
report on King’s School, which
included photographs and diagrams. The children
arranged their work themselves, remembering to
include a title and subheadings.
Over the past week it has been lovely to relax and
enjoy spending time chatting to the children about
what they have enjoyed most this year and what
they think of our school.
Here’s what the Eagles had to say:
Lia - “Every teacher and my friends help me to do
things correctly, they have helped me learn to speak English very well!”
Cole – “The best things is when we learn things using the iPads. I love the really big football field
and playing football with Chelsea.”
Francesca – “I like being with my friends. I like to play with the ball at playtimes. I love playing
maths games on the iPad.”
Thomas – “The best things about King’s School is that we can play and have fun with all our
friends.”
Daniel – “Everyone is so kind to one another at King’s school.”
Flynn – “I like King’s School because we can play four-square and lots of other fun P.E. games
outside.”
Yashaswini – “It’s nice here because people help us and I enjoy drawing in Art class.”
Mickey – “I like using the iPads and the Interactive Whiteboard to lean and play games against
my friends.”
Rasmus – “I like playing on the climbing frame on the playground. I like to play football on the
field with my friends at lunchtimes.”
Miss Tame – “I like King’s School because the children are happy, relaxed and having lots of fun
whilst they learn. Everyone works as a team to create the best school we can!”
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Scarlet macaws
News
Baking with Ducklings
This week the Scarlet Macaws were invited to help the youngest children in the school, the
Ducklings, to bake mince pies for our Christmas Concert. The Scarlet Macaws really loved
getting the chance to bake and they were absolutely fantastic at helping the younger children!
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Scarlet macaws
News
Marble reward
This week in KS2, the Scarlet Macaws and the Eagles were very excited to celebrate their 400
marble reward!
3……2……1…….
WATERFIGHT!
Both children and teachers agreed that it was amazing fun and a brilliant way to end our first
term in school.
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Music
News
Merry Christmas
It’s hard to believe that our first term is over. It’s also amazing to think how quickly our children at
King’s are learning how to perform and get the best out of their voices and instruments. I am very
proud of our children following on from the Christmas Concert on Wednesday afternoon. The
whole concert was a demonstration of the kind of things that we do in music lessons. Whether
it is singing or playing a solo, working with a small group in an accompaniment or being part
of a large group. The children really rose to the occasion, they looked great and their voices are
getting better and better. It is sometimes very hard for young children to control their voices and
I am immensely proud that they took great care that they were singing with a good tone and not
simply shouting words that they had remembered. I want to thank all of the children for their
performance at the Christmas concert; it is definitely one that I will remember for a long time to
come. I am now looking forward to working with the children for the production of Cinderella
in February. Merry Christmas everyone.
Physical Education
News
Family Fitness
You probably know that regular exercise is important because it lowers heart risks, helps to
control weight, improves school performance and helps children to burn off extra energy. You
may even have your own exercise regimen because you understand the benefits. But don’t expect
children to understand or even care about those reasons. It’s our job as the adults in their lives to
provide opportunities for movement and exercise as well as be role models for a healthy lifestyle.
With this break from school upon us we can spend more time together being active, playing and
having fun with our whole family.
These next few weeks are the perfect opportunity to dedicate some time as a family to having fun
while being active together, whether it’s taking the children to the park or playground to burn
off some of that extra energy or actually starting a family fitness program. Being active is the
key. Walking instead of driving, skating at the MOA, swimming and getting a group a children
together for some tag or four-square (parents included) are just a few ways to be active as a
family. If your child needs their video game fix perhaps you could look into some of the physical
participation video games (Nintendo Wii and XBox) where you move, dance and play sports
while playing the game. If your children are more naturally inclined to excel at video games then
they will surely enjoy beating you and showing you up.
Youtube is loaded with free workout videos for people of all ages and abilities. Check out
FitnessBlender’s “Low Impact Cardio Workout for Beginners”. It’s a great instructional video
that’s not too complicated and there’s no music to complicate things if you have trouble staying
on the beat. It’s a great video for the whole family.
If you do take the opportunity to play, move and exercise as a family please take pictures so we
can share them with the rest of the Kings School families. Have a safe and active vacation!
Cheers!
Mr. Cove
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