Who We Are Debate

After weeks of debate practice in Literacy, visits with the nurse, and preparation within debate teams, our class was finally ready to engage other in final debate.  

The topic of debate: Which gender has the most challenging time growing up?

The debate teams:

Reiji Sam Oliver Kei Travis	Mika Brooke Yurika Arifah
Deakin Koki Yuta Dong Won	Jasmine Mads Min Seo Sofie

There are two videos in this post, each of them are approximately 30 mins long.  Get your popcorn out for this nail biter. Which sides do you have as winners?

5DC at the Annual Poetry Recital 2013

Yesterday, ISS' fifth graders took to the stage with enthusiasm to recite the poems they had prepared. The individual performances were simply stellar.  Take your time to watch the performances from students of 5DC, above.

Please leave comments!  The students really enjoy reading your feedback.

Preparing Portfolios and Reflection

On the 21st of October We - 5DC have been preparing for our portfolios and preparing for the 3 way conference. A lot of our work has been from our reflections on our unit. I have picked my reflections on analyzing media, Dove evolution video reflection and also my first garageband song (but technically not really my first) but even though preparing for those things have been a lot of work, I still thought preparing was actually quite fun because throughout this unit, I’ve been amazed of how communication can be sent away to people and maybe animals on the unit Media. I’d probably have the unit - Media as my favourite unit so far. Anyways about my reflections if you want to look at one reflection that i’ve done, it will be down below. Maybe you can do a reflection of this piece. Can you? Hope you enjoyed reading my post!

REFLECTION

1. What happened in the video?

What happened was that a group of people (editors/photographers/producers/directors/makeup artists) all took just an ordinary girl in their studio and the makeup artists put makeup on the girl and made her look different. They also did different things to the girls hair and took a photo of her in makeup. After that they put a photo of her in photoshop and edited some parts of her face.(which surprised me)

2. What is the message in this video?

I think the message in this video is that don’t believe everything in pictures even though they look real. I think this is the message because what the people did with a normal girl was that the producers/directors/makeup artists put makeup on an ordinary girl and made her look different. They also did different things to the girls hair and took a photo of her in makeup. After that they put a photo of her in photoshop and edited some parts of her face.


3. Did anything surprise you?

Yes actually. A lot of thing surprised me. What surprised me was that the producers/editors/photography people actually photoshopped some parts of her face and I did not expect that because I think the girl actually looked ok the way she already was without the photoshop editing. I’ve never really seen people do this stuff so i’m quite surprised.


4. What does this video tell you about how media is created? 

I think what this video told me was that media can’t always be 100% natural. I think that what the video is trying to say is that some photos may not be real by itself. Anything is possible so I think that’s what the video is saying. Also it might be saying don’t believe everything on pictures, drawings or billboards.

 

Blogged by 5DC student, Arifah

Grade 5s Celebrates their year with some dance!

A well deserved day of fun is what our fifth graders received today.  All year, these young individuals learned to work with each other to help themselves become fuller global citizens.  Not only can our students succeed in their academic lives, they certainly know how to have fun!

5DC in the Music Assembly

Super Conference Leaders

A big congratulatory shout out to all the students of 5DC who participated in the student led conferences today (including those who opted to conduct it at home).  You all did a fantastic job explaining the progress you have shown through the last eight months.

Of course, this day would have been impossible without a great team of supportive parents who took time out of their busy work days and regular schedules to hear your children talk about their experiences in 5DC.

I hope that the experience was meaningful for you.  If you have seen student led conferences done in a different way, please drop me a few lines with some recommendations.

Enjoy the photos!

4 Days to go till the 5th Grade Exhibition

All 5th grade classroom have been a frenzy of activity in the last two weeks.  Our amazing mentors and specialists have been stopping into the classrooms to lend their hands and backs to the exhibition effort.

Here are some photos of 5DC students knee deep in their preparations for the Exhibition on March 12th-13th.  

Exhibition update

The past week in fifth grade has seen a step up in the focus and drive to make the Exhibition experience  as meaningful and student-led as possible.  Most of the research and data gathering has been complete leaving groups at a stage where they are sorting through their information and making sense of it all.  In the next two weeks, students will be busy creating unique ways of presenting their findings and the process that they went through in arriving at those findings.

Most of the 14 school days leading up to the exhibition (March 12-13) will be devoted to the Exhibition.  If you are a parent of fifth grade students, please be flexible with your child's timetable in the next two weeks as they will need time to meet with each other to get their presentations ready.

Let's take a few deep breaths, in .  . . . . and  . . ..  out . . . in .  . . . . and  . . ..  out . . . in .  . . . . and  . . ..  out.  

The Quadruplet Domestic Workers
meeting with Sister Sisi from HOME. 

Chiemi discussing plans with The Reflective Risk-Takers.

HMS happily sorting through all their research.

Students on the Exhibition

Hi!
Miya: This is Miya and Connie, back on ISS international school news. So Connie, what’s going on in Grade 5?

Connie: These past weeks have been really busy with something called the exhibition. It’s when the G5 students do a big presentation about Migration. And Migration’s where living things move from one place to another. Back to you, Miya.

Miya: Yes. In class you get groups and mentors. You have to come up with a group name, essential agreements and go on field trips. Most of the groups are now just over the research stage and doing interviews and surveys. Also, we are currently decorating our exhibition scrapbook and boards by doing creative new reflections, taking pictures, making logo’s, asking questions, going to mentor meetings and much more.

Connie: Wow! Sounds like busy weeks ahead in Grade 5! What do you think about the exhibition for students, Miya?

Miya: Well, lots of students are getting really involved and many are giving up their break time to make models in art or research.

Connie: Yeah. It’s also a great learning experience for vocabulary, teamwork, leadership and exploring your capabilities.

Miya: What would you say our teacher would like to see?

Connie: I think Mr. Chan wants specifics and details.

Miya: Are there any things that you find hard in working in a group? Because I find that everyone has different ideas and everyone wants to use their own ideas rather than listening to somebody elses ideas.

Connie: No, I don’t find anything very hard. It’s time to wrap up everyone, but if you want to know more about the exhibition come to see.

Miya: Yeah, it’s on the 12th and 13th of March. Please come to see our hard work!

Connie and Miya: Bye everybody! See you next time on ISS news!

Miya	Connie

Preparing for Literacy Evening

With literacy evening coming up, students have the chance to tell, in their own words and styles some of the things they do to become better students of literature.  5DC is showcasing the reading circle in this week's literacy evening.

Here is a short stop motion video of a group putting together their poster on one of the reading circle roles (the Illustrator).  Before working on the large chart paper, students needed to review the different components of the reading circle and the responsibilities of the different roles within the reading circle.  Then, in groups of four, students used an A3 sheet to plan the layout of their poster including the words they were going to use.  What is being shown below is the final phase of this process.

See you on Thursday!

2013 Grade 5 Poetry Recital

Congratulations fifth grade students!  You were excellent poetry reciters.  Leading up to this day, you selected pieces of poetry that you found interesting and worth sharing with your peers and adults.
Today, you took a big personal risk in stepping up on stage and showing your own individual style.  Regardless of the size of an audience, it is never easy to step on stage in front of one, especially when you have to do it alone.


Come back to read some personal reflections from the students, but for now, enjoy the show!

Data Handling

Over the last couple days, we have been talking about DATA.  Some of the vocabulary that has been circulating around the classroom with regards to DATA are "collect", "represent", and "analyze".  Each day, we have collected data on the foods we consume for breakfast.

Check out the graph below.  What can you learn about 5DC?

Why Do We Take Actions?

"To make a huge impact on our planet." - Vitya

"To give us a more comfortable surrounding." - Miho

"To show what is in your mind." - HaeRin

"To make our living conditions better." - Chiemi

"To make the world a better place to live in." - Alex M.

"We take risks because of who we are and what we think about things." - Emily

"Take actions to do what you think is right." - Miya

"We take actions because there is an impact or effect." - Sayma

"We take actions to make a better place to live for humans and 
animals." - Ami

"We take actions to try new things." - Emellia

"We take risks for a better place." - Alex P.

"To invent things and make the world a better place to live." - Connie

"We take actions because we know something needs to change." - Amy

"The take actions for the better being of the world." - Carsen

"If something is empty, we do actions to fill it up." - Suyoung

"We take actions to achieve what we want to do." - Lucas

Alex M on Market Day

In school everybody has been working with their group and preparing for market place.  In my group are Suyong and Lucas.  Over the weekend they both came over to my house to make the items we needed to make it happen.  My group is doing a service where people throw wet sponges at my face and teacher’s faces.  Some of the teachers that will be there are Ms.Nisa, Mr. Myers, Mr. Nathan and maybe even Ms. Alden!  A throw at me is 20 cents, a throw at a teacher is 40 cents, and a throw at Ms. Alden is $1. All the money we raise will go to a microfinance organisation called KIVA.  I think that we will raise a lot of money because it will be very popular!

-Alex 

First Logos and Slogans

Class Full of Thinkers

In our literacy block this morning, we started looking at the art of persuasion in the form of text.  It all started off with a topic in which many of us have strong opinions.  I asked, "cats or dogs?"  "What are two reasons why you prefer one over the other.

At first, only a few students wanted to share their opinions, then before I knew it, I found myself reiterating that other students needed a chance to share their opinions before rebuttals could be expressed.

Then, students went out and were tasked with the hypothetical question, "In your opinion, which animal would be most suitable as a class pet?"

5DC students had 20 minutes to think and write.  For me, this was my chance to look at the different ways students organized their persuasive arguments, and the different strategies students were using to support their opinions.

Students got up and had a chance to read the opinions of others and see how others organized their writing.

What came afterwards was what impressed me most.  Students then began asking questions that would be able to guide their future persuasive writings.  Here are some of the questions that they came up with.

Is electricity really necessary?
Can we not use money?
Should we cut trees down?
Should we mine out all of the metals, crystals and stones from the eath?
Do we really need the internet?
Is Google an unethical company?
Is war necessary?
Do we need electronic gadgets?
Is Petrol necessary?
Is division necessary in life?
Do we need brains in this day of technology?
Does technology need to develop?
Do we need paper?
Do we need ink?

So, instead of writing essays about colours, seasons, and countries, students in 5DC have proven that they can ask questions that are relevant in their own lives.