22 september 2017 - cismanila.orgdaniel and brenda joyce lim and angeline mapua who spearheaded this...

DRAGON NEWSLETTER EDUCATE. ENGAGE. EMPOWER.

Reminders

• School starts each WED at 8:20 AM • MAP testing begins ongoing and will

end by September 27. • Grade 3 Assembly on September 29,

8:30 AM MPH.

Chinese International School Manila September 22, 2017

Dear Parents,

This week in Grades 3-10 we launched our first round of MAP testing, which provides valuable information on each student’s progress relative to the American Core State Stan-

dards. The MAP results show us how to help individual learners in Mathemat-ics and English, and identify general trends that inform our decision-making. Additionally, I spent time visit-ing classrooms, which I consider to be the best part of my job! I observed learners delving deep into interesting topics such as the solar system, parti-cle physics, persuasive writing, indige-nous music, prime numbers and, of course, Chinese. Prevailingly, our teachers were empowering and our students were engaged. I noted teach-ers using ‘mind maps’ and ‘strategic questioning’ to make their students’ thinking visible. And, I heard students voicing their ideas and perspectives with confidence. Our students’ desire to learn was unmistakable and inspir-ing.

Tim Boulton

Head of Schools

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Sun Shades

We’re proud to announce that sun shades will soon be installed in our playground area through the initiative of our Parents.

The CISM Board and Administrators would like to extend their gratitude to Daniel and Brenda Joyce Lim and Angeline Mapua who spearheaded this project. Special mention goes out to the Parents listed below. Together with CISM’s pledge of PhP 250,000, their generous donations totaled PhP 1,100,000.

Daniel and Brenda Joyce Lim

Victor and Angeline Belle Mapua

Maynard and Venus Ngu

Leonides Juan Mariano and Malin Virata

Kenneth and Jenevie Karen Sytin

Rommel and Sandra May Sytin

Washington and Jocelyn Lee

Steve and Sharleen Vincent Tsao

Earnest Vaugh and Camilla Christina Yu

Mark Kendrick and Jasmine Vivie Cabilangan

Anonymous

Joseph John and Marie Bernadette Quirante

Anonymous

Evangeline Tan

Wilfredo and Richelyn Uy

Dragon Newsletter, of September 22, 2017

EY/ES Student Corner How Mountains Were Formed

By: Emma Hoesen, Grade 5 MV

Winter was harsh and cold. It blew at everything in its way, even Gods. Down in the snowy forest, there

was a fire burning on a single piece of wood. It would burn and burn day, and night, never seeming to die.

One freezing day, two Gods met each other at the same place and time, both looking straight at the burn-

ing fire. Whenever they got close to the burning fire, their bodies felt so warm that they didn’t feel the

wind blowing at all.

The two gods lunged at each other the second they knew what the other one was thinking and started

fighting over the fire. The first God Akhlys quickly stopped and suggested, “how about we do a contest?”

The second God Enceladus’s hand went up to his head and scratched it. “We could do it by getting rocks

and creating rocky hills,” Akhlys continued, “and whoever creates the most hills using rocks will get the

fire for eternity, but no cheating.” “Okay, but when do we start?” asked Enceladus. “Why of course right

now!”

The two looked at each other warily like they were enemies while finding an open space. They both

started picking up rocks and boulders nearby and throwing them into piles. It was still cold and their fin-

gers got numerous cuts and blisters, by the time they finished each hill of rocks. Years passed but no one

stopped.

Slowly Enceladus got tired but he knew he couldn’t show it, he was a god after all. That was when he

thought about using magic. A little magic wouldn’t hurt, right? thought Enceladus. Carefully, he lifted up

his fingers when Akhlys wasn’t looking. Suddenly, the rock floated up and piled on top of them in a flash.

Enceladus was proud of making the rockiest hills while Akhlys looked awfully tired. Enceladus pro-

nounced himself as the winner and was about to claim the fire when the wind blew so harshly.

Only the rocky hills on Enceladus’s side flew away and fell. He screamed “no!” but too late. This time,

Akhlys had won because he had chosen heavy rocks carefully, because he was afraid that the wind might

have do something similar to his hill. He had gotten so tired from carrying all those rocks by himself.

In the end Akhyls won, picking up his prize, leaving Enceladus shocked. That was how mountains were

formed. No pain, no gain.


MS/HS Student Corner

Awake

By: Stefanie Mah, Grade 11

Lying wide awake under the night sky

As the dark night comes into view,

The glimmering stars twinkle in laughter

In the midst of howling cries below,

Where the wild game of luck has begun;

As we scramble towards the gate of safety,

With faith and hopes of such survival

We run towards the non-existing arms of security,

That we foolishly believed would save us.

Towards the gate that was locked long ago

The key nowhere to be found.

This all seemed to be nothing more than a dream

Than what it all really, truly was.

Lying wide awake under the night sky,

Among the masses of living corpses

Whom with sunken cheeks and dead eyes,

Stare blankly towards the heavens,

Praying silent prayers towards the God

Whom has turned His back against us,

And denied our pleas for help.

Whom has tossed the faith inside us

Along with the bodies and souls of many,

Bit by bit into the raging flames,

That's left no trace of our past selves,

Instead it's replaced with weariness and pain,

Engraved onto every inch of us,

Like a scar that can never be forgotten.

Lying wide awake under the night sky,

As we no longer struggle in Death’s grasp

Like a noose, it squeezes out all hopes

That we would ever survive this Hell .

It turns our backs on one another,

Son to father, brother to brother,

As we fight to emerge as survivors of this game

I, whom was one of the lucky few,

Yet lost everything in return.

Having nothing in return except for scars,

The scars that never heals, the pain that lingers

It makes me wide awake at night,

In this never ending nightmare.


MS/HS Student Corner

Rewriting of The Metamorphosis

By: Rose Pamela Esguerra, Grade 12

(Grade 10 submission)

“Did you understand a word of all that?” the chief clerk asked his parents, “that was the voice of an animal.”

“An animal?” thought Gregor. He looked down at himself and re-examined his grotesque form from his stiff,

brown belly to his little legs. Surely his physical appearance was far beyond that which one might consider human.

“The chief clerk is right,” Gregor thought to himself, “I am an animal!” With much anxiety, Gregor crawled to a mirror

to inspect his own countenance. His reflection confirmed his previous thought as much as it made him retreat to under

his bed in fear. Once there, he tried hard to forget the rigid brown face from the mirror, but he found that closing his

eyes only brought back images of the long, hairy antennae, the sharp pincers, and, perhaps worst of all, the pair of cold,

soulless eyes.

Being under the bed was oddly comforting for Gregor, and he was able to regain his composure. “There must

be a rational explanation to all of this,” he thought, “a man doesn’t simply change into a vermin overnight. I’m sure this

is all some sort of horrible punishment.” But what for? Was it because he had not been able to reach his sales quota

yesterday, and had not attended his three o’clock meeting with the chief clerk, because he was not able to catch the one

o’clock train? Or was it something that happened a long time ago, and his transformation was just the consequence of

his unsatisfactory performance as a travelling salesman? This was, of course, preposterous. Gregor, driven by his will

to support his family and pay off his parents’ debt, was the most conscientious and dedicated salesman in his boss’s

entire company. While all the other employees, every single one of them, louts, gambled away their monthly salary as

if money was not at all important, Gregor made sure that he worked to the best of his ability to provide stability and

reassurance to his family in their times of need.

Maybe it was because Gregor was just not working enough. Maybe he had only to get out from under the bed,

open the door, and get back to work so that everything could return to normal. He scuttled into the center of his room,

and upon seeing that it was half past nine, decided that he would be able to make enough sales if he caught the ten

o’clock train and returned home by one in the morning, in time to catch a few hours of sleep before waking up and

starting all over again. “This will fix everything,” Gregor thought while trying to turn the key in his door with his

strong, clenched jaw. He was almost there, and he did not mind at all that a brown fluid seemed to gush out of his

mouth with each rotation of the key. Gregor’s determination to resume working for the sake of his family was enough

to help him ignore the pain emanating from his jaw, and he could not suppress a slight smile at the thought of himself

outsmarting whoever found it appropriate to change him into a horrible vermin.

“Listen,” said the chief clerk in the next room, “he’s turning the key.” Gregor was greatly encouraged by this,

and his father and mother began to call to him, as well. “Come now, Gregor!” his mother said in a tone that was beyond

her usual gentleness, “money doesn’t grow on trees! Get out and work now!” Gregor was not perturbed by this com-

ment. He mistook her impatience for excitement and continued turning the key. “Hurry up, you lazy clod!” yelled his

father, banging heavily on his door. This frightened Gregor, who, on his little legs, scurried back to under his bed, still

jarred by the vibrations caused by his father’s fist on the other side of his door.

“What is this?” thought Gregor. “Day in and day out, I work so that they could live comfortably. I never ask

for anything in return, yet this is how they repay me. Is there no gratitude, no love in this family?” Gregor, from within

the darkness beneath his bed, surveyed his room in search of anything – anything at all!, that could remind him of the

happy family life he once had. There was not so much as a family portrait in the room, and the stripes that decorated

each of the room’s four walls began to seem more and more like steel bars. “All this time they have kept me captive

within this strenuous lifestyle,” thought Gregor, “I have been working my life away, and the one day I do not meet their

expectations they scold me as if I were no more than a servant – an animal. It can all go to Hell!” Gregor crawled to an

open window and, with all the strength he had in his body, jumped onto the windowsill. He kept himself steady, cling-

ing precariously to the steel frame with his little legs struggling to support his large body. Four translucent wings

sprouted from the shell of his back, then Gregor Samsa flew out of his window, never again to return to his cage of a

home. Freedom was his.


High School Artwork

Ji Hwan John (Grade 12)

Kate Lindsley (Grade 12)

Maureen (Grade 12)

Timothy Lawrence (Grade 12)


Elementary School Artwork

Danhee (Grade 2)

Brandon Yves (Grade 2)

Ingrid Harper (Grade 2) Shriya (Grade 2)


Sports Day

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UNIVERSITY COUNSELING SCHEDULE Saturday, September 22, 9:00 - 11:00 AM

College Conversations at BSM - Registration Required

Monday, September 25, 2:00 PM University of British Columbia

Monday, September 25, 6:00 PM University of Southern California at ISM - Registration Required

Tuesday, September 26, 10:10 AM Boston University and University of Southern California

Thursday, September 28, 10:10 AM University of California, Davis

Tuesday, October 3, 8:00 - 9:00 AM EduCanada Study Fair 2017 at CISM

Thursday, October 5, 1:40 PM Fordham University / University of La Verne

Wednesday, October 11, 7:30 AM PSAT for Grade 10 & 11 Students - Registration OPEN until October 10

Thursday, October 12, 9:30 AM Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute & Southern Methodist University

PARENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO ATTEND

PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] FOR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Dear Parents,

As we continue to streamline the School's security measures, we would like to seek the cooperation of parents in ensuring that their child in Middle School and High School will wear their school IDs at all times while in CISM campus grounds.

Questions and clarification on this note may be forwarded to [email protected].

Announcements:


CISM’s Rear Gate on Naples Drive

CISM

22 september 2017 - cismanila.orgdaniel and brenda joyce lim and angeline mapua who spearheaded this...

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