Volume 12 12/03/2012

Greetings from Canadian International School The Maple Leaf is upon us once more, so that must mean that we are well into the second half of the school year. I would simply like to take this time to look back but to also gaze ahead at what is still in store for us this year. Multicultural Day took place recently, and it was my first such celebration of its kind in India. It was a special day with loads on international atmosphere. I look forward to next year’s al-ready! We also just had our IB Night and IGCSE Night presentations. These cur-ricula-specific meetings were aimed at getting as much information out to parents about our programs of study as we could, thus allowing more in-formed decisions on course selections and routes of study. Coffee and Tech again took place in the school in February to further ex-plain to parents about the new iPad initiative at CIS. Anytime/Anywhere learning is upon us soon! Looking forward to it greatly, as I know all stu-dents from Grade 8 on up are. Our ES teachers held the first CIS Teacher Assembly, putting on quite the show for the students of our Elementary. It was really good for students to see their teachers in a slightly different light! School Excursions to Coorg, Pondicherry, Darjeeling, Nepal and Thailand just wrapped up, too. We hope the students have lasting memories of their excursions with their classmates, as educational experiences outside of the school and class-room can often be so memorable. Exam Week is in early March followed by Report Cards and then Term Three. Time has certainly flown. In the last third of the year, CIS looks to further build on the inroads made to this point, with respect to curriculum, resource management and transparency of Administration. I know that with contin-ued vigilance on behalf of the Admini-stration and the continued support of our parent body, we will take CIS to great places.

Shane Kells-Head of School

Inside Story:

Celebrations

Community

Service

Learning

Experiences

Sports, Arts & Technology

Children’s Day Competition….. The NIE Times in collaboration with Radio Mirchi organized a Chil-dren’s Day competition for schools across Bangalore. The challenge for the competition was that students were required to write either a poem or a song on what Children’s Day means to them. The most interesting part of the challenge was that the com-position had to be in a mixture of Kannada and English. I worked with three students (Aaria Manchanda, Praleea Pradhan, and Roopal Kondepudi), and guided them in writing the lyrics and composing the tune for the jingle. The group went by the name “Angel Flakes”. Thiswas a special experience for the group, since none of them spoke Kannada. However, “Angel Flakes” went on to win , outdoing 175 other schools that participated in the competition. Angel Flakes was invited to the Radio Mirchi station, taken on a tour of the place and awarded with certifi-cates and mementoes. They were also treated to spe-cial talks by the RJs, HR manager and the CEO of the station.My students, the entire CIS community and I feel extremely proud of this outstanding achievement.

Mr. Sandeep Boniface - Music teacher

Celebrations @ CIS

Multicultural Day….. Well, another Multicultural Day has come and gone here at CIS, and this year was definitely a raging success, as always!

The day’s events began with the customary sing-ing of the Canadian national anthem, followed by cultural performances from every nation repre-sented by members of our school community, from parents, to teachers, to students alike. The performances ranged from dances, to songs, rap performances and instrumental performances as well. Every act was enjoyed by one and all. The famous multicultural food fair followed after. Tons of hungry foodies returned to their tables time and again, each time with a different plate piled with food from a different country! Many countries proudly represented delicious dishes

from their cuisines, from Korea and Japan, to the Philippines, India, and several others. All in all, Multicultural day was, as it always has been, an absolutely fantastic experience for every single member of our community to come out and enjoy the truly diverse and amazing culture that we have here at CIS. It’s safe to say that all of us are already looking forward for next year’s event!

Mallika Makkar-Grade 10

The theme for the elementary concert was “Christmas around the World”, with each grade repre-senting celebrations in their part of the world. The CIS choir comprising of mums, Elementary and Secondary students kick started the show with a funky and energy packed rendition of “Sleigh Ride” and “Wonderful Dreams”. The very cute Kindergarteners took the stage next and had the audience at the edge of their seats cheering and anticipating the odd blooper, which in-evitably becomes part and parcel of the charm of per-formances associated with tiny tots. The Elementary students followed suit, with entertain-ing and intriguing acts that included drama, poetry, dance and song. One of the highlights of the event was the instrumen-tal and vocal solo rendition of an evergreen Christ-mas carol. The recorder ensemble, accompanied by a piano put the audience in a trance as they churned out a melo-dious and perfectly synchronized performance. Gahee, an IB student then took it a step further by showcasing her powerful voice and incredible vocal range as she sang “O Holy Night”, leaving the audience spell bound. Mr. Sandeep Boniface - Music teacher

The Secondary Christmas concert was filled with great cheer. The decision to hold two separate per-formances for the elementary and the secondary al-lowed a wider representation of student talent from all of our students. Not only did the Christmas produc-tion feature musical talent at CIS, but it also featured artistic talent as Mr. Praveen and the art department designed, and constructed the stage decor. Some of the featured talent from the secondary in-cluded piano performances, recorder ensembles, flute ensembles, eighth grade choir, Donghoon ac-companied by the grade 3 students, flute beat box, a jazz rendition of let it snow, Aria singing her classic

unplugged style, grade seven girls vocal ensemble, and an IGCSE rock band. We are very proud of our talented students at Canadian International School! Mr. Scott Zeuch - Music teacher

Winter Performances…. Elementary/Secondary

After the success of last year’s walk-a-thon, the Sponsorship Committee (2011-2012) was extremely excited and optimistic about this year’s fund-raising event. This year’s walk-a-thon, on January 25th, 2012, provided a platform for the entire student body to walk collectively as one and to support worthy causes. The funds raised by the students of grades 1-5 were contributed to the “Missionaries of Charity”, a charity run by the sisters of Mother Teresa for the welfare of destitute people. The funds raised by stu-dents of grades 6-8 went to the Indira Gandhi Inter-

national Academy, a residential school for 300 Sri Lankan refugee children. The funds from grades 9-12 towards the Habitat for Humanity project, where in our students will hopefully have the opportunity to take part in the construction of houses for the needy. All in all, the turn out was fantastic and was a greater success than expected!

Nidhi Gopalan-IB2

CIS…...CARES !

Children as young as 3 years old, sleep on the floor most of the time on an empty stomach, not being able to afford a pillow or a mattress and a wholesome meal at the Indira Gandhi International Academy for Srilankan Refugees.Thus the stu-dents of IB1 as part of the CAS project organised a CIS CHRISTMAS DRIVE on 7th -8th DECEMBER 2011 in an attempt to help the children so that they can en-joy the few basic necessities in life.

The response was amazing from the CIS community.The items that were collected included 285 kgs Sugar,175 kgs Rice,170 kgs Daal,6 cartons children's winter clothes,5 cartons teen-ager/adult clothes,3 cartons blankets,pillow cases,socks and shoes.

The items had to be sorted,counted and packed in cartons.All items collected were loaded in our school bus and taken on December 14th and handed to the people in charge of looking after the children.Our students also sang a few Christmas carols and they also joined in with us.Overall the smile on the faces of these children was worth all effort in organizing this drive.

Ms. Priya Anand - CAS coordinator

Coorg…….6th Grade On Feb.8, as part of our yearly school Excur-sions, Grade 6 went on a phenomenal trip to the queen of the hills and coffee plantations- Coorg. The whole trip was an awesome adventure with all of my friends. We came across enormous spiders almost about the size of my palm, and ripe coffee beans. The first day we visited the Tibetan Golden temple. The hiking up and down mountains was tiring, but it was worth . The

bumpy jeep ride back was perhaps the highlight. Abbey Falls had an extraordinary view with nature in all its incredible beauty around it. Our visit to Now or Never Land was exciting. We went to a local government school to interact with the little chil-dren . We sang and played some games together. Trying to communicate with them, because of the language barrier was interesting. Even though the bus ride took us about six hours both ways, everybody had fun! The stay at the Club Mahin-dra Resorts was amazing. The food was simply great and the environment was so clean and green. The part that I enjoyed most about our trip was that everybody got along and had a great time!

Sareena Sheth, 6B

Learning…….Outdoors !

Pondicherry……..7th Grade

Our trip to Pondicherry wasn’t what I expected; it was way more fun and exciting than I thought it would be! There wasn’t a time when people were bored; we were all filled with excitement throughout the trip! We had lots of activities to do, like go to temples, churches, the beach, on a boat ride, shopping and lots more. We stayed in a great hotel, but the food could have been a lit-tle bit better. Not only did we have fun, but we visited a place with beautiful scenery and learned many new things on the trip. It was a spectacular experience to go to Pondicherry, especially when you have your awe-some friends and amazing teachers with you! Meghana -Grade 7 Visiting Historical places, the beach and shopping was real fun. The crocodile farm that included snakes, birds and obviously crocodiles was absolutely amazing. The beautiful stone temple was incredible to see.

Amisha-Grade 7

Cochin trip …… 8th grade From Tuesday 07.02 to Friday 10.02, we the 8th graders from CIS went to Cochin. It was an exciting experience. We went to Alleppey and stayed at the Citrus Resort, which was located in the backwaters. Beside the resort there were a few rice fields that some kids went to see.. We also went to the Dutch Palace, the Jewish Synagogue, the first European Church in India, Chi-nese Fishing Nets and Greenix Village. We went on a three

hour cruise, and also visited a government elementary school as a part of our CAS activities. It was an educational and exquisite trip that we will never for-get.

Daniela, Gautham and Nathan-Grade 8 My Nepal Trip......... 9th&10th Grade For my school trip I went to Nepal. It was a trip I will never forget. We did a lot of cool stuff. We visited a school, we went river rafting and we attended a Tibetan mourning ceremony. For me, the river rafting was the best. The feeling of adrenaline when you see the rapids was incredible! The rapids were so powerful that I almost fell out of the boat. Some of us jumped in the freezing river to swim. Doing things like this really makes me feel alive! People who are spending too much time in front of the computer or TV, should do things like this. The feeling of the cold and fresh water, hitting your body is incredible. And not only did we have an action packed rafting, but also an amazing view. This was a truly fantastic experience and I will highly recommend it to everybody. Teis Lebeck-Grade 10

IB Excursion-Thailand The excursion was fantastic while we were in Chaing Mai, Thailand for 5 days . We learnt about the Thai culture and language which was a good learning experience. We painted traditional umbrellas and made a few traditional Thai lamps . We mountain biked for 12km to the Sri Lanna National Park which was a tough task , going up and down steep hills .We kayaked in the National Park’s lake and played some games while standing on the Kayak.We fin-

ished building an incomplete Tribal school wall and then painted it. The day before we left we climbed 362 steps to a mountain temple which was about 2,000 years old. Later that day we did a few team building games which were hard but fun. On our last day we thanked our guide and headed off to the airport,. Living in the Traidos Community was an all new experi-ence in life.

Nidhi Gopalan-IB2

Learning…….Outdoors !

Biome Exhibition in Grade 4 Grade 4s concluded their study of Biomes with an elaborate exposition of deserts, oceans, tropical lands, ponds, polar regions, rain for-ests, mountains, grasslands and many more. Materials found in the house were used for cre-ating them. They explained the salient features of their biome to each visitor with enthusiasm. There was also a class project which show-cased the united effort of students. This de-picted a combination of various biomes, com-plete with the origin of a river from the mountains and its journey to the ocean! The students enjoyed designing it on a large table, with a mini wheat farm, pond and a farmhouse. They also enjoyed framing interesting titles for each biome like “whooshing waterfall”, “racing river”, “magnificent mountains”, and “painted po-lar”!! The event turned out to be a success as the students learned and shared their learning with their peers with great pride in their work.

Ms. Elizabeth James - Grade 4 Homeroom Teacher

Learning……..Indoors !

Learner profile in French B class So it was learner profile week January 16th to 20th.… In French Grade 11 class, stu-dents discovered the 10 attributes in the lan-guage of Jules Verne. Then in pairs, they worked on the definitions to make sense out of them. Having done that, they each chose one attribute and worked individually, to give examples of actions they felt were represen-tative of the learner profile. Doing so, they integrated in their written expression, newly learnt vocabulary and expressions, as well

as language structures. Finally, they wrote about a famous person whose deeds made them worthy representatives of the learner profile qualities. For example, Mother Theresa was de-finitely a role model for « caring » (altruiste in French) Et voila ! The work of the students is now displayed outside the French class. Looks nice too !

Mr. Regis Caudrillier - IB French & IB Coordinator

CIS celebrated literacy week from 20th - 24th Febru-ary. Literacy committee had organised lots of fun activities through out the whole week. Kindergarten and Elementary had a pre-Literacy week assembly on 16th of February where the teach-ers got a chance to perform for the students. It was fun and entertaining. Kindergarten teachers per-formed a play on Cinderella’s story and the Elemen-tary teachers introduced the Roald Dahl books read in their classes. Elementary students did lots of activities related to their Roald Dahl book and showcased that on their class bulletin board. The classrooms buzzed with excitement as students performed plays, read poetry and discussed books. They also dressed up as their favourite characters . There was an in class writing competition right through Grade 1 to 12. Students in Secon-dary had a good rap slam house competition and they enjoyed dedicating a poem to their favourite person through poetry telegram.

Ms. Beena Menon - ESL Teacher

Learning…...Continues !

Bullying. It happens in every school. People are bullied, and then they become bullies. It’s a cy-cle which never stops. But sometimes the victim can’t take it anymore. They take it to the ex-treme side. This is exactly what Mr. Kirk Smalley is trying to prevent. His son was a victim of bullying, and now he travels around the U.S., with an aim to stop BULLYING. CIS also had a turn, through a webinar by Kirk and I see a lot of changes! Well Done, CISB grades 7-8! Mr. Smalley talked to many classes. He told us about Ty, his son, a victim of bullying, who killed himself when he couldn’t take it anymore. He reminded us that we too had the power to end bul-lying. If we vanquish bullying in our school, and others do it in theirs, then we will together make a bully free world. His story was a sad one, and many of my classmates, including me, had tears in our eyes. Whatever happens in the years to come, I will not forget my promise to Stand For The Silent. The Pledge: “From this day forward I promise to respect those around me as well as respect myself. I am somebody, and I can make a difference. I can make another feel loved. I can be the helping hand that leads another back to a path of hope and aspiration. I will not stand silent as others try to spread hatred through my community. Instead, I pledge to lift up these victims, and show them that their life matters. I will be the change, because I am somebody.”

Roopal Kondepudi– Grade 7

Through…..Webinar also !

Sports News….. School Wide ! KG /Elementary /Secondary Sports Day – After the winter break the different sections had their sport days on different days .The main objective behind it is participation and a fun filled day for all. Some of the events like shot put, Javelin Throw, High jump, Long jump, Triple Jump, Discus Throw and Cross country were conducted during ECA . Other events like sprints, relays and tug of war happened on the final day. The captains of each house displayed good qualities of leadership through out the term. TISB Soccer/ Basket ball tournament- CIS team got an opportunity to play among inter-

national and national school in Bangalore. As al-ways… CIS intention was good team work, expo-sure to sport, and to foster new relationship among students during tournaments.

Stone Hill tournament for grade 1- 6 CIS junior team had a great day by winning most of the trophies. Grade 3 & 4 team won the first place and rest of the categories (Grade 1&2 boys, Grade 5 & 6 girls) won the runner up position.

Stone Hill Swimming competition Four of our students participated in the swimming competition and won gold and silver.

CIS grade 10 and below Soccer /Basket ball tournament – Six schools participated in this tour-nament. CIS were the runner up in Basket ball girls, Basket ball boys and Soccer boys. It was a long day but all students from different schools had a great time. Extra curricular activities Term 2 started with inclusion of new activities dur-ing ECA like Basket ball for grade 1- 5, Mélange, Chinese club and Zumba.

Mr. Bipin. K. K - P.E Coordinator

Short+Sweet Theatre Festival in Bangalore On the 24th of February in J.P. Nagar at Rangashankara, “Short + Sweet” began its first run in Bangalore. Short + Sweet is the world’s largest theatre festival and competition dedicated to showcasing ten 10-minute plays made by local theatre groups and playwrights, and at the end of the first three days, only two are chosen to move on to the finals of competition. As a spectator for the most part, I got to see all ten plays presented. The participants put on a great show at the festival. Because of the

show’s high quality, hundreds of enthusiasts attended the festival and on 2 nights the show was completely sold out. Our very own IB2 Theatre class presented their own intense rendition of their Theatre project. This was Short + Sweet’s first run in Bangalore, and because of this, most people were unsure of what to expect from the show. However, despite this initial apprehension, the audience felt the ac-tors rose above these doubts and put on amazing and original performances.

Uddhav Srivilasan and Alina Carson-IB1

From the CIS Theatre…..

Twice, Secondary parents arrived at the HS library to share and learn about One to One Learning in a hands-on session. Socrative, an app used to poll students, was used to interact with the parents. Some have iPads in their homes already, while others were first time users. We tested out a few of the iPad features and the wiki that has been created for CIS learning was introduced.All are encouraged to check this site out, as we pre-pare to have students working in the online environment. http://cisone2onelearning.wikispaces.com/ Parent concerns were addressed and as a result of this discussion, a decision to allow those students who already have Mac laptops to use them for their one to one learning experience was made by CIS administration.CIS has been supporting and providing professional growth for all secondary teachers with their iPads in hand since September. We will be ready to deliver a engaging and exciting learning experience. Students will use their iPads daily for organisation, for notes, for creating, and for reinforcement. Each teacher will have a unique and subject specific approach to creating their one to one environment. Students, teachers, and parents are excited to move into the digital world using the abundant educational applications of the iPad. iBooks and digital texts will be explored. The iPad will be a tool for learning, but it will not replace the teacher, the physical textbook, or the pen and paper test. If you have any questions, please email me or stop by to chat.

Ms. Melanie Kells - deanofstudies@cisb.org.in

Coffee and Tech

Student Editor: Pradeen Pradhan

Photographer: Ramya Fegradoe

Student Writers: Nidhi Gopalan

Amisha Vashistha

Sareena Sheth

Meghana Kollu

Daniela Rodriguez Manrique

Gautham Suresh Nair

Nathan John Booth

Teis Lebeck

Mallika Makkar

Roopal Kondepudi

Uddhav Srivilasan

Alina Carson

O U R M I S S I O N

CIS is a culturally-rich mosaic serving each student by providing a world-class international education, nurturing

potential, developing life-long skills, and preparing students for an ever-changing global community.

Coordinator: Ms. Reena John

Teachers: Mr. Sandeep Boniface Mr. Regis Caudrillier Ms. Beena Menon Mr. Bipin K. K Mr. Scott Zeuch Ms. Elizabeth James Ms. Priya Anand Ms. Melanie Kells

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