august september 2017 isk newsletter · isk newsletter august - september 2017 isk welcomes new...

May - June 2016

August—September 2017

“ The expert

in anything

was once a

beginner ”

- Helen Hayes

Important Dates

September 21 - 22 Awal Muharram Holiday (No school for students)

October 7 SAT at ISK

October 10 - 12 MAP testing

October 16 Parent-Teacher Conference

October 18 Deepavali Holiday (No school)

October 23 - 27 School Break to coincide with EARCOS leadership conference (No school)

October 24 Sultan of Pahang’s Birthday (No school)

ISK family and friends,

Now that we have concluded our first month of classes, we are happy to say that the 2017-2018 school year has successfully begun, and we look forward to a full year of learning, creativity, and fun.

This year we are excited to announce that we have welcomed a number of highly qualified and experienced teaching staff with training from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As always, we are committed to providing the best quality education possible; based on the American Common Core Standards and rooted in our Essential Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLR’s). We will continue to cultivate these ESLR values by providing a learning environment that emphasizes Communication, Lifelong Learning, Problem Solving, People Skills, and Responsibility, while ensuring that our students graduate prepared for the challenges of university.

Additionally, we are pleased to report on the expansion at our elementary level and the hiring of a new elementary teacher to teach the grade 2 and 3 students. Ms. Christine, who joined us from Canada, is now getting settled into her new role, and is looking forward to getting to know her new students. We hope that you will stop by the school and meet her and our other new teachers: Mr. Azim in swimming, PE, and math, and Ms. Devi in English and social studies.

With your continued support, we will continue to provide the best environment for optimizing our students’ learning and potential. ISK is dedicated to Inspiring Success through Knowledge, and together we make make our school the best environment for your child’s learning.

Feel free to drop into the office at any time if you have any questions or concerns regarding the school or your child’s education. Or, if you prefer, send me an email at [email protected].

I look forward to another successful year and can’t wait to hear from you.

Yours in education, Benjamin M. Tamte Principal

Inspiring Success through Knowledge

ISK NEWSLETTER

International School of Kuantan

mailto:[email protected]

Christine was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the winter and grew up loving cold weather. While growing up her parents moved many times so she attended many schools and lived in many places. From this she gained her love of travel and experiencing new things.

Christine went to college to learn accounting but staying in an office all day did not suite her personality so she went back to school and earned a BA in Liberal Studies and a BA in Education. She worked as a substitute teacher for many years gaining experience in

pre K to grade 11, in both the English and French Immersion streams. Christine also worked as a substitute Special Education teacher for many years.

Eventually her love of travel was not satisfied with trips to Mexico, Cuba and the U.S. so she had to go overseas. Christine’s first year overseas, was in a school in central China. She found her year in China to be quite interesting but decided to go somewhere else the following year. She spent the next three years in Kuwait working at a British school and traveling on holidays. Christine visited Malaysia during a couple of her holidays and decided to move there next. Her first year in Malaysia was at an international school just outside Kuala Lumpur. Christine decided to stay in Malaysia for another year but wanted a new challenge and moved to ISK Kuantan.


August - September 2017 ISK NEWSLETTER

ISK Welcomes New Elementary School Teacher

Ms. Christine Mae Wilson

Dear ISK students, parents and community, Hi! My name is Azim, a new teacher here at ISK. I was born in Kuala Lumpur and pursued my tertiary education at International Islamic University Malaysia (UIA)Gombak in Engineering. After I completed my degree, I worked in the manufacturing industry for 5 years before I decided in a career change and joined the field of education. My first experience as an educator was at Fairview International School in Kuala Lumpur

where I taught Physical and Health Education with a focus in swimming. I enjoyed swimming so much than I started to take a Level 1 Coaching Certificate in swimming to enable me to become a certified coach. During weekends, I am the coach for a swimming club in Shah Alam, Selangor that include members who are athletes competing at the state and national level. Furthermore, I have had experience as a tutor, teaching every level of math from Pre-Transition, Transition, Algebra, Geometry, Statistics and Pre-Calculus. Now, I am glad to be given the opportunity to serve as PE and Math teacher at ISK. Being in a new environment and getting to know new faces especially the kids is awesome. For the past two months, people here have made me feel welcomed and I look forward to more fun and meaningful times with the ISK community. I hope we can continue to grow and learn together.

Mr. Mohd. Azim bin Odenan

ISK Welcomes New Physical Education Teacher

The International School of Kuantan (ISK) is now an approved SAT Test Center. Beginning this school year ISK will begin administering weekend SAT test sessions. Students will still need to register for the SAT via the College Board SAT registration website as they have done in the past, but students can now choose to sit for the test at ISK by using our test center code 68180.

ISK Now an Approved SAT Test Center

As ISK moves into its third year utilizing the Measure of Academic Progress or MAP exam to measure student growth, we are in the areas of Language Usage, Reading, and Mathematics.

This past school year we conducted three testing sessions for our students (Fall, Winter, and Spring). We have analyzed the results and have begun using the data

from that session to measure student achievement and create learning designed for individual growth. In order to monitor and assist each student individually and ensure that they improve each year, teachers and administration will both serve to create small group and individualized instruction, aimed at improving each student’s math and English skills.

This year ISK is planning on conducting three more testing sessions:

October 2017, February 2018, and May 2018.

As we get closer to the first testing session, we will send more information home. If any new parents are interested in learning more about MAP or how ISK uses the student achievement data, please contact the school and we would be more than happy to discuss this with you.

More information about MAP testing can be found at:

https://www.nwea.org/parent-toolkit/

MAP Testing

Find out more about testing dates and registration deadlines: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/international

Register for the SAT at https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register

The following are International

testing dates during which ISK will

be administering the SAT



https://www.nwea.org/parent-toolkit/

As an international school utilizing a U.S.-based curriculum, our students are strongly encouraged to take the SAT exam (formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test).

In order to better prepare ISK students for the university entrance process, all students in grades 8 through 12 will take

part in either a PSAT, SAT or College Preparation courses. The PSATs and SATs are tests of a student's academic skills, used for admission to colleges.

Working in concert with our Math and English teachers, we have developed lessons that improve students’ vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing skills and math skills. In addition we have added a number of study skills lessons such as, Using a Planner, Managing One's Attention, Study Habits of Successful Students, Note Taking from Lectures, Note Taking from Literature, Note Taking from Textbooks, Test Taking Strategies for Essay Questions and Multiple Choice Tests, and more.

We will ensure that students are familiar with the format and content of the PSAT and SAT tests. We will practice test questions and analyze the correct answers to help students recognize the relationship between the curriculum we are teaching them and what they will be expected to know when entering university. We will also provide students with paper practice tests, and the online practice via The Khan Academy (a non-profit educational organization).

Sincerely,

Carroll Moreton Director of Studies

PSAT Prep, SAT Prep, and College Prep Courses

2017-2018 sees the return of reading time to the ISK daily schedule

As all of you have noticed, the daily schedule for school has changed this year. Instead of beginning at 8:10 and finishing at 3:00 p.m., our daily classes have been extended to reintroduce a twenty minute reading period each day on Monday to Thursday. Our classes now begin at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 3:10 p.m. It is our hope that this daily time for reading will help to

inspire a love of reading for pleasure and increase student reading comprehension. Any way you look at it, ISK students will be digging into a book this year.

Reading Time is Back!



May - June 2016

After School Clubs & Athletics

In August, ISK began its annual offering of After School Clubs, Team Sports, and Activities. We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our offerings and are now running Monday through Friday.

We have a number of new choices this year including taekwondo, the π Club, and gardening. If you are interested and have not yet signed up, there is still time to join. Take a look at the following choices:


π

Elementary Sports Club

(Futsal, Basketball, plus fitness & fun)

Razkids (Learn to improve

your reading skills)




President : Jessica Goh

Vice President : Lee Chong Hong

Secretary : Ungku Puteri Jemmaliya Mokhsin

Treasurer : Isaac Loo

High School Representative : Angeline Laon

: Haqeem Moreton

: Nurliyana Batrisya Shamsudin

: Lee Yin Hwei

Middle School Representative : Haris a/k Hamzah

: Qaiyyum Marami bin Mahathir

Elementary School Representative: Kellan Moreton

Student Council Members 2017 - 2018

ISK student council for school year 2017—2018 was formed on August 15, 2017. As a new leader, I want to thank everyone for giving me the trust that you have given for the past Student Council Presidents. As some of you probably know, I have been an active member of the student council for four years. With that experience and passion, I believe that I can be a good leader in my final year here at ISK.

Student Council is an organization formed by students and supervised by teachers. The purpose of the student council is to give students an opportunity to develop leadership by organizing and carrying out school activities and service projects. In addition to planning events that contribute to school spirit and community welfare, the student council is the voice of the student body. They help share student ideas, interests and concerns with the school wide community. We are all hoping for your full support and cooperation not only for this school year but also for the upcoming years.

Every voice will be heard and taken into serious consideration. It is extremely vital, not only to me, but the other members of student council that we not only benefit the community, but also each and every individual member of ISK. I look forward to a new and exciting year, filled with fun activities, and school spirit. Without a doubt, this year will be one to remember.

On the 30th of August and the 15th of September, ISK held its annual Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day. It was our first two events of the year, and we will try to learn from the experience and get better on our next event.

The student council is now planning for the Costume party, which is one of our largest event of the school year. We are asking for food sponsors from parents. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know.

On the 30th of August and the 15th of September, ISK held its annual Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day. For Merdeka Day, the student council organized many activities. All students wore their house colors and started off with a marching competition. The four houses prepared songs, slogans, and marched the multipurpose hall with spirit and pride. We then had lunch prepared by the student council, a feast of delicious, traditional Malaysian food. Afterwards, kite making, congkak, and coloring competitions were held at the same time. The highlight of the daywas the Fashion Show. Each house went on a hunt for materials and dressed two of their models in a cultural and traditional outfit.

On Malaysia Day, we started off with a flag making competition. We then proceeded with badminton competitions amongst teachers, staff, high schoolers, and middle schoolers, while the kindergarteners and elementary students had a tikar-making session. After this, a quiz was held in the hall, followed group singing. All students, teachers and staff sang the national anthem proudly and a number of other songs while waving our flags in the air with content and smiles on our faces. The event ended with delicious “Malaysian ice-cream” or popsicles waiting for everyone at the cafeteria.



By Jessica Goh Sook Sum (Student Council President & Grade 12 Student)

Help Wanted: The ISK Parent Teacher Association

Needs You!

Calling all parents! We are in need of enthusiastic and energetic parents or guardians to help in increasing the partnership between parents, teachers, and the school. If you are interested in being a part of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) please contact Ms. Rozana in the main office at: [email protected]

President

Vice President

Honorary Secretary

Honorary Treasurer

Members at Large

Ex-officio member

We need parent

volunteers for the

following PTA positions:

Please email

[email protected]

if you are interested in

volunteering !



It was quite amazing.

First we went to the normal story book section where it had all the books in Malay and English.

One of my favorite is A DIARY OF A WIMPY KID. The author is Jeff Kieny. I like the wimpy kid books because I think

they are amazing and awesome .

THE fiction and non-fiction sections were quite good, and then we took a photo nearby as there was something

like wall art and it was a very good painting.

Then we went to the science section which was very good and awesome. There was a car racing science activity

and another that was a car with something to fill air in it and a button to release the car and see whether it goes

all the way along its track. I tried to do almost everything but I left some that was just ok for me. After we

finished visiting the science section, we went back to school.

By Soumya Bharat Kayate (Grade 4 student)

May - June 2016

——— 2016 - 2017 ———

Semester 2

Grade 8

Isaac Loo

Haris a/k Hamzah

Liew Tong Lin

Grade 7

Dewan Najmus Saqib

Tong Jing Ying

Tengku Ameera Asya Bt. Tengku Abdul Rahman

Qaiyyum Marami Mahathir

Middle School

Honoring Academic Achievement



May - June 2016

——— 2016 - 2017 ———

Semester 2

Grade 9

Lee Yin Hwei

Chua Wei Yee

Ungku Puteri Jemmaliya

Haqeem Moreton

Conor James Orr

Tan Zhi Xin

Grade 12

Lea Rina Mahadza Kamal

Cryzelle Shaine Tubil

Siti Khairunnisa

High School

Honoring Academic Achievement

Grade 10

Arkajit Pal

Haswari Hamzah

Chua Wei Yun

Liew Tong Min

Nurliyana Batrisyia

Grade 11

Wilson Wong

Lee Chong Hong

Angeline Laon

Jessica Goh

Soon Su Shin

Vincent Tan



May - June 2016

August

September

Isabelle Sophia Grunewald (Kindergarten)

Lim Wai Qi (Grade 7)

Nurliyana Batrisyia Shamsudin (Grade 11)

Soo Hui Ler (Grade 2 )

Qaiyyum Marami Mahathir (Grade 8)

Liew Tong Min (Grade 10)

Month



What’s Happening in October at ISK

School Events in October Dear ISK Parents/

Guardians,

We are looking for

volunteers to fill the

PTA officer postings

and/or for PTA

fundraising activities.

If you are interested please contact the school. We

appreciate your support.

Birthdays in July, August & September

Staff

Mr. Remi

Ms. Amina

Oct 7 SAT at ISK

Oct 10 - 12 MAP testing

October 16 Parent-teacher conference

Students

Jessica Goh

Su Xian

Hao Jack

Tong Lin

Jing Yao

Aslam

Batrisyia

Ee Jeff

Sebastian

Soumya

Students

Yin Hwei

Zi Xiang

Boon Bing

Armaan

Raniya

Yu Wei

Qaiyyum

Hui Ler

Parveen

Nhat Nam

Ayanna

Rocco

Staff

Ms. Suhada

Ms. Anis

Students

Angeline

Ungku Benjamin

Tan Jun

Mckenzie

Adzmin

Sophie

Chiara

Staff

Dato' Dr. Abu Tahir

Datin Ainie

Kak Ros

Ms. Norizah

Ms. Anith

Ms. Izzati

Ms. Jennifer

Nurse Sha



Staff

Mr. Remi

Ms. Amina

Important Contacts

Admission inquiries:

[email protected]

Bus service & Admin-

istration inquiries:

[email protected]

Tel: +609 - 573 6010

Fax: +609 - 573 6023

For more information

on ISK, please visit:

www.isk.edu.my

www.facebook.com/

InternationalSchoolKuantan

Newsletter Editor:

Dr. Nurita Abu Tahir

A member of Accredited by

International School of

Kuantan

is

Update contact info

Parents/Guardians are reminded to inform the school if contact

details change. Please email [email protected] with any

change of address, telephone number, email etc. We are con-

cerned that letters will not arrive to your home and e-mail corre-

spondence will not be received.



august september 2017 isk newsletter · isk newsletter august - september 2017 isk welcomes new...

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