STMARKS NEWSLETTER 14 (25 NOVEMBER 2022)

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES (SATURDAY, 3 DECEMBER)

We would like to wish you all the best during the upcoming holiday season.  It has been a busy four months at St. Mark’s with students engaging in many activities within and outside of school.  All teachers and students have worked very hard and each of us has contributed to the school in a meaningful way. 

Before we wrap up this Semester, we have planned some fun and exciting Christmas activities for everyone to enjoy. Parents and students are welcome to join our Christmas Celebration, under our theme – “A Gift for Christmas” which will soon take place on Saturday, 3 December. This event will also coincide with our graduation ceremony for our first batch of students who have completed their Year 12 ATAR program.   Please find the schedule and details of the event below:

9:00 – 9:30 am             Graduation Ceremony

9:30 – 10:45 am           Christmas Celebration                     

10:45 – 1:00 pm           Fun Fair Activity

ATK Testing Will Be Required: We would like to take a precautionary measure on Covid and will require all parents and students to do an ATK test prior to coming into school.  Please show your ATK result at the gate upon entry into the school gate. 

No Lunch on Christmas Celebration:  In order to minimize the risk of Covid, there will be no potluck for this year.  Fun Fair Activity are expected to finish by 12.30 pm and parents and students are free to go for lunch after the activities have concluded.  School will be providing a snack box for each of our students. Drinks are some refreshments will be provided to parents as well.

Gift Exchange: There will be no gift exchange during Christmas Activity on 3 December. 

For Early Years and Primary students, gift exchange will take place on Thursday, 8 December in their own classroom. Individual homeroom teachers will be providing further information.

School Bus Service: There will be no bus service on Christmas event - 3 December.

Fun Fair Activities:  This year there will be many game booths for students and parents to enjoy, as well as the usual raffle-draw with big prizes.  Each raffle ticket will be sold at 100 Baht and it contains tickets to play 5 games.  Please make sure to keep all of your tickets as there will be raffle prizes to be drawn towards the end of our event. Should you wish to avoid the crowd with purchasing of tickets on the actual day, option to pre-purchase the raffle tickets is also available, where tickets will be purchased from our School Office starting Monday, 28 November.  For parents who wish to purchase raffle tickets in bulk, we offer a special discount - with every 10 tickets purchased, we will give one extra ticket free of charge.                 

We look forward to a fun and rewarding time at the upcoming Christmas event and look forward to seeing you soon.

VIRTUAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE WITH SINGAPOREAN STUDENTS

Due to the COVID pandemic, schools in Singapore were not able to travel overseas for cultural exchange programs. However, Fairfield Methodist Secondary School in Singapore still saw the value of having students of different cultural backgrounds to understand the varied perspectives of each other, especially in light of living with COVID.

So, they collaborated with St. Mark's to organise this cultural exchange program virtually. On Tuesday,  22 November, students from both schools were able to discover each other's experiences and challenges in having to face home-based learning and restricted social life during Covid lockdowns.  The students had the opportunity to forge friendships with international counterparts and were hopeful they could meet in person in the near future either in Singapore or Thailand.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE: 23 NOVEMBER

We are delighted to announce the following students who received our Award of Excellence in Creativeness, Effort, Leadership, and Honesty this week.

As a way of acknowledging our students' achievements, students have been given a special "Award of Excellence Breakfast" today, 25 November.

Nichapat - Year 3 (Creativeness)

Pitchayapa - Year 3 (Creativeness)

Pitchapa - Year 3 (Creativeness)

Pakwalan - Year 3 (Creativeness)

Anawintra - Year 3 (Creativeness)

Pachara - Year 4 (Creativeness)

Pariyachat - Year 4 (Creativeness)

Chayanit - Year 4 (Creativeness)

Nuttakit - Year 4 (Effort - Achieving Excellent Result)

Nattheera - Year 5 (Creativeness & Effort - Achieving Excellent Results)

Sirasilp - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Louise - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Tinnaphob - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Jiratchaya - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Sitthinon - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Prin - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Jirawat - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Nadhaya - Year 5 (Creativeness)

Naphon - Year 6 (Creativeness)

Kittipadh - Year 6 (Creativeness)

Annabelle - Year 10 (Honesty)

Chinana - Year 10 (Leadership & Effort - Achieving Excellent Result)

Jane - Year 10 (Effort - Achieving Excellent Result)

Tinn - Year 10 (Creativeness)

Nakamon - Year 10 (Effort - Achieving Excellent Result)

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE BREAKFAST (25 NOVEMBER)

On Friday, 25 November, we held our last Award of Excellence Breakfast for this semester. The event is aimed at recognising our students for their exemplary character. 

Award winners were invited to join our special breakfast prepared for them in recognising their good behaviour.

Keep up the good work!

YEAR 6 SHOWCASE: SOCIAL STUDIES ABOUT AFRICA

Learning about different cultures is always a good thing.  During this showcase our Year 6 students gave the audience some insight into African native animals and cultures. Some students presented interesting facts about cheetahs, while others explored South African dances and cuisine. By immersing ourselves in other cultures beyond our own, we can learn about each other—where people came from, what their traditions are, and what they go through as a community.

YEAR 8 SHOWCASE: CHINESE CARTOON DUBBING

For the student showcase, our Year 8 students performed a live dubbing of a Chinese cartoon. This showcase provides a good opportunity for students to practice their Chinese pronunciation as well as synchronisation in a fun and meaningful way. 

KINDERGARTEN ENGLISH: LEARNING LETTER D

Our Kindergarten students enjoyed their exploration with a new letter each week. For this week, they learned the letter "D". Students were asked to distinguish the beginning sound to see which picture begins with the letter "D", which they were able to do well in. Later students were shown how to write this letter and they came to the board to practice writing a small "d". 

Learning in a meaningful way has helped our students to excel at a very young age, while they also enjoy their learning - discovering new letters and words every day. 

YEAR 1 ENGLISH: GARDEN ENGLISH CHALLENGE

Our Year 1 students had a great time this week when Mr. Josh decided to bring them out to the garden for an English challenge. 

Students were asked to work in pairs, helping each other to find 20 English challenges that were hidden in different parts of the garden.  In some of the challenges, they were asked to rearrange the words to make meaningful sentences. They also tested their skills in using singular or plural nouns (child/children) or finding the meaning of a given word. 

By learning in a new setup and an exciting environment, students feel refreshed and have a drive to participate more, which has helped them to learn more effectively.        

YEAR 6 MUSIC LESSON: LEARNING TO PLAY AMAZING GRACE ON PIANO

The ability to play and appreciate music is very important for every student.  During this week's Year 6 Piano lesson, our students were taught how to play the well-known song, "Amazing Grace". Our teacher helped students to recall the music notes for each verse of the song and demonstrated how to play it on piano, while our students followed through.  It was a productive lesson and our students enjoyed playing this song.      

YEAR 8 MANDARIN: CHINESE WRITING EXERCISE

Our typical Mandarin lesson for Year 8 enables students to practice the five skills in language acquisition: listening, talking, reading, comprehension and writing.  In this lesson, our teacher introduced new vocabulary to our students.  They were then given the opportunity to listen and read a story to gain understanding of the given comprehension. Later, they  practiced writing, trying to answer the questions posted by our teacher.  During the writing exercise, students were asked to read their answers and also translate their writing into English.    This systematic way of teaching is a sure-fire way to improve our students' Mandarin skill.    

YEAR 10 THAI: CHARITY WORK AT AN AGED-CARE FACILITY

As a part of the Year 10 Thai curriculum, Year 10 students had a wonderful time with Khru Tum, our secondary Thai teacher, visiting an aged-care facility last Friday, 18 November.  Ms. Uan and Mr. Paul also went along to help. We prepared some donations and food items for the elderly. The workers helped us to package the snacks and distribute them in their rooms. Some of the grandmothers were relaxing in the common area, so we spent some time talking with them. They also sang a song to us to express their appreciation. Everyone was happy, and it was also a good opportunity for our students to be able to reflect on life and our future.