CDS Middle School
Weekly Newsletter
January 25th, 2019
From the Director
Dear CDS Community,
This year's Library Night was a huge success thanks to the hard work, collaboration, and support of so many teachers and parent volunteers. We truly appreciate the efforts of all who were involved in making it great. Ms. Menzel and Ms. Choo did an excellent job leading the event and ensuring that the activities helped our students practice the important skills found in our 6Cs. Please find more highlights from Library Night further within this newsletter.
In addition to Library Night, all CDS Middle School students sat for NWEA MAP tests this week, which is no easy task! Students who did their best will soon have a really good idea about how they're doing in Reading, Language Usage, and Mathematics. Teachers will be able to use the data from these exams to guide their instruction and maximize your child's learning outcomes
We will send NWEA MAP progress reports home with your children next week. If you have any questions about how to read or understand the results, please make an appointment with your child's Math or English teacher. You are also welcome to make an appointment with me, or with Ms. Jennifer Kim.
Have a great weekend!
Benjamin Scoville
Director of Middle School
CDS Library Night Highlights!
This year’s Greek mythology themed library night was truly a Community event! The entire middle school was in attendance supported by 16 teachers and over 35 parent volunteers who provided donations or offered their time for dinner and decorations, led by Ms. Brenda Han and Ms. Jholanda Royo Velilla.
Students participated in a variety of activities that challenged them to practice their 6 Cs and gave them an opportunity to learn more about Greek mythology. In the Greek Engineering STEM Challenge, students were tasked with inventing an accurate catapult out of fifteen popsicle sticks, ten rubber bands, and a plastic spoon.They then demonstrated their designs on a horde of paper monster figures. We saw dozens of creative and innovative catapult designs, and excellent Collaboration and Critical Thinking as students worked to test and improve their designs. Three teams with the highest point scores, calculated from the number of monsters hit or knocked over, were awarded with certificates and raffle tickets at the end of the evening.
In the Athenian Lock-Out Escape Room, students used Collaboration and Critical Thinking to decipher complex puzzles and ciphers with history-based clues. Successful groups were able to complete the final puzzle to break the curse and unlock the Library’s Book Room with nearly ten minutes to spare! Teams with the fastest completion times were rewarded with a golden apple, inscribed with the Ancient Greek word for victory.
Later in the evening, students enjoyed a range of crafts and games, including a DIY laurel crown-making station, an Ancient Greek-inspired game of capture the flag, a “Which Greek god are you?” quiz station, and a Greek mythology-inspired round of trivia.
The Library Night raffle raised 557,000 won to help purchase textbooks for students at the Assumption Socio-Educational Center (ASEC) in the Philippines, a school that Ms. Montelibano has visited before.
We want to thank everyone who was involved in making this night memorable! A very special thank you to our parent volunteers, and CDS librarians Ms. Menzel and Ms. Choo.
Thank you PTA moms for Library Night Preparation!
SKYMUN VI (South Korea Youth Model United Nations)
This year we will have 19 7th and 8th grade students participating in the South Korea Youth Model United Nations (SKYMUN VI) at Korea International School on Saturday, March 2nd. The theme for this year's conference is Unity in the Face of Diversity.
This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn more about global issues, and develop lasting friendships with other hard working and ambitious kids from other international schools.
SKYMUN is designed for younger students who are new to Model United Nations. High school participants will support and guide new delegates until they understand the process and feel confident in their roles.
Middle School Social Studies teachers Mr. Drews and Mr. Thach will be available to support students who need help preparing for the event. Additionally, 9th grade CDS student Nicole Hyorin Shin will also be helping students each Wednesday during CC time until the event in March.
Many of the high school students who organized DALMUN (Dalton Model United Nations) this year got their start at SKYMUN way back when they were in CDS Middle School. I hope our current 7th and 8th graders enjoy the experience and continue with Model United Nations through their high school years.
-Mr. Scoville
[This week, around CDS MS]
KIMEA Honor Choir @GSIS
On Thursday, 11 students in 6th and 7th grade were able to attend the KIMEA MS Honor Choir Festival in GSIS. Over the past couple of weeks, students have been practicing and learning the selected songs for the festival. Then, they joined 9 other international schools and sang 3 songs for the choir they were assigned to. Here are some comments from some of the students who attended:
"It was an awesome experience and I would love to attend again next year!" -Karen K.
I really enjoyed singing with students from other schools and it was fun having a new experience in another school." -Claire C.
"The day was very exciting and the songs were really interesting and catchy. I also liked how Ms. Van Liew was conducting for treble choir." -Amy S.
- Ms. Van Liew
* Start video below at 24:00 to hear CDS students perform
PBIS Team - R.I.S.E!!
Next week, we will talk about safety. Having a unified way to reinforce and talk about positive behaviors will help create a positive environment for learning!
- Ms. Montelibano
Science with Mr. Howell
We learned about how to make the agar which acts as both a living surface and food supply for the bacteria. Students were divided into groups and tasked with collecting bacteria from various locations around the school.
The results were quite interesting, but not necessarily unexpected. The most contaminated surface by far was the boys bathroom. The mat room was not far behind. Cell phones also proved to be fairly contaminated. Overall, it was a great opportunity to learn about the world of bacteria all around us.
- Mr. Howell
About 'Happy Reading" :)
Mrs. Menzel and Ms. Choo have added some great new titles to the general collection, and you can always ask your English teachers for recommendations. Happy reading!
- Mr. Menzel
MAP Testing
Library Night - Raffle Tix
[MS Athletics]
Upcoming Events
1/28 - 2/1 - Chinese New Year / Spring Festival
1/30 - Korean Writing Competition (CC Time)
1/31 - MS KIMEA Honor Band @ Chadwick
2/4-2/8 - Lunar Break
2/16 - National History Day Korea
Cheongna Dalton School
Email: bscoville@daltonschool.kr
Website: http://cdsmiddleschool.weebly.com/
Location: Cheongna Dalton Foreign School, Incheon, South Korea
Phone: 82 32-563-0523 (302)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CDSMiddle/community/