CDS Middle School
Weekly Newsletter
September 14th, 2018
From the Director
Dear CDS Community,
This week I had the pleasure of visiting several of our middle school classrooms to see how students are getting along in the 2018-19 school year. It was wonderful to see our kids collaborating so well and truly engaging with the excellent learning opportunities teachers are providing.
I would like to thank our many parent volunteers for their support on Wednesday night at the X-country meet. Your efforts to support our athletes and our school are very much appreciated.
We have a very busy day tomorrow for MS athletics! Our boys' and girls' soccer teams, X-country team, and badminton team will all be competing at various schools including our own! If you can make it, come to CDS tomorrow morning and cheer on our badminton team! For more details about the badminton game schedule, scroll down to this week's Phoenix Report!
Students -- Be safe and rest up for our Fall NWEA MAP testing on Monday morning!
Have a great weekend!
Benjamin Scoville
Director of Middle School
NWEA MAP Growth Testing
We want students to do their very best on these exams so that results are accurate representations of their current level of achievement. Teachers use the data from these exams to modify their instruction and better serve your children. If the data isn't reliable, it is more difficult for teachers to target the specific skills your child needs to develop.
Having a conversation with your child about the MAP test will go a long way in ensuring they are motivated to do their best.
If you have any questions or concerns about MAP testing, please feel free to make an appointment with me (Mr. Scoville)... or your child's English or Math teacher.
MS Parent Information Session #1 - Digital Portfolios
Attached below is the slide presentation, along with some practical documents for communicating with teachers via email, and for discussing academic work with your children.
CDS will host a booth at the Cheongna Beauty Festival this Saturday
We will have a booth at the festival from 2:00pm to 6:00pm. Although it's too early in the school year for student performances, we will be sharing information about our school and exhibiting student art work, and videos of CDS events. Feel free to drop by and say hello!
Gugak Arts Center - 6th Grade Field Trip
The 6th graders were an enthusiastic bunch as we loaded the bus this morning to go to the National Gugak Center in Seoul. Although there was lots of traffic, we made it and jumped right into the Korean Folk Singing Experience class.
The students were taught 3 folksongs by a professional Gugak artist. We learned 강강술래, 남생아놀아라, and 노래배우기. Along with the singing, we also learned some games and dances to do along with the singing. Then, we pulled out some janggu drums, and leanred how to play accompaniment style while singing a folk song. It was a great experience for the students!
After lunch, we had planned to go to the museum. However, when we got there, we unfortunately found out it was under construction. This was a big disappointment because I really wanted to have the students see the displays and explore. Instead, we sat together outside and discussed Korean music. Nonetheless, today was a special time for the students to learn more about traditional Korean culture and get them interested in traditional music!
Below you can read a few comments from the 6th graders:
- Ms. Van Liew
-Liz (6B)
-Ivette (6B)
"I think this field trip was a good experience for everyone. We learned new Korean traditional songs and dances. We learned more about janggu specifically. It was unfortunate that we could not go to the museum though. I hope we could visit here again and see more interesting things about ancient Korea."
-Russell (6B)
"I was interested in music and especially more in Korean folk music. This trip was a good experience of learning about folk songs and instruments. Though we could not go to the museum it was really good experience for me!"
-Sky (6A)
"The field trip was very fun. Although we didn't go to the museum. I was able to experience more professional Korean traditional music. I wish could go again later!!!"
Social Studies with Mr. Thach
- Mr. Thach
Science with Mr. Howell
In order to get a better idea of just how much DNA is in cells, we attempted to extract the DNA from some strawberries. It was a long, tedious process involving numerous steps and a bit of patient manual labor, but in the end we successfully managed to amass a decent amount of genetic material which we collected on the end of a chopstick to make DNA lollipops.
Bon appétite!
- Mr. Howell
A Bit of Poetry in Advanced Spanish
This integration would assure real-life and purposeful communication while solidifying the trust and confidence among students. After writing their poem, students had to share it with their peers, further developing their confidence in communicating in Spanish while reaffirming their knowledge in language structure and language conventions. Students really enjoyed this activity and were proud of the wonderful job they did.
Click the link below to see these students share their poems!
--Mrs. Morillo
<This Week, Around CDS MS>
PE Class with Mr. Monette
X-Country First Jamboree
Long House - 7A with Mr. Menzel & Mrs. Liu
During Longhouse, students began the Second Step program that focuses on social and emotional development. The students spent most of the class speaking about appearance, and how people make "micro-judgments" based on how others look. They related what they learned to what they see happening around Dalton and around South Korea in general.
Students heard stories of other students who struggled to fit in and changed their appearance and attitudes in order to fit social norms. Longhouse ended with students promising to reflect on how they let the appearance of others impact their thoughts and actions.
-Mr. Menzel
Long House - 8A with Mr. Coward & Mr. Cavasin
This week in Co-curriculars
CDS MS Orchestra
Team Sports
Table Tennis
MS Division Dinner
Upcoming Events
9/15 MS Girls Soccer @ KIS
9/15 MS Boys Soccer @ SFS
9/15 MS X-Country @ YISS
9/15 MS Badminton @ CDS
9/17 - 9/19 MS MAP Testing
9/21 High Four Competition - Mathletes
9/24-9/28 Chuseok Break
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/