The latest news from Primary

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS IN SCHOOL
The Year of the Monkey is HERE! We wish you and your family a Happy Chinese New Year!
The last week of half term saw the culmination of our activities celebrating Chinese New Year. In class the students had been learning about Chinese New Year customs and traditions. Across the school we took part in wide-ranging  series arts and craft activitiesThey learnt to make New Year decorations and to share some legends of this festival.
The culmination of the planned activities was that we had over 340 children performing in our Chinese New Year assembly on the Tuesday afternoon
All the students were looking wonderful in their special clothes for their show piece. They all enjoyed their Chinese New Year performances with the finale being an exciting Parasol Dance followed by the arrival of a special guest.
Parents; thank you for supporting us in the festival spirit by dressing your children in Chinese costumes on the Friday the 5th
A huge amount of time and effort goes into planning all the events that take place leading up to this special time of year. The majority of the work is led and carried out by our wonderful Mandarin Department, spearheaded by Lucy Mcentireand supported wonderfully by our technical staff.
Thank you very much for your great cooperation.Gong Xi Fa Cai/ Kung Hei Fai Choi  
 
Kindness Challenge Week
This week we are focussing on acts of kindness .The children will participate in different ways.
Hopefully they were able to bring some of these actions in to their lives beyond school. This is something we wish to be ongoing at  FIS so let’s keep this in our minds every day.
 
 MASSMUTUAL JR Space program 2016
Remember Ryan Ning our real life astronaut
 
Once again, MassMutual is now recruiting 8 Junior Astronauts.  This year, the MassMutual Jr. Space Camp Program is being launched in January.  To encourage earlier participation and to facilitate the application process, online application is now available atwww.itispossible.com.uk until 31 March 2016.  Applicants who successfully register online will be offered a specially designed Pake 10-Color Pen.
Moreover, to help our young applicants grow through interactive activities and challenges, an all around Jr. Astronaut Training Camp will be held prior to the 2nd Round Competition in early May this year.  The 50 short-listed applicants, together with a parent, will participate in a two day one night training camp consisting of a space-exploration program conducted by the Hong Kong Space Museum, and an adventure-based experiential learning course.
Following the rigorous selection process, the eight finalists, each accompanied by one parent, will embark on a nine-day space exploration journey, including an intensive training program at the US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama and a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Students are encourage to enrol in the Jr. Space Camp Program.  To give you a clearer picture of the Program, the 2016 program pamphlets and promotion posters are in the VS office.  You can also find further details about the program viawww.itispossible.com.hk or on the Program’s Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/mma.spacecamp.rEMEMBER Ryan did it.

Minset for praise
Research shows that certain kinds of praise back fire:
Praising by saying “So good” “Well done”, praising intelligence, saying someone is gifted actually puts them off learning and lowers IQ. This is focused on the individual and perpetuates the idea that intelligence is fixed. Whereas praise of the process, which is not personalized, for focusing and persistence inspires people to learn and to flourish.
Videos about how to praise children:3 ways to praise kids without saying “good job” –
http://www.gostrengths.com/3-ways-to-praise-kids-without-saying-good-job/
https://www.youtube.com/v/NWv1VdDeoRY
 
Praising for Effort Try these:
•  Hey, I’ve noticed how hard you’ve been studying and your grades show it.
•  Yes, that was a long, hard assignment but you stuck through it and mastered it.
•  You really worked hard and learned some tough material. Impressive!
•  You kept trying new strategies until you figured out what worked. That’s called persistence.
•  I noticed how you stayed with your homework and put great concentration on it.
•  Yes this project is going to take a lot of work, but I believe in your getting through it.
•  Whew! You did it. It was a tough job but you stuck to it and got it done.
• You kept your focus until the job was done. That’s great!
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