THE TIGER - Stonehill International School
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THE TIGER
The Weekly Bulletin of
Stonehill International School
Volume 8, Issue 175
1st May 2020
CONTENTS
FEATURED STORY
WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS
MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL
MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF PRIMARY Virtual Learning in progress!
PRIMARY LEARNING FOCUS
MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF SECONDARY
SECONDARY LEARNING FOCUS
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FEATURED STORY
The MYP Drama Students
The MYP students have been recreating sets and performing scenes from their favourite books, films, plays and
games! Despite limited resources, the range of scenes created has been impressive.
The DP theatre students have successfully created a full production about the rise of social influencers entirely within Zoom! From special effects to clever use of framing, they’ve managed to play to the strengths of this new unfamiliar artistic medium. Jonathan Sanger Secondary Drama Teacher
WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS
Stonehill Virtual Talent Show
Hello Everybody!
The Student Council has planned a Virtual Talent Show for the secondary school. The participants are required to
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submit their videos by the 1st of May. The talent show will be based on rounds. The videos can be viewed on the 3
of May and the voting begins on the 5th of May!
We also plan to use this event as a donation platform to aid workers and their families during the COVID-19 crisis. It
would be great if parents, students, and teachers donate on our page. The proceeds will go towards feeding the true
heroes and their families during these tumultuous times. We do hope that the entire Stonehill community can tune
in to our Virtual Talent Show and generously donate!!
Please find below, the link to the Virtual Talent Show website (designed by Trisha Blas, our publisher)
https://sites.google.com/stu.stonehill.in/2020-talent-show/home
Neil, D1
Student Council, Chair
FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Happy May Day! It is hard to believe we are already in May. Next week, we begin week eight of Distant Learning. Our Distant Learning model continues to do fairly well. Although we had a few hiccups, we have been able to regularly revise and improve as necessary. This Sunday, we are expecting more information regarding the lockdown from the government. I will send out more information regarding campus closure early next week. I would like to once again thank our parents for your guidance and support with online learning for your children. Most of us never signed up to be teacher assistants within our Brian Brumsickle homes. Distance Learning has been a good learning experience for all of us, as we have had to adjust our practices to meet expected learning objectives for our children. Lastly, our administrative team has been working collaboratively in constructing a reopening plan. As of now, we are not sure when that will be, but we are certain that we will have measures in place to facilitate learning for all our students, either remotely or on campus. What is definite is that although our learning objectives at school will not change, our learning process will have to be structured differently to facilitate and accommodate physical distancing. I know that we are all eager to get our learners back to school and into the classroom. Our priority continues to be safety first for our learners and faculty. It is important for us to remember that none of us have been through this before, this is a new experience for schools, corporates, businesses and all other sectors. Anxiety over the unknown is pervasive and can be overwhelming. Stonehill will reopen when the Government permits. As the outcomes are uncertain, there will be more obstacles ahead for sure. What is certain is that our community will be stronger than ever before. Thank you for your support. Have a good week ahead. Be healthy and stay well. Brian Brumsickle Head of School
FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY
Over the last two weeks, I have written about asynchronous learning in the Primary School.
Last week, I ended with a series of questions for your child to drive their independent
learning. This week, I want to focus on metacognition...learning about learning.
There is considerable research to indicate that many students who are not successful
learners do not have physiological reasons as to why this is so. What the researchers have
found is that these students need to explicitly learn how to learn.
Karen Crooke
We do this daily by giving students thinking routines - “See,
Think, Wonder”; “Think Pair Share” and “Turn and Talk”.
Then there are the questions about learning, the reflective
ones, that we ask every day. We may use different words for
different age groups but they all drive thinking and learning.
If you are brave, try some at home...
• What do you know and what do you need to know?
• Where should you start? When should you change course? How will you know when you are done?
• What's working? What's not? What adjustments should you make?
• Is there a more efficient way to do this? Is there a more effective way to do this? How should you balance
efficiency and effectiveness?
• What should you do when you get stuck?
• How can you overcome your fear of making mistakes?
• What have you learned? What insights have you gained?
• How can you improve your performance?
• What will you do differently next time? (Wiggins and McTighe, 2013)
Karen Crooke
Primary School Principal
PRIMARY LEARNING FOCUS
These have been interesting times, to say the least. In the Early Years, students learn by engaging in collaborative
play, observing, negotiating and experimenting. With the onset of our Remote and Distant Learning, the students
had to explore new ways to do this. The P3 students have come together as a community in our online learning
environments. We stay connected through Zoom, stories, learning engagements and morning messages.
funny face freeze discussing examples of force and energy
learning about seasons in India
The P3 students’ project based learning engagement, ‘My Town’ focused on transport systems. They investigated
transport systems in different countries, interviewed family members about how they travelled to school, learnt a
travelling song, and they planned and made their own town. The students were very creative! The best part is that
they had fun playing with the town they had created.
The P3 Team
FROM THE HEAD OF SECONDARY
Updates on Distance Learning in the Secondary School
The national lockdown has taught us many lessons as educators and brought to the surface
the real nature of many aspects of teaching and learning. As teachers around the world have
grappled with the challenges of moving their instruction online at short notice, many have
been coming up with creative solutions for running business as usual. The reality is that it is
both impossible and inadvisable to run ‘business as usual’ in such vastly different
circumstances. Instead, schools are being forced to adopt several ideas that have been
exciting teachers in recent years. Joe Lumsden
Parents would have heard us talking about
‘Approaches to Learning’ for years. These are the
most important aspects of an IB education and
include skills under the categories of
Communication, Social, Self-Management,
Thinking and Research.
The teachers are naturally aware of the importance
of these skills. However, in a typical classroom
setting, the focus is still on content delivery rather
than the development of these skills. However, it’s
becoming very clear that it is exactly these skills
that will allow students to be successful under any
circumstances, including extended periods of
distance learning.
Helping students develop autonomy in their learning is going to become an absolutely vital aspect of education in
the future. Family and school circumstances will inevitably be less predictable or stable; therefore, students need
the organisation and communication skills to be able to continue with their learning regardless of the
circumstances. Parents are often concerned when their children are expected to take responsibility for their own
learning; however, I’m convinced that the students who are comfortable with their autonomy are the ones who are
most likely to succeed.
You will be hearing more about ‘Approaches to Learning’ over the coming years. This is a brief introduction as to
why it an important aspect of the IB education.
Joe Lumsden
Secondary School Principal
SECONDARY LEARNING FOCUS
ZOOM!
th
It was Tuesday, March 10 and I got ready and dressed for school and I see a message from Brian Brumsickle, our
Head of School, that school was closed for four days due to COVID-19. That was 51 days ago!
Our Secondary School Principal, Joe Lumsden, swung into action. The word ‘zoom’ took on a new meaning.
WhatsApp groups were set up and we were zooming around in a virtual world. We are now getting used to it and
actually seeing some good things happen.
For our students, this has been a huge change. No more bells. No more nagging teachers. No more timetables.
They have had to become their own guides and develop a whole set of invaluable life skills.
The IB calls them ATLs ( Approaches to Learning) and they include Communication skills, Social skills, Self-
Management skills, Research skills and Thinking skills. Coincidentally, these skills have come under a lot of scrutiny
by the Stonehill faculty this year. From being academic and something stuck on a wall in a classroom, these skills
have become current and vital, that our students are developing and demonstrating in fantastic ways.
Our students, starting from M1 have to make their own schedules, make sure they have the information needed to
join a zoom session, and make sure that their tasks are completed. Mr. Jitendra Pandey, our MYP coordinator,
keeps us on our toes. He is constantly exploring methods of bettering our practice and making sure we learn and
implement our learning.
I have also seen some fantastic efforts by our students reaching out to help each other. Someone just needs to ask a
question and there are immediately five solutions offered - all of which are helpful. Our students are becoming
mature and self-regulated learners and this is a teacher’s dream! If this looks like the future, it certainly seems like
Stonehill is up and ready to go!
Evelyn Kelton
MYP Music & CAS and Service Coordinator
SECONDARY LEARNING FOCUS
M3 - Design
Website Designing
In the previous unit, the students learnt how to use HTML and CSS to make webpages. HTML is the mark-up
language that you surround content with, to tell browsers about headings, lists, and tables. CSS is the stylesheet
language that you style the page with, to tell browsers to change the colour, font, layout, and more. Students worked
on various topics and created impressive web pages. Through this unit, the students were able to work on their
thinking and communication skills.
Planning HTML/ CSS Coding
Here’s a look at some of the websites created by the M3 students.
Hotel booking website - Chelsea Fashion website - Nabeeha
Recipes website – Simran Sports Website - Hridaya
3D Modelling
Design is all about solving problems and coming up
with solutions. Even during school closure, the
students have been creative, and have come up with
innovative solutions. Students are working on the
present real-life problem - COVID-19.
In the present unit, the students are working on
designing a 3D model of a COVID-19 hospital. 3D
Modelling is a vital part of engineering,
manufacturing, art, science, medicine, and much
more. The students are required to visualize their
ideas while designing in 3D. They will be able to
develop 3D design aspects such as scaling, rotation,
shearing, etc.
Through this unit, the students will be working on their research skills and self-management skills - managing their
time and tasks effectively, which is an important skill, especially during online learning. The students are currently
working on ‘Inquiring and Analysing’ before they start creating the 3D model.
The Problem and the Solution The Research Analysing existing models Blessina Cyril MYP Design
M1 Design The M1 Design students have completed their unit on App designing. The students worked on the process of creating an app and followed the design cycle to create it. They started with researching their ideas and then created prototypes or sketches before creating the real application. The students then acquired coding skills to create their app. They used a coding software known as MIT app inventor to create their app. They designed their app on the MIT App Inventor and learnt coding skills required to code their app. Here are some of the screenshots: Jihwan developed a study manager app with a stop-watch and other functionalities. This app helps students plan their studies by creating a proper schedule for the day. It also has a stopwatch, in case the students need to set a timer. Liam created an educational quiz. It is a simple app on different animals. It is mainly for ages 3 and above (3+). The app explains and educates the user about animals. By the end of it, the user will hopefully have more general knowledge about animals. Ideation process
Workout@Home- designed by Shreyes
“I hope everyone is doing well during this difficult situation. The nature of the
lockdown has refrained us from going about our usual lives. This includes
stepping out of the house and being physically active on a regular basis.
At School, most of us have three hours of PHE each week, not to forget the
half-an-hour during lunch we have each day. At present, committing to
physical activity while confined to the walls of a house is challenging,
especially due to the lack of the right equipment and motivation.
For this purpose, I built an app for Android users that helps one stay
physically fit while at home, without the use of any gym equipment.
Clients can choose between 25 minutes of a yoga session or a simple HIIT
workout session. Subsequently, they can choose specific exercises or yoga
asanas (postures). Along with these options, there are comprehensive
explanations and demonstrations for beginners.
I would definitely recommend doing the yoga section for physical and mental
well-being. For my research and content, I spoke to yoga expert, Ms
Padmapriya Ranganathan (founder of Acharya Yoga) about the different forms
of yoga and their benefits. So, the section is quite detailed.
I believe just 25 minutes of exercise a day is enough to have a positive
impact on one’s health and to stay in shape, both mentally and
physically. Additionally, it will be a good breather from all the zoom
classes and work!”
Shreyes, M5
Mohammed Nassir
MYP Design
Stonehill International School
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