Being a Welcoming Community...

The start of a new Semester brings us many new opportunities.
As we welcome new students into TCIS and 7th Grade, we are all constantly reminded and challenged to be welcoming to these students and to help focus us all on the spirit of TCIS and who we are as a welcoming Middle School.

What can we all do to be more welcoming to new and old students...

• We should ALL be a good buddy by showing students where to go around the school (classrooms, spirit store, nurse, counsellors office, MS office, technology office...)
• Smile randomly at other students (Do people think you are friendly? Why or why not?)
• Be intentional about saying hello and goodbye to each other.
• Know everyone's names- new and old students. Make it a point to find out something about other students by talking with them.
• Sit with someone else at lunch instead of in your same group each day. (You may not mean to exclude others and by intentionally including different people you can stop exclusion)
• Put others questions and needs in front of our own. You may know how to access your tciscommunity email, Edmodo, Powerschool, etc, but does somebody else? Can you take a few minutes to help somebody else?
• Are you celebrating our differences, or criticizing and gossiping that some people don't "fit in"? Can you look beneath the appearances, clothing and 'stuff' to get to know others?
• Can you be a risk taker to help someone else or include someone new to your games or activities? What about a movie together?
• Remember we honor Christ through our relationships will all people and we show our love for God through these relationships.

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year.

I hope everyone has had a restful and refreshing break.

I recently came across this on Facebook and thought I would share.
I like how there is a Bible verse for each situation to help us to refocus.
Students: Do you have negative self talk? What do you do about it?

As Grade 7 have just finished a Health unit of Decision Making and Risk Taking, it is useful to think about the decisions we have made this last week: to honor our Lord or to honor ourselves through our daily actions.
Students: Did you use the GREAT decision-making acronym in the last week to help you?

I am also sharing a couple of good smart phones apps which guide you through the Bible.

A screen shot of my 'Bible' folder from my iPhone.

One is a daily Bible reading app, which has a series of verses for each day of the year. The other is the KJV of the Bible. I like it because I can highlight passages, makes notes, bookmark parts and it's very portable on my phone for traveling.
Do you have other Christian apps on your smart phone that you love? Send me an email as I would love to hear about them.
I hope you all have a great week!

Starting a new Semester...

How was your first week back as a student or as a parent?
Were you tired? Excited to be back? Overwhelmed by expectations?

What are the expectations on you for the next few weeks? Were you happy with your end of Semester 1 report card? Did it reflect the effort you made during the Semester?

As we start a new Semester it would be crazy to start without some goals to head towards.

Students have been and will be working on their goals again in homeroom time. After reading many reflections from students on their first Semester reports,  an overall theme was that they were a bit haphazard at times in trying to reach their goals, or they weren't really very good goals in the first place.
So students...
What have you done to try to grow and learn from the Semester one goals you set?
What do your Semester 2 goals look like?

Here is an interesting article on a blog to remind all of us about setting goals, habits and commitments...

http://jaimehepp.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/newyea/

Service week in Middle School

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you feel refreshed as we are about to start a new Semester. Who knows what wonder this Semester will bring?

The grade 7 students were busy during the last week of school doing Service activities. These activities contribute to the part of the MYP which is Community and Service. Students have different levels of service activities that they engage in. All of the service activities completed in the last week of Semester 1 fell under Level 1 activities- activities organized by the school which students participate in.
Here are some pictures of students involved in soup making for the hungry and also packing gift boxes for the orphanage.

 To pack the boxes for the orphanage, students generously donated many items which went into the boxes. Grade 7 students donated the most items for the boxes!
Students followed a checklist and worked together in groups to pack and decorate their boxes.
Personally, I was uplifted to see the students serving so willingly while putting their hearts into those boxes through writing messages and Bible passages for the children to receive.

 Fortuntaely I had the opportunity to visit the orphanage with CIC to deliver these boxes to the children. Santa even came along to add to the exctiement. For some children their boxes were so precious that they had a little peek and then went to a private place to really open and explore all of the goodies in their package. Every child was in awe of all of the things in their box. They loved having a box to keep their precious presents.
Students you can be assured that the love you put into those boxes for the children was very much felt and appreciated.

Thank you TCIS students for blessing these children so generously!

Student of the Month for November and Student of the Semester

Today we handed out 3 awards to students who have excelled during this last month of November and also to a student who has been a consistent worker and achiever for the whole Semester.

Congratulations to...

Student of the Month for November- Mary Kim

She is a great communicator in class and her open mindedness means she will happily work with any other students.

She is fair-minded in competitive environments and is always happy for others when they succeed.

She speaks up in class, showing she is a risk taker and a thinker. She gives her opinions as well as being knowledgeable on the class content.

She shows humility in her achievements and is quick to acknowledge other students.

She is well organized with her assignments and materials and produces exemplary work across a range of subjects.

Student of the Month for November- Lisa Han

 She is a really caring student in class and demonstrates this in the way she does her own work really well, but is always aware of others and how they may need help.

She takes her time with her work in order to be knowledgeable, by looking at situations in-depth and by thinking through the concepts involved.

While she may be a quieter student in class, she is able to communicate her ideas and thoughts clearly through her writing.

She shows other students how to be competitive, empathetic and caring all at the same time in PE classes.

She models to other students how to be successful in a wide range of activities and be humble while doing it.

Student of the Semester- Rakia Segev

She consistently completes all of her work in a thorough, thoughtful, and detailed manner.

She demonstrates thinking skills in her written work like her reflections and in the oral responses she gives in class.

She shows a high level of commitment to being balanced by also participating in after school sports and activities.

She is reliable when she works in a group and will always have ideas of her own to contribute.

She is focused on ensuring each piece of work is the highest quality she can produce, whether this be in practical or theoretical situations.

She produces exemplary work across a range of subjects that teachers are astounded by.

These ladies show us what it means to be excellent at TCIS!

Homeroom- ESLR reflection task

On Friday of this week, all students need to come to homeroom prepared to write a reflection on their ESLR goals for Semester one.
This reflection would be about the success or challenges you (students) have faced in meeting your goals. You could also write about your new goals or what you learned about yourself in this process.

This reflection will be added to the Semester one reports.

Dr Penland speaks to Middle School in Chapel

Dr Penland joined us in MS Chapel before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Here were some of his key points and challenges to us as we go about our daily lives...

Do you have an attitude of gratitude? 

While our daily circumstances may change, we may experience ups and downs, there are constants in our lives as Christians.

It doesn't matter what is going on around us because God is good and he gives us grace. 

God's love for us has not changed and will not change and we should always be thankful for that. 

Why do we celebrate thanksgiving? 

As Christian people we are called to give thanks for the blessings we have each day. We are called to show gratitude for the many many goo things in our lives. Giving thanks every day in this way helps to build a thankful heart and will help us to see the world in a different way.

What are u thankful for in your life?

Do you have a culture of thankfulness in your family?

 

Students at TCIS stood up in chapel and gave thanks for friends, family, food, God, freedom, warm clothes and heaters, planes to get us across the world, education, teachers, students and many other things from their hearts and in front of their peers.These students were courageous to do so in front of the whole MS.

 

What is Dr Penland thankful for today?

The diversity of who we are at TCIS. We have so many different cultures and perspectives at TCIS.  Dr Penland is also extremely humbled and grateful for the answers to prayers for our school.   

What are you thankful for today?