Mr de Klerk's Class - 2022/23

We are at the end of another busy and exciting week where we had the opportunity to learn, develop new skills and make fun memories with our classmates as we did various activities.

In English this week, the students continued to read Stone Cold by Robert Swindells. The class analysed characters, found quotes to support their ideas and made a missing person linked to the problem in the story.

In Math, we used different measures of area and studied the relationship between these measures; we also looked at why the mathematical formulae of area are what they are. We then used these mathematical formulas to calculate the area of compound shapes and the total surface area of 3D shapes. We also used a shape’s cross-sectional area and width to calculate its volume.

In DTI, we had the challenge to practice batch production while making pizzas, of which the ingredients are within a 100-mile radius of the school. Some groups stuck to the challenge more closely than others, but both groups made delicious pizzas and worked together wonderfully to batch-produce their allotted pizzas in a good time.

In History, we started looking at the road to independence that the American colonies took to gain independence from Brittain. The learners researched some key and presented these as part of a timeline of events.

In Science, learners were given a scenario where they were lost in the woods and had to use their knowledge of magnets and the Earth’s magnetic field to solve this problem. They will then produce a how-to-style video about making a compass and finding their way home.

In Geography, learners finished and presented their home adverts made to sell a house by mentioning the new urbanist ideals that surround the house.

And lastly, on Friday, it was Sports Day, where our class showed great sporting behaviour and were kind, compassionate and extremely helpful; being a big reason why the day was such a great success, and everyone had a great time. All the staff members mentioned how well they acquitted themselves and what great role models they were.

That is all for this week; I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend.

We would like to take Mr. Dunn’s and Me de Klerk’s classes on an overnight trip to Atherton International School (AIS) on Geoje Island. On this trip we will be joining students from AIS for an evening and morning of friendly sports.

Details

• Come to school as normal on Thursday
• Leaving school at 12 noon on Thursday 1st June
• Traveling by HHI bus
• Returning Friday 2nd June at 4pm
• Sleeping in the Gym at AIS
• Dinner will be pizza
• Breakfast will be the same as the residential trip
• Lunch on Friday will be kindly provided by AIS

Students will need

• Sleeping kit (the same as the residential)
• Lunch as normal on Thursday
• P.E kit for Friday
• The school provided snack bag (smaller than for the residential trip)
• 7,000 won to cover the cost of pizza and breakfast

Please complete this form to sign-up for this trip

As we get into spring with the warmer weather and more rain falling, we are also getting closer to the end of the academic school year and have commenced our school-wide A, B, C…-countdown to the start of summer vacation. This does not mean that no academic work is taking place, and the students are hard at work learning new things and improving their skills.

In Math this week, we looked at length, area, volume and units used for these. The students converted between different units of measurements for area as well as converted between miles and kilometres.

In Science, we looked at the electromotor effect and made simple motors using magnets, batteries and wire. Some students were more successful than others in getting their motors turning, but everyone had fun while learning something new as they developed their growth mindset. For life science, the students researched and presented information on cardiovascular diseases in keeping with the unit on the circulatory system. In Geography, students looked at new urbanists and the Ahwahnee principles in designing modern cities to make them more friendly to live and work in. In History, we looked at the causes of the American Revolution, specifically actions taken by Briton that did not show merit to the colonists and led them to question the legitimacy of British rule.

In English this week, with have continued our work around Stone Cold by Robert Swindells. We explored dual narratives and character voices, and we wrote our own pieces of creative writing using these techniques. Also, we role-played as the antagonist of the story.

I would also like to remind everyone that next week Friday is sports day. This is an opportunity for all the school students to participate in outdoor activities and share some experiences together. It is not a competitive sporting meet, and there will be no winners announced at the conclusion of the day; the focus is more on our core values of leadership, respect, teamwork and growth mindset, and of course, having fun. The students have been divided into eight equal teams, so it is imperative that students be present on the day for this to run smoothly. The teams have been allocated colours, and we ask that each student wear a t-shirt that matches their team colours. Team Colours.

Just a few things to remember on the day:

• Parents are welcome to come to enjoy the day watching their children have fun.
• Sun caps
• Sunscreen 
• Water bottle
• Non-microwavable lunch
• Correct colour t-shirt
• Winning is not everything
• Appropriate footwear and clothing

That is all for this week, I hope everyone has a great weekend.

We come to the end of the first whole school week in a while and what a busy and productive week it has been.

In Math, we studied translations of shapes, looking at transformations, reflections, rotations and enlargements.

In Science, students looked at using the scientific method of recording and conducting investigations by looking at magnetic fields and how they interact with compasses. In Geography, students compared and rated cities according to a rating scale to see how livable these cities were; they also looked at the phenomenon of urban sprawl, its advantages, disadvantages and causes. In History, we looked at the ideals and motivations of the first colonialists that immigrated to the American colonies as a precursor to find out why they eventually sought their independence. In Technology, we examined different types of farming, looking at the differences, advantages and disadvantages of these different types.

In English, we continued our novel study of “Stone Cold”, the class wrote scripts to role play as the main characters.

That is all for this week, I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

We have had a busy time recently, with the residential trip at the end of week 3. What a fantastic trip it was; I was super impressed with each student’s attitude; they participated well in each activity and pushed themselves when things got hard. I am very proud of those for whom it would have been their first time away from their parents for a trip like this. I know we all had a lot of fun, made some precious memories, and gained unique experiences outside of the classroom. I am sure you all have seen the pictures Mr Green shared, but I would be remiss not to add the link again since they show how much fun the learners had so clearly. Here is a link.

We continued reading Stone Cold by Robert Swindells in English, analysing characters and writing descriptive pieces.

In IMYC, the students finished their unit on reflection and started on a new unit entitled Respect. The students also continued with their special life science unit on the circulatory system by looking at blood pressure. In Geography, we started looking at Urban Geography and what makes a city good or bad. In History, we started by looking at rules and systems of governance that have merit in the school and how we can affect change to these systems. In Science, the students studied magnets and what substances are magnetic and which are not. In Technology, we looked at the sustainability of food and things we can do relating to good and bad food for the environment.

In Math, the students learned how to use scale and bearing on maps and how to use those to find places on maps. We also looked at finding the length of line segments between two coordinate points, the midpoint and other points on a line.

That is all for this week; I hope everyone enjoyed their time as a family during the Childrens long weekend.

Assessment week! This week all the students completed their respective Cambridge assessments; I would like to congratulate them on their resilience and the positive way they approached the exams. This is a necessary evil in school cycles and is a valuable skill the students are acquiring that will benefit them in their future academic endeavors.

Additionally, this week we continued learning new things and acquiring some new skills, in IMYC conditions were perfect for students to take their prototype kites they made in Design for a test flight. They then had to evaluate how well their kites performed and how they could improve their initial designs. The initial flights mirrored that of the SpaceX rocket launch and did not quite get off the ground the first time. Still, after a couple of alterations and design changes, there was more success with Dave, Haley and Julia making a fully functioning kite that maintained flight. In History, students completed our look at the cold war and are currently in the process of researching and producing a presentation about another conflict occurring during the cold war times. We also completed our Geography activities, where students looked at the complexities of global cooperation on climate change issues. In Science, we learned about the Doppler effect and its applications.

In Math, students started a unit about Maps, scale and directions. We looked at compass directions and scales and how to calculate real-life distance and map distance.

We also welcomed Mr Craig into our class; he is a learner teacher that is currently in his final year of studies and is doing his practical teaching at our school. He will teach Science and Geography and has already started the learners on a stand-alone life science unit on the circulatory system today.

We would like to remind parents that mobile phones and smartwatches that are connected to phones should be turned off and handed to the teacher or alternatively left in the student’s bag at their own risk.

We are also very excited about the upcoming residential trip that will be taking place next week, Wednesday through Friday.

That is all for this week, I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

Welcome back to everyone at the start of the final term for the year. This promises to be a busy term with activities such as the assessment week and the upper-school residential trip happening in the first three weeks. In the assessment week, the year 9 learners will write their Cambridge Checkpoint tests, and the year 7,8’s will write their Cambridge progression tests.

In Math and English, we focused on exam preparation by doing practice tests to get the learners used to the way in which these questions are asked and the best way to answer them; this also gave us the opportunity to brush up on some of our skills that might have become rusty during the holidays.

In IMYC, we continued with our unit on Reflection that we started the last term. In Science, we looked at light and how it refracts when it passes from one medium to another. We also used what we have learned about reflection to build a periscope.

In Geography, we looked at how different countries are responding to the global climate change challenge by using hypothetical countries to come up with climate change resolutions that will also benefit the country. In History, we looked at proxy wars in the cold war using the Korean War as an example.

That is all for this week; I hope everyone gets enough rest and preparation for the exams and comes back ready for the next week.

And just like that, we end an eventful term full of great learning and fun activities. During this week, we focussed on preparation for the Math progression and checkpoint tests, getting the learners used to the way questions are asked and how to answer exam-style questions. In Science, we looked at some of the science of light especially looking at reflection and refraction of light rays when they interact with different mediums. The learners learned about the angle of incidence and reflection and how light bends when passing from one medium to another. In History, we looked at some of the causes of the cold war and how decisions by one side influenced decisions made by the other. In Geography, learners gave some thought to different opinions on climate change and why there might be opposition to implementing the sweeping changes to counteract climate change through greenhouse emissions. In English, the learners completed their dioramas that depicted a specific scene from the novel Frankenstein.

That brings us to the end of this term, where the learners had the chance to celebrate the end of the term by having a dance party organized by the PTA; our sincere thanks to them, a great tie was had by all.

Next term will be a busy term both on the academic side and on the side of enrichment activities. On the academic side, there will be the Cambridge checkpoint tests (year 9) and the progression test (years 7-8). There will also be the residential trip for the upper school students that promise to be a great enrichment opportunity and great fun for all the students.

That is all for this term, I hope everyone has an enjoyable spring break and comes back ready for the last leg of the year refreshed and eager to learn.

As we count down to the end of the term, we are heading into the last week before spring break. This did not stop us from going full speed ahead with many activities and great learning.

In Math, we started our exam preparation for the assessment week in week 2 of term 3 by looking at past exam papers and how the questions are structured and should be answered.

In English this week, we finished our unit on Frankenstein, so to end it, the student’s got creative designed and started making a diorama of a key scene from the text.

In IMYC, Science, we continued to study waves and especially sound waves. We looked at different properties that influence the pitch, loudness and tone of waves. We also looked at the constructive and destructive superposition of impulses and the practical uses of reflection of sound. In History, the learners contrasted and compared a hot war to a cold war. In Geography, we looked at how fossil fuels impact us, especially in the context of the local economy and why it can be difficult for people to stop using fossil fuels despite it being a major cause of global warming. In Design, learners worked on their design phase of designing a kite to specific criteria, looking at measurements, materials and costs of the kite.

That is all for this week, I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend and comes back on Monday refreshed and ready for the last week.

Happy Friday on this lovely afternoon, spring is in the air, and we are heading full speed towards the end of the term. However, that does not mean we are slowing down in class; much learning took place this week.

In Science, learners studied different types of waves and their properties, such as amplitude, frequency, wavelength and speed of waves. They also learned about the relationship between wavelength, frequency and wave speed. In Geography, we looked at the difficulties of identifying climate change and the different measurements that are taken to identify whether climate change is taking place. In History, the students looked at why Germany’s Blitzkrieg tactics were so successful during WWII, comparing it to the trench warfare of WWI. In Design, the students studied engineering design processes. They looked at different kites to evaluate the design decisions that went into the making of these kites, with the aim of designing and ultimately building prototype kites of their own.

In English, we have come to the end of our study of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We analysed extracts, exploring how characters changed, key events, and how the story concluded.   

During our Math lessons, we started the week by constructing equations from word sums and then looked at the different ways to simplify equations and finished by looking at the indices laws and using them to simplify equations.

That is all for this week, and I hope everyone will have an enjoyable weekend.