This first week of March much of my time was spent in my office with Abby Williamson as we continued to put together all of the after school activities for Quarter Four. We have to have everything ready and up on our Elementary School After School Activities' website by March 18 so that we can email to parents so they can be prepared to select activities for their children as soon as we return from Spring Break on March 30. We still have a lot to do, but things are coming together. In fact Quarter Four might be a record for the number of options for after school activities from which children can select. Right now we have 33 activities with a possibility of 2 or 3 more! It is quite an undertaking, but God continues to give me the strength, ability, and an increasing knowledge of technology needed. Thanks for your prayers. I am so grateful to Abby and two very special Ed Tech staff, Samuel and Carol Pitts, for their tremendous assistance and patience with an old man who fought technology use for such a long time and continues to MARCH forward learning something new almost every week! :-) I thought I would share a few pictures from two more of our activities during Quarter Three:
This is the ceramic project this group was working on this week!
I will be excited to see the finished project. They always do such
a great job!
Katie working on her sheep!
One of the instructors working with a couple of our first graders
with their ceramic project! So much fun to see them creating!!
In the Joy of Chinese Culture ASA, they were creating Chinese masks last week. This is Catherine designing her mask!
Another young lady almost finished with her mask!
Three of the students in Joy of Chinese Culture modeling their finished masks!
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During Quarter Three our two Elementary Physical Education teachers, Ms. Jamie Buster and Mr. Nilton Resende, instructed and coached two 4th and 5th grade basketball teams. One was a Girls' Team and one a Boys' Team. They have been doing an after school activity each week in preparation for a Basketball Jamboree that YISS will host on Saturday, March 14, with elementary teams from other international schools in Korea. Ms. Buster has been amazing at building relationships with our students and she organized a trip on Thursday evening to a Korean professional basketball game featuring the home team of the Samsung Thunders. This was for the two YISS elementary basketball teams. This was the first time these kids had been to a professional basketball game in Korea and they were soooo excited. Forty of these kids along with a few parents went to the Thunders' game on Thursday evening. It was a great time to take an evening Field Trip since there was no school on Friday for students since it was Parent-Teacher Conference Day at YISS. They had an awesome time!
This is a picture Ms. Buster gave me of the Girls' Basketball team at the Samsung Thunders' basketball game. I am so sorry I don't have one of the boys. :-) They all had a great time!!
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Also on Thursday, Grade 1D celebrated the birthday of Dr. Seuss! This has become an annual event with Mrs. Barbara Thomas, Grade 1D's teacher. It is a grand event and she has a mystery reader come to surprise the students with a reading of one of books written by Dr. Seuss. I was invited this year to be the mystery reader. What a great time I had with these cherubs! I was so impressed with their "thinking" skills as I read and interacted with questions throughout the book, Oh, The Places You'll Go! Parents had provided some snacks and each child had made a "Things" hat and had a sign around their neck, "Thing 1", "Thing 2", etc. It was a very special time!
Here is one of the place mats one of the parents had made for each child to have at her/his desk!
Here I am introducing the book I will read to the "Things" with
their fun hats!
A picture from behind showing a sea of "Things" hats!
Reading Oh, The Places You'll Go! to the 1D "Things." Such great
interaction with an excellent group of thinkers!
One of the 1D cherubs showing me how to make her Dr. Seuss hat with an Oreo cookie, a marshmallow, and some sprinkles! Then she took great joy in eating it!! :-)
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Wednesday evening I kept MARCHing on as I went with a number of other colleagues from YISS to a special concert at the Blue Square, a theater right across the street from YISS, which has about 4 performance stages in its complex. We went to hear the very gifted and talented a capella music group called Naturally 7. I was first introduced to this group when I was doing a devotional last year at YISS. I was looking for an a capella arrangement of Be Still My Soul to close my devotional with the YISS staff. I found the perfect arrangement sung by Naturally 7. You can hear their rendition of this old favorite of mine at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HSrcTvMqU
The concert was wonderful! Every song they sang was sung a capella with no instruments - although they used their voices as instruments! Simply amazing! The guitarist, percussionist, and bass were so excellent! Our group had a delightful time together and enjoyed a wonderful evening of music!
Poster announcing the concert of Naturally 7!
Here we are (except for a couple who had to use the facilities)
in our seats about 15 minutes before the concert!
Another picture of our YISS group minus Mrs. Thomas who had to leave as soon as the concert was finished. What a great time we had!
One of the pictures I took from my balcony seat of Naturally 7 performing on Wednesday evening!
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Friday was one of my favorite days at YISS in the Elementary School! In March each year we conduct Student-Led Parent Conferences. Teachers are present in the room to speak briefly with parents BUT the students are the communicators with their parents. I love going from room to room observing students sharing what they have learned and how they are progressing in their studies. Students and teachers work on presentation skills throughout the year in preparation for these conferences. I love seeing how students - even our youngest cherubs - have matured and are able to communicate their learning to their parents. Working together students and teachers prepared many creative ways for students to involve parents in what they have been learning. I wish you could observe them!
The elementary teachers had a very early start to
conferences on Friday so the Elementary admin team
became "Candy Stripers" and went room to room
to deliver coffee or coffee latte and cookies to our
wonderful elementary educators!
Mrs. Roll, the other Assistant Principal, was taking the photos and asked Mrs. Birmingham and me to do a silly pose. Here it is! :-)
Our Physical Ed. teachers had put our various pieces of athletic
equipment and students showed their parents the skills they have
been working on and mastering. This is one showing his Dad his
gymnastic skills. A daughter has her mother playing hockey with
her in the background.
A second grader with her mother working on Math and the cherub showing her mother what she has been learning using manipulatives.
Three Student-Led Conferences going on in Grade 1 with the teacher,
Mr. Adams ready to assist as needed. You can see the portfolios on
each child's desk. Students led their parents through their portfolios.
Stephen taking his mother through his portfolio!
Each student had written a letter at the beginning of her/his portfolio for parents to read. Here is Elina's letter. I love it!!
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Saturday I was able to meet with my excellent friend and brother, Gunmo Kim! I always love our times together. Recently he was on a mission trip to Malaysia with some of his church members. He just returned earlier in the week and has been quite busy but texted me to see if we could meet on Saturday for lunch with his church friend, Daris. I was very happy to hear all about his Malaysian trip and how God is working there. Also very happy to meet his church friend, Daris. Daris is presently teaching English in Korea and is interested in getting his Ph. D. in Education with an emphasis on North Korean education. He and his wife, Clara, are enjoying Korea and have a real heart for the people of North Korea. I know they would value your prayers. Clara is a coworker with Gunmo at GrapeSeed. It was so good to see them again! Daris, Gunmo, and I had a really enjoyable brunch at Tartine's and look forward to many more times together. Thanks for continuing to pray for Gunmo, too.
Daris, GGG, and Gunmo about ready to enjoy our yummy brunches. What a wonderful time of conversation with these two wonderful men!
Gunmo chose this tasty brunch!
Daris wanted to try the German Pancake with the bacon, eggs, and hash browns.
I enjoyed one of my favorites: Eggs Benedict with Salad!
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I trust that each of you are enjoying the beginning of the month of March. I always love hearing from you in any form. Thanks so much. Thank you for being so faithful with your encouragement, love, prayers, and gifts. Enjoy your week!
Love,
Gregg
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