February , 2013

Editor’s comment

Greetings to all, I think the month of February was a hectic month with

a lot of events and activities which the students enjoyed a lot. Above all,

new students are joining for summer school from different Thai schools

but what amazed me was the way these students were easily accepted

by our students. This really shows how “International” our school is and

reflects the name of the school—Kincaid which actually means family. I

will also like to commend the efforts of the parents for being construc-

tive and positive towards the school. Read and enjoy the second issue of

our school’s newsletter and feel free to offer your suggestions and con-

tributions.

Mr. Kevin

Sports news

P. E Classes, befitting or beneficial?

Hello everybody.

You may be wondering about what is happening during our P.E.

classes. Well, we are all very much excited for the opening of the new

sports court upstairs. Many students are busy preparing some activi-

ties for the opening ceremony. Also, we are doing exercises regularly

as we need to be physically fit to play the games upstairs and also

avoid injuries.

Exercise is really good for our health; it makes us healthy and strong.

It helps ease stress and sleep well. During exercise, our brain releases

a chemical called endorphins. Keeping in mind all these benefits of

exercise, all good standard schools take care of their students’ health

by arranging physical education classes for them and our school is

one of them.

These days, we have an activity of increasing the number of laps every

week in order to increase body stamina. One team in our class

( Mithushan’s team) won three times in a row. Mr. Marc, our PE

teacher, encourages us by saying things like ”Good job Japan; Good

job Myanmar”. Everyone tries their best to feel proud by making

others hear about his or her nationality.

By grade 6.

Volume 2

Indoor Field Trip for Kin-

dergarten The Month of February has been

full of new experiences for kin-

dergarten.

Preschool, K1 and K2 had a picnic

in the mess hall. There was a lot

of different food on offer as well

as exciting games to play includ-

ing castle building, rice planting,

grab-a-chocolate and ring tossing.

The students thoroughly enjoyed

themselves and certainly had a

day to remember.

K3 joined the rest of the school

on the field trip to the Science

Museum. The students learnt

about dinosaurs, volcanoes and

earth science. They played in a

fantastic play area and experi-

enced a show that was out of this

world.

Our theme this Month was

“Elephants”. We have all enjoyed

learning about this wonderful

animal. The students made ele-

phants out of clay and partici-

pated in different activities re-

lated to this subject.

Overall, t has been a great Month

for Kindergarten.

Dublin Literary Awards—A must for

all students.

One of the biggest events

is now opened to Thai

students all over Thailand.

Fortunately, they gave

Kincaid International

School students the

chance to participate last

time. The 8th Dublin Liter-

ary Award 2012/2013 was held on February 1st

at Rembranst Hotel, Sukumvit soi 18, with our

special guest, Steve Van Beek; one of Amer-

ica’s well known authors and documentary

filmmakers for travelling. He is writing about

his journeys in Thailand. Thousands of entries

were submitted from the Central, Northeast-

ern, Northern and Southern regions, but only

ten assays were chosen.

This competition is for students of ages 14-18.

The essay can be as long as 800-1200 words.

The winner from each region earns 10,000

Baht and the overall winner gets 50,000 Baht

and a trip to Dublin (with one parent) to at-

tend the senior Dublin Literary Awards. Al-

though it looked like it was unlikely for an in-

ternational student to get shortlisted , I ,

Stephanie ALbores, a Kincaid student, was one

of the winners from the central region. Hon-

estly, I did not have high expectations to even

be one

of the winners, “I entered this competition

because I felt motivated to do so, and that’s

the most important thing about writing. Writ-

ing is to free your mind and expand your crea-

tivity.. The best thing about writing is that you

don’t need a degree to do so, even an engi-

neer can write a book for children”.

Organized by the Nation, NJJ magazine and

strategic partners, Phuket Gazette and City

Life Chiang Mai with support from the Em-

bassy of Ireland, Emirates, OCS Group and

Kerry Group, the topic of this 8th Dublin Liter-

ary Awards was “My Biggest Decision”.

Steven Van Beek shared his experience here in

Thailand and encouraged young writers to

continue writing, by giving them the opportu-

nity to ask him questions . He also shared use-

ful tips.

Although I’m not the overall winner, I was one

of the shortlisted winners and I got a certifi-

cate and a small notebook which encouraged

me to continue writing. This isn’t a big award; I

didn’t win any money, right? That’s what most

people said. But this was the first time I won

an award that is not based on what I do in

school, and so this made me feel that every

cloud has a silver lining, and that maybe I’m

not always going to be labeled a “mental” girl.

So, I know everyone can join and get that op-

portunity to win and show what you’re capa-

ble of doing. As they say, “Stay hungry, stay

foolish.”

What are you waiting for? Pick up your pens or

pencils and start writing on the next topic

“Behind the mask”, and who knows? you

might be the next winner!

By Stefanie Albores(G9)

The world education games

is an annual online chal-

lenge created to encourage

students to be excited and

enthusiastic about educa-

tion. Participants come

from all around the globe –

Australia, New Zealand, Africa, China, you name it.

By competing with students from other countries,

the hall of fames allows students to see their rank-

ings compared to the rest of the world.

The games consists of three main competitions:

World and Literacy day ( Held on March 5th ), World

Maths day (March 6th ) and World Science day

( March 7th ). Students can choose to participate in

any of these according to which subject they do

best at. Finally, winners will receive a Gold medal

and be known as the 2013 world champion of the

Champions.

According to students’ ages, the games are

separated into age categories so participants com-

pete with others within their own age range.

Students can practice for the upcoming real events

as long as they have access to internet and a com-

puter – it is that easy. Just log in to

www.worldeducationgames.com with the user-

name and password provided by your teacher.

By participating, you are improving your skills and

speed in thinking and answering. It’s just your cup

of tea – having fun, learning and improving your

ability all at the same time.

Our school has encouraged students from kinder-

garten to high school to participate. Positive re-

sponses have been received by the students, who

enjoy the games and are excited for the big event.

In fact, some of our students are more than ready

for the games. Who knows, we might even end up

with a trophy and fill our school with pride.

By JJ (G10)

World Education Games

Teams’ events and updates

Blue Eagles A thousand miles begins with a single step. In order

to reach a goal you need to make your move. I am

one of the proud team members of the blue team, a

team full of enthusiasm and a high spirited members.

In this Month of February we faced our ups and

downs. We tried our very best to prepare for the

upcoming events. Last week on Friday, our hard

working team mates participated in the monthly

event of general knowledge . They kicked their hard-

est to answer most of the difficult questions being

thrown at them and at the end we got first place. A

big round of applause to our teammates: Shanee,

Hawa, Jenny, Elim and Noah. Winning is a great feel-

ing but knowing we worked harder for it is the best.

The following week we held a speech and the poetry

contest. Unfortunately, most of our participants

were missing. The remaining members still did their

best and even though we lost they still managed to

put their efforts into their work. All we need now is

some motivation and cooperation in order to win the

next competitions that will come our way. Success

comes from knowing that you did your best to be-

come the best that you are capable of becoming.

By Mikee (Grade 9)

Green Narwhals

We have come to the end of February and all three teams have stepped up their game and are working so much harder now. We’ve recently had the poetry con-test, spelling bee, general knowledge quiz and the speech contest.

So far so good, our teammates have shown an incredible improvement. The green narwhals have stayed stuck in second place for quite a long time. However, in last week’s speech contest, the green team stepped up to first place. We’re extremely proud of our development and wish to continue this way. The captain and assis-tants have taken it up a notch and are working twice as harder. They are even practicing with the students dur-ing lunch breaks.

The teams are preparing for the upcoming basketball game and the cheerleading presentation. The new sports court on the third floor of the school is being in-augurated in a few weeks from now. We have been awaiting for this moment for a long time, especially the students who are in the basketball team. The opening is certainly spurring excitement into all of the students.

We are very proud of the developments taking place in our school, and it’s giving the students many new oppor-tunities to show our talents through sports, dance, aca-demic activities and so forth.

Green team is proud to be updating the school and par-ents with news and we’re looking forward to write many more articles.

By Achu and Liliane (Grade 9)

Orange Ocelots Orange Ocelots are flying high!!!

The month of February has been a hectic one, keeping up each and every the

members of the team with a duty.

Like every month, the three teams; Green narwhals, Blue Eagles, and the

Orange Ocelots competed and the Orange Ocelots came out with flying col-

ors. Students from Grade 1 to Grade 10 participated in the competitions with

students from Grade1to Grade5 in the spelling bee competition, Grade5 and

Grade6 in the poetry completion and Grade7 to Grade10 in the speech com-

petition. In both competitions, our team ranked the first except in the speech

competition where, apparently, the completion and competitors were fierce.

All our students were very cooperative and showed a great interest in partici-

pating. Surprisingly, a grade 7 student Reza Nikobayan amazed everyone

from the judges to the younger students using all his tact’s when he had to

dress and act like an old woman. Thanks to him, the team scored more points

and was able to keep its first place.

The team captain and his assistants are doing a good job to help the kids per-

form up on stage. It is sometimes hard as the student usually have never per-

formed up there and the assistants have spend the little extra time they have,

putting all their efforts in practice with the students. As a result, students are

performing better and even forgetting what is stage fear, by embracing the

boldness to speak in front of a crowd and embodying different personalities.

We are heading towards the month of March with our minds on the basketball

court opening. It is going to be a big event for the school as well as for the

teams. Our flag will be hosted for the first time and friendly games will be

played among the three teams to celebrate the event. Also, our cheerleading

group is excited as they will be performing for the first time as well.

We hope they break a leg and make the event something to write home about.

By Mahtab(G9)

The fantastic field trip

We went to the Rangsit Science center for the field

trip on February 14th 2013. Everyone who was going

for the trip was excited. We used a tour bus to get

there. Through the bus windows we could see

amazing things.

When we arrived at the museum, we had snacks to

eat. After that, we went in the center’s theater and

watched a video about Coral Reefs. Later we went

into the model Volcano and we saw what a volcano

would look like in real life. We stood on a machine

which allowed us to feel how an earthquake would

be like.

We went to the other part of the Rangsit Science

Center to answer the journal questions that our

teacher made for us. We learnt about the earth

mass, how fast the earth rotates and about orbit

around the sun. We also learnt the distance be-

tween the earth and other planets, the sun and the

moon. We learnt about other things related to the

solar system.

We were separated into paired groups so that we

could help each other to answer our journal ques-

tions. The Center contains things about physical

science, earth science, life science, archeology and

astronomy. We learnt about electrical currents and

force field. We also learnt about three 3 different

types of rocks and 6 types of volcanoes. Later on-

ward we learnt about how dinosaurs became ex-

tinct. The first dinosaur fossil in Thailand was found

at Khon Kaen.

On the second floor we saw scientific things. One of

them was a scientific bicycle. It measured our

speeds each time we rode it. What we saw there

was all facts. We finally learnt about seedless

plants, prehistoric eras and Pangea before we

started to get ready to go back to school.

Most of the grade 5 students have recommended

this place to people. We enjoyed ourselves. The trip

was really fun and educative.

By G7 Students

Announcements

We are pleased to inform the parents that our school Songkran holiday will now begin on Fri-

day April 12. This is due the fact that Friday April 12 has been declared as an additional holi-

day by the government. For this reason, our Songkran celebration will now take place on

Thursday April 11, 2013. Students are required to wear Songkran shirt on that day.

Interview with the oldest teacher

at Kincaid……..

Mr. Mark Festejo (the school P.E teacher) answered questions

from Ms. Hawa Saidi (G7 student) about the school’s develop-

ment since he joined Kincaid 12 years ago.

Hawa: Mr. Mark, how many years have you been working in

this school?

Mr. Marc: I have been working here for 12 years. That means

since the school was established in 2001 and it has been a

pleasure to be here.

Hawa: Regarding your endurance in this job, what experience

do you have?

Mr. Marc: I have a lot of experiences. I have been a homeroom

teacher for almost all the grades and I was the first teacher to

bring the school out for a sport competition. Now I am the P.E.

teacher. I love sports. It’s all about my experiences.

Hawa: Would you tell me your point of view regarding stu-

dents in our school?

Mr. Marc: I think that students in our school are capable of

improving what they can do. And I think that because the size

of the school is not very big, teachers have the ability to con-

centrate on students on an individual basis and quickly respond

to the needs of students.

Hawa: As you have been working in the school for a longer

period of time than any other teacher, what do you expect for

the development of the school?

Mr. Marc: I expect a lot of changes, especially the upcoming

new indoor sports court opening ceremony. There are many

projects that the school has. I cannot tell you; but I expect a lot

from our school.