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Early Years at Garden explore learning
in a wider environment
Early
Years resting after a long day.
Janette Oracion Bagsic
“Water in Our Daily Lives” has been the main focus of
learning during this term and pupils from the Early Years Caterpillars and
Elephant classes have had the opportunity to explore the many ways in which
we use water in our daily lives both within the class room and the wider
environment. A cross curricular approach was adopted which allowed teaching
staff to incorporate the theme across different subjects; for example in
Personal, Social, and Health Development (PSED) considered the importance of
water in personal hygiene, washing ourselves and cleaning out teeth. We were
also able to introduce water into our music lessons by making sounds with
water and by singing songs related to the theme.
We consolidated our topic by visiting Phayun Beach. In
visiting the beach we were able to extend our learning from the classroom
situation to an outdoor experience. It was a bright sunny day and all the
children seemed to enjoy the experience. Ironically, we had hoped it might
rain as this would have been appropriate to our theme of water.
The trip to the beach provided an excellent opportunity
for the children to learn from first hand experience. The teaching staff
ensured that the beach area was free from debris and then erected colourful
umbrellas and set out mats to sit on. We began by exploring the beach and
looking for “treasure”, building sand castles and getting our hands dirty.
Next we went splashing in the sea and even Mr. Kam, who
cannot swim, went in the water. We had great fun splashing in the water and
all ended up very wet. After this we had a yummy snack under the umbrellas
before returning to school all wet and full of sand. On returning to school
the children were showered and were ready for lunch!
The trip to the beach provided an enjoyable, exciting
opportunity to take learning out of the classroom environment and for the
two Early Years classes to experience learning together.
Mr. Kam would like to thank the Early Years team and the
driver for helping us to have a great day at the beach!
To end the “Water” topic we celebrated Songkran, Thailand’s New Years
Day. The whole of the Foundation at GIS had water play together and splashed
water everywhere!
Asia &
Eliza - smile!
Mr Kam &
Ameta - resting.
Playing
together.
Building
sandcastles.
Winning
& Ameta learning how to swim.
Protecting from the sun.
Mr Kam &
Fabio - looking cool.
Fabio -
pouring water.
Early
Years getting wet.
Pob &
Valentino- on the school bus.
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The Regent’s Pattaya participate
in Koh Phi Phi Project
The
Regent’s students work hard at Koh Phi Phi.
Paul Crouch
On the 16th of March 2011, 7 Key Stage 3 students, Mr.
Crouch and Ms. Kati went on a project to Koh Phi Phi. We left really early,
at 5 a.m. It took us a bus ride, a flight and a boat ride to reach our
destination. Everyone was really tired, but after a nice meal at the Phi Phi
Natural Resort we were excited to see the community centre that we are
building and then go down to the Sea Gypsy village to get more familiar with
the project and the local people. We learnt what jobs the local people do
and that there are 23 households and 25 families in the village.
Whereas we got to relax on our first evening there the
next day started out by doing hard work. We got to cement the water tanks so
that they would hold water better. Although this was difficult at first,
after the first 3 water tanks we perfected our technique and managed to get
on much quicker and make them much smoother.
“It was a lot of fun to put cement on the tanks, it was
quite messy in the beginning and we got cement everywhere - on the floor and
on our clothes, so we realized it is actually a job that needs patience and
concentration,” Dominic Tipkrailas Witts said.
When the rest of the supplies arrived the next day we had
to transport the materials off the ship to the beach. “We made a long line
and passed the roof tiles from person to person to put them neatly in piles.
I did not realize how quickly we did it and how strong we were,” said Amy
Clarke.
It was very hot but we had fun at the same time.
Afterwards we painted some of the tiles so they would be water resistant and
reflect light. “It is much harder to make sure that the paint is applied
evenly than I realized. We wanted to do it quickly but that resulted in a
mess, so we had to learn to be patient,” said Cemlyn Waters. We also learnt
that little jobs like cleaning out the concrete ditches from soil is a lot
harder than it seems.
One morning we were invited to go along to the Sea
Gypsies’ cemetery where they held a ceremony to remember their ancestors.
There was a big party and the locals put on food, soft drinks and blessings
at each grave and shared a lot of food.
On Sunday we had a day of relaxing so after breakfast we
got on a long tail boat and went around the islands nearby. We visited Koh
Phi Phi Ley, Monkey Island and did a bit of snorkeling and swimming. We also
fed the fish and saw many colourful sea creatures. For lunch we went to
Tonsai Bay on the other side of Koh Phi Phi. First we visited the tsunami
memorial site and found out more about what effects the 2004 tsunami had on
this island. After that we also did a bit of shopping and got some presents
for our parents.
The students from United World College in Singapore
joined us to work at the centre on Monday, our last day there. “They were
15-17 year olds, but we wanted to show them we can work just as hard as them
even though we are younger,” said Carys Waters.
It was good they got there because the older students
could help out a lot by carrying some of the heavy sandbags and loaded the
tractor with the concrete tiles.
It was nice to learn about the people of the Sea Gypsy village and help
build the Centre. We did a lot of hard work but also had a very fun filled
week and we cannot wait to visit again.
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Special Visit from some
special children
Mark Beales
Dozens of children from the Camillian Centre in Ban
Chang, Rayong, visited Garden International School (GIS) for a special
afternoon of activities.
Camillian children enjoy lunch at Garden International School.
The centre, which cares for children who are HIV
positive, sent more than 40 children to GIS on April 21. Each secondary
class was given details of children from the centre and bought special
gifts for them, and wrapped them all up in big Songkran gift boxes.
In addition, a truck-full of rice was also donated to
help the centre. Known as the ‘rice mountain’, it was a collection of
rice, soya milk and canned food.
After enjoying lunch at the school canteen, the
Camillian children took part in a range of activities that had been
organised by GIS students.
These included basketball, badminton, balloon-popping, Frisbee
throwing, football and musical chairs. The visit is an annual event at
GIS.
The Regent’s attend the Beyblades Tournament
Regent’s students
enjoy the bouncy castle at the Beyblades Tournament.
Katrin Puutsa
The Beyblades Tournament 2011 took place on Sunday
the 3rd of April. The event began in the morning and ran well into the
afternoon with lots of fun activities such as swimming, trampoline
jumping and a bouncy castle.
More than 50 children took part in the competition to
find the champion of the Junior Beyblades Tournament and the champion of
the Senior Beyblades Tournament. Well done to all the participants!
Alongside the tournament the younger children took
part in the “colouring-in” competition and enjoyed a massive game of
pass the parcel where everyone seemed to win a prize.
Ms. Ava and Caritas were present to sell pendants and
to help raise money for Kate’s Project, who also attended and took part
in all the various activities.
All together 80,000 baht was raised and donated
during the day which will go a long way to Kate’s Project Trust and the
good work that they do in the many slum areas of Pattaya!
Special thanks must go to the Regent’s Year 12 CAS students that were
well organized by Harry Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, Yuki and everyone who
attended and helped organize the event.
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