The Comet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 18 | Issue 2 | December 2014

In this issue...
Founders’ Awards…p. 2

Grade 7 Camp…p. 15

KISTival 2014…p. 3

Managing Technology Use…p. 17

K2 Charcoal Self-Portraits…p. 5

G11 DP Orientation Camp…p. 18

Child Soldier …p. 10

Secondary SRC…p. 19

CAS—Chemistry is Fun…p. 11

KIST MUN Delegates in Seoul...p. 23

KIST Cross Country Meet…p. 12

PTA Committees…p. 25

From the Head of School

DATES TO REMEMBER

Season’s greetings KIST community members.
Perhaps due to the relatively warm fall, it is hard to believe that December is
now upon us and we are about to enter our winter break. The start of the year
has been a busy one for us at KIST, one with many successes worthcelebrating.
Our annual KISTival celebration this October was the most successful in thehistory of the school. About 4000 people attended the event and over 7 million
yen was raised to support the elementary and secondary schools and thefuture construction of a new gymnasium building. The KIST PTA hosted our
first ever international family potluck, an event that was very well attended andoffered the opportunity to sample a variety of international cuisine while
enjoying conversation with other parents from the school.
In terms of co-curricular educational experiences for our students, in the firstfew months of this school year, a lot has happened at KIST. Our students haveenjoyed our sport’s field days, camps for both grades 7 and 11, a secondary
school dance, two drama festivals (one hosted at KIST), a season ofcompetitive volleyball, lunch time concerts, and our annual cross country
events. We also reintroduced the winter concerts for both schools and wereable to share our students’ many talents with the larger community. This list
alone is impressive but we accomplished much, much more since the start of
the year as well.
Elementary school students enjoyed a guest author reading and presentation
and a soccer workshop put on by professional soccer players (including Kisho
Yano of the Japan National Team). Our book character parade was even more
successful than last year, with more students and teachers participating thanever.
Secondary school students were visited by guest speakers during their school
assemblies, including a visit by Michel Chikwanine who, through sharing his
unfortunate tragic experiences as a child soldier in the Democratic Republic ofCongo, inspired our students to believe in their ability to make a positive
difference in the world. Also of note, this fall was the first opportunity for agroup of our secondary students to represent KIST at the Model United
Nations conference in Seoul, an experience which you can read more about inthis issue of The Comet.
Continued on next page
KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life

December 2014
5 (G1-G12) Clubs program ends
8-10 (G9-G11) Semester 1
examinations
10 (E) Winter concert (*Afternoon)
13-Jan 5 Winter vacation
15-16 Office open

January 2015
5 Staff development day (Noschool for students)
6 (W) School resumes for all
students
6-13 (G12) Semester 1 DP mockexaminations
9 2015-2016 enrollment
applications close
10 (G9-G11) MUN scrimmage(Hosted@KIST)
12 School day
12 (G4-G10) Mathematics
diagnostic testing
12 IB DP information session 20152017
13 (G1-G12) Clubs program
resumes
26 Semester 2 commences
27/29/30 2015-2016 enrollment
interviews
28 Japanese new year party
30 (K1-K3) School holiday

KIST is an
IB World
School2

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Continued from previous page

Also of note, KIST became an SAT test center and indoing so increased support for our secondary school
students as they make plans for university. From
December 9 to 12 we will host our Council ofInternational Schools preliminary visit and in doing so
will embark on a journey towards further enhancing
everything we do at KIST.
As we reflect on the happenings of late, there is muchfor us as a school to be proud of. However, none ofthese successes would have been possible without the
support and commitment of our KIST community. As
we come to the end of yet another calendar year, on
behalf of all of KIST, I would like to extend a very warm
thank you to all of our parents, staff, students, andother community supporters who have contributed somuch towards KIST’s growth for 2014. Your

contributions are hugely appreciated and yourcommitment is a source of pride for the school. With
such strong community support, it is exciting to think of
the growth that awaits us in 2015.
I hope that you enjoy this edition of The Comet andthat everyone has a safe holiday full of wonderfulexperiences with family and friends.
I look forward to welcoming everyone back to school in
2015!
Happy holidays!
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

Founders’ Awards
KIST Founders’ Awards are an initiative of the school Founders, Mr and Mrs Komaki. There are two
types of awards as outlined below.
The KIST Study Scholarships recognize students who make a significant contribution to the schoolcommunity. Awardees for this year will be announced at the Secondary Assembly on Friday,
December 12.
The KIST University Support Scholarships recognize hardworking students who achieve high scores in their final
year of the DP. Congratulations to the students below who have received scholarships in this year’s round ofawards.

KIST University Support Scholarships
Silver Awards

Class of 2014
Rio
Silver Award

Class of 2014
Min
Silver Award

Bronze Awards

Class of 2014
SashankBronze Award

Class of 2014
Adam
Bronze AwardREMINDER
Math diagnostic testing (G4-10)

January 12th, 2015

Class of 2014
DanielBronze AwardV o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4KISTival 2014
As in previous years, KISTival 2014 was a resounding success due tothe efforts of all involved. We would like to express our sincere
gratitude to the entire school community for your commitment anddedication to this important annual fundraising event. This year’s
results are reported below.

“ T h e Co m et ”3

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Elementary School News

Holiday Thoughts

Happy Holidays!

Quarter One with its assessments, grades reports andportfolios has finally come and gone. As the winterbreak draws near we find our thoughts filled withplans for the holidays and the New Year. The
festivities that accompany this time of year usually arefilled with stories and traditions designed to impart a
moral lesson or some philosophical message to help
us lead our lives. In that vein, I would like to point out
the IB’s system of personal and social standards that
we feel are important as a school.

As unbelievable as it may seem, we are alreadynearing the winter break and our three week holidays.
Since those incredibly hot and humid days back in
August when our school year began, we have all been
extremely busy and productive. As the popular saying
goes, “time flies when you’re having fun!” As I
personally believe that happy children learn, I am
pleased that time seems to have flown by so quickly!
To continue the learning and enjoyment over the
break, please carry on reading with your children andencouraging them to read independently. Whether apicture book, a children’s magazine, a popular novel,or an in-flight magazine, reading is a much moreenjoyable and productive use of their time thanwatching TV or playing video games.
I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year andanticipate a wonder-filled 2015, bursting withexcitement and meaningfullearning opportunities!
Have a great break!
Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal

Welcome to the WorldWe are pleased to share with the school communitythat K2 English Language Support Instructor, Joanna
Lee, currently on maternity leave, gave birth to ahealthy baby boy (as yet unnamed) on November 30.
Congratulations Ms Joanna!

The IB identifies twelve attitudes and ten learnerprofiles which are used as models for behaviour andhighlight the type of learners that we hope to develop
here at the school. The aim is to developinternationally minded people who, recognizing theircommon humanity and shared guardianship of theplanet, help to create a better and more peacefulworld. Attitudes are targeted to help students
understand their personal connection to social
attitudes, other people, the environment, and life-longlearning. I see these ideas repeated again and again
in the traditional tales of the season and find it to be aperfect time to reflect on them as they are a part ofevery child’s day here at KIST.
As parents, students and teachers, we all could focus
on a few of these and in our own way make the world
a better place, not just in the holidays but every day
throughout the year. To help you on this request, I’ve
listed the Profiles and the Attitudes to give you a kickstart into having a wonderful holiday season! Takecare in your travels and keep safe until we meet again
in the New Year.
Learner Profiles
Inquirers
Open-minded
Knowledgeable
CaringThinkers
Risk-takers
Communicators
Balanced
Principled
Reflective
Attitudes
Appreciation
Commitment
Confidence
Cooperation
Creativity
Curiosity

Empathy
Enthusiasm
Independence
Integrity
Respect
Tolerance

Happy Holidays!
Clay M. Bradley
Elementary School Vice Principal /IB PYP Coordinator“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

K2 Charcoal Self-Portraits
In the K2 class, we have been discussing the use ofmaterials, discovering their properties and how those
properties can change, through various experiments at
school.
The students discovered what happens to wood when it is
exposed to fire and heat.
In art class, we reviewed what happened
to the sticks that we burnt in theplayground and talked about how we could
use the charcoal in art class. The students
then used the charcoal to draw portraits ofthemselves.
John McDonough
K1-K2 Art Teacher

KIPS NewsWe have had an exciting firstquarter here at KIPS making
many friends and learning new things.
We enjoyed our first school excursion
to Zoorasia in Yokohama with ourparents where we were able to see
many amazing animals. It was a greatchance to practice our communication
skills and link to our learning in theclassroom.

KIPS Nursery and K1 students.

Nursery and K1 students used theirbinoculars to find different animals
saying “I see a bird” and “I see amonkey” while K2 and K3 students
answered questions about the animals
they saw “Can monkeys fly?” or “Can
penguins swim?”
It was a fantastic day to come together
and explore together as a community.
KIPS K2 and K3 students.

5

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14

Elementary ELS

Miyabi and Hanna I.

Grade 5 students discuss how they makelanguage learning part of everyday life
In an interview, I asked several Grade 5 students toshare the routines, technology and other tools they use
to learn language across all parts of their life, not justfor school. Here is the first of a two-part article basedon extracts from the interviews. This time we focus ontechnology and tools, while Part 2 will look more at theroutines that these students have developed. A big
thank you to Minh Ha (G5B), Yoo Mee (G5B), Hanna I.
(G5A) and Miyabi (G5A) for the time they took to share
their experiences with us. Their comments serve as
great ideas for those of us who haven’t found thesetools yet.
Hanna I., Minh Ha and Miyabi share how they use thetechnology they always have at hand to learn
vocabulary in their two main languages
simultaneously:“...if I don’t know any word, I go to my iPhone. I havethis application to change words, translator. I’m
Japanese and if the word is difficult I change the word
to Japanese and I ask to my mum and dad because
they’re Japanese, and they’ll teach me.” (Hanna I.)“It’s an app, on the computer. It is a dictionary forchildren that my dad he suggest, and it really good
because it have example some sentence and it evenhave English meaning and Vietnamese meaning andit even have idiom that could have in that word, so it
really easy to understand.” (Minh Ha)“I go to dictionary.com. It has translator and it’sfree.” (Miyabi)
Yoo Mee uses the online versions of English-toEnglish dictionaries:“I go Oxford dictionary or Cambridge dictionary.”

However, when it comes to word reference books,
there’s general agreement that a thesaurus can in fact
be more helpful than a dictionary:“You know there’s the dictionary for only synonyms. I
think dictionary is ok, but dictionary doesn’t really help
me remember the words.” (Yoo Mee)
“Like Yoo Mee, I did search for the synonyms, for example, “capacity”, it’s like “ability”, so I think that’s easier for me to understand.” (Minh Ha)“And sometimes I go to thesaurus so I can see another word for a difficult word.” (Hanna I.)

Minh Ha and Yoo Mee

If it is a case of more than just one word or one
phrase, what do you do? Minh Ha gives advice on
using whole text translators:“When I read the news, it’s very hard because the site
is sometimes for grown up to read, so I need to copy
all of it and paste it in “Translate” and put it in mylanguage to read it. But sometime “Translate” is not
right, so I need to read it and still think about it, anduse dictionary too.”

What other technology helps you with language
learning? Minh Ha explains:“I even do the apps, like “Fluent English” [an Androidapp]…It’s really good because they read you a book, if
you want to rewind it you can just rewind it…If you
have any hard word, you can just tap on it and it will
come to a dictionary, to your own language – youneed to choose your language – and just click on it
and you will have the answer what is it. And if you
have an idiom then it will try to find you that idiom andit will say to you what that idiom mean too. I like thebooks.”
I’m sure many of you will have found other apps andhelpful online resources. It would be great to share any
new technology you find with your child’s class teacherand ELS instructor so we can pass the information on
to other members of our school. Thank you!
Next time we will hear more from
Grade 5 on what routines they haveestablished for themselves to learn
language in their daily lives.
Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator“ T h e Co m et ”

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7

MYP News
MYP teachers and students focus onconcepts“

What matters is not the absorption andregurgitation either of facts or of
predigested interpretations of facts, but
the development of powers of the mind
or ways of thinking which can be applied
to new situations and new presentationsof facts as they arise.

”(Alec Peterson, first IB Director General 2003: 47)

Now that the school year is well underway, students
are seeing the importance of concepts in each of theiracademic subjects. Concepts are enduring ideas thatform the basis of understanding in a variety of subjects.
While the content and skills of each subject group areimportant, it is understanding these larger concepts
that will help ensure that education is meaningful.

In addition to key
concepts that areportable acrosssubject areas, eachdiscipline has
related concepts
that ensure a more
rigorous, detailed
examination of theknowledge base ofparticular subjects.
Grade 6 Visual Arts students exFor example, theplore Communication by working
Arts examine suchon Composition using naturalideas aselements.
Interpretation,
Presentation, Composition and Expression.
Parents can help students with their work in the MYP by
exploring their sons or daughters’ familiarity with these
Key and Related Concepts and how they impact on
student learning.

MYP Personal Project work continues
Grade 10 – Year 5 of the MYP – sees each student
completing a long-term Personal Project. Each year, theGrade 10s have the chance to demonstrate their growthand understanding with their work on this intense
endeavor.

Grade 7s explore the Related Concept of Evidence when they
conduct experiments in the lab.

The MYP, as part of its Next Chapter initiative, has
identified sixteen key concepts that form the basis oflearning in the program:
Aesthetics

ChangeCommunication

Communities

Connections

Creativity

CultureDevelopment

Form

GlobalInteractions

Identity

Logic

Time, Spaceand Place

Systems

Perspective Relationships

Each subject group claims four of these key concepts
as being the best fit based on the needs of thediscipline in question. As students progress through allof their subjects and move through the MYP, they will
experience working with the concepts again and again.
This reinforcement of the concepts will ensure a
deeper, more meaningful understanding.

As the name would suggest, the Personal Project isshaped by the interests and talents of each individual
student. There is a large number of interesting topics
being explored again this year. Student work involves
four stages: Investigating, Planning, Taking Action
and Reflecting. Once they have established a goal tied
to one of the MYP’s Global Contexts, students work
intensely on researching a topic and producing a
product that demonstrates their skills. Each student
works one-on-one with a supervisor from the KIST
faculty who helps guide students through the process.
Work on the
project ismoving alongquickly. It will
culminate witha Personal
Project
exhibition open
to the schoolcommunity on
Friday, March
6.

Excerpt from a Grade 10 Personal
Project Process Journal entry.

Continued on next page8

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

Continued from previous page

Portfolios guide reflection for MYP
students
Every student from
Grade 6 to 10 keeps
a portfolio of theirexperience in the
Middle Years
Programme at KIST.
The Portfolio serves
as a means ofleading students toreflect on three key
areas of theireducation: the IB
Learner Profile,academic progress,
and Approaches toLearning skills.

Cover of the MYP Student Portfolio.

During Advisory time on Friday afternoons, students
work with their advisory teachers to collect evidence for
their portfolios. They need to demonstrate how theirwork this year shows an awareness of the Learner
Profile attributes. They also include artifacts andreflections from each of their academic subjects.
Students also use their portfolios as a way of selfassessing their progress with the Approaches toLearning skills.

The Approaches to Learning skills are used across the three levels of
the IB.

Parents are encouraged to speak to their sons anddaughters to ask about their progress using the MYP
Portfolios. The portfolios will be used as the focal point
during Student-Led Conferences scheduled this year
for March 21.
If you have any questions about the MYP or you would
like to learn more about concept-based learning, thePersonal Project, or the MYP portfolio, please contact
Mr White by e-mail at robert.white@kist.ed.jp.
Robert WhiteMYP Coordinator

Secondary School NewsAs I sat watching the Winter Concert on Friday,
November 28, I reflected upon how many school events
that our students have had the opportunity to take partin recently and the amount of time and dedication thatthe teaching staff and others in our school community
give to make this happen. Mr Jones has already linked
to a number of these events in his Head of School
message and I know from working with many teachersand students that this edition of The Comet has written
experiences from some of the students involved. I hopethat you enjoy reading all of them! Please also take time
to read our SRC page which the Secondary SRC
Executive has organized. I hope that this becomes aregular feature of each edition of The Comet!
I want to take this chance to briefly emphasize theongoing assemblies with guest speakers that we have
had during Semester 1. In addition to the former childsoldier guest speaker, we have had two former
graduates present to current KIST students about theirlife experiences. One of them, Marie Strand Hayashi(Class of 2013), talked about her current challenge ofmaking it onto and surviving the ski team at the
University of Tokyo! I encourage you to ask your childabout what these guest speakers are presenting tothem. Secondly I want to thank parents for their support
in ensuring that their child is following the school dress
code. This year we are aiming to be more consistentand thorough in our expectations in this area.
To conclude this short message I would like to highlighta small number of academic dates in the school
calendar that are relevant for all Secondary students.
Thanks to those parents who attended the Parent
Teacher Conferences of November 24 following on fromQ1 reports. I trust that these were helpful inunderstanding your child’s progress. At the end ofJanuary, students will be issued with a Semester 1
report which will provide feedback on their academic
learning and performance since August. Two months
later, at the end of March, students and parents will
come for the Student Led Conferences day. Students in
Grades 6 to 10 have already started to work on their
Portfolios which are designed to be developed
throughout the year so I would encourage parents to ask
their children how their Portfolio is getting on. It can help
give students a push to be working on it ahead of time!
I would like to wish the whole KIST Community a festive
Winter Holiday and I look forward to seeing many
students and parents around theschool in 2015.
Mark Cowe
Secondary School Principal

“ T h e Co m et ”

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9Presentation Festa 2014

Secondary ELS

Last year we received an invitation from Nakamura
High School for our students to attend Presentation
Festa, an event put on by a few Japanese schools in
the area and held at Atomi High School in Tokyo each
November. You may recall an announcement last yearthat Jiaying from KIST joined last year and she won anaward for her presentation.

It is with great pleasure that I
write this article for our school
newsletter. Our school has
implemented some new
initiatives this year to help ourstudents improve their English.
These initiatives are aimed at
assisting and developing
individual students’ needs. To this end, our English
Language Support Centre (ELS Centre) offers daily
conferencing with students who have questions onanything and everything English. The ELS Centre islocated on the second floor of the Secondary Schoolbuilding in room 213. There, you will find two very
helpful instructors: Mr Davignon and Mr Boyd. They
also teach an academic writing class in the mornings! If
you feel like you need to improve your writing for yourother subjects, this is a great opportunity to learn how towrite better, consistently. You can sign up online for theacademic writing class through LEAP. You might also
notice Mr Davignon and Mr Boyd in some of yourclasses. They are there to help anyone who might need
it while in class; feel free to ask them anything about
English. I am also making myself available on
Thursdays, after school for anyone in grade 10 and up,
to help with any problems they might be having withEnglish.

This year KIST was proud to have four representatives
join the Presentation Festa last month. Enna (G10B),
Haruka (G11A), Jiaying (G11A) and Mai (G11A)
represented our school and participated in groups withstudents from other schools to present on the topic‘What are the problems in society today?”.

Enna

HarukaJiaying

Mai

After an activity to get everyone familiar with eachother, the students brook into groups and spent 2 hours
deciding on an issue, researching it and preparing a 5minute presentation on the topic. The topics presented
on by the 4 groups KIST students participated in were: English education in Japanese schools – How canit be taught in a way that is more useful? Whatother models of English education are there?
(Jiaying’s group) Gender stereotypes – What stereotypes are there
against women and men? What unequal gender
opportunities exist in Japan? (Mai’s group) Use of technology in the education system (Enna’sgroup) Walking with using smartphones – how many
injuries occur at the main Shibuya crossing as aresult of people walking while using their phones?
(Haruka’s group)
Some comments from the students about the eventwere:“It was a good opportunity for us to interact withstudents from different schools and listen to different
perspectives, while sharing our own. Although we learn
in a very international environment, we tend to form a
distinctive way or mode of thinking as well, that is,constantly looking at social phenomena from a
retrospective point of view, and it was interesting tolearn how other students are looking at the problem
from a Japanese perspective or American perspective.”“We also got to make friends from different schools.”
All KIST students present received an award for their
participation.
Thank you Enna, Haruka, Jiaying and Mai for
representing our school at this event and in doing so
attaining our school mission as competent individuals
making meaningful contributions to our global
community. Next year we hope for strong participation
again (and to have some boys representing us as well).

Here are some quotes from students:
Riku (G9A)“

ELS helped me make my essays
better for Humanities mostly, but
for other classes, too.

Kuni (G9A)“

ELS is really helpful; the teachers
are always there when I need help.
Mr D. helps me with my ideas
and is really easy to understand.

Ayaka (G9B)“””

It has helped me with grammar!
ELS helped me structure and write
my summative task.

”

Thank you for using our ELS
resources.
William Miller O.C.T.
Academic Writing and ELS
Coordinator
Secondary ELS Instructor, Mr
Boyd, supporting a student in the
ELS Centre.

10

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”Child Soldier
On November 4, 2014, the grade 12 psychology
class was lucky enough to conduct an interview
with former child soldier Michel Chikwanine. It wasa mix of tears and laughter as despite his dark
and tragic past, Michel seemed to have an
exuberant personality that brought smiles andlaughter to the class as well as understanding of
how hard life can be for some people unlucky
enough to be born into tragic situations.
The interview process was broken up into three
categories. The first segment revolved around his
experiences as a child, in the Democratic Republic ofCongo, his home country. Members of the class also
had ready questions concerning his views on thecontinent of Africa. Although he briefly mentioned his
favorite Congolese dishes and childhood experiences,
his real passion seemed to show when describing hisview on Africa. Michel beautifully described his love for
Africa, how it is a continent vast in culture, with so muchto learn about it yet at the same time extremely rich inhistorical content. “In my opinion, Africa is the greatest
most beautiful continent in the world”, said Michel. The
next segment raised harsher topics, as it involved
asking about his life as a child soldier. Michel informed
the class about the history of the Democratic Republicof Congo, and how political disputes aroused after thecolonization of the country. The class also experienced
minutes of intense silence, as Michel described thecruel and shocking experiences he had to endure
during his captivity. The last set of questions provided
the class with an insight to what Michel aims to do forthe people of Congo, and child soldiers in general.

Lightening the mood, he talked about his love for thegame of soccer, and how he hopes to one day return to
the Democratic Republic of Congo to open up a facility
that enables former child soldiers and unprivilegedchildren to learn soccer.
Throughout the interview, the point that Michel
frequently mentioned was the misconception thatpeople have about the continent of Africa. He stressedthat throughout the years, Africa has been portrayedfrom a Western and occidental perspective,
disregarding the voice of African people. The world
indeed has a negative preconceived notion of Africa,and Michel suggested that to solve this more Africans
ought to speak out and portray Africa as the beautiful
continent that it truly is.
It was a great opportunity for us to apply real life
psychology methodology and a big thank you to Faith
Amano and Momo Nukariya from Free the Children
Japan for creating the opportunity for us. and obviously
Michel himself for being so open and informative.
Salam (G12A)

On the morning of November 18, we had a guest speaker from
Canada, who is originally from the Republic of Congo, Michel
Chikwanine. When he was 5 years old, he was kidnapped by arebel group and became a child soldier, known as one of theworst forms of child labor. Although it is really rare to
successfully escape from it, Michel succeeded. Then his family
and himself were admitted as refugees, and moved to Canada
a few years ago.
From November 12 to 24, Michel was doing a speech tour allover Japan, and KIST had an opportunity to invite him for a special assembly to raise awareness of one of the
global conflicts, child soldiers, through his speech on his life. Michel gave us a real sense of how we are blessed
to be able to go to school every day and receive education because education is the only way to prevent andeliminate poverty, which is causing global conflicts at this moment.
Overall, I hope this was a memorable and life-changing experience for everyone. As a member of Free theChildren Japan, if anyone is willing to contribute to be the change, I highly encourage to start participating. Free
the Children Japan promotes taking action to eliminate global conflicts by having ‘fun’ at the same time.
Participating in the events organized by Free the Children Japan counts as contributing to become a change inthe world. Not only that, but it also counts as service activity, which is a necessity to pursue for all MYP students
and CAS for the DP students. Participating in these events could definitely change your perspectives to change
the world to a better place. Imagine that you woke up every day believing that you could make a difference in theworld. Now imagine it wasn’t just you; imagine it was everyone.
Aika (G10A)

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CAS—Chemistry is Fun

On Friday November 14, the K2 students came to thesecondary building for their first look at a science lab to
explore several experiments. The visit was part of theintroduction to science topic “Change” in K2. The DP students
conducted the lesson to the K2 students as part of their CAS
Service activity.
The DP Chemistry students were divided into five groups, andeach group was assigned with a certain experiment. What theG12 students needed to do was to conduct a mini experiment
which shows either a physical or a chemical change and explain
the “Change” in the experiment to the K2 students.
The experiments were spread out in variety from blowing inlimewater, burning sugar, making elephant toothpaste, to blowing
up a gummy bear candy. Another of the experiments, which wereconducted, was the movement of color inside milk. The
experiment consisted of milk, food coloring and hand soap. Afterpouring food coloring into a prepared amount of milk, hand soap
was touched with the food coloring. The colors moved to theside, and a huge area of white milk was created in the center.
This experiment was an example of physical change of thecolors.
The K2 students were also separated into 5 groups and wentaround each of the experiments to see what was happening. The
K2 teacher and G12 students assigned for each group asked thestudents what they saw in the reaction, and each of them wererequired to give an answer. The kids’ reactions were simple andenergetic. The experiments were generally occurrences, which
weren’t familiar to them from their daily lives, and that is anotherreason why the K2 students really enjoyed the experiment.
As their seniors, the DP Chemistry students were impressed tosee how the kids were really passionate to know what was
happening and understand an unusual occurrence from their
daily life. Currently, the kids may not knowmuch about Chemistry, but as they learn many
more things in the future, they may have theopportunity of advancing to the path ofChemistry.
Roshana (G12A)“ T h e Co m et ”

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KIST Cross Country Meet
The annual KIST Cross Country Meet washeld on Friday, November 14 along the banksof the Arakawa River. Congratulations to thefollowing students for gaining places this year.

KIST Cross Country Meet 2014
Boys
Grade 1
1) Roan (G1A)
2) Teo (G1B)
3) Kohki (G1B)
4) Naoki (G1B)
Grade 2
1) Killian (G2A)
2) Ryo Y. (G2B)
3) Sebastian (G2B)
4) Travis (G2B)
Grade 31) Lance (G3B)
2) Daiki (G3A)
3) Zoran (G3A)
4) Ethan (G3A)
Grade 4
1) Keanu (G4B)
2) Samii (G4A)
3) Soma (G4B)
4) Harunosuke (G4A)
Grade 5
1) Ryuta (G5B)
2) Kaiser (G5A)
3) Ross (G5B)
4) Daichi (G5A)
Grade 6
1) Joe (G6B)
2) Den (G6A)
3) Jun (G6B)
4) Deniz (G6A)
Grade 7
1) Nimit (G7B)
2) Tomohisa (G7B)
3) Oliver (G7B)
4) Ewan (G7B)
Grade 81) Keina (G8B)
2) Shin (G8A)
3) Shumpei (G8B)
4) Tom (G8A)
Grade 91) Ke Yi (G9A)
2) Taisei (G9B)
3) Moe Min (G9B)
4) Chanwoo (G9B)
Grade 10
1) Akira (G10A)
2) Ken (G10B)
Grade 111) Liam (G11B)

Girls
1) Kate (G1A)
2) Lingxuan (G1B)
3) Lilica (G1A)
4) Jacqueline (G1A)
1) Lingfei (G2B)
2) Mano (G2B)
3) Hana (G2A)
4) Hoyuki (G2B)
1) Homare (G3A)
2) Akari (G3B)
3) Hanae (G3B)
4) Aina (G3A)
1) Elena (G4A)
2) Aimi (G4B)
3) Sola (G4B)
4) Tomoko (G4A)
1) Manaka (G5B)
2) Nanami (G5A)
3) SeYoung (G5A)
4) Yoo Mee (G5B)
1) Saki (G6A)
2) Sato (G6A)
3) Maki (G6B)
4) Karina (G6A)
1) Karen (G7A)
2) Emily (G7B)
3) Reina (G7A)
4) Daphnee (G7A)
1) Ayumi (G8B)
2) Reina (G8B)
3) Rurian (G8A)
4) Milan (G8A)
1) Jiu (G9B)
2) Amina (G9B)
3) Leia (G9A)
4) Seina (G9B)
1) Kotone (G10A)
2) Lin (G10B)
3) Moana (G10A)

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4“ T h e Co m et ”

Spotlight on Clubs
Elementary Magic Beads Club
Grade One Magic Beaders come to the club each week withsuch wonderful enthusiasm and creativity! Magic beads are tinybeads that fit onto tiny pegs. Students can create their own
pictures, or pattern ideas, or copy the examples supplied. Eachbead needs to be carefully positioned onto each peg to build up
a design; it is a fun way to help develop a child’s fine motor
skills.
Once the design has been created, the beads are ironed very carefully (an adult job!); thebeads melt and stick together, thus creating wonderful permanent artworks.
The students have made bag decorations, hangings, necklaces and have also given themas gifts, sharing their creativity withothers.
Here are a few snap shots of our Magic
Beaders in action!
Helen Campbell
Magic Beads
Club Leader

Secondary Drawing Club

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

Library NewsA November to remember!
As our 4th annual “Drop Everything
And Read” (D.E.A.R.) event comes toan end, the KIST Librarians would liketo thank everyone for a successfulmonth. We started the celebration off
with a bang: elementary students
dressed up as their favorite charactersfor a parade around the field, and wewere very impressed with everyone’s
creativity!
Grade 4 and Grade 5, and all elementary teachers,
were encouraged to enter our Character Costume
Challenge. Mrs Justice, the secondary art teacher, and
Ms Campbell, the elementary art teacher, judged
the student entries. Congratulations to Shreya (G4B),
Saanvi (G4B), Kota (G4A), Rei (G5A) and Kishore(G5B). Student winners received a $20 gift voucher
from the Scholastic Book Club.

Mr Larter and Mr Dave (center) with the PTA Library Committee
and Ms Hynes (right).

waiting excitedly to hear his decisions.
Mr Larter was joined by Mr Dave, a teaching assistantat KIST, who has collaborated with Mr Larter on two
books, Ten Little Fish and My Terrible Day. Both books
are available for check-out in the Elementary Library,
along with Mr Larter’s Spooky, a collaboration with his
brother, Jolon Larter.

Graphic novels shelf
The LMC and Elementary Graphic Novel sections are
expanding to reflect growing awareness of graphic
novels as valuable learning resources and a literary art
form. Please stop by to browse our collections,covering everything from superheroes to Shakespeare!

Upcoming library activities
Sakura Medal books 2015

Parents who attended the parade voted on teachers’
creative book character costumes. Good job, Ms
Lupone (G3A), Mr Vodden (G2A) and Mr Sullivan(G3B)!

If you are planning to vote for yourfavorite book in the Sakura Medal listof 2015 or join the Book Trailer
contest and Sakura Art competition,
you can start checking-out these setof books displayed in the library.
These are in different reading levels both in English
and Japanese. Graphic novels are added now as aseparate category. Many international schools in Japan
participate in the Sakura Medal book reading
programme. For more information about this reading
activity, visit the Elementary Library and LMC Moodle
pages or its official website http://sakuramedal.com.
Enjoy reading this winter break!

World Cultures Day on February 20
Special thanks to PTA Library Committee forsponsoring our prizes. Photo albums taken during theparade and other DEAR activities can be found on
Library Moodle pages. Check them out!

Author visit
This year, KIST Libraries hosted our very first author
visit. Local author, Chris Larter, visited us in theafternoon to meet with Grades 2and 3 students. Mr
Larter lead the students in a creative workshop,
explaining his creative process and giving students theopportunity to try their hand at writing stories anddesigning characters. Mr Larter generously offeredsigned copies of his books to the winners of the story
and character design competitions. Grades 2 and 3 areStarting this school year, International Mother
Language Day will be celebrated at KIST as “World
Cultures Day”. This change of event name will notaffect its themes on “intercultural awareness” and“cultural diversity”. This coming February, the KIST
Libraries will be sharing the activities with the PTA
Committees and student body. Some of the planned
activities will include a national costume parade, parent-storytelling, library tour, bulletin board display, arts andculture exhibition, photo booth, rakugo, a fashion show
and teaching mother-tongue languages. So if you arethinking of spending your winter break in your homecountry, consider bringing in your traditional clothes toshare with the KIST community when you come back in
January.
The KIST Libraries Team“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

15Grade 7 Camp Excursion a Success
On November 20, a cloudy morning that promised rainlater on, the students of grade 7, along with a selectionof their teachers, boarded buses to head down to
Kanagawa Prefecture for their overnight camp
excursion. The events of the first day took place atYanagishima Campsite in Chigasaki, which would be
where we would be staying for the night. In the morning
session, Mr Cowe led the whole grade in a number ofteam building activities, including one called The
Human Knot where the goal was to get untangled
without letting go of the people in your circle.
Unfortunately, as the students came out for lunch, therain promised in the morning by the grey clouds
overhead began to steadily fall, causing thecancellation of the planned outdoor activities on thebeach. Instead the students were split off into threegroups and rotated through stations, two inside thecamp buildings and one outside under the covered
cooking area. Mr White, who had come down for theday, led a session on the IB Approaches to Learning(ATLs) and how they applied to the students. Ms
Komaki ran a pastoral session that focused on the way
students interacted with each other, including how torecognize and deal with bullying. Meanwhile, outsideunder the cover, Mr
Lee (withassistance from Mr
Smith, Mr Ito, andMr Cowe) taught
the students theproper way to cook
pasta and cut

vegetables which
they would use toprepare their dinnerlater that evening.
On the morning of the 21st, the sun came up over the
Pacific with the promise of a beautiful sunny day. We
all ate a small breakfast and boarded the buses for the
ride to Kamakura, where the students would becollecting photos and taking notes on theirsurroundings that they will later use in a short story for
their Language and Literature (English) classes. Stops
throughout the day included Tokei-ji (once known as
the “Divorce Temple”), the Shinto shrine of Zeniarai
Benten, and the Great Buddha of Kamakura (theDaibutsu). The students also completed a walk throughthe woods, walking the approximately 3.5 km forest
hiking path from Kita-Kamakura to the Daibutsu which
offered them glimpses of the fall colors, a beautiful viewof snow-covered Mt. Fuji, and a number ofopportunities to look out over the shimmering Pacific
Ocean. While we ultimately ran out of time and did not
get to do the planned Geocaching GPS-based treasurehunt, the day and the camp was a success.
Rather than write further about it though, you shouldhear what the students themselves have to say about
their camp experience.
Aaron Smith
Grade 7 English/Humanities Teacher

GaOn (G7A)

I

never thought of hiking as a fun activity, but this was because I had never hiked with a group ofpeople before. My feelings about hiking changed at camp. The best thing about camp washiking. We walked in big groups and we enjoyed the scenery together. I should have been tired
from lack of sleep, but to my surprise I was not tired at all. It reminded me of an African proverb: “Ifyou want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together”. If I had been walking
individually, I would definitely have been so tired that I could not walk. However, walking with agroup of friends made us all forget our exhaustion and gave us energy. I think this is true for otherthings as well. When we are going through hard times, we can rely on each other to help us feelbetter. In camp, grade 7 learned once again the importance of having reliable friends and being a
reliable friend yourself.
Emani (G7B)

O

ne of the best things at camp was the 3 km hike. It had beautiful scenery, and it felt like I wasin a magical forest going in circles to find my destination. But it wasn’t perfect. Lots ofslippery mud on the trail from Thursday’s rain and the roots of the trees were tangled beyond
measure, making it almost impossible not to die. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. Nevertheless, I
really had to watch my step. But one thing in particular made all the twists and turns andscreeching sound of the birds bearable: While I was climbing one of the rises, I saw this piece ofland full of grass and with two dainty little houses sitting on it, dirty and rusted looking. They had
flowers all over the roofs, and some unruly little weeds sticking out of the window, which weretainted with mud and soil. That’s when I decided that when I grew up I would buy a house on thatsame piece of land to use as a place to study, where I could drink my tea and read and dance all
day long. A secret place, like a magic little portal to something just not too far from fiction.
Continued on next page

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

Continued from previous page

Michiru (G7A)

T

here were many activities in camp. They were all fun and meaningful. This trip taught me
many things. But first, let me tell you what I enjoyed. I enjoyed everything! The cooking, thehiking, the poster-making. But if I had to choose one activity that I liked the best, I would choose theteam building activities. The team building activity was the best, partly because my group won firstplace, but also because I enjoyed talking with people I usually don’t talk to, smiling and laughingwith my friends, completing things with my friends and enjoying that moment of satisfaction. I also
learned how to cook delicious food, how to interact with people, etc. There are too many things I
learned from the camp, but the two that I will remember the most are the IB Approaches toLearning and how to interact with people who I don’t talk to that often.
Shridhar (G7B)T

he camp was a really memorable time for me. My favorite part was the hiking. I realized how
beautiful nature is. I saw leaves of many different colors. The red leaves were just so goodlooking! That gave me an opportunity to take many pictures. I saw Mt. Fuji as well. I saw a big partof Japanese tradition in the Daibutsu and the “divorce temple”. But that was all on the second day.
On the first day we did a lot of activities. Those activities really required team-work. That was oneof the main things I learned from the experience. We also cooked our own food. We cooked
spaghetti and loaves of French bread. We also made a really delicious dessert. This was all
because of Mr Lee’s great cooking skills which he taught to us. Staying with our own classmates
for a night was really fun. I played cards and did a lot of other memorable things.

ISTAA Cross Country Invitational 2014
This year was the biggest event on record. KIST hosted
11 schools (NEW, BST, YIS, UST, NIS, COL, CIS, MST,
TIS, KAIS) and over 400 runners at Arakawa River on
Friday, November 28 on a beautiful sunny day.
KIST had approximately 80 runners competing from
Grades 1 to 11. All of our representatives ran theirhearts out and many managed to come away with a
medal.
Congratulations everyone!
Jay Leroy
Athletics Director / PE Teacher
KIST Medalists
Boys

Girls
Grade 1
Kohki (G1B) – Bronze
Kate (G1A) – Silver
Grade 2
Killian (G2A) – Gold
Mano (G2B) – Bronze
Ryo Y. (G2A) – Silver
Grade 3
Zoran (G3A) – Bronze
Grade 4
Keanu (G4B) – Silver
Aimi (G4B) – Silver
Sola (G4B) – Bronze
Grade 8
Keina (G8B) – Silver

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

Managing Technology Use
Top 10 tips for parents to manage children’s
technology use
It can be hard to tell whether your child is doing legitimate work online
or if they are getting distracted with gaming, social media and the like.
Here are my Top Ten Tips to help you manage your child’s
technology use.
2. Try to understand thetechnology your childis using and why
To help your childmanage the way they
use technology, spend
time understanding what
they are using
technology for and why.
This will help you set
reasonable limits.

5. Establish “screen free”
systems—days, spaces
etc.
Establish “screen free”
spaces e.g. the kitchen
and dining table. Perhaps
have a screen free dayon the weekend? Thisencourages more activity
and interaction for thewhole family.

8. Provide lots ofopportunities forphysical activity andsocialising
Providingopportunities toparticipate inmeaningful andenjoyable activities
away from technology
helps developinterests and connect
with people. Try
sports, music or craft.

3. Set clear limits in relation
to technology time
Parents need to decide
when devices can be used.
Options include: notechnology before school, atime limit each day andgames on the weekend only.

6. Centralise storage ofhandheld devices
Have a rule that all
handheld devices are
stored in the one place, sowhen it’s not an approved
technology time, the device
is away and not causing a
distraction.

9. Use parental controls to block
particular sites
The Australian Government’s
CyberSmart program has
information on parental controls:
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/
Parents/About%20the%
20technology/Parental%
20controls.aspx

Learn more this year about how to work effectively at home and manage
distractions by working through the units on the following website:
http://www.studyskillshandbook.com.au
Login information for this site is available on our Moodle page.
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

1. Model good technology
behaviour
If you’re always using
technology, even for work,
you are sending amessage. Take time to“unplug” e.g. turn off yourphone when you arehaving family time (even fora short burst).

4. Monitor technology
use
If it’s not possible tomove the child/computer where you
can monitor use,consider doing quiet
activities in the space
they are using, such as
reading or ironing, tomonitor their use.

7. Use technology time asa reward
Show that you can bereasonable and flexible.
Using screen time as
occasional reward is fine.
However, mixing up therewards with otheractivities will benefit thewhole family.

10. Change the WiFi
password
If nothing else works, andyour child is constantly
on social media or surfing
the net, consider
changing the WiFi
password…even for a
few hours.

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“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14

G11 DP Orientation Camp
“Two days was too short” said the eleventh graders, as
the bus took off on its long journey to Tokyo from Atami.
Spilling over with excitement on September 11, of thisyear, we as new DP students set off to embark on ajourney that would change our lives forever. Okay,
perhaps it was not life changing but it was a great
experience nonetheless.
“We missed out on G10 camp so I’m glad we got to go
in G11”, says Jiei from G11B. The famous G10 Ski
Camp had been cancelled last year, which had left
some of us feeling disappointed. Upon hearing that wewould be going on a camping trip this year, a lot of us
had rejoiced on an opportunity to unwind from thehectic first weeks of the Diploma Programme.
But it didn’t turn out to be the relaxing getaway that we
anticipated. The camp was mainly for DP orientation
purposes: on the first day, we had workshops about
extended essay, studying methods and dealing with the
DP in general. These sessions introduced us to the lastchapter of our high school experiences before real life
begins (figuratively). We also had a cooking session
with Mr Nakade, to make sure we do not starve out
when we leave home and do not have anybody cooking
or buying meals for us. At the beginning, we thought
hey, we know how to pour cereal and milk into a bowl!
That should be enough to keep us going for a while. It
unexpectedly turned out to be highly valuable when wetasted the goodness of food prepared with our own
efforts. But what was more valuable was the late night
karaoke session, when the 44 Grade 11 students with
their arms around each other’s shoulders,simultaneously hit that high Cyndi Lauper note in ‘We
Are the World’ and felt an immense sense of
togetherness.
The excitement of the camp reached its peak, on thesecond day, at the beach. Even though we had towake up at 6 o’clock in the morning and did our very
first CAS activity at a Shinto shrine, we had justenough energy left for a sand castle competition and anumber of intense dodge ball games – a tournamentthat was ended by a miraculous catch by G11B’s very
own Masaki, who was then thrown atop his classmates’
shoulders to be paraded across the playing fieldamong the heartfelt cheers of a proud team.
The G11 Orientation Camp was surely one of the mostmemorable camping trips we have experienced, and it
has given us a strong incentive to study harder thanever. Yes, 2 days was too short. But 2 days wasenough for us to realize how important friends andteachers are in moving towards our success. After all,“We Are the World – not just I”.

“ T h e Co m et ”

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19

Secondary SRC
DEAR
Every Wednesday during the month of November from
8:55 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., all students, teachers and staff
at KIST were engrossed in their favorite reading text,
whether it was a novel, a comic book or in some casesa textbook! The SRC promoted reading by making
posters of students with their favorite book to
encourage other students at KIST to read. The SRC
also created creative posters with educational facts
about the benefits of reading; for example, I bet you
didn’t know that reading can boost your analyticalthinking. The SRC wanted to motivate students tocontinue reading and by giving them various types ofbooks and genres to read and explore. Teachers andstudents also got an opportunity to showcase theircreative side by responding to the question “What does
reading mean to me?” which was posted outside the
Library Media Center for students and teachers toanswer the question and express their love for reading.
Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451 once said,“There are worse crimes than burning books. One ofthem is not reading them.”

Winter wonderland
The Secondary SRC got the opportunity to host theSecondary School Winter Concert this year on Friday,
November 28! With the help from the Arts Committee
and the Habitat for Humanity team, we were able towelcome the winter season with wonderfulperformances from the students.

On a busy October evening oflast year (Friday, October 11,
2013 to be precise), a voice
emerged in an SRC meeting that
said, “Students should beallowed to create their own
clubs.” This idea, after much discussion, was voted forby all the Class Representatives, meaning that it would
then be furthered through an official proposal.
Students have been officially given a chance topropose an after-school club. All they have to do issubmit a proposal form, then with enough number ofstudents and a supervisor, and other logistic
availabilities (e.g. timing, location etc.) the club shall be
implemented!

Under the sea
If there is one time throughout the year where students
can happily listen to music and dance along with theirfriends, it’s during the school dance. The SRC
organizes two dances throughout the year and on
November 21, the first dance of the school year 20142015 titled “Under the Sea” took place. As members of
the student representative council, we had to create
decorations, plan the food, advertise and generallyorganize the event so that secondary students could
have a fun and enjoyable time. The event was very
successful as always!

Student club proposal“Now, each and every one of you is capable ofproposing your own club,” announced the honored
voice of an SRC member during the latest school
assembly.

Looking for something to do during the break?
Ever wonder why people don’t smile in old photos? How about if chicken soup
really does help cure a cold? What is the difference between bacteria andviruses? Check out the collection of videos providing answers to these questions
and more at the Ask Smithsonian website at the link below.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/ask-smithsonian/?no-ist

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

LEAP NewsThe winter holidays are coming up and LEAP is startingto finish up Semester 1.
We have had very positive feedback from introducing
LEAP portfolios this semester. The introduction of
portfolios was inspired by feedback from parents, and I
really believe that they have helped the students feelproud of and have a sense of ownership in their work.
By reflecting on their work, children learn to be
conscientious in their choices. Talking about mistakes
in a constructive way transforms a mistake into alesson. Let’s be positive and continue to encourage ourchildren to be the best that they can be.
I’m always happy to receive feedback about the LEAP
program – class and/or administrative processes. If you
are interested in giving feedback, you can do so on the
LEAP website under ‘Contact’.
Here are some examples of some activities thestudents have been doing in the past few weeks:
Mr John:“In K2, we have been playing bingo by matching the
beginning sounds of words to the corresponding letterson the bingo cards. Students were told a word by ateacher and students had to think about the initialsound and the letter which makes that sound. Students
placed markers on the letter until someone declared‘bingo!’Every week we have a new ‘letter word wall’. Students
raise their hands and say words which begin with that
letter/sound. The words are written on the ‘word wall’ by
the teacher. By the end of the week, we try to have as
many words as we can think of on the word wall.”Ms Anna:“In Grade 5 math, students have been learning about
fractions, decimals and percentages. They have learnt
how to change convert fractions into decimals into
fractions and back again! They have also been learning
how to find a fraction of a number, a percentage of anumber, and a decimal of a number – then connecting
to find out they are all the same (i.e. 50% = 0.5 = ½).”

Ami (K3A) ispracticing writing
complete sentenceswith a capital letter,spaces between
words and a fullstop.
Last year, we introduced a ‘recommendation’ system
into LEAP. Teachers and English Language Support
Instructors work together to identify the students whoare in the most need. Those students will then get
preferential entry into the class. Recommendations for
Semester 2 will be sent out in early January, andapplications will open shortly after. If you’d like to join
LEAP for Semester 2, please keep an eye on the LEAP
website.
Our brand new Academic Writing Program for
Secondary students has had a successful firstsemester. With most grades at full capacity, the classis popular with students who wish to improve theiressay writing and structure.
Mr Boyd:“Grades 6 and 7 have been working on some movie
reviews and we have been paying extra attention totense consistency and patterns in spelling. We areworking hard to get our final drafts finished and close
to perfect. Our break will be well deserved!”

Mr Davignon:“In the past few weeks, Grades 8, 9 and 10 are honing
their literary analysis skills using popular (in my day)music. The primary focus of this essay is on connecting the songs to our own experiences, other texts andthe world at large. We are also working toward masteryrecognizing metaphors, alliteration and other literary
devices. We strive to understand and express how
they impact the effect the work has on the reader. It is
my hope that students go into the break with someskills that change the way they view popular culture
and the knowledge that what they read can make themsmarter, more sensitive and better people.”
We will be accepting new applications for Semester 2,
so apply early to avoid disappointment.
If you have any inquires about the program, please feel
free to send an e-mail or visit me in the main office.

Max (K3B) is practicing
writing his sight words.

Anna Holdaway
LEAP Coordinator/Administrative Assistant“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

Staff 10!
In this month’s Staff 10!, we arepleased to present KIST’s Directorof Operations, Sayoko Naito, who
has been with the school since its
founding in 1997.

 Tell us something interesting
about your hometown.
Mrs Naito experimenting
My hometown has one of thewith a new look at
highest snowfalls in Japan. Every
KISTival 2013.
winter, whenever you hear about
heavy snowfall on the news, it’s probably my hometown
Myoko in Niigata. When I lived there (several decades ago),
global warming hadn’t made much of an impact yet and thesnow was much worse than it is today. There were times
when school was closed for a whole week.
Niigata is said to be the birthplace of skiing in Japan. Although
I’d love to say professional skiing skills come to me naturally,
I’m actually not that good at skiing. I was a cross-country skier
in junior high school, so I’m sure that if I returned to thatweight I’m sure I could be great again! Jokes aside though,when I was a cross country skier, I suffered from mild frostbite
in all my ten toes. It was very tough!
There are 5 different types of hot springs within 20 minutes of
my house, so I’m sure all of you onsen-lovers would be
jealous. Although my hometown is in the mountains, theocean is very close so you can enjoy a wide range of seafood
like crab and many others.
 What is your favorite place in the world?
There are so many that it’s difficult just to choose just one, but
I love being surrounded by nature and historical buildings so
I’d have to say Europe, or perhaps some of the national parks
in the USA. If I had to choose a place in Japan, I’d say Kyoto
or Yakushima.
 Who would you like to meet if you had the chance andwhy?
It’s a secret.
 Do you have any special skills or talents?
Whenever there is a situation where I have to work really
hard, I’m able to push my limits beyond even my own
expectations.
 Please share a little known fact about yourself.
Before working at KIST, I worked as a system engineer. It wasaround the time when personal computers had just started
spreading into people’s homes. It is very common forcomputers to have a 64 bit CPU, but when I started working in
the industry, 8-bit CPU was the norm, and by the time I left, it
had already increased to 32-bit. I worked with control systems,
such as gas meters. I was also involved with the developmentof the first generation of “Legend of Zelda” and “Bomberman”,
so I might even be respected by some of our parent
community?!
My message to students interested in becoming a systemengineer:
The world of computers has changed a lot over the years, buteven now there is no mistaking that even now one of the mostvital skills to be a system engineer is stamina!
 What is your most prized possession?
Although it might seem cliché, I’ll have to say it is my family.
Of course I mean my actual family (pets included), but for me
family also includes my closest friends. Because I have somany people who truly feel like family, I’m able to try to always
do my best.
 What words would you use to describe yourself?
Responsible, trustworthy, persistent and committed.
For some reason, though, my persistence and commitment
has never extended so far as to my diet…

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 If you could live your life again, would you do anything
differently?
I have no desire to relive my life, but if I did, I would like tohave received an IB education. While I was working in thecomputer industry, I experienced a wide range of challenges,
failures and successes that helped me to attain criticalthinking and problem solving skills. I often wonder how myexperience would have been different if I had experienced an
IB education like our students.
 Is there anything you are trying to learn/improve about
yourself at the moment?
Be honest. A person I respect very much once said: “Honest
people are the strongest people”. I truly believe that to be thecase, and I always try to be honest in my daily life.
 Do you have any special message for your fans?
I don’t think that I have any fans, but if I were to give advice
from my own experiences, I would say “Instead of regretting
not doing something, it is better to regret doing something
and reflect on the experience.”
Although I’m working in a school now, I brought with me theskills that I learnt in a completely different field. Whatever thecurrent situation may be, it is a very useful skill be able to beflexible, and look at things from wide and varying angles
before making any judgments. It is my hope that everyone willlearn through the many experiences we have in our lives.

New Faces
Since the last issue of The
Comet, we have welcomed a
new staff member to ourteam—Minako Kitamura—who
is our new school shop
attendant.
On behalf of the schoolcommunity, we wish you all thebest and hope that you enjoy
your time with us.

Minako Kitamura
K. Shop Attendant

Grade Progression at KIST
Last year, KIST released adocument entitled ‘KIST Progression
Criteria and Graduation
Requirements’, which is effectivefrom August 2014. This document
describes KIST expectations andpolicy followed when the school
considers student progression to
successive grades and tosuccessive IB programs. All community members areencouraged to read this very important document
accessible on the school website (Community >Information > General policies related to students) or at
the link below:
http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/67
KIST’s expectations for Mathematics and English arealso available at the same location.

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Nurse’s Notes
Norovirus infection
Every year from around November to April, there is aprevalence of symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea
caused by the norovirus, especially in facilities such as
schools where a large number of children spend time
together. The infectious capacity is extremely strong.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to prevent theprevalence of the norovirus; however, there are various
ways to minimize its prevalence and I have listed a few
points below to note at home.
1. Cooking and serving
 Wash your hands carefully
under running water withsoap (liquid soap isrecommended) before
cooking.
 Heat the ingredients
thoroughly, especially when using shellfish
entrails. Sterilize knives and cutting boards used
to prepare shellfish in boiling water immediately
after use. Eating raw shellfish and their entrails
may cause infection of the norovirus.
 Washing your hands before serving meals is also
recommended. Washing your hands is especially
important if you feel nauseous or have diarrhea.
2. Cleaning up after vomiting or diarrhea
In the case of the norovirus infection, a large
concentration of the virus is found in vomit or the
diarrheal stool. Only a small amount of the virus
may cause the infection easily if ingested into thebody.
Cleaning: Before cleaning up the vomit or
diarrheal stool, please ensure that other people inthe vicinity keep clear. There is a possibility ofdroplet infection when inhaling the surrounding air,so make sure that others are more than 3 m awayfrom the area. Leaving the vomit or stool may also
spread the infection. It is important to clean it up as
soon as possible.
Procedures: Please ensure that you wear adisposable mask and gloves. Gently clean thevomit or stool from the outside inwards with a clothor paper towel. If you do not wear glasses,
covering your eyes with goggles is recommended.
Put the used cloth or paper towels in a plastic bag,
add chlorinated disinfectant, seal the bag, anddispose of it. Please sterilize the areas around thecontaminated spot with a chlorinated disinfectant
cleanser (such as Purelox or Milton) or diluted
home-use bleaches (such as Highter or Bleach).
Used gloves should also be disposed of after being
turned inside-out, so the droplets do not spread.
Wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning.
※Please make sure to use gloves when diluting
the cleanser, and not bare handed.

3. Dealing withclothing
contaminated byvomit or diarrheal
stool
Disposal is thepreferred option;
however, if this is not possible, it is recommended
that you wash the clothes in water in a bucket,
while wearing a mask and gloves, and sterilize theitems with chlorinated disinfectant. When directly
washed in a washing machine, the washingmachine will be contaminated, and the norovirus
will attach itself to other clothes washed in themachine. Please make sure to sterilize the washedclothes with chlorinated disinfectant.
4. The most important method for preventing
infective is washing your hands
Please make sure all members of the family wash
their hands under running water with soap aftercoming come and before eating.
Note: Please never sterilize your fingers or hands withchlorinated disinfectant.
Makiko Whittaker
School Nurse

Congratulations Ankit!
Ankit of G8B recently participatedin the Indian NGSE (National Genius
Search Examination) and won a gold
award for the grade 7 category.
Congratulations Ankit for doing wellon this challenging exam that tests
students on application ofunderstanding of topics inmathematics and science!
NOTE: If your son/daughter has made asignificant accomplishment outside of school,please share about it with your Area Principal(with a picture if you have one) so that we
can celebrate his/her accomplishments within
our KIST community.

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4“ T h e Co m et ”

23

KIST MUN Delegates Debate World Issues in Seoul

The delegates at the end of the second day of full debate.

I was one of many students that attended the MUN in
Seoul (SEOMUN) in the first week of November. I havealways been interested in MUN and it was my 2nd
conference that I was attending. I believe that theexperience had a tremendous change in who I am now
to who I was before I went to the conference. At first I
was very hesitant and terrified since I doubted myself
and was scared of being attacked by other countries
but as time went by in the conference, I became more
confident and open to sharing my thoughts.
For those who don’t knowmuch about MUN, here isa brief introduction to what
it is. MUN stands for
Model United Nations, andpretty much just like thename, it a United Nations
on a smaller scale for highschool students. There arevarious conferences held
Eimi (G10B) addresses theGeneral Assembly.
each on different scales
such as international, likethe SEOMUN, it can be regional, such as the MUN that
KIST hosts in January, and can even be a club, like theone that KIST has. In MUN, you are given an issue,
and a country that you will be representing it as adelegate. So for the issue, you have to research and try
to propose a suitable solution that the majority of thecountries support. In a way it is like a debate, for which
in MUN, you debate over the issue and which solution
should be used in order to conquer this issue.
Additionally there are different committees so that theissues are split up. Some examples of the committees
that we had in SEOMUN were Human Rights, General
Assembly, Economic and Social Council, Environment
Council, and Security Council.
So in SEOMUN, I was the delegate of Slovenia and I
was in General Assembly. We were given 3 different
issues, and our initial step was to split up into groups
and make a resolution, which is a document thatconsists of the possible solutions that you think will
help the issue. So in my group I had around 15-20
delegates, representing countries from all over theworld. In total, my committee, General Assembly, hadmore than 80 delegates, and giving speeches in frontof 80 strangers can be
tough, at least for me it was.
I'm not the most confident
speaker and I tend to not
speak much because I am
scared that I might be wrong
and other countries might
attack me. But as time went
by, I realized that it's betterto speak now, because I
know that once I got back to Keerti (G12B) and Aika (G10B)
Japan I would regret notpause during debate of thestanding up. And so I tried
Environment Committee.
my best and tried to speak
and ask questions.
There were numerous things
that I gained from thisexperience. One thing, andone of the most important, I
learnt was that to be
confident. If you haveconfidence, everything will
fall into place. If you speakwith confidence, otherdelegates might get
intimidated and would think
Aditya (G11B), Raj (G11B)
that you are a strong
and Angela (G11B) listen
contender and that they
intently during Generalneed you on their side. It
Assembly proceedings.
doesn’t matter what you aresaying, if you speak with confidence, everything will befine. Another thing that I learnt was to talk to otherdelegates. Not necessarily in front of the wholecommittee, but even in smaller groups when sharing
ideas, and during break times. That way you get tointeract with other delegates from different countries
and you get to learn from them. Since I was fairly new
to MUN, most of the things I learnt was by watchingother delegates. I would see them, and notice the little
things that they did, that helped them. For example,
speaking numerous times, asking questions to otherdelegates, and passing notes to other delegates,
showing their interest in the topic and in the debate.

KIST delegates, Ms. Babaeva and Mr Cernak visited
Seoul’s Insadong Art Street.
Continued on next page24

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

Continued from previous pageNow some of you may be thinking, is that all you did?
Just attended the conference? No! We also had time to
do other things, such as sightseeing. We visited so manydifferent places from the heart of the city, to streets insmaller neighborhoods of Seoul. It was amazing to see a
different country and enjoy it with your friends! Even in
the conference, I was able to make many friends and tohave fun. The conference did have times where you had
to be very serious, but during breaks, all the delegates
would joke around, make memories and have fun!
Overall, from this experience, I gained so many different
skills and made so many memories that I will remember
for a life time. If anyone is interested in MUN, I strongly
suggest to join the MUN club, and if you can, to go to
SEOMUN. If there are any questions, feel free to contact
me anytime whether it be through e-mail, or even in the
hallway!
Radhika (G10B)
KIST MUN Trip 2014 Participants
General Assembly I
Kouta (G12B), Raghav (G11B), Akiko (G10A), Eimi
(G10B), Radhika (G10B), Nina (G10A)
General Assembly II
Raj (G11B), Angela (G11B), Aditya (G11B)
Environment Commission
Aika (G10B), Keerti (G12B)
Special Conference
Aashvi (G11B), Aishwarya (G12B)
ECOSOC
Armina (G10A), Anisha (G11B), Saya (G11B)
Human Rights
Saachin (G10B), Arjun (G10A)(Teachers: Mr White, Ms Babaeva, Mr Cernak)

College Guidance NewsHow to find a college that fits you
I believe most G12 students have already finalized thelist of colleges they want to apply to and have alreadysent applications to the colleges on their list. We hopethat we will hear good news from you soon and haveanother successful year at KIST.
Many G11 students and some G10 students might havealready started searching for colleges by themselves.
Semester 2 Advisory College Guidance for G11 and theG11 College Night on Friday, February 6, 2015 will cover
topics on how to narrow down your list.
Here are some tips to help students finding a college
that fits them.
Questions to ask before starting a college search: What is my career goal?
 Which subjects do I enjoy studying at school?
 Which subject or subjects do I want to study?

Do I have the right qualifications? (high school
subject requirement, minimum DP scores etc.)
What are my career plans and does the college
offer my area of interest and study?

Characteristics students should consider: Type of college: Liberal arts college, university, art
schools, professional schools
 Size: Large, medium, small
 Location: City, town, rural
 Courses/Majors/Areas of study Cost: Financial aids, scholarships
 Diversity: Percentage of international students
 Admission criteria and acceptance rates
 Retention and graduation rates
 Employment after graduation
 Internship opportunity Study abroad programs
I would suggest you make a spreadsheet to compare
the characteristics of the colleges you have in mind fromthe beginning of the college search process. Eachstudent has a learning style to maximize their academic
potential. Do you need detailed instructions andguidance from teachers to finish your work? Or do you
prefer to work independently?
If you answer “yes” to the first question, you might be
best suited to a small sized college instead of a large
university so that you can gain more personal attention
and care from instructors, professors and staff.
Otherwise, you might get lost in a giant sea from thefirst day of arrival at the college campus.
If you have any question and concerns regarding careerand college options, please feel free to contact theCollege Guidance Office.

Upcoming college events
G11 College Night
Friday, February 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (All G11 students
and at least one parent are expected to attend thisevent. Information will be distributed to families in early
January.)
College Presentation at KIST in the LMC
Friday, January 16, 2:45-(G11 Advisory), 3:45- LSE(London School of Economics and Political
Science), UK
http://www.lse.ac.uk/home.aspx
KIST Spring College Fair 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the KIST gym
This event is open to the whole KIST community
including Elementary School parents. Please come andsee the representatives from more than 40 (last year)
universities and colleges in Japan, US, UK, Europe andAustralia.
Mrs Keiko Okude
College Guidance Counselor
keiko.okude@kist.ed.jp

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

PTA Committees
Library Committee
This committee supports the KIST Libraries and their literacy
programs and activities for students. Committee members help
with events like the DEAR Character Parade, process Scholastic
orders, or shelve books in the Elementary Library. The committee
also sponsors prizes for library contests, author visits and otherperformers for Library organized events. Our members also
support the libraries by covering books, helping with end of year
Library Committee members and the KIPS donation.
inventory or any other tasks library related. If you are interested insupporting KIST Libraries and their literacy initiatives, please feel free to contact the Library Chair (Becky Yarita)
directly at p-1022@family.kist.ed.jp.

Members of the Library Committee process Scholastic orders
Thank you to all the families that ordered. KIST Libraries earned £395 from the first Scholastic order of this school
year. These funds were used to purchase some books for K. International Preschool (KIPS), our sister school.
The Library Committee also sponsored the DEAR author visit for students in G2 and G3. Mr Chris
Larter shared with the students how he became an author and how he decides what stories towrite.
All parents are welcome to check out books in either library after school, Tuesday through Friday.
Becky Yarita (Yoki G7B, Yoreh G2A)
Library Committee Chair

Bell Mark Committee
Bellmark points collected can be exchanged for useful school materials. Points are attached toeveryday groceries, used cartridges, and “Tetra Paks.” The Bell Mark Committee meets once
every two months to count and sort collected items. Please try to find Bell Marks at your homeand bring them to school!
Takashi Yoshida (Koume K2) p-990@family.kist.ed.jp
Bell Mark Committee ChairNews Committee
The News Committee is a new addition to the PTA this year. By better publicizing the activities of the PTA, wehope we can further strengthen the great sense of community we have at KIST and encourage more families to
get involved with out-of-class activities.
Our main activity initially will be to publish a regular PTA newsletter (look out for the first issue early next year!),and we would love to hear your ideas about the kind of content you would like to see in it. We
would also love to hear from anyone who wants to get involved with the News Committee,
whether that’s writing about and photographing events, helping with newsletter translations ordesign, or any other way you can help. Please e-mail me at:
p-1010@family.kist.ed.jp.
Rob Goss (Arthur G2A)
News Committee Chair

Student Activities Committee
This committee supports KIST’s extracurricular programs and activities with volunteer parents.
The role of the committee is to ensure that students have a positive and rewarding experience
while participating in extracurricular sports and related activities at school. If you are interested inthis committee and have some good suggestions for the activities, please e-mail us at:
pta.student.activities@family.kist.ed.jp.
Mitsuko Morooka (Mariko G4A)
Student Activities Committee Chair

Continued on next page

25

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 2 | Dec em b er 20 14“ T h e Co m e t ”

Continued from previous page

Cultural Connections Committee
The Culture Connections Committee is excited to plan lots of exciting events for the families at KIST
this year. In November we hosted a language exchange party for parents to practice and/or teachEnglish (our school language) and Japanese (our host country language). The event was attended bymothers from 6 different countries!! We learned a lot more than just new vocabulary!!
Please join our similar events in the future.
First up is the International Cookie
Exchange and Coffee Morning on
December 10. Please join us from 9:00
a.m. before the Elementary School winterconcert!!
If you are interested in joining thiscommittee, please e-mail me directly at
p-791@family.kist.ed.jp.
Trisha Shikahama (Emiko G4A)

Events Committee
This year, under the theme “Simple and Fun,” the PTA is focused on bringing the KIST community together in avariety of ways. The Events Committee recently hosted a successful Potluck in November, and is assisting in thefood drive that will see delivery of food to Second Harvest Japan in December before the winter break. We have anumber of other events planned for this school year, and are always interested in hearing your ideas andsuggestions. Please join us in making this year one of the best ever!! If you would liketo become more involved, please e-mail Kevin Williams at p-528@family.kist.ed.jp.

PTA Potluck
On Friday, November 24, the PTA Events
Committee held its first ever school-wide KIST
Potluck event. This type of event is quite common in
North America, and we anticipated it would do
equally well at KIST where families could casuallysocialize around a topic we all seem to enjoy:
FOOD. Parents were asked to participate by preparing and bringing a unique dish from
home, something that perhaps is a family favorite or otherwise has special attachment
to their home country. While we were quite enthusiastic as to what types of food would
be brought, never could we imagine how muchoverwhelming support there would be. Breads,
salads, dips, stews, soups, pies, you name it, the gymnasium was filled withdecadent aroma. In total, over 45 dishes (representing 16 countries) wereprepared for our enjoyment. Over 100 people attended the two-hour potluck(even the students ate everything on their plates), indicating to me there was
not only strong interest in trying new foods, but that there are a number ofsecret chefs among us.
I wish to thank the PTA Executive Committee for their continuous support, andto Jiunn Bay and Takashi Yoshida for poster design andprinting resources. Lastly, to the potluck participants, I
appreciate all of your hard work in preparing your delicious
dishes. The KIST parent community is a truly awesome andresourceful group of people. Can’t wait for the next event!!
Kevin Williams (G5A Kaiser, G2A Killian)
Events Committee ChairV o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

Memories of...

“ T h e Co m et ”

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