The Comet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 18 | Issue 4 | June 2015

In this issue...
03...Grade 5s Transition to MYP

11...Grade 9 Camp

04...Inquiry throughout the Year

12...World Scholar’s Cup

05...Our First Year at KIPS: A Reflection 17...Across the Vast Stories...
07...Academic Support Programming

21...K3 Reading Rascals Club

09...Habitat for Humanity

26...College Acceptances and Offers

10...Life Lessons of a Spelling Bee

29...Family Day 2015

From the Head of School

DATES TO REMEMBER

Another great year for KIST!
Once again the end of the year is before us and it is opportune to look back onsome of our many accomplishments and look forward to the coming school
year. It has been another great year and some thank yous are in order as well.
June 2015
Our most recent accomplishment, and one of great pride, is the graduation of
our class of 2015. This year 29 students worked hard to complete their
Diploma Programme studies and are now ready to embark on paths toachieving their tertiary education dreams. On behalf of all of KIST,
congratulations to all families who are celebrating graduation. We wish you thebest with transitioning to the next step of your family’s educational journey.
Keep in mind that KIST is still here for you and we look forward to hearing
about your post-KIST experiences.
We continue to see great progress from the initiatives introduced to support
students with mathematics. In addition to increases in students meeting school
published expectations for mathematics performance on school implemented
diagnostics, KIST students have attained some very strong results on external
standardized assessments as well. This year, all of our Grade 10 students sat
the PSAT exam and we were very proud to have almost 80% of our Grade 10
cohort attain above the 70th percentile in the mathematics component of theexam, with 35% of them attaining above the 90th percentile. This year,
students in Grades 6 – 9 sat the ISA exam in February—ISA reports will be
coming home with the End of Year Reports—and the ISA mathematics
component results as well were very strong. For all grades, KIST’s meanscores on the mathematics component of the ISA were significantly higher thanthe means for all other schools that sat the exam worldwide. In only two shortyears, the mathematics initiatives are producing some very real results in theperformance of our students. We look forward to continued growth ofmathematics education at KIST and to further improvements of our students inthis area of concentration at our school. The success of these initiatives is a
result of strong support and collaborative efforts of many members of ourschool community. Thank you everyone for all of your hard work. And thankyou to our hard working students for making us proud.
Continued on next page

KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life

8 (G6-G11) Mathematics andscience day
9 (G5) Promotion ceremony(*Evening)
10 (G5-G11) Peer student-led
conferences
10 (S) Secondary awards assembly
10 (G10) Promotion ceremony
10 (K1-G11) Semester 2 reports
issued10 (W) Last day of school forstudents (Half day for students)
11-26 Office open
15-26 Summer day camp
29-Jul 24 Office closed

July 201527-Aug 7 Summer academic
programAugust 2015
13 (K1/K2/K3) Parent welcomenight
17 (W) First day of school for all
students
17 (G6-G10) Mathematics
diagnostic testing18 (G1-G5) Mathematics diagnostic
testing
19 (G1-G5) Parent welcome night
20 (G1-G5) English diagnostic
testing
21 (G6-G12) Parent welcome night

KIST is an
IB World
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Continued from previous page

Last year, we commenced introduction of similar
initiatives to our other are of concentration at KIST,
English. At the end of last school year, students in the
Elementary and Secondary schools sat UK Key Stagediagnostic exams in reading to collect some baseline
data and plan for further initiatives. This year students
from both schools will sit Key Stage diagnostics inreading and writing as we work to collect more dataand plan for initiatives to further support student
success with English. In addition to continuing withEnglish LEAP support classes, summer school
programming for English is being expanded and, in theSecondary School from next year, Academic Writingclasses will become part of the class schedule forstudents who would benefit from such supplemental
support. We appreciate your understanding andsupport as we work to further establish initiatives forEnglish that best support the success of our students.
In the fall we hosted a team from the Council ofInternational Schools (CIS) who met with a variety of
stakeholder groups to appraise KIST’s candidacy toattain CIS accreditation. Thanks to the collective effortsof our community, KIST was granted CIS candidacy inJanuary 2015 and will again host a team from CIS for
our accreditation visit in November 2016. In the
meanwhile, KIST staff are working hard through the
CIS self-study process and may be calling upon selectparent groups to obtain more data that shows KIST’s
progress towards alignment with CIS standards. Thankyou to all staff and parent groups working hard to
support KIST in attaining CIS accreditation and in doing
so provide increased global recognition of KIST and
increased opportunities for KIST graduates.
Thanks to the support and commitment of our entire
community, each year KIST continues to grow in manyother areas as well. In addition to supporting school
planned events, our PTA was active in organizing a
number of PTA sponsored events over the year. Thankyou to all PTA Executives and Committee Chairs forthe countless hours you have given to support our PTA
and our school. The true spirit and power of our KIST
community was reflected and on display at KISTival
this year, with record breaking attendance of over 4000
people and also a record amount of 8,000,000 yen
raised for the school. The New Year’s party as well thisyear grew to include an official sumo announcer (ayobidashi-san) and a record number of sumo wrestlers.
KIST is very grateful to the Sakamoto family for theirgracious support in arranging for members of the sumo
community to come and spend this day at KIST eachyear. Many parents worked alongside the sumo
wrestlers to prepare mochi treats for all and the resultof these collective efforts was a truly authentic culturalexperience for our students (and staff) – thank you toall!
In addition to introducing many new extra-curricularclub offerings, KIST was pleased to reintroduce camps
to our school events this year. Students in Grades 5, 7,
9 and 11 now participate in camps that are aligned with

their classroom curricular experiences. Thank you to all
the teachers for the hard work put in to not only
arranging these learning opportunities for our students
but also in accompanying the students during thecamp. And also a big thank you again to our students
for representing our school well during these off
campus events. Thanks to strong enrollment andcommunity support, we were also able to offer
Saturday computer programming workshops throughan outside provider. We are looking to deliver suchworkshops twice next year as well. For elementary
school students, we are also looking to expand short
Monday extra-curricular activities through outside
providers, building on the very successful computer
coding sessions delivered this year.
Another significant accomplishment this past year was
the opening of KIPS, our preschool, located in
Nihonbashi-Hamacho. It has been wonderful to have
KIPS students join the KIST events and share theirlearning with the larger K. community. We look forward
to the continued success of our newest K. school.
It is not possible to list all of our many
accomplishments for 2014-15 in the limited spaceprovided here, but I do hope that this partial reflection
leads to further individual reflection and an evenstronger sense of pride in all that we as a community
accomplished last year. It is also not possible torecognize all the individuals who contribute so much to
KIST’s success. To all of our community members who
have given above and beyond to support KIST thispast year, THANK YOU! It was truly another great year
for our school.
I would also like to make one last, very special thankyou. While a strong parent-student-school relationshipis essential in supporting our students to attain theirpotential, the success in our classrooms, the school
concerts, the extra-curricular programming, andbasically everything that KIST and KIPS provide, fromafter-school tutoring to the issuance of tuition invoices,
is dependent on the strong commitment of our entire
KIST and KIPS staff. To all of our KIST and KIPS staff,
on behalf of the entire KIST and KIPS community, I
would like to say THANK YOU for all of yourcommitment, hard work and enthusiasm towards
supporting our students and our school. You are awonderful group to work and learn with and I wish you
all a wonderful, well-deserved summer break!
As we enter the holiday season, I wish everyone a
restful and safe break full of
quality time with family andfriends. I look forward to seeing
the summer schoolers in Julyand to welcoming everyone
back to school on August 17,2015!
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

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Elementary School News
Nice and peaceful
Let’s talk about teasing and bullying. Better yet, let’s
not. Let’s talk about taking care of each other instead.
Yes, taking care of everyone in our school community!
Rather than focusing on what we do not want to see,let’s concentrate on what we do want to see. We want
to see all of us, every member of our schoolcommunity, students, parents, teachers, taking care ofeach other.
In May, we were very fortunate to have Mr Kazu Haga
visit KIST and speak to our Grade 2 – Grade 5
students. Mr Haga is the founder of East Point Peace
Academy in Oakland, California. His organization isdedicated to bringing about a culture of peace throughtraining, education and the practice of nonviolence andconflict reconciliation.
During his presentation, Mr
Haga talked about the factors
which can make a person act
like a bully. It seems that being
unhappy can cause a person to
be mean towards others. Someexperts assert that amongchildren, the incidence ofbullying behavior is higher
among those who experiencefrustration as a result ofstresses at school or in thehome. In a bullying study between 2004 and 2009,
participants were asked “If you see someone beingbullied, do you intervene to stop it?” The results showedthat in Japan, children between Grade 5 and Grade 8,
are less likely to ignore bullying when they see it.
I believe that once we identify what bullying is, we may
be more likely to help each other. Please watch thisvideo we developed to raise awareness of whatbullying is and discuss it with your children. As parents
it is our responsibility to instill this sense of caring forothers in our children. As Mr Haga mentioned in his
presentation, caring for each other is the best way toeliminate bullying. As Mr Bradley and I often say,the most important phrase for all humans to know andremember is “Be Nice!”
Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal
Sugimori, S. (2012, December 3). Anatomy of Japanese bullying.
Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/
d00054/

Grade 5 Students Prepare for Transition to MYP
As the year winds down, the 50 students in Grade 5
are working on the transition to middle school next
year. Over the course of the last few weeks,
students and teachers in Grade 5 have beenreflecting on the skills they will need as they moveinto secondary school.
The Grade 5s have had the chance to visit Grade 6classes to get a sense of the work that takes place
there. Each of the students returns back to share thethings that they noticed with their class mates.
In addition to visiting individual classes, the students
also participated in an MYP orientation session withMr White, the MYP Coordinator. This session also
included a seminar discussion with current Grade 6
students sharing their experiences with making themove into MYP.
The final session as part of the transition saw
Grades 5 and 6 students sharing lunch and then ashort sharing session where students had a chance
to hear about experiences and ask questions one-on-one.

The G6 student seminar leaders (wearing white shirts)
discuss issues that can cause problems for students
making the adjustment to G6.

The G5s visiting Art class had a chance to follow the G6s andproduce a still-life drawing.

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Inquiry throughout the Year
With just a few days left in the school year parents andstudents alike are starting to make plans for thesummer. Students are probably dreaming of swimming
somewhere exotic, climbing a mountain or even lazingaround the house surfing the beaches of the Internet.
Parents, however might be thinking along the lines ofsomething more academic. One problem that parents
often face is maintaining the successes that theirchildren so proudly strove for throughout the school
year. Many times families turn to old textbooks or web
pages to fill the void in lieu of a more traditional
curriculum or a professional tutor. The possibilities arelimitless, but the resources and facilities seem to be
ever decreasing or out of reach for the busy family.
The IB curriculum is designed to provide engaging andrelevant learning experiences through the method of
inquiry. Most of us probably think that we wouldn’t beable to continue IB style lessons on our own. However,the very nature of the IB curriculum is centered aroundsound questioning followed by research,experimentation and reflection on our work. The
teachers here at school have spent the school year
discovering new topics in increments of the six
transdisciplinary themes which have limitless outcomes
and connections.

The themes individually could be expanded into fullyear courses and still not cover all perspectives andtopics within the subject matter. The IB encourages
students to take their investigations as deep and wide

as their imagination will provide. Within the curriculumis the student based notion of “Action” or taking yourknowledge and applying it to some problem in the realworld. This portion of the curriculum is often only lightly
touched before the constraints of time require theteacher to move to the next transdisciplinary theme.
Parents are urged to become involved in theirchildren’s learning. The Inquiry is already in place anddocumented in your child’s reports, portfolios and theirmemory. Use these resources to open communication
about your child’s learning. Review materials that havealready been covered and think about ways in which
you could implement action into your child’s knowledge
and understandingof the world. The
solution to yoursummer planningmight be as close
as your own
child’s desk.
Clay Bradley
PYP Coordinator

PTA News
The KIST PTA held its annual general meeting (AGM) on May 27. Although there istypically a poor turnout at the AGM each year, this year's attendance rate wasparticularly low. This may have been due in part to the fact that this year's PTA
officer election was held online. We look forward to seeing more parents andguardians attend next year's AGM.
On May 29, the KIST PTA presented members of the graduating class of 2015 witha special keepsake at the G12 graduation ceremony. In the past, the PTA has
presented graduates with fresh flower corsages. This year, however, we sent out aquestionnaire in advance to help us decide on a gift. Based on the results of thisquestionnaire, we decided to give graduates a photo frame (photo on right). There isenough space in the margin for signatures from classmates and teachers, and wehope this gift will remind graduates of their time at KIST. We would also like to takethis opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the Kojika family (K2) for theirkind support in this regard.
Lastly, the KIST PTA would like to thank everyone for their understanding andcooperation over the last year. We look forward to your continued support next year.

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Our First Year at KIPS: A Reflection
Time has passed by so quickly.
KIPS has come a long way,
starting from scratch to become awonderful school. All the teachersand staff have worked together
and contributed to theestablishment of the new school. I
still remember, during ourorientation week, that all of us had
many questions and concerns
about the challenges to come.
However, everyone involved withKIPS contributed and worked
together to maintain excellent
standards and a high level of
support in every area of the school.
Members of staff greatly
contributed their own expertise andideas to help provide a fun andinteresting range of activities. Ms
Amber organized a Halloween
party, with ‘Trick or Treating’,
games, face painting etc. I
organized the Christmas party in
the K2 classroom and provided anumber of stations for students tomake Christmas arts, crafts anddecorations which they could takehome and display. We alsoorganized a hanami party in the K2classroom and all classes wereencouraged to share something.
The Nursery class made onigiri,
the K1 class made daifuku andfairy bread, the K2 class madePhilippine macaroni sopas and theK3 class made hot dogs andsausages. Other members of staff,
as well as teachers and parents
contributed a variety of foods sothat we could enjoy different tastes
from around the world.

Students were deeply emerged intheir studies through excursions
and opportunities for learning. The
introduction of the Nursery levelclass to the school was a huge
success. The K1 students visitedthe Fukagawa Edo Museum sothat they could further theirlearning an understanding ofhouses/homes in the past andpresent. The K2 class interviewed
the staff and teachers about theirfamily and did a survey regarding
the number of people in eachclass. To prepare K3 students fortheir coming academic year, they
have been attending regularly theK3 UOI classes at KIST. To learn
more about living things, eachclass kept tadpoles and cared forthem until they had turned into
frogs. Once they had turned into
frogs, we released them back into
their natural habitat. This was awonderful way to show how we
can care for living things andobserve how they grow andchange.
As there is no playground at KIPS,
the children have enjoyed visiting
the local park area, where they
played on the playground and had
fun walking on the foot massage
area. The school roof top became
an extremely interactive place after
Mr Luke painted numbers, letters,
shapes and a pond for children to
enjoy playing a fishing game, using
laminated fish pictures.

At KIPS, the level and use ofEnglish, in all grades, isimpressive. Nursery and K1
students speak in English withteachers and peers. K2 and K3
students can speak, read, writeand communicate in near-perfectsentences with everyone.
KIPS students enjoyed their firstchance to perform, at the ‘WinterConcert’. They truly shined at theconcert, despite their young age,showing an impressive level ofmaturity. At the Spring Concert,
KIPS students proved once againthat they could perform well andshowed integrity by maintaining thehigh standard they had previously
set at the Winter Concert. It was
indeed a successful concert andshowed the strong co-operation
and relationship between KIPS and
KIST.
Claire Yoneyama
KIPS K2 Teacher

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Elementary ELS
Learning lexis, valuing vocab, wielding
words: systems for recording new
vocabulary
In the March 2014 edition of The Comet, there was anarticle titled “’Word Work’ Discoveries” that gives a
picture of one of the ways we learn vocabulary in theelementary school at KIST. But how about the questionof recording vocabulary as part of a system for learning
it? Since any language’s vocabulary is infinite, the taskof learning words is endless, even in our mothertongue. What is the best way to keep track of all thislexis - especially considering a new word can often
contain a brand new concept that we are just on thecusp of comprehending? For our younger grades, theclassroom word walls are a way to record new words sothat we can refer to them anytime. As we get older westart finding our own way of organizing vocabulary
records that suits our unique brain and particularinterests best. (The Grade 5s when asked recently wereemphatic that one recording method should not be
imposed on them.) However, along the way it helps toexperiment with different models and get ideas fromeach other. So, here are images of various vocabulary
recording formats used by different students in theelementary school, as well as some recommendations
for older kids that I’m passing on from the Grade 5s.
Firstly, size-wise, the majority of Grade 5s think that apersonal vocab book should be bigger than the fit-inyour-pocket-sized notebook they used this year. B5 wasagreed on as a compromise between adequate
recording space and portability. As for the features ofeach entry, many suggest including synonyms, example
sentences, and visuals, as these can be even more
useful than the word’s definition in aiding
comprehension and memory. If you do write in thedefinition, some students recommend paraphrasing it
rather than copying word-for-word from the dictionary.
This consolidates understanding. Color-coding of thevarious features of each entry is also a popular layout
method, assisting quick navigation through one’s notes.
Some way of adding categories to the book is likewisefavored. This could be, for example, one section foreach UOI’s vocabulary, another section for math words,
yet another for vocab associated with different literary
genres, one for words learned during free reading at
home (keep it up over summer!), and one for special
categories of words such as homonyms,
connectives, affixes, Latin or Greek root words, andso on.
Finally, an almost universal practice in Grade 5 is toinclude an “other languages” column where first
language translations or other additional languages
besides English can be recorded alongside the new
English word. Frequently a vocab entry in fact
represents our first encounter of that word in all
languages. We are learning lexis and concepts
simultaneously. And as such, our vocab notebook is theperfect tool to use at home to spur discussion in our

Hyun Jin, Tatsunori and Satoshi (G5A) test each otheron their vocab notebooks.

home languages about new
concepts and their associatedvocabulary. Remember, mothertongue development is
indispensable to our overall
cognitive development andprompts speedier acquisition of
our additional languages too.
Plus, conversations about words
and concepts are just simply fun
anyway!
Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator

Soo Ah (G3A) shows apage from her
Wonderfully Wise
Words book.

K3B students teach each other with their
awesome Words We Know Wall.

Mehak (G5B) has used this small book this year with a key
to categorize her words. The loose leaf paper shows thelayout she plans to use next year, in a larger vocab bookwith the category title at the top of the page.

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Secondary School NewsThe school year is almost over! It is amazing how time
passes so quickly especially in May and June. Pleaseenjoy all the information about school life in The Cometand also the number of school events that mark theend of the year.
One change we made to this year`s calendar is thatyour son/daughter should receive their Semester 2report on the last day of school this year, rather thanschool reports being sent to families by post a week
after the end of classes. I hope that this timing brings anice closure to the end of the school year on the lastday. In addition to school reports, families will also
receive results of recent diagnostic tests that students
took; it is planned to send out paper copies of student
ISA results from February along with the Semester 2report, whilst student results of end of year grade 6-9
Math and grade 6-8 English diagnostic testing will besent home electronically in the middle to end of June.

for academic year 2015-2016. Like myself, I am surethat students and families are looking forward to somewell-deserved holiday! If you are travelling I wish you
safe adventures and if you are staying in Japan, well…I
may see you at KIST summer school! I look forward towelcoming all students back on Monday, August 17 at
8.45am and a date for parent diaries is Friday, August
21 when we will have our grade 6-12 parent welcomenight for 2015-2016. It will come around so fast!
Mark Cowe
Secondary School Principal

To conclude my last Comet message of my first year
as Principal, a lot of preparation has already been done

User Fee System for Academic Support Programming
KIST’s mission is based on our belief that quality
international education should be as accessible aspossible. As such, KIST makes every effort to keep ourtuition fees as low as possible while still delivering
quality education.
KIST makes strong efforts to support student needs
through interventions delivered within regularlyscheduled classes. Some such programming includes:
 English Language Support Instructors are madeavailable to support student progress in both the
Elementary and Secondary schools.
 An Intensive English Course is available for
identified students in Grades 6 through 8.
 Academic Writing classes are provided for identified
students in Grades 6 through 10.
 Extra math sessions are provided for identified
students in Grades 6 through 10.
However, to support KIST in keeping our tuition fees
as low as possible, for students with support needs
beyond what the school is able to provide within
regular programming, additional academic support
interventions are provided on a user fee system. User
fee academic support programming includes: beforeand after-school Learning Enhancement Academic
Program (LEAP) classes, two sessions of Summer
School programming, and mandatory Saturday
academic sessions for identified Secondary School
students.

KIST’s goal to raise already strong DP performance toa 36 point average by 2018 demands that we put inplace appropriate structures and interventions that
support students in attaining performance expectations
set by the school. Hence, with that goal in mind,
students identified as needing support beyond what
can be provided within our regular programming, may
be required to attend additional support programmingon a user fee basis.
To support our community in better understanding therationale for, and decisions made in relation to, user
fee academic support programming, as announced ina recent E-Communication, KIST recently published a
new document entitled KIST Academic Support
Programs. The document describes the various user
fee support programming arranged by KIST andprovides information about how the school makes
decisions to recommend and/or require that students
participate in such programming. You can access the
document on the KIST website at the link below.
http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/67

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MYP News
Another MYP year comes to an end
KIST students, teachers and parents haveworked hard all year. Next Wednesday marks theend of another successful year for the IB Middle
Year Programme at KIST.
There have been a number of highlights
throughout the year for students in the MYP.
Each of the courses in the program has beenrevised. Teachers are working on implementing
the changes. One noticeable difference is thealigning of assessment criteria so that each MYPclass has four objectives that the MYP has
identified as areas of focus.
Grade 10 students completed the first Personal
Projects using the new criteria for Year 5 of the
program. Students explored a wide variety of
projects that explored a number of richexperiences.

G10s getting ready for Family Day activities.

Grades 6 to 8 at the Wall of Honor assembly.

In addition to the regular academic work of the
MYP, students in Grades 7 and 9, also had thechance to experience camp trips. These trips
allowed students to put their work in subjects towork in new and exciting contexts.
MYP students also embarked on a new program
designed to foster service learning. Students
worked their way through the changes in theService@KIST program and many were able to
make meaningful contributions to theircommunity.

Mr Kroschel presents Emily U.
(G7B) with an award recognizing
her Learner Profile attributes.

Mr Ross and Aditya (G6B) at theWall of Honor assembly.

Finally, students were able to experience a wide
variety of school-life activities. Theseexperiences, ranging from the arts to athletics toco-curricular
activities all offer arich education forstudents to takeadvantage of.
Rob White
MYP Coordinator
Grade 6 and 10 students working together onvolleyball skills in PHE class.

G6B students creating mandalasfrom nature in Kiyosumi Park.

Karina (G6A) shares her work during
Student-Led Conference Day.

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Habitat for Humanity

New Faces

Fundraising totals

Since the last issue of The
Comet, we have welcomed anumber of new staff members
to our team. On behalf of theschool community, we wish
you all the best and hope thatyou enjoy your time with us.

Thanks to the support of the KIST community, the 2015 Habitat for Humanity
Team has successfully raised 215,317 yen in total. The money will be used
to build a sanitary system in a school in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in June
2015. This year, we will also be working with the local school to teach kids
the benefits of brushing their teeth, washing their hands properly and healthysanitation practices. Thank you very much for the support throughout theyear!
Fundraiser

How much we raised

KISTIVAL Booth

88,033 yen

Winter Concert Food Booth

14,114 yen

SRC Dance Food + Photo Booth

28,363 yen

World Cultures Day Photo Booth

44,554 yen

Student-Led Conference Coffee Booth

40,253 yen

Motoi (G11B)
Habitat for Humanity Club Accountant

Food sales at the
SRC dance.

Ma. Cielito Bautista
Preschool Teacher’s
Assistant (Nursery) /Preschool Nurse

Mara Hayashi
Preschool Learning
Support Instructor(Nursery)World Cultures Day
photo booth.

Mineko Kobayashi
MYP/DP JapaneseStudent-led conference
coffee booth.

Karen Mandokoro
Teacher’s Assistant(K3A-K3B)

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Life Lessons of a Spelling Bee
The Spelling Bee sounds like memorizing words, but
I think it’s not. Spelling is only a minor part of theSpelling Bee. It is an unforgettable, mind wrenchingexperience. It improved my risk-taking skills,
perseverance, presence of mind and my vocabulary.
You may be wondering, how does one do well in theSpelling Bee without memorizing a handful of words?
The key is to study, not memorize. To study thewords I had to understand the words. I started fromword roots – the building blocks of English. Wordroots are parts of words such as ‘anti’ which means
against and ‘bio’ meaning life. Roots are useful toknow, because you can deduce the meanings ofwords and it helps you remember the meanings ofwords.
If you’ve seen a Spelling Bee, you’ve probably seencontestants asking questions. You might be thinking:“Why are they asking this? Why not go on and spell
the word?” The contestants are confirming if theirspelling is correct and trying to make connections towhat they know. There are certain ‘rules’ to spellingwords. These rules are crucial to getting words right.
You can study a handful of rules, and study no words
and get many words correct. Our minds don’t work
like computers. We can’t handle memorizing the one
million words in the dictionary. But if we understandhow these words are formed, and why they are likethat we can make connections between our
knowledge and the words and get them right. When
studying from a list what I do is to learn the meaningsof the words. Since we can ask word definitions, we
can confirm if the word is what you think it is.
In Spelling Bees, I am my biggest enemy. If you
know the word, but make a careless mistake, you are
disqualified. My mind wanders a lot and when I lose
focus I tend to make these mistakes. There is lot ofconcentration involved in Spelling Bees and it is a
hard skill to develop. Because of my carelessness, I
made a mistake on an easy word in the final rounds.
This is the most important skill I developed from theSpelling Bee, and it will be useful for me in my life.

given the word
“blight”. I was
not sure if thecorrect spellingwas “blite” or“blight”. I thought
and thought andI expected tomake a mistake.
I decided to gowith “blight” andit was correct. It
was a risk for mesince theSpelling Bee
was only halfover and mostpeople usually
Photo: THE JAPAN TIMES
go with thesimpler spelling.
Taking a risk is not choosing a spelling randomly. It istrying to compare possible spellings and which might
be the most likely to be correct. I got blight correct
because I knew another word, “plight”. Plight rhymes
with blight, so I decided to go with blight instead ofblite. It was a hard decision, and this trained me tomake better decisions. There will be hard decisions tomake in life, therefore it is important to know how todeal with them.
Spelling Bees are a great opportunity to improve manyskills that will help you in your life. Spelling Bees were
important in my life, and I would encourage others toparticipate. One of the things I learnt from Spelling
Bees is how to take defeat. I was in the Japan Spelling
Bee for many years but I did not win. Perseverance isimportant. What many don’t realize is that you learn far
more than spelling in the spelling bee. Spelling is 1% ofwhat you learn. 99% is life skills.
Gautham (G8A)

Handling pressure is another skill I developed. It is
hard to spell in front of an audience. There is also lotof pressure from others for you to win. Many people
make careless mistakes because they weren’t
confident in spelling in front of an audience. I did nothave problems in handling pressure, but what I would
say to someone who has these problems, is to forgetthe pressure, and forget that the audience is there.
There are many moments I had to take a risk. I was

Gautham finished in second place against students from 41 schools at the 6th Japan Times Bee held in Tokyo on
Saturday, March 14, 2015. Congratulations Gautham on your great achievement!

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

Grade 9 CampG9s experience nature at Yamanakako
Grade 9 Camp took place the first week of May. Scheduled tocoincide with students beginning to transition to the last year of the
MYP, students and their homeroom teachers had the opportunity towork on a variety of activities to help build their sense of unity and to
experience physical activities in a beautiful natural setting. The trip
had a curricular focus on an introduction to the MYP Personal
Project which is to be completed in Grade 10. The following gives asense of the students’ experience of the camp and its activities.

G9s rode bicycles along the edge of the lakewith Mt. Fuji in the distance.

On May 7, the ninth graders left KIST at 8:30 and headed towards
the YMCA camp site in Yamanakako. The campsite was placed nextto Lake Yamanakako; well known as a beautiful area to view Mt.
Fuji. We stayed at the campsite for one night and two days in which
we took part in activities such as canoeing, cycling and hiking.
As we arrived at the campsite, we were split up into three groups:‘yama’, ‘naka’ and ‘ko’. These were the groups we were to complete
activities in. The canoeing activity was a first-time experience formany of us. Before we were allowed to take part in the canoeing
activity, we took part in a safety check called ‘buddy check’.
For the cycling activity, in our 3 groups, we cycled around
Lake Yamanakako for about 2 hours. The hiking activity was
about strength and a positive mindset. We were to climb 403
STEEP steps until our heart rate was on the roof. But that was
not the end, after we kept and kept climbing. The view was
beautiful, the leaves were green and Mt. Fuji looked fantastic
behind the clouds. The effort was worth it as at the top we
encountered a neat looking little temple and a beautiful view ofthe landscape.

Hyun Jun, Selina, Keali’i, Qifei and Seina at
the shrine.

The camp fire was one of the most enjoyable aspects ofcamp. We made a circle around the fire and sang many camp
Moe Min and Manato
songs. Such camp songs included the boogaloo, Penguins
prepare to tackle theAttention and Mr Tihor’s old camp song. We had a lot of fun
403 steps to the shrine.
with the boogaloo because everyone had to participate in thissong. We had to think about one thing and present it to the whole
grade if someone chooses you. But the most annoying andmemorable song was the penguin’s attention. It is a repetitive songand each time you repeat you add in another ‘move’, and at the end
you are moving/dancing around like a crazy penguin.

The G9s enjoyed great meals
and team building in thecamp dining hall.

As our long day was about to come to an end and all the students
were shuffling towards their room, the students spotted crickets
jumping in and out of their beds. This was probably the mostterrifying moment for the students. In the end, the students had toshare their beds with crickets.
A campfire finished the first evening of activities.

On the second day, the groups took part in activities they could nottake part in the day before. As we completed our activities, we atelunch and departed the campsite.
All in all, the G9 Camp was a great opportunity
to develop social skills as well as relax before aweek of exams.
Rachel (G9B), Gabriel (G9A) and Leia (G9A)
G9 students and teachers by the totem poleat YMCA Camp Yamanakako.

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 4 | J u ne 2 01 5

World Scholar’s Cup
KIST students compete in World Scholar’s Cup Tokyo Roundfor the first time
World Scholar’s Cup is an intense, demanding academic competition heldaround the world in a variety of cities. For the first time, three teams from KIST
competed in this event held during Golden Week at the National Olympic
Memorial Center in Yoyogi-koen. The students did very well, and all of themwere recognized for their achievements. K. students demonstrated their ability
and showed they belonged with a large group of capable students from acrossinternational, public and private schools from across Japan. What follows is theaccount of two of our competitors, Saachin and Hana from Grade 10.

KIST World Scholars (L>R) Selena(G9B), Akiko (G10A), Seina (G9B),
Hana (G10B), Radhika (G10B), Nina
(G10A), Saachin ( G10B), Mirabelle(G10A), Arjun (G10A).

Hana (G10B)T

he World Scholar’s Cup was an absolutely exciting and memorable
experience. Over the course of two days, students from across Japan
participated in various competitive activities that were both unique andengaging. I thought one of the most interesting events was Collaborative
Writing, in which teams of three had to individually write a persuasive piece
within 45 minutes on a particular topic related to this year’s general theme:“The World Unbound”. I wrote about whether controversial views of world
renowned psychologist Jean Baudrillard regarding America could be applied
to Japan as well. I was surprised as well as overjoyed to be awarded first prize
for this particular piece in the individual writing category. I also enjoyed theTeam Debates, in which student teams were assigned a position on an issue
and must assert their arguments as persuasively as possible. This event waschallenging because it required individual communication and debating skills,
team collaborative skills and time management; team members must work
together within 15 minutes to formulate and organise a clear and convincing
argument. The debate itself was nerve wracking but fun! At the end of this 2day event was the awards ceremony which was the culmination and highlightof the World Scholar’s Cup. I beamed with pride to be part of the 3 teams
representing KIST as our names were called for several awards!! We had amost amazing time during this two-day event, and I’m already looking forward
to next year’s World Scholar’s Cup.
Saachin (G10B)

Saachin, Hana and Nina won top teamfrom a school new to the competition.

Gerry the Alpaca is the symbol of theWorld Scholar’s Cup. Seina, Selina
and Radhika hold their souvenirs.

In the World Scholar’s Cup, there are 6 subjects in which the event is basedaround. The subjects are Art and Music, Science, Literature, History, Social
Studies and Special Area. In each event, you will be tested on your knowledgeof the content in each of these areas. The content for each of these subject
areas are related to the theme, which this year was “The World Unbound”.
The special area is a random category that relates to the theme. This year, thespecial area was titled Heroes and Superheroes. The most difficult aspect ofunderstanding the subject areas was that there was a lot of content thatneeded to be read and memorised. For example, in the Art and Music
category which was called “Peering over the edge”, the content was mostly
pieces of art and music ranging from Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans toRadiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. The science category focused on liberating
technology such as prosthetics. The history category focused on movements
to freedom which was mainly revolutions that occurred throughout history. The
literature area “Voices on the Unbound” consisted of poems, short stories andnovels that related to superheroes and freedom. The Social Studies area
known as Worlds Held Together, Worlds Torn Apart focused on cultural
identity. Overall, the subject areas were very interesting but it was quite
challenging to understand them in detail due to the complex nature of thecontent. Personally to me, the experience was quite enjoyable as I got to learn
a lot of new things and experience the world from a different perspective.
Meeting up with teams from different school was also fun, and we had theopportunity to sharpen our debating skills with the wide range of topics.

Akiko, Mirabelle and Arjun with evenmore alpacas.

K. students were recognized for a seriesof achievements during the competition.

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5Congratulations to the Class of 2015!
At the start of May, our graduates were looking stressed yet confident as they entered
the DP exam session and commenced the final set of culminating assessment tasks of
their secondary school education. Now, at the end of the exam session, much of thestress has been replaced with forward thinking about what awaits as they commence
new beginnings at universities around the world.
KIST graduates of 2015 – CONGRATULATIONS. Life is an adventure and we wish
you the best with all of your post-KIST endeavours. We share with you pride in all thatyou have accomplished and trust that you move forward with confidence that your
KIST education has prepared you well to continue making significant contributions to
our global community. As you move on from us, we hope that you cherish your KIST
memories and feel reassured that our community is here waiting to celebrate yourfuture successes, and support you with your challenges, as you continue ‘learning forlife’ on the next phase of your educational journey.
We wish you all the best and look forward to you visiting us at KIST again soon!
Mr Jones

Math Field Day 2015
On April 22, 2015, students from KIST attended theannual KPASSP Math Field Day event at Zama HighSchool. Our students from grade 7 to grade 12
performed very well during the morning individualcompetitions and showed enthusiasm in the afternoon
math mania competition where they designed andconstructed flying machines.
The coaches would like to congratulate all participating
students for their hard work preparing over the past 4months. We would also like to recognize the following
students for their outstanding achievements.

Jun Hyuk (G7B)
1st place in G7 category
Meng Ting (G8A)
Member of the 1st place teamJi Ye (G11B)
2nd place in G11 category

Great job to everyone!
Christopher Tihor
Team CoachAndre Ito
Team CoachJun Hyuk (G7B), Ji Ye (G11B), Meng Ting (G8A)

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LEAP News
This year has been a reallytumultuous year for LEAP. In theelementary we introduced brandnew morning classes for English support as well as
twice weekly English extension classes. In thesecondary, we introduced academic writing classes forsecondary and SAT preparatory classes. In addition tothat, K. International Preschool (KIPS) launched their
LEAP classes which are completing their first year!
I’m always happy to receive feedback about LEAP
classes and/or administrative processes. If you areinterested in providing feedback, you can do so on the
LEAP website under Contact.
Our LEAP Summer Program is just around the corner,and some of the classes still have space for the Julysession – check the website for more details. This year
we have two sessions:
Session 1 (June 15 – June 26)Summer Day Camp – a fun play based
inquiry program for New K1 – New G6
students

Summer Academic Program – anintensive two-week study program for
English and/or mathematics for New G3 –New G6 students.
Session 2 (July 27 – August 7)Summer Academic Program – anintensive two-week study program for
English and/or mathematics for all grades.

It’s always so wonderful to hear from students that they
enjoyed their time in LEAP. I had a Grade 5 student
say to me just last week; “When my parents signed me
up to morning English LEAP I just thought ‘UGH! I haveto wake up so early!’, but after being in the class all thisyear I don’t want it to end.” The comment reallywarmed my heart and I really have to say I really enjoy
the rapport that you can build with students when you
see them 2 to 3 times a week. I know that the other
LEAP instructors feel the same way. You really get toknow their strengths and weaknesses, and how best to
support them and help them grow.
We will be accepting new applications for semester 1
from the first day of school, 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.
Anna Holdaway
KIST LEAP Coordinator

FREE ONLINE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIESAre you interested in learning about Physics or Engineering through MIT? How about computer
programming in C# or Python? What about learning Mandarin or studying the works of Dante throughHarvard, Berkeley, or one of the many other well-reputed universities from around the world who
have partnered with this initiative?
These courses and many more are available online to students, with many courses scheduled for thesummer months. In fact, Arjun (G10A) recently completed a course from MIT on Introduction to
Aerospace Engineering and earned a certificate (congratulations Arjun!). Why not take advantage ofsome free online learning over the summer break?
For more information, please visit:
edx.org
coursera.org

Happy studying!

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

15

KIST Band
This year marked the inaugural formation of the KIST staff
band. Featuring Ms Anna (voice), Ms Kay (keytar), Mr Dave(saxophone), Mr Vodden (guitar), Mr Collins (guitar), Ms
Karen (bass) and Mr Hughes (drums), the KIST band has
begun playing at different venues and charity events aroundTokyo. Playing a selection of rock and pop
classics, the band will continue to play overthe coming year.

Middle School Basketball TeamInternational Schools of Tokyo Athletics
Association (ISTAA) Middle School
Basketball Tournament
On Saturday, March 14, the KIST Comets U-14
Basketball team participated in the ISTAA Middle
School Basketball Tournament at The British School inTokyo. As defending champions, the Comets had highhopes of returning back to KIST with the trophy again
this year. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
In our first game, we were narrowly defeated by
Columbia. However, despite this disappointing loss,
the team displayed excellent teamwork skills andperseverance to bounce back and win the rest of theirgames. In the end, we finished in second place behind
this year’s winners, Columbia, who went on to win therest of their games, too.

I received many compliments from other coaches andreferees about how well our team played together. The
team should be very proud of themselves to receive
such praise. Well done! I would also like to thank thegreat support we had from the parents (and teachers)
that came to cheer us on. We definitely had theloudest fans! You were a big help! Thank you!
I look forward to coaching the Middle School
Basketball team next year. If you are interested injoining the team, please make sure to sign up for ourclub next year and have theopportunity to be part of something
special. Go Comets!
Scott Grant
Middle School Basketball Team
Coach

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Staff 10!
In this month’s Staff 10!,
we are pleased topresent Christie Chung
who joined us in 2013 asa K3 teacher in the
Elementary School.
 Tell us somethinginteresting about yourhometown.
My mobile childhood has
given me multiple places
to call my hometown.
Ms Chung demonstrating
Here they are:her cooking skills.
Seoul, Korea—Within
Seoul’s hustle and bustle, you can always easily spot
street vendors all around selling all sorts of interesting
things like food, plushy thermal socks, cute handmade
accessories, shoes, and that’s only to name a few! My
favorite street food is Hotteok, which is fried dough witha warm, gooey filling of sugar, honey and cinnamon. I’mnever bored in Seoul. The city never sleeps; it even has
night markets that are open all night!
Honolulu, Hawaii—Honolulu is a place that I hold close
to my heart. I like to reminisce back on the days when I
used to spend lots of time in the lush backyard of ourhome. We had coconut trees, a papaya tree, yellow andpink plumeria trees, red ginger root flowers, ti plants,
and gardenia bushes. I’d pick plumeria flowers to string
leis, peel coconuts for fun, braid ti leaves to make aheadband, and look for geckos hiding out.
Brookline, Massachusetts—Brookline is part of
Boston. It’s a quiet, small town with lots of beautiful
homes and parks. It’s also the birthplace of President
John F. Kennedy and his house still stands as amemorial place open to the public for viewing. Our
home was less than a 20-minute drive to Harvard
University (the very first college in the U.S.) andFenway Park (home of the Red Sox)!
 What is your favorite place in the world?
If I had to choose only one, it would be Hawaii. I had mywedding there three years ago and so it’s officiallybecome even more special to me.
 Who would you like to meet if you had the chance
and why?
My husband when he was a kindergartener. I wonder
what he was like as a kid.
 Do you have any special skills or talents?
I’d say it’s more of a hobby. I love to cook! (and eat!) Please share a little known fact about yourself.
I love growing vegetables and plants. At the moment I’m
growing red radish, lettuce, and basil in my balcony.
 What is your most prized possession?
As cliché as it may sound, my family!
 What words would you use to describe yourself?
Friendly, energetic and loyal.
 If you could live your life again, would you doanything differently?
Not really.

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 4 | J u ne 2 01 5

 Is there anything you are trying to learn/improveabout yourself at the moment?
Broadening my cooking repertoire. I’m pretty confident
in cooking Korean and Japanese (thanks to my motherin-law), but I would love to learn how to cook someIndian food, especially curry with different spices!!
 Do you have any special message for your fans?
Thank you for keeping me cool in summer!!

Secondary ELS
It has been a busy year for the English Language
Support Center. Mr Davignon and Mr Boyd have beenworking hard to help you develop your English skills.
You may have seen them in your classrooms or met
with them for one-to-one help. I encourage you to meetwith them if you ever have any questions about yourschool work at KIST; they are here to help! Next year,
we will be continuing to support your academic needs
with academic writing. In the following year more
students will be able to take advantage of extra classes
to improve their writing skills! I look forward to seeing
you all next year and know you will work hard todevelop your English abilities.
William Miller
Academic Writing and ELS Coordinator

Mr Campbell, Mr Miller and Mr Davignon.

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

Across the Vast Stories We Have Finally Met
BELONGING WHERE
Caught in an abyss
Belonging where?
Thousands of children
Heartache despair
Stolen, separated
Leaving mothers behind
Lost to our culture, music, dance andart
Lost to Ourselves – our Families –Our hearts
As a child wondering
What did I do wrong?
Who the hell am I?
A feeling so strong, the taunts of achildhood all a whirl.
Half caste – half caste a little black girl
Italiano?
Greek?
Maori? Or What?
Some of the questions asked a lot.
To black to be white
Too white to be black
Caught in the middle belonging no
where
Lorraine McGee-Sippel (1997)

On April 11, 2015, along with my homeroom teacher, Ms
Christian, I walked across the streets of Shinjuku to get to aplace called the Washington Hotel. Why were we heading
there? We went there to meet a very special person. A person I
interviewed for my grade eight summative task. Her name is
Lorraine McGee-Sippel.
It was an ordinary school day, and fourteen-year-old me just entered
the classroom, prepared to learn all about World War Two in English
class. All of a sudden, my English teacher, Ms Gore started
introducing our new summative task for this unit. The task was tointerview a victim who experienced a tragic incident and write afaction based on the person interviewed. A faction is a fictional story
that incorporates real people and events, blending the terms fact
and fiction together (Morgan, 2015). The tragic incident I chose toresearch was the Stolen Generations. The Stolen Generations iswhen the colonists of Australia desperately wanted to assimilate theIndigenous race of this nation by breeding them out. They almost
succeeded by stealing the Indigenous Families children, because itis these children who would continue practicing their culture. The
children were placed in institutions, fostered and adopted. Later,
they would be known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.
The first step I took to investigate this topic was visiting the Stolen
Generations Testimonial Site. I was scanning through the websitewhen suddenly I just stopped scrolling down. A poem called,“Belonging Where” caught my eye. This poem showed so muchemotion on how the poet felt and experienced the Stolen
Generations that I was desperate to find out who this poet was. The
poet was none other than Ms. Lorraine McGee-Sippel. I immediately
sent her an email, asking her if she would participate in my projectand I received an immediate affirmation. I interviewed Ms. McGeeSippel and based on the answers I accumulated, I finally achieved
to finish writing my faction based on her life story.
To this day, I am still in contact with Ms McGee-Sippel. When she
and her husband decided to visit Japan, we arranged plans to meeteach other at the Washington Hotel in Shinjuku. I did not know howeither of us would ever recognize each other since we never did
exchange our photos last year. But somehow we did, which was
fortunate. We sat at café in the hotel and started getting to knoweach other. Ms Christian, Ms McGee-Sippel, her husband and I
talked about their vacation, my school life and chatted the afternoon
away. We shared laughter and exchanged stories for two straighthours. I have to say, it was one of the best weekends I have ever
had in ninth grade.
I hope the students at KIST will become risk-takers, and take a stepout into the real world to get answers from real people, regardless ofwhether it is someone they idolize or purely research purposes.
Students will realize how fun it is to learn the story of the person
they contacted who would show a wide range of emotions on the
topic instead of reading off a passage from a page or a website.
Nikita (G9B)

Nikita meeting Ms McGee-Sippel

How to Create a Faction for a Fiction Story, The Classroom (2015).
Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://classroom.synonym.com/create-faction-fiction-story-4523.html

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Library News
Sakura Medal Book Bowl
The students from KIST all held their breath. So did theteachers, as Mr Brian from International School of the
Sacred Heart read out the top three winning teams. All
fingers and toes were crossed – “Second place goesto...K. International School Tokyo!”This year was our first time participating in the Sakura
Medal Book Bowl. Held yearly, this is a chance forfourth and fifth grade students to compete with otherinternational schools to test their knowledge of the
Sakura Medal Chapter Books.

Haruka N. (G2A)

Killian (G2A)

Eanya (G4B) (right) with sister.

Even if you didn’t win, thank you to all students who
voted. The Sakura Medal is a student choice award. If
you would like to see the winning books, please visit
http://sakuramedal.com.

What’s new next year with our Library
Online Services (or the Quick Links in the
Library Moodle pages)?

Our team members worked long and hard to read all
twenty English language Sakura Medal Chapter Books,
and memorize the details for the quiz. (Do you
remember what kind of stone Professor Steg needed
for the Really-Good-Moves-Around-In-Time-Machine?
Fortunately, the Milk expert had to think fast at thecompetition!) All of
their hard work paidoff, because KIST
came in second placeout of the ten schools
who showed up tocompete at ISSH in
April. Congratulations
to our students, and a
big thank you to clubleaders, Ms
O’Handley and Ms
Paterson.

Sakura Medal raffle winners
Students in first through fifth grade are welcome to voteon the Sakura Medal books between October and April.
Students may vote once for every five books they readin the English Picture Book, English Chapter Book,
English Graphic Novel, Japanese Picture Book, andJapanese Graphic Novel categories. After collating
student votes, the KIST Librarians drew three ballots
from the box. Those lucky students won a $20 gift
voucher for the Scholastic Book Club Order.
Congratulations, Haruka N. (G2A), Killian (G2A) andEanya (G4B)!

In order to meet evolving student research needs, KIST
Libraries are subscribing to additional researchdatabase. These will give students greater access toresearch materials 24/7 and support their learning inIB’s culminating activities such as G5 Exhibitions,
Personal Projects and Extended Essays. Starting nextschool year, KIST students will have access to
Infobase Ebooks, Classroom Video on Demand,
Bloom's
Literature,
Science Online,
and World
Almanac for
Kids. We will
also becontinuing ourexisting
subscriptions to
WebPathExpress,
Britannica
School Edition,
Kids Infobits,
Opposing
Viewpoints,
BrainPop, andActive History.
You can access the educational resources through the
Quick Links found on the LMC and Elementary Library
Moodle pages.

Summer reading
Students are encouraged to continue
reading in English and in their mothertongue languages over the summer
vacation. To support this, the LMC
and Elementary Libraries will allow
students to borrow up to ten fiction
titles, starting on June 10.
DP students who wish to work on their Extended Essay
research may arrange with Mr Andi to borrow nonfiction
resources.
Continued on next page

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

Continued from previous page

Library action plans for 2015-2016
KIST Librarians understand that maybe you’re justthinking about the summer vacation and reading some
nice books at the beach, but we’re already planningahead for next school year.
In 2015-2016, KIST Libraries will continue participationin Sakura Medal programs. All students are welcome toread, vote and submit artwork for the Sakura Medal Art
Competition. Elementary students in fourth andfifth grades are invited to join the Sakura Medal Book
Bowl club, and secondary students have a chance
to promote their favorite Sakura Medal book by
showcasing their video editing skills in the Sakura Book
Trailer Project. The Student Center for Excellence
will continue to provide opportunities to all students tocomplete their Services and CAS through projects suchas Library Elves, Hungry Readers, Book Bloggers,
Student Presenters and other library events.
November marks the return of D.E.A.R., but we’reshaking things up a bit. In the past, KIST has set a
certain time and day for our D.E.A.R. reading, but thisyear, Mr Larsen will surprise you with theannouncement. Keep a book on hand, so you’re readyto "Drop Everything And Read"!
In February, KIST will celebrate World Cultures Day
once again, to honor the diversity in our schoolcommunity. We hope to see you in your national
costume, and we look forward to the parent storytellers
and many others who volunteer their time to share theirculture with the school.

Leaving staff
Rosanna O’Connell, our LMC Library
Assistant, will be finishing up her timeat KIST at the end of June to returnto her home country. Thank you forall of the hard work, and let’s all wish
her good luck in the UK.
KIST Library Team

19

Nurse’s Notes
Pharyngoconjunctival fever
Pharyngoconjunctival fever is an
illness in which symptoms of pharyngitis andconjunctivitis appear at the same time. It is aninfectious disease which starts to spread from spring
and reaches its peak around June-July.
In Japan, the illness is known as “pool fever” as
infection is commonly spread through pool water. The
adenovirus which causes the pharyngoconjunctival
fever is highly infectious and particularly likes thehuman eyes and throat.
Symptoms include discomfort and pain in the throat,
redness of the throat, and a whitish pus-like material on
the tonsils. There will also be continued high fever over
39℃, red eyes and eye mucus.
Washing your hands under running water is very
important to prevent the infection. Touching the eyes or
putting your fingers in your mouth should also be
avoided.
When diagnosed with adenovirus, it is important to rest
quietly and drink plenty of fluids. It is very important not
to pass the disease on to another person. When there
is a lot of mucus due to pharyngitis, there is a tendency
to want to touch the eyes. In this case, please avoid
using handkerchiefs or towels and instead use tissues,
making sure to dispose of them immediately.
Furthermore, please use different towels from otherfamily members. The virus will be inactivated by heat orsterilization, but towels with mucus may be a cause of
infection even after washing with detergent. It istherefore recommended to wash them separately.
Infected individuals just infected with the disease arehighly contagious, so measures such as having themtake a shower or bath last in the family may beeffective in preventing the spread of the disease.
Makiko Whittaker
School Nurse

The Kindergarten Playground
This summer holiday, thanks to donations from within our school community, we
will be making some exciting improvements to our Kindergarten Playground. In aneffort to make it safer and more attractive, we will have a rubber surface coveredby artificial turf installed around the play structure. The wooden decking will be
removed and replaced with a safer surface.
In order to limit the number of mosquitos in the playground during the summer
months, we have taken various measures. We first had the trees trimmed overGolden week, and we have now purchased a mosquito trap. We hope thatthrough these measures we can keep the playground as it should be, safe and
fun!

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Spotlight on Clubs
LEGO Robotics Club (Secondary)For the first time this year, KIST has begun offering a
LEGO Robotics club. Using LEGO Mindstorm and NXT
equipment, students in the club have had the opportunity
to build a variety of machines, ranging from cars to whole
traffic sets. For each task, students not only assemble therobot, but program the robot’s commands using theMindstorm and NXT software. This includes telling therobot when and where to move and when to use their
particular sensors (touch, light, sound, etc.). With the firstsession of LEGO Robotics nearing completion, we are
already looking forward to introducing new elements to therobotics club next year, suchas students designing theirown robot, and a robotics
competition between
students. Look for the LEGO
Robotics club innext year’s clubsessions!
Andrew Tulk
Club Leader

Junior Author’s Club (Elementary)
Why should we refer to our students as ‘authors’ or‘writers’? We often forget that instilling a love ofwriting is one of the most important things we do in
the classroom in Elementary. Handwriting, grammar,
and teaching writing conventions such as punctuationand grammar are most certainly essential parts of ourlessons. However, instilling a sense of ownership anda passion for writing has significant academic
benefits. Students who believe in themselves andwhat they write will write more and thus improvethrough practice. Most importantly, if students are
excited about their writing, they will challengethemselves to try new words, ideas, and writing skills
such as more advanced punctuation – and therefore
they will constantly be improving. Teaching theplanning process and proofreading skills helps
children understand that writing is a process. Instillingthese skills in our students early is the best way to set
them on a path for success in writing throughout theiracademic careers. Students that dislike writing andsee it as a chore that they have no control over will
not be able to direct their own learning in the same
way children who love writing do. In Junior Authors’
Club, we tried our best to make writing fun, reinforce
planning skills, and give students
a sense of themselves as authorsthat will hopefully keep themwriting for years to come!
Jennifer Campbell
Club Leader

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

K3 Reading Rascals ClubThis reading club for K3 students started whenArmina and Sophia (both from G10A) approached
me with an idea of a service activity that involved
working with Lower Elementary School students (K1K3). This idea was brought to Mr Yoshihara and hethought it was a perfect opportunity to start a readingclub for K3 students that he had been hoping to start.
Armina and Sophia then recruited several otherstudents to help with this initiative, and had a training
session with Mr Yoshihara to learn how to work with
K3 students before starting this club. At this point, thisseemed to have evolved to something slightly bigger
than the students had initially expected, but they
showed commitment towards the activity from thestart until the end. They have contributed to the
Elementary School goal of having more students
enjoy reading books which will lead to achieving oneof the school’s guiding beliefs to develop language
skills as essential learning tools. Please read thecomments from the students to see more about thisservice activity. I’d like to thank all Grade 10 students
who have participated in this as part of their MYP
Service this year!

T

his service activity has beenvery enjoyable, being able toread to several K3 students every
Friday after school. It was always
a very good way to end a Friday
since we got to spend time withseveral K3 students that were very
eager to read with us. I believethat this activity gave me theopportunity to develop mainly mycommitment skills, since I took
responsibility and made sure toparticipate in every reading
session. This is a very importantskill to develop, as it can beapplied to many different
situations such as completing agroup project where you have to
be committed and have toparticipate in. Other than mycommitment skills, I have gained
other important skills such ascommunication skills, and theseskills gained are applicable to reallife situations and become
increasingly important skills tohave as we get older. Therefore I
would like to continue this activity
next year to gain essential skills,
as well as to have the opportunity
to read with very determined K3
students again!

Sophia (G10A)
Shun Nakade
DP CAS and MYP Service CoordinatorThe child reading activity has been one of my mostenjoyable activities this year. Though we were only
reading simple story books or even picture books with theK3 students, I enjoyed communicating and having fun
with the smaller kids as it was very calming and thestudents were also very keen on learning. I also loved thefun and relaxing atmosphere that was present during theactivity, and this was exactly what everyone needed to
end the week with. I learned to be more flexible andadaptable while encountering new people, and this skill isimportant in life as it allows us to have newer connections
with more people. I would definitely love to continue thisactivity for CAS in Grade 11 as it would give me a chance
to meet the students again and we would also be able tolearn new things and embark on more adventures with thestory books.

Mirabelle (G10A)

R

eading to K3 students was such a fun activity to dosince I got to talk with K3 which I normally don’t. I
really enjoyed reading to them, and hearing them readthe book on their own was very heartwarming. I found it
interesting how my child was first shy when I met her the
first time but as the weeks went by she started to open
herself up to me. By doing this activity I was able to learn
how to communicate with children in general. As I don’t
have any siblings it’s hard for me to communicate withchildren but because of this activity, I think I am now
capable of talking with them. I would love to do thisactivity again for CAS next year since it’s a very fun
experience. Keep in mind that reading to children for the
first time is not an easy thing especially when they are
tired because then they will go out of control. We tried toread as many books as possible but after reading thebooks that my child chose we always ended up doing “ISPY” to keep them entertained. Even though there weresome difficulties it was still fun, I will recommend you to
do this activity if you love playing with children or reading
to children!

Kaili (G10B)

21

Radhika (G10B)

his K3 reading activity thatsome of my classmates and I
have been taking part in for the
past 6 weeks has been an
extremely interesting andworthwhile experience. Althoughat first a lot of us were anxious
about how the club would run andwhether or not we would be able
to take on the task successfully,
after the first session, we realized
how fun it really was. The best
part about the sessions was
actually being able to see theimprovements in the kids’ reading
skills, and knowing that they did
so while still having an enjoyable
time in the club. I would definitely
like to continue this service activity
in future and I encourage others tofind SA activities that they takeparticular interest in as well.

Armina (G10A)

T

his activity was truly an
experience that could not begiven through any other activity. Even
though it was only for 6 weeks, I
developed many skills that I neverthought I had. In those 6 sessions, I
was able to not only help the students
improve their reading skills, but I wasable to enjoy spending time with thestudents and making memories that I
will never be able to forget. The mainskill that I think I developed throughthis activity was patience. I am not apatient person at all, but through thisactivity I was able to improve andbecome a more patient person than I
was. Children can be adorable, sweetand fun to work with, but at the sametime, they can be a handful. But inthe weeks that I worked with thestudents, I learnt how to cope withthem and how to stay patient. Otherskills that I developed included:
communicating, teaching and tocompromise. Students often wanted
to read “I Spy” books, which didn't
involve much reading. So I had tocompromise and make sure that theyread an actual book, and leave thelast 10 minutes for “I Spy” books.
These 6 sessions were amazing andI hope to continue this activity next
year!

T

T

his activity was enjoyable in many
ways. We got to interact and readwith some of the K3 kids, which werarely get the chance to do. Since
handling kids isn’t really a strength ofmine, I was able to develop collaboration
skills with a completely new age range.
This could be helpful in different
situations; for example, working withsmall children again in the future, oreven just collaboration or teaching in
general. This activity is definitely
something I’ll consider doing again nextyear!

Hiroya (G10B)

A

s part of this year’s service activity, I
participated in an activity which
involved reading to K3 students of ourschool. Throughout the 4 weeks of meeting
up with the students and spending time withthem to read books I have definitely grownas an individual but also developed somenew skills along the way. I believe thatthese skills that you acquire throughreading alongside the students and having
them engage in conversations is somethingthat we would all have to experience in thenear future, and so it is just as important tostart early. It was truly a sublime experience
which I would like to be involved in again fornext year, as one of my services.

Marcus (G10B)

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Secondary SRC
KISTalk

BiblioOn March 11, 2015, we got the opportunity toorganize another KISTalk again this year. KISTalk
was a very successful event organized by the SRC
last year and it allowed students to express andshare their creative thoughts with the schoolcommunity. This year, KISTalk was organized tocommemorate the 3.11 earthquake that happened inJapan 4 years ago. Students from G9 all the way to
G11 shared their experience, thoughts and ideas on
the earthquake. KISTalk was very successful!

For the very first time, on April 17, 2015, the KIST
SRC organized a Biblio competition. In short, Biblio isa book recommendation competition. Students were
given about 5 minutes to present and recommend
their favorite book to the whole secondary school.
Following this, the audience voted for what they
thought was the best presentation. The winner for thisyear’s Biblio competition was Sara (G9A)
recommending the book Unbroken written by Laura
Hillenbrand. Overall, the first ever Biblio was a
success!

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AS A MEMBER OF THE SRC…?

B

y being the SRC of G6B, I have learned how the SRC system work and how much the SRC is doing to
improve our school. I also learned some problems and things that could be improved in the school. After
we do things to improve the school you become really happy. I also enjoyed when I interacted with other SRC indifferent grades. By being an SRC I also have learned how to be more responsible, time wise, and how to be abetter representative for my class. Aditya (G6B)As being one of the SRC I was afraid for being one of the SRC. But when we had meetings, everyone was
nice to me and helped me when I needed help! In the meeting I was new so there are some things that I
don’t know. But everyone explained to me and I was happy! With duties and meetings I think my responsibility
skills went up. When we always did our meetings I felt that I was one of the members and every one makes melaugh! I enjoyed being one of the SRC!! Saki (G6A)

I

learned a lot from being part of the SRC for the past two years. What I believe was the most valuable lesson
through this experience was to be disciplined. From committing to meet every Friday after school toorganizing dance parties, it was all very hard at first. But as I kept doing so, rather than performing those tasks
as a duty, I began to do it from my self-interest and commitment. Arya (G12A)

H

aving spent two years in the KIST SRC, first as the secretary and second as a class representative, I havegained a lot of meaningful experience. I now have a skill-set that encompasses aspects that I wouldn’t
have had the chance to explore as well otherwise, such as student-specific leadership, communication, anddiplomatic problem solving. I am proud to have been a part of a group of students that strive to make the schoola better, more comfortable place for all students. Prakhar (G12B)

E

xperiencing one year as a class representative
and two years as an executive in the SRC
literally changed my perspective about the world.
Honestly, before I joined the SRC, I was one ofthose typical jerks that would claim that the SRC is“lame” without even knowing what those three lettersstood for; I was one of those excessively loud andattention-seeking boys that created nothing but
trouble for the class representative. However, after
being dragged into the SRC by my friend who is myfellow graduate and currently the president of thecouncil, I cannot explain how much I learned in the
SRC and enjoyed being in the SRC simply in thisshort section of the article. I am sure that in ten
years time I will not remember specific proposals or
projects I helped with in the SRC, nonetheless I willremember the people I worked with, the trivial yet
memorable moments we shared, and above all thisfeeling of appreciation for the SRC.
Tatsuya (Treasurer) (G12B)
Secondary SRC

THANK YOU FOR AN
AMAZING YEAR!

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5Sports and Athletics Update
ISTAA sport update
Congratulations to both our High School Boys andGirls Basketball teams for completing perfectseasons and bringing home yet another set ofChampionships!
Farewell to our graduating athletes Keerti, Mikio,
Salam and Rei. Good luck and all the best in yourfuture pursuits!!

Both our High School Girls andBoys Futsal teams recently
completed their 2015 ISTAA
seasons in commendable
fashion representing KIST in
the championship tournaments
on May 30 and 31 at The
British School in Tokyo’s Showa Campus. Here aresome words form our U18 Futsal coaches.

C

Also, congratulations to our Mini Basketball Club for avery successful ISTAA Mini Basketball Tournament.
Our Mini Ballers were runners up this year for the2015 event.

ongratulations to the girls’ futsal team for avery enjoyable and successful season. Thiswas my first season in charge, and I have been
impressed with not only how much actual skills
the team possess, but also how willing and able
the team has been to work together and support
each other. There were students from Grades 7,
8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, and all of them contributedand encouraged each other. I was particularly
pleased with the new students from Grades 7, 8
and 9 who joined this year. For many of them, it
was their first attempt at futsal, and theimprovements they made as the season
progressed was nothing short of outstanding. The
older, more experienced students helped them
integrate in the team, and now we are in strong
position for next year. I hope to see most of thesestudents for another exciting season next year.
Thank you to all the students for theircommitment, belief, effort and sense of
sportsmanship they demonstrated throughout theseason. It was a pleasure to coach such a greatgroup of athletes. Yoku dekimashita.
Campbell Boyd
Girls U18 Futsal CoachContinued on next page

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Continued from previous pageThe U-18 Futsal team had a hard season thisyear. We won our opening game, but could
not register another win throughout the season.
There was a lot of progress, though, as theplayers managed to learn new tactics along withthe ability to switch between them during a gameand really came together as team. Although welost both games in the final tournament, the teamplayed hard in extreme heat and put on arespectable display, really challenging the
opposing teams. I would personally like to thankall the players involved for playing so hard for me
over the entire season. Everyone showed a lot of
determination and perseverance. It was an honor
to have worked and coached such a great groupof boys and I am just sorry that I will not be able
to continue the work we started this year over the
next season. I am sure that whoever gets thehonor of coaching you next season will be able totake you to even greater accomplishments than I
was able. I wish you all the best of luck inwhatever challenges your life brings you. Thankyou for the opportunity to have been a part ofyour time here at KIST.
Jude Ross
U18 Soccer Coach

KIST baseballThis year, the KIST Baseball team played afriendly game vs St. Mary’s International Schoolon May 15. In the first inning, our team batters
Kenta, Jo, Hae Soo and Hiromasa captured theopponent team’s pitcher and scored three points
to open the scoring. Kenta, our ace pitcher, threw
well with 8 strike outs in five innings. It was a very
exciting and well played match, but unfortunately
KIST lost in the bottom of the 6th inning by one
run 7-6. Well done team!! You showed great commitment and sportsmanship.
Aki Nogami
Baseball CoachSports awards
U14 Female Outstanding Athlete
Asami (G8B)- U14 ISTAA Girls Volleyball Team Captain- U14/18 ISTAA Girls Basketball Team
Member2015 ISTAA Champions, Yokohama J/VTournament Runners Up- U14/18 ISTAA Girls Futsal Team Member

U14 Male Outstanding Athlete
Shin (G8A)- U14 ISTAA Boys Basketball Team Captain- U18 ISTAA Boys Basketball Team Member
2015 ISTAA Champions, Yokohama J/VTournament Champions- U14 ISTAA Boys Futsal Team Member

U18 Female Outstanding Athlete
Megan (G11B)- U18 ISTAA Girls Volleyball Team Member- U18 ISTAA Girls Basketball Team Member
2015 ISTAA Champions, Yokohama J/VTournament Runners Up- U18 ISTAA Girls Futsal Team Member- SRC Sport Committee Leader

U18 Male Outstanding Athlete
Motoi (G11B)- U18 ISTAA Boys Volleyball Team Captain- U18 ISTAA Boys Futsal Co-Captain

Female Outstanding Graduating
AthleteKeerti (G12B)- U18 ISTAA Girls Volleyball Team Captain- U18 ISTAA Girls Basketball Team Captain2015 ISTAA Champions, Yokohama J/VTournament Runners Up- U18 ISTAA Girls Futsal Team Member- SRC Sport Committee Member

Male Outstanding Graduating Athlete
Rei (G12B)- U18 ISTAA Boys Basketball Team Member
2015 ISTAA Champions- U18 ISTAA Boys Futsal Co-Captain andPlayer Coach

“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

College Guidance News
Spring College Fair 2015
Thank you to all who participated in our third annual
Spring College Fair on March 21, 2015. I hope you
enjoyed visiting university display tables andcollecting information directly from therepresentatives you met there. This year we hosted
more than 30 representatives from 23 universities
from Japan, USA, UK, Australia and Singapore. The
representatives mentioned how much they enjoyedmeeting with our enthusiastic students and parents
and expressed their willingness to come again next
year. Special thanks to the KIST PTA who preparedand provided nice refreshments for the reception after
the fair. Thank you again and please pencil in March
21, 2016 for the KIST Spring College Fair 2016.

Class of 2015 college and university
acceptances and offers
KIST has had another successful year! 24 students
out of 29 graduates this year sent applications andhave so far received 92 acceptances and offers from66 universities/colleges around the world (see the liston the next page). There are several students whoare still waiting for the results, sending applications
after graduating to Australian and/or Asianuniversities, or taking a gap year.
Congratulations and wishing you all the best forcontinued success in your future!
Mrs Keiko Okude
College Guidance Counselor
keiko.okude@kist.ed.jp

Alumni news
Shreya Deshmukh (Class of 2011) graduated as Trustee scholar(full scholarship) receiving ‘magna cum laude’ for her Biomedical
Engineering degree at Boston University’s Kilachand Honors
College. For her outstanding academic achievement she was placedon the Dean’s List for all 8
semesters! What awonderful record! She has
been inducted into the
distinguished National
Engineering Honor Society‘Tau Beta Pi’ and the
National Biomedical
Engineering Honor Society‘Alpha Eta Mu Beta’. She
was accepted to the PhD
program at MIT and
Stanford University andhas decided to join
Stanford University for theirjoint Masters and PhD
program in Bioengineering in September 2015.

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College and University Acceptances and Offers
KIST Class of 2015
*scholarship offered (number of students accepted)
As of May 23, 2015

UK
Bangor University
Durham University
Glasgow School of Art
Imperial College London
Kings College London
Lancaster University
Leeds College of Art
University of Aberdeen
University of Bath
University of East Anglia
University of Edinburgh
University of Essex (2)University of Exeter
University of Kent
University of Leicester
University of Manchester
University of Nottingham
University of St Andrews (2)University of Sussex
University of Warwick
University of York (2)Pratt InstitutePrinceton University*
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Savanah College of Arts* (SCAD) (2)School of the Arts Institute Chicago
Stanford University
Stevens Institute of Technology*
University of California (UC), Davis
University of California(UC), Santa Barbara
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Massachusetts Amherst* (2)University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University(Virginia Tech) (2)Webster University
Whitman College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2)CANADA
University Of British Columbia (UBC) (6)University of Toronto (4)University of Waterloo

EU

JAPAN

Amsterdam University College
University of Utrecht College

International Christian University (ICU) (4)Nagoya University
Sophia University (4)Waseda University SILS

USA
Academy of Art University
Birmingham Southern College*
Boston University*
Brandeis University
Brown University
California College of Arts (2)California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Los Angeles
Columbia University
Florida Institute of Technology*
Fontbonne University
George Washington University
New York University
North Carolina State University (2)Northeastern University* (3)Occidental College
Pacific Lutheran University*
Pennsylvania State University

HONG KONG
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology*

SINGAPORE
Yale NUS College*

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 4 | J u n e 2 0 1 5

Alumnus Report
Rio Kate Bradley is an alumnus of KIST’s “Class of2014.” She is currently studying in the Arts and Sciences
Honors Programme at Boston College in the USA.
I did not put much thought into my
freshman year of university
beforehand: in preparation, I
bought my ticket, shower slippers,
a new suitcase, and othermiscellaneous supplies that I
expected would be needed incollege -- but that was as deep as
my thoughts towards university
went.
‘Okay, great. I’ll be leaving lateAugust.’I was conscious of my departure,and knew that I would be living
away from my family. When I got
another letter after my acceptanceletter – a notice that I was enrolled
into the Honors Programme at
Boston College – I was content; I
felt like my hard work in highschool had been recognised.
However, I never fully accepted thefact that I would be leaving Japanfor Massachusetts, a state I had
never been to and could barely
spell.
It was only upon my arrival toLogan Airport that I realised that I
had already opened a new chapterof my life. Still, I was far fromknowing what to expect fromcollege. I (wrongly) expected
university to be ‘just anotherschool’, as I was used to enrolling
into a different school every three
to four years. I wasn’t especiallyconcerned with the workload orwith making friends. I assumed
that making friends would be easy:

I was registered to so manydifferent courses, I’d alreadymet a fraction of the freshmen
during orientation, and I wasin a co-ed dorm… how hard
could it be?

Honors students council outing in Boston to see aballet performance: The Nutcracker.
(Rio on left)

I found within my first week ofclasses that it was immensely
difficult to make friends from myclasses. During lectures andseminars, all of our attention is on
the professor. Writing down notes
during classes was hard enough –nobody had the time to socialise inclass. Additionally, on a campus
with 9100 undergrads, finding thepeople I met during orientation wasa challenge. I was lucky if I somuch as saw one face that I
recognised, unless it was in thedining halls, my dorm, or because
they were in one of my classes. It’s
worth stating that in university,
although meeting new people iseasy, keeping them as friends isnot. Of course, this is not to saythat making friends is impossible; I
made amazing friends that I’m
confident that I will only get closer
to over the next three years.
In regard to academics, I learned
two crucial things in my freshman
year, both in my second semester.
One, I learned that taking classes
that do not pertain to your major orminor can change your perspective(and lifestyle, in my case). Taking‘Russian Cinema’ has changed mylife. I used to be a self-proclaimed‘cinephobe’. I was convinced thatmovies were not for me; watchingmovies felt like a hedonistic way towaste two hours. Taking a classthat explored Soviet and Russian
masterpieces has turned me into a
Russophile and cinephile. Without
this class, I would still have no idea
who Tarkovsky was, or whatmasterpieces he createdthroughout his life. Second, I
learned the importance of having amentor. My professor for my‘Conversion to Islam in the
Balkans’ class has become amentor to me and encouraged me
to minor in Slavic Studies/East
European Studies; never in my life
had I expected to become sofriendly or close to a professor.
Because of these two Slavic
courses, I am now a Slavic Studies
minor, and will be travelling abroadin Bulgaria next summer. I can say,sincerely, that my new area ofinterest will influence me for the
rest of my life. If all goes well, I
hope to integrate my degrees in
Economics and East European
studies by pursuing a future inacademia.
Rio Kate Bradley
Boston College
Arts and Sciences Honors
Programme
KIST Alumnus “Class of 2014”

A portion of the class of 2018.
Gasson Hall in Boston College: the most loved building on
campus, with its own hashtag on Instagram (#gassongram).

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IT News

See The Comet June 2014 about KIST going Windows only

2015-2016 KIST student laptop requirements and Wi-Fi access
At KIST we use Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and SharePoint Online. We believe that unifying the computer
environment that teachers and students use will serve our community best, both from a teaching and learning perspective. Bylimiting the platform and determining course specific software, we can better support the needs of students and teachers.
Due to many technical complications over the past 3 years, such as teacher prepared student materials unable to beviewed on Mac OS, and all school resources not operating on Apple products, KIST does not support Apple products.
It is compulsory for all current students entering Grade 9 to purchase a Windows laptop (i.e. no Apple hardware). Only
Windows laptops will be allowed to connect to the school Wi-Fi. Any computers students bring to school must meet the KIST
Student Laptop Requirements below. Once confirmed by the IT Office one device only per student will be registered. If thecomputer changes, re-registration is necessary.

KIST Student Laptop Requirements for 2015-2016
Who must bringa laptop?

Grade 9-12 must bring charged laptop & power adaptor to school every day.

Requirements
apply to

New G9 students.
New students joining KIST for the first time in G10, G11 or G12.
Current students with a registered computer students who want to change their computer.

Hardware

Windows hardware only (with a physical keyboard). No Apple hardware or other tablets.

Minimum
Hardware
Criteria

Processor speed: 2.0 GHz or more

Available hard disk: More than 16GB

RAM: More than 2GBVideo memory: More than 512MB
Wireless LAN enabled: Essential

Screen size: More than 13 inches
Battery: More than 4 hrs

Operating
SystemWindows 8.1 (English language only)
Students using a different version of Windows will be able to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Enterprise using
KIST’s student upgrade license for no additional cost. However, depending on your laptop hardware thismay not be possible.
English Language Pack must be installed for non English versions of Windows, free via Windows Control
Panel

Anti-Virus

Norton 360 with an up to date license (English language only)
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013. Free for all current students.

Microsoft Office
Word

Excel

Power
Point

OneNoteOutlook

Publisher

AccessSkype
forBusiness

OneDrivefor Business

Internet
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox only. (most recent versions)
Browser
Additional
See KIST Required Software List (http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/328)
SoftwareNotes: Users with Windows receive technical support from the KIST IT Office.
In order to access the school Wi-Fi students will need to make sure that:
1. Their computer meets the KIST Students Laptop Requirements.
2. They have installed all the software in the KIST Required Software List.
3. They have submitted the Student Laptop Registration Form.
4. KIST IT Office checks laptop and enables access to Wi-Fi.
If you have any questions please contact the IT Office staff.
About Moodle
KIST Email and SharePoint
Due to maintenance and upgrades
Withdrawing students and families will noover the summer, Moodle will belonger be able to access KIST Email andoffline from June 13, 2015 until August SharePoint from June 25, 2015.
17, 2015.

G9-G12 Laptop Orientation
All G9-G12 are expected to attend alaptop orientation at the beginning of theschool year. Details will be coming at alater date.
SSP Sign Up
Due to maintenance and upgrades overthe summer, parents will not be able tolog into the school website from June 13,2015 until August 17, 2015.

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 4 | J u ne 2 01 5

“ T h e Co m e t ”

Friday, June 5