WELCOME FOR SEMESTER #2 By: MR. BRAY Welcome back! Time to refocus on your learning. Make this second semester a great one for yourself and the entire SIS community. But, before we do that, we should take a look back at things that happened in the first semester. A little reflection is always a good thing. It was an action packed first semester. Our community has seen a great deal of success as a school in L-D Debate, Forensics, Math Court, volleyball, swimming, and soccer. Plus, we had students participate in several off-istand ‘tournaments representing the CNMI in tennis, swimming, and soccer. Beyond the realm of competition, our high school students made a strong showing in their PSAT results with both the Juniors and Sophomores scoring above the national average for Juniors. The SAT results for Seniors and Juniors were also above the national average. Our students have read more than 6,700 books (66 million words!) and taken AR quizzes on them. Between the grades 2-10, teachers are implementing Achieve 3000 to improve student skills in the reading of non-fiction material. The Juniors successfully launched our first season of Gecko Talk News and the Seniors will continue the show in the spring. The Scoop received an upgrade as woll as our school website. We added a new security system with seven cameras to monitor our campus. Our wireless network has been repaired and improved allowing teachers and students more reliable Intemet access. The elementary computer lab was upgraded with faster processors and more memory; in addition, Windows 7 and Comic Life 3 were installed on all the lab computers. We have solved a rodent problem by purchasing some electric traps. Plus, we are in the process of improving the efficiency of our lights by replacing the old florescent bulbs with LED bulbs. This will eut the number of light bulbs on campus by half and reduce kilowatt usage of the entire school. The old oven was replaced with a new one whieh ‘works better and is more energy efficient. ‘As the Headmaster, I would like to thank the community for the support and ‘rust you show by allowing us the honor to educate your children. I truly hope that during the first semester of SY2014-15 the community has noticed the improvements to our school. SIS will continue its commitment to providing a quality education for all students. NEW STUDENTS On Jan 7, SIS classrooms from KS to GI looked full with eager leamers as we welcomed some new permanent students as well as several temporary students, Congratulations and good luck #sisgeekos! The mission of SIS is to help each child reach his or her full potential by provid ‘environment that fosters academic, emotional, and social growth. MC STATE COMPETITION By: Ms. DOCULAN HS Geckos Advance to Math Court State Competition! Once again, SIS has emerged victorious in the Math Court Regional Competition held on December 20, 2014 in Koblerville Elementary School. Among our regional winners are Myung Jae Cho (G10), Jun Young Chung (G11), Dong Gu Hyon (Gl), Dong Hee Im (G11), Danie] Lim (G11), Je Hyun Lee (G12), and Jia Bao Xu (G12). This set of students will represent Saipan Intemational School against 14 other students who are considered the best in the field of mathematics. In addition, the following students have also gamered Grade Level ribbons: G10- Jae Hoon Jang (4th Place) and Cerinn Hwang (5th Place); GI1- Dong Gu Hyon (ist Place), Dong Hee Im (4th Place), and Jun Young Chung (5th Place). Regional winners will advance to the State Competition which will be slated sometime in January. + 1/23 LD Debate [i Sore CireLITTLE GECKOS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM By: Mr. BRA SIS is offering an all-day (7:45am-2:45pm) educational program. The Little Geckos program will be ran by a certified teacher and features learning activities specially designed for young children. The cost is $300 ‘per month with a one time $100 registration fee. Parents who would like to extend the day to 5:00pm must pay an addition $100 per month. For more information, you can contact SIS. JANUARY BAKE SALE Jan. 23, G12 is in charge of the first Bake Sale of this year, $790.00 $762.50 $735.00 $707.50 $880.00 © K5-G2 G46 Mi G11 B G3G5 Giz EDUCATIONAL TAX CREDIT (ETC) It's tax time again! If you own a business on Saipan, you have an opportunity to directly help any school on the island through Public Law 10-73. i _ Giving is easy! 1. Write a check to SIS between $10 and $5,000. 2. SIS will give you a receipt. 3, Attach the receipt to your monthly or yearly tax retum. SIS is one of only a few schools on Saipan that operate without regular funding from a religious or corporate organization so we depend upon ETC fundraising to help purchase books, resources, and technology for students, Please help continue the SIS tradition of excellence in education. Donate if you can; if you can't, spread the word about ETC donations to friends with businesses. Please contact Mr. Bray or the office should you need more information and pick up an ETC information packet in English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese or Russian. EE} sivas interstionalschoot mr96950 E) isgeckos GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION Just before Christmas, with the help of our G5 teacher, Ms, Amie McRoberts, SIS students joined the T-Galleria Gingerbread House Decorating Competition. On Dec. 22, students worked hard and decorated a beautiful island-style gingerbread house, with which eamed them the third place, according to the visitors, Destino Peri carned $300 dollars at this event. Congratulations to all participants. Not only for raising funds for Destino Peri, but creating gingerbread houses introduced a new tradition to our school. Many of our students participated in creating gingerbread houses during the last week of the first semester. Students also created Christmas cards, so many homes received Merry Christmas cards as well. For that, we thank Ms, Amie Mc Roberts. A 5EEF] ssipantncernainat choot-mv, 96950 [_) #sigeckor ACHIEVE 3000 We have been in the process of implementing Achieve 3000 this year. Now, at the start of the second semester, we have complete implementation in grades 3-10. Basically reaching our target for the end of the year, by the end of the first semester. However, the implementation being ahead of schedule is a small item compared to the results the students are showing. Every grade level using the program has seen improvement of at least an average of 50 By: MR. BRAY DEMOGRAPHICS e@us @ Korean Chinese Japan lexile points. The main feature that students like is the fact that the program is dynamic and meets them at their reading level. Every students has access to the same content, but at the correct reading level. Everyone becomes part of the discussion and interaction in class. To read more, sean the QR code on the left. Ate 4 cr MONDAY, 1/12 B DAY *3:00 Faculty Meeting ¥3:00— 5:00 ASK *3:00-3:45 Mentoring Program *5:00-6:00 Destino Peri/Spanish Class 6:30 HS MISO. Boys’ BB Game vs GCA *4:00- 5:00 MISO Girls’ VB Practice Lunch: Bisteak with Green Peas Steamed Rice Local Greens Fruit opesiiqo TUESDAY, 1/13 A DAY *3:00— 5:00 ASK 3:00-3:45 Mentoring Program *4:00- 5:00 MISO Boys. BB Practice at NMC 4:15 HS MISO Girls? VB Game SISIV vs MHSIV @MHS Gym +5:15 HS MISO Girls’ VB Game SISV vs KHSV @MHS Gym Lunch: Sloppy Joes on Bun ‘Texas BBQ Beans Steamed Corn Fruit * Ms. Kyoung Min Song and Ms. Kyungwon Song for helping us with the delivery of our yearbook draft over the break. * Mr. Joo for helping us with the delivery of our first newsletter, The Gecho Echo. * All faculty and staff for preparing SIS for the second semester. * Ms. Caroline Lochabay (08) for helping #sisgeckos to make better choices in the future. * Dr. Gary Ramsey for administering our #sisgeckos CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, 1/14 B DAY *BREAD DAY 3:00-5:00 ASK 3:00-3:45 Mentoring Program *4:00- 5:00 MISO Boys’ BB Practice at NMC. *4:00- 5:00 MISO Girls VB Practice Lunch: Pork Loin Chop Stir Fried Vegetables Steamed Rice Fruit health check up. THURSDAY, 1/15 FRIDAY, 1/16 A DAY B DAY *3:00 5:00 ASK ¥3.00-3:45 Mentoring, Program 4:00-5:00 MISO Boys BB Practice at NMC *5:15 HS MISO Girls’ VB Game SISV vs GCAV@MHS Gym *5:20 HS MISO Boys’ BB Game SIS vs MBA atat MHS *3:00— 5:00 ASK *3:00-3:45 Mentoring Program *6:30 HIS MISO Boys’ BB Game 6:00 HS MISO Girls’ _ vs MHS. VB Game SISV vs MHSV@MHS Gym Lunch: Lunch: Cheese Burger ‘Cucumber Sticks with Ranch Fruit Chicken Curry with Carrots Green Beans Steamed Rice FruitFE sper tneriona choot ur 96950 F) sangecton GALLERY- SEM#2 WEEK#1 re 1. Dong Ju Lee(11) 2. Quintin Ramsey(11) 3. Shion Watanabe(7) 4, Seha Ahni(9) 5. Jiny Yang(12) 6. Daniel Lim(11) 7. Allen Cepeda(11) ES 2 ui kim(10) 9. Sie Tiar10) 10. Sakura Imaya(10) 14. Emily Frink(10) 12. Ying Ying Hu(10) r ys 4 13, Shirley Qian(10) i Saipan International School PO Box. 503121, Saipan, MP, 96950 Tel: 670 2889660 Headmaster:tim.s.bray@gmaiLcom i