By: Cherish Danekas

       Octoberis a relatively short Academic month thanks to our Golden Week celebration. Wehope that you and your family enjoyed your holiday celebrations and break. Wehope that you and your family enjoy the rest of the month and stay healthy asthe weather gets cooler and the days get shorter.

October is the second month of the schoolyear, which makes it a special time between the students and teacher’s. This isthe time where the students start to feel more comfortable at school and moreopen to their teachers. This leads to the students true personalities to startshining through. We begin to learn more about each other and the classroomatmosphere becomes more connected to the students' needs and personalities.      

 It isalso the month where we begin to participate in interest groups.In thesespecial classes the children are able to interact with students from otherclasses and have class with a different teacher. This year's interest groups rangefrom Animal to Science, Multiculturalism to outdoor play, and even art todance. The students were able to choose their group with the input and help oftheir family at home. Three lessons down and many more to go!

This month has a couple of holidays andevents. Starting with Golden Week in the beginning of the month, Double NineFestival in the middle, and the sports ceremony and dress up day at the veryend. For Golden Week the students learned holiday themed phrases in bothEnglish and Chinese. They also got to spend their holiday with their familiesaway from school. They also learned different phrases for the Double NineFestival and took time out of their weekend to help their grandparents invarious ways to show their love and respect. A few grandparents even came intothe kindergarten for a very special treat. As for the last two events you’lljust have to wait and see all the fun and laughter that is sure to ring throughthe air.

October holds the second half of the same IBunit of inquiry as September. This month’s IB for Juniors was coming tounderstandings through play. In these lessons, Juniors students got to playwith their international teacher and other classmates in different games tobecome closer, have a deeper interest in the world around them, and createbonds with their new classmates.

       Forour Medium students this month’s IB was the creation and spread of a story. Forthis the students got the opportunity to work together as a class to make theirown story with the guidance of their International teacher, After they createdtheir story they got the chance to color in their own story books of the storythey made as a class.

       Thismonth's Seniors IB focused on I love my motherland. In this Unit of Inquiry theSenior students were guided through the world of festivals, clothes, and foodfrom all around the world; with extra focus on China’s additions. The studentswere able to see how these three topics differ from what they experience intheir own lives.

       Asfor our connection students, they were focusing on building a beautifulhomeland together. They were thoughtfully guided through the subject with theexpert help of their international teacher. As a class they were presented withdifferent problems within Guangzhou and voted together on how they would fixthose problems. For the problem of too many cars on the roads the studentsdecided to give everyone a bicycle.  Asfor the problem of it being way too hot, the students decided to give everyonemore ice cream in order to help cool us down.

       Aswe enter the last few days of this month and trek deeper into fall we wish youall warmth and health in the colder days ahead.