On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Grade 6 did a workshop called “The Young Americans”. It was really fun. We did lots of drama, dance and singing. It was another way of learning performing arts at school. Here is a video of what we did in our 30 min concert on Wednesday night. Enjoy! I give special credit to Miss Sarah Hodgson, performing arts music teacher for Pre-reception to Prep, who took the video of our performance.

For the past 3 days 33 people who were aged 17- 30 came to our school. They were part of an organization called the Young Americans. The Young Americans specialize in performing arts such as drama, singing and dancing. Our goal for the three days we had with them was “Create an amazing performance in three days”. I thought, that was possible, but once when I saw what we were doing, I was like – OMG! I don’t think we can do that! But boy I was totally wrong!

One the first day of our exciting program, we sat down in the LLAC (Leo Lee Arts Centre). The Young Americans suddenly popped out and went into the audience to introduce themselves. They had an amazing attitude and seemed very excited to meet us. The first Young American I met was a Japanese girl. She was really young an liked to ski, just like me! After that, Bill and Robin, the director of this Young Americans tour gathered all of the Young Americans together and asked them to perform a dance. It was to the song Witch Doctor. It was a really cool song. Steven, a very young Young American asked us to go in a group with a “Young American”, and learn the dance in 10 minutes. I thought to myself “Are they kidding? Do they seriously think we can memorize and perform that in 10 MINUTES?”. Well, I went with Daniel Sum and Utah, the Korean guys who really like Gangnam Style. After we learnt the entire dance, we practiced it with music. It was really good, not as good as the Young Americans, but really good for our first try. We then went for lunch. When we came back from lunch, we learnt part of the song “Don’t Stop Believing”, part of the song “Let It Be” and part of the song “Hey Jude”. We split up into the groups Girls 1, Boys and Girls 2. The group “Girls 1″ were the soprano part of every song, the “Boys” group were the Tenor and the “Girls 2″ group was the alto. In that way, we learnt the three songs in three different parts for each. It was really cool because it sounded really good. I felt really confident after the first day.

On the second day, all of the Grade 6′s reviewed what we learnt yesterday, because those were going to be the beginning part of our show. After that, the boys split into two groups – the Ghostbusters and the Disco Boys and the girls came together into one group to learn our “Disco Medley”. I was a disco boy, I learnt the moves to a song by John Travolta. We had lots of fun. Our show was awesome. Then, we learnt a drama act called “Happiness is…”. It include all sorts of drama such as taking a photo, doing yoga, watching a sport, catching a butterfly, having fun at a rock and roll party, participating in a choir with a famous conductor conducting you, hiding in your friend’s apartment before they come in to celebrate his birthday, etc. That was really cool. 12 singers were also pulled out to participate in the “Disney Medley”, where people sing famous songs from Disney shows. It was great watching other people sing but once in a while I had to cover my right ear or my left ear before getting deaf. After coming back from lunch, we learnt a dance called “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King. The Young Americans said that that would be our grand finale. We did it really well and we had tons of fun!

On the third and final day, we did two dress rehearsals of the entire show, to know the transitions, know what comes next after another. We also learnt our whipped cream on the top song. It was our actual finale, but we thought of it as a song that was offered for everyone at the end. We had tons of fun. Before that though, we listened to someone play the piano and we drew what we thought of when that person played the music. I drew a sunset with a bed of water near a beach and a rowboat in the water. We also wrote poems about the song that two Young Americans played on the guitar.

As performance night came, we were quite nervous in performing. I still felt more confident than before, which was good. We did really well. My parents were proud of what we did in the last three days. After the performance, we said a sad goodbye to the Young Americans as we left them in the auditorium. I had a great three days and I built my confidence in performing arts.

I wish we had a longer time with them!

Welcome readers of my blog! Scroll down to see my posts that I make to see what I am learning in school and some interesting videos. This blog is only used for learning purposes only and things related to education or cool videos that I find online. You may click here to visit my About Me page to see information about me. Hope you like my blog!

Hi readers of my blog! Today is remembrance day. It is a very solemn occasion as we have to have a ceremony to thank those who helped us in WWI. Here are some PSAs that my friends from class made about Remembrance Day. The exact same post would be posted on my new blog here that would have the picture of the Junior Choir singing as my media upload has reached the limit. Thank You!

Hi readers of my blog, I know you have enjoyed reading my blog, but I’ve used up by quota for media on this blog. Therefore, I’ve created a new blog, where I will do the exact same thing I’ve been doing on here. Please click here to visit my new site. Cheers! Michael C.

P.S. for Mr. MacPherson – All writing prompts, reading reflections and math investigations will be posted on my new blog.

Hi readers of my blog! Today the Junior Choir and the CDNIS Scout Group went to the Sai Wan War Cemetery to help hold a ceremony about the people who died in WWI. We all tried our best in having the best performance. Today is actually the “REAL” Remembrance Day, unlike Friday, when we had the ceremony in school earlier. The Prime Minister of Canada and his wife came to the ceremony as well. That’s what we did today at the Sai Wan War Cemetery.

Here is a message from Miss Parnsalu regarding the removal of the main office phone. You should read this if you are a student from CDNIS.

Please note that the phone in the public area of the main office area has been removed.   If  students are sick or have an urgent matter that requires a call home, they are to speak directly to their teacher or one of the nurses first.  Students and parents are asked to record transportation arrangements in student diaries to ensure ASA pick ups and playdates are pre-organized and students know where they are to go after school.  Students should be encouraged to pack their own bags the night before school ensuring they have all home learning, PE gear and any other tools required for the next day.  Part of this process is students developing responsibility for their belongings and schedules.  If students are at school for Saturday activities, they should have a phone with them, ask a supervisor to use their phone or if urgent, ask security on the 9th floor to use the phone.

Thank you for your consideration with this matter.

I have signed up to take part in the Math Olympiads (MOEMS – Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools). This year, I will be taking part in 6 tests and learning lots of math with my upper school tutors as they’ve volunteered to help us learn math to get ready for the worldwide test. Go here to find out more about the Math Olympiads.

Here is a message written about the 3 way learning reviews from Mr. Hughes (the lower school principal). If you are a parent or student from CDNIS, it would be helpful to read the message below.

Dear Parents,

On Thursday 22 and Friday 23 November we will host 3-Way Learning Reviews from 8:00AM to 4:55 PM. Each conference is 25 minutes in duration. To accommodate the conferences, please remember that students do not attend school for both days, except for their scheduled appointment. During the conference, you and your child will meet with your child’s homeroom teacher (or single subject teachers) to discuss how he/she is progressing with the programme and developing socially. Together, you will set attainable, meaningful goals.

Please find here a parent user guide. This guide provides you with step by step instructions for scheduling your 3-Way Learning Review. Sign up begins on Monday 5 November at 8:00AM.

If you experience any difficulties using the online system or require translation at your conference, please contact Ms Jean Lo at 2240 6312 or jeanlo@cdnis.edu.hk for assistance.

Kind regards,

Dylan Hughes

This week I read the book “The Grim Grotto”, which is book 11 of the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” series. This book was written by Lemony Snicket and was illustrated by Brett Helquist. Here is a brief paragraph on what it’s about. The three Baudelaire orphans are going down in a river during False Spring and are very worried about their friend Quigley Quagmire, who was also being washed down the stream but was separated from them. They suddenly bumped into a submarine and went in. There were people in there also part of V.F.D., and needed to find it desperately before a notorious villain named Count Olaf. Only the captain knows why the sugar bowl is so important and he and his stepdaughter need help repairing telegram devices, reading tidal charts and eating better delicious meals, as their cooking assistant isn’t very good at it. After a short day of hard work, everyone gathers together at a table and discussed what was to be done. Klaus successfully reads the tidal charts and knows where to find them, and the captain’s stepdaughter Fiona helps by finding out where is the location name of the sugar bowl. They then set off to find the sugar bowl, which they discovered should be in the Gorgonian Grotto, the home of the deadliest mushrooms ever. You can read the book or watch the movie to find out the rest of the story.

I think this story was a really good book, in addition to all of the rest of the books in the series. This book particularly attracted me to the book that I read all of the 150 pages straight, except to go to the bathroom and to drink water. This book is very action-filled and adventurous, which are the types of books that I quite like. The author described very well of what the Baudelaires did in the Grim Grotto and thought of a very interesting plot that kept me engaged in this book. If you click here, you can visit a post where I kept comments on the book about dragging on and discouraging readers. This book was a great book but I would consider more illustrations in Lemony Snicket’s books to make the book more interesting and colorful like many books are. This book has many mysteries leading on to more mysteries and the stories tend to get longer and longer. I also like the fact that near the end of the book it sounds like the tale of the Baudelaire orphans were about to end but then on the last page it gives you a jolt that there is more to come. In this book, I learnt how to read tidal charts (not very thoroughly because it wasn’t described very well) and I also learnt how submarines, telegraphs work and about a very deadly mushroom. I look forward to reading the next book and finding out the entire tale of the Baudelaire orphans as there are only two more books to go.

I would recommend this book to children ages 8-12.