EARLY YEARS (EYP)
Ms Pham Thi Thanh Phuc
Early Years Teacher
One of the things that makes children love going to school is being able to experience the seemingly small things with their parents at home. In fact, children always enjoy helping their parents with simple housework, which gives them a sense of excitement and novelty as well as helps them foster family affection. Parents, let’s take a look at some lovely pictures of the children at school when they dry their own lovely towels.
Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang
Early Years Teacher
Learning must go hand-in-hand with practice! With that motto, in every project that F1.A students study, they always participate in field trips to increase their knowledge. In this “Homes” project, they visited Vinhomes Central Park. The skyscrapers, the towering Landmark 81 building, the adjacent villas, the large park,… made the children extremely excited and passionate. The students have directly learned lessons about the types of houses in the city, the parts of the house,… It was a very rewarding day.
“Book week” was also a colorful week. Students learned about many different books, listened to many fairy tales, stories with puppets,… On the last day of this week, the students also dressed up as characters from fairy tales. Some students dressed up as princesses, some transformed into Santa Claus, Uncle Cuoi,… everything created a memorable childhood playground for the students!
Ms Tran Thi Hong Tham
Early Years Teacher
Mr Nguyen Kieu Quoc Bao
IB Teacher – PE
PRIMARY YEARS (PYP)
Ms To Kim Yen
IB PYP Coordinator
Dear Tesla Community,
I am delighted to inform you that the recent IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) verification visit was a great success! The visiting team was impressed by the school’s commitment to delivering a high-quality educational experience for our students. We are eagerly awaiting the final report, which we expect to receive soon.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all members of our school community who contributed to this achievement. Your hard work, dedication, and commitment to the PYP programme have made this possible. It is your efforts that have helped us to create a positive and engaging learning environment for our students.
As we move forward, we are excited to share with you the upcoming events at our school. We are looking forward to the PYP Exhibition of Grade 5 students, which is a celebration of their learning journey throughout the PYP programme. Additionally, we have the 3-way conferences, which provide an opportunity for teachers, parents, and students to discuss student progress and set goals for the future.
Once again, I would like to thank our school community for their contribution to this success. Let’s continue to work together to provide the best possible learning experience for our students.
Best regards.
Ms Vo Thi Ngoc Linh
IB Teacher – KG Homeroom Teacher
At the end of the unit “How we express ourselves”, KG students organized and performed “KG Show” with much effort and fun. During the learning process, the students were exposed to many activities to express their creativity. From there, the students knew how to choose their favorite products to present in the exhibition. Besides, they also expressed their wishes and their love through the selected performances. Therefore, they have gained more confidence and expressed themselves better. Through the performance, they understood the central idea “Creativity can be expressed in many ways”. They know what they’re doing and work hard to achieve what they want. This shows in the way they present themselves to others.
Ms Dang Thien Ngoc Truc
IB Teacher – Grade 1 Homeroom Teacher
The Grade 1 students have spent 3 quarters of this year with so many emotions and interesting new knowledge. In Unit 4 “Where we are in place and time”, the students studied and learned interesting knowledge about the solar system, the names and characteristics of the planets in the solar system. They have gradually become accustomed to active learning and know how to share with classmates the knowledge they have around the topic. Then, after 6 weeks of studying with this interesting topic, each student had acquired new and interesting knowledge for themselves such as: Which planet is the hottest? What position is Earth in the solar system? Which is the biggest planet?… The students also organized an interesting and useful school-wide activity on the above topic to confirm to other students and teachers the knowledge they had learned. Hopefully, the current enthusiastic learning spirit will help students have good achievements in the last stage of this year.
Ms Vy Thi Kieu Oanh
IB Teacher – Grade 2 Homeroom Teacher
Moving on to the new unit “Sharing the planet”, the Grade 2 students are learning about plants and animals as well as their habitats. How many habitats are there for organisms? What are the characteristics of creatures living in the desert? How does the cactus have a stem and leaf structure to be able to survive in a harsh climate? The Grade 2 students answered all these questions through group discussions. In addition, the students also learned about the plants that grow a lot in the North, Central and South regions of our country.
Ms Nguyen Hoang An Khanh
IB Teacher – EAL
For the unit of inquiry “How we express ourselves”, kindergarten students learned different ways to express themselves. In EAL, students used the sight words and CVC that they learned to create their mini books to express themselves. They enjoyed the process of making their own books and sharing them with their friends and teachers.
Ms Sheryl Ferrer Cruz
IB Teacher – ATL
The kindergarten children made the connection with the central idea that “Creativity is expressed in many ways”, by exploring their school environment and favorite stories through play. They have engaged in many creative activities such as storytelling, coloring, painting, arts and crafts, role-play, games, cooking, and many more. The students develop their wonders of creativity and imagination. Throughout this unit of inquiry, the students have a voice and the choice to explore their interests and ideas in producing creative products independently and collaboratively. The students have enjoyed this unit of inquiry and have developed communication, thinking, and self-management skills.
It was an awesome field trip experience at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum to connect with the central idea that “Exploration leads to discoveries and opportunities”. Students have gained a better understanding of how history changes over time by seeing artifacts, collections, and exhibitions about Vietnam throughout the year. This field trip unlocked the student’s imagination, creating a unique visual experience to observe and gain insights back in time to the country’s colonial past. With this experience, students asked an inquiry: who made these collections, what did they make, and when did they make them? This inquiry has led students to find out about inventions and discoveries. Below are pictures of Grade 1 students’ learning experiences at the museum.
In Grade 2, students demonstrated their understanding of the transdisciplinary theme “Where we are in place and time” and the central idea “Geography and natural disasters influence how people choose to respond”. through a series of research, viewing, presenting, and reading materials to help them understand facts and be able to creatively produce a disaster magazine project. Students used their creativity to construct their magazines with various natural disaster content. The learning engagements allow Grade 2 students to be inquirers as they explore natural disasters and landforms. They used thinking skills as they analyzed where to live, why, and how to adapt to an environment with natural disasters. Throughout the unit of inquiry, students become reflective as they think about their successes. Well done, grade 2!
Take a look at the pictures of grade school students working on their magazine projects.
Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Sang
IB Teacher – Grade 3 Homeroom Teacher
After studying and learning about the migration characteristics of some animals, Grade 3 students completed a model showing the migration of some species such as salmon, Monarch butterfly, red crab and marked the location where fossils of some animals were found. That is the content of the Grade 3’s learning and research in Unit 4: “Where we are in place and time”.
Ms Huynh Thi Kim Ngoc
IB Teacher – Grade 4 Homeroom Teacher
During the transdisciplinary theme “How the world works”, Grade 4 students used a lot of time and opportunities to develop the learner profile of an IB student, such as principled, knowledgeable, and reflective. They participated in the research process, determined the assessment criteria, conducted regular reflection, evaluated their classmates and listened to suggestions from teachers and friends. As learning is a process, it takes time for the students to adjust, improve, and grow. Therefore, right from the start, they may not need to create a perfect product, but need to seriously think, evaluate and adjust their learning. Grade 4 students have had specific actions and clear developments in the process of developing this learner profile of reflective.
Ms Doan Thị Huynh Hanh
IB Teacher – Grade 5 Homeroom Teacher
The theme “How we organize ourselves” is a new journey for the Grade 5 students as they begin to have a more open worldview by researching about social issues around them. Starting from the familiar things in life, they learn and compare the advantages of technology in affecting people’s lives, leading to different development between continents. With the vision of a Grade 5 student, they have selected social issues that deserve attention, each with a different content, presented in both English and Vietnamese. Maturity and confidence are evident through individual presentations in front of the class on the issues they have researched.
In addition, the students participated in the City-level online English exam on March 3, as well as submitted their pictures to the District-level Green Drawing Contest. STEM week culminated the exciting activities of March, through which the students can experience hands-on activities and have interesting applied games, preserving great moments in the school year. Ms. Hanh would like to thank the parents who always understand and accompany the Grade 5 students. Wishing you good health and success.
Mr Alexander Gordillo
IB Teacher – EAL
We’ve been during the past few months since the last Tesla Talk Newsletter!
In Grade 3, we have recently been learning about the solar system, the moon phases, and how gravity creates orbits that impact our daily life. Students will be working with sundials, interactive reading exercises, songs, spelling games, all while learning vocabulary and pronunciation.
In Grade 4, we immersed ourselves in the research and writing of articles about renewable energy production and its impact on the environment. In particular, students learned some skills of researching, finding appropriate websites, doing close reading, and organizing information in order to answer relevant questions. We learned about Sequence Words to describe the functions of a chosen renewable source of energy, such as Solar or Hydro-Electric Energy. Best of all, we then converted our knowledge into a magazine for 4th Graders!
In Grade 5, students used the writing process in Unit 3 (“How we express ourselves”) to look into themselves and answer questions like “What is important to me?” and “What kind of person do I want to be?”. This introspective unit involved extensive writing in their journals along with peer edits and revisions. In Unit 4, students were invited to explore a social problem and teach us about it. The unit titled “How we organize ourselves” challenged students to not only learn about social problems (such as air pollution and plastic waste) but to identify an organization that works on fighting and preventing these social issues. Students exemplified the concept of “educating ourselves in order to educate others”. Ask our students for a copy of their presentations in Canva.
Grades 3 and 4 – Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve Day Trip
Most recently, we had a day-trip to the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, just outside of HCMC. We planted small mangrove trees at the Forest Protection Management Area (Khu Quản Lý Rừng Phòng Hộ), where students got their hands dirty experiencing the importance of plant and forest protection. We had a delicious lunch at Nha Hang Hoa Duoc, and then had a tour of the Mangrove Loop-Root Forest museum and the forest itself where students learned about different species of mangrove trees (cây đước) native to this marvelous nature reserve belonging to Can Gio. Your child may have brought some lady-finger-looking mangrove seedling plants home which will sprout into trees, should you decide to plant them.
This trip is aligned with our grade 3 and 4 unit objectives of Sharing the Planet (Grade 4) as well as How the World Works (Grade 3) where students get to apply knowledge learned in the classroom. We hope they cherish the memory!
(Click here to learn more about the lifecycle of a red mangrove tree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfKIF9S2uyQ&ab_channel=OdysseyEarth. To learn more about planting a red mangrove tree, you may watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQsN_e9n3UU&ab_channel=KingTideCorals)
Mr Brandon Williams
IB Teacher – ATL
Where we are in place and time: Our Grade 3 class inquired into various reasons for migration and how species and their environment change over time. The knowledge and skills gained in the various subjects came together really well in the Summative Assessment. Students completed 3D models in Art which were then uploaded as digital models in ICT and further used in Seesaw to assist students in sharing their understanding – as an online show and tell (recording). Students were required to find images online, plot migration patterns of selected species (using arrows) and make predictions about earlier environments based on fossils.
Ms Le Minh Anh
IB Teacher – Science
This year’s STEM Week theme, “Earth Shattering Event“, invites students to explore and comprehend the geological history of the Earth and the impact of natural phenomena on our planet. The event provides a fantastic opportunity to engage with the fascinating world of science, technology, engineering, and maths.
Throughout the week, students engaged in a range of exciting activities, presentations, and experiments that allowed them to delve deeper into the theme. Let’s have a sneak peek at their inspiring projects:
• Sixth-grade students used an online mapping tool to explore earthquake data, such as date, location, and magnitude. They also modeled a tsunami and created innovative structures that could reduce the effect of incoming waves.
• Fifth-grade students built scale-model structures and tested them for stability in windy conditions. They also proposed plans to prevent flooding in a coastal town while saving historic buildings within budget.
• Fourth-grade students collected volcanic activity data and mapped it. They also modeled a landslide using a clipboard and pennies and investigated how changes in friction could impact the angle of repose.
• Third graders engineered windproof houses using paper models to survive a windstorm. They also investigated ways to measure the speed of the wind using an anemometer.
• Second-grade students built a model of a river and monitored how changes in water flow impacted riverbed width, deposited materials, and flooding. They also created mini rain gardens with potting soil to filter out pollution and reduce runoff.
We also have various resources available for those who want to learn more about the theme, from recommended readings and documentaries to fun games and quizzes.
Mr Do Trung Hoc
IB Teacher – ICT
We are thrilled to announce our participation in STEM Week with the theme “Earth Shattering Events” for this unit. Our students have demonstrated their proficiency in technology by simulating natural disasters using their knowledge and skills. Additionally, our students were fortunate enough to receive training in a survival course application.
This engaging theme is complemented by other exciting activities, such as exploring the fundamental concepts of machine learning by building a data classification tool that can differentiate between fish and non-fish, or creating basic games using block-based coding language.
We hope to have more opportunities in the future to delve into the fascinating world of STEM, learn about natural phenomena, and develop critical thinking and technological skills!
Students receive disaster survival skills training through a learning app.
Ms Nguyen Thi Quynh Dien
IB Teacher – Art
For the unit of inquiry “Where we are in place and time”, grade 2 students created their paintings and 3D models demonstrating how weathering and erosion shape our land over time. They used found objects such as cardboard and paper, as well as newspaper, to demonstrate their actions to protect our planet in realistic ways. They were very happy during the progress of their artwork and seemed to be proud of what they had.
Ms Pham Ngoc Hai Dang
IB Teacher – Music
In Music, the students experienced activities to practice their skills such as singing, vocal chords, reading musical notes with hand signs, rhythm clapping, percussion instrument concert through basic rhythmic sounds – suitable for their ability and level.
The students of KG, Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 have been practicing how to harmonize with simple percussion instruments such as hand drum, tambourine and triangle. This activity also helped them develop the IB Learner Profile – Caring and Principled.
Besides, the students of Grades 4, 5, and 6 are continuing to practice hard every week to improve their recorder skills. In addition, they also participated in group activities to create and practice together in Body Percussions. This is one of the activities that help develop students’ sense of rhythm. At the same time, it also helps them develop the IB Learner Profile of COMMUNICATORS, THINKERS and RISK-TAKERS.
Mr Do Su
IB Teacher – PE
At Tesla, children are focused on developing survival skills in the water through swimming lessons, helping students become independent learners. They know how to warm up before participating in sports, prepare learning materials, and clean up after finishing the class. In addition to the sports they learn, they are encouraged to think creatively and create rules for the game with available tools.
MIDDLE YEARS (MYP)
Ms Angela Baker
MYP Coordinator
I cannot believe we are already nearing the end of Term 3! Where has the time gone?
Our Grade 6 students have been busy with their current I & S and EAL MYP unit, which focuses on governments, power, conflicts, and the effects of war. Students have learned about the various types of governments and how power or a lack thereof can lead to severe issues that devastate individuals’ human rights and needs within those conflict zones. After creating a conceptual understanding of these topics, we are now viewing them through the lens of the war here in Vietnam. Students have learned about the causes and effects of the war and the repercussions on the citizens of Vietnam. On March 16th, we went to Presidential Palace, the memorial for Thich Quang Duc, and The War Remnants Museum for a first-hand look at this challenging time in Vietnam’s history. Mr. Alex and I believe the trip was meaningful and will provide our students with the necessary background knowledge for their museum exhibit summative assessment.
Our students started their MOET Mid-Semester exams on March 20th and wrapped them up on March 31st. The term three reports will include their MOET test scores and an update on their progress in MYP.
Lastly, as part of our service learning program, our students served as Tesla Ambassadors for our Open Day on February 25th. They did a fantastic job and represented Tesla well. Thank you to those parents who attended and allowed your student to join the event. We are also in the process of creating a Tesla Student Council and will share more information very soon.
Thank you for supporting our Grade 6 students and the MYP Program!
Mr Timothy Vanderpool
Head of School
Grade 6 Design Technology & ICT
During Term 3 the students worked on several projects that included a presentation about what the Tet holiday means and a poster design to celebrate Tesla Book Week. Currently they are working on a Toys for Turkey project to design and develop a toy for the children victims of the tragic earthquake. The project includes a technical drawing, resource and materials budget, and a step-by-step procedure of how to make the toy. In addition, students will be finishing the term with an assessment on digital citizenship and foundational skills necessary for computer literacy.
Mr Alexander Gordillo
IB Teacher – EAL
In Grade 6, we focused on persuasive reading and writing culminating in their own opinion essays. Students learned the structure of a 5 paragraph essay and had writing practice with peer and adult support. In the current unit, we are doing an interdisciplinary unit between Individuals & Society along with EAL. Our focus is learning about the Vietnam-American War through images, historical research, and interpretive reading. As part of this unit, students will do lots of reading comprehensive exercises to sharpen their reading skills.
Ms Nguyen Thai Hoang Phi
IB Teacher – Learning Support
Learning Support Team has the responsibility of supporting students who are struggling with some kind of specific subject in Tesla. Especially, language will be the priority that Learning support teacher is always willing to help them from PYP to MYP. During the supporting time, students will be instructed to acknowledge their strengths , weaknesses and improvement. Additionally, they will be taught the skills in each subject they are struggling, how to organize and manage their work, how to work in groups effectively as well as how to perform their learner profiles.
As other subjects, supported students also follow the Program of Inquiry beside some other outside lessons like phonetics or sentence building so that they have the better awareness of the unit they are learning to catch up with their class lessons and they improve their language skills more and more.
Regards,
Phi
Mr Nguyen Kieu Quoc Bao
IB Teacher – PE
In the last semester, Grade 6 students continued to practice interesting swimming skills. Besides the front crawl and backstrokes they are learning, Grade 6 students have been learning necessary survival skills at the same time such as standing in the water, floating. The students showed great skills of floating their body freely in the water, moving in the water in an excellent way.
This time, the students were simulated a survival swimming situation in a large and dangerous wave area without tools such as buoys, swimming goggles,… support. They really enjoyed it and worked really hard to learn how to get through those situations.
Ms Thach Thi Le Thu
IB Teacher – Librarian
Learning Resource Center
Besides using Library Management software to manage books/resources, borrowers, and apply information technology to a library’s professional processing and operation, librarians focus on teaching and learning through books.
Purpose: to bring the library closer to students, and to stimulate their interest in reading.
• Organize a variety of reading activities such as group reading, reading for the whole class, etc.
• Organize extra-curricular activities to practice reading, and learn to tell stories by role.
• Donate books, and create Free Little Library for free, baskets of books are placed outside the library for students to entertain, and read while waiting for their parents to pick them up.
• Class Reading Corners are for students to read for fun or study by topic.
• Book reading and circulation at least once a week.
• Introduce books by weekly theme, organize Book Week once a year (February or March).
• Students learn to cite their references. Citations need to be written in a specific way to avoid plagiarism.
To serve the needs of reading, sharing, and looking up information anytime – anywhere, on the school’s website below the toolbar of Students and Teachers, there is the library software named Follett, and a reliable research database called Britannica School that the school currently offers.
