Spectacular school art exhibition promotes global social and environmental issues

The bar has just been raised when it comes to school art exhibitions! World-famous organisation Elephant Parade recently pulled off a ground-breaking project with CIS, giving students a creative learning experience like no other.

As the first school to partner with Elephant Parade, CIS didn't take the responsibility lightly. Primary school students came together to produce an outstanding exhibition featuring canvas paintings of elephants painted by Kindergarten students, as well as a herd of over 1,000 replica elephants of different sizes created by Grade 1 to Grade 6 students - and even a full-size 3D elephant!

In addition to teamwork, the learning outcomes for students were vast. They ranged from using art as a medium to bring important issues to the public eye, to communicating with experts, and exposing children to important local and global social and environmental issues such as equal rights, deforestation and distribution of wealth.

Before painting images on the elephants, students identified an issue they were interested in and then talked to various primary sources to gain a better under-standing of the challenges each faced and
how they could take action to achieve meaningful change. Once they had developed an insight, professional artist Diana Francis together with CIS’s team of visual arts teachers, worked with them to simplify their ideas and portray them as images on an elephant.

The entire project took nine months to complete and is just the latest of several student art exhibitions CIS organises and opens up to the public each year. For dates on their next exhibition visit www.cis.edu.sg

CIS Tanjong Kantong Campus are Reader’s Cup Champions!

By Nadine Bailey
(TK Teacher-Librarian)

What is the first question in the library this year? “Ms. Nadine, when does Readers’ Cup start and what are we reading?!”

The buzz is growing again at the Canadian International School’s TK campus in hopes of a repeat of the 2015/6 school year, when much excitement was to be found in the TK library.  Students reading through a pile of books not once, not twice but up to 13 times! And then creating questions and quizzing each other. What was it all about? TK was determined to walk home with one of the Readers’ Cup prizes.  Readers’ Cup is an annual Singapore Inter-school reading competition where teams of six students compete in one of three divisions. To get onto one of the teams, students first had to get through the preliminary round in their school. The questions were in the form of an online socrative quiz, a paper quiz on each book and a long-form essay question on the book.

The hours of reading and hard work paid off when the TK team walked home with first prize in the older readers division. The  “Purple Page Eaters” team: Abigail Bilsand, Vedang Deshpande, Amy Deng, Aidan MacKay, Sonja Lee and Minji Kim, (with reserve player Jasmine Yu) beat 20 other teams from International Schools to come first in their division (and a team from the Lakeside campus also did extremely well, placing third in the same division). Not only did the winning team win the cup, a medal, and a subscription to Epic Books, but all our students in all our teams have won by reading extensively and intensively and it’s showing in the rise in their reading ability!

Ask the Dentist - Flossing

Q: Should we floss?

You’ve heard this constant refrain from your dentist: “Remember to floss your teeth”.

“What a nag,” you may snigger…..” What’s wrong with just brushing twice a day?”

Our advice is based on scientific fact: bacterial plaque causes gum disease and tooth decay, the two most common diseases in the world.

Bacterial plaque, left undisturbed along the margins between teeth and gums, causes inflammation in the gums. Evidence of long term inflammation are swollen gums that bleed easily.

In the areas that trap food, especially between the back teeth. When these bits of food are not removed,bacteria feed on them, releasing acids and causing tooth decay.

How do we remove all that harmful plaque?

Brushing works well on exposed tooth surfaces but a floss is needed to get rid of plaque and food debris between teeth. If gum disease has already left gaps between teeth, then special interdental brushes are recommended.

When left alone, plaque hardens into tartar. It can then only be removed through professional scaling.

Therefore, remember to see the dental professional twice a year and if you have any problems flossing or using interdental brushes, do not be shy to ask your dentist.


*****************
Dr Helena Lee is a Dental Specialist in Periodontics with Specialist Dental Group®, Singapore. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer with the National University of Singapore. Dr Lee has a special interest in dental implants, gingival plastic surgery, and tissue grafting.

For more information, visit www.specialistdentalgroup.com or call (65) 6733 7883.

*****************
Specialist Dental Group ® is a corporate sponsor of the Canadian Association of Singapore (CAS). CAS members enjoy a special rate for dental services. 

Fear the Ageing Brain

By John Nnamchi,
Canadian student at McGill University, graduating class of 2017

An important time in a student’s university year is the arrival of the summer holidays and subsequent search for a summer job or internship. Lucky for me, I was given the amazing opportunity to go back to Singapore for a summer intership at Senescence Life Sciences (Senescence), a bio-technology firm founded by Dr. Shawn Watson, PhD, a fellow member of the Canadian community in Singapore.

Senescence’s research specializes in age elated cognitive decline: the natural degeneration of brain function with age and often a predecessor to the onset of dementia (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc.) in later years. For Dr. Watson, his journey started at the University of Calgary during his doctoral studies when he discovered a novel mechanism found to be responsible for brain aging. Seven years of dedicated research later, he developed enough understanding of how human brains age and he then moved to Singapore to found Senescence. Aside from offering scientifically proven products for your aging brain, they also publish important information regarding aging, its effect on your brain, and how one’s lifestyle can influence the rate of cognitive decline. For example, did you know the human brain starts to age as early as 20 years old, or that brain aging is a universal reality that no individual can avoid? Once I began working at Senescence, it became clear why aging and cognitive decline were among the top concerns of adults today.

Interning at Senescence allowed me to work within my field of study Bio-chemistry) while equipping me with invaluable administrative, entrepreneurial and commercial skills. It was the first time I was able to appreciate the real life applications and contextual value of what I was learning in class. In retrospect this is exactly what a student should get out of a summer job in order to generate the awareness and perspective needed to map out the right career path. On a final note, Dr. Watson showed how one could seamlessly bridge academia and industry in a mutually profitable way (profits from Senescence go back towards research in brain aging), and is the ideal example of an ambitious Canadian taking control of a tremendous opportunity. Returning back to McGill with a new approach and perception towards my academic studies, I raise my glass to Canadians all around the world who remind me that we as a country never cease to do amazing things.