Dear Parents & SSIS Community Members,
Summary of Key Information:
Event: Dragon’s Apprentice
Date/Time: March 27, 13:30-15:00
Location: SSIS Auditorium
Tickets: Register here for tickets http://bit.ly/ssistickets
From now until March 27th, all Grade 6 and Grade 8 students are approaching the grand finale of their interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial unit – ‘Dragon’s Apprentice’. Students may already have told you at least a little about this challenge where they have been in teams to research, create, market and sell an ethical and eco-friendly product of their choosing.
In Language Arts, Grade 6 and Grade 8 students have explored how language of different advertising forms can deliberately influence them, as well as learning how to read texts in various media. They have also explored the concepts of ‘upcycling’ and responsible advertising. Ultimately, they are learning to understand themselves as consumers who are subject to the persuasive techniques of advertisers (reading), and how they can harness these understandings to apply them in a real-world context (writing).
In Exploratory Writing the focus has been on expanding the definition of ‘text’ to include the production of visual and spoken elements. Students have had to produce various texts including an advertisement poster, a rationale and a reflective piece of writing.
In Mathematics, students have focused on three main areas of learning. They have tracked spending and income related to their businesses, and created profit, revenue, and cost equations that relate to their product. Student have learned about variable and fixed cost, and used visual models to determine how many units must be sold to make a profit. Finally, students have incorporated geometry by designing environmentally friendly packaging that minimizes the ratio between packaging material used and the volume of their product.
Furthermore, to amplify the charitable aspect of this project, Grade 7 ELA students have explored and produced charity fundraising campaigns. You may have seen some of them at the highly successful recent sales day raising money for their chosen charities. We are excited to see how much our students’ entrepreneurial activities raise!
Monday, 27th March 13:30 – 15:00 SSIS Auditorium
On this day, finalist teams will present their products to a panel of ‘Dragons’, hoping to win the title of ‘Dragons’ Apprentice 2017’. We are very keen for the students to have supportive audience numbers worthy of the amount of time and effort they will have invested in their presentations.
Students will have different roles on the day from presenters, to ushers, to sales representatives – you will be able to purchase some of the products our students designed and produced on the day. All sales will go to our designated charity, which you will hear more about on the day.
Whether or not your child is on stage on Monday 27th March, they will have contributed meaningfully to the presentation.
Front-Section Seat Reservations
Due to seat capacity limitations, we would like all parents to have tickets to attend this event. We will reserve tickets in the front rows for all parents and family members. Please complete the form (http://bit.ly/ssistickets), and we will reserve up to four per family. If you need more than this, please contact one of the teachers below. When you submit the form, your name will be recorded, so there is no need to print a confirmation before the finale. Simply give your name at one of the registration tables at the entrance, and you will be guided to your seat(s).
Stress Management
This project involves a lot of applied knowledge and tight deadlines. For this reason, you may find your children becoming anxious about the impending date. We want students to take it seriously; it is a learning process. However, elevated stress levels can impact learning – as well as enjoyment – so please let us know if you notice your child needs additional support so we can help ease the pressure.
In the past, we have seen students become so excited about the project that they lose perspective; please encourage them to have balance in life. This can be done by ensuring they have set times when they work on their ideas, alongside times when they give themselves a break.
Questions or comments?
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact one of us. We look forward to seeing you on the afternoon of Monday, March 27th!
Kind regards,
Abena Bailey (Language Arts, Exploratory Writing)
abailey@ssis.edu.vn
Greg Jardin (Exploratory Writing)
gjardin@ssis.edu.vn
Eric Schoonard (Maths)
eschoonard@ssis.edu.vn
Brian Benck (Language Arts)
bbenck@ssis.edu.vn
Natalie Beals (Language Arts)
(nbeals@ssis.edu.vn)
