Hanova students create a forest at Hanova - written by Mr Andrew Symonds, Year 4 Teacher. Last Friday, Hanova International School students planted 394 trees on our campus creating a forest that will be used for forest school and nature activities for years to come. The project was part of a year 4 advertising project which has long been in the making and was funded by donations from the Hanova community.
The students learned about the benefits of forests for the environment and society. They also measured the area of the field, calculated how many trees they could plant and planned how to arrange them for optimal growth. This required them to measure the land we were using and apply our maths skills by calculating the area of the space, as well as our knowledge of 2D shapes for our designs.
The students also showed their creativity by creating video advertisements following narrative story scripts. They used Canva to design posters and placed them around the school. They raised money from parents through their advertisements and used it to buy the saplings and tools.
Finally, we held a whole-school planting day where the students in years 4 and 5 supported the little ones to plant their trees.
The students are proud of their achievement and excited to use their forest for learning and fun. They plan to visit it regularly and monitor its progress. They hope that their forest will inspire others to plant more trees and help save the planet. More importantly, they now know that everything they learn in school can be applied to making the world a better, cleaner place.
Year 2 students learn Maths: Data Handling - written by Mr Graeme Noble, Year 2 Teacher.
Year 2 students have been working on presenting collected data using bar charts to answer the learning question: What is your favourite animal?
“We are asked a question about the graph, linking to our Unit of Inquiry. We use sticky notes to make a class pictograph to gather the information we need for the graph.”
“Then we put our sticky note pictures onto the graph carefully. We all did this and discussed the results by interpreting data.”
“We then transferred the data onto individual bar graphs – a skill that we implicitly practiced.”
PYP Staff Development - written by Mrs Sandy Venter, PYP Coordinator.
Hanova teachers had a training session on the ATL skills
It was meant to help us teach better and instil,
Some habits of mind that would make our students thrive:
Like thinking critically and creatively and strive,
To communicate effectively and collaborate well,
To self-manage their learning and reflect on what they excel.
To research with curiosity and use information wisely,
To be ethical and caring and act with empathy.
The session was so engaging and the workshop leader was so smart,
She used some slides and videos and made us take part.
She gave us many examples and activities to do,
And showed us how to use them in our context too.
We learned a lot from her and from each other as well,
We shared our ideas and feedback and felt our confidence swell.
We thanked her for her expertise and her passion for the skill,
And hoped that we could meet her again and learn more still.
The PYP ATL skills have inspired us,
To become better teachers who can empower our students thus.
H – Heuristic thinking, exploring new ways
A – Approaches to learning guide us through our days
N – Nurture collaboration, working as a team
O – Organization skills help us reach our dream
V – Versatility and flexibility, adapting to change
A – Analyzing, evaluating, we rearrange
Approaches to Learning, tools for success
Developing young minds, a lifelong process
May we apply them with purpose and zeal
To create a better future, that's our ideal.
Busy March and April lies in wait for the Hawks! - written by Mr Paul Robinson, Director of Sports.
March and April will be busy and exciting months for the Hanova Hawks as we compete in a variety of competitions both in Primary and Secondary School.
PYP Basketball
Preparations for the Junior Chang’An Cup are already underway under the tutelage of Mr. Sam (boys’ team), Mr. Jason and Ms Emma T (girls’ team). Our boys squad stands at 15 players from Years 4 through to 6 and the girl’s squad is 10 strong as our female Hawks look to defend the title they won last May.
In preparation we have a number of fixtures coming up:
| Saturday 11th March | Hawks Boys vs. XIS
Hawks Girls vs. XIS Hawks Boys vs. XLIS |
Hanova Gym 3rd Floor
9am tip-off |
| Saturday 18th March | Hawks Boys vs Kangchiao x2
Hawks Girls vs XLIS |
Hanova Gym 3rd Floor
9am tip-off |
| Saturday 25th March | Hawks Boys vs Dehong x2 | Dehong International School
9am tip-off |
| Saturday 6th May | Junior Chang’An Cup | XLIS- ALL DAY |
Secondary Football
Mr. Robinson and Mr. Dušan are working with the secondary football players, and we are hopeful that our High School team can go 1 better than last year’s runners-up finish in the newly named ChanBa Trophy. The majority of last years’ squad are still together and this year also sees the emergence of a Middle School competition too. Additionally, we are hopeful of an open age group girls’ team and competition.
Confirmed football fixtures are as follows:
| Thursday 9th March | Hawks Girls vs XIS | XIS Campus- 1645 kick-off |
| Saturday 11th March | U19 Hawks vs XLIS | Hanova 930am kick-off |
| Saturday 18th March | U14 Hawks vs XLIS
Hawks Girls vs XLIS |
Hanova 9am kick-off
|
| Tuesday 21st March | U19 Hawks vs XIS | Hanova 1630 kick-off |
| Saturday 25th March | U14 Hawks vs Dehong | Dehong International School
Kick-off tba |
| Tuesday 28th March | U14 Hawks vs XIS | Hanova 1630 kick-off |
| Thursday 13th April | U19 Hawks vs Maple Leaf | Maple Leaf International School, 1700 kick-off |
| Tuesday 18th April | U19 Hawks vs Maple Leaf | Hanova 1700 kick-off |
| Saturday 22nd April | U19 ChanBa Trophy | Hanova- ALL DAY |
| Saturday 6th May | U14 ChanBa Trophy
Girls ChanBa Trophy |
Hanova -ALL DAY |
Track and Field
Dehong will be hosting a Track and Field meeting on Saturday 15th April with categories in U8, U11, U14 and U19. The PE Department in the very near future will be making students aware if they have been selected to participate, and parents will be notified accordingly.
Volleyball
During this semester we have added volleyball practices in preparation for Xi’an International School Athletic Conference (XIAC) competitions in the early part of the 2023/24 academic year. The attendance from the girls in particular has been excellent and we are hopeful of being able to field at least a U14 and U19 girls’ team from August.
School Charity - Chunshan Education Foundation - written by Ms Amy Hou, Head of Curriculum & Planning.
Since 2019, Hanova school has established a stable relationship with Chunshan Education Foundation. And we’ve donated more than 66,000 RMB (6,000 RMB this year） to support the “Library Project” in rural areas in Shaanxi Province. Our donation was used to build up 8 library corners in a primary school in Baishui County in Weinan City. The funds were used for book purchase, shelves purchase, and library staff training.
Staff in Chunshan Education Foundation revisited the school this week. It is hoped that our school charity could help more kids in rural to be exposed to knowledge and reading through this “Library Project”!
