By: Sothea, G9 and Vanna, G9

On Thursday, November 18th, 2010 Grade 7 had an amazing science activity about how to make a light bulb light up. In this activity, Teacher Tyler and his students wanted to find out how electrical energy can operate light.

For this activity, they needed batteries, aluminum foil, and a light bulb. First, they cut the aluminum foil and made it light wires. Then, they cut the tape and wrapped it around the aluminum to be safe from electric shock. After that, they connected the aluminum from batteries to the light bulb from different charges and finally the light bulb lit up.

At the end of this activity, all the students felt enthusiastic. Usaphea, G 7 said, "In this activity, I feel very proud and happy because I can do it in a safe way and I don’t get shocked. Also, I can make the light bulb light up."

Srey Mom, G7 said, "I felt excited that my team got the first light bulb to light up. I felt afraid too because the activity was with electricity that is very dangerous, but when I did it with my team it was okay."

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By: Srey Noch, G8

On Friday 29th, 2010 at the meeting table prefect, president and other student council members and student council leaders were having a difficult time working on the international food week, the rules for the football fields, mental math contest, and were thinking of new extra curricular activities.

According to vice president, Socheata, G 9 said that for the student council rules if any member of the student council is 3 times late for the meeting and have 5 missing assignments then they are stopped from doing their job.

The international food week they have the result however people still have difficulties with which food to choose for each country.

For the football field, their put they rules on the board which is in front of the library. They are not allowing students to play after and before school because it can affect the classes and the study hall of students next to the field.

Student council members were having difficult times working for the school and looking after students. They make new rules and organize the school really well.

New rules going around the school

• Students sit straight and their back should be against the chair
• Their hands are on the table and feet on the floor
• They need to look at the teacher when he/she speaks
• No raising hands to respond to the teacher’s question
• Full answer responses to the questions
• No answer transition
• No high fives

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BY: Teacher Tracey G6

Before moving to Cambodia two years ago, I lived in the bustling city of Hong Kong. Honking horns, engine exhaust, bumpy buses and screeching tires surrounded me as I went about my daily business. Hong Kong traffic was unlike anything I had experienced while growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Oh, how I looked forward to the peace and quiet of considerably smaller, less populated, more rural Siem Reap! I could hardly wait to purchase a ‘moto’ and begin exploring the Cambodian countryside.

Upon arriving in Siem Reap, I quickly realized that driving in Cambodia was going to be more difficult than I had imagined. To begin with, which side of the road should I drive on? There were vehicles heading in both directions on BOTH sides of the road. I continue to be impressed with drivers’ ability to manouver their way through the traffic. Over time, I have discovered the ‘rules of the road’ here in Cambodia. Unfortunately, my fear of injuring others in an accident is stronger than my desire to drive myself around town, and two years later I still don’t drive.

So, my advice is this: ALWAYS look both ways before crossing the street. NEVER assume that the driver of the vehicle heading towards you does, in fact, see you. And, whatever you do, DON’T hold onto your helmet! Fasten it tightly on your head, where a helmet belongs. Your brain is valuable and cannot be replaced. (Just for the record, these rules apply anywhere in the world, not solely in Cambodia).

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By: Limon, G7 and Pangna, G6

Nowadays in our school students and teachers get pink eye that is really hurt, so Nurse Sovanna gives us some information about this disease.

Nurse Sovanna said that pink eye is formed by bacteria that flows into your eyes. When you rub your one eye, the infection goes to the other eye that makes both eyes hurt. This disease can spread as we touch each other.

When students and teachers get pink eye, their eyes get really big, red, and tears come out that make seeing worse. Everyone needs to go to the clinic when they get this disease. However, this disease could be healed as we go to get a medicine that is called “Iproflaxacine Eye Drop.” We drop into our eyes three times a day one drop in one time. The medicine takes 3 to 5 days to kill all the germs.

So if you don’t want to get pink eye you need to always wash your hands after touching someone. When your hands are dirty, don’t touch your eyes. You need to be always clean, so this disease can’t form. Don’t touch someone’s eyes that have pink eye and touch your own eyes.

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By: Srey Noch, G8

For this term, many students and teachers joined the English chess tournament. Everyone worked very hard to beat their partners. According to Phanith, G8 he was very proud of himself when he first competed with Teacher Mark (the principal of our school) and beat him. However, he says that he is still afraid that he will lose with the other people who are better at chess than him. He believes in himself only 50% that he can win.

Finally, I can conclude that playing English chess can give students one part of the knowledge that they didn’t know before. They could learn how to play and teach other people.

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By Chivit, G8; Editor

Reporters in Newspaper Club during this term had gained a lot of knowledge and they luxuriate in it very much. They learned about cameras and their most favorite is computer class, especially to establish the stories that you are reading.

During computer class which is on Thursday, students got to learn about equipment and even learn about Notepad program and Google Earth. They learned how to write, go through password, and enjoy looking at the view of Angkor Wat, Baray, and the airport.

Students were also able to use precious cameras. They learned how to zoom in and out and to make their picture as great as possible. They put those pictures into this newsletter and designed them beautifully. It is their favorite hobby.

Furthermore, writing is also an important task that they had learned. They wrote about news stories, describing and giving details, and thinking about their own ideas and information. This led to writing their own work and articles.

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By Seiha, G5 and Ratana, G5

Kindergarten students in Teacher Megan’s class have learned many great things and the important event have happened to them every week.

The kindergarten students of Teacher Megan’s class have just finished learning the alphabet in English. They studied about shapes and patterns in math. They also learned about the parts of the human body in science class.

The important event that happened to them every Thursday or Friday is the kindergarten students have reading buddies with Grade 5. Teacher Megan said, “It is very exciting to have the older students come into our classroom and read interesting books with us.” They also sometimes do activities together. Last week they had a mystery letter and they had to thumb print their reading buddies to find out who sent the letter to them.

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By: Pangna, G6

Today, JPA’s library has a lot of books for students and teachers to read for entertainment and learn about different information.

In our library , there are more books than before, so we could enjoy reading them. There are Khmer books and English books that are interesting. A lot of students and teachers spend their time reading those books that make them feel happy and sometimes sad because of the meaning of the story.

By getting information from Teacher Kelsey, she told us that there are more than ten thousand books in the library. This number is not counting the books that are in the classrooms. These books we buy from the United States of America are really great books. We also get these books from Cambodia’s stores such as IBC that have many different books. When we buy these books from the stores, they mail them to us, so we can put them in the library. The books that are just coming into our enormous library are Twilight, Artemis Fowl, and other difficult books for JPA students to read.

Teacher Kelsey is a new librarian who organizes the books in the library. If you want to find an interesting book to read, go and ask Teacher Kelsey for help. She is in the library waiting to help you find fascinating books to read! So try to read as many books as you can, they are waiting for you!

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By: Sokly, G10 Sothea, G9 and Vanna, G9

For this term, every extracurricular activity has many interesting movements in each group. They have learned something new and had new experiences.

In Art Club, students who had chosen to join in term two have learned the same things as before like to mix colors and draw portraits. Teacher Tracey said that she and her students will paint some pictures to decorate for chorus at the assembly.

For Chorus, Teacher Sam and Teacher Kara and their students will sing a dulcet song in the assembly at the end of term 2. They prepared to sing two songs which are “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Seasons of Love”. Teacher Sam is sure that his students will excellent.

In Running Club, there are only 5 students left. Teacher Kim and 5 runners start to run from school to road six. They also run 9km. Some students stopped running because they felt exhausted and they needed to help their parents.

During this term, in Soccer Club there were some amazing news. Teacher Lucy and Teacher Tyler broke the students into two big teams and had two soccer fields. Teacher Lucy said that now there are 41 students who join the Soccer Club. Every week, Teacher Lucy and Teacher Tyler exchange to teach different groups. Every Thursday Teacher Megan always helps Teacher Lucy to teach the small kids because she was very interested in Soccer Club.

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I am inspired by the students at JPA. I distinctly remember the 2009-2010 end of school year honors assembly. Grade 9 Prefect Vanndet was the MC and he closed the assembly by saying JPA was going to become the best school in the world. All of us, students and teachers, are working hard to make that happen.

As we continually improve we are looking for ways to make sure all students are successful. Each of us is different, some of us gregarious and some of us bashful. Some of us love Math and some of us can’t wait for Novel Study time. Regardless of our favorite subject or our personality traits each of us has a responsibility to learn and grow. In order to help all JPA students be successful we have rethought our classroom interaction. The move to “No Hands Up’ will allow all students to give thoughtful answers and receive feedback from their teachers. It encourages students to truly listen to one another and help each other to learn.

We have all come a long way in the previous four years and I am excited about our future and all of the possibilities that await us.

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