Friday, October 26, 2018

Dear all,

Time for a much needed weekend - lots of fun and great learning happening this week!
In addition, there is a lot of sickness around - please be absolutely vigilant washing your hands!  If you’re not well, please do not come in.  Spare your students and colleagues from catching your sickness! At times we may need you to cover a class or a duty for a colleague.  We understand this can present challenges and we appreciate your support in this so much.  As you know, we only use this as a last resort and thank you for being so supportive and understanding.

   Thank yous…

• To Megha (and Joelle too) for facilitating Adaptive Schools.  Congratulations on your first full lead facilitation!
• To our Adaptive Schools participants - Keeley, Jane, Jenny, Vanessa K, Jayasri, Sharon, Amritha, Jayashree, and Uma - for dedicating a weekend to professional learning.  
• To everyone who provided coverage and support during Adaptive Schools training
• To Kay for supporting SAISA swimmers throughout the season and at the meet in Amman
• To each of the teachers who gave of their time and interests to make Wellness Day a (swimming, jogging, print-making, crochet, and meditating) success!
• To everyone who has covered (so willingly) to cover for colleagues during this flu week!
• Mary Kelly, Jayasri, Sarah Sahr and Sarat for their calming and strengthening yoga sessions with our students for India month.

 Upcoming Week at a Glance

Monday 29 Oct	ASA performances 4 PM Field Trip Seva Samajan 2BW & 2DJ - 9:00am - 11:30pm
Tuesday 30 Oct	ASA performances 4 PM EY3&4 Parent Coffee Field Trip Seva Samajan 2FL & 2UK - 9:00am - 11:30pm
Wednesday 31 Oct	Halloween Parade - starting at 2:45 p.m with Grade 5 Section Meeting 3:45 pm Madras Hall
Thursday 1 Nov	ASA performances 4 PM Newbie Dinner @ Keryn’s 6-8 pm - Spouses and Children Welcome
Friday Nov 2	ASA performances 4 PM ASA Season Ends

CARE Institute Visit, October 30

In order to support our local community, Dr. Nathan, Founder, five faculty members and thirteen post-graduate students will visit AISC on Tuesday October 30.  of the CARE Institute will visit AISC.  CARE has training programs in “Learning Disability” and Counseling. They will be visit predetermined classrooms, meet with member of the Counseling department, and members of the Learning Support department.  To learn more about  CARE Institute Brochure.  To see the schedule of the visit the LINK HERE.

Covered Area

Just a reminder that if you are on duty during arrival or recess, please let students know that only ball play allowed in the covered area is for 4-square. If a student is kicking a ball they should be redirected to the field.

Halloween Parade (repeat info)

• Parade will begin P7 on Wed 31st; starting at 2:45 p.m. with Grade 5
• The parade will become one continuous snake, starting with Grade 5, and the parade will come by your classroom areas for you to join on the back of the snake parade.  

Approximate timing schedule:

2:45    Grade 5

2:47    Grade 4

2:50    Grade 3

2:52    Grade 2

2:56    Grade 1

3:00    EY5

3:02    EY4 then EY3

After all classes are collected in the snake parade - the parade will take one final lap of the ES ground floor, collecting candy in different stations along the way:

Route & Candy Stations

1.       ES reception/gate (ES leadership)

2.      Amphitheatre (coaches and specialists)

3.      Nurse’s Office

4.      MS locker area (HOS / Teaching and Learning / Admissions)

5.      CIC (Jet and team)

6.      ES Cafeteria (ES Office)

Adopt a Garden is Back!

 #AdoptaGarden project sign up

Calling all gardening/eating enthusiasts!  We have several unclaimed garden beds out the back of the FAC just  waiting for children to experiment with and grow stuff in!  Combined with the optimal weather and growing season in January/February we are excited to present the Adopt a Garden opportunity.  

Any faculty member who would like to adopt a garden bed can.  Expectations are minimal.  We will take care of all the weeding, maintenance, watering etc, and all you need to do is visit the garden once per week to watch it grow.  You could take your whole class or a group, whatever is easiest and if you need help making this ‘fit’ - together we will make a plan for how this can happen.  You may drop a lesson once per week in a traditional subject area - learning will still happen in the garden!  Maybe this connects with an upcoming unit, measuring in math, experimenting or just hands on experiential learning. We can help you make this happen because we believe in it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley

Friday, October 19, 2018

Dear all,

Thank yous…

• Homeroom, EAL, LSS teachers for hosting the growth story conferences - thank you for all the preparation and hard work; parent feedback has shown this to have paid off!
• Jet and his library team for all the supervision during conferences
• All the teachers who hosted HS students today for Discovery Day
• Hilary, Ryan, & Balajee for hosting our Service Learning faculty meeting
• Priya Venugopal and Evelyn for their interactive Storytelling sessions this week with Grades 1, 2, 3 (Flex - IS) for India Month.
• Music team for coordinating and integrating with an Indian Percussionist in their classrooms for Grades 3, 4, 5 for India Month.

Upcoming Week at a Glance

Monday 22 Oct	India Celebration Week Grade team Leader meeting; 3:45 p.m SHED
Tuesday 23 Oct	Grade 1 & 2 WIDA testing of identified children
Wednesday 24 Oct	SAISA swim team leaves to Jordan Early Release - Wellness Afternoon
Thursday 25 Oct	-
Friday 26 Oct	ES Movie Night; Witches - 3:45pm. BBT
Saturday 27 Oct	PCA Diwali Mela & India Month Closing Performance

Halloween Info

The timeline/window for celebrating Halloween is October 22 - Nov 2. Regarding the actual Halloween day - we would like to only dedicate the last two periods (P6/7) to celebrating; one period for the party and one for the parade.

Room Parents have attended a meeting where they have been encouraged to reach out to you to offer the following support

• They can come in for 1 x class block to create decorations; Joseph and Anita are happy for this to be one art class
• They can arrange to host a party for 1 x class block. Parties would ideally be P6 on Wednesday 31st
• Parade will begin P7 on Wed 31st; starting 2:45 p.m with Grade 5
• The parade will become one continuous snake, starting with Grade 5, and the parade will come by your classroom areas for you to join on the back of the snake parade.  

 Approximate timing schedule:

2:45     Grade 5

2:47     Grade 4

2:50    Grade 3

2:52    Grade 2

2:56    Grade 1

3:00   EY5

3:02   EY4 then EY3

After all classes are collected in the snake parade - the parade will take one final lap of the ES ground floor, collecting candy in different stations along the way:

Route & Candy Stations

1.      ES reception/gate (ES leadership)

2.      Amphitheatre (coaches and specialists)

3.      Nurse’s Office

4.      MS locker area (HOS / Teaching and Learning / Admissions)

5.      CIC (Jet and team)

6.      ES Cafeteria (ES Office)

PG&E Revisions

For those of you who are making revisions to your PG&E, SAP-S, or SAP-X documents, please make sure those revisions are completed by Wednesday, October 24th.

Info on Upcoming India Month Activities

Yoga (October 22nd - 26th)

Grades 1, 2 and 3 (Flex-IS) will have Yoga sessions during Indian Studies.

Grades 3 and 4 will have optional Yoga sessions during their lunch recess.

Click here for more details!

*TAs are requested to be present during this time.

Indian Snack and Lunch (October 26th, Friday)

All students and Faculty will be provided a complimentary Indian Snack and Lunch, catered by our Taj Madras Flight Kitchen on Friday, October 26th.

Snack and Lunch for Students:

Early Years - Grade 3 at the ES Cafeteria

Grade 4 and Grade 5 at the FAC Cafeteria

Snack and Lunch for Faculty:

Veg Samosas will be available at the ES Office during Morning Recess.

Lunch will be served at the FAC between 11:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

*Parents who do not want their children to have this, will send a packed snack and lunch from home.

Potter and Glassblower (October 29th and 30th)

We will have a Potter and a Glassblower on campus on October 29th (Monday) and October 30th (Tuesday). Grades 1 and 2 will have a session with the Potter and Glassblower during Indian Studies.

Early Years teachers and Grades 3-5 teachers, please note that, more slots have been added to accommodate as many classes as possible.

Click here to sign up for a brief demo of Pottery and Glassblowing for your students.

*Parents are invited to purchase products from the glassblower between 3:30-4:30 on October 29th and 30th in the covered area.

ES Vision of a Learner Recognitions (repeat announcement)

To continue to highlight our Vision of a Learner profile and socialise these attributes further in our section, we will be recognising students who have consistently demonstrated one of the traits from this profile. 

If you have recognised a student displaying these attributes, please  click here to add names. Anyone can add to this, specialists, homeroom teachers or teacher assistants.  

**If you see a student’s name listed and you also support this nomination, please add your name too.

Recess Updates (repeat announcement)

Rainy Day Recess - As monsoon season approaches we have added a column to the duty schedule for rainy day recess coverage. For morning recess, there is coverage for each grade level with additional faculty roaming on the first and second floors. For lunch recess, two faculty members will be covering each grade level.

Covered Area - As you may have noticed this week, two 4 square courts have been added to the covered area along with a hopscotch pattern. Students can four square or two square with the bouncy balls. If students want to kick a ball with a friend then they should be directed to the field.

Devices - Just a reminder that there should be no devices used at recess. However, if a student has a KIndle instead of book then that’s acceptable. Please review the Duty Locations and Responsibilities document if you didn’t get a chance before Fall break.

Virtual Learning Days: Reminder

Please make sure you are prepared for Virtual Learning Days should school need to close for an extended period of time. The goal of VLD is to continue to provide high quality instruction. Check your preparedness by:

• Update the skills tracker; get training for areas you are not proficient.
• Familiarize yourself with the AISC Continuity of Instruction Plan

See this week’s Head of School Notes for information on VLD sent to families.

ES Kitchen

If you are using the kitchen for a cooking lesson or for ASA please make sure that all the vessels are washed, wiped and put back in the respective places. Everything is labelled there (thanks to Kay) and whatever you use, be it a spoon or the blender, it needs to go back to its place. This makes the kitchen look clean and neat and also easy for anyone to use after.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley

Friday, October 12, 2018

Great first week back! Big thank you to all homeroom teachers for getting the growth story conferences prepared and the progress report comments entered into Powerschool. These have been printed, and once we do a final check of these hard copies, we will get them to each homeroom teacher on Monday.

Next week Keryn will be out from Wednesday for NESA Fall Leadership. Dave and Calley will be holding down the fort.

Thank yous…

• Grade 5 team for hosting their Family Math Morning on Tuesday
• Grade 4 would like to thank Joseph and Clinton for giving each student a personalized mahindi. They loved the experience and are very proud of your work.
• Mona, Esther, Lakshmi and Sruthi, Anitha, Zahida, Thanmaie, Geetha - for working on the India Month dances with all the students
• Valar - for photography for the event and for the slideshow she created
• Clinton - for stage set up including lights, risers, microphones and lighting and for all events and props
• Joseph - for assisting with the wonderful decorations, as well as coordinating all outside experts
• All the teachers and TAs who learned the teacher dance and performed for our students
• Alex, Hilary, Mary Kelly, Sherriden, Dan, Sarah, Amanda, Melissa, Jen, and Amritha for helping with proof reading progress report card comments
• Cheryl, Hazel, and Padma - these three ladies helped numerous teachers put on our sarees today and we couldn’t have worn it without them!
• Preethi - an AMAZING start to India Month.  Your attention to detail, the preparation and organisation have helped this all run so smoothly.  Thank you.
• Sheriden for presenting so fabulously to Grade 4 today

 Upcoming Week at a glance

Monday 15 Oct	Growth story conferences 3:45 - 5:30 p.m Snacks from 3 pm in the ES Office
Tuesday 16 Oct	Growth story conferences 8:30 - 3:30 p.m Lunch provided in the ES Cafeteria from 11:30 onwards
Wednesday 17 Oct	ES Section meeting looking at service projects
Thursday 18 Oct	-
Friday 19 Oct	Adaptive Schools Foundations Training (continues through weekend and Monday) HS Discovery Day - many HS Students in ES classrooms

ES Vision of a Learner Recognitions

To continue to highlight our Vision of a Learner profile and socialise these attributes further in our section, we will be recognising students who have consistently demonstrated one of the traits from this profile. 

If you have recognised a student displaying these attributes, please  click here to add names. Anyone can add to this, specialists, homeroom teachers or teacher assistants.  

**If you see a student’s name listed and you also support this nomination, please add your name too.

Recess Updates

Rainy Day Recess - As monsoon season approaches we have added a column to the duty schedule for rainy day recess coverage. For morning recess, there is coverage for each grade level with additional faculty roaming on the first and second floors. For lunch recess, two faculty members will be covering each grade level.

Covered Area - As you may have noticed this week, two 4 square courts have been added to the covered area along with a hopscotch pattern. Students can four square or two square with the bouncy balls. If students want to kick a ball with a friend then they should be directed to the field.

Devices - Just a reminder that there should be no devices used at recess. However, if a student has a KIndle instead of book then that’s acceptable. Please review the Duty Locations and Responsibilities document if you didn’t get a chance before Fall break.

Growth Story Conferences

Conferences days next Monday after school and then all day on Tuesday
Enjoy this face to face connection time with families sharing the data points that make up each students growth story.  

Some logistical points

·         Snacks from 3 pm in the ES Office on Monday

·         Lunch in the ES Cafeteria from 11:30 onwards on Tuesday

·         Supervision will be held in the ES CIC; supervision schedule can be found here

·         Top tips and commonly asked questions can be found here

India Month Activities

Following our wonderful performances, students in Elementary School will have activities designed and differentiated according to grade levels and our class schedules.

We will have demos from a Potter and a Glassblower, workshop- style music sessions with an Indian Percussionist, Indian Art related activities(diya painting, tie and dye and block printing), Mehendi, Yoga and Story-telling sessions. These activities will primarily take place during Indian Studies, Art and Music.

Click here to have an overview of the India Month!

*Students of Grade 3 and Grade 4 will have optional Yoga sessions during recess.

*Teachers of Grades 3-5 and EY, can choose to sign up here, if you wish to have your class witness a quick demo of Pottery and Glassblowing.

*Parents are invited to purchase products from the glassblower between 3:30-4:30 on October 29th and 30th in the covered area.

Indian Snack and Lunch on Friday, October 26:

All students will be provided a complimentary Indian Snack and Lunch, catered by our Taj Madras Flight Kitchen on Friday, October 26th. Spices in the food will be minimal.

The Snack menu is: Carrot sticks and cucumber sticks with ranch.

(Indian Flag- Tricolor Themed Healthy Snack)

The Lunch menu is: Jeera rice(rice cooked with cumin seeds and garnished with coriander leaves), poori(wheat bread), raitha(yoghurt with chopped vegetables), paneer masala(for vegetarians) or chicken tikka(for non-vegetarians), soan papdi(dessert), vadaam(rice crisps), buttermilk and juice/yoghurt.

*Parents who do not want their children to have this, will send a packed snack and lunch from home.

Budget and Overseas Ordering

As teachers and teams start thinking about their supply/order requirements from next year, please know that each Grade Team leader will be asked to compile a list of orders to send for approval.  As you start to think of supplies (etc) that you need, please note them down so when your team leader or HoD receives the official spreadsheet you are ready to go.

Have a wonderful weekend!  There is a lot going on here tomorrow with the ASIAC soccer, feel free to come by and support the Raptors!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley