Friday, November 30, 2018

Dear faculty,

Happy Friday! Dave and I had a great day today at ASB with the other elementary leadership teams from ASB and AES. We had a particular focus looking at early years programmes, and in particular moving towards multi-age early years classes.

HOLIDAY GIFT OF TIME:  A Big Thank you to Teachers!

As a way of showing our appreciation at this time of year, and for all that you do, please sign up for a holiday guest reader to come in for a holiday themed read aloud! You can feel free to leave at this time, continue to work on report cards, get a coffee, whatever it is you need to do at this time! Homeroom or specialists may avail of this; to begin with, please only sign up for one block to make sure everyone can benefit.

In addition, next Wednesday's section meeting time will be individual time to work on report cards. We will not come together as a whole ES section.

Thank yous:

• Thank you in advance holiday guest readers - Kirsten, Sherriden, Calley, Dave, and the other helpers
• Thank you to the NEW teachers who have already set their mid-year meetings.  
• Thanks for the teachers and TAs who prepared with their students for a great EY5-Grade 2 Celebration of Learning.
• A big shout out to Esther for providing students with quality feedback that recognises their hard work and pushes their thinking further. Marcus, Ross and Fiona.

NOTES ABOUT PARTY FROM PARENT REPS:  Upcoming winter parties

Please see here the notes that have been shared with parent reps regarding the upcoming winter parties.  

“As much as possible, teachers have expressed a preference to connect these parties to the winter performances to ensure time for learning is protected right up to the end of the year.  Parties can be held last week before the break; no earlier than Friday 14 December, with Friday 7 December if no other option possible.  Decorating -  with children's crafts as much as possible makes it more meaningful for the children - can begin from Friday 7th December after school.”

Considering these notes, it is appropriate for parents to approach teachers to decide together what is the best date for your individual party, considering your kids’ needs and their preparation for their performance.

Secret Santa Starts Next Week!

Secret Santa begins on Monday - let’s have a lot of fun surprising and treating our colleagues during these last three weeks of school before winter break. The Kalakshetra Fair this weekend is a great place to pick up some fun and festive gifts.

 

Report Card Timeline - repeat announcement

It is time to start thinking about the upcoming semester report cards! Pay close attention to character count: as these report cards are being printed, we cannot exceed character count in any area!

Style Guide

Wed 21 November	Faculty meeting focusing on data evidence for report cards Calibrating report card data and narrative comments  in own grade level teams; a facilitator will join you to work through a protocol and answer any questions you may have Teams should meet in the GTL’s room	Done
Wed 5 December	ES faculty meeting time dedicated to finalise writing and proofreading of colleagues report cards
By 7 December 4pm	Comments  (Google doc) due to admin/coach for final proofing (can be shared with final proofer earlier if ready) Proof readers can be found here
Tues 11 December by 4pm	Edited comments returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into PowerSchool
By Thur 13 December 8am	All narrative comments and ratings on standards  entered into PowerSchool - printing will begin at 9 a.m.
Mon 17 December	Reports given to HR teachers with named envelopes. Please double check name, do a final glance of doc, and place into matching name envelope.
Tues18 December	Please double check name, do a final glance of doc, and place into matching name envelope. Give to children to take home.

Arts, Sports & Activities

Faulty sign up for Season 3. If you wish to offer activities for the last season, click on this Form.

Counseling Dept - Student Protection - letter to parents

We have shared below information with parents through the Principal’s blog today, please share it through Edmodo as well.

Student Protection Curriculum

As part of our annual school counseling program, we school counselors wanted to let you know that we would be delivering lessons pertaining to personal safety. These lessons are designed to help our students recognize and understand what our bodies perceive as a threat. Our hope is that through our lessons, students become better prepared to respond to unsafe situations. We thank you for your continued support of our elementary school counseling program. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s grade level counselor, either Ms. Linda Gerberich or Ms. Vanessa Kim. Detailed information shared here.

Advent Water Challenge (from Beth via the Wellness Blog)

Amrita Varshi and Serin Kim, as well as Arun Krishnamurthy spoke at the RISE event last week. If you didn't get a chance to see it, you might have missed an opportunity to be inspired to be "more than an armchair conservationist." One important way that we can take action is by acknowledging the water crisis in India, and helping to conserve water.  For daily tips on how YOU can be part of the solution, share this Advent Calendar with your family and friends and decide what actions you can take together. It will 'open' on December 1 (but don't have to wait until Saturday to start conserving water) and goes all the way to the 24th. You can also tweet about the actions you are taking!  Use #aiscH2O in your tweets.

Rehearsal Schedule for the Upcoming Winter Concert

IMPORTANT POINTS

• For classes who are performing in the dance:  there are NO regularly scheduled music or dance classes for the weeks of 10 - 14 December and 17 - 21 December.
• New info:  For those classes who are not performing in the dance (Grade 2:  FL and UK, Grade 3:  JM and TG , Grade 4:  RC and JH, Grade 5:  JD and BT) please expect to hear from us on Monday, Dec 3 about your students’ missing dance block - we will arrange for a special make-up in consultation with you.
• Rehearsals Listed below REPLACE music and dance classes.  Children all still receive 2 x music blocks and 1x dance blocks during these weeks.
• We understand this may be disruptive to your schedules and or planning, so we want be sure you have this information early, so you can plan accordingly.
• Teacher assistants are required to BOTH walk classes over to the FAC theater and remain present for the duration of the rehearsal to support the music team when they are working with whole grades.

 SPECIAL NOTE FOR MUSIC REHEARSALS:

• The rehearsals are done by grade level with all classes coming to the FAC at the same time for music.  
• The TA’S need to accompany because seating will be assigned.  Please bring the children in a “TALL to SHORT” order. It is much easier to go onto the risers if this is already assigned.

 Blue - Music

Yellow - Dance

TIME	MON   10	TUES    11	WED   12	THURS   13	FRI      14
9:05-9:45	EY - 3	G - 5	EY - 4		G - 5
9:50-10-30	G - 2	EY - 4	G - 2	EY - 3	G - 4
10:55-11:35	EY - 5	G - 1		G - 1	(D) G - 4 4MG/4JN
11:40-12:20	G - 3	G - 4	EY - 5	G - 3	(D) EY - 5 All
1:15-1:55	(D) G - 3 3SS/3MR	(D) G - 2 2BW/2DJ	(D) EY - 5 All	(D) G - 1 All	(D) G - 1 All
2:00-2:40	(D) G - 4 4MG/4JN	(D) G - 5 5EF/5VL	(D) G - 2 2BW/2DJ	(D) G - 3 3SS/3MR
2:45-3:25				(D) G - 5 5EF/5VL

FULL CONCERT REHEARSAL & PERFORMANCE (All):

TIME	MON    17	TUES   18	WED  19	THURS  20	FRI   21
9:05-9:50	EY Run Through	G1&2 Run Through		G3-5 Run Through
2.30-3.15	EY Performance	G1&2 Performance		G3&5 Performance

Emergency drill Thursday 13th; Situation: Evacuation to Safe Haven (gym)

EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILL GUIDELINES:

1. Once we have an indication/alarm of an emergency situation, all students and staff should maintain silence at all times to ensure that directions can he heard.  The indicator is a wailing alarm.
2. Safe Haven is located at the gym. The Safe Haven will be used as the school’s “Lockdown” option according to the type of emergency and specific instructions. The Safe Haven is equipped with food and water supply for 72 hours for all students and staff.
3. All classes/groups should lock their Classroom|Office, form in straight alphabetical lines and maintain the lines until further instruction.
4. The responsible teacher should be at the front of the class/group so that they are accessible to principals.
5. Groups should not sit unless instructed to do so.
6. Silence is maintained until the drill is over and students are released.
7. Do not use elevators.

All Teachers: Please carry the emergency booklet and class roster with you when you leave the class room.  The RED and GREEN sign are inbuilt in the booklet.

Note: During an emergency situation the security staff - (QRT - Section Marshal) - on duty will pay his first attention to ensure safe evacuation process of students/staff using wheel chair through the available safe channel - it is an additional support to lead.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley