Thursday, January 24, 2019

Dear All,

Happy Long weekend and Happy Republic Day India! Campus will be busy all weekend with NESA WTI and Suzie Boss in town. Thank you to all of you who have helped out with this in any way.  Thank you all for your attention to reading this blog.  Brace yourselves; it’s a rather long blog this week, loaded with very important information, so settle in with a beverage of your choice….

Thank yous

• All teams who signed up to work with Suzie Boss & anyone who covered for colleagues during this time
• Grade 5 BT for the cheerful flower arrangement for the Office
• Thank you to Valar for doing a wonderful job as a substitute for 1MW! The students had a wonderful day.
• Thank you to Keeley, Scott, Fer, Vigna, Preethi, Megha, Angie, Sharon and Jen Cypra for getting started using the hashtag #aiscelementary on Twitter.  Join the conversation!
• Mary Kelly for all the behind the scenes logistics for the Suzie Boss visit
• Janna for bringing back such great math learning from Erma straight into her classroom!

 Suzie Boss Project Planning Tools

What an exciting week of PBL planning with Suzie, with more coming during WTI and the coming week. If you are looking for the excellent PBL resources that she has been sharing, please visit the site that she’s created to support our school’s PBL journey. And don’t forget to keep tweeting with #AISCelementary and #PBL as you share your work.    

Meeting with Suzie Boss - next faculty meeting on Wednesday

2 important pieces of information here:
Content - we will be focusing on our service learning projects in the ES and seeing how we might be able to further tweak these toward PBL approaches.  

Logistics - we need to reset our starting time for ALL elementary faculty meetings. We begin at 3:45 pm sharp. This means you should be seated by this time. Should you find yourself coming close to this time, please be mindful of our start time and help yourself to a snack during a break instead.

 

 Upcoming Literacy Events:

Erin Kent is a literacy consultant visiting AISC during the week of February 4th. EY 5 to grade 5 will have three sessions with Erin focused on reading, including one labsites.
Additionally, two group sessions will be offered on the topic of conferring and supporting diverse learners. Calendar invites will be sent out to all participants soon. Erin’s detailed schedule can be found HERE. 

Due to the success of Family Math Mornings, we will offer a similar opportunity for parents to learn how literacy is taught at AISC.  Literacy Mornings will start the week of February 11th. Grade level details will be discussed during weekly literacy meetings.  Please make a note to remind parents of this event on Edmodo by February 1st and the day before your grade’s session.

Please contact Alex if you have any questions or concerns regarding Erin’s visit or Family Literacy Morning.  Refer to upcoming dates to find your grade levels time. These will all be from 8:45 - 10, with parents in the classrooms around 9:10 - 9:35 am.

TA Evaluations

A hard copy is due to the elementary office before the end of day on Wednesday, January 30th. Please make sure these have been discussed and signed by teachers and teacher assistants - then these are given to the business office and placed in HR files.

From the Coaches Corner - The Importance of Phonics

The teaching of phonics is key to our literacy instruction and is an important part of balanced literacy.  This can happen during small group instruction or during workshop. Click below to read an article on this topic.  And win a free coffee if you are one of the first three people to respond here when you find phonic-teaching misstep - and WHY -  in this newsletter.

Phonics Faux Pas: Avoiding Instructional Missteps in Teaching Letter-Sound Relationships

HODs for 2019-20 school year

Should you be interested in serving as HOD of any of the below departments after reading this job description kindly email your principal no later than January 30th. Interviews will be completed in early February with new HOD appointments announced by February 15th. Please note that HODs return to school two working days before returning teachers (29th July). Please factor this date into your summer ticket plans should you wish to apply for the position.

Open positions for 2019/20 - 2020/21 term:

Performing Arts (EY-12)

English Language Arts (6-12)

Mathematics (6-12)

Science (6-12)

Visual Arts (6 - 12)

World Language (EY-12)

2019 Summer Jumpstart Program

In order to give new students a greater chance of success in transitioning to an English medium/instruction school, each summer AISC offers a 2-week EAL summer camp.  This year, Jumpstart is from 15 to 26 July 2019.  As a reminder, Jumpstart helps new AISC students acclimate to school routines while learning foundational English words, structures, and phrases needed for academic success.  

If you are interested in being a Jumpstart Classroom Teacher, Activities Teacher, or Teacher Assistant for this summer's program, please complete this form by 1 February 2019. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Sarah Sahr in room 1209 or ssarah@aischennai.org

Change to Playground Usage Rules

P is for Playground

To increase safety and create more consistency in terms student use of play structures, only students from Grades 1 through 5 are allowed on Play Structures 1, 2, and 3. There are four signs on display that clearly state those areas are only allowed for Grade 1 - 5. Early Years 3 and 4 as well as kindergarten can play on the ship, small play structure, and the OLC.  Thank you to EY5 teachers and on-duty who are reinforcing this new rule over the next few weeks. 

Field Days - Coming Up:  January 31st and February 1st (repeat announcement)

Grades 3, 4 & 5: Thursday, January 31st 10:50 - 12:20

Early Years 3 & 4: Friday, February 1st 8:45 - 10:00

Early Years 5 and Grades 1 & 2: Friday, February 1st 10:50 -12:20

On these days, the field will not be open for use during recess until all of the equipment is cleaned up and removed.  No regular PE classes will run on these days. If a classroom teacher is scheduled to have prep during the times of Field Day, (some grade 1 & grade 5 teachers) we will try to schedule a specialist teacher or volunteer to take over her or his responsibilities.  

It would be greatly appreciated if all teachers were able to be present for the Teacher Relay Races at 12:00-12:20 p.m. for the day of their grade's Field Day. Bring/wear your athletic shoes and clothing! Please wear your AISC Elementary shirts that we received earlier this year and make sure your students to do the same!  

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!  Field Day Opportunities & Responsibilities

This year the Early Years 3, 4 & 5, and Grade 1 & 2 teachers and teaching assistants will travel around with their students as HS students will be running each of the Field Day activities for their Discovery Day.  The HS students may need help managing the students and giving instructions.  Specialist teachers who only teach these grades should also be out to help during this time.

Grade 3, 4, & 5 teachers, teacher assistants, and EAL teachers can sign up on this Google Form to select from Field Day opportunities.  

Specialist teachers who teach Grades 3-5, counselors, and instructional coaches should all sign up on this Google Form to help out on Thursday, January 31st from 10:50 am - 12:20 pm or even for part of that time if you are teaching another grade during this time! Even if you are sure that you can’t help out, please complete the form for our information.    

We will get back to you all individually with more clarity and instructions once we have an idea on where everyone will be on these days.  Thank you all so much for your support and efforts in making Field Day so enjoyable for everyone!

Sincerely,

Sobha & Jack

Enjoy your long Weekend!

Keryn, Dave & Calley