Friday, May 31, 2019

Dear Colleagues,

Congratulations on a wonderfully successful year! We did it! 2018-19 academic year, check! Thank you to each and every one of you for the role you have played in providing a superb elementary education for the children in your care, and thank you for all the extra miles you have gone to do so with grace, courage, patience, wonder and all the time with a smile :)

Now that we’ve made it to the summer break and we invite you to use this time to take a break, relax and reflect on the wonderful year. The questions below were brought to the Leadership team this week and it was agreed that summer is a great time for all teachers to set aside an hour to reflect on the questions below. Going forward, they may be very useful for next year’s professional growth conversations.

Five Questions to Ask Yourself Near the Year's End

The month of May sometimes feels like a stumbling stagger toward the finish line. It can also be a time to reflect. Before the rush of the school year recedes into a hazy memory, give yourself 15 minutes to ponder these five questions. Grab your computer, or scrounge up a pen and notebook, and jot down your responses. Talk about them with a friend, family member, or colleague you trust. Or take a long walk, some evening when you’re not too worn out, and give yourself a little time to ponder.

1. What have you taught? This means a lot more than the bulleted content outlined in the standards. What have you taught the children in your care this year, by your words or example, about how to be a human being in the world?

2. What have you learned? What do you know now that you didn't in August about children, teaching, and yourself?

3. What have you done well? Teachers tend to be hard on ourselves. Don't gloss over your strengths and successes, large or small.

4. What do you need to work on? Not a single teacher in the entire world has had a flawless school year, so don't beat yourself up for the ways you may have fallen short. But think about what you can change or learn to better meet your students' many needs. Seek out resources on teaching English-language learners. Resolve to speak more kindly to the children in your class, even when you're frustrated. We still have a little time left to make those changes.

5. What impact did you have beyond your own classroom? Teacher leadership doesn't have to happen on a grand scale to be significant. If you led a professional development session at your school, gave your grade-level team an idea for a project, or gave a new teacher a little reassurance and wisdom right when she needed it most, your influence extended beyond your own students.

This comes from an article from a second grade teacher - full article, read here

Thank yous and acknowledgements…

• Thank you for everything over these last few weeks! We appreciate being part of a community that is willing to help so much during difficult times. We appreciated and enjoyed all the kind words, prayers, check-ins, sweet treats and overall well wishes from everyone! Have a wonderful summer and we will see you back next year - The Fijmans
• To Jen Cypra - We can't thank you enough for coordinating our last Math Unit 8 into a STEM project. We really appreciated how you took the time to plan and organize all the different lesson leading up to the final Marble Challenge project. The kids learned so much about the variables (ramp height, marble mass, and length of the ramp) that are important when building their own Marble roller coaster. It was a fabulous way to end the year! Thanks so much for coordinating this with Grade 2.
• The students and teachers of 4JH and 4JN would like to give a big thanks to Mr. Joseph and Ms. Priya K. for all the help in making our Memory T-shirts.
• A big thanks to Ms. Hilary and Ms. Priya V. from 4JN and 4JH for the exciting scavenger hunt challenge!
• Thank you to the EY through Grade 1 teachers and Mr Finny and Mr Vasanth as well as Mr Joseph for a lovely EY-Grade 1 Celebration. Parents have given us lots of positive feedback and we appreciate all your efforts.
• Thank you to the Grade 2 through Grade 4 teachers and Mr Finny and Ms Sarah for their musical celebrations. We loved to see how the children’s musical abilities and knowledge are progressing year to year. What a visible learning event!
• Thank you, finally, to the Grade 5 teachers and Ms Sarah and Ms Vanessa for all that you shared at this lovely and meaningful ceremony. It was a truly a warm send-off for our departing fifth graders … and they are ALL departing AISC elementary!  
• Congratulations to everyone - we made it through another year. Give yourself a pat on the back today!  Woo hoo! 

Saturday 1st June	ES Staff Photo 9:30 am - ES Plaza (please gather in the Covered area directly after leaving ceremony) Wear a touch of green for sectional pride!
Sunday 2 June - Monday 31 June	Rest, relax, rejuvenate, rejoice, recharge and revive yourself!
Wednesday 31 July	See you back for our first day of AFO!

Elementary Returning Faculty Summer Reading

Please find here some short articles that we would like you to read before we begin AFO together next August. In total, we estimate this to be under 2 hours of reading and thinking - although some of you will complete this much quicker, and some may want to invest more time with. Please do try to read these and make notes using the framing question/takeaway suggestions as this will make the AFO PD sessions far more engaging and beneficial for all.

Here’s a joyful pic from the last week of the upper ES Art room before renovations!  

Ms Anita suggests that her room is a great place for an end-of-year selfie!  

 

End of Year Checkout

Every teacher needs to have the items of this form checked off and signed by the appropriate person before leaving for the end of year. On Saturday 2nd June, the final step, the physical room sign off will also happen. This will happen in your physical space with the check out supervisor looking to see the room is packed and ready for summer cleaning. This will look different in different spaces!

• If you are moving spaces, or having your classroom renovated, EVERYTHING needs to be in boxes, labelled with your (new) room number, name, and grade/department.
• In all rooms, EVERYTHING must be removed from bulletin boards, walls
• All classroom resources remaining in the classrooms should be neatly stored in a manner that allows the shelves and classroom to be thoroughly cleaned.

• Remember we have Saturday 1st June as a working day to complete any packing, as well as check out
• Sign out sheet can start to be filled out as items are completed (except room sign off which can only happen Saturday 1st June) 

Dave -  Vigna, Daphne, Sharon, Jayasri, Jayshree, Jenny, Bindu, Amy, Melissa, Amanda, Amritha,         

             Chaitanya

Dan -    Julia, Becky, Preethika, Angie, Ula, Fer, Barbara, Karen, Kristina, Morgen, Uma

Keryn - Marcus, Fiona, Ross, Seema, Janna, Jyotsna, Elliot, Vanessa, Salome, Dee, Keeley, Anita, Joseph,

Calley - Jen, Jack, Sobha, Jane, Priya, Preethi, Sarah, Finny, Vasanth, Jet, Teena

Sherriden - Tara, Megha, Scott, John, Leontheen, Kay, Marea, Radha, Vanessa K, Linda,

A reminder - Please, no thrift shopping (repeat)

This summer will be our last round of renovations - in 2019-20, we will have a fully renovated AISC Elementary! This means that none of the old furniture or supplies should be put into circulation, since it does not match the look of the renovated spaces. If you have a need for some furniture for your classroom, please contact your supervisor.

Have a wonderful summer break!
Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly