Friday, December 18, 2020

Friday, December 18, 2020

Date

Time

Event

Details



December 18 (4:00 p.m.) - January 11


 

Grade 2 Vision Day

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Grade 2 Vision Day this week! You were versatile and resilient! It was a memorable day for our students. Enjoy these highlights from the day.

 

Specialist Morning Meeting Rotation

Here is the new morning meeting specialist rotation starting January 11th. Please reach out to Dave if you have any questions about the schedule.

 

New Titles in Sora

Wondering what you can read over the break? Sora has the answer! We have recently purchased new titles for staff and families that will be perfect reads over the holidays. Check them all out in the "New Arrivals" collections!

 

 

Faculty Created Memes

Here are the memes from Wednesday’s meeting. 

 

Coaches Corner




Thank you for all the love, dedication

and hard work. Happy Holidays! 

- Hilary, Alex, Elliot and Mary Kelly




From the Counselors

The 12 Educator Holiday Wishes

12 months of gratitude and appreciation for being the best

11 days without tech issues

10 emails in your inbox only

9 Seesaw messages thanking you for being so great

8 hours of no multitasking

7 days a week with a bit of laughter

6 screen free days

5 minutes to lose yourself in the moment and not have to be somewhere!

4 books of your choice ready to read over the holiday break

3 things to be grateful for each day

2 long walks whenever you want to during the day

1 huge difference you make in the world


 


Have a terrific break! We’ll see you in January.

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot

 

Friday, December 11, 2020

Friday, December 11, 2020

Thank you for all of the time that you spent on writing report card comments for your students. Dave, Elliot, and I started reading through them and we’re amazed at how much you know about your students personally and academically having only met them through Zoom. I know parents will appreciate the update on their child’s performance. 

Upcoming Week at a Glance:

Date

Time

Event

Details

December 14




December 15




December 16

3:45 p.m.

ES Faculty Meeting

Zoom Link

December 17




December 18


Report Cards Emailed Home



Withdrawing Students

Please see this confirmed list of students leaving at the end of this semester. If you know of any students in your class who are leaving but not listed here, please let Hazel / Padma know and they will contact the parents. 

Author Visit for Grades 3-5

Please take a look at this form to learn a bit about our virtual visiting author in the spring, as well as choose which version of her book you'd like the library to purchase for your class. Please let Babs know if you have any questions. 

 

Author visit details for EY-2 coming in the new year!  

Traveling Outside of Tamil Nadu for Break

If you are traveling outside of Tamilnadu over the vacation, please let Hazel know. 

 

ES Hybrid Plan

We still do not have any additional information about when schools will reopen. But do not worry, we have a hybrid plan in place and will share that information with you as we know more about the return to campus. 

 

Coaches Corner

We are excited to see you next Wednesday at the faculty meeting to share some laughs and celebrate together!

 PCA Giving Tree

It's that time of the year again! Christmas is coming - the New Year will soon be upon us.

It is also a time to think of the less privileged members of our community and we give you the opportunity to give, in the spirit of the holiday.

This year the PCA Giving Tree will be online. In collaboration with the organizations, we have created Amazon wish lists, which enable you to purchase books, craft materials, food, blankets, feeding bowls etc. and it will be delivered directly to the organization.

Please see the PCA blog for more information. 

 

 

Have a terrific weekend!

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot


Friday, December 4, 2020

Friday, December 4, 2020

Congratulations to Angie and Jayme on the birth of their baby daughter Natalie Elizabeth Gawrych born on November 27th. Mom and baby are doing well (and dad is too). 

 

Upcoming Week at a Glance:

Date

Time

Event

Details

December 7




December 8




December 9


Proofread Buddy Comments (no meeting)


December 10




December 11




 

Repeat Announcement

Tue, Dec 8th

Comments given to faculty proofreader by 4:00 p.m.

Wed, Dec 9th

No Faculty Meeting - Proofread Buddy comments

Thu, Dec 10th

Comments returned from faculty proofreader by 3:30 p.m., corrections made

Fri, Dec 11th 

Comments given to admin by 4:00 p.m.

Mon, Dec 14th 

Comments returned to teachers by admin, corrections made

Tue, Dec 15th 

All corrected comments entered into Powerschool by noon (12:00 p.m.)

Thu, Dec 17th 

Any final corrections made by homeroom teachers - this is the final check by 4:00 p.m.

Fri, Dec 18th

Reports go home to parents

 

REPORT CARDS

Semester 1 Overviews

Here are the semester 1 overviews for reading, writing, SS/Science, and specials. Here is a short tutorial video from Priya on completing report cards in PowerSchool including how to autofill the semester overviews. 

 

Virtual Learning Semester 1 Guidelines - repeat announcement

Here are the guidelines for this semester’s report card.

 

New Students - repeat announcement

The latest date for new student arrivals to receive a full report card is Friday, October 30th. If you have students who started after this date, please write a personal, social, emotional comment and a narrative comment for any subjects that you can. Many of you may be able to write about areas of success for reading, writing, and math. These comments do not have to be as long as the comments for the other students. You do not need to mark any of the standards.

Specialists do not need to fill out a report card for students starting after Oct. 30th. Homeroom teachers please communicate the names of these students directly with specialist teachers.

 

Students Attending Another School

If you have students attending another school who may be completing some or none of the AISC virtual work, please complete what you can for the personal social emotional and subject area comments as well as check any appropriate standards. You can use the statement below for subject areas where you do not have enough information to write a comment. 

 

There is insufficient data to assess XXXX’s growth at this time.

Archive Seesaw Posts

Please regularly archive Seesaw activities. You can go ahead and archive any activities prior to November 9th. The posts accumulate and some students are reporting to have 30+ incomplete Seesaw activities on their feed. Looking at the long feed of activities can be stressful for kids (and parents!). If a student would like to make up any unfinished work, you can always reassign the activity. 


2021 Winter EAL Jumpstart Program

It's that time of year again! AISC is looking for educators interested in being a Classroom Teacher at this year’s Winter EAL Jumpstart Program. Our Winter Jumpstart Program will run from 4-8 January 2021 (9 am-2 pm). This 1-week program helps new AISC students acclimate to school routines while learning foundational English words, structures, and phrases needed for academic success. This year, our program will be virtual.  

 

If you are interested in being an instructor of this January 2021 EAL Jumpstart, please complete this form by 8th December 2021. We will be selecting 7 teachers for the EAL Jumpstart program, possibly more based on enrollment. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Dan Love.

Padlet for Departing Students

We’d like to send off our semester 1 departing students with well wishes. If you have a student who is leaving at the end of this semester, please create a goodbye Padlet for each departing student and ask the class to write memories, best of luck and we’ll miss you messages, upload pictures, etc…You can export Padlets and share with the departing student. Feel free to recognize students in other ways as well. You can also talk to Linda or Michele to plan a special goodbye. 

 

Last Day Before Winter Break Grade Level Events

Similar to the grade level events we did with Halloween, we are encouraging grade level teams to consider planning an event for the last day before winter break with some fun games or activities. Lynn, Dave, and Elliot are happy to lead an activity, read a story, or help out in some other way. 

 

On Campus Classroom Preparation  

We had planned to have teachers go to campus to “ready” their classroom before the end of the first semester but that has been put on hold since campus is still closed. If you would like to go to campus to organize your room, you may do that at any time (even over the break) - just let Angeline know. We have ordered lots of canvas bags to put student work in from last year. The bags won’t be ready for another week or so. Please do not throw out any student work even if the student is no longer at AISC. 

We will find time in the 2nd semester for everyone to prepare their space so there is no expectation to go to campus beforehand unless you choose to do so on your own. 

 

Coaches Corner

Check out Flipgrid’s Discovery Library, where you can find topics for discussion to share with your learning community! Explore organizations such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, music education from WURRLYedu, DiscoveryEdu, LEGO Education, Wonderopolis, and consider how they might support your students.  

 

From the Counselors

Thank you to our ES teachers for

  • Bringing joy and care to students in every classroom, small group, and individual Zoom time while dealing with many things that we will never know about

  • Transforming your home into a first class classroom and school 

  • Endless hours on Seesaw checking posts and giving encouragement and feedback

  • Becoming super videographers 

  • Always being ready to collaborate via Zoom

  • For being role models in flexible thinking and compassion

  • For managing homes, answering doorbells, calls, children, dogs, and cyclones without missing a beat

  • For fixing tech problems like Apollo 13 astronauts while giving a lesson or leading a song

  • For those of you working at night on different time zones, thank you for giving it your all 

 

Thank you everyone!

Have a wonderful weekend. Stay dry. 

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot