Friday, May 29, 2020

Dear All,

Today has been filled with Goodbyes to the students whom you have cared for throughout this rollercoaster of a year. Through all the celebrations that we have had, right now we know that you are also feeling the grief of goodbye. We just want to say, Thank you. Thank you for the way that you have honored each child and their transition. Thank you for taking good care of each other at a time when you are also experiencing so much stress. Thank you for showing up right now, when it is difficult. We see you and appreciate you.

Faculty Work Days

Here is our final schedule for faculty work days. You will have received some invitations from coaches and Grade team leaders or specialist reps.  You can refer to this document throughout the last short work week.  There are a few meeting times (e.g meet and greet with Lynn) that are only for returning faculty; the rest of the meetings are for all teachers.  It is important we hear all voices and get all ideas and reflections recorded as we end this highly irregular school year.  

Faculty Check Out Form

All returning and departing faculty please fill out this form before 4 pm on Tuesday, June 2. TAs are not required to fill this out. 

Have a wonderful weekend,

“See” you on Monday!

Keryn, Dave and Calley

Friday, May 22, 2020

Dear all,

Only one full week left with students! Our calendars and hearts are full with celebrations, goodbyes, gratitude and creative learning that still continues in the ES. We are wishing you strength and inspiration to get you through the challenging and rewarding moments ahead. Thank you for all you continue to do, to ease children’s and colleagues’ transitions, whether from one school year to the next or from Chennai onward.  

Some really nice advice from Nigel and the counselors that we will be sharing with parents; may help you with your students and own children too.

Saying Goodbye

As we near the end of the school year we also enter the all-too-familiar season of goodbyes to the friends and community members that have become such a presence in our lives. There is no way of avoiding goodbyes and they sometimes stir up unpleasant emotions as we grapple with feelings of loss, but what might those uncomfortable emotions be telling us? How might we say goodbye well? Here are some thoughts on supporting your child during this time:

• The most important thing is that we provide space for a well-rounded ending. As researchers in this study found, the way we say goodbye impacts the way we start anew.
• Acknowledge your emotions as they occur. Often they can be an indicator of how important people or this life phase has been to you.
• Children are likely to feel a variety of emotions about moving or about having friends leave them. Know that emotions aren’t permanent. Like the waves at the beach our emotions tend to surge and retreat making space for different emotions in the future. 
• If there is anyone that your child needs to “make things right with” or needs to mend a relationship with before they leave, now is the time to try to do that. While it may not always end perfectly, taking the time to try is an important life skill. 
• If your child is leaving, encourage your child to take the time to say goodbye to the people s/he has been closest to and to let them know the importance they’ve had in their lives. In our current virtual world, that could be through a video, a chat, a photo collage, a simple email or even a text message with photo or emojis. 
• Ask your child to think about goodbyes to the people who have supported your child or looked after their wellbeing in your home, at school or elsewhere in the community. The gesture will leave everyone with a warm feeling.
• If you will be leaving behind pets, be sure to acknowledge the grief that may come with that and work with your child to decide how to best say goodbye to their pet.
• If your child is staying at AISC and has close friends leaving, recognize that this is a challenging time for them as well and they may feel a sense of grief or anxiety. It can be challenging to reach out and tell their friend how they are feeling. However, encouraging your child to do just that and to let them know how important the friendship has been to them, will help your child with maintaining and creating positive relationships in the future. 

In summary, as we enter the final week of school, please encourage your children to take some time to say goodbye to the people and spaces that they have connected with over the last year. Acknowledge their emotions and validate them as real, perhaps by sharing some of the emotions that are surfacing for you as you say goodbye as well.

Virtual Report Card Timeline (repeat announcement)

Wednesday 06 May	Familiarise yourself again with a refresher read of the style guide
Thursday 14 May 8:00 a.m.	Report comments due to faculty proof readers by 5:00 p.m.
Monday 18 May 8:00 a.m	Colleague proofers finished proofing, tag admin proofreader
Wednesday 20 May	Comments returned to teacher by admin.  Accept changes as indicated.
Friday 22 May, 8:30 a.m	Comments entered into powerschool
Friday 22 May 8:30 a.m	IT team run reports, final checking Sherriden and IT team begin sending PDFs from 2:00 p.m (hard deadline)
** NEW Wednesday 27 May	Faculty meeting time - final proofreading of PDF report cards
Thursday 28 May	All printing/editing complete, final corrections made
Monday 1 June	Reports given to homeroom teachers, final check (if printed if back on campus, place in envelopes)
Tuesday 2 June	Reports go home to parents

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Wednesday 27 May - Faculty meeting time - final report card proofreading

During end-of-year report card distribution in person, homeroom and EAL teachers would check through the paper copies before distributing them to students. Since we can’t do that this year, we are going to set up a system which makes sure all reports get the same “final check” after being made into a PDF from Powerschool.  

WHO:  All homeroom classes have been assigned an EAL or Specialist teacher as collaborator.

WHEN:  Wednesday 27 May during Faculty Meeting Time 3:30 - 5:00 PM

WHAT:  Report card PDF run will be sent to each homeroom teacher

NEXT:  Homeroom teacher share PDF with assigned final PDF proofreader

THEN:  Decide how the report cards will be split (50/50)

OPEN:  This Error Tracking Spreadsheet and Follow Part 1 instructions.

*The list of proofreaders can be found on the 2nd tab in the error tracking sheet.

ES Student Withdrawals

You can see the list of confirmed withdrawing students listed here. If you know any students who are not returning and who are not on this list, please inform Padma or Hazel and they will reach out to the parents. Homeroom Teachers - if the leaving student has any classroom materials which need to be returned please inform us, otherwise we will take it that you have cleared the student. 

Faculty Farewells 

As you are aware, we will come together on Monday June 1st at 8:45 - 9:45 a.m IST to farewell all our colleagues who are leaving this year.  

We also want to make sure that all departing ES faculty have a chance to say goodbye to students too - so please find 20 minutes next week to share this flipgrid with your class. Watch the messages from departing faculty connected to your class! This will also be posted in the Principal’s Notes. Please encourage your students to visit this link with their families or on their own, and let them know that they can leave a video message for their teachers. Goodbye from Departing Teachers Flipgrid

Faculty Work Days - draft agenda below. Final agenda with focus questions, facilitators assigned etc will be shared next Friday in our final blog of the year. Zoom links will be shared also. We thank you for your final efforts in ensuring all things in the elementary are finalised before we break for the summer, and look forward to connecting in these sessions one last time!

Monday 1st June
Time	Focus
7:45 - 8:30	Meet and greet with Lynn EY G2 & specialists (specific times tbc)
8:45 - 9:45	All Faculty Gathering - Departing Faculty Recognition
10:30 - 11:30	Grade level/department reflections on virtual learning
1:00 - 2:00	Subject area vertical alignment EY Grade 3- 5:  Literacy  KG - Grade 2:  Math  World Language & IS Music

Tuesday 2nd June
Time	Focus
7:45 - 8:30	Meet and greet with Lynn G3 - 5 & specialists (Specific times tbc)
8:30 - 9:30	Subject area vertical alignment EY KG - Grade 2:  Literacy, Grade 3-5:  Math, Sci/Social Studies Visual Art PE & Dance
10:00 - 11:00	Virtual learning generative faculty forum (optional)
11:00 - 12:00	Grade level/specialist review of pacing guide after vertical reflections
1:00 - 2:00	Vision Projects (G3-5)
2:00 - 3:00	Completing curriculum documentation, including unit reflections etc.

Wednesday 3 June
Time	Focus
7:45 - 8:30	Meet and greet with Lynn Coaches, GTL, LSS and counselling (specific times tbc)
8:30 - 9:30	2019-20 Master Schedule Feedback
9:30 - 10:30	TA Evaluations
10:30 - 11:30	Final ES faculty meeting; thank yous, farewells and reflections

Have an enjoyable weekend!

Keryn, Dave, and Calley

Friday, May 15, 2020

Dear Faculty,

Thank you for all the hard work you are putting in behind the scenes with report card writing and proofreading - as well as being present and responsive to your students this week. We are so grateful to have such a wonderfully dedicated faculty at this time :)  

Please check the timeline below to make sure you are meeting two different deadlines for next week (both highlighted in blue).

Virtual Report Card Timeline (repeat announcement)

Wednesday 06 May	Familiarise yourself again with a refresher read of the style guide
Thursday 14 May 8:00 a.m.	Report comments due to faculty proof readers by 5:00 p.m.
Monday 18 May 8:00 a.m	Colleague proofers finished proofing, tag admin proofreader
Wednesday 20 May	Comments returned to teacher by admin.  Accept changes as indicated.
Friday 22 May, 8:30 a.m	Comments entered into powerschool
Friday 22 May 8:30 a.m	IT team run reports, final checking Sherriden and IT team begin sending PDFs from 2:00 p.m (hard deadline)
Thursday 28 May	All printing/editing complete, final corrections made
Monday 1 June	Reports given to homeroom teachers, final check (if printed if back on campus, place in envelopes)
Tuesday 2 June	Reports go home to parents

Report Card Tutorials for Entering Into Powerschool

Early Years - Click Here

EY5 -  Grade 5 - Click Here

To see how the different templates will look, click here (EY report card, ES Report Card)

Contacting Parents 

Thank you for your diligence in documenting students’ participation and offering any follow up to parents. At this time, as we wind down our school year post report cards, please do not reach out to parents regarding participation concerns. Instead, use your last sessions with children to support and celebrate wherever possible. You might decide to reach out to parents and students to say goodbye, congratulations on ending well, or to share memory. Let’s all wrap up the year on a positive, memorable note.

End of Year Celebration Videos & Contributions

At our recent Grade Team Leader meeting, we discussed end of year celebrations and the last week of school together. Some of you have reached out to leadership for some appearances or a video. Keep those requests coming, with a bit of lead time, please! We would love to be a part of your teams’ farewells.

From the EAL Department: EAL Strategy Talk, #8!

EAL Strategy Talks are still happening! And this is the last one of the 2019-20 school year. We're going to talk about Error Correction, when to do it vs when to let it go. We'll even talk about adding language targets to rubrics! Hope to see you there!

When: Tuesday, 19 May 2020, 7:30-8:15am

Where: ZOOM, meeting ID: 732 8771 3735

Password: 3q6Xv4

Faculty Farewells 

As you are aware, we will come together in some format on Monday June 1st at 8:45 - 9:45 a.m IST to farewell all our colleagues who are leaving this year.  

We also want to make sure that all departing ES faculty have a chance to say goodbye to students too - so please know we will be sharing a flipgrid of farewell messages with all homeroom teachers to watch some point next week together with your class.

Faculty Work Days (repeat announcement)

Some things we are planning are:
* Final checking of report cards

* Reflecting on our virtual learning

* Completion of pacing guides/curriculum maps

* Unit planner completion (including reflections)
* Vertical team conversations around success of virtual learning, and areas for possible revision next year

* Vision projects and phonics reflections and updates

If you have other ideas you feel would be beneficial for us to focus on in this time together, please let Calley, Dave or me know.

Have a restful and relaxing long weekend!

Keryn, Dave, and Calley

Friday, May 8, 2020

Dear all,

Thank you to all who contributed videos for our first ever virtual learning celebration! We hope your students enjoy watching it - please make sure they have the link shared with them so they can continue watching these great videos together at home this weekend. 

Dave, Calley and I sure had fun with our pirate welcome!

PGE - Due today!

Thank you to all of you who have already submitted these! A reminder that PGE documentation (goal reflection or personal letter reflecting on growth during VLD) are due to your supervisor today. Please look to your google calendar for a reflective conversation with your supervisor in the coming week.

Virtual Report Card Timeline (repeat announcement)

Wednesday 06 May	Familiarise yourself again with a refresher read of the style guide
Thursday 14 May 8:00 a.m.	Report comments due to faculty proof readers by 5:00 p.m.
Monday 18 May 8:00 a.m	Colleague proofers finished proofing, tag admin proofreader
Wednesday 20 May	Comments returned to teacher by admin.  Accept changes as indicated.
Friday 22 May, 8:30 a.m	Comments entered into powerschool
Friday 22 May 8:30 a.m	IT team run reports, final checking Sherriden and IT team begin printing from 2:00 p.m (hard deadline)
Thursday 28 May	All printing/editing complete, final corrections made
Monday 1 June	Reports given to homeroom teachers, final check (if printed if back on campus, place in envelopes)
Tuesday 2 June	Reports go home to parents

Comments Stems

Thank you to the subject area leaders and the learning coaches and Hilary for collaborating to put together these VLD comments and content stems for reports.  

Science/SS Comments

Math Comments

Literacy Comments 

ES Social - Scattergories

Get out your lexicons because we are playing Scattergories! Linda, Vanessa, and Dave are hosting our next ES Social on Friday, May 15th from 5-6 p.m. Grab a snack and a favorite drink and be ready. Here is the link for the get together. We will also be sending out an invite next week.

Arts, Sports and Activities (ASA)

As the first week of the Virtual ASA Season was a great success, we plan to continue to innovate and adapt our activities to the environment available to us. If you are interested in providing an ASA program in the 2020-21 school year or you are interested in providing a Jump-Off Summer Camp program over Summer Break, please fill out this Google Form. If you have questions, please contact bjack@aischennai.org or dmonicka@aischennai.org  

Faculty Farewells

As you are aware, we will come together in some format on Monday June 1st at 8:45 - 9:45 a.m IST to farewell all our colleagues who are leaving this year. 

Faculty Work Days 

While we are still waiting to hear whether we can return to campus for the final weeks/days of this year, we are busy working on what we believe will be helpful focus areas for our final days of work in early June.

Some things we are planning are:
* Final checking of report cards

* Reflecting on our virtual learning

* Completion of pacing guides/curriculum maps

* Unit planner completion (including reflections)
* Vertical team conversations around success of virtual learning, and areas for possible revision next year

If you have other ideas you feel would be beneficial for us to focus on in this time together, please let Calley, Dave or me know.

Have a restful and relaxing long weekend!

Keryn, Dave, and Calley