Friday, 16 December, 2016

Dear all,

Cyclones, the passing of Amma, the era of consultants….we’ve done it.  Congratulations - you’ve made it half way!  We wish each and every one of you a spectacularly relaxing and re-energising break! You deserve it.

Thank yous’

• Nichelle for covering for Nancy whilst she was on maternity leave
• John for covering for Tiffany whilst she was on maternity leave
• Grade team leaders for overseeing their teams ordering process
• Finny, Vasanth and Shireen for their commitment to concert preparation
• Shireen for organising the ES Choir performance
• Meg for stepping up on the worst possible day ever to be acting principal
• Babs, Megha and Becky for their flexibility with classroom spaces this ‘week’
• Everyone for making it to December 16 with a smile

Reminder about upcoming date changes:

PK - Grade 2 Field Day - Change of Date

Our PK - Grade 2 Field day which is on the calendar for January 19th has been changed to Friday 27 January.  This is also a HS Discover Day which allows us the opportunity to work together with HS students to host this great event for our youngest students.

G3-5 Field Day - Change of Date

Due to needing to reschedule ASIAC soccer - the G3-5 Field day will move forward one day to Thursday 19th January.

Secret Santa

Thank you all for participating - here’s hoping to having more days to do this next year!

From Andrew - Make-Up School Days

Due to missed school days as a result of local events and weather in the past two weeks, the following days in January will be official school days:

Saturday, January 21 and Saturday, January 28  (There will be a TGIF on Andrew’s on Saturday 21st)

Why these days?

We are engaging these days as make-ups for two reasons:

1.     They are at the start of the second semester when all students and teachers across the school can make effective use of extra learning and teaching time.

2.     They are Saturdays at the end of 4-day weeks with calendared holidays. Students and teachers will not have 6-day study/work weeks.

Further, please note that the two Early Release Days in January (11th and 25th) will be full days of school in order to provide more instructional time in the month we return from the break.

Faculty, please note that there will be no after-school meetings on Wednesdays, January 11 and January 25.

Announcement regarding HODs & GTLs

As you may know, Heads of Department serve for two year terms.  A number of HODs and all Grade Team Leaders will fulfill their two year service this spring.

In preparation for the handover, we want to alert you to the upcoming opportunity to serve as a teacher leader. Applications will open in January followed shortly by interviews. Appointments will be announced early February.  You can access the job description for HOD here and GTL here  

All interested HoD applicants should send a cover letter and their resume to Lori by January 20th.  In turn, they will coordinate all interviews.  

**  Interested GTL applicants should submit applications to Keryn and Lori - by February 24th.  This date has been extended.

Please note that HODs and GTLs are expected to return to school two days before returning staff (31st July 2017) so kindly factor that into your vacation planning as you buy tickets home.  

Open HOD positions for 17/18:  ( would be great to see some ES representation here! )

PK-12 PE

PK - 12 Visual Art

PK - 12 Performing Arts

PK - 12 Library

PK - 12 World Languages

MS Science

Secondary LA

Secondary Mathematics

Open GTL

PK, KG, Grade 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

That is it everyone.  Happy holidays.  Be well, be safe and see you all in January!

Warmly,

Keryn and Lori

Saturday, 10 December, 2016

Dear all,

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding with our extraordinary week this week!

Only a few announcements / reminders as we head into our final week of the calendar year.

Next Friday final Learning Celebration

Next Friday 16th December - 8.45 - 9.30am we will host the Elementary Choir with the performance they prepared for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony which unfortunately had to be cancelled.  Parents are invited to this performance, and this is also in my Principal’s notes today.

All classes are welcome to this final celebration of 2016, and at this time we will also farewell any leaving students. We will get them to stand up in their seats - or if they are keen, could come out the front and tell us where they are leaving to.

Secret Santa

Keep the lovely spirit of Christmas going! Thanks to all involved.  A reminder to bring a final gift in for your Santa on Friday 16th.

Upcoming date changes:

PK - Grade 2 Field Day - Change of Date

Our PK - Grade 2 Field day which is on the calendar for January 19th has been changed to Friday 27 January.  This is also a HS Discover Day which allows us the opportunity to work together with HS students to host this great event for our youngest students.

G3-5 Field Day - Change of Date

Due to needing to reschedule ASIAC soccer - the G3-5 Field day will move forward one day to Thursday 19th January.

Movie watching in class (repeat announcement)
Whilst teaching and learning should continue right up to the end of the day Friday 16th, if  you would like to show a Christmas/Winter related movie in the last week of school, please make sure this is

• Part of the class winter party celebration (not in addition to)
• Limited to one afternoon
• Rated G (PG must have parental permission obtained in advance)

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar

Tuesday 13 December         ES Parent Coffee (8.45 - 9.45am) in the BBT

Wednesday 14 December    Grades PreK - 2 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. FAC Theater

Thursday 15 December         Grades 3 - 5 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. FAC Theater

Friday 16 December              Last day of School before the Winter Break begins (regular school hours)
Monday 9 January         Welcome back to school

Thursday 19 January         Grade 3-5 Field Day (new date)

Friday 27 January         PK - Grade 2 Field Day (new date)

Have a wonderful and relaxing Sunday and see you for our last week starting Monday.

Warmly,

Keryn & Lori

Friday, 2nd Dec 2016

Dear all,

• Thank you Jet for organizing Mini-NESA last week. Thanks, too, to our ES presenters: Marianne, Carl, Lorna, Lauren, Meg and Kristie.
• Thank you to Ken, Priya, Clinton and other helpers who have put together the Grade 3-5 Art Exhibition
• Thank you to everyone adding festivity to our section by taking part in the Secret Santa

Announcement regarding HODs and Grade Team Leaders

As you may know, Heads of Department/Grade Team Leaders serve for two year terms.  A number of HODs and all Grade Team Leaders will fulfill their two year service this spring.

In preparation for the handover, we want to alert you to the upcoming opportunity to serve as a teacher leader. Applications will open in January followed shortly by interviews. Appointments will be announced early February.  You can access the job description for HOD here and GTL here  

All interested applicants should send a cover letter and their resume to their respective Associate Principal by January 20th.  In turn, they will coordinate all interviews.  Please note that HODs and GTLs are expected to return to school two days before returning staff (31st July 2017) so kindly factor that into your vacation planning as you buy tickets home.  

Open HOD positions for 17/18:  ( would be great to see some ES representation here! )

PK-12 PE

PK - 12 Visual Art

PK - 12 Performing Arts

PK - 12 Library

PK - 12 World Languages

MS Science

Secondary LA

Secondary Mathematics

Open GTL

PK

KG
Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Tree Lighting Ceremony - Monday 5 Dec
Looking forward to hearing our ES choir sing as part of the tree lighting ceremony.  Teachers are encouraged to join this community event at the Hyatt Regency from 5.45pm.

Art Exhibition MOnday 5 - Friday 9th Dec
Please take your class to view the ES Art Exhibition sometime during next week - over in the FAC Atrium.  Some fabulous creations there!

Running Record Data

Congratulations to Grade 1 - first grade to get all of their data shared with Cheryl!
Remember - we would like to enter the Running Record assessment data you have into our Learning Analytics programme.  Please make sure all current data collected this year is up to date for all of your learners by Monday, December 12 on your spreadsheet.  Please then share these with Cheryl.

Rainy Days (repeat announcement from an email earlier this week)

Morning Recess for K-2:

Most students go to the cafeteria for a snack. If you are a teacher or TA normally on duty today, please go the cafeteria to help with supervision. Teachers, if you'd prefer to keep students in your classroom to play (or it they return to the classroom to play after eating), that's fine as well.

Morning Recess for 3-5:

Most students stay in their classrooms to eat their snack and play. If you have students who have a snack (and want to eat in the cafeteria) or who need to buy a snack, you can send them down. Could we ask TAs who are normally on duty for morning recess (Padma, Esther, Chandra, Monicka) to go to the cafeteria to supervise. Could teachers who are normally on duty remain in classrooms to supervise the children who are playing. It's fine to send students to the cafeteria for a snack, but please don't send them down if they don't have anything to do.

Lunch recesses:

Lunch will be in the cafeterias, as is normal. We will send students back to class at 12:20 and 1:05 for indoor recess. Please work with your grade level colleagues to make sure everyone has time to eat (particularly those who have just completed their regular cafeteria duty); it's fine for one person to wander between a couple of classrooms supervising the children, particularly at the older grades.

Movie watching in class
Whilst teaching and learning should continue right up to the end of the day Friday 16th, if  you would like to show a Christmas/Winter related movie in the last week of school, please make sure this is

• Part of the class winter party celebration (not in addition to)
• Limited to one afternoon
• Rated G (PG must have parental permission obtained in advance)

Early Release Next Wednesday 7th

We have a couple of items from Dan for each team to complete during the next ER.

• HR - All course descriptions for LA completed
• HR - All Unit Descriptions for Reading/Writing to be completed
• HR - all Science unit descriptions finished
• Specialists - as above, unit and course descriptions be completed

Many grade levels are close or have completed the above - therefore time can be used for a literal and physical unpack of the new Readers Workshop Units of Study boxes.  These will be delivered to team leaders to distribute one per triad.  Teams can physically unpack these and take a look through what the new units of study are.  We suggest a cross walk between what is similar/changed between new and old units. For the remainder of this year, as with F&P, whole grade levels, triads and individual classes can pilot these units in an exploration sense.  The expectation is that next year these will replace old units as the year unfolds.

PK - Grade 2 Field Day - Change of Date

Our PK - Grade 2 Field day which is on the calendar for January 19th has been changed to Friday 27 January.  This is also a HS Discover Day which allows us the opportunity to work together with HS students to host this great event for our youngest students.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at the Staff Holiday Party!  7pm at the Westin.  

We are nearly there - two weeks to go and time to remember to assume positive intentions!  Everyone, including our students, are getting a little tired, and so let’s all work together to be mindful and supportive of one another.

Warmly,

Keryn and Lori

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar
Dec 3 Strategic Plans Futures Summit 9:00-12:30
Staff Holiday Party @7:00pm
Dec 5 Christmas Tree Lighting at the Hyatt Regency
Dec 5-9 Grades 3-5 Art Exhibition

Dec 7 Early Release

Dec 9 Grades 3-5 Celebration of Learning 8:45 Auditorium
Dec 14 Grades PreK - 2 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00

Dec 15 Grades 3 - 5 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00

Dec 16 Holiday Assembly 8:45-9:30 Auditorium

Dec 16        Last day of School before the Winter Break (regular school hours)

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Have a wonderful long weekend whether you are staying here in Chennai, or heading off for this extended weekend.  Please know we are very thankful that you are here in the ES with us, and for everything you do daily to make this a wonderful place for all our students.

Remember to thank others too!  We head into a very busy time of year, so remember we are all working from places of good intentions, and as Ralph Marston said “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it-would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.”

Working with Data

For the next faculty meeting (November 30th) each team will be able to work on an area of curriculum of their choice, with strong encouragement to work on an area including data analysis.  Here are some suggested areas:

• On demand analysis and implication for future unit teaching points/small group instructions
• Pre/post bridges assessments
• Analysing existing (or recent) running record data and thinking ahead to next guided reading groups
• Looking at current and upcoming social studies/science unit.  How are student responses or formative assessment being used to determine further lessons/engagements for the students

Running Record Data

As we near the end of the semester, we would like to enter the Running Record assessment data you have into our Learning Analytics programme.  Please make sure all current data collected this year is up to date for all of your learners by Monday, December 12 on your spreadsheet.  Please then share these with Cheryl.

Home Learning Draft policy

Just a heads up that the homework committee have a draft new personalised homework policy.  This will be previewed with PCA reps for any additional perspectives to be considered before we unpack this as a faculty.  After we have done this and heard everyone’s feedback, then it will be distributed to all families.

Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

Our ES choir will be singing at the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Hyatt Regency on Monday Dec 5th.  In a change from previous years, the hotel will be providing food and soft drinks only.  We encourage as many teachers as possible to attend to support our students.

Emergency Drill

As per the schedule, our second emergency exercise for this year will be conducted on December 01st  (Thursday) at 09:00hrs.  It will be a bomb threat evacuation situation.

Situation: Evacuation to Safe Haven due to bomb threat incident.

Please refer to the email sent on Wednesday 23rd.

Inquiry book club reminder - from Rachael

As discussed in the November 2nd Inquiry session, we are excited to offer three book clubs to facilitate and spark discussion, learning, and integration of conceptual understanding in our classrooms.  Please see the surveys below to indicate interest.  Please know space is limited, as well as meeting day and time majority interest will be honored. Thank you, and I look forward to working with you on this exciting initiative!

​​​​​​Dive Into Inquiry- January-ish

Cultivating Curiosity- February-ish

Sparking Student Creativity- March-ish

Hour of Code - From our IT team

Each year the largest single learning event in history gets bigger, and we hope to get even more learners involved. From December 5-9, children and adults all over the world, including our school, will devote at least one hour to learning how our digital world works.

Coding is constructive play, or what we call hard fun. When we code we use critical thinking skills such as design, analysis, evaluation, and problem solving to be creative while having fun. With code we can be entrepreneurs, artists, communicators and collaborators to name just a few.

We will continue to offer you and your students opportunities during regular class time as well as lunch and after school. There are connections to nearly all content areas, even programming synthesized loops in music and writing choose your own adventure stories.

We invite learners from all grade levels to participate and share in the fun. Here are some ways you can get your learners involved.

1. Book some time with your Tech Coach to discuss ways to integrate coding into your curriculum to enhance a lesson or unit.
2. Book a slot in the HS or ES/MS CIC and bring your learners there to explore stations set up with different challenges
3. Encourage your learners to visit the CICs / FAC Cafeteria at lunch for some organized fun (ES to the CIC, MS/HS to the FAC cafeteria)
4. Simply send this link to your kids and give them some time explore. https://studio.code.org/

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar
Nov 24-25 Thanksgiving break - enjoy!
Nov 30 Wednesday Afternoon Meeting: Section Meeting (In teams)
Dec 1 Emergency Drill (see email sent)
Dec 1-2 Sherriden Masters visits AISC (new DTI)
Dec 2 Grades 3-5 Celebration of Learning 8:45
Dec 2 RISE Event 2:30
Dec 3 Strategic Plans Futures Summit 9:00-12:30
Staff Holiday Party @7:00pm
Dec 5 Christmas Tree Lighting at the Hyatt Regency
Dec 5-9 Grades 3-5 Art Exhibition

Dec 14 Grades PreK - 2 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00

Dec 15 Grades 3 - 5 Winter Concert 2:00 - 3:00

Dec 16 Holiday Assembly 8:45-9:30

Dec 16         Last day of School before the Winter Break (regular school hours)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Keryn & Lori