Dear all,
Another great week - check. Fun social event at the Park Hyatt - check. Welcome back picnic fun - check.
Hopefully you’re all en route as you are reading this or it is already Saturday!
Lots of info coming up - please read carefully.
Lots of info coming up - please read carefully.
Thank yous
Thank you to Rachael, Hilary and Karen for our fabulous introduction to our Culture of Coaching
Thank you to everyone for your patience regarding the 11th hour Inquiry schedule
Thank you to Widi, Amritha and Nancy who willingly offered to cover classes for the blocks with Inquiry consultants
Back to School Message for TAs
Thank you so much, in advance, for your help with ES Back to School Afternoon on Tuesday. The following schedule will allow preschool and KG students to be with their classroom TAs in a familiar area. Students in grades 1-5 will be allowed in the usual recess spots but are not to be in the classrooms or hallways. Each person has been assigned two supervision slots out of four; please do not leave your post until your replacement arrives.
At 5:15, we'll ask the person supervising the covered court to ring the bell. At that time, students should do what they normally do - first graders go to their classrooms, third graders will gather at the base of the stairs, and 2nd, 4th and 5th graders will line up on the covered area.
Bulletin boards
If you have a bulletin board outside your class/area please make sure it is updated with a recent display before Tuesday for our back to school afternoon. It is great to see many student ‘wonderings’ visibly on bulletin boards around school.
Wednesday Early Release
Note that this year our early release time is 2:00. Due to a change in our master schedule, we no longer have the need to run a compacted schedule. All classes, recesses and lunch times will remain the same. Cafeteria and iHub service will also be operating as usual.
TAs, please check with your grade-level teachers for specific work that needs to be done; you are not required to attend the afternoon meetings.
PD
As you see many great PD opportunities are coming up. (Another great set of workshops here)
If you see something that supports your professional goals, fill out the PD form and give to me.
Personal PD funds can be availed for teachers wanting to attend an institute/workshop). Applications for teachers attendance at other ‘conference’ style PD has limited value in enhancing instruction/practice (and as with MS/HS) and therefore are not encouraged - only rarely would these be supported.
Helpful tip from Lauren re F&P reading levels and Razkids!
I find this to be a really useful link for teachers to know when they are inputting kids' reading levels into Raz kids. Foutnas and Pinell does not correlate to Raz-kids easily, so this chart shows how their F&P reading level translates into Raz-kids. For example, my student is a level T in F&P, so she should be in Raz-kids as a Level Y.
ASAs - starting Monday
After discussions regarding the afternoon chaos in the ES Cafeteria, it has been decided that:
In the first week of ASA (August 22-26), all students who are signed up for ASA will meet at the ES Cafeteria.
From the second week onwards:
- Soccer (Gr.3-5) will assemble under the trees close to the ES covered area for ASA every Thursday.
- Basketball (3-5) will assemble at the bleachers close to the ES cafeteria for ASA every Tuesday.
- Raptor's Swim Club students who are in grades 3-5 will go directly to the poolside. Students who are in K-2 for the same activity will meet inside the ES cafeteria.
- Students (Gr.3-5) who participate in different arts and crafts / academic classes, will go directly to their assigned homeroom for activities. Respective instructors will make an announcement about meeting students at the designated classrooms directly after school. ASA team will reiterate.
Telephone tree test - coming next Wednesday 24 August, from 7.00pm
Emergency Drill
Protocol for ALL non-homeroom teachers/TAs is to gather with Cheryl/Hazel (this includes coaches, consultants, visitors, etc)
- Those teaching classes should first walk the class to their designated spot & then join Cheryl/Hazel
Next week’s photo schedule
MAP Testing for Grades 2-5
Heads up - ES testing will begin on August 31st and wrap up by September 14th. Step by step instructions, video tutorials, student information pages, etc. will be shared in next week’s announcements. For the time being, you may want to ensure that you have your log in information handy. Your log in name is your school email: name@aischennai.org. If you can’t remember your password, you can do a reset at the teacher login page.
Priya will be popping in and out of classrooms next week to make sure that student machines are ready to test.
While we’re functioning at a 1:1 level across grades 2-5, it is still helpful to have a schedule so that our IT support team knows where to be when. We also want to restrict testing to 2 grade levels at a time to alleviate stress on our internet systems. This proposed schedule can definitely be considered a draft. Team leaders will discuss logistics on Monday and please know that we have a high degree of flexibility with testing times and dates. Send your feedback and suggestions to Lori via your team leader.
Happy weekend everyone!
Keryn
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