Friday, 2nd September 2016

Dear all,

As we head into another long weekend (yay!), we’d like to express our appreciation of everyone stepping up and out of their routines, comfort zones or usual pedagogical approaches or instructional practices - to try something new this year.  We’ve seen a lot of inquiry practices being incorporated across the school and learning being taken to a higher, conceptual level.  Thank you.  One teacher said to me “I tried open inquiry and the learning was amazing.  The kids really took it to the next level”.   Double yay!   As Shawn Achor, from the Happiness Advantage quoted,   “If we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average.”

Thank you’s.
Another super Learning Celebration this morning, big thanks to Meg and the KG, G1 and G2 teachers for putting it together.  It was well worth the hard work with students.  Thanks to Ron and Elvis for their guest appearance again too! Thank you to Dee, Widi and Morgen for presenting on HRT.

Adaptive Schools

Many of us (including me) will be out next week for Adaptive Schools.  Lori, Ron, Hazel and Cheryl are your main point people next week - although Meg and I will have our phones with us should you need to contact us.

The full list of people out:
Keryn
Rachael

Meg

Tiffany

Karen

Megha

Fer
Jyotsna

Dee

Samantha

Morgen

Marianne
Priya
Daphne

This means our supply teacher pool next week is almost exhausted - please be mindful of this and support each other where we can during the week.  Your help in this is appreciated.

Edmodo

As this is our only all parent communication platform - please ensure all class events, schedules etc are communicated in advance to parents.  I have received some parent feedback that they were not informed (for e.g) when their child’s picture day was.  It is vital that all class specific information is pushed out via your Edmodo account.  Please no more all class emails!
FYI - On Sept 15, there is a tech parent orientation where the IT team will reinforce parents applying the correct settings to have Edmodo announcements etc pushed to them.  Grade level reps will be communicating a ‘how to/step by step’ message for this also via email next week.  This is the message parents will receive:

"Edmodo is the main school-home communication tool in the Elementary School. If you are not receiving notifications from Edmodo to your personal email account, please use this simple troubleshooting guide to help you resolve it. If you are unable to resolve it, please stop by the IT Office and we will help you troubleshoot further."

HS Discovery Day, Friday 16 Sept - Sign up here for HS Students in your class

AISC Leadership Institute: The Empowered Leader- Saturday, September 17

Registration deadline extension: Tuesday, September 6.

We truly hope you will consider joining us for an energizing day of learning and professional wellness.

Learn more and register by opening the informational flyer or go HERE. (Look for registration and session sign up information.)

Math Message from Calley

So many questions are arising about math extension.  What great news!  

To support you all, I am creating a folder of math extension resources by grade.  While it is quite empty now, I will populate it slowly but surely with good resources to support differentiation UP in your classrooms. This is not a folder of random resources, but rather a curated collection.

Here's the link:  

https://drive.google.com/a/aischennai.org/folderview?id=0BwPw4HZ60jwybWFuTGlzWnZXdGs&usp=sharing

You are also welcome to add any resources to the grade folders, or ask me to look for something that you've been wanting to see.  

So far, I have put in some resources on Week of Inspirational Math (which is indeed enrichment, not extension) for K-2.  Then, I added some Problem of the Week resources for 3-4 and 5-6.  Looking forward to seeing your thoughts and reflections after using some of these materials.

Stumped on where to start? I am happy to meet for a short coaching session with anyone who wants to dive in.

Room parents

If you haven’t already added your room parent to the list, please fill out on this link here

MAP Testing

MAP testing will present some extra challenges this week with so many teachers involved in Adaptive Schools training. Please be patient and help out your neighbors!

One change to note is that a new NGSS aligned version of the MAP test is now available. While the MS and HS have already written the AERO version, the ES will pilot the NGSS version this year. This change will be reflected in your “saved test session”.

Towards the end of this week, we will generate and communicate a list of students who will need to complete make up tests. Make ups will take place on Tuesday, September 13th.

Rainy Days

While it’s too early for monsoon season, we have seen some significant amounts of rain in the past few days. Here’s a reminder of our procedures in the event of rain.

• First thing in the morning, we attempt to hold the kids in the cafeteria and covered area for as long as possible; it rare to have to send children to class early.
• For morning recess, many students continue to go to the cafeteria for their snack; others remain in their class to play. TAs who are normally on duty should expect to help supervise the cafeteria.
• Last year, we began sending students back to their classrooms for lunch recess. As classroom configurations allow (i.e. connecting doors), it is acceptable for one person to supervise two classes especially with the older students. Please be mindful that some of our TAs have cafeteria duty and will need to get their own lunch break.
• K-2 afternoon recess will have the same expectations as the morning recess.

Have a great extra day off on Monday - see you all on Tuesday!
Keryn & Lori