Friday 9th September 2016

Happy Friday everyone!

“My brain is full of good learning” is a message one of our Adaptive Schools participants left for her class one morning this week.  We truly did feel like students again, learning, practicing and inquiring into norms and strategies.  My biggest takeaway was that the interaction between adults in a school community has a direct influence on the learning community of all our students.  This is something I will hold with me as we move into the year as a grounding reminder of why we take time to invest in these processes, even when time may seem of the essence!

High School Discovery Day is right around the corner and we're still looking for teachers interested in hosting high school volunteers in your classrooms on Friday, September 16th. Students are available to travel with your classes to specials, author visits and assemblies as well as be present in your classrooms for reading, writing, math games, recess, etc.  Use THIS FORM to sign up for some volunteers and email Correne Larsen with questions. We look forward to the

MAP Test Make Up Sessions

The regular round of MAP testing will wrap up with the last of the tests on Monday, leaving a sizable list of make ups to complete. Make up sessions will run all day on Tuesday in the extra grade 5 classroom on the 3rd floor (note that this is different from previous years where we’ve tested in the CIC). Check out this link for a list of students who still need to complete tests (the link will be updated with results from Monday testing).

Please send these children any time on Tuesday at a time that is most convenient for your schedule. If children have their own device to test on, please send it. Otherwise, we’ll have iPads and laptops ready to borrow. Priya will supervise testing all day. Thanks, Priya!

If there are any children with extenuating circumstances (i.e. you suspended testing because the child was under undue stress, the child was absent and missed multiple tests, etc.) please contact Lori with the details.

Dot Day - next Thursday, September 15th!
Dear Teachers in Grades 4-5!

Dot Day is one of the largest creativity events in the world. It's a day when students are encouraged to make a difference, use creativity, and "leave their mark." In celebration of this day, we have created an optional and fun BreakoutEdu session in the CIC for students. The activity plays with ideas from the book and gets kids working together to problem solve.

Please sign up here!

Thank you,

Hilary and Jet

Special Note: Don't worry preschool-grade 3 teachers! Your students will also be doing fun Dot Day activities during their weekly CIC class.

From the CIC
Big news! We have now purchased New York Times subscriptions all staff! We are excited to bring another great international news source your way!

To get started with your subscription, please follow these steps:

1. Go to nytimes.com/passes
2. Click on “Create Account”
3. Enter your school email address where it says “Email Address” Please note the subscription only works for email addresses associated with aischennai.org
4. Enter “chennai” (lower case) where it says “Password”
5. Enter “chennai” (lower case) where it says “Retype Password”
6. Choose “Faculty/Staff”
7. Click on “Create Account”

Once you complete step 7, an email will be sent to your address for confirmation. Click on that and you are all set to begin!

Thanks, Jet and Peter

Jodi O’Meara

Once again, we welcome RTI consultant, Jodi O’Meara, back to our school from September 12-21. Jodi will be working across all sections, largely with counsellors and Learning Support Staff. She will also be meeting with grade levels who requested sessions on differentiating and extending math support for students.

Learning Celebration

Next Friday is a K-5 assembly with the theme of “Understanding our United Nations”, in preparation for our UN day.  In this assembly, different classes will share their learning about the UN, childrens’ rights and internationalism.

Workshop Consultant - Christy Curran

In preparation for our upcoming TCRWP consultant, please fill out the following table indicating your workshop times for Thursdays/Fridays.  This information may help us with her schedule.  Every homeroom teacher should enter this info, and please try to group times accordingly.  For example, if the first person enters they teach writing workshop at 9-10am, then anyone else teaching it at this time should add their times directly under this row.  Feel free to add rows as necessary!

Thanks for reading everybody!

Keryn & Lori