Friday, 04 November, 2016

Thank you

• Bindu, Anu and all the other teachers and teacher assistants who choreographed dances and taught songs for the India Month performances!
• Rachael, Karen & Hilary for running the consolidating consultants faculty meeting this week

Congratulations:

5D with their success with the Mangahigh Diwali Math Challenge - read more here!

21 Days of Happiness

Don't forget that the 21 Days of Happiness continues until the 23rd of November. Please join in and share your happy thoughts every day and ask your students to do it as well – Facebook, twitter or Instagram. Don't forget to #happyaisc and mention @AISChennai. If you or your students don't have social media, please visit the happiness boards just outside of the BBT for MS and HS and by the MS lockers for ES. Practice Happiness!

The Scholastic Book Fair runs November 7-9 in the FAC Atrium

The fair is open to class visits. If you would like to take your classes, please sign up by using the link below:

Scholastic Book Fair Sign-Up Schedule

Thank you! Please let Jet know if you have any questions.

Missoula Childrens’ Theatre

We have 130 children signed up!  Thank you for your patience during this time :)
Auditions

• Monday Nov 14, from 9:00 am to 11:00.
• The maximum cast size is 50-60; so over half the children who audition will not be chosen.  Please help manage this with your children - doubtless there will be disappointment amongst those not selected.
• Children will find out if they were selected for a part around lunchtime on Monday, and the whole cast will be needed for rehearsals for the rest of Monday afternoon.

Rehearsal Reminders

• Rehearsals will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - the length of each rehearsal depends on the child’s role.  Times will be confirmed once the cast list is finalised.
• Although not all cast members are needed at every rehearsal session, if selected, they must be able to attend all rehearsals required for their role.

Performance
The production will take place on Friday November 18 at 1:30 pm for all ES students/faculty and 4pm for parents/public

Students are required for 2 shows on Friday at 4pm.  The show is approximately 60-70 minutes in length – there is no intermission.

TA Evaluations
In previous years, we have completed TA evaluations during the month of November. This year, we will complete the evaluations in January to be more in line with the issuing of TA contracts (which occurs in February of each year).

Vision and Hearing Screening (November 9th - 11th, 2016)

Please communicate the testing date for your class to parents. The schedule is attached here.

Please note that the venue for the testing is room 3612 (near the Indian Studies rooms).

Report cards

This note has gone out to parents today in the Principal’s blog, you can copy it to your Edmodo post.

Bernajean Porter

Here is the schedule for teams who will be working with Bernajean this

Next Co-Teaching Workshop
Mark your calendar for the next monthly Co-Teaching Workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 3:45-5:00, Co-Teaching in an Inquiry-Based Classroom. Rachel, Clayton, Karen, and Paula will be collaborating as we inquire into how to make the most of our co-teaching model as we dive further into the different forms inquiry takes.

Rainy weather

As was evident this week, we need to be ready in the event of rain.

• If it rains first thing in the morning, we can generally hold the kids in the covered area or the cafeteria until the regular start time.
• If it’s raining during morning recess, many teachers send their students to the cafeteria with a snack (supervised by the TA); others keep the students in their class for indoor recess.
• If it is raining as we go into lunch, we will communicate an indoor recess via email and announce it to the students from the cafeteria. While we don’t typically expect teachers to check and respond to emails throughout the school day, in this case we have little choice due to the lack of a central PA system. If you’re not sure what the plan is, please check your mail or call the ES office for clarification.
• If it begins to rain during lunch… We will attempt to keep the children outside if it’s misty or drizzly. If a downpour occurs, especially if it’s accompanied by strong winds blowing the rain into the covered area, we may not have any choice but to ring the bell and hurriedly usher students back to their classes. Please work with your colleagues to ensure that everyone has a chance to eat their lunch. It’s fine for one person to wander between a couple of classrooms supervising the children.

Apologies for any confusion this week. Despite grey clouds, we chose to risk it and send grades 3-5 students out on Wednesday. Many got soaked (some intentionally!) when the rains descended. On Thursday, we chose to hold the K-2 students in the cafeteria for a few minutes before making the decision to send them out. Again, the skies opened up and we had no choice but to usher students back to class. When we made an early decision to call an indoor recess for 3-5, the rain stopped and the sun came out - causing confusion about where students should be. We just couldn’t win this week!! We’ll work on our weather prediction skills and we’re open to any helpful suggestions about what we could do in similar future circumstances :-)

Have a nice weekend!

Keryn & Lori