Friday, February 24, 2017

Dear all,

A great spirit filled week in the ES!  I particularly enjoyed seeing so many of you in your PJ’s today!  Have a wonderful weekend!  Notes below.

Thanks to

• Dee, Pam, Nicole and Student Council members for sponsoring spirit week. In addition to the dress up days, children ran games during lunch recess twice this week and they were a big hit!
• Jet, the library staff and teachers for their engagement with visiting author, Matt Holm.
• Rachael and Hillary for presenting at last Wednesday’s early release.
• Everyone for their dedication to report card comments - thank you!  I’m certain the parents will appreciate these as much as we did.  

Stress Management

Even without the dark dreary days of winter around, it is often this time of year where stress levels are higher and so we urge you not only to look out for one another, but also to take care of yourself.  A related article with some stress relief tips can be found here.  

Makeology

On March 3 we are hosting the Makeology summit here at AISC. We have 14 ES teachers involved in presenting, attending or hosting tours and another few involved in the ASIAC Volleyball - all hands on deck will be required!  

During the morning, likely between 10-11, a series of tours may drop in to visit classes in action.  Carry on as normal and thank you for your patience with these interruptions.  

WIDA, MAP and WRAP testing in April/May

Consider this a long-range heads up… WIDA, MAP and WRAP will all be completed during April and the first week of May. We’ve drafted a staggered schedule so that no grade level will be impacted by more than one test at a time. FYI - WRAP (an externally moderated constructed response writing assessment) was piloted last year in grade 4 and 7; this year it will be administered to students in grades 3-8.

April 3-7

WIDA for grades 1-2

WRAP for grades 3-5 (two class periods)

April 10-13

WIDA for 1-2

MAP for 2-5 (second grade to begin later in the week)

April 17-21

MAP for 2-5

SLCs on the 20th and 21st

April 24-May 5

WIDA for 3-5

(KG WAPT still to be scheduled)

More information to follow in the coming weeks. See Karen or Lori with any questions.

Faculty Meeting next Wednesday (ES Cafeteria)

Next Wednesday at our faculty meeting, we will dig deeper into our Child Protection Curriculum.  Led by Nigel, Meg and Ron, we will take a close look at what these lessons will involve.

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar

Saturday 25 Feb                      Design Saturday

Wednesday 1 March              Sectional Meeting (Student Protection curriculum)

Thursday 2 March                      Emergency Drill @10:45 (This will be a medical emergency and will not

impact classes)

Fri-Sat 3-4 March                       Make-o-logy Summit - 14 teachers out, all hands on deck!

Monday 6 March              Grade 5 NESA Virtual Science Fair

Wednesday 8 March                  ES Parent Coffee (Child Protection); Early Release

Monday 13 - Friday 17 March   Spring Break

Monday 20 March              Staff Professional Learning Day - No School for Students

Keryn & Lori

Friday, February 17, 2017

Hi all,

Another busy week in the ES!  As always, please read and check carefully.  Don’t forget SPIRIT week starts next week - looking forward to seeing your creativity and costumes!

See the schedule below as well as the fliers posted around the elementary school.

Monday 20 February	Mismatch Day!  Wear clothes that do not go together
Tuesday 21 February	Multiples day!  Find friends and dress alike.
Wednesday 22 February	Crazy hair day - style up your hair in fun and crazy ways!
Thursday 23 February	Costume Day - wear a costume of your choice
Friday 24 February	Pyjama Day - wear your favorite pyjamas to school

Thanks to

• Ron & Grade 3, Grade 4 and Grade 5 teachers who co-presented a fabulous learning celebration this morning full of jokes, card tricks, dancing, writing and at-the-scene reporting
• Morgen, Karen, Hazel and Nicole who represented the ES at the Strategic Planning Event
• All homeroom, EAL & LSS teachers for getting their narrative comments to admin for proof-reading
• Kay, Morgen, Amy, Lauren, Lily, Daphne, Vigna, Jayashri, Vigna, Fer, Tiffany, Ilona, Kamini, Barbara and Marianne for hosting HS students today for their Discovery Day
• Rachael and Karen for co-leading the ES Parent Coffee this week

After School Supervision

Another message is going to parents about the need to vigilantly supervise their students from 3:30 on. Unfortunately, we’ve had a number of either discipline issues or injuries the last couple of weeks. Please help us to reinforce this by keeping your after school dismissal tight. Students should either be going to an ASA, be picked up by a parent or older sibling, or should be accompanied by a TA (Zahida, Preethi, Nushrath, Mona or Nichelle) to the ES reception area for driver/nanny pick up. Padma Priya begins calling parents when students haven’t been picked up by 3:40. Students cannot remain to play unsupervised.

Homeroom Edmodo Expectations
We know Edmodo posts have been more regular this year and that is something to be celebrated!  Thank you for this time and commitment here.

However some parents have expressed concern they still “do not know what is going on in their child’s class”. Obviously this is not every parent, however, it may be a good reminder to check in with Edmodo expectations and make sure our posts are giving the right level of detail.  We also are assisting them from the tech side to rule out any issues arising there.  Any parents who express concern to you should be encouraged to attend and Edmodo tech support session:

We will be holding a special Edmodo tech support session on Monday February 27th from 2:30 - 4:30. You may drop in anytime during this time to receive dedicated Edmodo support.

A reminder that these were our original Edmodo guidelines

• Individual classroom weekly update; what has happened this week; include a balance of subject areas, main events, big learning ideas (include photos)
• Bi-weekly classroom celebration posts mostly photos; a few sentences only  (if you have a teacher blog already and prefer to do this here and push the link out via Edmodo, then please continue to do this)
• Grade level posts (can be copied onto all class accounts) when a new curricular unit begins  
  **** This is the piece that parents feel is missing.  We ask all Grade teams and Specialists to revisit this together; one way of streamlining the work may be for each person in a team to take responsibility for a particular area; eg 4 x Grade 2 teachers; one for each - math, LA, science, SS

Specialist Edmodo Expectations
* Post each time a new unit begins (copied onto all classes within grade level) ***Parents reported inconsistency with this
* Monthly celebration update; photos with a few sentences only personalized to each class

Early Release meeting next Wednesday 22 February
Led by coaches, see information from Dan in the Raptor Way.  

Leave Cards
Please update your leave cards at the office if you are going for any PDs (NESA / Maker Summit) or have taken leave.  

Have a great weekend!

Keryn and Lori

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar
Mon 13 - Fri 24 Feb                        K-2 Art Exhibition
20-24 Feb                                         Matt Holm author visit (Grades 2-5)
Wednesday 22 Feb                         Early Release
Saturday 25 Feb                              Design Saturday
Tuesday 2 March                             Emergency Drill @10:45
Monday 6 March                             Grade 5 NESA Virtual Science Fair
Wednesday 8 March                       Early Release
Monday 13 - Friday 17 March       Spring Break
Monday 20 March                           Staff Professional Learning Day - No School for Students

Friday, February 10, 2017

Hi all,

We all know report card writing season is an exceptionally busy time, so let’s all have each others backs! Assume good intentions and try to be proactive with any situations you see ‘brewing’, whether they be on the playground, in a classroom, or in a corridor.  Thank you for all the coaches and assistants for pitching in at this busy time too!

Additionally with many teachers out, particularly in the older grades where we do not have 1:1 Assistants, any teacher in the triad may be asked to cover when a homeroom teacher is out.  Please know we are doing our best to arrange cover, as well as keeping continuity of instruction our main priority.

Report Card Narratives - due to admin proofers by Wednesday 16th

Weds 1 Feb	faculty meeting dedicated to reports; time could be used for entering proficiency levels (B, D, A, E) or for proofing a colleague’s narratives
By Tuesday 7 Feb	Narratives written on google doc and given to proofing buddy
Thursday 16 Feb 4pm	report card narratives (google doc) due to admin for final proofing
Friday 17- Tues 21 Feb	Admin proof reports  (will return as completed)
By Tuesday 21 Feb 4pm -	Reports returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into skyward
By Thursday 23 Feb 8am	All report information entered into Skyward
Friday 24th 3pm	Reports go live to parents

Proof Readers (after a colleague has already proofed)

PK	Lori
KG	Lori
Grade 1	Rachael
Grade 2 A B	Rachael
Grade 2 C D	Karen
Grade 3	Karen
Grade 4	Keryn
Grade 5	Keryn

Thanks to

• Meg & KG, Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers who guided their students through a fabulous learning celebration this morning.
• Allison and Amy for filling in as their grade level rep at this week’s Team Leader meeting.
• Rachael and the early years teachers for a productive session Wednesday afternoon.
• Grade 2-5 teachers and specialists for engaging with Tom Schimmer.
• Everyone for guidance and feedback regarding Thursday’s lock down drill.
• The K-2 Art Exhibition is open for visitors in the FAC Atrium. Thanks to the art team for creating such a colorful display of student work!

Faculty Meeting next Wednesday 15th - AFO in the FAC Theatre

Preparation for Continuity of Instruction

Crisis readiness has been an important part of our preparations for the 2016-17 school year, and as we enter October it bears reminding that we must all be prepared to plan and run Virtual Learning Days (VLDs) should the situation present itself. As communicated during our crisis readiness workshop in August, we will engage a VLD with at least 24 hours notice and will do our best to avoid one-off virtual learning days and running these days when the communications infrastructure has been compromised. This means the most likely scenario for a VLD is when there is a higher likelihood of multi-day closures. That said, we can't always know how long closures will last, or how severe the consequences of an event or situation may be. Our responsibilities as a faculty at this time are to be highly comfortable with the Continuity of Instruction Plan and know how to engage our digital tools to deliver instruction, communicate with learners, and assess learning remotely.

HoD and Team Leader Announcements

Congratulations to all the HoDs and Team Leaders for next year.

PK - 12 PE	Tommy Bohorquez
PK - 12 Visual Art	Ed Doherty
PK - 12 Performing Arts	Jason Kennedy
PK - 12 World Languages	Nicole Merletti
PK	Vigna
KG	Lily
Grade 1	Morgen
Grade 2	Deepa
Grade 3	Scott
Grade 4	Dee
Grade 5	Becky

Discovery Day:  last chance to sign up

Please let us know if you would like some high school volunteers to work with students on Friday, February 17th for our Semester 2 Discovery Day experience. All teachers are welcome to request volunteers in your classrooms, whether it is 3+, 5th grade, PE, Music or anywhere in between. Thanks so much for accommodating this type of experience for our high school students. I'll be in touch with those interested in the coming weeks to plan out the details. With questions, please email me at lcorrene@aischennai.org Thank you!   Correne Larsen Calling for Teacher Workshop Facilitators!    As we depend on our teaching assistants more and more as substitute teachers and as true instructional aides, we would like to elicit your ideas and facilitation skills to start offering some monthly TA trainings, which would take place monthly during sectional meeting times. Do you have an idea that you'd like to suggest for a session or one that you'd like to facilitate or co-facilitate? Contact Karen S. to discuss further.

Elementary Spirit Week Days!

Please support student council by dressing up on the following days...

Monday 20 February	Mismatch Day!  Wear clothes that do not go together
Tuesday 21 February	Multiples day!  Find friends and dress alike.
Wednesday 22 February	Crazy hair day - style up your hair in fun and crazy ways!
Thursday 23 February	Costume Day - wear a costume of your choice
Friday 24 February	Pyjama Day - wear your favorite pyjamas to school

Upcoming Dates For Your Calendar

Saturday 11 Feb   Feb Fling

Tuesday 14 Feb   ES Parent Coffee 8:45am - 9:45am

Mon 13 - Fri 24 Feb   Art Exhibition

20-24 Feb   Matt Holm author visit (Grades 2-5)

Saturday 25 Feb   Design Saturday

Monday 6 March   Grade 5 NESA Virtual Science Fair

Monday 13 - Friday 17 March Spring Break

Monday 20 March   Staff Professional Learning Day - No School for Students

Have a nice Weekend!

Keryn & Lori