Friday, 21 April, 2017

Dear all,

Another amazing week culminating with seriously impressive Student - led conferences! A wonderful effort by all and the inclusion of specialist areas this week has been hugely appreciated by students and their families. Thank you!  

Thank yous…

• All teachers for preparing their students for a rich demonstration of learning through SLC!
• TAs for providing supervision over the last two days.
• Lauren, Kay and Tiffany for beginning to review the report card standards towards more conceptual assessment
• Rachael and Hilary for facilitating more great Social Studies planning
• Our IT department for their ongoing support with MAP testing
• Everyone who wrote and passed on a gratitude card this week - plenty more in the ES office!

(**As per the Q12 Data Survey, a reminder that these recognitions can come from anyone - if you have a team member or colleague you feel deserves a shout out, please let Lori or I know by Friday morning)

Blue and White Swim Meet

Many of our ES swimmers will be competing in AISCs very own ‘Blue and White’ Swim meet tomorrow (Saturday) from 12 - 6pm. Come out to support our young swimmers!

Tania - Innovative Global Education

Next week Tania is in town with us - and her schedule can be found here.

She will be facilitating many after school sessions on Monday and on Tuesday - all returning teachers are highly encouraged to attend Monday, and all EY-Grade 1 teachers are highly encouraged to attend the play based session on Tuesday.

WIDA Testing Next Week: Grades 3-5 and K MODEL

Students in Grades 3-5 and EY5 will be WIDA MODEL tested by EAL teachers over the next two weeks. The schedule will communicated by EAL teachers to their co-teachers. Specialists, please be aware that students will be testing through specials as well. Logistics and rationale can be found on this document.

MAP Test Make Ups

Will occur on next Monday from 8:30-10:00 in Priya K’s art room (2130), supervised by Priya V. If this time is particularly inconvenient, please let Lori and Priya know so we can work out an alternative. The following students have tests to make up. Please send them to Priya’s room with their device.

Testing with Priya:

	Math	Reading	Language	Science
Grade 2		Kim, Yedam Larsen, Henry	Grobben, Sophia izumi, Kanato Kim, Siwoo Valerio De Castro,      Lucas
Grade 3	Grassi, Rocco	Dimas, Julio Fujiwara, Koshiro		Bamba, Chihiro Lee, Sangyoon
Grade 4	Braithwaite, Kory Chana, Aaron Siripurapu, Tanuj	Monk, Imogen Park, JongHyuk	Monk, Imogen* Park, JongHyuk *	Doherty, Owen Imai, Shinto Watanabe, Eishun
Grade 5	Kitsopanidis,     Alexander Nesselhauf,     Marc-Louis	Abildgaard Clausen,     Clara Marie Mohd Noor Arizam,     Safiyya Aleysha	De Trogoff Coatallio,      Sam Reddy, Anya	Desai, Esha Hwang, Juhwan Kristensen, Rune Martin, Maya Reddy, Anya* Tinnerholm, Erik

*Second test = Tuesday at 8:30ish

Testing with Nancy/Amritha/Widi (times and locations to be determined by LSS and HR/EAL teachers):

	Math	Reading	Language	Science
Grade 2	Sawchenko, Michella	Brooks, Rebecca Sahubar Ibrahim      Rabiatul		N/A
Grade 3		Ravichandran, Sanjay		Lim, Seung Oh Mohandas, Kirtana
Grade 4		Jacob, Samuel McFarland, Jacob		McFarland, Jacob

Hot Weather Policy

It’s that time of year again. Chennai is heating up. Looking ahead to the coming weeks, the temperature is creeping towards 40C. Once the temperature reaches 40, we keep the students inside during recess and lunch. Morning recess is not usually impacted, but each year, we have had days where we do not allow students to play outside due to heat.

Until the end of the year, the ES office will check the temperature before morning recess, lunch, and afternoon recess. If the temperature is 40C or above, students will remain inside. Communicating an indoor recess is somewhat of a challenge owing to the absence of a PA system. The message will come via email or word of mouth.

Everyone has quick access to the temperature via apps and websites. The temperature may vary on these apps and websites due to the location of the station from which the recording was taken. I know there is a “feels like” reading often on these websites. The call will be based on the temperature as determined by the office.

Regardless of the temperature, it is very important that you remind students to stay hydrated. It’s important to teach kids that thirst is not the best indicator that you need to drink. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

It is important that we know the symptoms of dehydration. These include:

• Dry mouth
• Sleepiness or fatigue
• Extreme thirst
• Headache
• Confusion
• Dizziness or lightheaded feeling
• No tears when crying

Encourage kids to play in the covered area and covered portion of the playground, and tell the kids who play soccer to take it easy (I know, easier said than done!). Supervision is provided in the cafeteria throughout each recess and the entire lunch period. Students are welcome to head inside for a drink and a bit of time to relax quietly in the AC.

Report Card Narratives - due to admin proofers by Wednesday 24 May

Weds 17 May	faculty meeting dedicated to reports; time could be used for entering proficiency levels (B, D, A, E), writing narrative comments or for proofing a colleague’s narratives
By Monday 22  May - 8am	Narratives written on google doc and given to proofing buddy
BY Weds 24 May 4pm	report card narratives (google doc) due to admin for final proofing
Thursday 25 - Tues 30 May	Admin proof reports  (will return as completed)
By Tuesday 30 May 4pm -	Reports returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into skyward
By Thursday1 June 8am	All report information entered into Skyward
Thursday 1 June	Reports go live to parents

ES Resource Marketplace
Time to start looking through your cupboards and thinking about items you no longer need or want, particularly given social studies units are changing.

If any item is damaged or broken, please throw it away.  Some cupboards are overflowing; be ruthless!

However, all excellent condition and relevant resources that you believe could be used elsewhere can be take to the ES resource Marketplace starting in MAY.

Rachael will host this in the Coaches room, beginning MAY 2; please do NOT take items before then!

Looking Ahead…

On the June 1, the final full day of school for students, we plan to run a regular schedule (including specials) right through until 2:15/2:30. K-2 students will have their regular 2:15-2:30 recess. Second and fourth grade students will not attend their 2:15/2:30 specials so they may be in their homerooms closing out the year.

Remember these can be challenging times, particularly for those leaving or those losing friends.  Please be mindful that classrooms should not be fully packed up until the last week of school, and that regular instruction should continue right up until the last day.

Class parties

Please plan these for sometime during the last week of school. Please be mindful if  you are planning on showing a movie, as part of your class party, that it is G rated. Please remember that movies should not be shown at other times.

Summer Maintenance (repeat announcement)

If any ES Specialist team or Grades 2-5 have any specific summer maintenance requests, please fill them in on this form here and we will discuss the request with Ilangovan and his maintenance team.  All requests must be in by May 5th.

From the Library

Regarding end of year check out/due dates - click here

PG&E sign ups (final announcement)
The time has come to complete your PG&E paperwork for the year and have a final reflection meeting on your goals with Keryn or Lori. Please submit your PG&E from with reflection on selected goals 2 days before your meeting. Those on self-assessment need to submit this form as well as their blog link. All meetings should take place before Friday May 5th.

Have a great weekend,

Keryn and Lori