Friday, May 12, 2017

Dear all,

Happy Friday!  Hoping to see you all at our TGIF tonight to celebrate a wonderful year together!

Thank yous and recognitions!

• Congratulations to Deepa who has accepted the Grade 2 homeroom position

• We have also hired two new TAs for the 2017-18 school year. Preetika Royappan has been a familiar substitute all year, and we are thrilled that she will join us permanently next year. We also welcome Adithya Rajaram, who has just completed a two year assignment with Teach for India. A final offer to a third TA has been made and is pending finalisation.

TA Assignments for 2017-18

We have made a number of changes to grade level assignments for the upcoming school year. In making these decisions, we tried to keep student needs at the center of our decisions. We started with a blank slate and assigned TAs based on the following considerations:

• In grade levels where we anticipate a high level of students with particular learning needs, we assigned TAs with instructional experience and comfort in carrying out small group instruction (such as Bridges intervention material).
• Given the high number of new teachers, we tried to mix-and-match teams so there would be a mix of new and returning staff.
• Some people seem more comfortable dealing with younger children; others may be more comfortable with older children even if they tend to 'test' adults and push behavioral boundaries.

In the end, we believe we have created a well balanced profile that will best meet the needs of our learners. Click here to see a list of grade level teams, triads, TAs and room assignments.

Raptors Swim Meet in Bangalore - Friday 19th May

The following students will be traveling to Bangalore with their families to participate in the Stonehill  Super Splash Swim Meet which will take place on May 19-20. Most families will be traveling on Thursday, May 18th and the time they leave will be dependent on the flight they have arranged, as parents are required to travel with their child for this event. Thank you for your support of this event. The kids have worked so hard and are so excited about this trip. Make sure you ask them about it! Please remind students to get their parents to fill out the Pre-excused absence form.

We have our MS band concert NEXT FRIDAY MAY 19th at 2:30-3:30.

4th and 5th Grade classes are invited to attend.

Have a great weekend!

Keryn and Lori