Friday, August 25, 2017

Dear Faculty,

First full week of the school year in the bag AND snapshot conferences complete! We thank all of you for the time you set aside for hosting all of these and have already received feedback from many of you on the value you found in listening to parents. Hopefully we’ll see many of you at the Board/Social tonight to celebrate a great week together.

Thank you’s (anyone to thank?  Let Lori or Keryn know and we’ll include it here :) )

• Grade 2 for the inception of the Snapshot conference idea - so much great feedback already from parents and faculty!  Thank you.

• Sobha, Marcus and Ross for covering for some of our new teachers to attend our ES parent coffee
• Linda, Ron and Melissa for a wonderful ES coffee presentation to parents on transitions
• All homeroom and EAL teachers for hosting snapshot conferences - parents have already expressed SUCH appreciation.  Thank you!
• Everyone who signed up for an ES or school wide committee or team this year
• All the teachers and teacher assistants offering an ASA this year
• Hilary, Jet, Rachael, Alex, Teena for helping with the ASA handovers in the ES Cafeteria this week

Back to School Afternoon - Tuesday 29th
Schedule
4:00 -  4:30pm : Session 1 in the homeroom

4:35 - 5:10pm: Specialists in the ES Cafeteria

5:15 - 5:45      : Session 2 in the homeroom

**Please ensure parents know venues for homeroom sessions via Edmodo

** Snacks will be served from 3:30-4pm in the faculty lounge.

**Duties for this evening can be found here  

There will be duty supervision from 3:30pm until 5:45pm on all regular recess play areas, with Early Years 3 and 4 in the CIC. We will communicate alternate venues in the event of rain; most likely CIC, FAC Cafeteria and/or Atrium.

Elementary Community Member Introductions

We will be introducing a different Elementary faculty member each week so that our whole community knows who is who in our section, and the fabulous work they are doing with your children and their teachers. Our first ES community introduction is below.

Introducing Rachael Moser - one of our Elementary Instructional Coaches

Did you know that Rachael Moser not only taught pre-school and kindergarten in Ohio, children's theater in New York, fifth grade and was a math coach in North Carolina before becoming a full-time instructional coach in 2012. She has also acted in film, and voiced Fifi on an English version of Hello Kitty cartoon series. Rachael’s first passport stamp was when she arrived here in Chennai, India, and if she could trade lives with anyone, it would be Sally Ride, who on June 18th, 1983 became the first woman in space! However, Rachael being the wonderful caring individual she is, also states, “I wouldn't want to trade, as that would take the experience away from her”, so she would just want to ‘relive’ Sally’s experience!  

Rachael - we thank you for all the amazing work you do with curricular instruction, assessment, and inquiry learning across our whole Elementary section.  

Yearbook Photos next week - please make sure you have informed your class parents via Edmodo -  Schedule

Items for mud kitchen and real kitchen

We are still looking for additional wooden utensils, metal bowls, pots and pans for our both our mud kitchen and our real kitchen. Please bring any items you feel would be of use to the real kitchen and we can sort where they go. Thank you in advance!

Knowing what is Expected

As Andrew mentioned in the recent All Faculty meeting, as a school, we are continuing to use data from the Gallup Q12 survey to engage in improvement across 12 areas. For those of you here last year, our Elementary section was in the 3rd percentile for question one (I know what is expected of me at work).

We debriefed this in a meeting last spring and recognised a number of things.

First, this is not always straightforward and clear cut. Second, often there are times where expectations come from not only our section, but from either Dan’s office or school wide priorities.  Lori and I have thought about this a lot and worked hard with the  orientation schedule to include both team meeting time and specific meeting times with coaches facilitating.  

As you know, this will continue throughout the year with the hope that this continues to add the consistency, rigor as well as bring about greater clarity to overall expectations. If you  have any other ideas of how we can continue to build on all of us understanding and working towards what is expected, please let me know!

Knowing what is expected will be an ongoing goal within our ES section this year.

Leadership opportunities and expectations
All teachers at AISC are expected to contribute to the wider life of our school.  This can be, but is not limited to:

• Grade team leadership
• Curriculum Area leadership
• Elementary section team leadership
• Vertical curriculum area team leadership
• iLab or CNet team leadership
• ASA leadership
• Coaching leadership

Thank you to all those who have already signed up, offered or been selected for a leadership role in one or more of these areas.

If you have not, please think about what it is you are going to offer and commit to for this academic year. You can talk about this at your upcoming PG&E meeting with your supervisor in September.

PGE (professional growth and evaluation)

We will begin scheduling these meetings in the next week or so. All new faculty will be on the New Teacher (NT) pathway.  Returning teachers either Professional Growth pathway or SAP-S/X; in many cases, teachers have the choice of remaining on Self Assessment or returning to Professional Growth. Click here to see your PG&E supervisor and the pathway we believe you are on. The documents to complete are being updated and will be shared as soon as they are ready.  

• PGP Paperwork due by September 15th
• NT and SAP Paperwork by Sept 30th
• SAP-X Quad Blogging Meeting October 15

Report Card Committee

This committee has been working hard to revise the report card for this year.  We have confirmed most of our standards, and you will find them to be much broader and more conceptual than previous years. As with any school with an inquiry pedagogy, understandings can be anchored to many different knowledge or content areas and so regardless of where the children go with their investigations, these conceptual standards can be used to assess them.

We are also drafting new level/indicators to replace beginning, developing, applying and extending.

First Early Release Faculty Meeting

Next Wednesday’s meeting is an Early Release. Dan and his team will be rolling out the different strands of professional learning. You will be invited to sign up to join one of these strands, and if you are not sure what to select, please come talk to Lori or I.  Sign ups will be open for the next few weeks as the first strand ‘class’ is not until November.

MAP Testing

Homeroom and EAL teachers - When you’re ready to start thinking about MAP testing, here are some handy documents you’ll want to review prior to testing (which begins the week of Sept. 4th):

• The draft schedule which is still open to changes to best meet the needs of your students. See Lori. She loves working with schedules :-)
• Teacher log-in page Make sure you have (or reset) your password prior to your first day of testing.
• The Step By Step Guide: Follow these steps like you were cooking your best meal for Gordon Ramsay. This is not a time to get creative or muddle through. Do what it says. Exactly. If you need a refresher on proctoring, touch base with Lori for a review session.
• Student instruction page to be read prior to testing (You may want to print this page for easy reference.)

If you’d prefer to procrastinate, the above information will be repeated next week.

Class Photos

Class group photos will be taken this year by Shannon.  

EY - Grade 1 will be inside some of the new classroom spaces (one location per grade level)

Grades 2-5 will be outdoors in the courtyard.  

EY - Grade 1 photos will be in early September and Grade 2-5 in October.  

Hazel &  Shannon have coordinated times here; If there is a special event eg. writing celebration or field trip scheduled during your time we are unaware of, please communicate directly with Hazel.

Best of luck with Back To School presentations on Tuesday!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Warmly,

Keryn & Lori

Friday, August 18, 2017

Hello all,

We can nearly say it’s the end of our first full week back! Enjoy your weekend and we cannot stress enough the importance of reading this through - there are important sign ups included here that you don’t want to miss out on!

New Spaces

Our new faculty lounge/lunch room (Room 1602) -  the corner room on the ground floor near the play areas will be ready from Monday!

We will relocate the refrigerator, microwaves and teacher mail cubbies also in there. Tea / Coffee will be available through the day.

The printer and Copier - will be relocated to room 2604 (3-5 Collab Room). Please be mindful of and respect the personal space / property  of the EAL Teachers who are sharing this space. On Monday the printer may still be in room 2601 if the network cable cannot be moved by then.  

All teachers and TAs can print to these locations - Color Printers: ES CIC and Collab Room 2604
Black and White Printers: ES Workroom 3602, Collab Room 2604 & MS CIC

Smile!  It’s Photo Day! - Click here to access the Class photo sign up.  Once you have confirmed the time, please ensure you share the day and time with parents via Edmodo.

Kitchen Sign-up Calendar

Our new ES kitchen is now available to sign up for classes! Please remember this space can be used by anyone, although please do not make year long bookings. We encourage all classes to sign up for an initial hands on exploratory cooking class.

Please remember to make sure the kitchen is as spotless as you found it so it can be enjoyed by other classes. If you feel we are missing necessary items, please let your Grade team leader know and together we can compile a list for Mouli to purchase.

Hazel has shared the calendar with you - click on that link to add the calendar to your list and make bookings.

Erma Andersen is coming to AISC

Erma Andersen will be on campus, September 27-29, to deliver Institute 1 of Math Specialists in International Schools (MSIS) Training for Elementary and Middle School Teachers. This training is one of five trainings toward a certificate (two year commitment). Erma is scheduled to return to AISC for a second institute in 2018-19 (specific dates to be determined).  If you are interested in this training see description below. To indicate interest in attending, please see Keryn directly.

Institute 1:  MSIS Certification Year 1: Numbers and Operations

The focus is on the content and the Common Core Mathematical Practices that support the Numbers and Operations progressions of the Common Core Standards.  Attention will be given to ways of representing numbers, relationships between numbers, number systems, the meaning of operations and how they relate to one another, and computation within the number systems as a foundation for algebra

**At AISC we can fully support teachers in this Math Institute program to two MSIS Institutes (1 each year 2017-18 & 2018-19) on campus, AND contribute programmatic funds of $1000 per teacher towards each of the additional 3 remaining courses.

Morning Meetings
As you know, consultants are coming in to set the scene for how morning meetings, through Responsive Classroom, build inclusive communities. The question has been asked ‘can we begin this now?’. The answer is yes!! Those of you who have participated already in this training, please share your ideas with your team too!

This is excellent practice to begin the year with, and after the consultant's visit us there will be guidelines. One way to begin is to start every morning with a 10 min meeting/conversation.

Some great ideas include

- a morning message displayed for the children to think about and or respond to in writing - posted on board or in doorway. Could be data collection e.g. Who swam this weekend? Or Who has an ASA today?  

- forming a circle in the meeting area for a chance to begin the day together and connect

- a chance for each child to greet one another in a new chosen way each day

- any news or announcements to be shared

The purpose is for each child to be welcomed each day and to ensure everyone feels included in the class community to build for success each day.

From Dan regarding Paul Andersen NGSS - coming to work with teachers in Grade 2 - 5

• Look for calendar invites from Dan’s office.  
• Homeroom teachers will work in their teams for a 90 minute session which may go into or over lunch (lunch will be provided)
• EAL teachers will join during grade level planning block, but may need to cover class for the second part (Thank you for your flexibility and understanding)
• Click here for the ES objectives in working with Paul   

Introducing Victor (5BT) and Tomas (EY5JR)
We have two new students with high needs joining us in Elementary School this year; Victor in 5BT and Tomas in EY5JR  Please see below for tips on how you can best support Victor or Tomas on the playground, in learning celebrations, special events, and around school.

VICTOR - GRADE 5BT

1. Victor has extremely limited vision, caused by Meningitis as a baby.
2. He loves to play soccer but tends to get really up-close to the children he plays with and so this can cause some tension. If you are duty, you may be able to identify such a situation and resolve it by talking to the children and Victor.
3. Victor may need assistance in the cafeteria to read the menu so he can buy his lunch. His classmates are very helpful but in case no one is around, he may need help.
4. Victor speaks Danish. He has limited English and so tends to rattle off in Danish when he gets excited and upset. He will try to find the right words in English. Patience and kindness goes a long way.
5. For learning celebrations, it might be helpful to forward the presentation a day before because the screen is too distant for him to be able to see anything. If it is sent to Becky, she can forward it to his mother, and she will share it with him.
6. Victor is a happy child and he will be pleased to chat with you if you see him during recess.

            TOMAS  EY 5

Tomas has a cochlear implant system; medical device for children who have a severe-to-profound hearing loss. The implant processes sounds and uses electronic signals to send a reproduction of sound to the child’s brain. While this does not replicate sounds exactly as you would hear them, it does allow children to hear and understand sounds, voices, and music.  

Tomas is still transitioning into using this device. Ways to interact/support him right now include:

• Making eye contact when talking to him
• Pairing words with pictures
• Using hand gestures such as a thumbs up to check that he is doing ok  

Staff Yearbook Ordering

Please take a moment to answer the single question on the link above. If you are interested in having a copy of our all-school yearbook, one will be provided for you free of charge. Not responding to this survey will be taken as being not interested in ordering a book this year.

MAP Testing

Grades 2-5 will once again participate in MAP testing beginning the week of September 4th. Attached is a draft schedule which takes into account specials classes, Learning Celebrations and Paul Andersen’s meetings with grade level teams. This draft is exactly that - a draft for your consideration. There is a fair amount of flexibility in the days and times of testing; we are limited only by the number of devices we need to loan to students and the number of IT staff that can support the log in process. Also, most teachers want to test at 8:45ish but you’re welcome to test later in the day if it’s better for your schedule. See Lori with any requests for changes.

Note from Sherriden - Edmodo

Please be advised, all documents shared via Edmodo must be in the form of a Google Doc, with the sharing settings set to "anyone with the link can view/edit". These sharing options sometimes requires you to press the "More..." menu underneath the share options, in order to reveal it.

From the IT department
Last year the Blended Learning iLab innovation team found that IXL is being used at only a fraction of its capacity and effectiveness for Math. For this reason we are not deploying IXL to all teachers this year, rather we will provided licenses to those teachers who use it as prescribed by IXLs own best practice recommendations and where student growth is supported by data in IXL. We also believe there are better tools out there will be prototyping other adaptive systems for possible adoption; you can click here to explore these programs.

Be RaptorWise (Digital Citizenship) - Message from Hilary

This year our goal is to educate all of our students on how to be safe, respectful, and responsible digital citizens. The full RUP can be viewed here. As the beginning of the year starts, I know students are super excited to dive right into technology. It is suggested that before students use or post online the following guidelines from the Responsible Use Policy be taught.

1. Carry, use, and store any device carefully.

2. Don't share your private information.

These can be easily incorporated into your regular classroom instruction. As you are developing classroom agreements, have students make connections to agreements that we want to follow when we work online and the ways in which we take care of our devices. Here are some pictures from these lessons with Jyostna's and Janna's grade 4 classes. You can also get the full lessons at www.coachievable.com.

Book Bags

All grade levels should now have book bags. There are a handful of extra bags for new students; see Alex in 3612 when the time comes to get one.  

Student Transitions

At the team leader meeting this week, we made a few decisions regarding student transitions for grades 3-5. Teachers will continue to meet their classes at the beginning of the day, and will continue to do individual handovers to parents/older siblings/ASA instructors/bus monitors at the end of the day. During the day, we’re going to show our older students a higher level of trust in transitioning around the school. For example, when the recess bell rings, students are no longer required to line up and wait for an adult to walk with them; they can simply begin heading upstairs, whether that be to their homeroom or to a specials class. Easy transitions (i.e. grade 4 to music) can be supervised from a vantage point in the hallway. We do want to supervise the walk between the ES and PE because of the longer distance.

EY3-Grade 2 transitions remain unchanged.

Discovery Studio - message from Carl

I will be having a workshop for all the TA’s in the next few weeks to show them how to use some of the tools in the room. This is to get them more knowledgeable as to what we have and how to work some of the power equipment. A workshop will also be held for teachers at a later date to get them up to speed as well.

From Karen - WIDA MODEL Data: Key Uses Can Do Name Charts

As soon as the WIDA MODEL data is uploaded to PowerSchool in Can Do Name Chart form, you will be notified.

WIDA has elaborated task ideas for different levels for their "Key Uses," recount, explain, argue and discuss, the last of which is for developing oral skills.

(For new teachers, this relates the learning task we did with highlighters and sample students during the EAL Framework workshop during NFO)

EAL teachers, on Monday you will receive the Can Do Name Chart folder for your Grade level.  Please take some time in an upcoming triad meeting to go over the details of this data with your homeroom teachers. You should have or will be getting the more detailed Key Uses WIDA booklet for your grade band. If you do not have one with the materials turned over to you or if you've misplaced it, please let Karen know and she will prepare more copies.

Can Do Name Charts assist in leveraging students' strengths in English for content learning as well as for grouping and partnering students. It can also be used to note progress as students advance in their ability to handle more complex tasks in English.

Yep - it was a long one!  Thanks for reading through until the end.

Warmly,

Keryn & Lori