Friday, January 19, 2018

Dear Faculty,

A great first week back - Lori and I have been in many classrooms and have seen wonderful planned lessons with children already very engaged and striving towards the high expectations set. Thank you everyone! It has been a great week catching up and hearing all the stories of the fun adventures everyone had over the break.

This week’s blog contains a lot of important information, so settle in with a beverage of your choice….

Staffing Updates

• With Lakshmi on maternity leave, Ms. Gayathri has taken the TA position in EY5 JR.
• Welcome Ms. Raji to AISC who is working with Tomas.
• We also welcome Ms. Sowmiya to EY4 SP who is taking over for the year from Sherene. As of January 29th, Sherene will be the new admin assistant for the Office of Advancement. Sherene, we wish you good luck!

Thank you

• To everyone with your flexibility with today’s indoor recesses, especially the PE team who moved hoop building, the electric maze, parachutes and jump ropes into the atrium.

Cognitive Coaching

Keryn, Rachael, Alex and Karen will be out (although on campus) on Monday and Tuesday in part two of the Cognitive Coaching course. Lori, Hilary and the counselors will be holding down the fort.

Visiting NGO educators
Next Thursday 25 January, we have 6-7 visiting NGO teachers. They will be popping in to observe a few classrooms during the following times:

10:50 - 11:15 - EY5, Grade 2, Grade 3

11:15 - 12:00 - Grade 4, Grade 5

You may have 1/2 visitors at this time. They will pop in to observe our kids in action and also how an inquiry environment is set up. Thank you in advance for welcoming these visitors.

Report card information update

This time is coming up again soon - the style guide has been updated, please everyone read thoroughly.

New students who have been with us less than a month - joining after the winter break do not receive a full report card. Please instead write an introductory welcome to school type overview with a transition/settling in comment. This can go on a google doc, be shared with Hazel/Padmapriya to be put on AISC letterhead, and uploaded into Powerschool.

Any students who withdrew from school over the break also do not receive a report card.

PSE Narrative comments - should use the AISC Vision of a learner attributes. Specialist teachers - 3 bullet points per student.  2 areas of success and 1 growth area.

Proof Readers (** specialist teachers please share comments with all proofers listed below)

LSS - Lori

EY3, 4 & 5- Lori

Grade 1 - Rachael

Grade 2 - Hilary

Grade 3 - Keryn

Grade 4 - Dan

Grade 5 - Alex

Reporting Timeline

Wednesday 14 Feb	Faculty meeting time dedicated to writing/proofing report cards
Thursday 15 Feb	Report card comments due to colleague proofreader
Tuesday 20 Feb (9am)	Report card narratives (google doc) due to admin for final proofing
Monday 26 Feb (9am)	All reports returned to teachers. Can begin entering narratives into powerschool
Wednesday 28 Feb (EoD)	All report information comments and level indicators into Powerschool
Friday 2 March (EoD)	Reports go live to parents

Responsive Classroom, February 5-8

Here is the list of participants with our current thinking about who can cover the homeroom classes. HR, EAL teachers and TAs not listed will continue in current roles. As we won’t be able to provide subs to cover specialist classes, an entirely new specials schedule will be created just for that week. Each class of students will get one 60 minute block of specials each day. Look for that schedule next week.

And from the library...

Responsive Classroom is coming! Please note that we have a few of their resources in the CIC. If you would like to view what we have, please click here. Please let us know if you need any assistance in finding them. Here to help!

Thanks, Jet

Field Days - from the PE team

We are excited to say that Field Days are coming up!  They will be taking place on

• January 31st 10:15-12:15 (Grade 2 & 3)
• February 1st 10:30-12:30 (Grade 4 & 5)
• February 2nd 10:15-11:45 (EY3-Grade 1)  

When signing up for your Field Day Responsibility, it may be beneficial to view the Field Day Agenda and Activity Descriptions and then sign up via this link.  

All homeroom teachers, EAL teachers, and teacher assistants need to sign up. (specialists, see below)

Once everyone has signed up, in depth instructions for each particular activity and its location will be sent out.

If you are supposed to have a Specials class during Field Day, you need to communicate with that Specials teacher and decide whether to reschedule the class or to have the Specials teacher take on your responsibility at Field Day for that time. Or you could both come participate in the fun :). If you do decide to have a Specials teacher take on your Field Day responsibility, please let us know prior to the day, and indicate this on the sign-up sheet.

** All teachers should be signed up for Field Day by the end of the day Thursday, January 25th.

Please remind your students and their parents that the students will be getting wet on Field Day and should wear swim gear on that particular day. They should also bring an extra set of clothing to change into after. Parents can be encouraged to come watch or help out. Please contact us with any questions you or they might have about this.  

Thanks so much,  ES PE Team

Expectations of working with coaches - this document here adds greater clarity to the role of coaches, and what the expectations are of planning meetings when working with coaches.

Bill Harley Comes to AISC

Bill Harley, a two-time Grammy award-winning artist and an NPR commentator is coming to AISC. Two years ago the Visiting Experts committee gathered nominations for people to come. Bill Harley was a unanimous choice as he is a singer, storyteller, and author with the Elementary School as his main audience. His music is fun and great for little kids as he does hand motions with the songs, and his books are great for older ES.

He is coming February 12-15. He is able to do:

• Music and Story Assembly- 45 minutes. Separate ones for EY-Grade 2 and Grades 3-5.

• Workshops - 40 mins -  Grades 3-5 ‘Telling Stories – the pictures in your head’: Brain science shows how strong oral skills provide a clear pathway to literacy. In these workshops, basics of storytelling are explored through examples. Teachers will learn some simple techniques to continue exploring the world of story as a way to increase students’ confidence and their oral and literary fluency.
  MAX 40 students for each session.

• Kids can read his books and do A Closer Look: A participatory, animated classroom workshop about the nitty-gritty aspects of Bill’s work as an author using one of his books as an example (to be read by the class in advance). Workshop encourages and supports young writers (and teachers). Questions from students will be an important guide for this session.
  MAX 40 students for each session. These can last 30-45 minutes.

There will also be a family concert for all, mostly likely on Tuesday, February 13 after school. Logistics are still being sorted.

Let Kirsten know if you and your class would like to be part of his visit, and she will create his schedule.

TA Evaluations

Sometime in the next two weeks, teachers and TAs should find time to discuss and complete the TA Feedback Form. TAs are evaluated in the areas of Professional Behavior, Rapport with Students, Social Behavioral Support, Instructional Support & Non Instructional Support. Our TAs hold a variety of responsibilities, many of which differ depending on their job assignments. Any of the indicators that do not apply can be marked as not applicable.

TA standards and the feedback form can be found here. The form can be printed and completed by hand, or an electronic copy can be made, completed, then printed so that appropriate signatures can be added. Either way, a signed and completed paper version should be turned in to Lori by 9am Friday, February 2nd.

See Lori with any other questions about the process.

Message from the Discovery Studios

Happy New Year and welcome back to school. Just a quick reminder that the Discovery Studios are open for business and ready to help you in any way we can with any design projects or challenges.  Just drop by, catch us in the hallway or send Dilip and I an email with your ideas and we will do our best to make them happen.

Just a couple quick reminders:

Please don't forget to use use my calendar to book the Discovery Studios before you arrive so we can make sure we are there to help you with what you are doing.

Secondly, please remind students in Grade 4 and 5 that the Discovery Studios are open for lunch recess on Tuesdays and Thursdays unless the studios are booked by another class.

Have a great second half of the year. Carl and Dilip

Calling ALL Student performers!

Do you know a group of students who can sing, dance, juggle, play an instrument, read poetry, or any other special performance talent?

There is an excellent opportunity to share talent with educators from every continent (except Antarctica) for the ECIS Library Conference Feb 16th + 17th.

This performance is open to any age level and any type of performance. Can be done in groups with friends or solo.

If you’re willing to oversee a group of students, take a deep breath and send an email to Jason Kennedy. You can do it!

Have a great weekend - enjoy Cognitive Coaching for those doing that here this weekend!

Warmly,

Keryn & Lori