Friday, February 09, 2018

Dear all,

A busy week in the elementary; thank you to everyone who worked with grace and flexibility around the irregular schedule, taught new classes and/or wrote lesson plans and covered for colleagues. Thank you!

Next week a few more events are taking place - please read carefully below:

Thank yous….

• All teachers who covered for their colleagues this week
• All teachers who wrote lesson plans whilst attending R/C
• Lily, Jenny and Jana for hosting the wonderful readers theatre learning celebration this week
• The Grade 4 Team would like to thank Linda for her never ending support throughout the day and especially during last week's sleepover!

No Faculty Meeting next Wednesday

This time is for you to proof and write reports.  Happy writing/reading!

Timetable committee

Considering feedback we have received - we would like to rethink the Elementary weekly schedule for next year, and are creating a committee to draft this.

This will be lead by Alex and will ideally include 1-2 homeroom teachers and 1-2 specialist teachers.  Please email Keryn directly if you are interested in being part of this committee.

EY5 - Gr. 2 Art Exhibition

This is to invite you to the ‘Lower Elementary Art Exhibition’ starting on the 12th Feb till the 23rd Feb 2018. This is a one-time opportunity for you to view the fabulous artworks created by the EY5 to Grade 2 students under one roof.

The grand display will be at the FAC Atrium. Please do make time to visit and encourage all the effort put in by our lower elementary students.  All are Welcome!

Elementary Art Team

Ken, Joseph, Priya & Clinton

Bill Harvey - storyteller and musician

Thank you to all of the people that signed up for an optional Storytelling workshop or a Music and Stories Assembly with Bill Harley. You can see the schedule for his visit below. Please note that he has back to back workshops/performances. Kirsten will be escorting him, and will get him to each location there as fast as possible. Kirsten will also be coordinating his needs for each workshop/performance with facilities. If you have any questions, please let her know. There is no preparation; just have everyone come ready to sing and move or tell a story! His schedule is below:

Monday, February 12

9:15-10:00am: EY3, 4 and 5 Music and Stories (94) - Madras Hall

11:00-11:45: 4JH Telling Stories (15) - Classroom

11:45-12:30: 5VL Telling Stories (15) - Classroom

2:00-2:45: 5JD Telling Stories (17) - Classroom

3:45-4:45: Family Concert - Madras Hall

Tuesday, February 13

8:30-9:15: 2DJ & 2BW Music and Stories (40) - Madras Hall

11:00-11:45: 2FL, 1KC, 1MW, 1AS, 1KJ, 2UK (70) Music and Stories - Madras Hall

2:00-2:45: 5EF Telling Stories (15) - Classroom

Wednesday, February 14

2:00-2:45: Grade 3 Music and Stories (77) - FAC Theater

2:45-3:30: 4JN Storytelling (15) - Classroom

Thursday, February 15

8:30-9:15: 5BT (18) - Classroom

11:45-12:30: 4MG and 4RC (30) - MG's Classroom

Advanced responsive classroom (part 2)

We have booked tentative dates in early September 2018 for Part 2, the Advanced Modules. We will likely be focusing on ‘Responding to misbehaviour’ and ‘Effective Communication Strategies’, as well as having an observation day where the visiting consultant will observe implementation of R/C within classrooms, shared spaces, playgrounds etc.  

This visit will include the 30 teachers who participated this week, and at least one day for all other ES faculty too.

All resource/books can be found on their website - https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/

If you would like to order a book from your PD funds, please include your name and book title here, and we will compile a master order.

Visiting Authors - from the CIC

Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger from Outspoken Literacy are this year’s visiting authors. They have toured many international schools and received high accolades for years. We are very happy to have them here!

Sara will be working primarily with ES while Michael will be mostly with MS/HS. Please click here below for two documents.

1.      The schedule for your team.

2.      Your workshop choices. There are 28 different ones to choose from depending on the needs of your curriculum. Please email Jet what sessions your team wants by the end of Tuesday, February 13. Sara will choose sessions for teams who do not decide by that date.

Thank you,

Jet and the Library Team

Summer Literacy Institute Workshop

Looking for summer professional development?  Registration for reading and writing workshop institutes at Columbia University in New York City open on Wednesday February 21st.  You will find more details on the TCRWP website and in the summer institute brochure.  Please ask Alex if you have additional questions.

Writing Institute: June 18-22, 2018

Reading Institute: June 25-29, 2018

Bathroom Etiquette!

A request from maintenance to please have a conversation with your students about bathroom behaviour - both the hand wash and sanitizers are being inappropriately used/wasted over the last few days.  Please all talk to your students about this. Thank you.

Visiting ASL (American School London) teachers

Alan is organising a half day visit next Thursday 15 February for 5 ASL teachers.  They will be touring around the ES in the morning and then spending time in Deepa, Ula, Tiffany, Melissa and Janna’s classes.

Meet AISC - Amritha Thomas - Speech and Language Pathologist

 

Amritha’s job as Speech and Language Pathologist allows her to do 2 things that she loves - teaching, and working with kids. The broad smiles children break out into when they realize that they are being successful is priceless. Amritha loves travelling and have recently developed a liking towards photography! One of her favorite ways to unwind is to untangle things like Christmas lights and yarn. She is the oldest of 3 children; her Dad is a Plastic Surgeon and her Mom an English teacher.

Amritha did her schooling in Oman and came to India for her Undergraduate and Postgraduate degree in Speech and Language Pathology & Audiology.  Soon after that she got the chance to go to Australia for 5 years. In 2007, Amritha found herself back in India and interviewing for the job at AISC. If Amritha could change lives with anyone it would be her Grandfather - he was a Freedom Fighter and one of India's first Member of Parliament post- Independence. She would love to see India and its potential through his eyes!

Happy weekend everyone!

Warmly,

Keryn & Lori