Friday, February 23, 2018

Friday, February 23, 2018


Dear all, 

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes, I feel very fortunate to be here with all of you! Many things coming up in the next few weeks; happy reading!

Lockdown Drill
As you look ahead on the calendar, our next emergency drill is Thursday March 8, at 10:45am. This will be a lockdown drill. Our expectations for this are very simple; lock the doors, turn off the lights, and gather quietly in a place where you are at least visible. Next week Lori and Keryn will come around and check in with what your designated space is.

In light of the recent events in Florida, if children need reassurance of why we carry out this drill in India, please know it is a very real difference to why lockdown drills are carried out in the US. The likelihood of us going into lockdown would be because of an intruder, not an armed intruder. These two articles here may help you frame conversations with your students.

Track and Soccer field Construction Project
Alankrit sent an email announcing this week regarding the upcoming track and soccer field construction project. This will begin on April 1, and therefore the field will be unable to be used from then through the end of the year. We are developing alternate plan for recess play and PE spaces, and will share some ideas at our Faculty Meeting next Wednesday.

Faculty Meeting next Wednesday
We will be talking about Operation Appreciation and Inquiry. The structure of the meeting will be different than usual, with us spending time in the CIC, the Design Studio and doing an Inquiry Walk. Early next week, we will update the calendar invitation indicating which space everyone should begin in. As there will be movement and hands-on activities involved, you do not need to bring anything to the meeting.  

ES Vision of a Learner
Since report cards highlighted so many of our students vision of a learner attributes, here is your chance to nominate some students for a second round of vision posters. Click here to add names.  Anyone can add to this, specialist or homeroom teachers.

Student - Teacher Feedback
Next week Grade 3-5 students will be completing their student teacher feedback survey. This survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. Homeroom and EAL teachers will work together in triads to cover each other so these surveys can be completed without the teacher receiving feedback in the room. 

Students should carry their device to specialist lessons next week. (Once surveys are done, no devices are needed to go to these classes.) 

TAs please plan to spend 5-10 minutes in one Art, Music, PE and IS lesson for each of your two classes.  Ideally, this should be at the beginning or end of each class.

WL feedback will only be given from Grade 4 & 5 students who spend all year with one WL teacher.  This will happen on Monday, and also only be in Spanish and French; Lori or Keryn will be present for 5-10 minutes of these classes on Monday.

Links will be emailed directly to each student next Monday morning.

 Thank you’s…
  • From Megha and Tiffany - To Ron & Lori: Thank you for your consistent support in dealing with behaviour and discipline issues, especially during the height of report card season! It means a lot to us that we could lean on you and feel so supported.
  • Morgen, Bindu, Jet and Nicole for representing the ES at our planning summit this week.
Meet AISC - Linda Gerberich - Elementary Counselor
 
Like a number of the AISC teachers, Linda started her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She served in the Philippines and worked with teens who could not afford to go to school. Linda has been a school counselor for 25 plus years in both international and US public schools. This is her first year at AISC and she came from working at an international school in Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki and Chennai are very different! Linda is originally from Ohio in the US. She loves that she gets to work with and know so many students and parents and teachers, because she enjoys the opportunity to turn a student's day around and help make it better. If Linda had a secret power, she would be able to speak any language!  

April 6 - let’s hope it’s not a full moon - very early advance notice
Friday April 6 is going to be an all hands on deck day!  On this day we have a clash between Adaptive Schools (approx 10 teacher's out), Erma (6 teachers out), Keryn/Linda out in Korea for training and a few other teacher booked for personal leave.

Friday 9 March - TGIF
Save the date - more information and details to follow!

Sunday, March 4, 7AM-10AM
The Fifth Annual AISC RAPTORTHON!!!!
Looking for an fairly easy event to motivate you to get into shape? How about a great reason to do something fun with your child? Have you participated in the Raptorthon in prior years and want to try for a faster time?

Raptorthon 5 is a FUN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY EVENT for anyone in grade 4 or older.
This biathlon event combines swimming and running. Participants will be required to swim 150m, run 1600m then jump back in the pool and swim another 150m.

·          Enter as an individual or as a team of two  (one person swims and the other runs).   
·          Entry fee is 350 rupees per individual and 700 rupees per team. Late sign-up fee is 500 rupees per individual.
·          The proceeds will be used to cover the cost of the event and any remaining money will benefit a local charity.
               SIGN-UP HERE
·          Please bring a dish to share at Potluck Breakfast after the event
·          All participants will receive a certificate with their official time either at the breakfast or it can be collected from my office the following week.

If you have any questions, please contact Donna Fava, Aquatics Director.


Are you interested in exploring some of the best creations in the city? Are you interested in showing off your creativity? We have two opportunities for you as a participant or as a maker.

Participants will be able to engage in hands-on experiences at  “Maker Carnival Chennai”  -  a free to attend, community-run event right here at AISC. This ticketed event will be held on Saturday, March 10th, 2018 (walk in and walk out anytime during 10am to 4pm) and is a family friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. A celebration of the maker movement! Don’t forget to sign up for your free ticket through here.

Makers interested in setting up their own booths are welcome to attend this event as well. Sign up as a maker to be able to showcase your creations and engage with the participants. Please be aware that this will be a registration event. Please register via the Maker Carnival website. You will need the ticket (printed or on a mobile device) in order to attend the event as a participant. Also, for more information regarding the event, including how to sign up as a Maker, please visit: http://www.aischennai.org/makercarnivalby clicking the maker section and filling out the initial interest form. 


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Keryn and Lori

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