Dear Staff,
Please know that as the weather starts to heat up, we keep an eye on the temperature daily. If at any point it hits 40C we will call to have indoor recess. We try to do this before lunch recess begins, but often the temperature conveniently spikes around lunchtime. Please remember to check emails frequently as it gets hotter, and also share messages with those on your team.
If there are still families missing by the middle/end of next week, please follow up with direct emails to parents.
What can parents commit to at home:
In addition, we will be requiring all students who are new to learning English to participate in an intensive Jumpstart summer programme as part of their first few weeks at AISC. This was a programme we piloted with great success last summer, and will now become an enrollment requirement.
Keryn and Lori
Welcome back from Spring Break! It has been
great to hear everyone’s holiday adventures. This is our final quarter and we
have a lot of great learning to continue to do together. Thank you to everyone
who went out of their way to welcome Dave this week, he had a great time here
and enjoyed meeting all of you too.
Please know that as the weather starts to heat up, we keep an eye on the temperature daily. If at any point it hits 40C we will call to have indoor recess. We try to do this before lunch recess begins, but often the temperature conveniently spikes around lunchtime. Please remember to check emails frequently as it gets hotter, and also share messages with those on your team.
Field update - including blurbs about alternate
lunch activities
Please remind your students on Monday morning
that the field is completely out of use. You can post this document and/or share the alternate lunch recess activities with your class. Everyone should be super vigilant of any students near the
fenced off areas to be proactive about safety. Should you want to take your
class on a ‘field trip’ (literally) to view the construction, please arrange
this directly through me, Alankrit and Ilangovan.
Teachers/TAs on recess duty will need to ensure
there are no balls in the ES plaza, playground, courtyard or covered
areas. The only option for soccer is during lunch recess on the Raptors
field for grades 2-5. The basketball hoops and balls remain accessible.
Teachers normally on field duty should wander
between locations and assist in the busiest place. For those on lunch recess
field duty for grades 2/3 and 4/5, please swap your location to the Raptor
field behind the FAC. We will ring the 2/3 bell at 12:55 and the 4/5 bell at
1:10 to get our kids back to class on time.
Please can everyone be incredibly proactive and
vigilant in keeping an eye on all our students whilst construction is underway.
Candy Reminder
A few teachers have noticed an increase in candy
at school . Please read the below which is in our handbook, and follow
this up with specific parents if need be too. Thank you.
Morning
Snack and Recess
During
the 15-minute morning break time, it is suggested that students have a light,
healthy snack (not candy) sent in from home each day. Candy will be sent back
home for children to enjoy at home.
SLC Sign Ups
Please can all homeroom teachers check the sign ups for student led conference on Friday 13 April. Please post the following on Edmodo:
Please can all homeroom teachers check the sign ups for student led conference on Friday 13 April. Please post the following on Edmodo:
Thank you to all parents who have signed up for their child's
student led conference on Friday 13 April. No regular classes will
be held on this day, parents attend together with their child only for the
duration of the conference. If you have not already done so, please click
here to sign up for your child’s conference - Sign Up Link
If there are still families missing by the middle/end of next week, please follow up with direct emails to parents.
Supervision
for SLCs - Message for TAs
For April 13, we need all elementary TAs (except Sarat and
Valar) to sign up on the following document for two
supervision slots. Please note that EY3 and 4 TAs will supervise our youngest
children in the ES library only. All other students have access to their
regular recess spots while their siblings are in conferences. Sarat and Valar
will be stationed in the ES library to supervise any EY5-Grade 5 children who
would like to spend their time indoors.
Discovery
Studio Challenges (optional)
The
following challenges will run for the next 2 weeks.
EY5 to Gr 2: Paper Towers - Teams of 2 will be challenged to build a paper tower without using tape, glue, staples or anything else to attach the pieces of paper together to create their towers. Students will need one period to do this challenge.
EY5 to Gr 2: Paper Towers - Teams of 2 will be challenged to build a paper tower without using tape, glue, staples or anything else to attach the pieces of paper together to create their towers. Students will need one period to do this challenge.
Gr 3 to
Gr 5: Zoetropes - Zoetropes are early animation devices. Students will
create simple animations that can play on a zoetrope. Students will need one or
2 periods to do this challenge.
Challenge
Block times are shown on Carl’s calendar. Simply email him with the block
number you’d like and let him know how many students to expect.
English Language Instruction
The below message is going out to parents today.
Please know you have Andrew’s, Lori’s and my full support in further
encouraging children to be speaking in English as much as appropriate. It
is up to you how you may want to incentivise or structure this; a couple of 4th
Grade classes are having children set goals around English language use and
this is working well. The library is going to ensure all children are
checking out English books weekly - what will you do?
English Language Development
Our school is committed to English language
development. In response to recent conversations among parents, faculty, and
leadership, we would like to share with you additional commitments for how,
together, we can continue to enhance English language development at AISC.
What can we be doing at school:
- Develop
our guidelines for English language expectations for all teachers to use.
- Further
EAL parent education about the English Language learning process.
- Provide
more English language resources for parents.
- Further
explicitly encourage English language use and recognize English language
achievement.
- Offer
further recess opportunities to practice English.
- Create
as many English language environments outside of school, including having
playdates with students who do not speak child’s mother tongue.
- Encourage
students to speak English at school.
- Encourage
reading in English, and engaging in English media at home.
- Role
model English language use.
- Join
an ASA after school to gain further practice of English language.
- Ensure
children are reading both in their mother tongue, and in English, every
night at home.
Our next steps will be to continue to support all teachers to
encourage further use of English in their classrooms and to create a English
language Use Expectations and Guidelines document for our Elementary student
handbook.
In addition, we will be requiring all students who are new to learning English to participate in an intensive Jumpstart summer programme as part of their first few weeks at AISC. This was a programme we piloted with great success last summer, and will now become an enrollment requirement.
Students exit this programme with basic English phrases,
vocabulary and conversation, as well as an understanding of how our literacy
and other programmes at AISC work so they can enter an elementary classroom
with greater confidence, understanding and ease.
Between now and the rest of the school year we
will continue to communicate all we are doing to support English language
development. We will feature a different department each week and highlight
ways that it encourages this development among our students.
Have a wonderful
weekend everyone!
Warmly,
Keryn and Lori
