Dear Faculty,
Thank You’s
Let
your supervisor know if you have any questions!
TGIF - see you there! Starting at 5:00 pm
tonight at the Willows at the Westin. If you are unable to make it, enjoy a
restful and recharging weekend.
Also next Wednesday morning is teacher
appreciation breakfast in the FAC at 7:45 am.
Thank You’s
- Thank
you to Specialists and Coaches for presenting our core curriculum with
parents at the beginning of BTSA.
- Thank
you to homeroom and EAL teachers for sharing your special classroom
characteristics with parents on BTSA. Parents’ feedback was very positive,
as they appreciated this format that allowed more time to let your
individual personalities shine!
- To
everyone who did an extra duty on BTSA - thank you for your willingness on
a muggy afternoon.
- To
Jet and Teena for setting up a beautiful and welcoming New Book Party for
teachers! If you didn’t get a chance to stop in, go take a look at
our fabulous “new editions”.
- To
5VF, 5JD, 4MG and 4RC, as well as the Music Team, Student Council, and the
Soccer Club for being the first to celebrate their learning!
- A
huge thank you to both Elliot & Alex - from all of the Responsive
Classroom participants for sharing your enthusiasm and Responsive
Classroom expertise.
Upcoming Week at a Glance
Monday
3 Sept |
Grade 5 MAP testing begins
Tree Bridge programme teachers visiting
|
Tuesday
4 Sept |
Grade 5 MAP testing
|
Wednesday,
5 Sept |
Grade 5 MAP testing
Teacher appreciation breakfast - 7:45 in FAC
Early Release - school finishes 2:00 p.m
Faculty meeting - 2:30 Strand roll out FAC
cafeteria, 3:45 section time (Madras Hall)
|
Thursday
6 Sept |
Grade 5 MAP testing
Responsive Classroom (positive discipline
module)
G5 Robotics Challenge
|
Friday
7 Sept |
Grade 5 MAP make up testing
Responsive Classroom Group 2 (positive
discipline/communication module)
G5 Robotics Challenge
|
Saturday
8 Sept |
Responsive Classroom Group 2 (positive
discipline/communication module)
Big Bad Blue Swim meet (many ES swimmers!)
|
Sunday
9 Sept |
Big Bad Blue Swim meet (many ES swimmers!)
|
Differentiation & Growth Story
Here is a link to the Differentiation and Growth Story presentation. Thank
you for your participation, insights, and enthusiasm for engaging in this work
to support all students!
Back to School & Snapshot Feedback
If anyone has any comments or suggestions to
enhance either Back to School afternoons or Snapshot conferences, please put them here.
#aiscelementary Twitter Challenge is back!
#aiscelementary
So...here we go! Post anything that will increase capacity for
growth and our collective learning.
- Add a picture with a short text,
post it to Twitter, and use the hashtag #aiscelementary.
- Post a link to an article you
found interesting with a reflection or question and use the hashtag
#aiscelementary.
- Participate in a twitter chat and
use the hashtag #aiscelementary.
- Share a list of experts to follow
and use the hashtag #aiscelementary.
- Share a resource and use the
hashtag #aiscelementary.
This twitter challenge on! Great prizes to be won for the most
posts using #aiscelementary hashtag and other random prizes - the more you
post, the more chances you have! The twitter challenge will run for the month
of September. Happy tweeting everyone!
Spirit Day is coming! Monday 10 - Friday 14
· Monday 10- Pajama Day
· Tuesday 11 - Crazy Day
· Wednesday 12 - Multiples Day
· Thursday 13- Book Character Day
· Friday 14- UN Day
Here’s
some inspiration for Crazy Hair Day
Early Release Next Wednesday
A reminder that next Wednesday, September 5, is
our first Early Release day. You can expect Dan and the Learning Coaches to
host the Professional Learning Strand Rollout from 2:30-3:30, then our ES
Section time will begin at 3:45 - 5:00 p.m, reviewing behaviour expectations
and how to socialise this, followed by Child Protection until 5:00 PM. As
usual, snacks will be provided.
Tree Bridge Programme - Visiting teachers in
your Classrooms on Sept 3 - FYI
Maya Thiagarajan, AISC alum and author of Beyond The Tiger Mom runs a Chennai-based organization called Tree. Tree’s Bridge Programme creates opportunities for individuals to enter into professional teaching.
Maya Thiagarajan, AISC alum and author of Beyond The Tiger Mom runs a Chennai-based organization called Tree. Tree’s Bridge Programme creates opportunities for individuals to enter into professional teaching.
Maya will have teachers in visiting a few
Elementary and Middle School classrooms on Monday, September 3. The
half-day visit will include a school
tour, library visit and observation of a classroom. Please see the
schedule for September 3,
2018. If you have any
questions, please see Dan Love or Kirsten Welbes.
Responsive Classrooms Training (repeat reminder)
On Thursday 6th and Friday 7th, many teachers are participating in
the Responsive Classrooms training. The schedule timings will not
change. However, on Friday, some
specials will be covered by a different faculty member. Students will be engaged in an activity, but it may not be the same
content as their usual special. Here is a copy of the specials schedule for Friday the 7th.
Professional Growth Plans (repeat reminder)
By the beginning of September, Dave, Calley and Keryn will be
scheduling individual meetings with everyone to review your Professional Growth
Plan for this year. Reminders and key points from email:
Professional
Goal Pathway (PGP) - September 15th
New
Teacher Pathway (NTP) - September 30th
Self
Assessment Pathway (SAP) - September 30th
Plan on
30 - 45 minutes per conversation with your supervisor:
Come
prepared to dialogue about the following prompts:
o What
helps you hear appreciation?
o What
helps you consider feedback best?
o What is
something you wish you were better at?
o What
might you want me to gather data on/look for during classroom walk throughs?
o How
might you like to receive this feedback?
And
explore your draft goals (PGP/NTP), domain/standards (SAP-S) or area of
concentration (SAP-X).
- What
is one thing that excites you about your focus area(s)? One thing that
does not excite you?
- With
each goal/standard/etc., what are your intended results?
- What
challenges do you anticipate? What have you learned from similar
situations? What do you think will make you successful this time?
- What
PD will support your goals? Bring ideas so together we can help you
manage your PD days across the year.
Inspiration Station - Optional Reading
Stop
reading now if you choose, or keep scrolling for something completely
different.
Weekly faculty notes will now include some inspirational, fun,
thought-provoking, or heart-warming bits at the end of the required reading. Do
you have an article, a link, a story or something else special to share? Please
email Calley!
Are you this mystery teacher?
This is a fun story about our family inquiry sparked by a mystery
teacher. This experience made me reflect on my own work as an educator and how
the smallest moments can have the biggest impact.
Moments Matter
Sunday night my son and I had to quickly clean out our cabinets
when we discovered small, beetle-like bugs. I asked Brayden to go through all
the cabinets and put all the food on the counters. He thought this was
great fun.
The experience made more of an impression on him than I realized.
When Brayden arrived home on Monday night after school, he started telling me
about a teacher that was on recess duty. He didn't remember her name but he had
apparently had a conversation with her about our cabinet bugs. He told the
“mystery teacher" all about our cabinet bugs and she had deduced that we
must have “sweet tooth bugs”. Of course, I questioned him about all of the
details. How does she know? Did you guys look it up? I wonder if she has had
them before too.
His response: "Well Mom, she is kind of like an expert. I
mean she's not a scientist but she knew exactly what I was talking about."
Not thinking much of it, the conversation ended… until Tuesday.
When Brayden arrived home from school, he had another story about the
"sweet tooth bugs". He had talked to this "mystery teacher"
again and they figured out that the cabinet bugs weren't sweet tooth bugs. In
fact, they had discovered sweet tooth bugs don't even exist. How did they
figure this out?
During lunch recess, the "mystery teacher" listened to
Brayden and spent a few small moments with him looking up his questions on the
internet. While they hadn't solved the bug problem, they had made some discoveries.
So, we still had a problem to solve.
Brayden and I set out on a mission to figure this problem out. We
searched several articles and viewed many photos. We found out that we had
pantry bugs, weevils, or small beetles. I'm sure you have all had them at some
point or another. But, we couldn't figure out where they were coming from. One
of the articles told us to keep searching. So, we cleaned out the cabinets and
went through every food item once again.
BINGO, the camomile tea. It was the only item not securely closed
- exactly what had been written in the article. Well, after a 3-day inquiry
into these pests and a much cleaner cabinet, I'm happy to report our pantry
cabinets are beetle-free.
So to "the mystery teacher" that helped us, thank you.
You took the time to listen, look, and discover with my son. It might not have
meant much to you, but it meant questioning, discovery, curiosity, and learning
to us. It was only a small moment, but to him, that small moment really
mattered.
By Hilary
Have a nice weekend!
Keryn, Dave & Calley
