Friday, September 28, 2018

Happy Fall Break everyone! We have earned it after a busy week full of Family Math Mornings! Great job to all the grade teams - parent feedback is already coming in - with one particular parent stating, “The Family Math Mornings were great. I didn’t really understand how the math programme worked here, but now I do and I am very happy with my son’s math class!”.

Travel safe and enjoy a much deserved break. It has been a fabulous first quarter together and we thank you for all you have done to create rigorous and differentiated programmes in the Elementary School. Thank you.

See you back Monday 8th October, ready for our next quarter together.

Thank yous…

• To ALL the teachers who prepared their classrooms and students to welcome parents on Family Math Mornings, and especially those who joined us to debrief: Kay, Kristina, Deepa, Fer, Tiffany, John, & Ross - thank you for helping tell our ES story of rigor
• Thank you to Esther for working hard to support the learning that is happening in our classrooms - Marcus, Ross and Fiona
• Thank you to Calley for helping Grade 4 get their math workshop planned and ready to launch
• Grade 4 would like to thank Hilary and Mary Kelly for their work in making our Social Studies units fun and engaging for our students
• Mona for taking on babysitting duties during the Math mornings
• Vanessa, Elliot, Salome, Linda & David Hassler for chaperoning the second Pondicherry CWW trip this week
• Tiffany and Ula for getting their narrative comments done in time to be ‘test classes’ into powerschool
• Megha for piloting a new approach to her classroom library - so engaging for students!
• Sarah Sahr for pitching in with helping with ES duties!  Thank you.
• Sherriden and Kirsten who are also helping out with gate duty while Dave is out
• Ula for her starring role in preparing for Growth Story Conferences

2nd Twitter Challenge Winner

First winner of our twitter challenge goes to @mrscotts; his tweet below got the most amount of likes for any tweet using the #aiscelementary hashtag. Keep tweeting everyone - look out for next weeks’ winner!

Student quotes after our Family Math Morning: "This was my favorite day this year!!" and "Can we have Family Math Morning every week?" I think it's safe to say the event was a success!! @AISChennai #aiscelementary

Upcoming Week at a glance

Monday 8 Oct	Comments  (google doc) due to admin for final proofing (can be shared with admin proofer over break if ready early - proof readers found here) India Month-2018 Rehearsals
Tuesday 9 Oct	G5 Family Math Morning Vision and Hearing Screening Schedule India Month-2018 Rehearsals
Wednesday 10 Oct	Full run through of India Month Opening Performances Lower Elementary- 9:05 - 9:45 a.m Upper Elementary- 10:55 - 11:35 a.m Edited comments returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into PowerSchool Vision and Hearing Screening Schedule   India Month-2018 Rehearsals
Thursday 11 Oct	G3-5 India Month Opening Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m. All report information entered into PowerSchool Vision and Hearing Screening Schedule
Friday 12 Oct	EY5-G2 India Month Opening Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m. Reports printed by ES office, final check Vision and Hearing Screening Schedule

India Month Opening Assemblies

The Student Performance Assemblies are on these dates and times:

Grades 3-5 - Thursday, October 11th at 2:30 p.m.

EY5 - Grade 2 – Friday, October 12th at 2:30 p.m.

Both assemblies will be in the FAC theatre.  All logistical information can be found here. Please read.

Growth Story Conferences (repeat)

Coming up after the break - Monday, 15th October after school and Tuesday 16th October all day.

 
The purpose of these conferences is to share the data points that tell the growth story for each child. The one-page progress report that focuses on learning habits and personal/social/emotional growth will be given to the parents at this conference in hard copy to take home.

Great ideas and common questions from our preparation meeting can be found here.
Growth conferences will be 20 mins in duration; EY - G2 it is only parent/teacher; G3 - 5 it is parent/child/teacher. Supervision will be provided for students and sibling.

A snack on Thursday and lunch on Friday will be provided for ES Staff.  

Meet AISC - Ula Konczweska

Ula was born in Gorzow Wielkopolski (how do you pronounce that?), a medium-sized city in Poland. She left her hometown at the age of 18 and moved to the United States to pursue college education, where she received a few degrees in various subjects including Political Science and Instructional Technology, before falling in love with teaching and getting a Master's Degree in Elementary Education. Since then Ula has lived and taught in 5 countries. Somebody close to her once told her to "Always take the scenic route in life, because you never know how all your experiences might come together at some point." Ula loves learning from my students who see the world clearly and speak with truth and honesty. If she had a magic power she would I like to beam kindness into people's hearts.

Since the age of 6 Ula has been a part of various performing dance groups, traveling around the world and performing in different styles including jazz, modern, and traditional folk dance. The music and dance closest to her heart comes from the Balkan region. If you ever want to learn how to properly dance at a Greek wedding, let Ula know! If she could she would also create her own reality TV show called Dance Around the World-  travel to every country in the world and learn traditional dances of the people.

Have a recharging break! Travel safe and we look forward to seeing you on Monday 8th October.

Keryn, Dave and Calley