Friday, December 21, 2018

Friday, December 21, 2018

Happy holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Pongal. Thank you for a great first semester together and we are looking forward to seeing you in 2019.

Our first day back is Wednesday 16 January, and there is no faculty meeting after school, so plenty of time to share stories of the break together.

Travel well, be safe, enjoy time with friends and family - and remember, if you send a postcard too it can also count for your classes’ total!


Thank you
  • Grade 4 team would like to thank Priya  for sparking our students' curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking-skills in a fun and exciting way using the WeDo kits.  We appreciate all the valuable learning activities she planned  for our classes
  • Sarah, Finny, Vasanth, and Jane for preparing and creating the amazing winter performances
  • To all the Super Secret Santas who made this a festive few weeks
  • Grade 5 would like to thank the facilities department for organising all the furniture in the FAC Atrium for the Fifth Grade Passion Project Displays.
  • A big thank you to Sruthi for all of your hard work this week assisting with rehearsals, costume changes, book publishing, and celebration preparations--on top of normal duties, from Scott and Leontheen
  • Thank you to all the teachers for your support in getting ready for the big show, from the Music and Dance Team
 Personnel update
  • Seema has joined back after her leave as an EAL co-teacher in  4th Grade with Janna and Jyotsna
  • Usha had her last day in elementary (for this year) this week as she moves to teach Middle School Spanish
  • Radha will remain as EAL co teacher in first grade for the remainder of this year
  • We wish Shravya well for her upcoming wedding and farewell her as she leaves the elementary school
 On Campus Professional Learning for Elementary Teachers
Suzie Boss - Project based learning                      Jan 21 - Feb 1
NESA Winter Training Institute                           Jan 25 & 26
Erin Kent TCRWP Reading Focus Consultant    Feb 4 - 8

Yearbook Photo Make Up Session
Students who are new to AISC or missed the opportunity to take a Yearbook photo earlier this year due to an absence, will do so from Monday January 21 - Wednesday January 23 between 8:30 - 10:30 am. Students listed here.

Keryn, Dave, and Calley 


Friday, December 14, 2018

Friday, December 14, 2018

Dear Faculty,

Countdown is on!  One week to go until winter break. We look forward to celebrating with you tonight at the faculty holiday party!  


Next week there are a lot of scheduled interruptions with winter celebration concerts and parties; otherwise please keep going with instruction through Friday afternoon.  

Holiday Learning Challenges
Please set optional home learning challenges for over the winter break with your classes too.  
This can be homeroom core areas and/or specialist areas.  What games or activities could families do together?  Audio books, math games with a deck of cards, science experiments or ecology shows on Netflix …. What ideas do you have to share with kids?

Thank yous:
  • Thank you to Joseph for all his hard work getting our dance costumes ordered and ready. Thank you to Clinton for assisting in this process. - From Jane
  • Thank you to all the staff for completing your Herculean effort of report carding writing, editing, entering, and re-entering.
  • Thank you to Preethi and Jen C for helping their colleagues to find some space in the hectic rehearsal schedules.  We appreciate the flexibility and collaboration that you have shown your colleagues.
The ES office will be sharing on the blog the Winter Holiday Postcard challenge.  The class that sends the most postcards wins a fun recess time with Keryn, Dave, and Calley!  Postcards have to arrive in the office by the end of January to be counted!  The following was shared with parents in the principals notes.

The Winter Holiday Postcard Challenge
To encourage writing over the winter break, all Grade 1 - 5 children are encouraged to send a postcard from their winter holiday destination.  Postcards should include a written message of where you are and what fun you have been having!  This can be from Chennai, from other parts of India or from wherever you are travelling to!  Must include a message You can send as many postcards as you like - and the class who sends the most postcards wins a fun recess time with Ms Keryn, Mr Dave and Ms Calley.  Postcards must arrive at AISC by the end of January to be counted.  Challenge starts from next Friday 21 December.

Field Days
Field Days will be occurring on January 31st and February 1st this school year:

Grades 3, 4 & 5: Thursday, January 31st 10:50 - 12:20
Early Years 5 and Grades 1 & 2: Friday, February 1st 10:50 -12:20
Early Years 3 & 4: Friday, February 1st 8:45 - 10:00

On these days, the field will not be open for use during recess until all of the equipment is cleaned up and removed.  No regular PE classes will run on these days.  When we return from winter break, we will send out a sign-up sheet for teachers to sign up to run different activities or to lead a group of students on Field Day.

If a classroom teacher is scheduled to have prep during the times of Field Day, (some grade 1 & grade 5 teachers) we will try to schedule a specialist teacher or volunteer to take over her or his responsibilities.  It would be greatly appreciated if all teachers were able to be present for the Teacher Relay Races at 12:00-12:20 p.m. for the day of their grade's Field Day. 

Thank you all so much for your support and efforts in making Field Day so enjoyable for everyone!

Sincerely,
Sobha & Jack

Festive Treats for the Holiday Season (repeat announcement)
Pop in to our office after lunch any time until 4 p.m. on Friday 21st as we break for the holidays. We will have festive snacks to share - and if any of you love to bake - feel free to drop in extra snacks or treats for everyone to enjoy!

Mid Year Book Market Place
We have been going through our collection to make more room and have some books you may love for your classroom libraries! Lots of great adventure, mystery, fantasy, horror, and classics books to choose from!! Please stop by the library December 17-19 anytime to choose books you would like.

Self Check-Out
Our library moved to a self check-in model a few years back and this year we have begun to implement self check-out. This creates greater student agency and also allows us to use library staff in new ways. All of our students in grades 3-5 are now doing self check-out. The library will be moving to full self check-out for all students in grades 3-8 and for all parents and staff starting in January. Please remember to bring your staff ID. Self check-out is already available for staff to try now before break. Please see library staff to learn how and get started today!

Visiting Author Books
Hooray! Morris Gleitzman is this year's visiting author! The library has a bin of his wonderful books available for check out. Come see!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley

Upcoming Dates for your Calendar
Friday 14 December AISC Christmas Party
Monday 17 December  EY Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
Tuesday 18 December  G1-2 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
Thursday 20 December  G3-5 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
Friday 21 December  Last day of before Winter Break


Friday, December 7, 2018

Friday, December 7, 2018

Dear Faculty,

Happy Friday! Two weeks left to go. Thank you for all the effort you are putting into report card writing.  These notes will not be long this week so you have more time for all the other great things you do!

Thank yous:
  • All the very secretive Santas in the building!  Lots of fun and special surprises all round!
  • Grade 4 team would like to thank Jen Cypra for all the great ideas she proposes to our team. We appreciate all the valuable learning activities she plans  to enrich our students' experiences.
  • Thank you to Scott, Bindu, Marcus, Barbara, and Kristina from Hilary - for inviting me in to join morning meeting. It has brightened my days.
  • Jet and Hilary for stepping in to cover Spanish classes
  • Sarah, Fiona, Finny and the Singing Raptors Elementary Choir for their festive kick off through song tonight!
  • Jane, Sarah, Finny and Vasanth for all the winter performance preparation
  • First grade is very thankful for the gift of time offered by guest readers and guest teachers! Our students (and teachers) have enjoyed Hilary and Mary Kelly. We really appreciate your support and kindness. We are also grateful for having Wednesday afternoon to work on report cards - thank you Keryn, Calley, and Dave!
Festive Treats for the Holiday Season
Pop in to our office after lunch any time until 4 p.m. on Friday 21st as we break for the holidays. We will have festive snacks to share - and if any of you love to bake - feel free to drop in extra snacks or treats for everyone to enjoy!

Suzie Boss PBL visit
Suzie Boss will be visiting AISC in January to continue the work of inquiry based project based learning.  Suzie will be working with all sections - elementary in a more
optional manner.

She will focus first on the goal from our strategic plan; learning and innovation in the system  - and in particular the creation of Vision Inspiration Projects.  Many specialists and coaches have signed up to be Vision Project leaders, and this team will work with Suzie. Click here to read more - should you feel you would like to be involved as a team leader, please come and talk to us!

In addition - any grade team or specialist department who would like to spend some time with Suzie to take an existing unit through a PBL planning lens is absolutely welcome and encouraged to do so.  More from your team leader on this!

Report Card Timeline - repeat announcement
It is time to start thinking about the upcoming semester report cards! Pay close attention to character count: as these report cards are being printed, we cannot exceed character count in any area!



Wed       21 November
Faculty meeting focusing on data evidence for report cards
Calibrating report card data and narrative comments  in own grade level teams; a facilitator will join you to work through a protocol and answer any questions you may have
Teams should meet in the GTL’s room
Done
Wed 5 December
ES faculty meeting time dedicated to finalise writing and proofreading of colleagues report cards
Done
By Fri  7 December 4pm
Comments  (Google doc) due to admin/coach for final proofing (can be shared with final proofer earlier if ready)
Done
Tues                         11 December by 4pm
Edited comments returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into PowerSchool
Ongoing
By Thur  13 December 8am
All narrative comments and ratings on standards  entered into PowerSchool - printing will begin at 9 a.m.

Mon                    17 December
Reports given to HR teachers with named envelopes. Please double check name, do a final glance of doc, and place into matching name envelope.  TAs please do this task.

Tues
18 December
Please double check name, do a final glance of doc, and place into matching name envelope. Give to children to take home.

Emergency drill Thursday 13th 9:00; Situation: Evacuation to Safe Haven (gym) - repeat announcement
EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILL GUIDELINES:
 1. Once we have an indication/alarm of an emergency situation, all students and staff should maintain silence at all times to ensure that directions can he heard.  The indicator is a wailing alarm.
2. Safe Haven is located at the gym. The Safe Haven will be used as the school’s “Lockdown” option according to the type of emergency and specific instructions. The Safe Haven is equipped with food and water supply for 72 hours for all students and staff.
3. All classes/groups should lock their Classroom|Office, form in straight alphabetical lines and maintain the lines until further instruction.
4. The responsible teacher should be at the front of the class/group so that they are accessible to principals.
5. Groups should not sit unless instructed to do so.
6. Silence is maintained until the drill is over and students are released.
7. Do not use elevators.

All Teachers: Please carry the emergency booklet and class roster with you when you leave the class room.  The RED and GREEN sign are inbuilt in the booklet.
Note: During an emergency situation the security staff - (QRT - Section Marshal) - on duty will pay his first attention to ensure safe evacuation process of students/staff using wheel chair through the available safe channel - it is an additional support to lead.

Rehearsal Schedule for the Upcoming Winter Concert  - repeat announcement
IMPORTANT POINTS
  • For classes who are performing in the dance:  there are NO regularly scheduled music or dance classes for the weeks of 10 - 14 December and 17 - 21 December.
  • New info:  For those classes who are not performing in the dance (Grade 2:  FL and UK, Grade 3:  JM and TG , Grade 4:  RC and JH, Grade 5:  JD and BT) please expect to hear from us on Monday, Dec 3 about your students’ missing dance block - we will arrange for a special make-up in consultation with you.
  • Rehearsals Listed below REPLACE music and dance classes.  Children all still receive 2 x music blocks and 1x dance blocks during these weeks.
  • We understand this may be disruptive to your schedules and or planning, so we want be sure you have this information early, so you can plan accordingly.
  • Teacher assistants are required to BOTH walk classes over to the FAC theater and remain present for the duration of the rehearsal to support the music team when they are working with whole grades.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR MUSIC REHEARSALS:
  • The rehearsals are done by grade level with all classes coming to the FAC at the same time for music.  
  • The TA’S need to accompany because seating will be assigned.  Please bring the children in a “TALL to SHORT” order. It is much easier to go onto the risers if this is already assigned.
Blue - Music
Yellow - Dance
TIME
MON   10
TUES    11
WED   12
THURS   13
FRI      14
9:05-9:45
EY - 3

G - 5
EY - 4
G - 5
9:50-10-30
G - 2
EY - 4
G - 2
EY - 3
G - 4
10:55-11:35
EY - 5
G - 1
G - 1
(D)
G - 4
4MG/4JN
11:40-12:20
G - 3
G - 4
EY - 5
G - 3
(D)
EY - 5
All
1:15-1:55
(D)
G - 3
3SS/3MR
(D)
G - 2
2BW/2DJ
(D)
EY - 5
All
(D)
G - 1
All
(D)
G - 1
All
2:00-2:40
(D)
G - 4
4MG/4JN
(D)
G - 5
5EF/5VL
(D)
G - 2
2BW/2DJ
(D)
G - 3
3SS/3MR
2:45-3:25
(D)
G - 5
5EF/5VL

FULL CONCERT REHEARSAL & PERFORMANCE (All):

TIME
MON    17
TUES   18
WED  19
THURS  20
FRI   21
9:05-9:50
EY Run Through
G1&2 Run Through
G3-5 Run Through
2.30-3.15
EY Performance
G1&2 Performance
G3&5 Performance

Student Council Toy Drive
This info has gone out to parents in the Principal’s blog today, please share on Edmodo as well.

 
Dear Parents,

The ES Student Council is having a Holiday Toy Drive!

Gently used toys, books, or games will be collected and donated to a local orphanage who could use some cheer.

So, if your child has a few toys or even one toy that is gently used, please ask him or her to bring it to the donation box located in their homeroom.

The toy drive will Begin Dec10th and end on December 21, so please look at home for some toys, games, or books that you don’t use anymore and make a child happy!  

Thank you!
Happy Holidays,
The ES Student Council

Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,
Keryn, Dave, and Calley