We want to thank all of you for your preparation to make the back to school events successful. We had a lot of parents in attendance (as well as students) and the specialists’ videos have been viewed many times.
As one teacher put it...
Upcoming Week at a Glance:
Professional Growth & Evaluation (PG & E) Conversations
Please begin thinking about your Professional Growth and Evaluation goals for this year. If you are on the Professional Growth Pathway, goals are due September 25. If you are on the Self Assessment Pathway, the last day to submit your SAP-Standards document is October 9th. If you are on the PG Pathway, please coordinate a time to meet with your supervisor before the October break. SAP teachers and new teachers will complete this following the break. All editable documents can be accessed from the Raptors' Way Blog.
Informal Running Records Assessments
Informal running records will be done virtually this year. The data you collect from informal running records will help inform your instruction in small groups and 1:1 sessions with your students. Since F & Ps were not administered at the end of the school year, teachers may use the March data as a starting point for this year. Raz Kids, Teacher’s College, and F & Ps are the three resources you may use for running records. Please decide on one resource to use and stick with that for all students. Running records may be done by homeroom and EAL teachers.
**Kindergarten will be using the concepts of print assessment.
Assessment window: Monday, August 31st - Friday, September 25th
Alex will work with teams on how best to administer running records virtually.
Ending Dates for Each Quarter
1st quarter - October 9th
2nd quarter - December 18th
3rd quarter - March 12th
4th quarter- June 3rd
From the Counselors
Morning Meeting/RC Corner
Thank you for continuing to make Morning Meeting an exciting and engaging time of the day where students are able to be seen and known while learning about one another! This week, we look again at:
Part 1 - Big MO - How to keep momentum strong throughout the Morning Meeting.
Here’s one idea around greetings to increase speed: Make a slide with each child’s name. Children simply greet the person before and after their name starting with the first name on the slide. This is very much like having a circle greeting. Kids don’t have to choose who to greet and with a couple of days of practice, this can get pretty fast. It can even be a game to see how fast you can get around the circle in a week. Big shout out to Vanessa for modeling this idea! (Super shout out to anyone who can guess what the 4FK stands for in the slide - hint - it is connected to the names on the slide)
Example Slide:
Part 2 - The Power of Our Words -
In the book, Opening Minds, Peter Johnson launches his writing with a quote - “Children seldom misquote you. They usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.” As we continue to launch the year in this first 6 weeks of school, consider how you are developing positive mindsets and modeling routines and procedures. Say what you mean and only model what you want your students to do, avoiding introducing ways that they shouldn’t be doing things..
Behavior example: When modeling how to greet, you may say, “Make sure you are sitting up, your camera is on and you’re speaking loudly.” (Here we avoid bringing attention to the undesired behavior)
Mindset example: When talking about your own mindset about a subject, highlight what you want kids to think: Math is a subject that everyone, no matter who you are, can be successful at with effort and practice. (Here we avoid bringing attention to the undesired ideas about math)
Coaching Corner
Woo hoo! Bridges and the Math Learning Center have responded big time to the challenges of virtual teaching. They have released Tech Enhanced Activities (TEA) that support some sessions in each module of our units. They will continue to release more for upcoming units. These TEA’s are super helpful for asynchronous and synchronous learning. Please reach out to Elliot if you’d like to partner around how to implement this great new resource on the Bridges website!
From the Library:
Virtual Book Fair
Scholastic and the AISC Libraries are bringing a virtual book fair directly to you! Please click on the link here to browse through a wide variety of books available for purchase for students, families, and teachers in EY-8. Once books are chosen, please use the following login information to proceed with the purchase:
Login ID: bbarbara@aischennai.org
Password: aisc234
The books will be delivered to your address in Chennai, but if you aren't there, they could also be sent to a family member or friend here in India.
The virtual book fair will be held from August 31st-September 11th. Please contact Babs on bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have questions and happy shopping!
Destiny Discover Login Change
You might have noticed a change when logging into Destiny Discover this week - we now have Google authentication! Faculty and staff still have the option to use the username and password, but now you also have the ability to log in with one click in order to access digital resources and check on your own library accounts.
ES/MS LibGuide Update
The ES/MS LibGuide is being continuously updated, so don't forget about this one-stop shop if you need to know anything related to the library. You will find video tutorials, digital resource access, password information, links to Destiny Discover, Sora, and Epic, an updated citation guide for students, middle school course LibGuides, subscription access, and much more!
New Digital Newspapers
We have two new digital newspapers available for the AISC community - The Economic Times and The Times of India. To access these resources, please go to the ES/MS LibGuide and click on 'digital newspapers.' Parents and families are welcome to use these new resources!
And a little Friday afternoon humor:
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynn, Dave, and Elliot
