Friday, September 25, 2020

We greatly appreciate all the planning, collaboration, creativity, support, and what seems like endless Zoom time you have put in to make the first seven weeks so successful for your students. 

In Andrew’s Town Hall meeting last week, one parent summed up what we are all thinking: 

The Elementary School teachers are doing an amazing job and are so caring towards the children.  

Have a restful break, take time to rejuvenate, pursue passions, and enjoy a week without Zoom!

Upcoming Week at a Glance:

Date	Time	Event	Details
October 5
October 6
October 7		Growth Conference Preparation (no faculty meeting)
October 8
October 9

 

Lynn and Dave Out Monday, October 5th

Chennai here we come! Lynn and Dave are scheduled to fly into Chennai the night of October 5th. Please contact Elliot if there is anything urgent on Monday. Lynn will be checking email when possible. 

 

Vision Week Day Nov. 18, 2020 Grades 3-5

Save the date! Vision Week this fall is going to be Vision Day on Wednesday, November 18th. The change in plan will accommodate our virtual schedules while giving students the opportunity to engage in different types of learning activities connected to our Vision of a Learner attributes. Stay tuned for more information coming after fall break!

 

Heads Round Table Announcement 

Greetings from Alex Ray, Julia Davis, and Jen Cypra. We are your representatives for the Elementary section on the Head's Round Table (HRT) this year. HRT is an opportunity for voicing ideas or concerns. We will be meeting monthly but we are available to help process issues at any time. Please feel free to reach out to any of us through email as questions or concerns arise. We look forward to being your representatives this year!

 

Well-being at AISC

Interested in being a part of the Wellbeing movement at AISC? There will now be 5 committees involved in the makeup of the Wellbeing Steering Committee. Please fill out this survey for an indication of interest. If you have any questions regarding these committees, please feel free to reach out to bjack@aischennai.org.  

 

 

 

Parents as Partners NESA Video Series

Our school has signed up to be a part of the Parents as Partners NESA webinar series this fall. This is a six part webinar series with well known presenters in the field of education. Although the series is aimed at parents, the information is also pertinent to teachers. All of the webinar recordings are on Dan’s blog. Feel free to watch any of them. 

 

From the Counselors

Have a great Fall break and….

 

Coaches Corner

As you begin to think about upcoming units, consider a Student-Centered Coaching Cycle. Invite a coach to work side-by-side with you for the duration of a unit by co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing, all centered around a student learning goal. Reach out to a coach to learn more and sign up!   

    

 

Hot Tech Tip! 

Ever wonder if your students are watching your videos carefully? Have you noticed sometimes that they may miss some details? If you are posting on youtube, it may be, in part, because they are looking at the really cool other videos and ads down the side of their screen. Here is a platform to use where you can post videos WITHOUT the ads and distractions -  https://safeshare.tv/.  Try it out and see what you think!  Shout out to Jen Cypra for sharing this resource! 

 

Have a wonderful fall break! Please unplug and enjoy the week off. 

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, September 18, 2020

 

 

As mentioned on Wednesday, we have our virtual learning plan parent survey results. In the survey, 93% of the ES parents who responded are satisfied or very satisfied. That speaks volumes about how well all of you are doing providing your students with engaging learning experiences. Thank you!

 

It is a pleasure to report some of the positive comments from parents in response to the question: 

 

What is one aspect of VL that is working for your child? 

• Wonderful teacher interaction

• Instructions are clear and my child can work independently with little support

• My children are very proud to be doing their assignments. When they have a question, they want to ask, they ask their teacher questions directly online to get answers. The comments from teachers empower children and motivate them to do better. 

• Teacher engagement is exceptional

• Being in small groups and getting specific support, flexibility in the schedule

• Small groups and 1:1s

• Individualized learning models, such as 1:1 meetings

 

Some themes that emerged from comments about aspects that are not working very well include:

• Students don’t have enough peer to peer interactions 

• Some parents want more synchronous classes while others believe their children have too much screen time

• Teachers are using different applications which makes the daily plans inconsistent across grade levels and difficult to navigate

• Motivating children is hard

 

You’ll find three data sets below. 

 

 

 

Upcoming Week at a Glance:

Date	Time	Event	Details
September 21	3:00 pm	UN International Day of Peace Assembly	Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 848 7362 2959 Passcode: 0MZ6JU
	3:45 pm	AISC x UN75 Discussion on ‘Inequality in the time of COVID-19’ (All AISC Community)	Zoom Link Meeting ID: 885 6849 6425
September 22	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades K-2	Zoom link Meeting ID: 897 5906 9130
September 23	3:45 p.m.	Faculty Meeting (Dan Love)
September 24	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades 3-5	Zoom link Meeting ID: 833 8688 3851 Security code: 755456

 

Math Morning 

Elliot will present how Math is being executed this year and will provide examples for how parents can help at home. Parents will have a chance to ask questions. There will be no virtual classroom visits!

 

Informal Running Records

The window for completing informal running records ends on Friday, September 25th. Please make sure you add the student data to the spreadsheet Alex shared with you. 

Student Attendance

As per the Distance Learning Expectations Document:

• EY - 2: engagement = attendance.  G3-5: engagement and submission of work = attendance

Please reach out to Lynn or Dave if you have any questions about student attendance. 

 

Art/Design Switch in Schedule (at the the end of the quarter)

As you know, some grades are having art class and others are having design class. On October 12th, those schedules will switch so if your students are having art, they will then have design. Next week, we’ll publish a schedule here. 

 

Well-being at AISC

Interested in being a part of the Wellbeing movement at AISC? There will now be 4 committees involved in the makeup of the Wellbeing Steering Committee. Please fill out this survey for an indication of interest

 

BrainPop Google Integration + Creating Class Accounts

AISC teachers now have the option to login to BrainPop, BrainPop Jr, and BrainPop ELL using Google credentials. Follow the directions here to create your classroom. You might want to create a class account in order to keep track of student progress, assign tasks, or create assignments. Please let Babs know if you have any questions about the BrainPop collection of databases. (From Babs)

 

 From the Counselors

Take a Self Compassion Break! Get your free copy here.

 

Coaches Corner

Shared Reading

Are you wondering how shared reading might be incorporated into your virtual teaching repertoire? Check out Kristi Marz's blog post and video of her leveraging shared reading on Zoom with her students.

 

Text Complexity 

We know readers grow by having exposure and experiences with texts that are increasingly more complex.  Having a handy resource that can help us identify the complexity of a text can allow us to more precisely identify a student’s next step and/or a future teaching point. Here are two new resources (A- M and K-Z) you might consider using when conferring or planning for a small group session.

 

Balanced Literacy

Check out Erin Kent’s recent padlet for more videos, ideas and resources on teaching Balanced Literacy virtually. 

 

Special Invitation! 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89771307384?pwd=T1B0ZkdYdk5BaEl3TlZ5YjhXTW5NZz09

Meeting ID: 897 7130 7384
Passcode: 9EPG8V

 

 Morning Meeting/RC Corner

Wow! We have now completed the first full 6 weeks of virtual school! A feat never accomplished prior in the world of education. CONGRATULATIONS! You are all trailblazers! As a way to close the first six weeks, we will focus on Closing Circle. 

 

RC describes the Closing Circle as a powerful strategy to ensure that students close their days/week with a sense of purpose and connectedness. This time-honored routine and ritual can provide a sense of normalcy for both teachers and students. Above all else, RC states, “the most important thing right now is for kids to feel seen, loved, cared for, and supported.”

 

In Closing Circle, one way to incorporate a ritual is to have a reflection time on the week. This could be a weekly appreciation circle where each child appreciates someone in the community for their help or even just appreciates something in life. For grades where students can write on their own, sharing a google slide where each child can reflect on the week on a question while the teacher asks certain students to talk about their reflections is a powerful way to close the week. Theresa Wills shows how this can work in a helpful 2min video. For those that can’t write yet, or have trouble working a slide and zoom on the screen at once, simply having an appreciation circle where each child shares may bring a positive close to the week. 

 

Reminder - Closing Circle does not have to last 30 mins. Do what works for your class for students to feel seen, loved, cared for and supported. 

 

RC also recommends: 

- sing a song together (maybe a class theme song which is the same each week)

- share an accomplishment from the week

- set a goal for the following week

- play a game together (could review content this way in a fun way)

- send a friendly goodbye 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot

 

Friday, September 11, 2020

It looked like everyone had fun during Spirit Week. It was a wonderful way for you to connect with your students. Please don’t forget to upload your photos here. 

 

Upcoming Week at a Glance:

Date	Time	Event	Details
September 16	3:45 p.m.	Faculty Meeting	Zoom Link

 

ES Faculty Meeting - Wed., September 16th

We will come together as a faculty for about 15 minutes. You will have the majority of Wednesday afternoon to:

 

1. Discuss and think about the current status and needs of your students

2. Work on any professional work that you need to complete

 

We will provide more details to team leads on Monday.

 

Conferring Online Workshop Follow-up

• Jennifer Serrevallo’s entire video from her Facebook live page (about 18 min long)

• Carl Anderson’s 10 Tips for Remote Writing Conferences

• Heinemann Resources for Remote Learning

• Matt Glover’s website  

 

Lynn’s and Dave’s Office Hours

Dave and I are finding it hard to keep regular office hours so we will no longer hold regular office hours.  We are both available on Google Chat and Whats App throughout the day and can hop on to a “live” meeting with you as needed. 

 

Progress Reports/Growth Conferences

We will not be writing progress reports for the upcoming Growth Conferences during the week of October 12th. Knowing that the focus of the progress reports is on students’ personal, social, and emotional growth, and that we are virtual, reporting on PSE is not going to be the same as when we are on campus face to face. At this point in time, parents are likely to have a better understanding of their child’s PSE than teachers.

 

Talk Like a Pirate Day, (September 19th)

Avast ye, landlubbers! The ES Library and Design teams invite you to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day next week by visiting our bilge-sucking website to listen to tales of pirates, seadogs, and poop decks! But, ahoy mateys, there's more! Scallywags can also partake in salty design challenges that will shiver your timbers! Click here or WALK THE PLANK!

 

From the Counselors

Here are some apps for taking care of yourself (or having a little fun) while working from home:

Aloe Bud Gratitude Journal Pzizz - Sleep, Nap, Focus Headspace Sunrise inspiration - daily quotes

Happify Relax melodies This is Sand Rain sounds Stop Breathe Think

 

Morning Meeting/RC Corner

Amazingly, next week will be the 6th full week of school! It’s certain that there has never been a more unique first six weeks of school as this one. We continue to see so many strong planning and execution moves in Morning Meeting including keeping momentum, using interactive greetings and activities and incorporating content. Keep up the hard work of making Morning Meeting socially, emotionally and academically engaging.

 

Reflection time: In our classrooms, this would be the time that we would be reinforcing all those routines and procedures that we had been teaching for 6 weeks. Now, in virtual mode, what routines and procedures would you want students to be practicing? Which procedures for virtual learning and being a strong virtual classmate do you want to teach and reinforce now at the outset of the year? Look to your grade team leaders to initiate a conversation in the coming weeks around what skills or procedures still need to be taught to your students to help them succeed in our virtual environment. 

 

Quick Tip: Reminder - When screen sharing, remember to stop sharing if students would benefit seeing their peers during the greeting, share or activity.  Just the difference of seeing all their classmates versus seeing a slide can make or break the experience for our students. Feel free to toggle back and forth between screen sharing and stopping to give students classmate “facetime”. :-)  

 

Coaching Corner

Mystery Science

Are any of your students or families looking for extra activities? Mystery Science to the rescue…

Mystery Science has added many new features for distance learning. Mini-lessons are short, engaging videos narrated by a science expert. Lessons include discussion questions and extension activities. It is a great family learning activity. Share mini-lessons with a link. New mini-lessons, related to current news, are added almost every week. 

As you begin to think about teaching science in the next quarter, Mystery Science has added new features. The new digital assessments collect student responses and digital handouts can be filled in by students without printing. Make sure to check out new lessons on scientific thinking and engineering. 

American International School Chennai has a membership to Mystery Science! Mystery Science lessons are open-and-go, simply gather a few materials and start teaching right away!

Click here to join your school's membership:

https://mysteryscience.com/start?school_id=13254

 

 

 

AISC x UN75 Discussion on ‘Inequality in the time of COVID-19’ 

(3:45-4:30pm IST on Monday, September 21)

Students, Parents and Faculty are Welcome to participate

 

‘In January, the start of the UN’s 75th anniversary, Secretary-General António Guterres launched the world’s biggest conversation on building a better future for all. The vision was to spark conversations (“UN75 dialogues”) in all settings on priorities for the future, obstacles to achieving them, and the role of international cooperation in making progress. Over 330 dialogues in 87 countries were held in the first three months of year – physically and virtually. It is vital that peoples’ voices are heard at this crucial time for the world.’

The UN has created a global survey to help guide them on global priorities. Please take a moment to share your opinion: https://un75.online/

AISC’s MUN Impact Chennai club thoroughly believes in the vision of the UN and the message of the Secretary-General. We believe that international cooperation is pertinent in the times of COVID, and that starts with greater global engagement, through discussions like these. Please join us. Here is the Zoom Link: 

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88568496425

Meeting ID: 885 6849 6425

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lynn, Dave, and Elliot