Upcoming Week at a Glance:
Traveling During Break - From Andrew’s Thursday email
I think it goes without saying that if you are traveling for Fall Break (or at any time in this day and age), remember to always be prepared for the possibility of not being able to get back to Chennai – identify and travel with your virtual resources. This also means assuring that destinations have reliable internet. Also, remember that unless otherwise indicated, when AISC is in session, virtually or otherwise, all faculty and staff should be in Chennai on school days.
Return to Campus - CHECK EMAIL SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3rd
We have no additional information about ES students returning to campus, but we wanted to let you know that we will start the transition back to campus once we get word that ES students can return. Sometimes there is short notice. Please start to mentally prepare for the possibility of a potential quick pivot.
Morning Meeting Specialist Rotation
Here is the new morning meeting specialist rotation starting October 4th. Please reach out to Dave if you have any questions about the schedule.
Family Math Letters
Homeroom teachers, please remember to send out your family math letters when you start a new unit.
ES T-Shirt Design
Congratulations to Sehyeon Cho in 5RS who won this year’s elementary t-shirt competition with her drawing of a wonderful jugging raptor below! ES t-shirts will be coming soon.
Zoom Tech Tip - Assigning an Alternative Host
Are you in need of another faculty member to start your Zoom meeting? Or do you want someone to always serve as a co-host for a standing meeting? You can add that person as an alternative host when you schedule your meeting through Zoom.us. When scheduling your meeting, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and then add the person’s email address.(Thanks Angie and Steffi for the tech tip!)
Book Club Announcement - Making Thinking Visible
Interested in fostering and developing student thinking in your classroom? Consider joining us for a Making Thinking Visible Book club which will begin Tuesday, October 26th. The book and our four book club sessions will provide educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. The book offers classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. In our four book club sessions, we will not only consider the text but also share our ongoing application of the routines discussed in the book. If interested then please complete this Google form and we will get a copy of the book to you around October 18 or 19. Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks! Mary Kelly Bello and Walter Basnight
‘Making Thinking Visible’ - 4 Sessions
Session #1 Chapters 1,2,3 Tuesday, October 26th, 5pm - 6pm
Session #2 Chapters 4,5,6 Tuesday, November 9th, 5pm - 6pm
Session #3 Chapters 7 & Sharing of Routines Used Tuesday, November 23rd, 5pm - 6pm
Session # 4 Sharing of Routines Used Tuesday, December 7th, 5pm - 6pm
Futures Planning - Community Planning Team Work Session
On September 16th, the Community Planning Team came together to review the strategic goals for this academic year as well as the action plans toward our Middles States Accreditation objectives. You can read more about the meeting on AISC’s Futures Blog.
Heads Round Table Announcement
Greetings from Britt, Elliot, Keeley, and Fletch. 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 ideas, questions, or concerns arise. We look forward to being your representatives this year!
You may speak to any of us, but since we are four, please reach out to Britt if you're grades 4/5, Fletch if you're grades 2/3, Keeley if you're grades K/1 and Elliot for multigrade/specialist teachers and PreK teachers.
Here are the HRT Guidelines
Solution Tree - Big Library, Small Price
We were recently contacted by Solution Tree, a global PD provider, highlighting their Global PD library of video clips and courses. As faculty you can set up a free 14 day trial to check out the content and, then, if you like what you see, you can apply for personal PD funding to receive full access for a year at the low price of 89.95 USD. Playlists include things like: Amplify your Impact, Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, Embedding Formative Assessment and many more. You can create your own playlist to watch at your leisure too. The membership also includes mini-courses that extend the topics of the playlists.
NESA Online Educators Learning Event - Call for Interest - Repeat Announcement
NESA is offering an online event for educators this November (12/13) and the line up is exciting! You can read about what is on offer here.
AISC will be sponsoring a limited number of faculty members to attend the ELE as a team and will support them as soon as registration opens. The team will strategize session attendance to maximize exposure and learning, coming together once or twice to debrief and share with each other. Team members may also be called upon during the year to share their new knowledge with others.
To that end, should you wish to express interest in attending the ELE sponsored by the school, please indicate interest here no later than October 4th. Principals will meet to review the list of those interested and will confirm participation by October 11th.
From the Counselors
Here are some playlists on Spotify to use as you like (waiting on students to arrive, thinking time, brain break, etc). Thank you, Rachel, for your help!
“Minidisco” (Comes in Dutch as well)
"Action songs for kids” - nursery rhyme/movement type songs that might be good.
“Disco songs for kids”
“Funny songs for kids”, (Andrew Milder)
“Music for the classroom” (instrumental), (the O’neill Brothers Group)
“Calming Music for Concentration”
“Morning Melvin Classroom” - collection of upbeat songs
Enjoy your (hopefully) Zoom free break.
Lynn and Dave
