March 22, 2013

Dear Parents,

Spring Break is finally here! Whether you are traveling out of Chennai or staying close to home, keep well, and I wish everyone a relaxing holiday. School resumes on Monday, April 8th.

Important ASA Information:

• All Semester 2 ASAs will resume on April 8 and end on May 31
• The Raptors Swim Club (mini-session) is now over
• Funshine Camp 2013- Summer camp registration forms will be sent home after the break.

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Testing (Grades 2-5):

The second and final round of MAP testing will run from April 9^th to April 23^rd. New parents will be interested to know that students (EAL Level 2 and above) take the MAP tests on a computer in the fall and spring of each school year.  Students will take tests in three content areas: reading, language usage (punctuation, capitalization, etc.) and math. Although tests are not timed, students generally finish in under 45 minutes. Later in the spring, you will receive progress report. Below is a list of FAQ’s about MAP tests. 

Do all students in the same grade take the same test?

No. This assessment is designed to target a student's academic performance in mathematics, reading, and language usage. These tests are tailored to an individual's current achievement level. This gives each student a fair opportunity to show what he or she knows and can do. Because the computer adjusts the difficulty of the questions as the test progresses, each student takes a unique test.

What are the MAP test results used for?

MAP is used to measure a student's progress or growth in school. They are important to teachers because they let teachers know where a student's strengths are and if help is needed in any specific areas. Teachers use this information to help them guide instruction in the classroom.

If you have ever used a growth chart in your home to show how much your child has grown from one year to the next, this will help you understand the scale MAP uses to measure your child's academic progress. The RIT scale (Rasch unIT), it is an equal-interval scale much like centimeters on a meter stick. It is used to chart your child's academic growth from year to year.

How can I help my child prepare for MAP testing?

·         Meet with your child's teacher as often as needed to discuss his or her progress. Parents and teachers working together benefits your child.

·         Make sure that your child is well-rested on school days, especially the day of the test. Children who are tired are less able to pay attention in class or to handle the demands of a test.

·         Give your child a well-rounded diet. A healthy body leads to a healthy, active mind.

Where can I go for more information about MAP testing?

Visit the NWEA website or read the Parent Toolkit, also found on this site.

Grade 5 NESA Virtual Science Fair: 

We are so proud of our scientists who participated in NVSF-5 this year! They behaved like scientists and demonstrated a clear understanding of what it means to make a commitment! This fine group of students spent countless hours working as a team. Of the 8 teams who began this journey prior to the Winter Break, ALL 8 teams completed and presented their experiment- in person and virtually! We couldn’t have done it without our fantastic judges:  Mr.Ryan Sager, Ms. Ashley Sebesen, Ms. Jennifer Brunson, Ms. Kim Bane, Ms. Jyotsna Nanda, Ms. Britt Thorpe and Ms.Shireen Lazarus. The top three teams, and in no particular order:

Team 3: Does the 5-second rule really work?

Team 1: Which biodegradable waste generates more bio-gas?

Team 7: How do we use bio-gas to develop rural areas?

Thank you, parents, for your support, too! Below is a picture of our scientists.

-Ms. Shobhana and Ms. Salome-

Mathemania: Everyone enjoys two hours of math- at least each year when we host Mathemania! The fun all started last Friday afternoon after lunch! Children in each class created a math game that they had to teach to students from another grade level or class. We all know the importance of math; its importance in our daily life cannot be questioned. A special thank you to Ms. Jenna, Ms. Morgen and Ms. Kristie for organizing this exciting afternoon!

Have a wonderful and relaxing break. See you in April!

Kevin Hall

Elementary School Principal

March 15, 2013

Dear Parents,

Xsports Camps is running a multi-age sports camp at AISC the week of April 8th to 14th. Students can register for one of the following camps: tennis, basketball or football. Camps will run from 3:45 pm to 5:45 pm Monday through Friday(this is a change from what is written on the application form) and on Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 am to 11:00 am. Click here to learn more about XSports, and to obtain an application form. Alternatively, please visit the Xsports website for further information. 

For the Period April 8th to May 3rd:

Lunch Menu


Order Form

Grade 5 Parents: The theater program will be open to grade 6 students (currently in grade 5) for the 2013-14 school year. Students will have the option of choosing two fine arts courses from the three fine arts areas of visual art, music (band or choir) and theater. On March 20, from 2:30 to 3:30 in the auditorium, the middle school school Fine Arts Department will be giving a presentation to grade 5 parents and students about these courses. At the end of the meeting, parents will be given a form to fill in with their child to indicate which two fine arts courses they will select as their specialist courses for next year. The form will be due on April 10. Grade 5 students are to take their completed form to their homeroom teacher. Following the the Spring Break, grade 5 students who selected band will be required to attend an instrument mouthpiece fitting session.

Grades 2-5 Spirit Week: The Elementary Student Council will be sponsoring Spirit Week 2013.  In an attempt to bring the students closer together, celebrate the end of three quarters of school and have fun, a theme has been created for each day.  The Council would love to have as many students and teachers participate as possible.  We are asking all 2nd to 5th grade students and teachers to dress according to each days' theme.  This is just for fun and students should not feel obligated to participate.  Monday is Pajama Day, Tuesday is Favorite Sports Shirt Day (any team, or sports type shirt), Wednesday is All One Color Day, Thursday is MisMatch Day (try to clash your colors patterns, or wear one sandal and one shoe, different colored socks) and Friday is Professional Day (dress up like what you want to be when you group up.  Hope to see some school spirit next week!

Track and Field News: The jungle setting of Sri Lanka, with its mongeese, monitor lizards, lapwing birds and frangiappani plants, seemed a perfect place for the raptors to run their fastest. And so they did.

The weekend of March 8-10, grade 5 members of the traveling 2013 AISC Track and Field Team competed in running, throwing and jumping events, many achieving their personal bests, adding points for the team, and bringing home medals. Their enthusiasm and dedication made all of their coaches and teammates proud. Below are the results.

Boys 10-12 3,000 meters:

Diego Hernandez- first place with a time of 11:10:40

Eoin Couglan- fourth place-at 12:42:20.

Boys 10-12 400 meters:

Adrian Hernandez- second place, at 1:06:74

Daniel Spitze- 1:17:06

Arun Kahlon 1:37:36

Boys 10-12 Long Jump:

Adrian- 3. 45 meters

Diego-3.33 meters

Girls 10-12 4x100 relay:

Loren Oakes was part of a grade 6-7 raptor team that came in second place at 1:02:50

Boys 10-12 4x100 relay:

Diego,Eoin, Daniel and Adrian brought home a second place finish with 1:01:80

Boys 10-12 800 meters:

Diego- first place-2:33:93

Adrien- second place-2:36:56

Eown- fourth place-2:44:88

Boys 10-12 Shot Put:

Adrien- fifth place- 6.85 meters

Arun- 5.60

Eown- 4.86

Girls 10-12 Long Jump:

Loren Oakes-2-92 meters

Boys 10-12 High Jump:

Diego and Daniel cleared 1.15 meters

Eoin cleared 1. 05 meters

Boys 10-12 200 meter run:

Adrian- fifth place at 30:60

Boys 10-12 Discus:

Arun- 14 meters .55

Girls 10-12 4 x 400 relay:

Loren Oakes was part of a grade 6-7 team that came in third place at 5:35:70

Boys 10-12 4x400 relay:

Diego,Daniel, Eoin and Adrian came in second place at 5:02:80.

Boys 10-12 1500 meter run:

Diego brought home the gold with a first place finish of 5:19:40, and Eoin was third with 5:32:80.

We hope that next year we will have as many grade 5s!

Congratulations from coaches Cynthia Nutter, Tucky Fussell, and Ryan Sagar.

Have a great weekend,

Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal

March 8, 2013

Dear Parents,

This past Wednesday, Ms. Sweet and I held our March Parent Coffee with the ES Administration. This month, Ms. Deepa, Ms. Sherman, Ms. Chris, Ms. Kristina and Ms. Sweet led a discussion on 3-Way conferences. This fall, the elementary school will implement 3-way (student-led) conferences.

What is a 3-way conference? A 3-way conference actively involves parents, students and teachers in reflecting on student achievement, discussing work samples and setting direction for future learning. This type of conference acknowledges the most important participants in the learning process: the student, teacher and parent.

How is the 3-way conference different from the traditional parent-teacher interview? The 3-way conference includes the child in the discussion about student performance The student can provide information to clarify what they have learned, how they learned it and what successes and challenges they faced.

Why conduct a 3-way conference? This type of conference puts the student in the center of the reporting discussion. The 3-way conference strengthens the home-school partnership and allows children to interact with their parents and teacher at the same time.

This has been just a brief overview. As we move closer to the fall conferences, you will receive more information about 3-way conferences.

This week, our Grade 1 EAL students culminated their Authors as Mentors unit with an Author's Celebration. The children used an iPad app called Explain Everything as a medium to record and share their published stories with their parents. What an exciting week for our budding authors! 

Student Health: The following information is a reminder, and is taken from page 31 of the Elementary School Handbook 2012-13: If your child has head lice or is showing obvious symptoms of illness, such as severe cough, fever, headache, congestion, pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, your child should be kept home until cleared by a medical practitioner. If your child has been given a medical order to stay home and rest because of an infectious disease (such as chickenpox, measles, etc.), they must not attend school until they bring a physician's statement indicating they are able to return without risk to their own or others' health. If a contagious illness has been diagnosed in your son or daughter's class, the school's Health Office will send written notification home with every child in the grade level. You may have heard that there were cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in the elementary school these past two weeks. There were very few and in fact, only .01 per cent of our student population was diagnosed with this common viral illness and notification did go out to the grade levels in which there was a diagnosis. No new cases were reported this week.

Grade 5 Parents: The theater program will be open to grade 6 students (currently in grade 5) for the 2013-14 school year. Students will have the option of choosing two fine arts courses from the three fine arts areas of visual art, music (band or choir) and theater. On March 20, from 2:30 to 3:30 in the auditorium, the middle school school Fine Arts Department will be giving a presentation to grade 5 parents and students about these courses. At the end of the meeting, parents will be given a form to fill in with their child to indicate which two fine arts courses they will select as their specialist courses for next year. The form will be due on April 10. Grade 5 students are to take their completed form to their homeroom teacher. Following the the Spring Break, grade 5 students who selected band will be required to attend an instrument mouthpiece fitting session.

I also wish to advise grade 5 parents of a small change to the President's Award for Educational Excellence selection criteria. Since we have moved from reporting letter grades to reporting as "Exemplary", "Secure", "Developing" and "Beginning" in Language Arts, students will now need to have earned each quarter "Exemplary" or "Secure" in Language Arts and A and/or B grades in their other subjects.

Library News: 

We just celebrated the seventh-month anniversary of being in our new, wonderful elementary library location.  Hopefully you have had the chance to come check out our new space and also take out a lot of books!

The elementary library is lucky to have such a great space for kids to come down for library lessons, research projects, and checking out books.  The elementary library would like to share a few reminders with parents so that students can get the most out of their time in the library:

1.       When classes are in session or students are checking out books, please keep computers, tables, and other sitting areas free for student use. 

2.      Printing is reserved for school-related matters only.  Please check with the library staff if you would like to print. 

3.      Computers are not to be used for games before, during, or after school.  This keeps computers free for those who need to research, do word processing, or look books up in the catalog. 

4.      Parents may borrow up to five books in their name at a time and keep materials for two weeks.  If you would like to take out books, but do not have an account yet, please see any member of the library staff.  They will be happy to help you.  Please use our self check-in computer when returning books. 

Please email Mr. Jet (eslibrarian@aisch.org) if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend,

Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal