Dear Community Members,
Whether you are traveling over the Fall Break or staying in
Chennai, have a safe and relaxing holiday. School resumes on Monday, October 5.
October is going to be an exciting and busy month. October is “Celebrate India
Month” and we will begin our festivities with an assembly on October 7th.
Students will also perform in one assembly towards the end of the month. Also
in October, we will also hold our student-led conferences. Below is detailed
information about India Month and the conferences.
Student-Led Conferences
We will be hosting our first round of Student-Led Conferences
on Thursday, October 15 from 3:45 pm to 6:25 pm, and all day on
Friday, October 16 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Conferences will be
conducted in your child’s homeroom and will be 20 minutes in length. We do
request that all families make an appointment to attend on either on of the two
days. Conferences are scheduled online, and you can do so now by clicking on
the link below:
https://ptcfast.com/schools/American_International_School_Chennai_1\
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmzMS1Q7oA&feature=youtu.be will guide you through the sign-up
process. Please sign up by 12:00 pm on Wednesday, October 14. If you do
not have internet access at home, you are welcome to use a computer in the CIC.
You can visit art, music, physical education, Indian Studies,
Spanish, French on a drop-in basis. You do not need to sign-up online for a
conference.
What to Expect During the Conference
• The main focus will be on goal setting with the child. A
baseline portfolio will be shared, to show the “starting point” for the child
and so growth can be documented by the second conference.
• In grades PK-2, the student will be present, and the teacher
will guide the conference, involving student and parents in all aspects of the
discussion.
• In grades 3-5, students will take on more of the conference
leadership. This may vary if your child is an English Language Learner and
his/her comfort level.
Please note:
1. We will provide child-care for school-aged brothers
and/or sisters who are waiting while their parents are conferencing with
another child. This is short-term child-care only. Please drop your child
off immediately prior to the sibling's conference, and pick up immediately
after.
2. On Thursday, children will be supervised on
the playground. On Friday, children will be supervised in rooms (locations to
be announced later).
3. Childcare is for enrolled students only (no
babies, toddlers, or non-enrolled siblings).
5. Students must follow the instructions of the
supervising adults and remain in the same room at all times until signed out.
6. Please note that the playgrounds will be closed on Friday, October
16th.
Celebrate India Month
Below is the information
about different activities that will happen during this month.
Assemblies:
·
On Wednesday, October 7th,
all ES students will watch a performance by a professional dance group in
India.
·
There will be two separate
assemblies with student performances - one by the lower elementary and the
other by the upper elementary. You are welcome to attend both. Performances
will be in the FAC auditorium. Students are encouraged to wear Indian clothes on
the day of their performance.
Student Performances:
K-2 Wednesday,
October 21st at 8:45
3-5 Wednesday,
October 28th at 8:45
Indian Meal:
Students will be served
an Indian Lunch catered by our Taj Madras Flight Kitchen on Thursday, October
29th. Spices in
the food will be minimal. The lunch served will be Jeera & Peas Pulao,
Carrot & Beans Poriyal, Chicken Tikka, Poori, Channa, Jalebi, Vadagam,
Dairy/Juice. We ask that parents who do
not want their children to have this meal to send a packed lunch from home as
Indian lunch is the only lunch option available on this day.
India Month Photo
Display:
All
students can submit photos for the India Month Photo Display. Please submit a
picture of India that you have taken (with you in the picture or not). These
photos can be shared hard copy or digitally. Please upload the image to http://tiny.cc/tntp2x or drop of the hardcopy with Pradeep or bring it
to Indian Studies class. These images will be displayed during the month of
October. The deadline for submission is October 5.
Other Activities across
the ES:
Mehendi:
Leaves of the henna plant is made into paste and
filled in a cone. We use this for decorating the palms. This can be called a
temporary tattoo that will last about a week. Students will have the
opportunity to decorate their hands with Mehendi(Henna). This is optional.
Glass blowing
demonstration: Students from
each grade level will watch a demonstration by a glass blower on one of the
following days:
K-2: October 12th and
13th
3-5: October 14th and 15th
Students may bring
Rs.50-Rs.100 if they wish to buy artifacts made by him. Parents are welcome to purchase after school hours.
Other activities for
specific grade level:
Music Demonstration: Grades 3-5 will watch a demonstration of musical instruments on
Thursday, October 22.
Yoga: Students will participate in a yoga activity during the week of
October 12 - 15.
Stations: Grade 2 will participate in block printing, jewel making, candle
pot painting and Kolam design on Friday, October 23.
Tie and Dye: Grade 1 will learn tie and dye on Thursday, October 22.
Storytelling: Kindergarten students will listen to Indian tales on Thursday, October
29.
20/21 Learning Dialogues. Please join us on October 8
As a 20 year-old learning organization, we want to continue to
explore trends, issues, stories, conversations, and topics that are relevant to
our community. We want to look ahead to the next 20 years.
To help us do this, we will have a series of dialogues that are
open to parents, alumni, MS/HS students and faculty.
On Thursday,
October 8, we will be talking about creativity. Doors open at 3:45 p.m., and
the event starts at 4:15 p.m. It
will end at 5:45
p.m. The location of this dialogue is in the FAC Atrium.
We will hear from community members and dialogue in small groups.
Refreshments will be provided.
If you have any questions, please contact Kirsten Welbes (wkirsten@aisch.org),
Director of Advancement.
ASIAC Band &
Choir Festival!
AISC is very excited to host the ASIAC Music Festival this year.
The festival will culminate in a grand Gala Concert on Saturday,
October 10th at 4pm. All are invited! Admission is open and free. Please
bring your friends and family to support over 110 young musicians from ASB, AES
and our very own AISC as they sing and play at this memorable event. You don't
want to miss it!
October Parent Coffee
Please join us on October 13th for our second parent
coffee of the year. We will meet in the new Science and Discovery Studios
(rooms 2602 and 2603) beginning at 8:45. Come learn more about our new science
standards (Next Generation Science Standards), how we are using the studios,
and then we will have you participate in a design challenge.
Skateboards and Rollerblades
Please note that skateboards and rollerblades are not permitted
on campus including weekends.
Vision and Hearing Screening
Each year, we conduct a vision and hearing screening tests for students
in our Health Office. This will take place on October 12 – 14, 2015. The screenings will be done by the Apollo Shine Foundation. Teachers will choose a time
to take their students to see the doctors. The Health Office will notify you if
a doctor recommends any further assessment.
Early Release - Wednesday, October 7th
This year we have seven Early Release Wednesdays. The second one is coming up on Wednesday, October 7th. On Early Release Wednesdays, we will run a special schedule and school will end at 1:30 (this schedule will include lunch). Please note that on Early Release Wednesdays, there are no after school activities, clubs or sports and students are expected to be off campus immediately following dismissal. On these Wednesdays, teachers will be collaborating and learning together in order to support the work they do with your children.
As a reminder, the
Early Release Wednesdays are:
·
October 7th
·
November 4th
·
December 2nd
·
January 20th
·
February 10th
·
March 9th
MAP Test Results
Today we sent home the MAP Student Progress
Report with your child (grades 2 to 5 only). On the Student Progress Report,
you will see a graph for each MAP test that you child has written while
attending AISC. The graphs illustrate the student score compared to the
district (AISC) and the norm grade (students in the USA who are in the same
grade as your child) within each graph for fall and spring. Beneath each graph,
you will see subject strands or, as MAP calls them, goal areas, and your
child’s RIT range within that goal area. Under the reading graph, you will also
notice a Lexile range. Lexile levels match readers with books and other reading
resources appropriate to the child’s reading performance. At AISC, we use the
Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System whereby a child’s reading level
is identified by a letter. The Fountas and Pinnell reading level is not
reported on the MAP Student Progress Report. Following is additional information that should
help you understand the report.
The RIT Score: RIT stands for Rasch unIT, which is a unit of measure that uses
individual item difficulty values to estimate student achievement. The RIT
score for your child is a measure of individual achievement in each test. The
RIT score is used to measure a student’s growth over a period of time. It
is very important to remember that scores on any test are estimates of
performance with no one score being treated as an absolute. Score ranges
indicate a range of measurement error around a particular score, for example,
(231-234-237). The score in the middle is your child’s score. The
numbers on either side of it define the score range.
District Grade Level RIT: This score is the average RIT score for all students at AISC in
the same grade who were tested at the same time as your child. This is represented
as an orange line on the graph.
Norm Grade Level Mean RIT: This
score is the average RIT score for students in the United States who are in the
same grade and who were tested at the same time as your child. This is
represented as an yellow line on the graph.
Percentile Range: This score tells how you child is doing compared to other
students in the same grade when compared to the normed group (students in the USA).
For example, it would tell you that a student who scored in the 85th percentile
in math, scored as well as, or better than, 85 percent of the students in the
nationally normed group. Note that a score in the 85th percentile
does not mean that your child answered 85% of the test questions correctly.
A special note to grade 2 parents: the MAP report looks much different than what I have described
above. This is because your child sat for a MAP test for the first time this
fall. On the grade 2 MAP Student Progress Report, you will see three dots on
each graph. Your child’s score is the dot followed by a dotted line. The dotted
line represents your child’s RIT projection.
Your
child’s fall MAP scores should be viewed as an initial benchmark. Whether
below, above, or right in line with the reported means, your child’s scores
will support our teachers in identifying strengths and weaknesses, subsequently
adjusting instruction accordingly. Additionally, the MAP assessment is designed
to identify growth over time. It will take multiple MAP administrations (3+) to
really zero in on your child’s performance with high validity. Students write
MAP tests twice per year. Our next testing session will be in the spring of
2016.
Have a wonderful break!
Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal
