Dear parents,
Our first full week of the academic year is officially complete. ASAs have begun and we have a lot of tired, but happy Elementary students. We had a wonderful parent coffee on Tuesday, lead by our counselors. We had a great turnout of over 50 parents! If you missed this presentation on transitions, you can access it here.
ES Back to School Afternoon
Next Tuesday 29 August we will be hosting our Elementary Back to School Afternoon. All parents will have a chance to meet all of their child’s teachers as well as hear about the learning programmes and routines for the year in both the grade level homerooms, and the specialist areas.
Next Tuesday 29 August we will be hosting our Elementary Back to School Afternoon. All parents will have a chance to meet all of their child’s teachers as well as hear about the learning programmes and routines for the year in both the grade level homerooms, and the specialist areas.
We look forward to welcoming all our ES parents then. If you have more than one child in the ES, you can choose which homeroom session is for your first child, and which for your second. If you have more than two children, we encourage both parents to attend!
There will be duty supervision from 3:30pm until 5:45pm on all regular recess play areas, with Early Years 3 and 4 in the Elementary CIC. We will communicate alternate venues in the event of rain.
Schedule
4:00 - 4:30pm: Session 1 in the homeroom
4:00 - 4:30pm: Session 1 in the homeroom
4:35 - 5:10pm: Specialists in the ES Cafeteria
5:15 - 5:45: Session 2 in the homeroom
Handbook Signature Page / Health Forms - due by September 1
Returning families please submit the Health Form, if there are no changes, please still fill in the Medication Permission page.
Students will not be able to participate in any SAISA events or go on class field trips till this is received.
Yearbook Photos
Next Monday 28, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30th of August all our Elementary students will have their individual photo taken. Your child’s class teacher has shared the exact date with you on Edmodo.
September Lunch menu & Order links
To order a school lunch for your child, you can use this Payonline link to place the order. The Elementary Lunch Menu (Grades EY- 3) can be accessed here. here.
The Payonline System
Payonline allows parents to charge their child’s smart cards online, pre-order and pay for lunches (EY-Grade 3), and register and pay for after school activities. Payment is completed online using a credit or debit card. You need a username and password to access this system. Please see the user guide here for help using the system. You can access the Payonline link here. If you have any difficulties logging in or ordering, please notify itsupport@aischennai.org.
Grade 4 & 5 students eat in the FAC Cafeteria and will need to carry their charged ID cards on the days they wish to purchase lunch. There is no pre-order.
Welcome to the First Elementary Robotic Challenge!
Elementary School is hosting first of its kind Robotics Competition on September 7th and 8th this year, during the school day.
- All Grade 5 students will participate in this event
- 5BT and 5JD on one day; 5EF and 5MB the other
- Students will work in pairs to build and compete their robots
- The competition challenge uses Lego Mindstorms EV3
Why Robotics?
Robotic activities offer students the opportunity to expand their imagination, exercise their creativity and develop new technical skills! When students learn to work and collaborate together, they are able to process information faster and learn from one another. Robotics is also a highly effective way to foster essential work skills like collaboration, creative thinking, hands on science, fine motor skills, public speaking, problem solving and project management. It does all this while keeping children incredibly motivated and engaged throughout the event.
Parents will be invited in to watch the final stages of the challenge once the robots have been built. Look to your child’s class Edmodo for venue and time details.
Elementary Community Member Introductions
We will be introducing a different Elementary faculty member each week so that our whole community knows who is who in our section,and the fabulous work they are doing with your children and their teachers. Our first ES community introduction is below.
Introducing Rachael Moser - Elementary Instructional Coach
Did you know that Rachael Moser not only taught Preschool and Kindergarten in Ohio, children's theater in New York, Fifth grade and was a math coach in North Carolina before becoming a full-time instructional coach in 2012. She has also acted in film, and voiced Fifi on an English version of Hello Kitty cartoon series. Rachael’s first passport stamp was when she arrived here in Chennai, India, and if she could trade lives with anyone, it would be Sally Ride, who on June 18th, 1983 became the first woman in space! However, Rachael being the wonderful caring individual she is, also states, “I wouldn't want to trade, as that would take the experience away from her”, so she would just want to ‘relive’ Sally’s experience!
MAP Testing
This coming week we begin Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) testing for all our students in Grades 2-5. This online computer based test measures academic performance and growth over time in the areas of math, reading and language usage (grammar, spelling etc). Grade 3-5 students are also measured in science. Results from these give us individual as well as class and grade level progress and help us create teaching and learning programs to meet each child's’ instructional level.
This coming week we begin Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) testing for all our students in Grades 2-5. This online computer based test measures academic performance and growth over time in the areas of math, reading and language usage (grammar, spelling etc). Grade 3-5 students are also measured in science. Results from these give us individual as well as class and grade level progress and help us create teaching and learning programs to meet each child's’ instructional level.
Each test takes around 45 minutes, and no preparation at home is necessary. Parents often ask how they can help their child get ready for these and the best way is to ensure your child gets a good night sleep before their test as well as eats a substantial breakfast on the day. These are overall great preparation ideas for any day at school - students cannot study in advance for a MAP test.
Later in September, parents will receive a MAP Student Progress Report card. For further information, parents can go to this link.
UN Peace International Peace Day - September 22
This year's UN International Peace Day celebration will be held on Friday, September 22. The Parade of Nations, where all of the student body parades in their national dress across the stage, will be held in the auditorium.
Once they finish the parade, EY5 - 5 students will be seated in the auditorium for a short program. The Parade of Nations will be followed by a normal school day.
How does the parade work?
Students will be marching under their citizenship of record as listed in PowerSchool, our student information system, and as indicated during the admissions process.
If you would like to make a change and have your child(ren) march under a flag different from their citizenship, please kindly send this information directly to Sanja Ilić, Director of Admissions, (admissionsdirector@aischennai.org). Admissions office will be accommodating the aforementioned requests until September 1, 2017.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Keryn Dowling and Lori Newman