Friday, December 21, 2018

Dear parents,

Happy holidays to you and Happy New Year. Wherever you may be travelling this break, please travel safe and we look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 16 January 2019! We ended the year in high spirits with our three elementary winter performances - bursting with energy from music, song and dance. I know you would join with me giving a large round of applause to our students, and also to Ms Sarah, Mr Finny, Mr Vasanth and Ms Jane.

2019 will kick off with field days in the elementary school, learning celebrations and family literacy mornings.  We encourage you to check the community calendar to be aware of these important events at school.

Reading Over the Winter Break

Knowing that your child will be away from school for almost three and half weeks, it is important that you encourage your child to read over the winter break. Encouraging your child to do some reading over the break is a vital way for them to keep up their literacy skills. If your child is reluctant to read then please take some time to read with them. Here is an article on the importance of reading over the winter break as well as some ideas on holiday-themed books and traveling with books.

Upcoming Field Days

• Grades 3, 4, & 5: Thursday, January 31st 10:50 - 12:20
• Early Years 5 and Grades 1 & 2: Friday, February 1st 10:50 -12:20
• Early Years 3 & 4: Friday, February 1st 8:45 - 10:00

 These days will include games, water activities, teacher relay races, face painting, and more! Parents are encouraged to come watch the students participate in Field Day. You may even want to join in on the activities yourself! Hope to see you there!

Yearbook Photo Make Up Session

Students who are new to AISC or missed the opportunity to take a Yearbook photo earlier this year due to an absence, will do so from Monday January 21 - Wednesday January 23 between 8:30 - 10:30 am.

The Winter Holiday Postcard Challenge (repeat announcement)

To encourage writing over the winter break, all Grade 1 - 5 children are encouraged to send a postcard from their winter holiday destination. Postcards should include a written message of where you are and what fun you have been having! This can be from Chennai, from other parts of India, or from wherever you are travelling to! Must include a written message! You can send as many postcards as you like - and the class who sends the most postcards wins a fun recess time with Ms Keryn, Mr Dave, and Ms Calley. Postcards must arrive at AISC by the end of January to be counted.  Challenge starts from today, Friday 21 December.

Send postcards to:

Elementary Office, AISC

100 Feet Road, Taramani

Chennai TN 600113

INDIA

January 2019 Lunch Menu & Order Links   

To order a school lunch for your child, please use this Payonline link.  

Elementary Lunch Menus: (Grades EY- 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Have a wonderful three weeks!
Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly

Friday, December 14, 2018

Happy Holidays from Our Families to Yours!

 

The Winter Holiday Postcard Challenge

To encourage writing over the winter break, all Grade 1 - 5 children are encouraged to send a postcard from their winter holiday destination.  Postcards should include a written message of where you are and what fun you have been having!  This can be from Chennai, from other parts of India or from wherever you are travelling to!  Must include a message You can send as many postcards as you like - and the class who sends the most postcards wins a fun recess time with Ms Keryn, Mr Dave, and Ms Calley.  Postcards must arrive at AISC by the end of January to be counted.  Challenge starts from next Friday 21 December.

Elementary Choir

Thank you again to Ms Sarah Hassler and Ms Fiona Babu and the wonderful elementary choir for kicking off the festive season with a wonderful selection of Christmas carols.

 

Winter Performances next week!  (repeat announcement)

Students have been busy preparing for their upcoming winter performances. This year these will feature holiday themed items from our performing arts department - both music and dance. These will be in the FAC theatre on the dates listed below and we want to remind you to please leave any strollers outside and that toddlers must remain on laps for the duration of the performances. Should they need a break, you are welcome to use the foyer outside of the theater.

• Monday 17 December - Early Years Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
• Tuesday 18 December - Grade 1 and 2 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
• Thursday 20 December - Grade 3-5 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m

Report cards and MAP reports (repeat announcement)

On Tuesday 18 December, all students from EY3 to Grade 5 will be receiving the semester one report card. This year, this formal report card will be printed and sent home in an envelope addressed to parents. Please make sure to check your child’s backpack for this important document, and read it together with your child. Should you have any questions, please check in with your child’s teachers.  

In addition, during this time frame, students in Grade 2-5 who took the fall MAP tests will receive their scores electronically along with a letter of how to read and understand these.

January 2019 Lunch Menu & Order Links   

To order a school lunch for your child, please use this Payonline link.  

Elementary Lunch Menus: (Grades EY- 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Student Council Toy Drive

Dear parents,

The ES Student Council is having a

Holiday Toy Drive!

Gently used toys, books, or games

will be collected and donated to a

local orphanage who could use

some cheer.

So, if your child has a few toys or even one toy that is gently used, please ask him or her to bring it to the donation box located in their homeroom.

The toy drive will begin Dec 10th and end on December 21, so please look at home for some toys, games, or books that you don’t use anymore and make a child happy!  

Thank you!

Happy Holidays,

The ES Student Council

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly

Friday, December 7, 2018

Dear Parents,

Elementary Christmas Carols

Today our elementary choir, the Singing Raptors, sang a delightful selection of Christmas and holiday classics in our courtyard. Thank you to all of those who attended or support this annual community event. Thank you also to the PCA for providing delicious cookie snacks also!

Winter Performances

Students have been busy preparing for their upcoming winter performances. This year these will feature holiday themed items from our performing arts department - both music and dance. These will be in the FAC theatre on the dates listed below and we want to remind you to please leave any strollers outside and that toddlers must remain on laps for the duration of the performances. Should they need a break, you are welcome to use the foyer outside of the theater.

• Monday 17 December - Early Years Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
• Tuesday 18 December - Grade 1 and 2 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m
• Thursday 20 December      - Grade 3-5 Winter Performance 2:30 - 3:15 p.m

Holiday Class Celebrations

In addition to the above performances, each class or grade will be hosting a party or celebration. These celebrations are inclusive to all celebrations happening at this time of year, including Christmas, Hanukkah Seollal and Japanese new year, New Year’s Eve and Pongal, to name a few. Parents are welcome to contribute to these celebrations by either attending or contributing towards food or decorations for the event.  Please see more information specific to your class from your room parent.

Community Summit: Exploring the Horizons of Wellbeing

Watch some of our community members as they talk about what Wellbeing means to them. This video was part of our kickoff to the Community Summit: Exploring the Horizons of Wellbeing that began last week.

Please join us next Wednesday for the second of three sessions, beginning at 2:30pm in the Gym. If you were not able to attend the first session, you are absolutely more than welcome for the second and/or third. Sign up here ASAP (See the Head’s Notes this week for further information). We hope to see you there!

Early Release next Wednesday

The next early release will be on Wednesday 12 December. Please be on time to collect your child at 2 p.m. A reminder that we will also close the playgrounds and football fields at this time too. We ask all children and parents leave campus promptly so that faculty can begin their professional learning to enhance teaching and learning.

Report cards and MAP reports

On Tuesday 18 December, all students from EY3 to Grade 5 will be receiving the semester one report card. This year, this formal report card will be printed and sent home in an envelope addressed to parents. Please make sure to check your child’s backpack for this important document, and read it together with your child. Should you have any questions, please check in with your child’s teachers.

In addition, during this time frame, students in Grade 2-5 who took the fall MAP tests will receive their scores electronically along with a letter of how to read and understand these.

Meet AISC – Hemamalini Hariharan 

Ms Hema is our Elementary Food Service Coordinator and you can find her every day in the Elementary Cafeteria. If your son or daughter has a negative balance on their ID card or were provided a school lunch she will be the person contacting, you.

Hema is from Chennai and loves reading and listening to music. She appreciates all the elementary students, especially when they tell her they enjoy the food. Her job allows her to interact daily with students, teachers and parents. Hema has one son who is attending college and encouraging students at AISC making healthy choices with food makes her the happiest. Hema also has a passion for mathematics, and if she could trade her life with anyone, it would be CP Ramanujam, a phenomenal Indian mathematician who worked wonders with numbers!

The ES Student Council is having a Holiday Toy Drive!

Gently used toys, books, or games will be collected and donated to a local orphanage who could use some cheer.

So, if your child has a few toys or even one toy that is gently used, please ask him or her to bring it to the donation box located in their homeroom.

The toy drive will Begin Dec 10 and end on December 21, so please look at home for some toys, games, or books that you don’t use anymore and make a child happy!  

Thank you!

Happy Holidays,

The ES Student Council

STEM Holiday Family Challenge (repeat announcement)

Can you design and create an object to represent something related to your family holidays or traditions using only recycled materials?

Design Constraints (Rules)

• Size - no more than 25 cm tall and no more than 30 cm wide (for display purposes)
• Use only materials you find around your house - Do not buy anything for the challenge!
• No food or candy!
• Please mark with your name and homeroom on the bottom.
• Bring completed projects to the Discovery & Design Studio anytime before December 5.

Some examples:

       

 

     

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen and Calley Connelly

Friday, November 30, 2018

Dear Parents,

We hope you are enjoying this cooler weather as we head into our last three weeks before the winter break. Classes will soon get into the holiday spirit with upcoming winter performances and other class celebrations. Look for more information from your class parent.

Elementary Christmas Carols

Next Friday 7 December, from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m, our Elementary Choir will be performing in the unity courtyard.  Please come along to join in the sing-a-long fun and hear our wonderful choir.

Missoula Children’s Theatre Video Recording

For those parents who were unable to make the Missoula Children’s Theatre performance of Treasure Island, we are so happy to share this YouTube video with you and your families.  Enjoy!

LINK TO TREASURE ISLAND

Early Release Pick up

A reminder to parents that on several Wednesdays every year we have early release. School finishes at 2:00 p.m. The next early release will be on Wednesday 12 December. This means we will close the playgrounds and football fields at this time too. We ask all children and parents leave campus promptly so that faculty can begin their professional learning to enhance teaching and learning.

Student Protection Curriculum

As part of our annual school counseling program, we school counselors wanted to let you know that we would be delivering lessons pertaining to personal safety. These lessons are designed to help our students recognize and understand what our bodies perceive as a threat. Our hope is that through our lessons, students become better prepared to respond to unsafe situations. We thank you for your continued support of our elementary school counseling program. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s grade level counselor, either Ms. Linda Gerberich or Ms. Vanessa Kim. Detailed information shared here.

STEM Holiday Family Challenge

Can you design and create an object to represent something related to your family holidays or traditions using only recycled materials?

Design Constraints (Rules)

• Size - no more than 25 cm tall and no more than 30 cm wide (for display purposes)
• Use only materials you find around your house - Do not buy anything for the challenge!
• No food or candy!
• Please mark with your name and homeroom on the bottom.
• Bring completed projects to the Discovery & Design Studio anytime before December 5.

Some examples:

       

      

December Lunch Menu & Order Links   

To order a school lunch for your child, please use this Payonline link.  

Elementary Lunch Menus: (Grades EY- 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Reminder - Community Summit: Exploring the Horizons of Wellbeing (repeat announcement)

Over the course of three early release days, we will be holding this Community Summit to explore the horizons of wellbeing. To make this a truly community driven endeavour we need parents and students to join faculty and administrative staff to envision the future of wellbeing at AISC. Together we will:

• Discover what we are doing best to nurture wellbeing at AISC - November 28
• Envision bold new possibilities for the future - December 12
• Design for excellence and construct the future of wellbeing at AISC - January 23

The sessions will run from 2:30-5:00 pm in the Gym. Parents and Students are asked to RSVP for this event here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen and Calley Connelly

Friday, November 22, 2018

Dear Parents,

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Long weekend to everyone. Enjoy this extra time together with family and friends, and think of all the wonderful opportunities and people in our lives that we can be thankful for.

 

Our Parent coffee presentation on MAP and Elementary Report Cards earlier this week had a great turn out with many parents from all grade levels. Thank you to all those parents to learn more about this focus area. If you would like to access the presentation, it can be found here.

Vision of a Learner

Congratulations to the following students who are receiving the Vision of a Learner awards for the first quarter of our year. Students were selected for the following traits:

Yair Fijman, MW - Explorer

Joonyeob Kim, 2DJ - Reflective

Clara Jouin, 3JM  - Resilient

Daisuke Kurabayashi, 3TG - Resilient

Ha Young Yang, 4JN  - Resilient

Teagan Weller, 3MR  - Empathetic

Mathurin Le Beaudour, 5JD - Leader

Victor Pechold, 3TG  -  Versatile

Yeonwoo Lee, 1KC - Thinker

Fumiya Nakamura, 5VL - Innovative

Margaux Verany, 5BT - Collaborative

Daphne Guerin, 4JN - Ethical

NESA Virtual Science and Engineering Fair Announcement

The NESA Virtual Science and Engineering Fair is a unique opportunity for students in 5th grade to conduct scientific investigations or design models to solve real-world problems.

We invite parents of all interested 5th graders to a meeting in the BBT on Monday, November 26th from 3:45-4:30. The purpose of this meeting is to share information about the NESA Virtual Science and Engineering Fair and enroll participants.

Coming this week - Early ES Celebration of Learning - Nov 30, 2:45 - 3:15 PM in ES Cafeteria

Parents are invited to join us next Friday for a Celebration of Learning for Early Elementary. First and second grade students will be hosting, with 1KJ and 1MW as well as 2BW and 2DJ presenting, and some special Music participation. As usual, we welcome parents to join us and see our students shine!  

Early Years 5 Math Morning Follow-up

Thank you to the many parents who participated in our last Family Math Morning. What a wonderful shared learning experience for kids, parents, and teachers. In order to support your understanding of the math curriculum, please find below a few links with the presentation, major work of the grade, and fun home learning options for you and your child to continue learning math together.  

Google Slides Presentation from Math Morning - best viewed in “present mode”

Common Core Major Work of Kindergarten (EY5)

New Digital Home Learning Resources Posted for ALL ES Parents and Students

Please have a fresh look at our Home Learning Resources for Parents, which includes updated links to more conceptual-based, fun and fascinating digital math resources. If you have a budding gamer in your household, we think you will find something here to engage your child in math learning alongside the fun of gaming. There are options that include coding, fantasy worlds, and word problem practice.  

 

Fog Stone Isle Math Game, https://cignition.com/

Missoula Children's Theater

Photos from Treasure Island are now up on our photo gallery on the website.  Password raptors18

NO Saturday Swimming Classes this weekend

This is a reminder for our Saturday swimming classes

No swimming classes this Saturday, November 24th, 2018 due to the long weekend.

STEM Holiday Family Challenge

Can you design and create an object to represent something related to your family holidays or traditions using only recycled materials?

Design Constraints (Rules)

• Size - no more than 25 cm tall and no more than 30 cm wide (for display purposes)
• Use only materials you find around your house - Do not buy anything for the challenge!
• No food or candy!
• Please mark with your name and homeroom on the bottom.
• Bring completed projects to the Discovery & Design Studio anytime before December 5.

Some examples: 

December Lunch Menu & Order Links   

To order a school lunch for your child, please use this Payonline link.  

Elementary Lunch Menus: (Grades EY- 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Reminder - Community Summit: Exploring the Horizons of Wellbeing (repeat announcement)

Over the course of three early release days, we will be holding this Community Summit to explore the horizons of wellbeing. To make this a truly community driven endeavour we need parents and students to join faculty and administrative staff to envision the future of wellbeing at AISC. Together we will:

• Discover what we are doing best to nurture wellbeing at AISC - November 28
• Envision bold new possibilities for the future - December 12
• Design for excellence and construct the future of wellbeing at AISC - January 23

The sessions will run from 2:30-5:00 pm in the Gym. Parents and Students are asked to RSVP for this event here.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen and Calley Connelly