Friday April 27, 2018

Dear parents,

Happy long weekend! Enjoy Monday with your friends and family and see you back here on Tuesday morning.

Today we had our Lower Elementary Swim Gala where students from Early Years 5, Grade 1 and Grade 2 showcased their impressive skills in swimming. Thank you Coach Donna and Coach Velin, all the lifeguards, and the PE team; Jack, Sobha and Jane.

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.

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.

Parents will receive a MAP Student Progress Report card along with the Trimester 3 reports. For further information, parents can go to this link.

Parent Coffee - Tuesday May 8, at 8:45 - 9:30 am, Madras Hall  

We will be hosting a parent coffee for any elementary parent who is leaving us at the end of the year.  As with many international schools, at this time of year, we have many families who will be moving on, and many new families who are currently transitioning to move to Chennai. This coffee will be led by our counsellors, Ms Linda and Mr Ron, and focus on a lot of strategies to help families and in particular, children, transition out of AISC and Chennai and into a new place with ease.

  

Class Placements for 2018-19 (final announcement)

Every year, together with counsellors, we review class groupings and re-create new class lists as elementary children move from one grade level to the next.  As outlined in our handbook, we prioritise the following criteria when creating new homeroom groups;

• Social groups
• Gender
• Learning needs
• Nationality
• English Language Proficiency

For the past few years we have also sought parental input. While we do not consider direct requests to have a particular teacher, we do welcome input for anything you feel would be important for us to consider when placing your child.  

Our form will close next Tuesday 2 May as we begin drafting class lists. Please do not approach a teacher or counsellor directly; complete this form for any special considerations you may have.

Items needed for the Mud Kitchen (repeat announcement)

Leaving Chennai? Have old pots and pans, wooden utensils, metal bowls or utensils you want to get rid of? Please drop them off in the Elementary reception as we will gladly use them in our Outdoor Learning Centre Mud Kitchen!

Operation Smile - Yard Sale (repeat announcement)

Operation Smile will be holding a Yard Sale to raise money for cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries.

The Yard Sale will take place on Friday, 4^th May, from 3.30 pm to 5 pm in the Unity Courtyard.

Please donate items in good condition that you no longer use, and that other families would like to buy. These could include clothes, books, toys, sports equipment, household items, games, etc. Operation Smile volunteers will then sell these items, with all profits going to the organization.

Please put your donations in bins marked 'Operation Smile Yard Sale', which may be found in the HS Office, MS Office, ES Cafeteria, main Cafeteria, the main reception, and Madras Café.

We also invite families to 'rent table space,' and sell their own belongings at the prices they wish. The cost of renting a table to sell your wares is Rs.1000. The proceeds from the sale of the goods will be yours. If you would like to rent a table please pay Rs.1000 to Ms. Sunita in the High School office.

AISC Support Staff will get to shop first from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

Elementary School Afternoon Coffee, Tuesday, May 1, 2:15-3:15 pm (FAC Cafeteria)
Join us for a special coffee to share and discuss parent feedback on the climate survey regarding how AISC prioritizes learning and challenges our students. This coffee is focused on program and practices in grades EY5-Grade 5. There will be time for questions and input of parent perspective.

Withdrawing Students

If you are relocating and your child is not returning to AISC for the next school year, please fill out this Withdrawal Notification Form and hand it in or email it to bhazel@aischennai.org / ppadma@aischennai.org at the Elementary office.

May 2 - June 1, 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)

Warmly,

Keryn Dowling and Lori Newman

Friday, April 20, 2018

Dear parents,

Happy Friday! Wishing you all a wonderful relaxing weekend. Enjoy this lovely hot weather. A lot of great learning has been happening in the elementary this week. It was wonderful listening to all the thinking the elementary students had about our Earth Week celebrations. One 5th Grade student said to us “I didn’t think that just me and my family could change things. But if we do something AND get others to do it, we can”.  

Please remember next Wednesday 25th April is an Early Release and so all children should depart from campus by 2:00pm.

We also have a reminder to please be vigilant in supervising your children after school should you chose to remain on campus. This means you need to be on the playground or plaza with your child, and not waiting in the cafeterias. Thank you for your support with this.

Harvesting the Garden!

 

Grade 2 UK harvested their elementary garden bed today and look at their amazing produce! This year we have 10 elementary teachers who have adopted a garden behind the FAC. Amazing hands on science learning is taking place!

Summer Jumpstart Program 2018

In order to give our new and beginning English language students support in transitioning to an English language school, AISC’s Summer Jumpstart Program will be piloted in the summer of 2018. Students will participate in language-based activities with exposure to English instruction throughout the program and have multiple opportunities to make connections with other English beginners, as well as get exposed to school routines and basic playground and classroom expectations.

The AISC Summer Jumpstart Program is for new and beginning English language students in EY5 to Grade 8. It will run from July 16 – 27.

If you would like information about our EAL programs or practices, ask your child’s teacher, email or speak with a principal, or email or speak with our Director of Teaching and Learning, Dan Love (ldan@aischennai.org).

Meet Max!  

Max is one of 11 bears that travel to schools around the world and teach children about some of the 17 Global Goals created by the United Nations. Max lives in Hong Kong and has been to schools in the United States, Italy, and Australia this year. He will be in Chennai until May 11th when he returns home to Hong Kong. He is visiting with Ms Kristina and 1KJ for the next few weeks, and the class are learning a lot about many different places.

Swim Gala - Lower Elementary (April 27^th)

It is almost time for Swim Gala, the culminating activities for the Lower and Upper Elementary PE Swim Unit. This year, the Swim Gala will be held on a Friday for each division. You can see the dates below and they are on the community calendar. Each Gala will be the final day of Swimming for both Lower and Upper ES PE.

Purpose:

·         Educate parents about our ARC Learn-to-Swim program, showcase student progress with a parent audience, give our students a goal to strive for, and end the unit with a fun activity for all.

Basic Schedule and Plan

8:45-9:15 - Grade 1

9:15-9:45 – EY 5

9:45-10:15 - Grade 2

English Language Development through Indian Studies

The Indian Studies program fosters an understanding and appreciation for the diversity in India. While many languages are spoken in India, English is also used across the country as an official language.

At AISC, English is the primary medium of instruction in class and students are encouraged to communicate in English. We usually begin class by singing a multilingual (Indian and foreign languages) song to greet one another. This way we acknowledge the diversity within the class community.

Constructing questions to inquire deeper into the cultural concepts is an integral part of the learning process in Indian Studies class. Students explore different ways of researching into English resources to investigate concepts and areas of interest relevant to India. This may include sources like books, internet and asking experts.

Students use their English language skills to interact with other community members, developing a deeper understanding of cultural concepts as they engage in experiential activities. They learn to follow step by step English directions to perform different tasks and reflect on their experience orally or in written form.

Class Placements for 2018-19 (repeat announcement)

Every year, together with counsellors, we review class groupings and re-create new class lists as elementary children move from one grade level to the next. As outlined in our handbook, we prioritise the following criteria when creating new homeroom groups;

·         Social groups

·         Gender

·         Learning needs

·         Nationality

·         English Language Proficiency

For the past few years we have also sought parental input. While we do not consider direct requests to have a particular teacher, we do welcome input for anything you feel would be important for us to consider when placing your child.  

Our form will remain open for the next two weeks as we begin drafting class lists. Please do not approach a teacher or counsellor directly; complete this form for any special considerations you may have.

Message from Elementary School Student Council (repeat announcement)

The ES Student Council will hold our 6th annual Toy Drive from Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 25. We are collecting clean and gently used unwanted games, toys, or books for children in a local orphanage.

Students are asked to place the donated items into the box brought to their homeroom.

Thank you in advance for your support. Please do not hesitate to ask us if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms. Dee and Ms. Nicole / ES Student Council Advisors

Items needed for the Mud Kitchen (repeat announcement)

Leaving Chennai? Have old pots and pans, wooden utensils, metal bowls or utensils you want to get rid of? Please drop them off in the Elementary reception as we will gladly use them in our Outdoor Learning Centre Mud Kitchen!

Operation Smile - Yard Sale

Operation Smile will be holding a Yard Sale to raise money for cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries.

The Yard Sale will take place on Friday, 4th May, from 3.30 pm to 5 pm in the Unity Courtyard.

Please donate items in good condition that you no longer use, and that other families would like to buy. These could include clothes, books, toys, sports equipment, household items, games, etc. Operation Smile volunteers will then sell these items, with all profits going to the organization.

Please put your donations in bins marked 'Operation Smile Yard Sale', which may be found in the HS Office, MS Office, the ES Cafeteria, main Cafeteria, the main reception, and Madras Cafe from Friday April 20th. The last day for donations is Friday 27th April.

We also invite families to 'rent table space,' and sell their own belongings at the prices they wish. The cost of renting a table to sell your wares is Rs.1000. The proceeds from the sale of the goods will be yours. If you would like to rent a table please pay Rs.1000 to Ms. Sunita in the High School office.

AISC Support Staff will get to shop first from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

May 2 - June 1, 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)

Warmly,

Keryn Dowling and Lori Newman

Friday, April 13, 2018

Dear Parents,

Thank you to each and every one of you who came and attended our Student Led Conferences today. The smiles on Elementary children’s faces reflected the pride they felt in showing you, their parents, their learning and growth over this year.  

Next week we have three Elementary athletes heading off to Amman, Jordan for SAISA Track and Field. We wish them all well and look forward to hearing about their personal bests!

Meet AISC - Samantha Paiva - Elementary EAL Teacher

Samantha Paiva has a Master’s degree in English Literature and a diploma in English Language teaching. She taught at a school in Pune for a year before joining AISC. Something that always makes her feel happy is when a student’s face lights up as they begin to understand a concept. Samantha was most proud about representing AISC recently at a language development conference in Vietnam.  She felt honored to present about all the wonderful work we are doing here to enhance language development.  Samantha would love to be omnilingual as it would help her to communicate with people who speak different languages.

Class Placements for 2018-19

Every year, together with counsellors, we review class groupings and re-create new class lists as elementary children move from one grade level to the next.  As outlined in our handbook, we prioritise the following criteria when creating new homeroom groups;

• Social groups
• Gender
• Learning needs
• Nationality
• English Language Proficiency

For the past few years we have also sought parental input. While we do not consider direct requests to have a particular teacher, we do welcome input for anything you feel would be important for us to consider when placing your child.  

Our form will remain open for the next two weeks as we begin drafting class lists. Please do not approach a teacher or counsellor directly; complete this form for any special considerations you may have.

Message from Elementary School Student Council

The ES Student Council will hold our 6th annual Toy Drive from  Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 25. We are collecting clean and gently used unwanted games, toys, or books for children in a local orphanage.

Students are asked to place the donated items into the box brought to their homeroom.

Thank you in advance for your support. Please do not hesitate to ask us if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms. Dee and Ms. Nicole / ES Student Council Advisors

Items needed for the Mud Kitchen

Leaving Chennai? Have old pots and pans, wooden utensils, metal bowls or utensils you want to get rid of? Please drop them off in the Elementary reception as we will gladly use them in our Outdoor Learning Centre Mud Kitchen!

English Language Development through Learning Support

Learning support works to accommodate students in the AISC community who have learning differences. While students must have a minimum level of proficiency in English in order to receive support, we work with numerous students who are still developing their language skills. Our team focuses on teaching skills at a developmentally appropriate level and uses a variety of methods to support students language growth.

·         Vocabulary development through stories, pictures, graphic organizers and modeling.

·         Pre-teaching vocabulary before students encounter it in their classroom.

·         Understanding and answering WH questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why).

·         Teaching a student to determine relationships between objects/concepts.

·         Helping a student develop his/her language skills to help build their communication.

·         Using graphic organizers to aid in reading comprehension and to organize thoughts before beginning to write.

·         Sentence starters to increase students writing fluency.

·         Phonics and word study.

·         Shared reading and writing.

·         Social skills groups to help children to develop important skills such as making friends, problem-solving skills, perspective taking and emotional regulation.

·         Use manipulatives or hands-on materials and visuals to build content area schema and to support oral academic language development.

·         Provide visuals to support academic work.

·         Encourage re-reading of tasks/instructions. Or, using multiple texts and other resources on the same topic to give access and to deepen comprehension and build vocabulary.

·         Due to the individualized nature of our work all of our instruction is delivered in English.

Elementary School Afternoon Coffee, Tuesday, May 1, 2:15-3:15 pm (FAC Cafeteria)

Join us for a special coffee to share and discuss parent feedback on the climate survey regarding how AISC prioritizes learning and challenges our students. This coffee is focused on program and practices in grades EY5-Grade 5. There will be time for questions and input of parent perspective.

Message from ES Roots & Shoots

The Roots & Shoots Group wants to thank everyone for their support with our fundraiser for the elephants. It was a huge success!  We collected 12 kilos of green gram, 24 1/2 Kilos of Ragi and 30,380 rupees!  Our group was thrilled to meet Dr. Supraja Dharini, the founder of this Elephant Care Facility last Wednesday, April 11th and give her our donations. We were able to ask her lots of questions about the elephants. She presented us with a beautiful signed Thank You poster of the elephants.

 

Earth Day Spirit Week, April 16-20 (next week)

To show our continuing commitment to sustainability, we are happy to have our first Earth Day Spirit Week from April 16-20. During this week we will make an effort to positively affect our environment along the five categories of LEED: energy, water, human experience, transportation and waste.

We would like our community to join us in the Earth Day Spirit Week by participating in the daily challenges and wear Earth Day colors of green and blue for the week! Please see the Head's Notes for more details.

Meatless	Nothing New	Buy-A-Plant	Carpool	No Waste Lunch	Beach Clean Up Weekend
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	April 21-22
16-Apr	17-Apr	18-Apr	19-Apr	20-Apr
Energy	Water	Human Experience	Transportation	Waste	Waste

Have a wonderful weekend,

Keryn Dowling and Lori Newman

Friday, April 13, 2018

Dear Parents,

Thank you to each and every one of you who came and attended our Student Led Conferences today. The smiles on Elementary children’s faces reflected the pride they felt in showing you, their parents, their learning and growth over this year.  

Next week we have three Elementary athletes heading off to Amman, Jordan for SAISA Track and Field. We wish them all well and look forward to hearing about their personal bests!

Meet AISC - Samantha Paiva - Elementary EAL Teacher

tha Samantha Paiva has a Master’s degree in English Literature and a diploma in English Language teaching. She taught at a school in Pune for a year before joining AISC. Something that always makes her feel happy is when a student’s face lights up as they begin to understand a concept. Samantha was most proud about representing AISC recently at a language development conference in Vietnam.  She felt honored to present about all the wonderful work we are doing here to enhance language development.  Samantha would love to be omnilingual as it would help her to communicate with people who speak different languages.

Class Placements for 2018-19

Every year, together with counsellors, we review class groupings and re-create new class lists as elementary children move from one grade level to the next.  As outlined in our handbook, we prioritise the following criteria when creating new homeroom groups;

• Social groups
• Gender
• Learning needs
• Nationality
• English Language Proficiency

For the past few years we have also sought parental input. While we do not consider direct requests to have a particular teacher, we do welcome input for anything you feel would be important for us to consider when placing your child.  

Our form will remain open for the next two weeks as we begin drafting class lists. Please do not approach a teacher or counsellor directly; complete this form for any special considerations you may have.

Message from Elementary School Student Council

The ES Student Council will hold our 6th annual Toy Drive from  Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 25. We are collecting clean and gently used unwanted games, toys, or books for children in a local orphanage.

Students are asked to place the donated items into the box brought to their homeroom.

Thank you in advance for your support. Please do not hesitate to ask us if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms. Dee and Ms. Nicole / ES Student Council Advisors

Items needed for the Mud Kitchen

Leaving Chennai? Have old pots and pans, wooden utensils, metal bowls or utensils you want to get rid of? Please drop them off in the Elementary reception as we will gladly use them in our Outdoor Learning Centre Mud Kitchen!

English Language Development through Learning Support

Learning support works to accommodate students in the AISC community who have learning differences. While students must have a minimum level of proficiency in English in order to receive support, we work with numerous students who are still developing their language skills. Our team focuses on teaching skills at a developmentally appropriate level and uses a variety of methods to support students language growth.

·         Vocabulary development through stories, pictures, graphic organizers and modeling.

·         Pre-teaching vocabulary before students encounter it in their classroom.

·         Understanding and answering WH questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why).

·         Teaching a student to determine relationships between objects/concepts.

·         Helping a student develop his/her language skills to help build their communication.

·         Using graphic organizers to aid in reading comprehension and to organize thoughts before beginning to write.

·         Sentence starters to increase students writing fluency.

·         Phonics and word study.

·         Shared reading and writing.

·         Social skills groups to help children to develop important skills such as making friends, problem-solving skills, perspective taking and emotional regulation.

·         Use manipulatives or hands-on materials and visuals to build content area schema and to support oral academic language development.

·         Provide visuals to support academic work.

·         Encourage re-reading of tasks/instructions. Or, using multiple texts and other resources on the same topic to give access and to deepen comprehension and build vocabulary.

·         Due to the individualized nature of our work all of our instruction is delivered in English.

Elementary School Afternoon Coffee, Tuesday, May 1, 2:15-3:15 pm (FAC Cafeteria)

Join us for a special coffee to share and discuss parent feedback on the climate survey regarding how AISC prioritizes learning and challenges our students. This coffee is focused on program and practices in grades EY5-Grade 5. There will be time for questions and input of parent perspective.

Message from ES Roots & Shoots

The Roots & Shoots Group wants to thank everyone for their support with our fundraiser for the elephants. It was a huge success!  We collected 12 kilos of green gram, 24 1/2 Kilos of Ragi and 30,380 rupees!  Our group was thrilled to meet Dr. Supraja Dharini, the founder of this Elephant Care Facility last Wednesday, April 11th and give her our donations. We were able to ask her lots of questions about the elephants. She presented us with a beautiful signed Thank You poster of the elephants.

Earth Day Spirit Week, April 16-20 (next week)

To show our continuing commitment to sustainability, we are happy to have our first Earth Day Spirit Week from April 16-20. During this week we will make an effort to positively affect our environment along the five categories of LEED: energy, water, human experience, transportation and waste.

We would like our community to join us in the Earth Day Spirit Week by participating in the daily challenges and wear Earth Day colors of green and blue for the week! Please see the Head's Notes for more details.

Meatless Monday April 16	Nothing New Tuesday April 17	Buy-A-Plant Wednesday April 18	Carpool Thursday April 19	No Waste Lunch Friday April 20	Beach Clean Up Weekend April 21-22
Energy	Water	Human Experience	Transportation	Waste	Waste

Have a wonderful weekend,

Keryn Dowling and Lori Newman