Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Dear Parents,

Happy thanksgiving! Wishing you and your family a wonderful four day weekend. A time to be thankful for all the wonderful things in our lives.

Thank you to all the families who were able to send in a pair of shoes for our shoe collection drive. We collected over 100 pairs of shoes to donate to the girls.

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, December 2, 2019, from 2:15-3: 15. The purpose of this meeting is to share information about the NESA Virtual Science and Engineering Fair and enroll participants.

Craft Bazaar at AISC

Vision Project Feedback Summary

Thank you to the sixteen parents who responded to our request for feedback about Vision Week. We were glad to hear that your children seemed excited by their experiences. Overall, 94% of parent respondents said their children seemed excited, comfortable, and proud. 

The children who participated in Vision Week had a great learning adventure, and fun too! 90% of students rated their week “very fun” or “super fun”, and while there is room to improve, we are glad to know that so many students enjoyed themselves while learning a lot.

Your children’s teachers had a great week of learning, connection, and fun too. Our teachers highlighted the following three points as notable strengths of the Vision Week experience.

• Living the Mission and the Vision of the AISC Learner.
• Collaborating with New Students and New Teachers.
• Becoming practitioners of Project Based Learning (PBL).

We will be looking forward to Vision Week 2.0, processing parent, teacher, and student feedback, and engaging our faculty in making decisions about how to move this successful initiative forward. As always, we welcome other forms of parent engagement, so if you have a compliment or a concern about Vision Week, please reach out to us!  This survey link is still open for parent feedback.

STEAM 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 13th.

Some examples: 

     

   

Repeat Announcements

Important Calendar Change – Make-up School Day, March 23, 2020 

To make-up for the additional Diwali Holiday we observed on Monday, October 28, the Board of Directors approved Monday, March 23, 2020 calendared as a Staff Professional Day as a full school day. We will continue to remind our community of this change in future Head’s Notes!

Upcoming Elementary Christmas Carols

Next Friday, 6 December, from 4:00 - 5:00 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.

December Lunch Menu & Order Links   

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

Elementary Lunch Menu Links: (Early Years- Grade 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

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

Friday, November 22, 2019

Dear Parents,

Today our Lower Elementary students hosted a celebration of learning in our FAC Theater. We were treated to performances by Grade 1 and Grade 2. Ms. Morgen and Ms. Jenny’s classes taught us how to make snap words. We learned that math is everywhere with Ms. Deepa’s class, and with Ms Kristina’s class, we learned about how to form questions, make ice cream and how books make us feel. In addition, Ms. Fer’s class along with Ms. Teena provided updates about the library, our Student Council talked about the Girls Sports Shoes Drive, and Mr Finny lead the audience in singing our Elementary School song with help from Ms. Tiffany’s class.

 

Vision Week Reflections and Feedback

During the week of Nov 11 to 15, your child(ren) had the opportunity to participate in our inaugural Vision Week projects. Enjoy highlights from the week in the AISC photo gallery (password: raptors2019). This week, students had the opportunity to reflect on that experience. After gathering feedback from students, an overwhelming number of students said that they were happy, proud, and challenged during the week. Students also felt that they were part of a team. When asked what they learned during the week students shared how to: collaborate with others, give and receive feedback, make an innovative design, apply new skills, and be resilient. We are soliciting teacher, student, and parent feedback to help us reflect on the week. We value your impressions of your child's experience during this week and ask that you complete this survey to share your insights. Thank you!

Important Calendar Change – Make-up School Day, March 23, 2020 

To make-up for the additional Diwali Holiday we observed on Monday, October 28, the Board of Directors approved Monday, March 23, 2020 calendared as a Staff Professional Day as a full school day. We will continue to remind our community of this change in future Head’s Notes!

Upcoming Elementary Christmas Carols

Next Friday, 6 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.

December Lunch Menu & Order Links   

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

Elementary Lunch Menu Links: (Early Years- Grade 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Support our Elementary Student Council Girls Sports Shoes Drive (repeat announcement)

The ES student council is sponsoring the collection of girls’ sports shoes. The shoes will be donated to “Educate to Empower” which has created a school in Tamil Nadu for underprivileged girls. Educate to Empower is led by an AISC alumni. The girls need shoes so that they can participate in sports. There are 210 girls in this school that goes up to grade 5. By donating shoes we will be improving the lives of these girls and creating positive changes in their confidence and education. Please donate used or new shoes by Monday and put in boxes provided for each grade level. The student council will sponsor a pool party for the grade level that collects the most shoes on Wednesday, November 27th, during lunch recess. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, November 15, 2019

Dear Parents,

We hope you were able to join us this afternoon for the culmination of our wonderful vision project week for students from Grade 3, 4 and 5, as well as for our Missoula Children’s Theatre production of Pinocchio. Congratulations to our MCT cast, as well as all of our Grade 3-5 children and teachers who displayed commitment, dedication and vision to their different projects this week.

Robotics with Arduino - Afterschool in the BBT - Monday, November 18th

Using the power of Arduino, a single-board microcontroller, both students and adults can experience the skills necessary for integrating software and hardware. In other words, engineer robots to do cool things.

Early Years Parent Coffee - Tuesday, November 19th

Please join us next Tuesday morning for an Early Years Parent Coffee - November 19th  from 8:45 - 9:45 a.m. in the BBT. This coffee is specifically for parents in our Early Years program and will focus on  Early Years standards and providing further clarity and understanding around the emergent curriculum. We look forward to seeing you there.

Web design with Javascript, HTML, and CSS - Afterschool in the BBT - Wednesday, 20th November

Learn about what goes into creating a website from scratch. With the help of Code.exe's club leaders and members, both students and adults can gain a deeper understanding of the web design process and work on interesting projects.

Early Release Wednesday - November 20th

Wednesday, November 20th is the next Early Release Wednesday. Students are expected to depart campus in a timely and organized fashion upon dismissal at 2:00 pm. We appreciate your patience with traffic on these days as all three sections are picking up students at the same time. In preparation, please plan on allowing longer time for entry and exit to the school at release time 

Hackathon/Code Jam - 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M - Saturday, 23rd November in the BBT

Hackathons are social coding events in which programmers of different skills come together to build and create innovative and fun projects. We will also include an educational aspect in which people can come to learn more about computer programming. If you are interested in product design, computer programming, or want to learn more about coding please join us.

Sign up Form:https://tinyurl.com/aischsledhoc

Locations and refined timings will be shared and advertised closer to each event. Fill in the HIgh School Hour of Code Form to register your, and your parent’s and friend’s interest and attendance

Activities & Athletics office - AISC Hoodies

If you missed out on the initial order for an AISC hooded sweatshirt it isn't too late to get one before winter break. Complete this form to customize your order. Choices include zip or pullover, black or navy, name, number, size and if you want "Raptors" down one sleeve. The orders received by the end of the day on November 21st will be sent to the manufacturer.

Support our Elementary Student Council Girls Sports Shoes Drive

The Elementary Student Council is sponsoring the collection of girls’ sports shoes next week. The shoes will be donated to “Educate to Empower” which has created a school in Tamil Nadu for underprivileged girls. Educate to Empower is led by a AISC alumni. The girls need shoes so that they can participate in sports. There are 210 girls in this school that goes up to grade 5. By donating shoes we will be improving the lives of these girls and creating positive changes in their confidence and education. Please donate used or new shoes next week in boxes provided for each grade level. The Student Council will sponsor a pool party for the grade level that collects the most shoes. 

Grade KG-2 Learning Celebration - Friday 22 November at 2:45 pm

Parents are invited to join us next Friday  in our learning celebration which features students from grades KG - 2 in the FAC Theater. Parents can be seated from 2:30 p.m., children will arrive close to 2:40 p.m. and we will begin at 2:45 pm.  

For safety purposes, strollers need to be parked and left outside in the FAC lobby. If you do have your baby or toddler with you in the audience and they need a break, you can also use this lobby area if need be. Thank you for understanding.

Reminder – AQI at AISC

Currently at AISC, we track the Air Quality Index (AQI) by monitoring metered stations in various locales in the city, for example the U.S. Consulate, the airport, and other sites. Please see the Head's Notes for details of AQI levels at which we would limit or curtail activity. 

Our Air Quality Considerations and Practices  are:

·We use the air quality data sourced from a variety of sources that are publicly available online. AISC is currently in the process of acquiring our own monitors for use on campus.

·School administrators will communicate to the faculty and students any need for modification of outdoor physical activity, keeping in mind both the AQI (Air Quality Index) and the multiple other factors influencing the health and well-being of students.

·If necessary, the PE and Athletics Departments will modify activities in order to keep heart-rates and respiration-rates low, while still providing instruction and movement opportunities for our students. Any activity will be short in duration and of minimal physical demand.

·Parents always have the right to request that their child(ren) does/do not participate in aerobic activity, or go outside for recess or classes, and under such circumstances, students will never be penalized for non-participation.

·Students exhibiting or complaining of shortness of breath or irritation in the throat are routinely sent into a building with conditioned air until they feel relief.

Please join NHS and Namma Beach, Namma Chennai.  All welcome!

Come participate in an event that has become a tradition for many AISC families. Ms. Virginie Vlaminck has built a high energy, authentic community collaboration for all

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, November 08, 2019

Dear Parents,

Happy weekend! Lots of excitement is building at AISC in the Elementary section as we prepare for our first ever Vision Week for students in Grade 3-5. From projects re-designing ES spaces, designing Animal Habitats, creating a video about Chennai to surfing at Covelong, there is something for everyone!

Many of these projects have a culminating project that will be shared next Friday afternoon.

Vision Project Culmination and Missoula Children’s Theatre Performance

Please join us next Friday 15th at 1:30pm in the FAC theatre for our culminating projects, including some student videos, a dance performance, and the final Missoula Children’s Theatre performance.  

Air Quality Update

As you are likely aware, this week the Air Quality has been unusually poor in Chennai. This has meant that we have kept children indoors at all recess times this week, and even from Wednesday morning upon arrival at school. We have also had to close the playground afterschool from Wednesday. Because this is so unusual for Chennai, (and we are hoping it will be gone soon), we are using the following guidelines to influence our decision making regarding Elementary School students use of outdoor facilities.

Air Quality Considerations and Practices at AISC

• We use the air quality data sourced from a variety of sources that are publicly available online.  AISC is currently in the process of acquiring our own monitors for use on campus.
• School administrators will communicate to the faculty and students any need for modification of outdoor physical activity, keeping in mind both the AQI (Air Quality Index) and the multiple other factors influencing the health and well-being of students.
• If necessary, the PE and Athletics Departments will modify activities in order to keep heart-rates and respiration-rates low, while still providing instruction and movement opportunities for our students. Any activity will be short in duration and of minimal physical demand.
• Parents always have the right to request that their child(ren) does/do not participate in aerobic activity, or go outside for recess or classes, and under such circumstances, students will never be penalized for non-participation;
• Students exhibiting or complaining of shortness of breath or irritation in the throat are routinely sent into a building with conditioned air until they feel relief.

The guidelines we use to determine if outdoor physical activity will be modified are as follows:

Early Years Parent Coffee - November 19th

Please join us for an Early Years Parent Coffee on Tuesday, November 19th  from 8:45 - 9:45 a.m. in the BBT. We will be talking about the Early Years standards and the emergent curriculum.

Celebrating our Identity in Grade 2

Congratulations to the Grade 2 students who created a beautiful and meaningful Identity Museum this week, and thank you to the teachers who supported them and the family members who attended. We all value the opportunity for our students to explore their identity and share their learning.  

The Inquiry process for learning about our identity - photo by Ms Deepa

Jihyeon in 2 FL shares her identity artifacts - photo by Ms Leontheen

This session is our second Maker Saturday for the 2019-2020 school year for Grades 1- 5. We are offering two choices. Please choose one activity from the options below to challenge yourself and your child on Saturday. If you have children doing different activities, you must have one parent at each activity. 

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Please click HERE on this link for online sign up. The cost of the activity is: INR 1500 - Payment details will be communicated after the online sign ups are finished. 

Stop Motion Animation with Lego 

The first challenge is to make a stop motion animation movie with Legos and other materials in the makerspace. Use your imagination to create your own story or use a book as a guide to create a Lego movie. This activity will take up most of the entire three hours. 

                                                                   

Hour of Code Exploration Centers

The second choice is to spend some time in different centers exploring some of the technology that we have for Hour of Code!  Scratch, Makey Makeys, Lego WeDo, Little Bits, etc - projects as advanced or basic as you need for you and your child!  

This Maker Saturday is limited to 24 students (maximum of 12 per activity). Parents must accompany their child to Maker Saturday and stay with them the entire time of the activity. The activities are designed for Grade 1 and up; children in Kindergarten or younger may not attend due to safety reasons, even as an observer. Thank you for your understanding.

Be prepared to be creative!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, November 01, 2019

Dear Parents,

Happy Halloween week! We’ve had a lot of spooky fun in the Elementary this week - culminating with our class parties and Halloween parade on Thursday. This year, the weather was in our favour and we were able to parade around our track! All photos can be found on our raptor way gallery.

We have most certainly entered the rainy season here in Chennai! This brings with it a few indoor recess time for our students. Feel free to send some small games (e.g cards) or an extra book or two in for the children to engage in during this time. Your children will not be allowed to use screens during this time, just as they do not use these during outdoor recess.

Elementary Principal for the Day

Hi I’m Teagan and I’m ES Principal for the day. My day began with working with Ms Keryn, Mr Dave and Ms Calley on writing the blog that goes home to parents every week! Learned that it is important to send these blogs out so parents get all the notifications about what is happening at school. If this didn’t happen, we would confuse parents and stress them out because they wouldn’t know what is happening at school. 

Next I went to a Principals meeting with the 3 Principals - Ms Basnight, Ms Pechhold and Ms Keryn. I was there with Kavya and Maya who were also being Principals of the day.

We got to write some questions to interview future teachers .. it was fun!

Early Release Wednesday

Wednesday,November 6th is the next Early Release Wednesday. Students are expected to depart campus in a timely and organized fashion upon dismissal at 2:00 p.m. We appreciate your patience with traffic on these days as all three sections are picking up students at the same time. In preparation, please plan on allowing longer time for entry and exit to the school at release time.

Roots and Shoots

The Roots and Shoots lunchtime club is beginning next week. This club will provide students with the opportunity to design a project or a service campaign to help endangered animals like the Olive Ridley Turtles, sparrows or street dogs. We will collaborate with experts to learn more about the issues that are affecting animals and find ways we can help. Students will design and implement a project to help make a difference for animals. Students in grades 3rd-5th who are interested can meet with Ms Linda and Ms Leontheen on Tuesday, November 5 at 12:30 (lunch recess) in Ms Linda’s office (Room 2142).

Arts, Sports and Activities (repeat announcement)

ASA Season 1 Showcase

November 4th - November 9th will be ASA Showcase Week for Season 1. Please come join your children in their final ASA lesson. Prepare to engage in learning activities with the students. Students will be given the opportunity to share their learning from the activity and will be celebrated as learners.  

ASA Season 2 Program Descriptions and Registration (November 11th - February 21st)

EY3 Descriptions

EY4 Descriptions

KG Descriptions

Grade 1 Descriptions

Grade 2 Descriptions

Grade 3 Descriptions

Grade 4 Descriptions

Grade 5 Descriptions

This pre-registration information will be used to fill classes, but submitting the form does not mean a definite spot. We will email confirmations the week of November 4th. Please note that students that were not in swim lessons during season 1 will have priority for lessons during season 2. Click here to look up swim levels that students should enroll in.

Here is the Registration Form

November Lunch Menu & Order Links  (repeat announcement)

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

Elementary Lunch Menu Links: (Early Years- Grade 3 Pre-order) and (Grades 4 & 5 - No Preorder)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Keryn Dowling, Dave Allen, and Calley Connelly
Elementary School Leadership Team