Friday, September 25, 2020

Dear Parents,

Thank you to everyone who attended the UN Day of Peace Assembly this week. The highlight for us was seeing the well-spoken elementary students tell us how they spread compassion, kindness, and hope. Thank you to all of the students who submitted a video. Let us keep the message of Peace alive. 

 

(images from the UN Day Assembly)

 

Important Dates

Date	Time	Event	Details
October 5 - 10		ASA Showcase Week
October 9		ASA Season 2 registration begins
October 12 - 23		Student Growth Conferences

 

Arts, Sports & Activities

As ASA Season 1 is coming to an end on October 9th, please check the Athletics & Activities Blog for information on the ASA Showcase (Oct. 5-9) and to find the Virtual ASA Parent Feedback Survey.  Registration for ASA Season 2 will be sent out on Friday, October 9th and the activities will begin Monday, October 19th.  Email bjack@aischennai.org or dmonicka@aischennai.org with any questions. 

 

Math Morning Parent Coffee

Thank you to everyone who came out to learn more about our virtual math instruction and ways to support at home! We had over 80 attendees at the two days of presentations for K-2 and for 3-5. We appreciate your questions and your dedication to supporting your children in mathematics. Linked below are the slideshows from each day plus the recording of the grades 3-5 session. Additionally, here is a link - Family Math Meeting Survey to provide feedback on the sessions. We are always trying to learn how to best support your experience at home as parents so your feedback is greatly appreciated. The survey should take 1-2 mins to complete. We will take all your comments around math from the earlier family survey as well as from this survey and continue to make improvements to the virtual learning experience in math. 

 

Grades KG - 2 Slides

Grades 3-5 Slides

Grades KG-2 Recording

Grades 3-5 Recording

Math at Home Website

Math Manipulatives Online

From the Counselors

School breaks are important because it gives us time to rest, be off screens, go outside if you can, be active, and more time to play. 

Some children might be excited about Fall break next week and others sad or worried because it is a different routine and also because they may not be able to go anywhere. Some children might feel lonely during the break. Loneliness is a normal feeling during this time. Acknowledging how your child feels and helping them name the feelings helps them feel better. Ask them what is making them feel lonely and what they think they could do to make it better. Help them write a list that they can tape up on their wall when they need ideas. Teach them about ways they can take care of themselves by doing things like yoga, breathing exercises, art activities, or making a journal. Here are some ideas about what children can do during the holiday.  

Happy Fall break everyone! 

 

Regards,

Lynn Schneider, Dave Allen, and Elliot Fijman
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, September 18, 2020

Dear Parents,

Thank you to the 110 parents who filled out the survey about our virtual learning program. Overall, parents report being highly satisfied with our virtual learning model. 

 

Here are a few data points:

 

93% of parents are satisfied or very satisfied with the Elementary School virtual learning program.

91% of parents feel satisfied or very satisfied that the learning activities, the 1:1, small group sessions, and the morning meeting facilitate engagement and connection for their child.

81% of parents feel it is easy or very easy to locate instructions and materials for the day’s learning activities

70% of parents feel it is easy or very easy to access support or clarification from school personnel.

Some themes that emerged from comments about aspects that are working very well include:

• Lots of opportunities for teachers and students to connect (morning meeting, small groups, 1:1s, read alouds)

• Flexibility in the schedule

• Teachers are highly engaged

• Students are becoming more independent 

Some themes that emerged from comments about aspects that are not working very well include:

• Students don’t have enough peer to peer interactions 

• Some parents want more synchronous classes while others believe their children have too much screen time

• Teachers are using different applications which makes the daily plans inconsistent across grade levels

 

Important Dates

Date	Time	Event	Details
September 21	3:00 pm	UN International Day of Peace Assembly	Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 848 7362 2959 Passcode: 0MZ6JU
	3:45 pm	AISC x UN75 Discussion on ‘Inequality in the time of COVID-19’ (All AISC Community)	Zoom Link: Meeting ID: 885 6849 6425
September 22	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades K-2	Zoom link Meeting ID: 897 5906 9130
September 24	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades 3-5	Zoom link Meeting ID: 833 8688 3851 Security code: 755456
Sept. 28 - Oct. 2		Fall Break

 

Math Morning 

Please join Elliot Fijman, our Elementary School Math Coach, to learn more about our math program and to learn how you can support your child at home with math. 

 

Progress Reports

In the past, parents have received progress reports during the October growth conference. Those progress reports have focused on personal, social, and emotional aspects of your child’s development. Given students are currently in virtual learning, reporting on personal, social, and emotional development is not going to be the same as when we are on campus face to face. For that reason, you will not be receiving a progress report in October. Our teachers value your perspective and will actually be asking you to inform them about how your child is doing personally, socially, and emotionally. 

 

Growth Conferences

The growth conferences will be virtual this year. Teachers will hold conferences over a two week period from October 12th - 23rd. We decided to have them stretch across two weeks so there would be minimal disruption to the students’ synchronous schedule. Your child’s teacher will communicate more details with you on Monday, October 5th about scheduling and what to expect during the conference.

 

From the Counselors

“When children have words for their feelings, it gives them a sense of connection and purpose”.  - Joy Marchese, NESA Parents as Partners Webinar Sept. 15, 2020

 

From Our Library: Parent Access to Sora

All AISC parents can now access our digital library, Sora, by clicking this link and logging in with your personal email and password: Chennai20. 

Please browse, read, and contact Babs on bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have any questions! 

 

 

 

Regards,

Lynn Schneider, Dave Allen, and Elliot Fijman
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, September 11, 2020

Dear Parents,

The students and teachers had such a great time with Spirit Week. Sharing in the fun was a fantastic way for the teachers and students to connect. 

We held our first parent coffee of the semester this week. Not many parents were able to join us. We know everyone is busy and it’s difficult to attend the many community events. For our upcoming coffees, we are thinking about ways to enable more parents to be able to attend. Stay tuned. 

  

 

Important Dates

Date	Time	Event	Details
September 22	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades K-2	Zoom link to come
September 24	9:30 a.m.	Math Morning Grades 3-5	Zoom link to come
Sept. 28 - Oct. 2		Fall Break

 

Parent Survey - Reminder 

We appreciate everything that our parents are doing to support students, teachers, and one another through this extraordinary situation. 

 

We continue to listen to and learn from what is going great and what could be done to improve. It is with sincere gratitude and appreciation that we send this feedback form to you, after our first month of the Academic Year 2020-2021. Use this link to go to the survey. Thank you.

 

Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th)

Avast ye, landlubbers! The ES Library and Design teams invite you to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day next week by visiting our bilge-sucking website to listen to tales of pirates, seadogs, and poop decks! But, ahoy mateys, there's more! Scallywags can also partake in salty design challenges that will shiver your timbers! Click here or WALK THE PLANK!

 

From the Elementary School Counselors

Our students are using technology to learn new skills each day, so when the school day is finished, it is important to have fun together PLAYING away from screens/devices. 

Playing board games with your child is a GREAT way to spend time together as family, teach new math and reading skills, focus skills, following instructions, teach counting skills, turn-taking, winning graciously, and losing with grace. In addition, if  your child is learning English, this can be a great way to learn some new vocabulary in a fun way! Here is a list of developmentally appropriate board games for EY-Grade 5 students. All of these board games are available on Amazon India and are all priced reasonably. Oftentimes, you can find the directions/instructions for these games in many different languages if you do a Google search. 

Have a family game night this week! Make your favorite family treat and get together! 

Games to try: (All were available for purchase on Amazon India as of September 6, recommended ages are approximates)

Sorry! (EY-Grade 3) Monopoly (Grade 2 and up) Battleship (Grade 2 and up) Trouble (EY and older) Yahtzee (Grade 3 and older) The Game of Life (Grade 3 and older) Pictionary (Grade 3 and older) Connect 4 (EY and older) Sequence (Grade 3 and older) Ghost Blitz (Grade 2 and older) Uno (KG and older)

Phase 10 (Grade 3 and older) Skip Bo (Grade 2 and older) Junior Scrabble (Grade 1 and older) Catan (Grade 3 and older) Apples to Apples Junior (Grade 1 and older) Labyrinth (Grade 1 and older) Ticket to Ride Europe (Grade 3 and older) Hungry Hippos Game (EY and older) Candyland (Dora version) (EY and older) Snakes and Ladders (EY and older)

 

AISC x UN75 Discussion on ‘Inequality in the time of COVID-19’ 

(3:45-4:30pm IST on Monday, September 21)

Students, Parents and Faculty are Welcome to participate

 

‘In January, the start of the UN’s 75th anniversary, Secretary-General António Guterres launched the world’s biggest conversation on building a better future for all. The vision was to spark conversations (“UN75 dialogues”) in all settings on priorities for the future, obstacles to achieving them, and the role of international cooperation in making progress. Over 330 dialogues in 87 countries were held in the first three months of year – physically and virtually. It is vital that peoples’ voices are heard at this crucial time for the world.’

The UN has created a global survey to help guide them on global priorities. Please take a moment to share your opinion: https://un75.online/

 

AISC’s MUN Impact Chennai club thoroughly believes in the vision of the UN and the message of the Secretary-General. We believe that international cooperation is pertinent in the times of COVID, and that starts with greater global engagement, through discussions like these. Please join us. Here is the Zoom Link: 

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88568496425

Meeting ID: 885 6849 6425

Regards,

Lynn Schneider, Dave Allen, and Elliot Fijman
Elementary School Leadership Team

Friday, September 04, 2020

Dear Parents,

Saturday, September 5th is National Teacher Appreciation Day, and I’d like to recognize the amazing job our teachers are doing.They’re reaching across time zones to spend time with their students, using new technologies in different ways to keep students engaged and challenged, all while continuing to collaborate and plan remotely. Thank you AISC teachers!

 

Important Dates

 

September 7-11	Spirit week Virtual Book Fair
September 8	ES Parent Coffee  “Ways to Support Your Child During Distance Learning” 9:30-10:30 a.m. Zoom Link Passcode: coffee

 

ES Parent Coffee

Please join us on Tuesday for the first ES parent coffee of the school year.The topic will be about ways to support your child’s self-confidence and emotional well-being during distance learning. 

 

Virtual Book Fair

Scholastic and the AISC Libraries are bringing a virtual book fair directly to you! Please click on the link here to browse through a wide variety of books available for purchase for students, families, and teachers in EY-8. Once books are chosen, please use the following login information to proceed with the purchase:

 

Login ID: bbarbara@aischennai.org

Password: aisc234

 

The books will be delivered to your address in Chennai. If you are not currently in Chennai, the books can also be sent to a family member or friend here in India. 

 

The virtual book fair will be held from August 31st-September 11th. Please contact Babs at bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have questions and happy shopping!

 

Spirit Week

We, from the High School Student Council want to inform you about the upcoming all school SPIRIT WEEK! Spirit week is taking place between the 7th of September and the 11th of September (next week!). Here is a summary of all the spirit days.

 

7th of September, Monday: Bring an Animal Day - Have any pets or stuffed animals at your house? Bring them to your virtual school meetings!

 

8th of September, Tuesday: Covid Theme Day - Design and customise your own personal N-95 mask and then wear it, or wear your best, favorite, or craziest mask to school!

 

9th of September, Wednesday: Crazy Day - Mess around with the virtual backgrounds option on Zoom and attend your classes with a brand new look! But the fun doesn't stop there! Spruce up your hair in a crazy manner, and throw on a wacky outfit to accompany that background!

 

10th of September, Thursday: Multiples Day - Dress up like your favourite character, or friend, or twin with your profile picture.

 

11th of September, Friday: Sports Day - Flaunt your AISC spirit by donning the School's Colours (Blue, Mango and White).

 

UN International Day of Peace (Monday, September 21)

The theme for the UN International Day of Peace this year is "Shaping Peace Together." We are working with many community members, from students in Elementary to High School and country representatives to celebrate the diverse cultures that make up our AISC community. Join us virtually on Friday, September 21, 3:00–3:30 p.m. We will share more details closer to the date

 

Regards,

Lynn Schneider, Dave Allen, and Elliot Fijman
Elementary School Leadership Team