Friday, September 5

Dear Parents,

Many thanks to all of you who worked through the first week of our new procedures for nannies and drivers. Pick up and drop off continues to go incredibly smoothly and we will continue to watch, monitor, and listen. Thank you as well to the many parents who have come to us with their particular circumstances as we have sought to understand supervision needs over the past few weeks. In particular, we are looking at several soft points for some parents who may have an MS/HS child and a younger ES sibling who may require bridge supervision to wait for their sibling. If this applies to you, would you mind completing this form by Wednesday? I will gather data to determine if it is viable for us to offer an ASA type fee-paying supervision option.

Parent Coffee with the ES Administration

Throughout the year, I will host a morning coffee hour, generally the first Tuesday of the month. Our gatherings are designed to allow discussion of the social, emotional and academic needs of students as well as the curriculum offered at AISC. The informal meetings provide parents with an opportunity to learn more about the developmental needs of their elementary-aged children and to ask questions about classes, the school and the program.

Our first Parent Coffee with the ES Administration will be held on Tuesday, September 9th from 8:45 to 9:45 in the elementary school cafeteria. Our topic is called, “Transitioning into a New Country and School.”  The counselors, Mr. George and Ms. Geetha and I, will lead a presentation and discussion around how to best support your child and your family as they settle into a new school environment. We know that the transition is an exciting, but at times, daunting adventure. Experience tells us that shared knowledge helps us all. We will share practical suggestions on how to best support your kids during this transitional period. While our target audience is primarily new parents, we encourage returning families to join us as well. This will be a great opportunity to meet our new families and for you to perhaps share your transition stories.

Grade-Level English as an Additional Language (EAL) Parent Presentations 

Last Friday, our grade 1 EAL teachers Ms. Seema and Ms. Kaye welcomed over 35 grade 1 parents to an EAL parent information session. The primary focus of this meeting was an explanation of the reading workshop model we use in all of our classes. Ms. Kaye and Ms. Seema also talked about the role of the EAL teacher, reading for homework, explained Raz Kids and touched on ways parents can support their children at home. 

Today, our grade 5 EAL teachers, Ms. Salome and Ms. Megha, held a similar information session for parents. Topics included: inclusion and the role of the EAL teacher, use of the home language, how parents can support learning, parent-teacher communication and reading and writing instruction.

Thank you to the parents who joined us. Research has indicated that there are positive academic outcomes stemming from parent involvement  Other grade-level EAL teachers will hold similar sessions in the future.

Update from the Office of Teaching and Learning

The spirit of international-mindedness at AISC is something that our students live each and every day, all year long. This year, we have decided to "connect the dots" between International Dot Day and the UN International Day of Peace to create a week-long celebration of our commitment to being internationally-minded. We will be focusing on three themes this year:

                                                                  • identity

                                                                  • international-mindedness

                                                                  • the rights of peoples to peace

We would like to invite all of you to join us for some of the celebrations during the week of September 15th. A few of those events are:

Wear White For Peace - Thursday, September 18th - please make sure your child(ren) wear a white shirt on this day. We would love to have 100% participation.

Candlelight Vigil - Thursday, September 18th from 3:45 - 4:15 in the FAC Foyer: We invite teachers, students, and families to take part in a candlelight vigil focused on peace and justice.  This will be a time to reflect on what peace and justice means to us.  We ask all participants to wear white to show their support of peace. Important Note: Elementary school students must be accompanied by a parent.

R.I.S.E. FAC Auditorium, Friday, September 19th beginning at 5:00 p.m.

AISC will host its first R.I.S.E. (Resilience, Innovation, Service, Entertainment) event which will bring inspirational speakers, thought leaders, and entertainers to AISC to infuse new vision and dialogue relative to our mission, core values and student learning objectives.

Bring-Your-Own-Technology (BYOT)

BYOT is a model of technology access where home and school collaborate to extend students’ existing use of digital devices into school as learning tools. The BYOT model blurs the home-school divide. Parents can help ensure success by having regular dialogue with their children about technology use at home and school. 

Students in Grades 3 to 5 have participated in Technology Bootcamp. Technology Bootcamp is comprised of highly-focused mini-lessons aimed at teaching digital citizenship and technology skills in order to meet the needs and expectations of teaching and learning. All lessons have been carefully planned and are aligned with our AISC Technology Standards and Benchmarks. Sessions were hands on, led by teachers and technology specialists and directly related to learning in the class. It is important to note that these were introductory lessons and will be reinforced throughout the year and embedded into units of study. What did the students engage in?

Grade 3

Google Drive- Students use Google extensively throughout the year. Being able to easily create, share and organize documents on both the laptop and iPad is key. 

Responsible Use Policy (RUP) Jeopardy- The RUP is important to know. We designed a fun game to help students learn the importance of taking care of technology. Individual classrooms are developing Technology Agreements based on what students have learned.  

Basic Troubleshooting- This lesson focused on common technology problems. Students were given strategies for attempting to solve a problem independently. They took a closer look at the iPad setting features under General and Private. Specifically students learned how to ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ access to pictures and the microphone. Students now know how to change the language settings and add another keyboard.

Safe Passwords- This was a lesson on creating safe passwords and the importance of keeping them private. Students are allowed to share their passwords with their parents or their teacher.

Grade 4

Google Research Tool- Searching for information and images can be tricky. Students were introduced to the Google Research Tool. This tool is a built-in feature in Google Docs and Slides which allows users to search and filter images by license without opening a new tab or exiting the document.

E-Portfolio Setup- Blogger accounts follow the same privacy guidelines as all the other web content at AISC. This means first names only, and no sharing of personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, or personal plans. Unlike the AISC web pages, the only way anyone can access a student’s portfolio is if they have the exact address, which is not published or searchable by Google or any other search engine.

Gmail Profile Picture- Each student has a profile picture associated with their school email address. Email is a great communication tool. This year, students will explore its many uses while learning to be a safe digital citizen. The profile picture is only visible to people within AISC domain, meaning only teachers and students at AISC will see it.

Creating Bookmarks- There are many online resources and tools your child will be accessing this year. In this activity, students learned how to create bookmarks.

Creating a Youtube Channel- Students created a Youtube channel of their own and practiced uploading a sample clip. Youtube is a great place to upload projects, video clips, or movies. Online safety is our first priority. Youtube videos are always set to unlisted which means only people with the link can view the video.

Grade 5

Egg Project Reflection- A lesson on caring for your device.

Responsible Use Policy Jeopardy- A game designed to learn the ES RUP in a fun way.

Google Apps and Gmail- A lesson aimed to familiarize students with Google Apps interface and learn the difference between formal and informal emails

Creating Strong Passwords- An opportunity for students to learn how to create strong passwords the importance of keeping them private

Licensing Your Blog- Student blogs (e-Portfolios) are licensed for others to use with proper attribution. 

Online Research- Tips, strategies and resources for safe and effective searches

Moodle- Navigating through Moodle, accessing AISC resources and class home-page

Creative Commons Images- A lesson on finding images licensed for reuse and giving proper attribute

A Message from the Athletics Office

We currently are preparing for our upcoming ASIAC Table Tennis/Badminton Tournament on October 10-11 and our SAISA Swim Meet running from October 29 through November 2. 

We need your help in housing all of our visiting athletes. If you can host for both of these events, that would be fantastic. If not, please help us out with at least one of these great events. 

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Ron Thompson at tronald@aisch.org. 

Have a great weekend,

Kevin Hall

Elementary School Principal