Dear Parents,
Next week, Americans across the world will celebrate Thanksgiving. It seems appropriate to express gratitude to the people in our lives who encourage our students to show courage, confidence, creativity, and compassion. I am personally thankful for my family, my friends, and the great people (staff, students, and families) here at AISC. Our school is a blessing to all who work and attend.
Cancer Lap-A-Thon- Tomorrow
Global Issues Network (GIN) is hosting a Cancer Lap-A-Thon at our school on November 22nd, 2014 to raise money for the Cancer Institute in Chennai. Also, there will be a breakfast potluck afterwards in the cafeteria. To participate, people must get sponsors to pay them for the amount of laps that they will run around the field. They can walk, run, jog, crawl, whatever, as long as they complete as many laps as they please to raise money for cancer research. They can pick up a form from the High School, Middle School, and Elementary School office to start getting sponsors.
Details of the Event:
Date: November 22nd, 2014
Time: 7:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Main Field
Lunch Menu and Order Link for December
Please place your online orders using the AISC pay online site or using the order link below for which you can pay at the cash counter before December 5th.
Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at The Hyatt Regency
Please mark Monday, December 8th on your calendars and join us at The Hyatt Regency for our fourth annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. The Elementary School and Community Choirs will welcome in the holiday season as they sing festive songs. There will be plenty of food and drinks to go around. This is always a fun event and I guarantee that you and your children will have a fantastic time. You will not want to miss this!
Coffee with the ES Administration
Our next parent coffee will be held on Tuesday, December 9th beginning at 8:45 in the Elementary School Cafeteria. Come join the school's literacy coach and kindergarten team as we discuss emergent literacy and connections between oral language, reading, and writing. Tips for supporting your emergent readers at home will also be provided. This session is ideal for parents of all young children, from toddlers to kindergartners, but parents of older children are certainly welcome to attend.
Raptorthon
Ready to participate in a fun community event? Need a reason to get in shape? AISC's SECOND ANNUAL RAPTORTHON - Swim 150m/Run 1600m/Swim 150m - will take place on Sunday, December 14th! Great for the whole family! Participate as an individual or as a team (one swimmer, one runner). Following the event will be a potluck breakfast and the awarding of certificates. Watch for more details in the near future. Contact Donna Fava at: fdonna@aisch.org if you have any questions!
ES Jogging Club
Wednesday was the first day of Jogging Club for the 2014-2015 school year. At 8am, 54 students showed up to run, jog and walk, while their parents cheered them on. Students ranged from 4+ to Grade 5 and our initial calculations show that the average student completed just over 1 mile! Let's keep moving!
2014-15 School Photos
If you missed ordering your child's yearbook photos, you can still do so until December 19th. For orders placed from this week, you will receive the photos after the Winter break. Forms are available at the cash counter, in our office, online in this blog (right-hand side) and on the Elementary School Moodle page.
Second Annual Giving Tree
The Elementary School, Mr. Balajee, who is AISC’s Service Learning Coordinator, children and teachers, and the PCA Elementary Grade Level Representatives are sponsoring our school’s 2nd Giving Tree to support approximately 280 students in 4 area orphanages. Please support these efforts as we move into the holiday season.
The 4 orphanages our Giving Tree will support this year are:
Home Of Hope for Boys by the World of Life Church – 30 Kids
Assisi Ilam Orphanage – 25 Kids
St. Joseph Social Service Center – 40 Kids
Seva Samajam Girls Home (2 locations) – 55 Kids and 130 kids
Mr Balajee and the PCA grade level representatives have been hard at work making arrangements for the lists of children we will have the opportunity to help and planning the overall project. Our children will be involved over the next week creating the stars that will be put on the tree, led by some of our dedicated teachers in the elementary school.
The Giving Tree was set up today. Thank you to everyone who took part.
1. Children/parents can take a star off the tree and purchase a small item useful to the child listed on the star. We will include name, age, and gender of recipient on the stars. This year Mr. Balajee and parent Gina Makawana have asked the children at the orphanages to request specific items that would be helpful to them, within reason. We feel these requests can be granted in a Rs 500 price range. Mr. Balajee will be happy to assist parents if they have any questions regarding the requests.
2. We would like the present to be wrapped, with the star attached to the gift (stars will be numbered and tracked so we know which orphanage they will go to and to ensure the gift is given to the correct child). The gift is to be dropped off in a designated box in the Elementary School CIC (known formerly as the Elementary School Library). Thank you to Mr. Jet and the library staff for helping us with this "safe" spot for the gifts.
3. The last day to drop off gifts will be on or about December 10.
4. The gifts will be delivered to orphanages on December 14 and thereafter, by Mr. Balajee, Gina Makawana and any other individuals who would like to help out. Mr. Balajee and Gina will be happy to share delivery date information as time gets closer.
Lastly, thank you to all the community members who have been dropping off empty cereal boxes for our Giving Tree Stars – we look forward to seeing the boxes turned into beautiful stars for our tree.
For any specific questions related to The Giving Tree, please feel free to contact Mr. Balajee, Gina Makawana or Margaret Rajan, or any of the PCA Elementary Grade Representatives.
Connecting with Parents
On Thursday, Grade 1 EAL teachers Ms. Seema and Ms. Kaye, held a parent session. In this photo, parents are learning about a part of our students' daily classroom learning by engaging in an informational writing task.
Connecting with Parents
On Thursday, Grade 1 EAL teachers Ms. Seema and Ms. Kaye, held a parent session. In this photo, parents are learning about a part of our students' daily classroom learning by engaging in an informational writing task.
I will not be publishing my Principal’s Notes next week since there is no school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Have a fantastic super long weekend. School reopens on Monday, December 1st.
Have a great weekend,
Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal