Friday, May 6, 2016

Dear Community Members,

On Tuesday, AISC welcomed Erin and Alex from Missoula Children's Theater. It has been a pleasure to get to know them and to watch them work with the students these past few days. Please do join us tomorrow at 1 pm for The Secret Garden. I have been to some of the rehearsals and I can tell you that the students are going to put on one amazing show. 

My sincere hope is that this theatrical experience is just the beginning of children’s theater in the elementary school. Theater offers so much. Through participation in theater, students develop courage and confidence. Theater ignites the imagination, unleashing creativity in all who perform. Theater also provides students with the opportunity to collaborate with other students to accomplish common goals.

Thank you to all of the children who auditioned. Your parents and teachers are very proud of you.

Parent Coffee on May 10

Please join us for our final parent coffee of the school year. Our counselors, Ms. Meg and Mr. Wilson, will lead a discussion on transitions. This is an important topic, and especially at this time of the year, as many of our families are moving on. We all know that it can be very difficult to say so-long to friends who are leaving. If you are leaving, or are interested in this topic, please join us Tuesday at 8:45 in the elementary school cafeteria.

Virtual Learning Day (VLD) on May 16

As Mr. Hoover communicated in his Head’s Notes, May 16 will be a VLD in observance of the upcoming election.  As with other VLDs, I will send the parent community an email at 8:30 to announce the start of the school day. Students are to check Edmodo to see their assignments.  At 3:30, I will send a second email to announce the close of the day.

Grade 3-4 Bring-Your-Own-Technology (BYOT) Parent Meeting - Thursday May 12, 3:45 - 4:15 in ES/MS CIC near the IT Office

Returning Parents of current Grade 2 and 3 students, please stop by the ES/MS CIC upstairs area for an informational question and answer session on BYOT for Grades 3 and 4.  We will discuss device options, purchasing, care, service, expectations, and any other questions that arise.

Grade 5 Parents: Transition to Middle School News

As the move to Middle School gets nearer, we have two transition activities scheduled in May that we wanted to let you know about. Next Tuesday, May 10th, grade 5 students will attend a presentation with Mr. Phan, the MS Principal, and Ms. Gold, the MS Counselor, that will let them learn more about Middle School. Following that, our Student Ambassadors will take the grade 5 students to visit grade 6 classrooms, participate in an activity and learn even more about Middle School. Students will then get a tour of the Middle School.

In addition to helping our students understand more about Middle School, Mr. Phan and Ms. Gold will be hosting a Parent Coffee on Wednesday, May 18th at 8:45 in the MS Cafeteria so that we can introduce ourselves and explain the middle school experience to parents as well. We will also discuss some changes that you might encounter along the way with your child. We hope to see you there!

Scholastic Book Fair

Get lots of great books just in time for summer! We will have our last Scholastic Book Fair of the year in the main courtyard from 8:00-4:30, May 9-11. Please stop by and check out some of the wonderful books on sale! There are nonfiction and fiction books, with many wonderful genres included. You will find books available for students in elementary and middle school. We look forward to seeing you there!

End of Year: Returning CIC Books

The ES/MS CIC has enjoyed working with our students and parents again this year! Thank you! We will begin our year-end inventory shortly. Please note that the last day for student and parent check-out is Saturday, May 14. 

All books checked out this year must be returned by Monday, May 16. We do realize that sometimes get lost or damaged. Please note that these must be paid for before yearbooks or report cards are issued. 

Special Note: eBooks!

While all of our print resources soon need to be in, we would like to take advantage of this opportunity to promote our 10,000+ eBooks! If you would like to learn more about using the eBooks, please contact the Elementary CIC.

Orphan Bike Project

Our Middle School students are involved in the second yearly edition of the Orphan Bicycle Project with the  “Children’s Home India” Orphanage. Please click here if you would like to see a quick video of last year’s first edition. This year,  AISC students along with the local children will have spent three Saturdays refurbishing bicycles together. The culminating event of the entire project is the Bike-a-thon, a fundraiser, that is scheduled for May 21st at AISC Campus from 8.30 am to 10.30 am. The proceedings will go towards the education of the local students. Parents have the opportunity to sponsor the event either through a flat (set amount) or per-lap donation. We estimate that no more than 250 laps will be done during the event. In-between May 11th and May 20th from 8.00am to 8.30am and from 3.45 pm to 4.15 pm (school days only) we will be available to answer any of your questions at the main campus entrances (ES and MS/HS). Come talk to us! Also, we would like to have a few parent volunteers for running the event on May 21st. If you are interested in helping out, please sign-up here.

Thank you and we are looking forward to seeing you!

Have a great weekend,

Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal