**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
~from the Elementary Principal
Please welcome Frederique Houillon who will join our fourth grade team in August. Frederique is coming from Portugal where she has worked at St. Dominic's International School for the past seven years. Frederique has over 15 years teaching experience of which 10 have been in International schools. She has also worked in Hong Kong, China, and Australia. She is joined by her daughter, Adeline, who will enter grade 4 in August. A great big thank you to Hiilary, Lisa, Kim, Jennifer, and Bernadett, for helping with the interview process.
We are in the final stages of filling the Office Assistant position and are hopeful to have it completed by the end of this week.
~from the Director of Technology (Chris Zavits)
If you use a school laptop, this message is for you. Since the implementation of the GDPR, we can no longer have our laptops open on our desks. It is recommended that you set a screensaver or timer so that if you walk away from your desk for more than a minute, your laptop screen goes blank/screensaves and requires a password to reopen.
I've created a couple of Google documents that should help. One contains instructions for setting a screensaver that requires a password and timing for that password. The other is about encrypting your hard drive, setting up a firewall. There are also instructions for password protecting the system preferencess for extra security.
If you need any help, the tech crew and I will be at the help desk in the building B MS foyer until June 15th. If you never get to building B, Nate, Paul, and Vlad will be happy to help in building A.
~from the Principal
Conferences are scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, June 12th. PTC sign ups were emailed two weeks ago. If you have parents who have not yet signed up, please call them and encourage them to sign up and come.
Supervision services are available on Playground A (during the time of the conference only) for siblings also involved in conferences.
The Lost and Found will be displayed all week. Please take your class for a visit to the lost and found in the reception area to see if they can identify items that might belong to them. Please remind parents (on Wednesday) to also browse the items on display.
During one of your breaks, please pop by the office to enjoy a delicious treat in the community room.
~From the PE Department
Fun Day is this Wednesday, June 13. Please click on this schedule for full details. If you have questions, please see a member of the PE Department.
Don't forget the Faculty Breakfast is also on this day. Bring your appetite and join us in the cafeteria from 7:40 am.
~from the Principal
The grade 5 students will do the Bridge Walk on June 14 (the day of the assembly) as we did last year. We cordially invite all Grade K-5 classes, teachers (encore and core), assistants, and administration to the 2017-2018 Bridge Walk Ceremony that will “kick off” the end-of-year ES assembly scheduled for Thursday, June 14 at 8:45 am.
The Bridge Walk Ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 14th promptly at 8:40 am. Below is a map outlining where classes should stand to cheer our fifth graders on. Classes are also invited to create and bring signs to hold up as our fifth graders pass by them. In these cases, we request classroom teachers and assistants to collect the signs from the students as they head into the theater, so they are not a distraction during the assembly.
We kindly request all classes are in positions by 8:40 am so we can begin the walk at 8:40 am. It would be greatly appreciated if encore teachers could help to ensure classes and parents are situated (according to the map) and ready for the Bridge Walk to begin at 8:40 am.
Fifth grade will walk past each of the classes and parents. Once they are by your class, you can join behind them. Please give a meter or two of space between you and fifth grade. Grade 5 will be the first to enter the theater followed by grade 4, and so on, with parents entering last.
We are excited to have Kindergarten join us for the final assembly. We have revised the Theater Seating Chart to accommodate our Kindergarten students. Please see the new chart below to ensure you and your students know where to sit.
At the end of the assembly, Krista will invite grade 5 to leave the theater first. All other classes are requested to remain seated until she invites the rest of you to leave. Thank you, all, in advance, for your support!
Don't Forget! 12- Join us on one of your breaks for a special treat in the Community Room (hint: Masha)
12- ES Celebration of Learning Conferences
Don't Forget! 13- Faculty End of Year Breakfast - Cafeteria- 7:30-8:30 am- Bring your appetite!
13- ES Sports Fun Day
13- Tarzan Park - EC Fun Day
14- Grade 5 Bridge Walk (8:40 am)
14- ES Grade K-5 End of Year Assembly (8:45 am)
14- Final Reviews and Edits (S2 Reports) completed (Timeline)
15- Last Day of School- Half Day- Dismissal 11:20 am
15- Semester 2 Reports Go Live
~written by Ange Guinness
The children have been interested in Space since visiting the Grade 3 Space exhibition. They created a space center in the classroom and began to use recycled materials to make their own rockets. After reading the Middle School newsletter in the Director's Weekly update on April 6th, we asked for the opportunity to use the equipment to launch our own rockets. On Friday, June 8 we launched our rockets to the great delight of the children. Here is the video of the experience.
~from the Principal
The Cult of Pedagogy podcast is a collection of episodes focused on teaching and learning. There is something for everyone. Author, Jennifer Gonzalez , interviews teachers, parents, students and administrators about hot topics in education (MA-Grade 12). Each episode provides the listener with practical ideas, tools, and resources to reinforce, support and extend teaching and learning. Each week I will highlight one or two of Jennifer's Podcasts or resources. I hope you will find time to explore them yourself. If you do and come across one you believe others in our community might enjoy, send it my way and I will add the link here.
This Week's Cult of Pedagogy Highlight: Jennifer's Videos -Each one of these made-from-scratch videos looks at instruction and assessment strategies, classroom management, technology, presentation and design. Every effort is made to make each concept clear and simple.
Have an article, website, tool worth sharing? Send it to Krista and share it with your colleagues here.
Summer Reading for Teachers [Common Sense Education] by Erin Wilkey Oh