**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 ES BBE
September
2- Gr 5 Parent Education Session (8:45-10:45 MPR)
2- First Day for Session 1 ASAs
3-Instructional Lead Conversation (3:45- 5:00 - Piroska's room)
4- All School PSA
5- Gr 4 Parent Education Session (1:30-3:30 MPR)
5-Curriculum Lead Conversation (10:15- 11:00- Leigh's room)
6- Gr 3 Parent Education Session (1:30-3:30 MPR)
6- EC Big Sing
10- Gr 2 Parent Education Session (8:45-10:45 MPR)
10- All Faculty Conversation (3:45-5:00 MPR)
12- Gr 1 Parent Education Session (1:30-3:30 MPR)
9-13- Fall MAP Assessments
16-20- International Week
20- International Day of Peace luncheon, parade and assembly
24-26- Yearbook Photos
27- PD Day
~from the Associate Principal
Please welcome Katalin Tarsó who joins the Assistant Teacher team. She will be working in Kindergarten alongside Tamás Vukovich. Katalin comes from Szekesfehervar. She completed her teacher training at MOME, Budapest. When she was 12 years old, Katalin studied in Ann Arbour, Michigan, where she had her first and very positive experience in an International School. She has worked in a variety of different school environments and with a variety of age ranges (3-18) both in Hungary and in London, UK. She loves to travel and discover places with her camera, try food, and visit art galleries. She is looking forward to expanding her horizons by working at AISB, learning from her colleagues, using her skills and experience in Art, and working with children.
~from the ES SLT
Parent Sessions begin this coming Monday in grade 5. Thank you all for making updates to your presentations based on the feedback received last year and to ensure consistency in our communication to parents. These presentations set the stage for our interactions with parents throughout the school year. By educating parents about our approaches to learning, and by communicating consistency in our approach, we demonstrate our commitment as a team and increase the levels of trust parents develop in what we do, which provides us with more freedom to create and innovate.
If your grade has not already, please be sure to do a full run-through in advance of the presentation to ensure everyone knows which slides they are presenting and to resolve any technological glitches. See András if you have questions about microphones or tech set up. At work order for set up requirements in the MPR should have been submitted by now. Instructional leads, please review the notes from our first conversation with your team to ensure everything is covered.
To promote attendance, please cross-check your PTCfast sign up and contact any parents who have not yet RSVP'd to express the importance of attending. See Erika if you have questions PTCfast.
Please review the Parent Education Schedule as changes have been made to accommodate the sessions. Dates and times for each session can also be found in the 'A Look Ahead' section. If you have questions or require clarification, please see one of us.
~from Julie Arnold
Are you interested in having a high school volunteer in your class next Friday, September 6th? We have 8-10 grade 11 students who are looking forward to lending a hand in the elementary throughout the day. They can shadow you, work with students, help in your classroom, or any other grand idea you might have.
This is a wonderful experience for the high school students. If you would like to support these student and by taking on a volunteer, please send Julie Arnold a quick email and/or add your name to this document. Thank you in advance for supporting learning.
~from the ASA Coordinator (Mr. Gareth Lloyd)
Dear Teachers and Assistant Teachers, please look over the Fall ASA Schedule. If you are an ASA Facilitator for Session 1, please also see our guide to being an ASA Facilitator.
Tips for making the first few weeks of the ASA program smoother:
- If you do not see a student's name on your ASA list but the child insists that she has signed up for it, please call the parent and check whether they received a confirmation email from Gareth Lloyd regarding the activity.
- If you have a student leave school before the end of the day, please update Veracross with the child's absence. This ensures that the information I provide to each Hosted Club is correct.
- Please email or call me If a parent contacts you with a change to their child's after-school schedule. Call if you get the information after 3 PM.
- If you are a facilitator, please make sure you update me before 3.45 PM regarding any student who is absent from your class but is showing on Veracross as being present. My phone number is +36 302 516 277
~from the DTL
MAP Assessment for Grades 3-5 will take place during the week of Sep. 9-17. All Teachers and Assistant Teachers in Grades 3-5 + Krista, Tracey, Leigh, Nate, Vlad, and Paul will be proctoring this year so that we can support one another. Assistant Teachers in 1-2 will be asked to supervise students that will not be taking the MAP assessment. Please take some time to read and familiarize yourself with the information below.
- Review ES MAP Schedule and limit outside/hallway noise during testing times.
- Teacher Logistics and Responsibilities
- EAL/LSS Omissions/Accommodations list must be complete by the EAL/LS teachers by Monday, Sep. 2. Students must be reading at or above an Instructional J level (Fountas and Pinnell).
- Results are available to administration and teachers immediately and will be accessible to parents through Veracross on Sep. 26. As a teacher, you should have a username and password. If you forgot your password, retrieval is through the NWEA login using your school email.
- Please review the Proctor Refresher Training and/or invite to a team meeting to review.
~from the Associate Principal
If you wish to tutor an AISB student you must first request approval from administration using this form. Approval must be renewed every year regardless of whether you have obtained permission to tutor the child in previous years. You can access detailed information on AISB tutoring guidelines in the Faculty Handbook. Two important points noted in the Faculty Handbook include:
- No teacher of AISB may offer his/her services as a paid tutor to any AISB Student whom they teach. Assistant teachers are excluded from this rule but need prior approval from their Divisional Principal. (p. 37, Faculty Handbook)
- Divisional Administration must approve all tutoring of AISB students by faculty and staff of AISB. (p. 87, Faculty Handbook)
You must complete a tutoring form for each student you tutor. If you have any questions, please see the Associate Principal.
~from the Elementary Principal
If you have not already, please complete the 2019-2020 Focus Learning Lens & Conversation Agreements/ Norms Survey. It will close Sunday and we would like all voices to be heard. Thank you!
~from the ES Principal
Many of you have expressed interest in Structured Word Inquiry. Your interest has resulted in Pete Bowers hosting a virtual session for us on September 27th. For those wishing to learn more, Pete will also be in Zurich, Switzerland on the 15-16 of November. You can access the flyer here.
~by you
What are you learning about? Why not share your story with the rest of us? Share your personal learning experience with the rest of the team. Whether it is a book you read, a TedTalk you watched, a conference you attended, an online course, progress on your PIC, or reflections on a recent learning experience with your students, we are interested and can learn form you. Your reflections can take any form you choose (i.e., video, written, image, Sketchnote, etc). Take a risk and let the rest of us benefit from your experiences too.
Outdoor learning provides exceptional opportunities for learning, health, and wellbeing. It also requires assurances that the learning environment is safe. To create an outdoor learning environment that provides opportunity and promotes safety, Kim has found these two presentations helpful. You may already have similar ones in place or wish to use or add components of these two. Thanks, Kim, for sharing!
INSERT PRESENTATIONS BELOW ONCE EDITING RIGHTS SHARED BY KIM
~from the Innovation Team (Nate, Paul, and Vlad)
Student platform enrollments and GDPR
Please remember that, while returning students are covered by their permissions form that they submitted last year, new students are not. That means no new students should be enrolled in any platform/website/app that requires parent approval until approval is given in the permissions form. If you are not sure whether a certain platform/website/app requires permission (and it is not on the Parent Permission form), please talk to Nate or Krista.
Thanks for staying vigilant to prevent breaches! We are hoping all forms will be in by tomorrow.
Have an article, website, tool worth sharing? Send it to Krista and share it with your colleagues here.
~from the ES Librarian
Krista has been very busy this summer ordering professional books (many with multiple copies). Here is a summary of the new books now available in the ES Library! All blurbs courtesy of Amazon.com
Talking Their Way Into Science by Karen Gallas
Karen Gallas provides us with a window into children’s thinking about the world, enabling us to see how students build complex theories, identify important questions, and begin to enter the world of science, all within the naturalistic setting of the classroom.
Experience Inquiry: 5 Powerful Strategies, 50 Practical Experiences by Kimberly L. Mitchell
One part practical guide, one part interactive journal, this book provides the opportunity to do inquiry as you read about it. You’ll learn what inquiry-based instruction looks like in practice through five key strategies, all of which can be immediately implemented in any learning environment.
30 Days to the Co-taught Classroom by Paula Kluth & Julie Causton
Authors Paula Kluth and Julie Causton will teach you all you need to know about collaboration in 30 days. Yes, you read that right! In just 30 days, they will introduce you to the information, competencies and habits you will need to become a great co-teaching partner. The authors will help you get to know your co-teacher, understand each of your roles, improve your planning and co-planning skills, expand the structures you use to teach and support students and even celebrate your accomplishments.
Universal Design Daily: 365 Ways to Teach, Support, & Challenge All Learners Paula Kluth
This user-friendly guide was created to help educators learn more about universal design by exploring the practices associated with it. The book features dozens of ideas for providing multiple methods of engagement, multiple methods of action and expression, and multiple methods of representation.
The Languages of Learning by Karen Gallas
Karen Gallas offers a new approach to understanding how young children in early and elementary grades communicate their knowledge of the world and the ways in which that kind of understanding can transform the education process.
Kids First from Day One by Christine Hertzby Christine Hertz
The classroom of your dreams starts with one big idea. From the first days of school to the last, Kids First from Day One shares teaching that puts your deepest teaching belief into action: that children are the most important people in the room.