*Photos of the Week and Assembly Live Streams can be found in the Parent Update
**TL/SAC meeting is this week. Please refer to the Schedule and Agenda (in the sidebar) for further information and what to bring with you.
***Agi is off campus October 26- November 2. Please see Erika during her absence.
If you completed an At Risk Notification for a student in your classroom, please be sure to return the signed original to the office for placement in the student's file. The next set of At Risk reports are scheduled for December.
Please refer to the email sent by Gabi on October 16. It is important that you ensure you have access to your parent numbers (for your classroom), in your classroom, in your home, and when you travel to and from school. We have had instances, in the past, where faculty were not able to access their phone lists as they were en route (to or from school). Please carry a copy of the list in your school travel bag and input the necessary numbers into your phone. This will make the process, for all, more seamless in the event of emergency. Thank you, in advance.
~A Message from the PSA
This Friday, the PSA is sponsoring school-wide Halloween festivities. Making these events successful takes a village. Please consider volunteering your time to help make this event a lasting memory for our students. To volunteer, simply click on this link- Volunteer spot. Thank you, in advance, for your support.
All ASAs are cancelled this Friday (due to the Halloween festivities). No Supervision is provided (in the Elementary school) after 3:45 pm. Please ensure all of your students are picked up or get on a bus to head home. The only students who are allowed to remain on campus are those whose parents are volunteering for the Halloween festivities. In these cases, the students should be with their parents. Erika is maintaining a complete list of volunteers, which can be accessed here. This document is live and will be updated through Friday, so please be sure to check it.
This list will help you identify children who can remain on campus between 3:30-5:30 pm under the supervision of their parent(s). Please be proactive and check before dismissing students at the end of the day. We kindly request you work with your assistant to contact the parents of any students who are not picked up and whose names do not appear on the list. Erika is alone in the office this week and cannot make these phone calls for you. If you are not a homeroom teacher, but find a student wandering the halls without a parent, please follow up by helping them locate their parent(s) or get on the bus to head home. All family contacts are available in Veracross.
More detailed information about the Halloween festivities is available on the Halloween flyers (attached to the Parent Update email).
~From your ES Librarian
Halloween is a fantastic opportunity for us to make links to literature and learning. Please encourage your students to link their Halloween costume to a character in a book. Your library staff is here to help.
The door decoration contest is back! If you would like to participate with your class, please select a favorite book to feature on your door. Your book may or may not connect to the theme of Halloween. Door judging will take place on Friday, October 30, after school. Judges will be looking for creativity, obvious connections to a book and student involvement. The prize is an extra preparation period for the teacher and a popcorn movie party for your students. Encore teachers are encouraged to decorate as well.
We look forward to seeing literature come alive this Friday, October 30.
Thank you Otto, for your fantastic work. Our new playground sheds are ready for action. Each shed has a combination lock. The code is the same for each playground. It is the postal code for the school, 2094. The sheds will house balls, skipping ropes, hola hoops, and other equipment for the students to enjoy, use, and be active during recess breaks.
Please follow these simple rules:
1. The shed is to be opened each break by staff on duty in the Zone in which the shed is located.
2. The code of both locks is 2094. (AISB Postal Code)
3. Please hand out equipment to students and explain that they need to be responsible to bring it back to the shed.
4. There are labels to help keep the equipment organized. Please help students return it to the correct shelf / place.
5. All duty supervisors should do a quick scan to see if equipment is missing or left on the playground after each break before the shed is locked (at the end of each recess) by the staff on duty in the Zone in which the shed is located.
Please see the designated PE person(s) if balls need air or equipment needs to be restocked, etc If you have other ideas to add to the fun for the students, please come and have a chat with us!
Mike will be in charge of the shed on Playground B.
Zsuzsi H and Zsuzsi S will be in charge of the shed on Playground A.
This month's Educational Leadership is focused on Emotionally Healthy Kids. Here is the link. The username and password are listed in the sidebar.
~From the Curriculum Coordinator
The ALC has recently been focused on curriculum documentation and analysis. Tamara Lerner, Atlas consultant, visited AISB on Thursday, October 8 to discuss our needs and provide training on running curriculum analytics with Atlas. This conversation will continue during the November ALC meeting where the focus will be on revising our unit planner to meet our current needs.
Our next PD Day will be on Saturday, Nov. 21 (we voted for this, so try to remember that glorious extra summer day!). On this day, we will receive mandatory fire safety training and participate in vertical (grades 1-12) department meetings. Teacher sharing sessions will also be held in the afternoon. If you are interested in hosting a discussion or sharing a new idea with your colleagues, please email the topic to Leigh by Friday, Nov. 13.
Across the school, MS/HS teachers have been working together to cross grade student assessments in order to increase consistency in standards-based grading. ES teachers continue to refine their rubrics to align with their standards. The Curriculum Content Overviews (Scope and Sequences) are complete and are currently being formatted for parents to view on our new website. The Language Policy action plan is underway and data is being gathered to support our upcoming EAL audit by Monica Medina-Olds on Feb. 1-3.
Upcoming PD Opportunities
- Adaptive Schools Institute: Prague (Nov. 4-7)
- Collaboration Using Assessment Data to Improve Learning: Helsinki (Nov. 9-10)
- Assessment in Mathematics Institute, Grades 8-12: Warsaw (Dec. 3-5)
- Teaching and Assessing English Learners Using a Standards-Based Curriculum: Riga (Dec. 5)
- WIDA Symposium: AISB (Jan. 16/17)
~ from Laura Grace Weldon's "Free Range Learning, Creative Living, Gentle Encouragement, Big Questions, Poetry, Occasional Drollery"
Math is everywhere. Equations, patterns and probabilities surround us. Sometimes it takes a larger way of thinking about math to celebrate the beauty and perfection it represents. Looking for activities and resources to make math more meaningful? Check out this blog post.