MS eNews – Friday, February 1, 2013
Updated MS Calendar of upcoming events:
Saturday, February 2
- BISAC U13 Soccer (Boys at ISB, Girls at BPS)
Monday, February 4
- Grade 8 depart after school for Chiang Mai Trip
Wednesday, February 6
- Grade 6 depart start of school for Khao Yai Trip
- Grade 7 depart start of school for Kaeng Krachan Trip
Friday, February 8
- Grade 8 arrive from Chiang Mai at 7:00am, no school rest of day
- Grade 6 arrive from Khao Yai in time for 2:15pm busses
- Grade 7 arrive from Kaeng Krachan in time for 2:15pm busses
Tuesday, February 12
- Early Dismissal at 1:00pm
Friday, February 15
- MS Alternate Dress Day (Theme is Twin Day)
Monday, February 25
- Maka Bucha Day (No School)
Wednesday, February 27
- MS Third Season Volleyball, Softball, and Tennis (U15) Tryouts Begin – 2:15 – 3:15pm
Healthy MS School Trips
By Mr. Burgess thomasb@isb.ac.th
With our Middle School Trips coming up here in Thailand next week, keeping our students safe and healthy is our highest priority. Therefore, please note that students who are ill on the day they will be departing should be kept at home and unfortunately cannot attend the trip. Just as any other school day, if a student is ill at school on the day of the trip, they will be sent home from school and not allowed to attend the trip.
Please note that as we are preparing to depart on our trips, a trip nurse will be evaluating students and will send anyone who is noticeably ill to the school nurse’s office, following which they will be sent home and not allowed to attend the trip. While we want all children to participate in our MS Trips, it is important to remember that being sick on a school trip is no fun at all, and that we need to avoid exposing other classmates and teacher chaperones to illnesses as well.
MS Semester I Grade Report Summary
By Mr. Burgess thomasb@isb.ac.th
As Semester I was our first semester of grading using a Standards-Based Reporting system, we have been summarizing the data from all of the grades issued for both our Habits and Attitudes for Learning (HAL) and our Attainment of Learning Goals. We were pleasantly surprised by a strong consistency between grade levels given that this was this first time that many of our teachers have issued fully standards-based grades. We are reflecting upon this grade distribution at this time and welcome your feedback as well.
Here are some of the main summary points from our MS Semester I grades:
Habits and Attitudes for Learning
Following are the percentages of all HAL grades issued in grades 6 through 8 that were either ‘Consistently’ or ‘Frequently’ for the different HAL categories:
92% COLLABORATIVE
88% ENGAGED
86% INDEPENDENT
85% PREPARED
85% REFLECTIVE
98% RESPECTFUL
Attainment of Learning Goals
Following are the percentages of all grades issue in grades 6 through 8 for the different attainment descriptors:
13% EXCELLING
60% MEETING
23% APPROACHING
4% DEVELOPING
MS Parent Survey: Feedback on New MS Standards-Based Assessment System
By Mr. Burgess thomasb@isb.ac.th
As we reflect on our first semester of implementing a new Standards-Based Assessment, Grading and Reporting system, we welcome your feedback, which we will use as we make adjustments and improvements to our system during the second semester and for next school year. We would like to improve the clarity and efficiency of our system in order to better support the learning of your Middle School child(ren). Please go to the following link to provide your feedback:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDlXVkVwMk9heHVUWFFRVS1oTUJQeEE6MQ
MS Activities and Athletics Weekly Highlights
Grade Level Trips. Time to start packing (if you have not already). Here are packing lists for Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
U13 & U15 BISAC Soccer Tournaments. Good luck to all our student-athletes this Saturday, February 2. ISB will host the U13 Boys Tournament. For a schedule of matches at ISB, click HERE.
Rainbow House Visit. On Saturday, January 26, a group of middle school students invited kids from Rainbow House to ISB. Our students organized a fun morning full of games and activities, and demonstrated their caring global citizenship at the same time. Check out some of the photos HERE.
Web Design for students. This is an opportunity for students to learn a quick and easy way to turn Google Sites into stunning websites. During the Mini Workshop students will learn about setting colors and fonts as well as creating and adding their own favicon. To sign up, click HERE. Contact Mr. Zambrano (miguelz@isb.ac.th) if you have any questions.
One School, One Book, One Ring officially ended yesterday with an Unexpected Party. However, the spirit lives on as witnessed by this movie trailer created by some 8th grade students. Click HERE to view it.
Floor Hockey starts after our school trips. All students are welcome! No experience needed! This activity will run on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday for two weeks after the class trips. Contact Mr. Ducharme (daved@isb.ac.th) if you are interested or have questions.
BISAC SPORTS Season 3: All the details, including how to sign up for Tennis are HERE.
Robotics and First Lego League. At our assembly on Friday, the Robotics Club gave the whole school a very cool demonstration of what they will be doing for the First Lego League (FLL) Competition on Friday, February 22. Check out their presentation HERE.
Tennis anyone? Register now for Panther Tennis Tournament on February 9. Details HERE.
Job & Maria Charity Fun Run. It’s time to pull your running shoes out of the closet and take a few laps around the lake to get ready for the the 7th annual Job & Maria charity fun run on Friday, February 15th.
We run to honor the memories of Job & Maria Berkhout, ISB students, whom we lost in tsunami 2004 and provide an education and brighter future for six Thai children. Job & Maria would be in 8th Grade this year, so the MS 1 Mile Race is dedicated to them.
Sign up on the day will be open from 3:30 PM at the ISB track. First year we offer an on-line sign up at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dGRvSHZoajloTVBtZGFTeEVtQUotVVE6MQ. You can bring your registration donation to CAO office (next to the Book shop). For more info, please contact: Sharka or Marlies at: sharka.furda@gmail.com, marliessuyver@hotmail.com.
Carl Anderson Visits ISB
Carl Anderson, author of How’s It Going? and Assessing Writers, will again be visiting ISB the week of February 11th. Carl is a master at assessing writers through conferring and then using this information to meet students where they are and move them forward. Teachers from grades 2 through 8 will glean ideas and insight from his modeled mini-lessons and conferring techniques and then hone their own conferring skills while participating in labsites throughout the week. Carl will be offering a teacher workshop on assessing writers and a workshop for IAs on improving the quality of teaching points in conferences. On Friday, Carl will spend time with interested parents on what to look for in their children’s writing, how to notice what students are learning and giving positive feedback. We hope you can join us.
What: A Morning with Carl
When: Friday, February 15th from 7:30 – 8:45 a.m.
Where: ES MPR
Parents as Learners: Raising Responsible Online Children
By Mrs. Bagnato ellenb@isb.ac.th
The ISB counselors and the Technology Coordinators will facilitate a forum for parents to learn more about children being safe online, making smart technology choices, and owning their digital footprint. We will also break out by division to address specific issues based on age development. The group is limited to 20 parents from each division. The forum will be held on Thursday February 14 from 8:00 – 9:30am in the ES MPR. Contact the Curriculum Office to register. Space is limited.
Note: There is no need to bring a computer; this is not a workshop on computer skills.
Are you thinking of playing tennis at ISB? You need to be aware of these new changes..
By Mr. Dyke kerryd@isb.ac.th
U15 tennis is about to start, however, in the past you went to try outs, the team was picked, and then you trained. That has changed. Instead, now you have to register with the Panther Tennis Academy (This will open on Feb. 4th in the CAO website). Then you will train in the competitive, 2 hour Panther Tennis training and register for this level of training at least twice a week. Once we get closer to the tournament date the Panther Tennis Academy will select the best players to form the tournament team.
TOYS WERE DELIVERED!!!
By Sharka Furda sharka.furda@gmail.com
Dear ISB Community,
Just wanted to share with you, that the toys kindly donated by your children, collected during the month of December, were delivered to their new home – the Toy Library at Wat Song Plu school (Nonthaburi ) on January 25th.
We actually collected enough toys to supply a few more toy libraries up-country –
Baan Kok Glag, Baan Kok Glag Anusong School, Baan Kwang Ngoi, Baan Khitun and Baan Nong Pluong!
Rather than reading about the event, please take a few moments (perhaps with your children) and check out the attached photos of smiling faces of the local children and ISB MS students during the culmination of this worthwhile project. There was a lot of laughter shared and some ball games played; ISB students certainly brought more than “just” toys to WSP School. They are already planning their next trip! Well done Toy Librarians!!!!
Special THANKS to MS teacher, Kari Backes, for leading the club, ISB Hub staff for educational part and ISB administration for supporting the project.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39161717@N07/sets/72157632634794083/
The plan is to sustain this project at ISB for years to come.
Sincerely,
Sharka Furda
STL Project Coordinators
eNewsletter Guidelines
By Tony Arnold anthonya@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. For your convenience we have provided you with our eNewsletter guidelines below.
- Submitting an announcement for publication ISB accepts announcements from ISB families for potential publication in our eNewsletters. The announcements are generally intended to highlight events that occur at ISB and/or highlight information about ISB.
- What to include in the announcement • A title for your announcement • An email contact for further information
- Where to submit your announcement
- 4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community
- tinaratr@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School announcements of interest to ES families
- maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School announcements of interest to MS families
- vijitl@isb.ac.th is for High School (HS) announcements of interest to HS families
Your announcement will be submitted to the appropriate Principal and/or to our Marketing Director for review. ISB reserves the right to determine which announcements will and will not be published, and to edit announcements that are approved for publication.
- Frequency of eNewsletter mailings
- The ISB eNewsletter that is for the entire community is sent out on Thursdays. Announcements for potential publication in this newsletter must be received by noon on Thursdays.
- The ES, MS, and HS eNewsletters are sent out on Fridays. Announcements for potential publication in these newsletters must be received by noon on Fridays.