MS eNews – Friday, September 20, 2013
Updated MS Calendar of upcoming events:
Wednesday, September 25
- MAP Testing Window Closes
- MS Counselor Connection at 9:00-10:00am in the MS Skybox (Rm 4-309)
Thursday, September 26
- Professional Day – No School for Students
Friday, September 27
- ISB Holiday – No School
Friday, September 27 – Sunday, September 29
- ISB Activity Free Weekend
Wednesday, October 2
- MS Alternate Dress Day
Thursday-Friday, October 3-4
MS Parent-Teacher Conferences (no classes these days)
Tuesday, October 8
- Early Dismissal Day
Saturday, October 12
- BISAC U13 Girls Tennis Singles Invitational at BPS
- BISAC Cross Country U11-19 at ISB
Sunday, October 13
- BISAC U13 Boys Tennis Singles Invitational at BPS
- BISAC Water Polo U15 at RIS
MS Activities and Athletics Weekly Update
Check out some of the highlights that have happened, or will happen soon. For the most up-to-date information, click on the following link: Link to MS Activities and Athletics
Holiday Next Thursday and Friday
Next week Thursday and Friday, September 26 – 27, is a holiday for students. Teachers will have a full day of professional development on Thursday, with a focus on assessment for learning. We hope students will use this time to rest, relax and catch up – there are no ISB activities scheduled on this weekend. The following week is a three day week for students with parent / teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday, October 3 – 4.
Parent information and how to schedule for the upcoming MS Parent-Student-Teachers Conferences
Please click on the following link
Note From the MS Counselors:
We welcome MS parents to join the school counselors on Wednesday, September 25th from 9:00-10:00 in the MS Skybox, 3rd floor. Coffee and pastries will be provided. We will introduce components of our new Wellness program and are eager to hear your ideas for future Counselor Connections. Please take some time to read the following article that we will discuss as a group: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=all.
Please RSVP by completing the form: https://docs.google.com/a/isb.ac.th/forms/d/1L87-nMuIbNiDz9VXyBvjqMpk95fuqjp7xMmYwTAvywY/viewform. Because we will be facilitating a discussion, we can accommodate the first thirty parents who submit this form. We hope you can join us.
MS Yearbook/School Pictures
This past week, Monday to Thursday, all MS students had their picture taken for our annual MS Yearbook. Pictures were taken through your child’s PE class on one of those days. In about a month, the photographer will bring to the school the picture proofs for each student. These will be distributed along with information about prices and how to order for parents interested in ordering copies.
Opportunity Available for 16 Interested MS Students!
Students, the Operation Smile trip is back! No one has had the opportunity to go for two year, but people who went before still talk about what an amazing experience it is. If you would like to donate some of your time and people skills to some children who really deserve it, please print and complete the application. We are taking 16 students this year! Application for OPERATION SMILE TRIP for Middle School 2013
OPERATION SMILE TRIP- ISB Middle School
2-5 November 2013
Operation Smile is an international organization that raises money to provide free surgeries to children and adults with cleft lips and palates. Grade 6 raises money to help provide the materials necessary for the doctors to do the surgeries, and most years we send a group of students to help assist at the site in Mae Sot where the surgeries are performed.
A select group of students will have the opportunity to participate in this mission. They will do this by supporting children and families as they go through the process of preparing for cleft lip/palate surgeries, as well as other surgical procedures. Students who participate in this mission will need to be prepared as this can be a very emotional experience.
MS to HS Mathematics Parent Information Meeting
If you were unable to make it to the Thursday morning or evening session about the proposed changes in our High School, you can view the slide presentation here: MS to HS Mathematics Parent Information 19 September 2013. The proposed changes will allow for greater flexibility, choice, and opportunities for students as they develop their mathematical skills and thinking over time. If you have any questions, please contact the High School Dean of Academics Phil Rogers at: philr@isb.ac.th.
Note From Our MS Librarian:
This week’s Book Picks centers on novels that deal with the bizarre, the intriguing, the arcane, and the mystical. If you’re looking to read a book outside of the ordinary, look no further! All books are available at the Main Library.
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
This unusual novel explores the inner lives of two very disparate supernatural beings who find themselves both living in New York City at the turn-of-the-century. It’s the attention to detail that makes this book so arresting, we learn the intricate back stories of both the golem and the jinni and are immersed in the everyday sensations of one of the world’s most riveting cities. The book defies description–not quite a love story nor a fairy tale, it rests somewhere in between…in a world where the mystical is probable and the mundane is magical. What I loved best is that it felt as if I was a child curled up on my bed being a told a story that might once have been deliciously true.
Red Moon by Benjamin Percy
On a very different note, Red Moon is a socio-political thriller in the same vein as World War Z. Where the latter looks at zombies, the former explores in vivid, and often gory, detail the lives, ambitions, and challenges of being a werewolf (or lycan as they’re called in this book.) Don’t be fooled by the paranormal focus of the novel, the premise exists largely to enable the author to grapple with some of the key issues facing the United States today, namely terrorism, xenophobia, and immigration. In terms of a political commentary, it provides an intriguing, complex, and startling lens from which to view these controversial debates. At the same time, it is also a highly readable and engaging thriller that borders on the horrific.
Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
Who would have thought that a novel about deep-freeze dating could be both so enjoyable and so romantic? McIntosh’s vision of the future is eerily familiar, essentially a logical extension of our Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr obsessed world where lives are led entirely in the social sphere with little to no privacy. It is a world where death has been defeated but only for those who have the money to buy their way back to life. Young beautiful women who die without the means to revive themselves are sometimes placed into deep freeze where men of means can go on ‘dates’ with these momentarily revived corpses and then opt to shell out the millions of dollars it would take to revive them completely if love strikes. The novel revolves around a set of intertwined characters and is both an ode to and exploration of love and its complexity. At times charming, clever, and disturbing, it’s definitely a thought-provoking read. Bonus points for a happy ending!
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Last on the list is a book many critics have claimed is this year’s Gone Girl. Plot-wise the two novels actually have very little in common and yet both do have the same capacity to haunt you long after you’ve finished reading them. The Shining Girls is the story of a time-traveling serial killer whose victims span several decades starting in the 1930s and ending in the 1990s. Beukes prose is terse yet evocative with a plot that unfolds in fits and starts, doubling back upon itself over and over again. Told in several voices, the story centers on the serial killer himself and his hunt for “shining girls” and on Kirby, the only woman who has survived his attack. Kirby takes us on a tense journey to hunt down the man who almost killed her. A fast-paced and creepy read!
Happy reading!