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Posted on May 19, 2016 by Moe Baron-Toaldo

MS eNews – Thursday, May 19th, 2016

Useful MS Links!

 

End Of Year Laptop Collection

We are in the final weeks of the school year and with it comes the laptop collection. The following form (https://bit.ly/macstudentform) will be sent to all students by email so that they prepare for this moment. Please help your children copy their personal files over to an external hard drive or any online storage service of your preference. This slideshow (https://bit.ly/mslaptopcollection) walks you through the steps you need to take and provides additional information not included in this email. If you have any questions or need specific information to be exported from our school services or resources, please don’t hesitate to contact Ed Tech or Mr. Zambrano.

 

Placements for Next Year Still Pending

by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

With the school-year winding down, we are finishing up work on our Master Schedule for next school year. Part of this process is to ensure that we are placing students into the appropriate math, language, and music courses.

As part of that process, we enter names and generic placements to get names and courses into the system. It has come to my attention that some parents have seen placements for their child through PowerSchool. We have not completed the placement process yet for all classes. As such, there is no likelihood of accuracy with whatever parents might have seen. We apologize if there has been any confusion caused. We were unaware that this information was visible and so we used placeholders as part of our process.

We are completing the process now as teachers finish end of year assessments and other scheduling procedures. In the meantime, please disregard any inaccurate information you may have seen. The middle school will communicate with you when accurate scheduling information has been input.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

Celebration of the Arts

by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

Over the past few weeks middle school students have performed in orchestra, honor choir, and band concerts. Their art work was on display in the exhibit, Interplay, showcased in the theater lobby. This week, many of our students performed over three shows in the production of “Into the Woods”. In a couple of weeks, on June 1st, we will host a Choral concert, featuring our MS Choir students.

I sincerely hope that you have had a chance to see these shows as they have come up. Each has been a showcase of the wonderful arts program we have in our middle school. That said, the performances and exhibits are only windows into the learning that happens when students are involved in the arts.

At ISB, we value the learning experiences students have in studying the arts. Students are required to take a semester each of performing and visual arts each year of middle school. Most students reach beyond that, staying with music (band, choir, or orchestra) throughout their middle school time.

In a study conducted in 2007 by Harvard Project Zero researchers, Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, Winner and Hetland identified eight “studio habits of mind” that are common of student experiences when they study the arts. The habits included: development of artistic skill, persistence, expression, and connecting learning to life outside school, all important attributes of artists (Winner & Hetland, “Art for our Sake,” 2007).

Winner and Hetland also noted 4 other habits that were commonly seen in arts classes that were rarely seen in other parts of the learning curriculum, yet so valued in life. They state,

“we were particularly struck by the potentially broad value of four other kinds of thinking being taught in the art classes we documented: observing, envisioning,innovating through exploration, and reflective self-evaluation.” (Winner & Hetland, 2007)

When we imagine the futures of our young people, as teachers and parents, we recognize these types of thinking as integral to their long-term success.

Our continued dedication to ensuring students have positive experiences in the arts as well as the humanities, maths, languages, science, and physical education is a commitment to students thinking, creating, and self-evaluating throughout their lives.

The performances and exhibitions you see at ISB are a culmination of dedication, learning, growth, and critical thinking skills that our teachers foster regularly in their classes. As you sit in the audience or tour the exhibit, appreciate the talent and hard work being showcased. Also remember the value that arts learning brings to our young people and to our society.

Just another reason to enjoy the shows!

 

 

Helping us shape the future 

by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

At ISB, we care passionately about students and learning. As part of that care, we are always trying to get better. In planning for the future, our middle school is starting a process of Appreciative Inquiry, where we identify what we we are doing well and love about our school, before we look at shifts that are happening that would shape where we should and could be going.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY (AI) — To appreciate means to value—to understand those things of value worth valuing.  To inquiremeans to study, to ask questions, to search. AI is, therefore, a collaborative search to identify and understand the organization’s strengths, its potentials, the greatest opportunities, and people’s hopes for the future. (Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University,https://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/practice/toolsPackDetail.cfm?coid=1166)

Appreciative Inquiry Cycle

The faculty has begun this process and we also want to know what parents love about ISB Middle School. We appreciate your contributions to this appreciative inquiry process.

Please visit the linked form and complete the sentence, “I love ISB Middle School because … ” with as many statements as you can share.

Thank you in advance for being part of the Discovery stage of our Appreciative Inquiry process.

 

 

ISB Closed on Friday, May 20th

A reminder ISB is closed tomorrow, Friday May 20th, for the Visaka Bucha holiday.

 

 

Parent/Student Access to PowerSchool

Dear MS Parents and Students,

Please make note that you won’t have access to PowerSchool grades and comments after 3:00pm on Thursday May 19th while teachers are writing their end-of-semester comments, finalizing semester grades, and report cards are being put together.  Students and parents can still log into PowerSchool but will only be able to access attendance and their schedule. Full access will be restored on Thursday, June 9th after 12:00pm where you will be able to access the Semester 2 Report Card.

 

 

Parent Transition Meeting

Dear ES, MS, and HS parents,

Are you moving at the end of this school year? The ISB Counseling Department invites you to attend a Parent Transition Meeting on Wednesday, May 25 from 8:00-9:30 in the Elementary School MPR. In order to support both you and your student, we’ll talk about the various aspects of transitions, things to consider, how to leave Bangkok well and arrive well at your new destination. We look forward to supporting you in this process.

ISB Counselors

 

 

For Parents of our 8th graders – 8th Grade End of Year Ceremony on June 8th

Dear Parent(s) of Grade 8 Students:

Please join us in the Chevron Theatre on Wednesday, June 8th at 08:00am to commemorate your student’s move from middle school to high school (arrive early, we will begin on time). It is a significant step in their lives, and we would love to celebrate this moment together with you through a student-led ceremony lasting approximately one hour and thirty minutes. It will be followed by a reception in the MPB until approximately 10:30am. This is an important day for your child and your family. Please plan to attend the entire morning’s festivities.

Since this is a special celebration, we expect students to dress appropriately. Boys should wear dress pants, a dress shirt, a tie, and dress shoes. Suits and sport coats are not necessary. Girls should wear a dress, or blouse with a skirt or slacks, and dress shoes (with heels that are not too high as they need to climb up and down the stairs to the stage). Hems are not to be more than 8 cm above the knee. Dresses with sleeves are preferred. Jeans, shorts, sleeveless shirts, tuxedos, or formal dresses are not appropriate.

After the reception the students will continue their celebration with a lunch in our cafeteria, followed by time to celebrate their last full day together in Middle School. They should have a change of clothes for after the reception so that they can be more comfortable.

Please put this important date on your calendar. All family members are invited to attend the ceremony and reception for the students.

If you have any questions, please contact us at the school. We look forward to celebrating your child with you on this special day.

Sincerely,

Dr. Roger Everett

Grade 8 Team Rep

rogere@isb.ac.th

 

 

(Repeat Announcement) ISB Summer School Program

Will you be here in Bangkok in June or July?  Looking for something for your child(ren) to do?  Then check out ISB’s exciting and enriching Summer School Program!  Once again students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 will be learning in an environment that is nurturing, academically challenging, and socially engaging.  ISB’s highly qualified summer school teachers are inspired professionals dedicated to creating the best possible learning experiences.  New ideas, new curriculum and new friends await each student.

For complete information on our website about our ISB Summer Program, please click here.

For any questions, please email sumdir16@isb.ac.th

Best Regards,

Maurilio Baron-Toaldo

Summer School Director

International School Bangkok

 

(Repeat Announcement) Annual Medical Screening For Students

by Sally PLOMLEY
sallyp@isb.ac.th

It is the time of year when we need to start the medical screening process for ALL students. We have modified the screening process so there is a basic medical screen for most students with a more extensive screen for students entering Grades 3, 6, 9 and 11 which includes a tuberculosis screen. Any student who has had a new student medical examination after January 2016 will not need a repeat examination. All students must fill in the Nurse Medication Consent form.

Forms are available for download from the ISB website. ISB Health Services Forms and Resources

Any student with Diabetes, Asthma or Anaphylaxis will also need an action plan filled out by the doctor. Forms are available for download from the ISB website. ISB Health Services Forms and Resources

ALL FORMS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE HEALTH CLINIC BY JUNE 30 2016 either in person or via email nurse@isb.ac.th

Please click here to access the document containing full information.

 

 

(Repeat Announcement) Leaving ISB at the End of the Semester?

Dear Parents,

If your child will be leaving ISB at the end of this semester please make sure you inform Khun Natt at natthapc@isb.ac.th or 02-963-5893.

The earlier we know about your child leaving ISB the more time it gives us to prepare important forms and transfer information for your child’s next school in a timely manner.

We know this can be a hard time for our students and we would like to make sure they are prepared for the transition they will be making so that it is less stressful.

If you would like your child to be part of a small group to give them the opportunity to understand their transition and build strategies to cope during their transition please click here and complete the form.

Sincerely,

Jackie Greenwood: jackieg@isb.ac.th

Carmel Kean: carmelk@isb.ac.th

Janel Wilder: janelw@isb.ac.th

 

(Repeat Announcement) eNewsletter Guidelines

by: Tony Arnold
anthonya@isb.ac.th

ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. Please see our eNewsletter guidelines below.

Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families and ISB staff 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
• An image or photo (optional)

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 (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School (MS) 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.

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