A Wonderful Open House evening
by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
On Thursday evening the Middle School was pleased to welcome everyone to the 2017-18 school year with our Open House event. Our thanks to all of the parents who attended. You had a chance to meet your child(ren)’s teachers, understand their learning program, and in most cases see what their learning environment looks like each and every day.
As I circulated around the building, I saw teachers and parents sharing in their care and attention for the success of young people. This partnership is essential for our students (your children) to reach their academic and personal potential. Thank you for your trust in us to guide their learning.
We have a wonderful year ahead!
Home Learning in the MS
By Cindy Plantecoste, MS Dean of Academics
To ensure that our ISB MS is helping to create the conditions that allow our students to lead healthy, active, balanced lives, while at the same time promoting academic achievement, we have a Home Learning Policy. Our policy outlines the amount of time students should spend on home learning, and the types of activities that are appropriate to the developmental needs of our students.
On average, students should expect home learning to take up to:
Grade 6 – 60 minutes per day
Grade 7 – 70 minutes per day
Grade 8 – 80 minutes per day
Music practice is an additional 20 beyond the home learning expectations
As some students may have one day (even or odd) that has more academic classes that assign home learning, it will be important for students to balance their workload over the two days so that time spent on home learning is reasonable. On occasion, students may not be assigned home learning for a given course.
In our MS you should expect home learning assignments to allow for practice, reinforcement, or extension. Home Learning is not intended for students to access or learn new concepts, content, or skills that are unfamiliar to them.
Should you notice that your child is spending more time than expected on home learning, on a regular basis, please reach out to the teacher of the course concerned. If the overall workload is of concern to you, please feel free to contact your child’s counselor or a member of the administration.
You can best support your child with their home learning by helping them to establish a routine that ensures a healthy balance of downtime, family time, active time and sleep.
MS Reporting Timeline for 2017-2018
By Cindy Plantecoste, MS Dean of Academics
In an effort to keep you informed about your academic progress of your children (attainment), as well as how they are approaching their learning (HAL), we’ve established a communication and reporting timeline. On the dates listed, you can access accurate information related to your child’s progress in PowerSchool or in person during conferences. You should always feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher and/or counselor if you have any questions or concerns related to your child’s progress.
Semester 1 Dates:
Wild Panthers Outdoor Education
by Tico Oms, Dean of Students
We are excited about the launch of our Wild Panthers Outdoor Education Program. All middle school students will this year join a 3-day/2-night outdoor experience held on ISB’s own Environmental Wilderness Campus. The students will participate with the student in their advisory group.
You will receive more information as your child’s trip approaches. For now, we would like to share with you the outdoor education schedule showing when each group will participate so you know when you child is going. As we are going to Outdoor Education program in our advisory groups, please look for your child’s advisory teacher to determine the date they are attending.
U13 PANTHER RUGBY ACADEMY
For any youngsters wanting to learn the game or improve their skills.
Come along to Field D on Monday 28th August 5.00 – 6.00pm for a try-out and taster session.
Contact Bob Connor (bobc@isb.ac.th), Andy Vaughan (andyv@isb.ac.th) or Elliott Bowyer (elliotb@isb.ac.th) for further details.
Repeat Announcement: Interested in Receiving the MS Daily Student Announcements in Your Email?
Dear Parents,
If you would like to begin receiving the announcements, just click on the following link, completing the details asked for.
Please note, if you were here last year and subscribed then to receive the announcements, you will need to please re-subscribe using the link above as this is the easiest way for us to update our database each year.
Best Regards,
Moe Baron-Toaldo