MS Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences
by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
By now, we hope you have signed up for the Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences on October 5th and 6th. If not, please see the repeat announcement on the sign-up process in this eNews.
Please note that we hope that your middle school child accompanies you to the conferences as he/she can provide insight into how their learning is progressing. It is also helpful that your child hears the teacher feedback alongside you, to provide you a common context with which to talk about how school is going, what is working really well, and what areas might need attention.
Students should attend the conferences with you. They do NOT have to be in school uniform.
A School full of Spirit
by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
For the past week, throughout the school, we have been celebrating our ISB family with Spirit Week. Students and teachers “dressed up” according to daily themes, culminating in Friday’s Black & Gold Day, encouraging Panther Spirit. Friday night is Spirit Night on campus with almost all of the high school soccer and volleyball teams playing in the gyms and under the lights. Food vendors will be on campus along with our famous ISB Booster Hut with treats for sale.
Bring the family, wear ISB gear (or Black and Gold), and join us for a fun afternoon of Panther spirit!
From the Health Clinic – Head Lice
From the ISB Health Clinic:
We have heard there has been a case of head lice in Middle School.
Head lice is a common parasitic infection which only occurs on human hair. It is spread by direct head to head contact and contact with items that have been close to someone who has the infestation (such as hats, combs and pillows). It is not related to having “dirty” hair. It commonly occurs in school age children. Please see this link on head lice http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/index.html
We ask all parents to check their children for head lice weekly for the next 4 weeks and to treat if any lice are found (and please notify the school if you find any lice by email (nurse@isb.ac.th)). We ask you to check weekly due to the fact that your child may only have a few lice initially and these may be missed on the original check.
How to check for Head Lice:
This will take 3-5 minutes to check your child’s head, depending on hair length and thickness.
Untangle the dry hair using an ordinary brush and comb.
- Once the comb moves freely through the hair without dragging, switch to a detection comb (a fine tooth comb available at pharmacies).
- Starting from the base or the side of the scalp, comb the hair from the scalp down to the end of the hair. Comb each section of hair 3-4 times before moving to an adjacent section.
- Look for lice as the comb is drawn through the hair.
- If a possible louse is seen, trap it against the face of the comb using your thumb. This avoids the risk of the louse being repelled by static electricity as the comb is pulled out of the hair.
- Continue combing the hair section by section until the whole head of hair is combed through.
For further information please look at this link (Checking for Head Lice)
If Head Lice are detected please contact the Health Clinic (nurse@isb.ac.th) and information about head lice and treatment will be provided.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Repeat Announcement: MS Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences Sign up
by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
A reminder to sign up for MS Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences this coming week. Deadline for sign ups is Wednesday, 8:00 AM.
Once again, we are looking forward to engaging in conversation with you about your child’s learning next week on Thursday and Friday, October 5th and 6th. On these days, school will not be in session for students. We strongly encourage that your child accompany you to the conferences to meet with the teachers, as they can provide insight into and learn from the feedback.
Once again, we will use the “arena” format for conferences. This means that all MS teachers will be in one venue and parents will attend a single long session, during which they can see all of their child’s teachers. Conferences will take place in the sports complex near the 50 m pool, with tables, chairs, and refreshments set up for this purpose.
We require that parents sign up for sessions of 2 hour blocks. These blocks will have limits on the number representing a grade level to ensure that teachers have time to see everyone in the block and that parents aren’t waiting in lines too long. Both Thursday and Friday will have three of these blocks each with short breaks built in for teachers to re-energize after all that talking! The short breaks also allow our teacher-parents to quickly attend their own child’s conferences.
Please follow this link to access the “Pick a Time” site, which handles the conference bookings. If you are new to the system, you will have to create an account. If you used it last year, you can enter your username and password. If you’ve forgotten your password, click “Forgot Password.”
Parents should sign up for one 2 hour block. If you have more than one child in the MS and would like to see both sets of teachers in the same block, please book twice in the same block, once per child. This will ensure that block doesn’t get too crowded and it will rightly hold spots for each child separately.
It is best to arrive at the start of the session. If you arrive later in the block, you may not be able to see all the teachers you want to see. We have built in some limited time at the ends of sessions to handle continuing conversations, however, teacher breaks need to be taken.
Instructions for using the “Pick a Time” booking system can be found here.
Grades will be updated by the end of the week in PowerSchool, which should give you a picture of how your child is faring in her or his classes. With focused conversations on your child’s learning at the conferences, a few minutes with each teacher can provide an accurate picture of how your child is progressing. We have directed our teachers – and ask you – to spend no more than 5 minutes per conference as a courtesy to those waiting.
If you have a conversation that would require more time than that, or that would require more privacy, an appointment for another day is advised.
Due to some festival conflicts, the following teachers will not be available:
- Mr. Assimakopoulos – not available Thursday or Friday
- Ms. Harison-Denby – not available Thursday or Friday
- Mr. Marshall – available Thursday; not Friday
- Mr. Giles – available Thursday; not Friday
- Ms. Harter – not available Thursday or Friday
Please contact them separately if you would like to speak with them about how your child is doing.
Sessions for MS Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences
Thursday, October 5th
- Session 1: 7:10 to 9:10
- Session 2: 9:30 to 11:30
- Session 3: 12:30 to 14:30
Friday, October 6th
- Session 1: 7:10 to 9:10
- Session 2: 9:40 to 11:30
- Session 3: 12:15 to 14:00
So what’s my MS kid eating while at school?
By Tico Oms, MS Dean of Students
G6 and G7 students have just completed a Wellness unit on nutrition. Students learned the importance of making healthy decisions regarding what they eat and drink. As part of their lessons, their teachers took them to the cafeteria to show students how they can easily make nutritious choices at our school.
To be successful at school, sleep and nutritious foods are primary factors. Healthy choices support kids in how to stay focused, contribute to lessons, and manage the expectation in the classroom both socially and academically. The challenge for parents is how to support children in making healthy choices when they are not around you.
ISB prides itself in the partnership we create with families. Our health classes have taught students about proper nutrition. You can support our work by checking what foods your child orders while in school and helping them make healthy choices.
Checking what foods kids eat at school is easy. From the parent portal, click on campus card.
Log in. Both your user name and password are primary parent/caregiver’s school ID number (usually the father’s ID number).
You can look up your child’s eating habits through Card Activity Report. Click on Reports to get a pull-down menu. Then click on Card Activity Report.
Select which child’s purchasing history you’d like to see, the date range for the report, and whether you’d like to see the report on your screen or to print out.
The report will look something like this:
Please use this information to have thoughtful conversations with your children about the value of healthy eating.
Theatre Arts Programme Symposium (TaPS)
Theatre Arts Programme Symposium (TaPS) and is a three-day intensive training workshop for IB Theatre students, fully catered towards the IB Theatre Diploma. Our TaPS event here at ISB is taking place over the 6th-8th October, with 150 visiting students arriving from the 5th from as far away as Kenya to immerse themselves in three fantastic days of theatre workshops!
Bangkok International Choir Festival (BICF)
Bangkok International Choir Festival (BICF) will be held Friday and Saturday, October 6 and 7 and will feature 350+ singers from ISB’s HS and MS choirs along with multiple other visiting choirs from as far away as Jakarta, Indonesia. Please join us for the gala concert on Saturday, October 7th at 2:00 in the Chevron Theatre. Admission is free.
BBSA – Baseball and softball registration for 2017-18
Registration for the 2017-18 season is now open.
Bangkok Baseball Softball Association (BBSA) has organized baseball/softball play for the past 57 years in Bangkok. There are leagues for boys and girls ages 4 yrs – 18 yrs. Please note registration is open from now until November 10th. We must register players now so we have time to hold player assessments, form teams and order player uniforms before play begins. Current fees per player are THB 3,600. Registration fees will increase to THB 4,100 on November 11th so be sure to register before that date.
You can make your payment at the Community Activity Office (CAO) or pay by Thai bank wire transfer. Cash, credit cards and Thai baht checks are accepted for payment at the CAO office. The CAO Office is open Monday – Friday, 7:00AM to 11:00AM and 12:00PM to 3:00PM.
Player assessment will be held on Sunday November 12th at the ISB fields, except for Boys AAA league which will be held on Monday, November 13th. All players are strongly encouraged to attend their assessment sessions to allow the coaches to create fair and balanced teams. See the attached assessment schedule.
Opening Day for baseball/softball is on Saturday, Nov 25th. All games are played on Friday evenings and Saturdays at ISB. Games will continue every weekend until the league championships the weekend of February 23rd/24th. There will be no games during the winter break at ISB but we will continue play on Saturday, January 6th 2018. The game schedule will be published once we know how many players are registered.
Practices will begin the week of Nov 13th. See the attached practice schedule. All teams will practice once per week during the season as a weekly practice is important to skills development and to learn the fundamentals of teamwork, etc. We have arranged a downtown Bangkok location for an optional Friday practice at NIST. Parents will have to pay THB 1000 for the season for this practice because NIST charges for field usage.
On the registration form you will also have an opportunity to volunteer to be a coach, assistant coach or team parent. Please consider helpng out with your child’s team in some way. The kids really love having their parents helping out with their team and you will have a great time. No previous baseball experience is necessary.
BBSA has purchased a limited number of fielding gloves for players who need them. These will be sold on our assessment day.
Please go to www.isb.ac.th/community-baseball for more information and the registration link. Please visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/217724271623929/. If you have any questions, please contact Kevin Sypolt at ksypolt@gmail.com.
More links: