Parent Teacher Conference Sign up Next week
On Tuesday, September 24th at 8:00 AM MS parents will receive an email in order to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences sessions which take place on October 3 & 4 in the new sports complex at ISB (near the 50m pool).
In order to sign up for conferences, you will need to have an account with Pick A Time, the website we use for generating these appointments. If you have an account from before, you can still use it and if you’ve forgotten your password, you can ask the site to reset it for you. If you are new to signing up with Pick a Time, you can create an account on the site. We recommend that you do all of this before Tuesday.
This document will take you through the steps you need to register for conferences.
More information about conferences will be in next week’s eNews, but we just wanted to prepare you for the sign up process coming next week.
Parent Session on Substance Abuse
As part of our health education and substance use prevention efforts, we have invited a prevention specialist from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) Prevention Works to visit our school from October 7-9. FCD is a non-profit organization that provides alcohol, nicotine, and other drug education to schools around the world.
FCD prevention specialists will present the most up-to-date information available on the physiological and psychological effects of various drugs (with a focus on vaping this visit), and provide a forum for discussing social, cultural, and personal issues that relate to the choices people make. FCD believes in involving the school community in prevention education, not just students.
With this in mind, we would like to invite you to an FCD parent presentation, with a focus on vaping. The parent session will be held in the MPB on Wednesday, October 9 from 8-9:30am.
We hope you can join us!
PowerSchool Learning Parent Access
Students in the ISB Middle School use an online learning platform called Powerschool Learning (PS Learning). PS Learning, is a management and classroom collaboration solution that allows teachers to share classwork online, inside and outside the classroom. Students know how to access this platform and sign in regularly to check on their resources and home learning.
For parents, we encourage them to sit with the their Middle Schooler and explore Powerschool Learning together. This promotes positive conversations and helps you see how your child navigates their online learning environment. We believe that middle school is a time for students to develop their independence and self-management.
Of course, sometimes parents request their own access, because their child doesn’t share much. We would still try to encourage breaking those barriers down and working with your child, however we also support parents who are struggling to know what their child needs to do.
For this we offer the option for parents to have their own Powerschool Learning account. If you would like an account setup, please fill out the form below. You will then receive an email with login credentials once the account is created.
Parent Account on PowerSchool Learning Sign Up Form
Middle School’s Climate Action for Peace
This week, the middle school has kicked off school-wide attention to climate change and how we can do our part to help the environment.
We started on Wednesday with our all school Peace Day assembly centered around the United Nations theme of Climate Action for Peace. The entire PK-12 student body and faculty came together as a community to demonstrate peace and challenge ourselves to take action for the planet. Middle school students shared the story of the peace flags art installation throughout campus, demonstrating that the combined efforts of many individuals can have a powerful impact together.
Wednesday evening, we were treated to a showing of “Love and Bananas,” a documentary following the filmmaker joining Khun Lek from Elephant Nature Park (ENP) on the rescue of an elephant from Kanchanaburi. The film showcase was organized by ISB counselor, Kevin Davy who has accompanied student trips to the ENP. Khun Lek who has been a great friend to ISB over many years joined us after the film and answered questions about her work in animal conservation. This film is premiering in big events around the world and we had our own showing at ISB!
On Friday, our entire middle school engaged in conversations and learning around climate change and individual actions we can take that can have the combined effort of significant impact. Students encouraged their classmates to ACT NOW and commit to conserve water, reuse products, avoid elephant shows, ride bikes, and more.
Around the world, students are making their voice heard about the need for world leaders to address climate change by participating in “Climate strikes.” At ISB, we added our community voice to that message by having adults and students alike gather together to represent ISB joining that global message of positive action for our planet. We, as a full ISB community, support the young people of the world in their call to real action by our government and leaders.
This week the UN theme of Climate Action for Peace has served as an important kickstart for our middle school to take individual and community action to do our part for the planet. We plan to continue this effort throughout the year and beyond.
ISB Middle School on Instagram
So many great things are happening regularly in our middle school that we want to share with our community! So we joined Instagram! For those of you who use that social media platform we encourage you to follow us @isbmiddleschool, to see celebrations of learning happening throughout the middle school – from academics to arts, sports to activities.
MS Band Community Workshops 2019
Next week ISB will host several Thai professional musicians in a master class setting. These master classes will take place during students’ band class times. Instead of bringing in one international guest conductor that works on big group ensemble like a festival, we bring in several professional instrumentalists from around Thailand for four days. These professionals work with our ISB students in a small group setting as well as on an individual basis. The emphasis is not on large group ensembles, rather, on small ensemble playing and preparing for an audition. The instructors are able to share instrument specific technical information with students and perform for and with them. This is an invaluable experience for our band students.
BCT’s Shipwrecked featuring Our Own Mr. A!!!
BCT will be back on stage this September with an imaginative storyteller production of “Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis d Rougemont (as told by himself)”, a fun-filled entertainment for the whole family.
The adventurous Louis de Rougemont invites you to hear his amazing story of bravery, survival and celebrity that left nineteenth-century England spellbound. Dare to be whisked away in a story of the high seas, populated by exotic islanders, flying wombats, giant sea turtles and a monstrous man-eating octopus. “Shipwrecked” examines how far we’re willing to blur the line between fact and fiction in order to leave our mark on the world.
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Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis d Rougemont (as told by himself)
Written by: Donald Margulies; Directed by: Cian Green; Produced by: Bonnie Zellerbach
When:
Friday and Saturday evenings 7:30pm September, 27 & 28 and 4 & 5 October, 2019;
Saturday afternoon matinees 3pm September 28 & October 5, 2019
Where: Creative Industries, M Theatre, New Petchburi Rd., Bangkok
Tickets: 800thb at www.bangkokcommunitytheatre.com & Ticketmelon.com (*everyone must have a ticket regardless of age)
Recommended for: Adults and Children age 6+
Further info: tickets@bangkokcommunitytheatre.com, 081-741-0703
ISB’s Bangkok International String Festival (BISF)- September 23-28, 2019
ISB will host its annual Bangkok International String Festival the week of Sept. 23-28, welcoming over 100 students from a number of international schools across Thailand, Hong Kong and more. The guest conductor is Dr. Mark Laycock, Professor of Music at Wichita State University. The gala concert featuring the BISF orchestra will take place in the Culture Center Theater on Saturday, September 28th at 2:00pm and is free and open to the public! The concert will feature a variety of pieces and is a wonderful way to see our students showcase their talents and work together with students from around Asia, enriching and creating a positive community.
Volunteers Needed for Visual Art Residency – September 27 through October 31
With Jill Enfield from Parsons and RISD arriving next week for her month long visual art residency at ISB, the Booster Club is looking for volunteers to provide home cooked meals, Bangkok outings, grocery runs, and help with some of the community workshops. If interested, please contact this year’s Booster Fine and Performing Arts Coordinator, Susan Budahl, at susanbb804@gmail.com or 096-926-6821 on LINE or WHATSAPP.
ISB PANTHER GYMNASTICS PROGRAM
by Torill Haga Olufsen, ISB Panther Gymnastics Coordinator
MS OLYMPICS
The ISB Panther Gymnastics Club will perform at the Middle School Olympics Opening Ceremony Thursday 19th December, 2019, hosted by Thailand.
We welcome all Middle School gymnasts (currently enrolled in the program), boys & girls, beginners & experienced, and will work together with coaches to create a cool performance for you to show your fellow students. If you want to have an idea on the kind of performance we are planing, please see the one from last years here and here.
Practices will take place in the gym every Friday from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, starting Friday September 20 for the first kick off meeting.
If you would like to join, please sign up here.
CHEER SKILLS CLINIC
We are offering a Cheer Skills Clinic on Sunday 29 September, 27 October and 24 November. This clinic will focus on skills specific to Cheerleading. We will be learning stunts and jumps as well as some tumbling. If you are interested in learning more about this sport or building your skills, come join us for this fun clinic.
Please sign up HERE by September 23, 2019. First Come First Serve.
https://www.isb.ac.th/isb-
www.facebook.com/
Diamond Girls Softball Extravaganza! – 11:00am-1:00pm Sunday, October 6th Albert Field
Calling all girls! ISB, in partnership with BBSA will hold its first ever softball extravaganza on 11:00am-1:00pm Sunday, October 6 on Albert Field! Come out to further develop the skills you already have, or to learn more about this exciting sport!!! The camp is FREE and open to girls in PK2 through G12. Led by ISB Head Softball Coach Samantha Galarza with special guests, The Women’s Thai National Softball Team the day promises to provide great opportunities instruction and even signed autographs! Drinks and snacks are included, and each player will get a FREE Diamond Girls T-shirt with registration, so please include your size on the sign-up form HERE.Want more softball? Sign up for the BBSA league (Registration opens on Sept. 30th)! Questions? Email Community Sports Manager Lucas Rivera lucasr@isb.ac.th
