Report Cards: Trimester 1
We formally report on student learning three times each year (November, February and June). This year the first report card goes online on Friday, November 15, 2019, available on Powerschool. Please look over the report with your child, discussing strengths, areas for growth and goals. It is our aim that report cards are a spring-board for positive family conversations about learning. For any questions regarding Powerschool log-in, please contact K. Goff trins@isb.ac.th
Intercultural Day Logo
We received so many wonderful submissions by student artists for our logo contest. We will be displaying all of these pieces of art during Intercultural Week from November 18-22. Below is the logo design that was selected for this year. Congratulations to Ming in Grade 5!
From Our ES PTA Coordinators
The big day is coming!! ES Intercultural Day is just 3 weeks away and our Room Hosts are making final preparations to guide our ES students through a variety of beautiful cultures. You won’t want to miss the lovely and moving Intercultural Assembly in the morning, or all the wonderful cultures on display throughout the day.
You still have time to volunteer on the day. If you have not yet raised your hand to help in an Intercultural Day room please contact us at escoord@isb.ac.th or come and see us at the next ES Engage on November 7. We will connect you with Room Hosts who could use more support. Many hands make for lighter work-and more fun! If you are not committed to a cultural room, you will not be able to stay at school during the day. Please contact us so we can include you in the adventure!
ES ‘Out of Uniform’ Day – November 7 and 8
These two days are ‘Out of School Uniform’ days in the Elementary School. On PE days, students need to wear their PE uniforms. On their non PE day, students may choose to not wear their ISB uniform.
Appropriate dress guidelines for our ‘Out of School Uniform’ days are listed in the ES Student/Parent Handbook.
Second Chance Bangkok Clothing Drive
Grade 3 will be collecting unwanted, used ISB uniforms and any other gently used clothing or household items for our Second Chance Bangkok partners November 4th through November 14th. Please bring in any unwanted items you have and put them in the wooden box located in the G3 quad.
Reminder: Tardiness and Absence
If your child comes to school late after 7:45am, please stop by the ES office to get a tardy slip.
If you child is going to be absent from school, please call or email the ES office (cholthis@isb.ac.th) and your child’s teacher by 8:00 am
Raising Multilinguals How? Unlocking the World Through Language-Rich Experiences
How can parents nurture native language besides speaking it with their children and enrolling them in classes? Find out by joining us for the parent workshop Raising Multilinguals How? on Thursday, November 14, 2019, from 7:45-9:15 a.m. in the Literary Lounge.
In this workshop—a followup to Raising Multilinguals—we will explore how families can promote literacy (reading and writing) and rich conversation, in support of the family language plan.
Parents of students in PreK through Grade 12 are welcome! The workshop will be held in the Literary Lounge, which is just inside the MS/HS Library. If you have questions, please write: nativelanguage@isb.ac.th
Grade 5 Musical Production: “Little Red: A Multicultural Fairytale”
This year’s grade 5 musical production will be our own unique version of the fairytale “Little Red Red Riding Hood”! The story will be told from the perspective of three different cultures, based on the storybooks “Lon Po Po” (China), “Pretty Salma” (Ghana), and “Petite Rouge” (Cajun/Louisiana). The entire fifth grade will bring this tale to life through movement and music that they will be creating themselves! Mark your calendars so that you don’t miss this exciting demonstration of student creativity. There will be two showings: Tuesday, February 18th, AND Wednesday, February 19th, at 6:30 pm both days.
(Repeat) Being Adaptable
As you know, this year one of our ISB focus areas is to understand and apply our Learner Attributes. Recently there was an article that we wrote for Touchstone explaining more about this. Below is an excerpt from that article, highlighting the attribute of being Adaptable, and what parents can do at home to support.
One of our six learner attributes is Adaptable.
Here are some of the things parents can do at home to help children be more adaptable:
-Be the example. Children watch how their parents react, and learn how they should react. When things don’t go as planned, model flexibility. Keep things light and talk out alternative solutions with your child. Embrace a new adventure that wasn’t planned. We have plenty of opportunities for this when traveling to new countries and experiencing new cultures.
-Play board games/card games and make up new rules together. Consider changing the instructions and even how the board looks.
-Teach self-talk when a problem arises. Model flexible problem solving, and do this out loud. Then explicitly teach your child how to self-talk when things go differently than planned.
-Tell jokes, use puns, and enjoy play on words. This develops flexibility with language and supports adaptable thinking.
-Go outside! Notice the changes in nature, the variability in things that are alive, and talk about the environment needing to adapt.
-Model “Failing Forward.” Talk about how mistakes are celebrated and are opportunities to grow. Use your own examples and talk about how we all make mistakes everyday and what you learn from them.
-Finally, find books that include characters who are adaptable. Read these together and talk about how the characters are adaptable and how this helps the character in the story. Look for books that take predictable plots and turn them upside-down. The unexpected becomes fun! The following books are good examples:
Ella, of course! By Sarah Weeks
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
The Water Princess by Susan Verde
Duck! Rabbit! By Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
The Three Little Tamales by Eric A. Kimmel
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf, as told to him by Jon Scieszka
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires (we read this at our Welcome Assembly this year)
Enjoy the freedom that being adaptable with your children can bring. Life does not always go according to plan. Supporting children to adapt to the changing nature of our world, and to the complexities of being human is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. A notable scientist once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
(Repeat) Leaving ISB at the End of the First Semester?
Parents of students who are not returning to ISB after Semester 1 need to notify the ES Office, K. Ann (naiyanar@isb.ac.th) as soon as possible and fill out the
Notice of Withdrawal from ISB Form to enable us to process school records for their next school. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
(Repeat) U11 BISAC School Sports Season 2 (Soccer)
The ISB U11 Soccer season starts on Monday 11 November
U11 BISAC teams represent the school in local competitions and are free of charge.
To be eligible to play, U11 Athletes should be 8, 9 or 10 on August 1, 2019.
PRACTICE TIMES
Monday & Thursday 2:35-3:35
Boys Soccer: Albert Field
Girls Soccer: Field C
You can find the information letter here or Register here
Registration closes on Sunday 10 November.
(Repeat) Intercultural Day – Friday, November 22
Cultures connecting through the Arts.
Intercultural Day is a ‘hands-on’ learning day to celebrate ISB’s rich intercultural diversity. Many of our ES classrooms are transformed by parents into cultural rooms so that our students can celebrate different traditions, food, dress, language, music, and geography throughout the day. With this year’s theme being focused on the Arts, we are excited for how this might influence students’ experiences in the cultural rooms.
A few details for parents:
- Students are invited to wear t-shirts representing various cultures instead of their uniform or P.E. uniform in the week leading up to Intercultural Day.
- On Intercultural Day (22th) students are welcome to dress in a way that represents a culture important to them.
- Intercultural Day begins with an assembly. Parents are welcome to join the assembly, as we are gathering in Rajendra Hall. Parents will need to be seated by 7:45AM SHARP – so that the assembly can begin on time.
(Repeat) BBSA – Baseball and softball registration open for 2019-20 season
Bangkok Baseball Softball Association (BBSA) has organized baseball/softball play for the past 59 years in Bangkok. There are leagues for boys and girls ages 4 yrs – 18 yrs. Please note registration is open from now until November 1st. Current fees per player are THB 3,600. There is a late fee for registrations after November 1st.
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 between Monday, Nov 4th to Thursday, Nov 7th. A specific schedule will be sent to parents and players soon. All players are strongly encouraged to attend their assessment sessions to allow the coaches to create fair and balanced teams.
Opening day for baseball/softball is on Saturday, Nov 16th. Games will generally be played on Saturdays with an occasional Friday evening game. Games will continue every weekend until the league championships the weekend of February 14/15th. There will be no games during the winter break at ISB but we will continue to play on Saturday, January 11th 2020.
Please go to https://bangkokbaseball.org/ or https://www.isb.ac.th/student-life/activities/community-activities/bbsa-baseball-softball/ for more information and the registration link. Please visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/217724271623929/. If you have any questions, please contact Phil Walther at info@bangkokbaseball.org
(Repeat) After School Supervision
Any elementary school student on campus outside of regular school hours, who is not participating in a school-sponsored event, must be actively supervised by an adult in charge, appointed by the family. This includes being in the elementary Learning Hub (library).
eNews Guidelines
Shelley Bragg
shelleyb@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. For your convenience we have provided you with our eNewsletter guidelines below.
Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families 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
Where to submit your announcement
4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community.
naiyanar@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
phremjiz@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 Director of Marketing and Communications 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.
Calendar of Events
November 2019
| Nov.4-14 | Second Chance Bangkok Clothing Drive |
| Nov. 7 | ES Parent Engage 7:45 am (ES MPR) |
| Nov.7-8 | ES Explore (After School Activities) Registration Opens |
| Nov. 14 | Staff Appreciation Cookie Day |
| Nov. 15 | ES Report Cards go Online |
| Nov. 15 | All Staff Professional Day (No school for students) |