Enjoy this Long Weekend
These four days are an excellent opportunity to disconnect and enjoy activities away from screens. It is a chance for families and teachers to be offline with a well-deserved break. If you do find that you need some resources, please check out this choice board of activities. Although there are some that rely on the internet, most do not. Take a look!
ZOOM in the ES
Next week, you will notice and increase in synchronous learning in ES, using Zoom. We have been responding to feedback and doing even more research about best practices in elementary schools. The more that we learn about synchronous and asynchronous learning and the more we hear from experts in the field, the more important it becomes to focus on being responsive and flexible. Teachers will match the tool and format based on the identified learning goals. Those will vary at different grade levels and even across different teachers.
All students will have an invitation to connect daily with their teachers and classmates on Zoom. The goal for this time is around social and emotional needs. ES students need to feel that connection to school and to each other; they want to share and feel a sense of belonging.
Something to keep in mind is that when teachers use synchronous platforms like Zoom, they set up opportunities for active engagement and provide “in the moment” feedback to students. This might mean that you, as a parent, see a decrease in written response from teachers on student work. We believe both “in the moment” feedback as well as responses to student work help students to improve and grow as learners.
We are looking forward to hearing your feedback on a future Parent Survey. Your input on past surveys is helping to shape the adjustments in this evolving Virtual School environment.
ES World Languages
World Language learning happens everyday in ES Virtual School. On Wednesday, students receive direct instruction via Zoom with follow-up learning activities for that same day. In addition, teachers post practice learning activities for other days of the school week.
This week, our World Languages team launched Zoom with some grades, and next week this will be expanded to include all students. Below is a schedule that will support our World Languages teachers in connecting with all grade levels on Wednesdays. Teachers will be reaching out to students and families to confirm times for next Wednesday and provide the Zoom meeting links.
| World Languages Zoom Schedule | |
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Grade 5 Thai
Grade 5 Mandarin Group 1 Grade 5 Spanish Group 1 |
| 9:30 – 10:00 | Grade 4 |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Grade 3 |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Grade 2 |
| 1:00 – 1:30 | Grade 1 |
| 2:00 – 2:30 | KG Thai
Grade 5 Mandarin Group 2 Grade 5 Spanish Group 2 |
As a reminder, all World Languages learning can be accessed in your child’s Seesaw account. Students will need to be signed in using their Home Learning Code so they can access both their Homeroom and World Language Seesaw classes. Alternatively, students in Grade 3-5 can also sign in using their ISB Gmail account. If you need any technical support with Seesaw, please write to help@isb.ac.th and we will do our best to help.
Feedback from the ES Parent Survey
Thank you for completing last week’s Parent Survey. Here are some of the data points:
We had 230 parents respond.
How much time are students spending on Virtual School?
Do you feel the time that your child is engaged with Virtual School every day is:
We all know that Virtual School is not the same as when we are on campus. We are craving the day when we can get back to that environment and to the experiences that we love. The virtual classroom makes it more difficult to differentiate learning and get instant feedback from the learners in front of us. Even though we have time guidelines for Virtual School found in our Community Handbook, each student is unique and time on task varies. The above data tells us we are on the right track, and we will continue to make adjustments as we move forward. As always, if you feel that the workload is too much for your child, please let your child’s teacher know. Also, if your child is completing tasks under our guidelines and you are looking for additional learning activities, contact your child’s teacher or look here for additional opportunities.
We received many narrative comments, including suggestions for improvement and a very large amount of compliments for our teachers! Most were about the dedication and hard work our teachers are putting forth and the recognition that we are improving Virtual School on a consistent basis.
Virtual Counselor Presentation for Parents
By our ES Counselor/Psychologist team: Matt Johnson, Kate Kersey, and Doug Williamson
All of the recent change in our lives due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it extra layers of stress, frustrations, and unpredictability for all of us. The ES Counselors have prepared a virtual presentation to offer support to parents during this time, with tips and strategies about how to stay mentally and emotionally well.
ES HUB News
Please click on the link to go to the Youtube channel.
Panther Roars
(/ˈpanTHər/ /rôrz/ noun 1. Full, deep, prolonged utterances of positive expression by ISB community members in response to the world pandemic.)
Look for performances and exhibitions from our Design, Fine and Performing Arts students over the next few weeks as they find creative ways to showcase their work – virtually! Meanwhile check out our Community Connections page, or Panther Roars, where you can see or share JOYFUL ART, GRATITUDE, OPEN MIC PERFORMANCES, STORIES and HAPPINESS!!!
LIVE FROM BOSTON!
JACE PAYACKAPAN (ISB ’16)
IN CONCERT
a Panther Roars Production
Live on Youtube Friday, May 1
(time and link to be announced)
If You Know you are Leaving ISB
Families who are leaving ISB at the end of the school year are asked to inform the school as soon as possible using the official Notice of Withdrawal Form. This helps us prepare school records for your child and with planning for next year. Completed forms can be dropped off at the ES Office.
(Repeat) Updated Security Feature in Zoom
In addition to some of the features that are currently in place to keep video conferencing calls in Zoom private and safe, starting Monday we will be protecting calls by requiring a password in order to join the call. This will be the same password for all Zoom calls in the Elementary School, and students and parents will be notified of the password by our homeroom teachers.
(Repeat) Update on ISB Summer School 2020
Understandably, there are many uncertainties ahead due to the COVID-19 coronavirus incidents around the world. We are presently planning as regular for our ISB Summer School 2020 which will run from Monday, june 15th to Friday, July 10th. You can go to the ISB website to access all information about dates, programs, and fees, and to submit a registration form online.
We encourage people to plan ahead and register. Please note that with the uncertainties around the world right now with the COVID-19 coronavirus, there will be no cancellation fees applied for people who register and then cancel by May 15th. This date will be reviewed as we get closer to it. Our EarlyBird prices for tuition are still available until Friday, April 24th.
For ES students, we have 3 new Special Enrichment Camps available this year in addition to camps from other years!
ES Art Camp (1 week) June 15 – 19 for students entering Grade 3 – 6 in August.
ES Reading/Writing/Performance Workshop: Fairy Tales, Folktales and Legends (1 week) June 15 – 19 or June 22 – 26 for students entering Grade 3 – 5 in August.
ISB Panther Swim Camp; Experience the “Panther Way” (1 week) June 15 – 19 for students entering Grade 2 – 12 in August.
For any questions, please email sumdir@isb.ac.th
Best Regards,
Mr. Maurilio Baron-Toaldo
Summer School Director
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.