Book Character Dress Up and our Virtual Assemblies
On Thursday and Friday this week, students were invited to dress up as a book character and join together with others from across their grade level for a virtual assembly in Zoom. It was so wonderful to see the students’ smiling faces, hear their voices, and we were reminded again of the magic that happens when our ISB community comes together. Author and illustrator Tad Hills made a guest appearance at most of the assemblies, and our Art, Music, and PE teachers had students moving, singing, and feeling inspired.
Friday May 15 No Virtual School
May 15 is a school holiday. There will be no virtual school on that day.
Virtual Family Engage: The Story of Unexpected Spellings! Thursday, May 14 2:30-3:30 pm with special guest consultant Fiona Hamilton
Please join us for this parent/child Family Engage live on Zoom!
Does your child ever ask you why a word is spelled a particular way, even simple ones like <of> or <was> and you don’t have an answer? Perhaps they think it’s weird that the /f/ sound in <fish> is spelled with an <f> but not in <elephant> and secretly, or not so secretly, so do you. Or maybe they want to know why some letters are silent in words. Send in a wondering about the spelling of a word that you’ve come across when reading together and in this Family Engage time Fiona will help you and your children discover an explanation for the spelling. Along the way we hope you’ll learn a bit more about our English spelling system and how we study words at ISB.
Fiona Hamilton led a very popular Parent Engage earlier in the year, and is looking forward to returning to work with parents and students at this Family Engage!
Please register for you and your child to come together here! The Zoom link will be sent to those that registered the day before over email.
ES Community Design Challenge
Thank you for emailing us photos of your children’s designs! We loved seeing the creative ways that students improved their virtual school experience at home, and we hope that they enjoyed moving through the design process. Here are just some of the wonderful submissions that we received.
Portrait Hunt
Greetings, creative ES kiddos & families! Following on from our special Portraiture assignment this week, we have set up a fun portrait hunt around Nichada Thani. There are 15 different famous artists represented in these posters. Each poster is a self-portrait by a famous artist and an artist statement about their work. Grab your family, get on your bike, golf cart, walk or run, and see how many of these artists you can discover. Always be careful on the roads and keep safe! If you like, you can take a selfie with your favorite portrait and email it to: isbcommunications@isb.ac.th and it might be put on Facebook. This is an optional activity, just for fun, and there is no need to post images in Seesaw. Watch this video to learn more!
Have a great time!
Ms. Harter & Ms. Nichols
Parent Resource: Reading at Home
Orff Ensemble: Cha Cha Chihuahua
The ISB Orff Ensemble proudly presents “Cha Cha Chihuahua”! Isolated in their homes during a pandemic, these 3rd, 4th and 5th grade Orff Ensemble members were self-managing and motivated as they learned this song on their own, created their own dance moves, and recorded their parts. We hope this song brings you a lot of cha-cha-cheer!
Yearbook
All ES students will be able to collect their yearbooks in June. More information will come in a few weeks regarding the details. This year there is even a section on Virtual School!
Moving from Thailand?
Each year the counselors facilitate a workshop for parents who may be moving and leaving ISB to help smooth the transition that families may undertake. This year the process of moving may present even more challenges given the current trying conditions. The counseling department has put the information they usually share into a Screencast hosted by Doug Williamson (ES), Colleen Coady (MS) and Kevin Callahan (HS). You can find the broadcast here. If you still have questions or concerns after viewing the Screencast, then please contact your child’s counselor.
ES Learning Hub News
Please click here for Summer Book Check Out Process.
TIME TO PURCHASE BOOSTER GEAR!
The ISB Booster Club is pleased to announce the chance to purchase Booster gear from now until May 29! Refer to the catalog and place an order by sending an email to: isbbooster@isb.ac.th.
Order received Monday-Thursday each week will be available for pick up or delivery locally within Nichada on the Friday. Delivery for orders outside of Nichada will be handled on a case by case basis.
Once a Panther, always a Panther. Go Panthers!
(Updated) Registration for ISB VIRTUAL SUMMER SCHOOL 2020
Dear Parents,
A reminder that because the number of seats available is limited, it is recommended that you complete and submit the online registration form as soon as possible by the end of this weekend.
We will begin next week scheduling classes and student placements will be assigned based on the order registrations were received with each individual class only being scheduled if there is sufficient enrollment. You will receive a confirmation via email later in May once we have finalized the schedule and classes.
The ISB Virtual Summer School Program is open to all students enrolled at ISB for the 2019-20 school year. New students joining ISB in August will be able to participate only if there are seats available; the exception to this is the Virtual MS/HS EAL Summer Courses which are open to both present EAL students and new EAL students joining ISB in August.
Please register your child for virtual summer school as the grade level they are presently in now during the 2019-20 school year.
Purpose of the ISB Virtual Summer School Program:
To provide students with supplemental academic learning and/or enrichment opportunities, and to provide some opportunities to explore areas of interest through a variety of virtual “camps”.
Dates and Times for ISB Virtual Summer School 2020:
- Opens – Monday, June 22
- Closes – Friday, July 3
- Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm Bangkok time
Students can sign up for either the academic program or enrichment camps, but not both. Please read carefully the more specific information provided about each program and special interest camp tentatively being offered and for the registration procedures, by visiting the Summer School webpage on the ISB website.
For any questions you may have, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Mr. Maurilio Baron-Toaldo
ISB Summer School Director
sumdir@isb.ac.th
(Repeat) ES Art News
ES Studio Online
The ES Art Studio Online is a website for students and parents to access resources and information about the ES Art programme. It includes videos and links to fun art ideas, information about the programme, and articles on useful topics, such as how to talk about art with your child. Students can also view a gallery celebrating their wonderful artwork! To access the website, please click here.
(Repeat) Planning for Next School Year
The ISB leadership team has been planning for various scenarios for August. Because much is unknown, we want to ensure that our planning is well thought-out and very intentional within different contexts. We have several ideas about how to support students in their transition to the next grade level. If we are opening with Virtual School in August or some sort of hybrid environment, rest assured that we will have ways to support the online transition; making sure that students maintain connections with teachers and students to ease into any new class placement situation. We will not know which of the scenarios plays out until well into summer, but working on them now is one of our current priorities.
(Repeat) Lean on ISB
Take a moment to enjoy this musical collaboration involving members of our ISB community!
(Repeat) Let’s “POUNCE” Into Our ISB Community Reading Program
- Watch this Video Link to learn about the challenge!
- Panthers Pounce is an ISB School-wide May reading challenge where everyone– students, staff, and families can join the fun!
- You participate by logging your time and reading any book.
- Your reading could include eBooks, audioBooks, or read-to-me books on Epic. Your reading can even include storytime with Mr. Whitman.
- We will launch our Panthers Pounce May reading challenge on May 1st.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
- Set a reading goal each day – How much will you read?
- Create a plan – when, where and what will you read?
- Every minute of reading adds to your grade/division total. Who will win?
- Enjoy reading!
STAY UPDATED
- Check out our ISB Library Reading Page for book recommendations.
- LOG YOUR WEEKLY READING TIME every Monday in May (and June 1) using the links on this page!
From the very young to the very old, anyone can pounce on a good book!
(Repeat) Parent Resources for Supporting Students
One of the consultants from whom we have had the pleasure of learning as an ES Community is Matt Glover. Matt has visited ISB many times to help support our elementary faculty in high quality literacy instruction, as well as worked with parents on how to read with young children and “making books.” Matt has been a teacher, principal, author, and consultant for over 30 years. He recently published a collection of parent videos that you might find helpful. Check them out here.
(Repeat) ES HUB News
Please click on the link to go to the Youtube channel.
(Repeat) 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 Online 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.
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
May 2020
| May 14-27 | Summer Book Selection & Ordering |
| May 14 | Family Engage! 2:30-3:30 pm |
| May 15 | School Holiday (No Virtual School) |
| May 20 | Hub Book Return |
| May 28 | Parent Engage 1:00-2:00 pm |
May 2020
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 6:00 pm PTA Annual General Meeting | 2:30-3:30 pm Family Engage | School Holiday | ||
| 7:00 pm Board of Trustees Annual General Meeting (AGM) | ||||
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 6:00 pm BOT Meeting | Hub Book Return | |||
| 6:00 pm PTA General Meeting | ||||
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 1:00-2:00 pm
Parent Engage |
School Holiday |
June 2020
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| H.M. Queen’s Birthday (No-School) | 8:00 am First Friday with Andy | |||
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 8:00 am G5 Moving On Ceremony on Zoom | 9:00 am ES Final Assembly | |||
| Last Day of School (Half-Day) |