Thank You for an Amazing Intercultural Week!
Intercultural Week was an incredible celebration of who we are and the diversity that also binds us. Through the assemblies and the room rotations, students were able to learn how cultures use stories and storytelling to connect and communicate. The PTA coordinated week, led by Rika Gupta and Teresa Caravelli, is one of our biggest parent partnership events of the year — thank you to all the parent volunteers who made each day special for our students – we know how much work it takes!
We certainly missed having parents join us for the assemblies on Monday. Here are links to videos of each of the three gatherings:
PK/KG/Grade 1
Grades 2&3
Grades 4&5
Early Dismissal – Tuesday November 24, 2020
All ISB students will be dismissed at 1:10pm on Tuesday, November 24, 2020. On Early Release Days, school buses will leave ISB at 1:25 pm. Early Release Days allow faculty members and administrators to collaborate and further their professional development.
Leaving ISB at the End of the First Semester?
Parents of students who are not returning to ISB in January need to notify the ES Office, Khun Kunlawan (kunlawan@isb.ac.th) as soon as possible and fill out the ISB’s official online withdraw form to enable us to process school records for their next school. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Weekly Message from Dr. Michael Allen
As I reflected on the various Touchstone Issue 1 2020/21 articles written by various members of the ISB parent community, dove even deeper into the ES Parent Survey data from May 2020, connected with parents at last week’s ES Parent Engage session, and spoke with dozens of parent volunteers who were on campus this week leading activities for Intercultural Week, I was reminded of how challenging it’s been to strengthen our home-school partnerships with various COVID-19 precautionary measures in place limiting the number of parent partnership events on campus. A great big THANK YOU goes out to our teachers for using a wide variety of strategies such as updates and Seesaw posts to keep parents informed of the learning happening in the classrooms AND a great big THANK YOU goes out to parents for maintaining a strong connection from a distance!
Speaking of the May 2020 ES parent survey results, the entire ES faculty combed through all the feedback pertaining to virtual school in September in order to use this information to develop the new ES Community Virtual School Handbook and VS Procedures for ES Teachers. In addition the ES administration reviewed all of the parent (P), grades 3-5 student (S), and teacher (T) survey feedback. Based on the feedback we targeted three areas of improvement including virtual school, home-school partnerships, and prioritized areas in regards to teaching and learning as defined within the ISB Strategic Learning Plans.
In regards to celebrations and positive feedback, the parent (P), grades 3-5 student (S), and/or teacher (T) survey data reflected the following:
- Children are happy at ISB; ISB provides a nurturing environment. (P,S,T)
- Parent experience as an ISB community member is positive. (P)
- Overall, ISB is a good school for students and teachers. (P,S,T)
- Children are physically safe at ISB. (P,S,T)
- Students are becoming passionate, reflective learners. (T)
- Satisfied with quality of teachers; teachers understand student strengths & needs. (P)
- Teachers regularly use formative assessment data and differentiated strategies to meet the learning needs of individual students. (T)
- Teachers are excited about the subjects and give valuable feedback (S).
- Teachers allow students to share opinions. (S)
Lastly, please continue to save these dates and join us for future ES Parent Engage sessions:
Nov. 26 – Virtual Parent Engage via Zoom – ES Community Virtual School Handbook @ 8AM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82240982806
Jan. 21 – Growing Readers – Selecting Just Right Books, Reading Progressions and Skills
Feb. 4 – Growing Mathematicians – Math Foundational Skills and Skill Progression to High Level Mathematics
Mar. 4 – Growing Innovators – Design, Technology and Engineering Skills in the ES
May 13 – Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Your partner in education,
Michael Allen
michaela@isb.ac.th
G5 Parent Partnership Session – Health & Wellbeing Unit Overview – November 19 @ 8AM, MPR
All G5 parents are invited to the “Health and Well-being” unit overview session for parents on Thursday, November 19th in the MPR. Come learn the unit content so you can better link learning to home. The purpose of the Health and Wellbeing unit is to provide knowledge and understanding of how the human body changes during puberty to prepare for human reproduction. The key aims of the G5 Health and Well-being unit are to:
- Assess personal health practices
- Investigate resources and strategies to manage changes and transitions associated with puberty
- Plan and practice strategies to promote health, safety and well-being
- Practice skills to establish and manage relationships
- Examine the influence of emotional responses on behavior and relationships
Links to “Always Changing and Growing Up” Video Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G57Suq7JpQE (boys)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1XJZ0xRSo (girls)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKfJ8w7XX6E (co-ed video)
The parent session is exclusively for parents of G5 students. If you are attending the parent information session on Thursday, November 19th @ 8AM in the MPR, please register here!
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 on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, from 8:15-9:45 a.m., for the workshop Raising Multilinguals How? Unlocking the World Through Language-Rich Experiences.
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! Please sign up here if you plan to attend. The workshop will be held in the MS/HS Library’s Literary Lounge, unless sign-ups require a larger room to meet physical distancing guidelines. If you have any questions, please write: nativelanguage@isb.ac.th
Festival of Lights: A Virtual Concert
This year, in order to meet a variety of needs and to satisfy safety measures, the elementary Festival of Lights concert (featuring the G3-5 Panther Choir, Orff Ensemble and String Ensemble) will be virtual. The concert will be shared with ensemble families on Wednesday, December 16th, with the ISB community on Thursday, December 17th, and with the ES student body on Friday, December 18th as part of our Festival of Lights Virtual assembly. On December 17th, please stay tuned for a special enews with a link to this beautiful celebration of holidays from around the world, presented through the singing, playing and dancing of our young musicians!
Panther Activities – Lego Class Cancelled on Thursday
Please note that Lego class on Thursday, November 12th is cancelled. Makeup class will take place on December 10th. Please contact ES Explore Coordinator Livnat Ziskinder with all your activities questions: esactivities@isb.ac.th
ISB Athletics – U11 Girls Soccer Space Available
We still have places available for girls in grade 3-5 for our U11 soccer program. Practices are on Monday and Thursday from 2:45-3:45. Contact Mark Jaspers (markj@isb.ac.th) if you want to register your daughter.
Upcoming U11 Boys & Girls Soccer Events
28 November – U11 Soccer tournament at NIST
5 December – U11 Girls Soccer Tournament at ISB (new date)
12 December – U11 Boys Soccer Tournament at ISB
For the latest information on games, please visit www.isbathletics.com
ES Cafeteria Menu
Please find the ES Cafeteria menu for next week linked here. Here is the menu for Kindergarten and here is the menu for Pre-Kindergarten.
November 26th Virtual Parent Engage via Zoom: Virtual School
The most current version of the ES Community Virtual School Handbook is linked here. Please see the details below and join us on Thursday, November 26 @ 8AM via Zoom for the ES Virtual Parent Engage Session focused on the key aspects of the ES Community Virtual School Handbook.
ES Virtual Parent Engage Session – ES Community Virtual School Handbook
Thursday, November 26 @ 8AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82240982806
Meeting ID: 822 4098 2806
BBSA Opening Day Ceremony – 10:30am November 14 Reinsch Field
Please join us at 10:30am on Saturday, November 14th for the BBSA Opening Day Ceremony to kick off Bangkok Baseball and Softball Association’s 70th annual season where we will dedicate the newly refurbished Reinsch Field in loving memory of Bill Reinsch and his decades long relationship with baseball and softball in Bangkok as well as ISB. Come early to catch the first games at 8:30am, or stay after for the later matches scheduled at 10:30am.
(Repeat) Reminder: Student Passport Information in Powerschool
We are six weeks away from winter break. Please check your passports to see when your visa expires and contact Khun Tang in the admissions office to renew your paperwork before December 11th. Limited resources are available after December 18, and five working days are needed to process documents. The school is closed from December 25-January 3.
Also, in order to ensure that thorough contact tracing can be conducted if necessary and ensure that schools are maintaining proper records, earlier this school year, Thailand’s Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) issued a directive to schools regarding the collection of passport or national ID numbers and other details (listed below) of community members, including students and staff.
In line with Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act, ISB would not disclose this information to any individual or organization for any purpose other than that designated by our legal obligation to the Government of Thailand.
Please ensure that one person from each family reviews and updates Powerschool with your student’s current demographic information.
NOTE: Passport issue date is a new required field.
Login to Powerschool Parent Portal> Contact/Passport Information
If you are unable to login to Powerschool or need assistance, contact: help@isb.ac.th
(Repeat) PARENT ACTION REQUIRED: Student Tracking of Student After School and Weekend Locations
All ES parents are required to login to Powerschool and update their journal for the week, listing locations visited outside school hours. All schools in Thailand are required by the Ministry of Education to have their students/parents keep and complete a daily journal of their whereabouts after school hours. Only 60 families have completed the needed ES PowerSchool form. ES secretaries will need to contact individual families who don’t complete the PowerSchool form, therefore we ask for your support in completing this important Covid-19 safety task each Sunday.
Logging into Powerschool, you will see a notification to update the Journal:
Each Sunday, complete the journal for the preceding week for each ES child. If you are having trouble accessing Powerschool or are unable to see your students in Powerschool, email ES Powerschool Secretary, Khun Tom <cholthis@isb.ac.th>
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.
Calendar of Events
November 2020
| Nov. 17 | Board of Trustees (BOT) Meeting 6:00 pm (MPB 1&2) |
| Nov. 19 | G5 Parent Partnership Session – Health & Wellbeing 8:00 am (ES MPR) |
| Nov. 19 | Staff Appreciation Cookie Day |
| Nov. 24 | Early Dismissal (1:10 pm) |
| Nov. 25 | Raising Multilinguals How? Unlocking the World Through Language-Rich Experiences 8:15 am (MS/HS Library’s Literary Lounge) |
| Nov. 26 | Virtual Parent Engage via Zoom – ES Community Virtual School Handbook @ 8AM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82240982806 |
| Nov. 27 | Black & Gold Day |