Congratulations! You and your child successfully navigated the first week of virtual school together!
While Virtual School can never fully replace in person learning here on campus, it’s been great to see how teachers and parents are working in partnership to ensure that the students’ virtual learning experiences are engaging and aligned with ISB learning objectives. Teams of grade level homeroom teachers and specialist teachers are working collaboratively to ensure that we offer a consistent and well-rounded education during this time of campus closure. While program offerings vary from grade level to grade level based on the age of the students and learning outcomes, students within the same grade level are receiving the same virtual school experience regardless of which classroom they are in thanks to the teamwork of our teachers.
The ISB Virtual School Guide for Parents pictured below is a great tool for you to reflect on as you support your child during this time of distance learning. While all the elements are essential I draw you attention to these three components:
Assess and Adapt – Be aware that this is a new environment for students and check in from time to time on how they are feeling.
Offset Screen time – Pay attention to how much screen time your child has and try to balance it as much as possible with other activities.
Ask for Support – Contact your child’s teachers or tech support if you have questions or need help.
Virtual school requires all of us to constantly assess the situation and adapt as needed. While all of us have had past virtual school experiences during the 2019-20 school year, virtual school continues to be new (unlike brick and mortar schools that have been in existence for centuries). Maintain a close partnership with your child’s teachers by sending a short note to your child’s teacher to share what’s been working well as well as ask for support with any challenges you might need to problem solve together.
I also encourage all families to be mindful of the amount of screen time their child has outside of the virtual school day. When students learn on campus, they are active, physically moving, and have very limited screen time throughout the school day, however this is not the same during virtual school. Therefore it’s very important to put the devices and screens away after school hours for students to engage in other activities…we can’t emphasize enough the importance of A LOT of ongoing physical activity while they are developing long-term healthy lifestyle skills!
Thank you again for your support and partnership during this first week of virtual school!
Your partner in education,
Michael Allen, Ed.D.
michaela@isb.ac.th
Link to the ES Community Virtual School Handbook
The ES Community Virtual School Handbook (linked here) includes detailed information about our contingency plans for continued learning when extraordinary events force a closure of the campus. ISB uses a combination of online tools and resources to keep student learning moving forward and keep students connected to their teachers and peers. Virtual School can never replace in person learning; however, we strive to ensure that virtual learning experiences are engaging, based on our learning objectives, and as meaningful as possible.
Virtual School Tips and Reminders
As we move into Week 2 of Virtual School, we offer the following important tips and reminders to best support our students:
- Zoom security is important, please follow this 90-second video to learn how to change student names on iPads so that teachers only admit names they recognize into the sessions.
- In Week 2, all teachers will share weekly schedules and Daily Learning Task Overviews with Zoom links via Seesaw Announcements. Check out this 3-minute video for details.
- Support your child in arriving to Zoom sessions on time. A late arrival can leave a student unaware of what’s happening for several minutes and/or be a distraction to the other learners if the teacher needs to pause the session.
- Work with your child to find a good learning space during Zoom; please avoid students sitting on a sofa, laying on the floor, or interacting with pets.
- Please reach out to teachers with questions via Seesaw or email; please do not communicate with ISB faculty via text messages, LINE or other non-ISB approved applications.
Virtual ES Parent Engage on Thursday, January 14 @ 2PM
ES Join us for our January 21st ES Parent Engage live on Zoom at 2PM! We will be previewing the big ideas of upcoming reading and writing units and offering practical strategies for how to support these concepts at home. The Parent Engage will include training on our digital book resources Epic and Sora!
ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4732749923
Counselors’ Corner
As we return to virtual school, our Counselors and ES Psychologist will have open Zoom office hours for parents at various times throughout the week. This is a venue for parents to drop in to ask questions, share concerns, or ask advice. Please note that this is optional. Also, please keep in mind this is a public forum and there may be other parents in the meeting room. If you would like to schedule a time to speak with any of us privately, please send an email and we can set something up. Our contact information, Zoom meeting links, and office hours are listed below.
Kate Kersey – PK1, KG, G1, and G2 Counselor
katek@isb.ac.th
Zoom Office Hours: Wednesdays from 2:00 – 2:45
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8142692734
Meeting ID: 814 269 2734
Passcode: espanthers
Doug Williamson – Gr. 3 – 5 counselor
douglasw@isb.ac.th
Zoom Office Hours: Wednesday’s from 10:00 – 10:40 a.m.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5764617863
Meeting ID: 576 461 7863
Passcode: espanthers
Matt Johnson – ES Psychologist/PK2 and KG (Swanlaw) Counselor
matthewj@isb.ac.th
Zoom Office Hours: Monday and Thursday from 10:00-10:30
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89969739043
Passcode: espanthers
Please feel free to reach out to any of us for support.
Kind Regards,
ES Counseling Team
A strong home-school partnership is always beneficial for students, and this is especially true during virtual school where parents are highly involved in supporting their child’s learning and success! The ES Community Virtual School Handbook (linked here) outlines our Parent Feedback Plan. Beginning the week of January 25th, teachers will be calling parents to talk about each child’s virtual school experience, problem-solve any issues that might be coming up, and collect feedback that may inform future virtual school enhancements. …there’s no need to wait for the call if you have a question or need support…reach out via email or Seesaw anytime!
ES Hub News
The ES Hub is open to parents during school school hours via scheduled appointments located in PowerSchool. Parents are welcome to book appointments to check out books for their family. Please note that only parents (not students) with a scheduled appointment are able to access campus during the campus closure.
ISB Native Language Academy
Virtual School is a great time to use native languages at home! Here are ISB’s Tips on Multilingual Learning at Home.
Also, check out Four Resources for Parents of Multilinguals.
Panther Native Language Academy classes will resume in February, online if necessary.
If you have questions, feel free to email:
NativeLanguage@isb.ac.th
PantherNativeLanguageAcademy@isb.ac.th
New Parent Orientation Recording Link
We are thrilled to welcome twentysix new ES students to ISB this semester! If you are a new family and were unable to attend the ES New Parent Orientation on Thursday morning, please find the link and passcode to the recording of the session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/BRUC9lthdlY7uBSoVGuBfyBxaSg3ZaHyc4QLJ_Z1oV-Uu4EhHID15h-mn3PtG8pY.8a6YS-IDHQge0eVp Passcode: cUWd#SV0
VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES @ ISB START NEXT WEEK!!!
As mentioned in last week’s message from ISB Athletics and Panther Activities, while campus is closed we will be offering daily after school Virtual Activities for students starting next week. January 18th-22nd. More information will be sent out Monday morning, January 18th with the what, where (Zoom links) and when. Questions? Contact Anthony Giles, Chris Mott, Lucas Rivera or Mark Jaspers at anthonyg@isb.ac.th, chrism@isb.ac.th, lucasr@isb.ac.th, or markj@isb.ac.th.
JOIN THE VIRTUAL PANTHER RUN JANUARY 25th-31st!!!
Virtual Panther Run
GOAL
To get as many members of the ISB community running in this event as possible (3km or 5km).
You will receive a link on Monday 25 January where you can submit your time optional photos or videos.
You can run anywhere you like, but we will also share some route options with you too.
AWARDS
Top 3 Fastest runners in each Division (with GPS Data proof only)
Fun awards (e.g. Best Panther dress-up, 25th finisher 50th finisher, 100th finishers etc.)
Complete the run at any time between 25-31 January but remember to stay safe and practice physical distancing!
Register HERE to participate, and then run anywhere you like, or use one of our suggested 3K or 5K routes anytime between January 25th-31st. Awards will be given to the top three runners in each division (w/GPS data proof only), as well as for best Panther dress-up, and the 25th, 50th, and 100th finishers!!! Questions? Contact Mark Jaspers at markj@isb.ac.th.
PARENT ACTION REQUIRED: Student Tracking Locations
Even during VS, 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.
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>
HELP@ISB.AC.TH
(Repeat) 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 image
- 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.