Virtual School Launches @ 10AM Monday
ES Virtual School will launch on Monday, January 10 @ 10AM with a Zoom Class Meeting hosted by your child’s homeroom teacher. Prior to 10AM your child’s teacher will share the Zoom link with you and your child via Seesaw. New families will also receive their child’s schedule with Zoom links via email.
Virtual School Enhancements for January 2022
As the second semester will begin virtually, we ask all parents to please refer to the ISB Virtual School resources on the ISB website for details: https://www.isb.ac.th/learning-isb/isb-virtual-school/
As you review the updated ES Virtual School Handbook for January 2022, you’ll see that the virtual school day continues to be from 8AM-1:30PM for students. The enhanced virtual school schedule now closely aligns with students’ on campus schedules. There continues to be a focus on small group core literacy and mathematics instruction with homeroom, EAL, and LS teachers and instructional assistants. In addition, students participate in World Language, Art, Music and PE classes daily according to their on campus schedules. To support families with multiple children, all KG-Grade 12 students share a common virtual school lunch time between 11:45am-12:30pm.
The ES Virtual School Handbook 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.
Attention New ES Families
iPad Distribution on Monday
For families who live in the Nichada Thani community, you are invited to pick up your child’s iPad from the security desk outside the school’s main gates any time after 11AM on Monday. For families who live outside of Nichada Thani, our Admissions team will be arranging for your child’s device to be delivered to you on Monday afternoon. Please join our Monday sessions via your own personal devices.
Virtual School Orientation Session @ 9AM Monday
Please join our ES Admin and Coaching team at 9AM on Monday, January 10 for an orientation to Virtual School. During this session you will be familiarized with the key components of our Virtual School program as well and an introduction to our core digital platforms and tools. Please join us using this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4732749923
New Family Parent Engage @ 7:45AM Thursday
Parents of new Elementary School students joining us for the second semester are invited to attend the New ES Parent Engage on Thursday, January 13 via Zoom. This is an opportunity for new families to connect and learn more about ISB. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4732749923
December 16, 2021 ES New Parent Orientation Recording Link
Thank you to our new families who were able to join us for the ES Semester II New Parent Orientation on December 16. If you are new to ISB and were unable to join the session with the ES principals and counselors, please find the session recording here. Note: At the time of recording, plans were to launch the new semester on campus.
Welcome Back!
Happy New Year to our ISB Elementary School families! We hope that your vacation has been restful and enjoyable. Also, a fond welcome to the new families who are joining our elementary school and ISB community.
Unfortunately, our new semester will not begin on campus as we hoped. The good news is that everyone at ISB is very familiar with Virtual School and we continue to update our procedures in the spirit of ongoing improvement. Detailed plans are in place to support our students’ ongoing learning and development!
Part of maintaining a healthy, active, and balanced life will be managing time on screens for students. Given that school will require a significant amount of screen time during Virtual School, we hope that families find ways to encourage other use of time outside of school “hours” during this period. Physical activity, time outside of the house, playing board games, and reading books can all help provide balance for children (and ourselves).
We also recommend setting up a clear workspace at home so that students can focus their attention on school work, but then also separate from it when disconnecting.
Finally and most importantly, Virtual School relies on students’ own engagement during Zoom classes to make the most of this learning time. Keeping them on-screen and actively participating during class, having a designated workspace, and avoiding distractions like phones and/or multi-tasking that might take their attention away from class time can all help ensure we maximize this learning time until we are all back in classrooms on campus.
Our strong home-school partnership is essential to student success at all times, and this is especially true during virtual school where students are engaged in Zoom sessions and learning tasks from home. We invite you to ask questions and seek clarification at any time as we work to support you while you support your child(ren)’s learning.
On behalf of all of us in the ES, our best wishes go out to everyone in our community who have been directly impacted by COVID these past few weeks; we wish you and/or your loved ones a speedy recovery.
Your partner in education,
Michael Allen, Ed.D.
michaela@isb.ac.th
ES Report Cards on PowerSchool
Semester 1 report cards are available via PowerSchool. We formally report on student learning twice each year (December and June). Please look over the report with your child, discussing strengths, areas for growth and goals. For technical support please email help@isb.ac.th.
End of Semester Report Cards are an essential part of our updated Communicating Student Learning beliefs found in our ES Parent/Student Handbook (page 61):
At ISB we believe that Communicating Student Learning empowers each student to understand, reflect on, and take ownership of their learning process as well as fosters the partnership between parents, students and teachers.
We define Communicating Student Learning as:
- Visibly documented evidence of learning growth over time for each child – knowledge, skills, attitudes and understandings.
- Guided by clearly communicated goals, expectations, feedback and reflection.
- Communicates student achievement in relation to grade level expectations at a given time.
- Transparency of ISB program and learning outcomes for stakeholders.
Check and Update Your Details in Powerschool Parent Portal
Many people move houses over the summer, details change (phone numbers etc). We are in the process of updating phone numbers, addresses and emergency contacts. Please take the time to login to Powerschool Parent Portal and check the details that ISB has on record. Please update if necessary. It is really important this information is accurate, as we use this in emergency situations.
Instructions
Step 1. Login to Powerschool
- If you are new, you should have received an email with your login details, if not please contact help@isb.ac.th
- If you have forgotten your password please contact cholthis@isb.ac.th
Step 2. At the bottom of the left hand menu click “Contact Update”. This information will then take a day or two to update (we manually check for accuracy).
If you have any questions or queries, contact cholthis@isb.ac.th
January 9, 12 & 16 ATK Testing
The ATKs must be administered on Sunday, January 9 as well as Wednesday, January 12 and Sunday, January 16 between 4:00pm and 8:00pm – with results uploaded on the ATK Form within that same timeframe. If you need assistance with the ATK Form, please write to help@isb.ac.th
ISB Technology Support
As school closed last semester, we sent home with students their iPads, charge cords, and other additional attachments (varies from grade level). If your child is missing a key piece of equipment, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher for support. If technical questions or issues arise during our time in Virtual School, please send an email to: help@isb.ac.th or call 02 963 5800 ext. 1151.