Early Dismissal – Wednesday May 24, 2023
All ISB students will be dismissed at 1:10pm on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. On Early Dismissal Days, school buses will leave ISB at 1:20 p.m. Early Dismissal Days allow faculty members and administrators to collaborate and further their professional learning.
Weekly Message from Principal Allen
Next week, Grades 2-5 MAP results will be available to parents via PowerSchool, and on Thursday, June 1st I’ll host a parent session to dive deeper into the assessment and address any questions. MAP and standardized test results are an essential part of our Communicating Student Learning beliefs found in our ES Parent/Student Handbook (page 61) and copied below for easy reference.
Note that MAP is one of multiple assessment pieces that our teachers use to monitor student growth and determine next steps in learning. Children do not all learn in the same way, so any standardized assessment needs to be viewed only in conjunction with a range of other learning data. We get the most accurate picture of a student’s progress by using a variety of learning evidence including everyday ongoing assessments, learning conversations with students, and ongoing formative assessment (assessment that helps us design more appropriate subsequent learning experiences).
MAP measures your child’s achievement level compared to other students who have taken this test, and measures academic growth over time in the areas of mathematics and reading. The test does not cover all academic skills, nor does it cover such areas as physical, artistic, or interpersonal skills. Parents will gain a more complete picture of student performance by looking at this test along side a variety of classroom work samples and other assessments over a period of time.
The people who create and score these tests do not know each child the way teachers do and certainly not the way you do. They do not know that your child speaks two or more languages fluently. They do not know that your child can play a musical instrument or that he/she can dance or paint. They do not know that your child writes poetry or songs, plays or participates in sports, wonders about the future, or that sometimes he/she takes care of a little brother or sister after school. They do not know that your child has traveled to fascinating places around the world or that he/she knows how to tell a great story or that he/she really loves spending time with special family members and friends. They do not know that your child acts with integrity and can be trustworthy, compassionate or thoughtful, and that he/she tries, every day, to his/her very best…the MAP scores will tell you something, but do keep in mind that they will not tell you everything.
Your partner in education,
Michael Allen
MichaelA@isb.ac.th
Communicating Student Learning – From pg.61 ES Parent/Student Handbook
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.
Our system of communicating student learning provides a framework of communication and collaboration that fosters passionate, reflective thinking and behaviors so that all students reach their full learning potential.
Air Quality Seminar
May 24th @ 7:45am
ISB will be hosting an Air Quality Seminar on May 24th at 7:45 am in the MPB 1, hosted by the ISB health clinic, Risk Management office and Elementary School. Topics discussed will include the measurement of pollutants, current response guidelines, and measures schools and parents can take to reduce the impact of air pollution on our children and community members.
Please join our seminar to hear valuable updates and information on the situation in Bangkok and to put forward any questions and concerns you have. We will also send out a form for you to give us questions in advance, to ensure we try and cover all topics.
Please register using the form.
TCK Parent Talk Slides
Thank you to the parents that were able to attend the Parent Talk on TCK’s on Monday, facilitated by ES Counselor Kathy Manu. It was a meaningful discussion and certainly one to be continued next year. The slides guiding the conversation can be found here – the last slide includes books that are great for those interested in diving into this topic more.
PANTHER FAMILIES LEAVING
We cordially invite you to join us on Thursday, May 25th for an interactive discussion about transitions and how to leave Thailand well. We’ll also discuss how to arrive at your next destination well, whether it be a return home or another chapter in your international life and travels. It’s such a complicated time in your students’ (and probably your) lives, and we have a few ideas to share. We will also make space for our parent participants to share their own experience and to help each other make the transition a healthy one for you and yours.
We hope that you can make it on the 25th at 1:00 p.m. in MPB3 for an hour of learning and sharing positive transition next steps. The session will be facilitated by Shannon Leoni and Frank Sambula. Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you on the 25th!
Kindergarten Book Sale!
Our Annual Kindergarten Book Sale will take place this year on Friday, May 26th.
Here is how you can help….Please take a look and see if you have YOUNG CHILDREN’S BOOKS (Pre-K to second grade) that are ready to be reused by another young reader. We are collecting books in the KG Quad and outside the ES Office.
This book sale is our way of contributing to the community through service. The kindergarten students will be in charge of most of it. They sort the books, set up the selling space, handle the money, and take care of advertising.
All of the money we collect will go to the Bumble Bee Free Library. Thanks for your support!
MAP Results Update & June 1 Parent Session
April/May 2023 MAP testing results will be available on May 26 via PowerSchool for students in Grades 2-5. Please follow the steps below to access the MAP results:
- Log on to PowerSchool (shown below)
- Click on Grade and Attendance on the left side (as seen in gray highlighted)
- Copy password (label in red) to open MAP results
Within this PDF you will find very detailed information regarding our MAP assessments and explanations of the scores from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA).
The ES Principals will host a “Parent Introduction to MAP” on Thursday, June 1 @ 7:45AM in MS Skybox, 3rd Fl. Please join us to learn more about the MAP assessment or have your questions addressed.
Poki.com
We have reviewed a popular gaming site that a few ES students had been accessing and after careful review, we have deemed it inappropriate for ES students. This site contains a few games that have violence, nudity and mature content. This was supported by reviews on Common Sense Media which deemed it appropriate for 14+. We have now blocked the site at school. We encourage you to carefully monitor sites students may be accessing at home and if you are unsure about appropriate games or TV shows, most sites are reviewed on Common Sense Media. Safe alternative sites include: PBS kids, National Geographic Kids We also encourage you to view our “Parenting in a Post-Covid World” from our Parent Engage on Nov 3rd. for further resources and support.
ES Music Shares are Coming!
This year, Music Shares will take place May 29-June 15! This is an opportunity for students to prepare music, drama, or dance performances to share with an audience of parents and their peers. Students are invited to perform a 2 to 3 minute piece that they have prepared outside of music class to share with their class. All Music Shares will be held in Mrs. Wong’s ES Music room, 4-115.
For more information, you can find the full schedule and sign-up form HERE!
Water Bottles Reminder
In accordance with our updated Recess Guidelines previously communicated please be sure, your child has their water bottle each day. To ensure that students have access to sufficient hydration during recess, we ask that you send your student to school with a full water bottle, labeled with their name. Students will refill their water bottles prior to the start of recess and be encouraged to drink at least four cups of water per day. Additionally, a mandatory structured hydration break will be implemented after 15 minutes of outside play during especially hot days.
Nut-Free @ISB’s campus
We ask parents to remember that ISB’s campus is nut-free and snacks from home should be as well. With a diverse population many of our students have severe allergies to nuts and nut-containing products, so this measure helps reduce occurrences from accidental exposure. For inquiries, please reach out to the ISB Health Center.
Important HUB End of Year Dates
Please note the student end of year dates below.
As an aside, it would be kind if you return ALL unused materials to the HUB/Bookroom ASAP, this helps us to inventory and catalog items before the end of the year:-)
How to search our ES HUB collection from home
Dear ISB community. A reminder that our ES HUB website is available with many resources used by our school along with a link to our school library catalog! Access our website for the latest book reviews, announcements and other resources available to our ES IBS community. Please enjoy our community resources!
ES Cafeteria Menu
Please find the Pre-K – G5 ES Cafeteria menu for next week linked here, and here is the menu for Allergy Free.
Summer School registration – classes filling up…
Dear Parents,
Our Summer School dates are Monday, June 19th to Friday, July 7th.
One seat left for the PreK2 class. Grades 2 and 3 are almost full.
You can get more specific information about each camp, our regular summer school academic program, tuition fees, the sign-up process, etc, HERE.
Swim for Sharks
Dear ISB community,
We are Gemmi, Jenis, Nane, and Kate from 7th grade. Earlier this year, a group of 7th graders went to Krabi to learn about shark protection and conservation with Shark Guardians, a dedicated organization focused on saving sharks. You can see our trip video here.
After our trip, a group of us decided that we would like to help Shark Guardians by spreading the word through swimming. We thought about doing a “Swim 4 Sharks” event to allow people to have fun while raising awareness about this topic. We will be hosting this event in the form of a fun swimming event on the 24th of May. 3:45-5pm at the 50m ISB pool. The entry fee is 200 baht per person, and all proceeds will go straight to shark guardians. You can swim as a group or individually; the goal is to make it to 3.4km and making the goal will get you (and your team) a certificate! It’s totally fine if you don’t have a group yet, just join and we can make modifications to the groups at the pool if needed. There will be plenty of groups looking for people to join them. It is meant to be a fun (non-competitive) community event for all ages to bring people together, learn about sharks, and help support shark conservation.
Attached below is the signup form if you are interested, we hope to see you there!
Sign up form
Sincerely,
Gemmi, Jenis, Nane, and Kate
Legs 4 Legs 2023 – Join us! Tues, May 23rd
Join us at 3:30pm Tuesday, May 23rd in the CCT to raise awareness for the Thailand Prosthesis Foundation featuring amazing talents from ES, MS, HS and adult performers! 200THB suggested donation.
The Harvard Krokodiloes with ISB Tenors & Basses
Join us on Wednesday May 31st on the outdoor stage at 10:30 (Middle School Lunch) for a performance by The Harvard Krokodiloes with a special appearance by our own tenors and basses.