Tue 29 September, Nuts and Bolts Presentation and Teacher Performance Rubric

Dear colleagues,

Please find the Tuesday 29 September Nuts&Bolts meeting presentation about reporting and conferencing here.

Tankyuu, Teacher Performance Rubric, most relevant to teachers who are in their summative year of the evaluation cycle.

3-Way-Conference Sharing

In the Tuesday 29 September morning meeting Heikki requested the faculty to share their conferencing practices via a google document. We are hoping that by sharing the different practices we all will have a clear picture what happens in different classrooms those two days. Thank you for your collaboration. You can find the document for sharing here.

New reading resources to come and see!

If you are curious to see what the new reading units of study look like (now in book format) please come down to the office to take a look!
We have ordered only one set for all teachers to preview.  This is yet another resource that can support us in writing our own units of study for reading. Please take note that some of these units might be quite different than the units you have planned (from dropbox) and are teaching this year.

We will leave all books in the office this week to give everyone a chance to have a look. After that, they can be checked out at anytime!

Progress Report Writing for the 19th October, 2015

Progress reports are due on the 19th October.
Please find the current expectations and more detailed guide here.
Grade Book is open for teachers to complete the reports already.

Report entails the following information:
General comment
 How the school has started.
 Please add one sentence per subject
(Heikki's apologies for the miscommunication in the Tuesday 29 September morning meeting.)

Commitment to Learning Grade for all Self-Management and Social Skills

Unit of Inquiry
Comment on the first unit of inquiry.
Length: one paragraph
Achievement Grade on
Conceptual Understanding
Research Skills
Thinking Skills

Mathematics:
Achievement Grade on
Number (always)
Problem-solving (always)
Current strand (as agreed in the grade level)
No comment

Literacy:
Listening and Reading Comprehension (Always)
Writing Content (Always)
Conventions (Always)
Current strand (as agreed in the grade level)
No comment

Japanese
Achievement Grade
Commitment to Learning Grade
Comment if necessary

Art/Music/PE
Commitment to Learning Grade
No achievement grade
No comment

Learning Support and ESOL
Participates to the writing of general comment of the student
LS and ESOL teachers check the grading and comments to ensure that we are not contradicting
IEP, Action Plan or best practice in our Support Services.

Weekly Update Sept 28

Dear Elementary School colleagues,

Below you can find some of the highlights of the week. We want to emphasize that the following list is not a full representation of the week as there is always so much going on in every classroom. This reflects more the areas where the ES leadership team was directly involved. So the past week brought us a meeting where the grade 3-5 teams discussed how to best interpret our first MAP assessment results with the leadership of Stephen Taylor; launching our Word Work research; developing and sharing tools and strategies for positive and effective classroom and transition management in support of some of our students in both grades 1 and 2; sharing the positive experiences of student daily life in Pre-K/KA with parents; the first ES parent coffee meeting including Growth Mindset for parents and opportunity to share some wonderings around the ES school life, and finally a Parent Partnership Program meeting. Furthermore, again past week, Heikki continued his learning from the ES faculty members in the listening conferences. 

Supervision

12:15-12:40 Cafeteria	12:25-12:55 Playground	12:25-12:55 Playground
Karen	Jerome	Saiko

Tuesday 29 Septeber, Morning Faculty Meeting at 7:55-8:25

Reminding and informing faculty about the process of Writing Progress Reports and conducting Three-Way-Conferences. Please note that this meeting is voluntary basis.

Wednesday 30 September, Professional Learning and Collaboration Time 2:40-4:30
 link to schedule

2:40-3:40 (MPR) Learning Support and ESOL in the Elementary School

3:40 - 4:30 Team Planning

Thursday 1 October, Assembly at 11:30 - 12:00

Program as of now:

ES Drama Teaser - Tyoko-san and Kevin-san, 5 minutes

Song (Gr 1-5) - Satsuki-san ,  3 minutes

Rice Drive - Jenny-san - 3 minutes?

Go Noodle - Smart Start Team 3 minutes

Japanese song (Gr 3) Emi-san, 3 minutes

Principal Announcement - 2 minutes

Birthday video - Yoshiko-san - 10 minutes

Coordinators meetings

ES Team Planning Meeting schedule

In and around the school this week:
Mon 28th- Tech Talk (3:30 library)
Mon 28th- ES Leadership Half Day Meeting (12:00-4:00 ECR)
Tue 29th - Faculty Meeting on Progress Reports and Conferences (7:55-8:25)
Wed 30th- MAPS Parent Education Session (8:30 MPR)
Thurs 1st- ES Assembly (11:30 Theatre)
Friday 2nd- Hosting MS Boys Baseball Tournament (WJAA)

Future Dates:
9 October: ES Soccer Tournament 
12-13 October: Sports Day
16 October: Running Record Data (K-5)
16-17 October: ES Drama Production
19 October: Progress Reports

The Next Elementary School Assembly, 1st of October

This is an invitation for announcements and performances in the next ES Assembly on the 1st of October at 11:15-12:00.

We are looking for the following:
- MCs (Leadership Club? or other students who can step into the role)
- Sharing of student learning: (Students sharing their thought processes, questions, reflections etc. Also could be video or Photos?)
- Birthday video: - confirmed, Yoshiko-san
- Musical, art, dramatic or dance, exhibition/performances:
- Message from the Principal - confirmed (Observations from student learning, use of cafeteria, playground and library, rainy day recesses, good manners etc)
- Smart Start - announcement or little GoNoodle?
- Any announcements (from faculty or students):

Please, let Heikki or Yuko-san know, who would like to perform and we will organize a small audition and practice session before the assembly.

Weekly update, Tuesday 22 September

Dear colleagues,
We wish you all a wonderful long weekend. Please make sure that you will have the opportunity to catch your breath and enjoy the promised sunny days. We are well on our way in the school year, and things are running very smoothly and students are engaged, inspired and committed to the learning skillfully designed by all of you. The hard work, commitment and perseverance from the faculty pays off the longer the school year progresses, and we will be confidently meeting the learning targets we have set for the students and ourselves as educators. Also, we are approaching the progress reporting time and the first conferences; marking another milestone in the school year.

Trevor returned to school from his training in Singapore and has a plenty of good energy and fresh thoughts to share. Kim has been supporting the teachers to meet the literacy goals and ensuring heightened comfort level with the workshop model as well as planning for the exploration of Word Work. Heikki's listening conferences are still going on but already have helped him to develop a better picture of the Elementary School.

Playground Supervision

12:15-12:40 Cafeteria	12:25-12:55 Playground	12:25-12:55 Playground
Jay	Resham	Suki

Wednesday PD, Collaboration and Meeting Schedule

2:40-3:30 (MPR) Balanced Literacy: Inquiry into Word Work

3:30 - 4:30 Collaborative Planning link to schedule

Coordinators meetings

Literacy meetings will continue as per ES Team Planning Meeting schedule. 

Collab meetings with Trevor will follow the schedule. Homeroom teachers will begin planning for their second units of inquiry. 

In and around the school this week:
Wed-Thu 23-24th: Grades 3-5 Health Screening

Wed 23rd: Parent Coffee: Introduction of Growth Mindset + Q&A with the Principal

Wed-Fri  23-25: Middle School students and teachers on fall trip

Future Dates:
28 September: ES Leadership Half Day Meeting 12:00-4:00
12-13 October: Sports Day
16 October: Running Record Data (K-5)
16-17 October: ES Drama Production
19 October: Progress Reports

Learning Support Reminder

The Learning Support team is working hard to support the diverse learner population at CA. We want our services to be specific, effective and timely. Therefore, teacher input is key for ensuring success. 

For the SST meetings:

• Please, ensure timely input of information on SST forms.
• Specialist teachers attendance to the SST meetings is highly recommended

For further information, please do not hesitate contact either Aimee or Rose.

Thank you for your collaboration!

In Case of Rainy mornings

Dear colleagues,

As we seem to be having many rainy mornings and days, it may important to clarify some of the procedures.

During the rainy mornings, grades 1 - 3 are in the ELAC gym and grades 4 -5 in the Main gym with the supervising assistants.

The ELAC students start in the Multipurpose room on a rainy day.
Pre-K parents are asked to stay with their children until 8:25.

Occasionally, to avoid unnecessary transitions we may send the students directly to classrooms e.g. when it starts raining in the last few minutes before school start.

Hopefully, this will help you with the logistics in the morning.
Let's hope for more sunny days!

Weekly Update Sept 14th

Dear colleagues,
Thank you for your commitment and hard work the past week. We would like to say special thank you to everyone who supervised and supported the supervision of the indoor recesses on those rainy days. It can be difficult for students to let the steam out appropriately without having access to the playground. Let's hope we have a sunny week ahead of us. Let's have a great week!

Playground Supervision

12:15-12:40 Cafeteria	12:25-12:55 Playground	12:25-12:55 Playground
Satsuki	Jeff	Garrett

MAPS testing (grades 3,4,5)

Sept 14-16

Sept 17-18 catch-up dates

Schedule

Instructions 

Troubleshooting & Official Tips

Wednesday PD, Collaboration and Meeting Schedule
The School-Wide Leadership Team has worked on the Wednesday meeting schedule. The focus of the work has been to divide the time between items related to the school's operational plan, section wide needs and collaborative planning. As you will notice, we haven't mapped out all the meetings after Winter Holiday. This is to give time for Kim, Trevor and Heikki to work together with the faculty and decide how to use the time effectively in the spring.
Please, find the schedule for Wednesday meetings here and in the blogger sidebar for your future reference.

Coordinators meetings

Literacy meetings will continue as per ES Team Planning Meeting schedule. Trevor will be away until Friday.

In and around the school this week:
Monday, Sept 14th- Tech Talk
Tuesday, Sept 15- Book-club Launch
Thursday, Sept 17- Orientation to Reading/Writing workshop (for anyone new to workshop)

Future Dates:
21 September: No school
23 September: Parent Coffee: Introduction Growth Mindset + Q&A
12-13 October: Sports Day
16 October: Running Record Data (K-5)
16-17 October: ES Drama Production
19 October: Progress Reports

Wednesday PD Evaluation Meeting

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to say a big thank you for your time, thinking and ideas at Wednesday's PD Meeting. Here is a link to the presentation. Here is the link to the PYP Action Plan doc that we reviewed. We have read the feedback and responded to the comments.

Thank you as well to all those who have begun entering their qualifications and sending their class timetables. Please send the information by next Friday. 

Evaluation To-do List

1. Purposeful Displays

- in-class: relevant

- hallways: connected Make sure to put how it connects to student learning.

2. Send in Class Weekly Schedules/Timetables

3. Visit Schedule: Trevor will contact everyone to confirm a time.

4. Sharing units: Choose a current unit - UOI#1 or #2 ie. easiest to talk about

5. Personal info - Chart 2 Staff training & Qualifications

6. Display your class Essential Agreements

Here are the Learner Profile and Attitude connections that we brainstormed for the Evaluation. We will revisit these at our last information session on Tuesday Nov 3 morning meeting before the visit on Nov. 9, 10 and 11.

Inquirers: commitment and creativity

Balanced: confidence

Communicators: cooperation and empathy

Thinkers: creativity, commitment, confidence (students)

Running Record Data

 KB- G5 teachers,

In order to best consider our community of readers, we ask that a formal running record be taken and recorded for each student by October 16th, 2015.

Running record data should be put into the Running Record spreadsheet  2015/16 for all students K-5.


Please refer to the following support documents if needed:
How to take PM Benchmark running records 
Where to find Resources

Personal Preparation Kit for emergency

Dear colleagues,

Just to remind you. Please, ensure that every student will have their Personal Preparation Kit for emergencies at school. Thank you for being so persistence if that is already the case.
Have a great week!

Weekly Update, Monday 7 September

Weekly update has the following highlights:

Playground Supervision

12:15-12:40 Cafeteria	12:25-12:55 Playground	12:25-12:55 Playground
Emi	Shunsuke	Kaho

Photo days
Class specific schedule for photo taking sessions can be found here.
Faculty, individual photos: Wed 9, Thurs 10, Fri 11 Sept from 12:00-4:00.

Trevor will be away
Trevor is our from 11 to17 September. He will be attending the IBEN (ib Educators Network) training in Singapore.

Good morning with donuts and Coffee in the ES office
Please come by on Tuesday at 8:00 am.

Meetings with coordinators
Meetings will take place according to the schedule

Wednesday Meeting

2:35-3:35 (MPR) Programme Evaluation Focus 

3:35- 4:30 Collaborative Planning

Around the school this week:

Monday 7th Tech Talk

Tuesday 8th Life Drawing Lessons by Laura Dortmans

Future dates:

14-16 Sep	MAP testing Gr 3-5
17-18 Sep	MAP catch-up dates
23 Sep	Parent Coffee
12-13 Oct	Sports Day
16 Oct	Running Record Data (K-5)
16-17 Oct	ES Drama Production
19-20 Oct	Progress Reports

Learning Support

Dear colleagues,

Learning Support

• Please review your Action Plans (AP) and Individual Educational Plans (IEP) for those students in the Learning Support program. If you have any questions please come and talk with Aimee or Rose in S301.
• Reminder: during MAPS there is no LR push-in support during testing times.

Thank you

Dear colleagues,

Thank you all for the professional, engaging and inspiring presentations during the Back to School Night! The aim of the night is to build a positive partnership with parents, inform about our educational values and practices as well as engage parents with their child's learning. We believe that the goal was met incredibly well and that the presentations provided the parents a clear and reassuring picture of their children's life at school.

Again, thank you for your preparation and hard work!

Covering transportation cost - Field trips

Dear colleagues,

Just to clarify how the school addresses field trip transportation costs.
We will continue to cover the bus costs for most of the field trips as long as we have money left in the budget. 

However, the following trips will be covered by the parents:
- Skating in Port Island
- Grade 4 trip to IKUNO - visiting Japanese School
- Grade 5 overnight trip

In case the transportaion cost of a trip will be substantially higher than usual, we may consider asking parent contribution.

Photo Days

• ES Students
• Wed 9 Sept, Thurs 10 Sept,  from 8:40-11:20
• Fri 11 Sept from 8:40-9:00 and 10:20-11:00

• Faculty
• Wed 9, Thurs 10, Fri 11 Sept from 12:00-4:00.

• Parent helpers

• Parent helpers will provide support in organising students, passing identification documents to students etc.
• Rob Smailes will liaise with PTA to organise the parent helpers.
• Two parents will come for each of the following sessions:
• Wed 9 Sept  8:00-11:20
• Thurs 10 Sept  8:00-11:20

• Communication
• Parents were sent a general eNotify informing the photo days.
• ES Office will send the detailed grade level schedule to the parents on Tuesday, 1 September

Class specific schedule for photo taking sessions can be found here.

Refreshments during Back to School Night

Just for your information, faculty is invited to enjoy the refreshments together with parents in the BBT during the BTSN at 19:10-19:40. The refreshements include water, cookies, coffee/tea.

Learning Support Assistants and BTSN

Dear colleagues,

LSAs are not required to come in for the BTSN. Therefore, it would be great if teachers would introduce them as classroom assistants and show perhaps a picture of them during the presentation.
Thank you.