Weekly Update, Monday 1 February, 2016

Dear colleagues,

The ES Leadership Team has been reading report card comments this weekend and teachers have been receiving feedback and corrections, and we will work hard to ensure that you all receive feedback by Tuesday the latest. We are asking your final effort and cooperation to get them corrected and finalized by Wednesday. We need a couple of days for uploading the report cards to the PowerSchool for parents by Friday. This time, the report cards are initially provided digitally. Should parents want a printed version of the report card, they can approach the ES office from the 15th of February onwards. We are all ready to move on to the next semester with full force now. We wish you an inspiring and energetic week ahead.

Supervision:                                                                                           Link to Master schedule

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40
Week	Cafeteria Tables	Playground	Playground	Healthy lunch guide in the cafeteria line
2/1/2016	Kim	Trevor	Kae	Not applicable at the moment

Assembly

The next assembly will be on February 23 at 11:00.

This assembly is connected to the Pink Shirt Day originated in the Secondary School and coordinated between the counselors in both sections. Further information will follow.

Building Professional Capital:

Workshops and Conferences

Articles and Chapters

False Growth Mindset (Carol Dweck)

“In the wake of the many exciting research results, educators became increasingly interested in promoting a growth mindset among their students. This was extremely gratifying. To see some of the great successes was even more gratifying. However, I slowly became aware that not all educators understood the concept fully.”

Click here to read more

Coordinator's Meetings

Link to ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

• Kim/Trevor on lunch duty (will not attend lunch meetings)
• Other meeting are as scheduled.

Wednesday Professional Learning and Faculty meeting time                    

14:40 ES Action Plan - Draft 2

15:30 Initial comittee meetings: Recess Supervision, Math R&D

Collaborative planning (those who are not participating the committee work)

Link to Wednesday Professional Learning Schedule

This Week 1 - 5 February, 2016

Monday, Tech Talk, PTA hosted Alice Wisler's Workshop

Tuesday ,

Wednesday, Professional Learning - faculty meeting

Thursday, PTA meeting

Friday, Report Cards open for parents in digital form, School Wide Leadership Team Meeting, ES Leadership Team Meeting

Future Dates:

February 5, Report Cards open to parents

Feb 8-10 Inquiry and Student Centered Learning Workshop with Tania Lattanzia.

Feb 10 Inquiry Parent Coffee with Tania Lattanzio

Feb 11 PD Day (Program TBA soon)

Feb 12-14 Long Weekend

Feb 15 Printed versions of the report cards available

Feb 23 ES Assembly

Feb 29th- Running Records due in system

Invitation to the Math R&D Committee!

Dear Colleagues,

Do you believe in improving the math teaching and learning experience at CA? The time has come to move forward with the development of our approach and practice. We are looking to establish a core group of teachers who are interested in, or feel passionate about Math.

As an R&D committee, our first priority will be to look in-depth at what research says is best practice in Math. Second, we will look at pedagogy and how we can best teach it. Third, we will look for resources. Finally, there is no finally. Once the R&D Committee establishes a core math program in the first round of the process, the committee will continue following, growing, investigating, and trialing new approaches to continually develop our program.

To tempt your thinking, take a moment to watch this: How to learn math: Jo Boaler and her students

If you are interested in joining the Math R&D committee, please contact Trevor.

Soup Kitchen: Coordinators needed

We are looking for one or two ES Soup Kitchen Coordinators for next year. It's a rewarding and fun job!

Duties include the following:

* Find 2-3 ES kids that would like to attend each time ( chaperone those kids and parents if they come) Hours are around 9:30-12:30 on Saturdays.

* CA does it 2-4 times a year

* We usually take turns going and Jenny Shirota also helps with the MS, so we just make sure that one of us is attending

* Help the HS Coordinators with the rice drive by making signs

* Sometimes make announcements/share the experience at the ES assemblies about the rice drive/soup kitchen.

If you have any questions or would like to check it out on Feb. 27th, please contact Jenny or Resham.

We really hope to keep this running as it's a great experience for the students and a real form of "Action."

Inquiry and Student Centred Learning with Tania Lattanzio

Hi Everyone,

Congratulations on completing all the report card comments! Now that we have a little more head space, we would like to officially announce the PD with Tania Lattanzio on February 8, 9 and 10.  Tania Lattanzio is an experienced international educator. Previously a teacher, coordinator, and manager with the International Baccalaureate, she is now Director of Innovative Global Education(IGE). In this role she works as a consultant extensively in Asia Pacific and in other parts of the world. A passionate educator Tania works closely with educational institutions to specifically meet their needs in supporting school reform, making significant shifts in pedagogy and curriculum in both local and international settings.

Our purpose is to expand our existing knowledge of inquiry and student-centred instruction while working towards the strategies set out in our Action Plan. Within the visit schedule, we have tried to make planning sessions for all grade groups and for specialists with Tania. In addition, there will be three labsites/demonstration lessons which everyone is encouraged to attend - KB, G3 and G5. Please check the draft schedule to make sure the times allotted for your teaching teams are correct and to see the flow of the workshop over the three days. For those teams requiring cover, I will speak to those teams individually. Please contact Trevor with any feedback on the schedule.

There will be three big events during the visit. We will have a whole staff introduction to the workshop on Monday morning, a Parent Coffee on Wednesday morning, and a full staff inquiry workshop during the Wednesday PD session.

Weekly Update, Monday 25 January

Dear Elementary School colleagues,

I am sure many of you have spent the past week working on your report-card-contributions. I hope that you already see the light in the tunnel and after Monday we can start focusing on teaching and learning with all our energy. Peta is looking forward to working with the Grade 5 students and the teaching team. Thank you to all for making her settling in for the short term assignment as smooth as possible. The week itself looks busy with author visit, emergency drill, many teams, and student related meetings and maybe you would like to check out the singers from Princeton University on Thursday.

Enjoy your week!

Supervision:                                                                Link to Master Schedule

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40
Week	Cafeteria Tables	Playground	Playground	Healthy lunch guide in the cafeteria line
1/25/2016	Celia	Toyoko	Jenny	Not applicable at the moment

Announced Lock Down Drill Tuesday 26 at 10:30.
Fruit salad, coffee/tea available in the ES office on Tuesday 26 from 8:00 onwards

• Acknowledging the completion of Report Card Writing
• Saying hello to Peta Henshelwood, Gr 5 teacher

Playground Supervision Review Committee - Invitation

Library Afternoon Use

Guidelines for the afternoon use of the library

Report Cards - Grows and Glows

From the fresh memory, please share your Grows and Glows on report card writing this time.

The feedback will be extremely helpful in deciding on the scope and timing of the report card development.

Building Professional Capital:
Workshops and Conference
PYP East Asian Network Meeting: (PYPEAN): Trevor will attend the PYPEAN annual meeting at BIFS International School in Busan, Korea on Monday and Tuesday. He will be meeting with coordinators and principals from PYP schools from Korea and Japan and collaborating on curriculum projects happening within the network.

Articles and Chapters

• Becoming a Math Person
• Making Thinking Visible:

Make this week's challenge to expand your use of thinking routines.

For example Music class (Hear, Think, Wonder), Early Learning (Touch, Think, Wonder) through the use of a mystery bag, Science class (Smell*, Think, Wonder) *safely. Thinking routines can be used for all grade levels in all subject areas! ‪#‎makingthinkingvisible

Coordinator's Meetings

Link to ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

• Trevor will not be able to participate in the planning meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday Professional Learning and Faculty meeting time                    

14:40

• Consolidation of Learning with Matt Glover/building conferring kits (for classroom and ESOL teachers, and for anyone who is interested)

15:30

• Exhibition Meeting G5 Teachers and specialists

• Collaborative planning

Link to Wednesday Professional Learning Schedule

This Week

Monday 25th January, Deadline for Report Card Writing

Tuesday 26th January, fruit and coffee for breakfast, Lockdown drill, ES Student Services Meeting, Grade 5 Parents Meet&Greet Peta

Wednesday 27th January, Parenting Workshop, Visiting Author

Thursday 28th January, Princeton FootNotes - concert, Visiting Author

Friday 29th January, Author Visit, ES Leadership Meeting

Future Dates:

February 5, Report Cards open to parents

Feb 8-10 Inquiry and Student Centered Learning Workshop with Tania Lattanzia.

Feb 10 Inquiry Parent Coffee with Tania Lattanzio

Feb 11 PD Day (Program TBA soon)

Feb 12-15 Long Weekend

Playground Supervision Review Committee

Dear colleagues,

As the report cards will be done soon, it is time to look into the Playground Supervision. Although the ES action plan hasn't been fully designed for the next two years. Based on conversations and feedback received on the Action Plan, the playground supervision was clearly and area needing attention with timely fashion. Therefore, Heikki felt that there is a need to move on with this one swiftly. The overall goal is to achieve a shared understanding of the playground expectations for both supervising adults and of course for the students.
Heikki would like to invite a group of faculty members (3-5 people)representing ELAC, Grades 1-3 and 4-5 to create protocols for the following:

Expectations for student behavior on the playground during recesses
- Language
- Fair play/soccer
- Rough play
- Inclusive play
- etc.
Playground expectations for teacher supervision:
- Supervision Kit
- Supervision areas
- Accidents and emergencies
- Preventing conflicts
- Intervening conflicts
- Promoting student directed resolution models
- etc.
Expectations for using playground equipment
- Climbing area/equipment
- Sand and water areas
- football pitches
- borrowing toys and balls from the shed
- etc.
Suggested Process:
- Collecting areas of concerns regarding playground and recesses from faculty
- Creating a draft protocols for feedback
- Making a final decision on the protocols and implementation timeline
- Implementation
- This committee will be lead by Heikki

Please let Heikki know by Friday 29, January if you would like to join the committee.

The Exhibition 2016!

Hi Everyone,

The Tuning-in Phase for the Exhibition began last week with the purpose of activating students' prior knowledge. We have started one month earlier this year to give students more time to familiarize themselves with the Sharing the Planet theme and the key issues that are connected with the major concepts within the theme. We also hope the earlier start will better prepare everyone for supporting the students throughout the Exhibition process.

To that end, we will also begin tuning-in for the Exhibition as a school community over the next few months leading up to the March 9th official start date to the Exhibition. Here is a timeline of some key dates. Some dates are still to be decided so I will send an update when they are ready.

Wed. Jan. 27 15:35-16:30 The grade five teachers and specialists will meet. Venue TBA.
Wed. Feb. 17 or 24 TBA 15:35-16:30 Whole school session - call for mentors
Wed. Mar. 2 March Exhibition Parent Coffee Morning
Mon. Mar. 9 The Exhibition Officially begins.
Mon-Thurs Apr. 25-28 Exhibition Practice - BBT fully booked.
Thurs. Apr. 28 18:00-20:30 The Exhibition!

Thanks,
Your Grade Five Team
Jeff, Aimee, Peta, Kasumi and Trevor

Writing Report Cards to New Students

Dear colleagues,

Please use the following guidelines for writing report cards for new or recently arrived students:

1. The student has been with CA less than a unit: A general comment on settling in and, if already known, a perception of their academic level in different subject areas. Also, a comment to parents saying that due to the recent arrival no full report card available at this point.

2. The student has been with CA one whole unit: Unit comments, general comments and reporting on student progress in the areas they have participated. Additionally, a note to parents and receiving schools upon the areas that were not assessed due to their late start of the year.

3. The student has been with CA two full units or more: A normal report card.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask Heikki, Trevor and Kim

Weekly Update, Monday 18 January

Dear colleagues,

We hope everyone has had a great start in the New Year. The first semester of the school year will be completed on Friday. It is time to provide the students and their parents feedback on their progress with report cards. The report cards will be open to parents on the 5th of February, not on the 3rd as informed earlier. We wanted to open the report cards in both Elementary and Secondary section at the same time. On Tuesday, teachers will have an opportunity to ask any questions about the technical side of writing report cards as well as anything that may be related to the content. Murray will be joining us in the meeting. Also, in that meeting Heikki will reflect on the recent faculty changes. We wish everyone a productive and enjoyable week!

Supervision:                                                                Link to Master Schedule

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40
Week	Cafeteria Tables	Playground	Playground	Healthy lunch guide in the cafeteria line
1/18/2016	Page	Heikki	Yoshiko	N/A

Playground Supervision Update:

Before we have updated guidelines for the playground supervision, please pay attention to the following: 

We will call the playtime over at 12:55 and that is when the clean up starts. Please, do dismiss the children inside from the playground before one of the recess supervisors have confirmed that all the equipment have been returned to the shed.

Coordinator's Meetings

Link to ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

• Planning meetings will follow the regular schedule. We will be planning UOI#4 and preparing for the PD with Tania Lattanzio. Here is a brief bio for Tania.
• Kim will not attend Literacy meetings on Thursday afternoon or Friday

Tuesday Morning Meeting, 7:50-8:20

• Heikki’s reflection on recent changes in faculty
• Q&A session + technical support in Writing Reports

Wednesday PD and Faculty meeting time                    

Link to Wednesday PD Schedule

• Report Comment Writing

This week

Monday 18 January: Tech talk, please make sure you utilize the weekly opportunity to build your capacity to use technology effectively to enhance and enrich student learning

Tuesday 19 January: Tuesday Morning Meeting, Student Services weekly meeting, Peta Henshelwood arrives at Kobe

Wednesday 20 January: Report Writing Time: 14:25-16:30, Payday

Thursday 21 January: Parenting Workshop in Japanese 9-10

Friday 22 January: ES Leadership Team weekly meeting, End of Semester I

Building Professional Capital:

• Literacy Workshop: Jay and Rose and Kim will attend the annual literacy conference at HKIS this weekend with Dan Feigelson, Matt Glover, and Maggie Moon.  Kim will represent CA at a network meeting with Literacy Coordinators and Coaches in the region to share our learning journey and tap into resources and ideas from other schools.
• Kanji Workshop: Emi will attend a workshop at Tsukuba International School on Saturday the 23rd. The focus of the workshop is on exploring kanji teaching methods and integrating kanji learning.
• PYP East Asian Network Meeting: (PYPEAN): Trevor will attend the PYPEAN annual meeting next week at BIFS International School in Busan, Korea on January 25th and 26th. He will be meeting with coordinators and principals from PYP schools from Korea and Japan and collaborating on curriculum projects happening within the network.

Future Dates:

January 25, Report Cards to ES Leadership Team

January 27-29, Author/Illustrator Visit - Stian Hole

February 5, Report Cards open to parents

Feb 8-10 Inquiry and Student Centered Learning Workshop with Tania Lattanzia.

Feb 11 PD Day (Program tba soon)