Quick calendar input request

Dear colleagues,

We are finalizing our conference timings for the school year 2018-2019. The calendar is almost finished and ready to go out to the community later this week.  However, given that we have just finished our 3-way-conferences, I would like to ask your input regarding the timing of the conferences in February 2019. Please, have a look at the calendar for 18-19 and complete the 1-question survey by Wednesday lunchtime this week. 
Calendar 2018-2019

Calendar Survey

Thank you,

Heikki

Weekly Update, Monday, 26 February 2018

Dear colleagues,

We will be arriving March this weekend the weather may be showing some signs of spring at least for now.
This week is yet again an exciting one as the whole ES community will be busy with learning.
Pian Hansen will be working with the classroom teachers, Learning Support Teachers, EAL teachers, Tech and
LSAs on Mathematics in the context of the Bridges program. We will have planning sessions, lab site,
reflections sessions and a PD session on Wednesday. Parents will meet Pia on Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, the grade 4 and 5 parents will join a morning session to learn the insights of the ib PYP Exhibition.
Finally, on Friday and Saturday, the first cohort of Cognitive Coaches will have their final training days,
and from there on, they will be ready to support colleagues across the school.
As there will be substitute teachers and re-designed schedules in place we are already grateful for everyone’s
flexibility, tolerance, and hard work ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted continuation of student learning.

Let’s have a great week!

Bridges Schedule

Supervision:                                          Links to: Supervision Schedule 17-18    Supervision Protocol

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55
Duty	Cafeteria Tables	Playground / Gym	Playground / Atrium	Cafeteria line	Indoor recess ELAC Gym
Feb 26	Rose	Jessica	Karen H		Maiko, Kaight

This week's schedule:  

Day	Morning	Afternoon - After School
Mon 26 Day 2	Bridges Schedule
Tue 27 Day 3	8:00 - 8:25 Gr 1 Concert Rehearsal Plan 8:40-10:00 Parent Coffee: Learning Mathematics with Bridges: Pia Hansen	13:30- 14:30 ES Student Support Team 14:30-15:30 ES Leadership Team
Wed 28 Day 1		14:40-15:45 ES Math Workshop OR Music, Art, PE, Music, Library & Japanese planning and developing curriculum 15:45-16:30 PYPX Mentors - All ES teachers
Thu 1 Day 2	8:40-10:00 Principal Coffee Morning: PYP Exhibition
Fri 2 Day 3	Cognitive Coaching Day 7
Sat 3	Cognitive Coaching Day 8

Professional Learning:  

• EAL job-alike at YIS - Fri April 20

How to apply for PD

Wednesday Professional Learning:

Future Dates:

Sat Mar 10 Red Carpet Gala

Mon April 23 MAPS Data training

Thurs April 26 PYPX Celebration 6:00-8:30

Fri April 27 Student-led Conferences

Extended Deadline for Feb Running Record

Upon request, the deadline for the Feb running record has been extended by 2 weeks to March 15th. 

The new kits seem to be requiring multiple re-tests to find the students instructional levels on non-fiction texts. Please continue to refer to this chart (taped to each box) to find the correct instructional level.

Recording info: Please access this database link to record running record instructional level and WTW spelling stage by March 15th.  Please do not add additional information into the cells, as it is exported to another system. 

**Please let Kim, Karen or Kris know if you have questions about taking the assessments or scoring the running records.  

Reminders:

• instructional level is recorded (take multiple running records if needed to find instructional level- conversation chart taped to each box)
• refer to information files in assessment box for reminders on scoring, coding, and finding instructional levels
• see Learning Leaders if you require books outside of your grade level (Trevor A-N, Kim L-Z)

PD Day ES Curriculum Session Slides

Dear colleagues,

PD day slides can be found here.

Student of Concern Meetings

Dear colleagues,

As we have just finished our 3-way-conferences, we anticipate that you may have some thoughts and concerns regarding some students. Hence, we would like to invite you to indicate any those students who are not currently under the Student Support Services (Learning Support, EAL or Counseling) and have a brief discussion about them in our next Wednesday session on the 21st of February.

Purpose

The purpose of the student of concern meetings is to identify and discuss briefly students who we notice struggling with learning, socially or emotionally. These are students who are not yet serviced by Learning Support, ESOL or counselor for this particular concern. Hence, students who already have an IEP, Action Plan or are in the Pre-referral process are not part of these conversations. These are students who we have just started to worry about and/or direct their learning, behavior or social skill development regularly. The idea is not to provide quick fixes or solutions at the meeting but to share and collect data collaboratively. Additionally, having many teachers hearing those concerns usually lowers the level of stress related to these students and gives a reason for teachers to connect and work together to find solutions. Follow-up will be done by Learning Support, ESOL and/or the Counselor.

Purpose in bullets:

• Sharing, caring, informing, connecting with colleagues, with some existing solutions with the same student 
• Opportunity to share concerns about students who are NOT currently on IEP, Action plan and serviced by LS, ESOL or the  Counsellor
•  Opportunity to share additional concerns of students who may be already serviced by ESOL or the Counselor (E.g. ESOL student  with emotional/ behavioral challenges, Emotional student with new learning related challenge, etc.)
•  Not brainstorming new solutions/strategies at this point yet
•  Listing students for further conversations and follow-up (even if time runs out to discuss all the students in the meeting)

How:

1. Open the Google spreadsheet.

2. Click on the LOGISTICS tab (bottom of the page) to note your meeting time in the MPR (even if you have no concerns, presently).

3. Click on the appropriate grade level tab.

4. Fill in the information in the appropriate section (Specialists at top of each page; Classroom Teachers, scroll down).

5. Be prepared that afternoon to share your information in way that will allow for everyone to have time to speak.

The meetings are facilitated by two members of the Learning Support, EAL, and the counselor. One keeps the conversation flowing and the other one focuses on taking notes and keeping time. Each meeting takes 30 minutes.

Specialist teachers (PE, Visual Art, Music, Japanese, Tech, Library) teaching all students are sitting in all meetings. They will also have the opportunity to share their concerns first at every meeting. 

The meeting will follow the students who have been listed on the Student-of-Concern sheet. Therefore, it is important that all teachers will list their student(s) of concern to the list by Wednesday Meeting time 2:35 pm. Even if we don't have enough time to discuss all the students, the Student Support Team will be able to follow up if the students and the relevant concern is listed.

When and Where

Wednesday 14:35 - 16:35

ELAC Multipurpose Room

14:35-15:05 Grade 5

15:05 - 15:35 Pre-K/KA and KB

15:35 - 16:05 Grades 1 and 2

16:05 - 16:35 Grades 3 and 4

Flow of Conversation

The facilitator will go through the students from the list in the following order:

1. Order of listing

2. Listed by a specialist teacher

3. Listed by a classroom teacher

4. Not serviced by Student Support Team for the concern yet, however

- The student may be serviced by the EAL team, but not because of the concern like emotional, behavioral or specific learning related issue

It is important that we are prepared to contribute and listen to each other in the 30-minute meetings.

Sample talking points

- I have noticed .... often seeking connection, avoiding contact, looking for escape etc.

- I have noticed ... often fidgeting, finding the need to move, holding something in their hands

- .... seems to get stuck with their learning, not able to start their task, asking so many questions

- ... stamina for reading/writing is still ... or has diminished

- ... makes often inappropriate comments about their classmates

- ... is often very quiet and withdrawn

- ... is regularly having a hard time to control his/her excitement

Please, contact Rose, Derrick Saiko, Yoshiko or Heikki for further questions.

Thank you!

Health Office Communication

Dear colleagues,

Please use the generic email: health_office@canacad.ac.jp when communicating with the nurses regarding all student matters. There are currently three nurses working in the office at different times. Therefore, in order to ensure effective communication and access to any pertinent information for all three nurses, it is important to use the generic Health Office email address.

For faculty members' personal requests, you may use the individual email addresses of the nurses in the Health Office.

Thank you!

Weekly Updates, Tuesday, 20 February 2018

Dear colleagues,

Congratulations for completing the successful 3-Way-Conferences past week! We trust you had a relaxing long
weekend after spending a significant amount of time and energy on preparing for the important reporting milestone.
This week will be a 4-day-week of which three is with the students. Please, note that on Thursday, we will get
together for the ES assembly at 10:00 in the main theater and that there is only one chance to practice on
Wednesday at 12:30.Tuesday Professional Learning Day will be divided into three different sessions:
Operational Plan, Curriculum work in different groupings, and Teachers to Teachers sessions.
We will launch the day with a breakfast in the Cafeteria.  On Wednesday, we will be running the
Student of Concern sessions in the ELAC Multipurpose Room.
Please, see the email from Rose for further details. Sounds like a great week ahead!

Supervision:                                          Links to: Supervision Schedule 17-18    Supervision Protocol

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55
Duty	Cafeteria Tables	Playground / Gym	Playground / Atrium	Cafeteria line	Indoor recess ELAC Gym
Feb 19	Derrick	Ava	Suki		Maiko, Kaight

This week's schedule:        

Day	Morning	Afternoon - After School
Mon 19	HOLIDAY	HOLIDAY
Tue 20 Day 2	PD DAY	PD DAY
Wed 21 Day 3	12:30 Assembly Practice	14:40-16:30 Student of Concern meetings
Thu 22 Day 1	10:00 ES Assembly
Fri 23 Day 2

Professional Learning:  

• PYPEAN jobalike  Feb 23rd (ATL’s and wellbeing)
• EAL job-alike at YIS - Fri April 20

How to apply for PD

Wednesday Professional Learning:

Future Dates:

Tues. Feb 20 Breakfast and PD day
Mon-Wed, Feb 26-28 Pia Hansen Bridges Math Workshop

Thurs, Mar. 1 PYPX Coffee Morning

Fri-Sat Mar 2-3 Cognitive Coaching Days 7&8

Sat Mar 10 Red Carpet Gala

Thurs April 26 PYPX Celebration 6:00-8:30

Fri April 27 Student-led Conferences

Weekly Update, Monday, 12 February, 2018

Dear colleagues,

Those who attended the teacher appreciation dinner and/or SENIA workshop the weekend must have felt busy but rewarding. Thank you to Rob, PTA and Joe Gorski for the organization. 

Thank you also to Saiko and the EAL team for the successful Parent Coffee Morning last week.

This week’s highlights are definitely the three-way-conferences. Parents are excited to be educated

about their children’s progress and their learning experiences in general. Thank you to everyone for the hard work in preparing for those busy days. Please, note that on Wednesday teachers can choose to spend the professional learning time as they see best in the light of being prepared for the conferences.


On Thursday, when we have a half day in class, we will have teachers from Tokyo International School visiting our campus. Please, welcome them into your classrooms. Heikki has informed them about the nature of the day and that it is probably a busy day of preparation for the 3-way-conferences in all classrooms.

Finally, we have an assembly on the 22nd of February. We will only have one rehearsal day this time (Wednesday 21st) so those who are performing should confirm through their teachers with Remi and

Heikki asap.

Let’s work through this exciting week!

Supervision:                                          Links to: Supervision Schedule 17-18    Supervision Protocol

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55
Duty	Cafeteria Tables	Playground / Gym	Playground / Atrium	Cafeteria line	Indoor recess ELAC Gym
Feb 12	Kaoru	Trevor	Karen S		Maiko, Kaight

This week's schedule:        

Day	Morning	Afternoon - After School
Mon 12 Day 1
Tue 13 Day 2	8:00 ES EAL Dept Mtg.	13:30-14:30 Student Support Team Mtg 14:30-16:00 ES Leadership Planning Mtg
Wed 14 Day 3		14:40-16:30 Flex Time
Thu 15 Day 1	Early dismissal at 12:00 Visitors from Tokyo International School	Three-way Conferences
Fri 16 Day 2	Three-way Conferences	Three-way Conferences

Professional Learning:  

• PYPEAN jobalike  Feb 23rd (ATL’s and wellbeing)
• EAL job-alike at YIS - Fri April 20

How to apply for PD

Wednesday Professional Learning:

Future Dates:

Sat-Tues Feb 17-20 Mid-Winter Break

Tues. Feb 20 Breakfast and
Mon-Wed, Feb 26-28 Pia Hansen Bridges Math Workshop

      - No EAL and Learning support, and Learning Leader meeting to allow for subbing and flexible scheduling. Learning assistants to attend relevant sessions wherever possible.

Thurs, Mar. 1 PYPX Coffee Morning

Fri-Sat Mar 2-3 Cognitive Coaching Days 7&8

Sat Mar 10 Red Carpet Gala

Thurs April 26 PYPX Celebration 6:00-8:30

Fri April 27 Student-led Conferences