Weekly Updates, Monday, 30 August, 2021

Dear colleagues,

Once again, we would like to congratulate you all for making the start of the year so smooth and successful. We believe that a good weekend rest was in place after the busy week. This week we are getting ready for our Back-To-School-Night. This is such a great opportunity to meet all the parents and share some of the CA values, beliefs, and practices for designing learning. Hence, the Wednesday learning time is kept open for your preparation either for the presentation or your future planning. Please, remember to move your presentation to the BTSN folder.

As soon as the BTSN is over, we are enjoying our first extended learning session. I am sure those students who have experienced EL before, will be excited to learn more about this week’s plans.

We finish the week with Gr 1 - 5 listening conferences. Please note that there are no specialist lessons during the first lesson on that Friday morning.

Finally, the first-semester duty list is open. Due to fewer faculty members, we have slightly more duties per teacher this year. Please, make a comment if you are accidentally placed in two duties on the same day. You can find the link below.

Let’s follow the first week’s example with the second one and have fun with both the students and parents!

Have a wonderful week!

Riana, Trevor, and Heikki

Weekly Duties 21-22

Time	10:28 - 10:40	12:25-12:50	12:40-13:00	13:00-13:20	14:15-14:25
Duty Area (*Rainy day area)	Playscape Playscape Soccer fields (In classrooms)	Line G1-2 Tables G3-5 Tables	Shed (Gym) Playscape (Gym/Classroom) Soccer fields  (Classroom)	Shed (Gym) Playscape (Gym/Classroom) Soccer fields  (Classroom)	Playground (In classrooms) Note:  Shed kept closed
Who	Liam Jen Suki	Yoshiko Heikki	Steve Erin Angela	Kieran Rose Cara	Liam Jen Suki

This Week's Schedule:                                                                                                 Master Schedule 21-22

Day	Morning	Afternoon
Mon 30 Aug Day 6		Principal’s Coffee - Digital Platforms 2pm
Tues 31 Aug Day 7
Wed 1 Sep Day 8		Wednesday Learning:  Back to School Night preparation Back to School Night presentations 6pm (Sched)
Thu 2 Sep Day 9		Extended Learning #1
Fri 3 Sep Day 1		G1-5 13:00-16:00 Listening Conferences Rotation Schedule on page 2

Professional Learning:                     

Please note that in order to qualify for Professional Development, you must always apply through the CA PD application form found on KissFlow. Applications must be submitted no later than 10 days before the registration deadline. For further information on 'How to apply for PD - click here'.

• IB PD: Here is the IB PD Booklet 20-21. Here is their search to find the workshops.

• Check emails from Clover Hicks for other online PD opportunities

N.B. All PD information posted on Blogger is by default 'Personal PD' unless otherwise noted.

Future Dates CA & Public Holiday - Respect for the Aged Sept 20th Monday September Assembly Sept 23rd Thursday 13:35 - Day 5 G3-5 MAPs Testing Sept 27th Monday - Oct 1st Friday School Photos Oct 4th Monday - Oct 8th Friday CA Sports Day Oct 11th  Monday - Day 8 October Assembly Oct 14th Thursday 13:35 - Day 2 ES Parent-Teacher Conferences Oct 21st & 22nd Thursday and Friday - Day 7&8 Fall Break! Oct 23rd Saturday - 31st Sunday

Wednesday Learning To be Announced

Back to School Night message to the Parents, Friday 27 August, 2021

Dear colleagues,

Just for your information, you can find the message sent to the ES parents regarding BTSN.

Best wishes

Heikki

Dear Elementary School Parents,

I trust this message finds you healthy and safe, and I hope that your children continue to be as excited about learning and enjoying the smooth transition to the school year as we are. Furthermore, I am sure the first week has been exhausting and the weekend arrives just in time.

As you may be aware, we are hosting an online Back to School Night on Wednesday 1 September, from 6 pm onwards.

In order for you to participate in your child(ren)’s sessions, I would recommend that you download the Zoom meeting application from the www.zoom.us website. As you download the program please give the application permission to use your microphone and camera so that you can fully participate in the sessions. Furthermore, all parent coffees and conferences will be conducted online, and by using Zoom as the meeting tool this school year again.

Each Back to School Night session requires you to follow a separate link, and you can toggle between the sessions if you have two or more children and the sessions are overlapping. Teachers will be following up on the sessions by sharing an overview of the presentations with the relevant parent groups via SeeSaw. 

All we ask is to comb your hair and dress appropriately but casually as we would like to ask you to turn your cameras on. The reason for this is that we would like to offer all grade-level parents to see and meet each other. Also, the teachers would like to see who the wonderful parents are. Please note that, if we cannot identify some of the participants, unfortunately, we may have to remove them from the session for security reasons.

Follow this link to a spreadsheet where you can find both the time of your child’s Back-to-School night event and the respective zoom link. 

Should you experience any difficulties in joining the session, please email to Kae Shigeta-sensei (kshigetai@canacad.ac.jp) and we are happy to help you out.

We look forward to meeting you all online on Wednesday 1 September, at 6 pm.

Sincerely,

Heikki Soini

Elementary School Principal

Elementary School Stipended Positions Open Now!

 Dear colleagues,

The following stipended positions are open now:

Research and Design Team (2 x PreK - Gr 2 / 2 x Gr 3 - 5)

We invite interested faculty members to join the Research and Design (R&D) team to support curriculum-related initiatives including the effective implementation of our programs and helping the school leadership team to organize and lead internal professional development.

The areas we anticipate the R&D Team having an opportunity to serve the ES community in school year 21-22: 

• Understanding Learning Data
• Understanding neurodiverse learners and implementing inclusive practices
• ES program support (RWWS, Bridges, UoI, Targeted Units of Learning)
• Report Card Review

Time commitment: Periodical meetings in the afternoon 15:30 - 16:30, Some half/full planning/working days out of class.

Compensation: 100 000 JPY

Student Council Leader

We invite an interested faculty member to join Erin to lead the exciting Elementary School-wide student agency team. As a student council leader, you will enable the student voice to be heard and having an impact on the daily life in our school. 

Time commitment: facilitating student council meetings during lunch breaks and preparing for activities as required.

Compensation: 100 000 JPY

If you are interested in the positions above, please let Heikki know by Friday 3 September.

Listening Conference Schedule and Activities for Friday 27 August and 3 September

Dear colleagues,

Please see below the schedule and activities plans for Listening conferences in Grades 1 - 5.

 Listening Conference Schedule and Protocol

August 23, 24, & 27 and September 3, 2021

Purpose: 

The primary purpose of Pre-K - Grade 5 Listening Conferences is to learn from parents about their child. This knowledge should improve student learning. A secondary purpose is to establish a good parent-teacher relationship.

Please note that there are not specialist lessons in blocks 1 & 2 on Friday, August 27, and block 1 on Friday, September 3. This is to allow time for preparation and planning for the activities.

Structure: 

Listening Conferences are scheduled to be 10 minutes long. It is a one-way conference in which parents share their thoughts about their child, while teachers listen and take notes. Translators will be provided if necessary. (Japanese Translation: Kasumi, Yoshiko, Remi)

• Pre-K-KA, KB: August 23 and 24 at 1:00pm - 4:00pm

• Gr. 1 - 5:  August 27 and September 3 at 1:00pm - 4:00pm (Rotation on p.2)

 

Teacher Responsibilities: 

Teachers are responsible for documenting the conversation during the Listening Conference so that specialists can view the details when necessary. These notes will be kept throughout the year by the teacher in their files. Particular attention should be paid when including unusual family situations, health-related issues such as being deaf in one ear, etc. Please inform the principal and guidance counselor as necessary.

Schedule for Students: 

There will be no scheduled Art, Music, PE, and Japanese for lessons 1 and 2 on August 27 and lesson 1 on September 3 to allow time for activity planning and preparation. 

The normal schedule will resume for lessons 3 and 4. Rotations are scheduled for lessons 5 and 6. 

• Grades 1-5 students will have lunch and recess from 12:25 to 12:55 on those days. Classroom teachers begin their listening conferences at 13:00. Specialist teachers will pick up their students from lunch recess at 12:55 and will handle the transition from the playground, to the homeroom class, before going to their activity venue.

Rotations:

Specialist teachers will plan for a 45-minute activity that can be successful with a whole grade level at a time.

• Art: Celia, Riana, in the MPR

• Music: Satsuki and Rose in ELAC H & G

• PE: Hiroki, Trevor in the gym

• Library/Tech: Noriko/Jen and Kae in the Library and Maker Space

• Japanese: Emi, Kaho and Noriko in the Japanese classrooms 2nd floor

• Games:  Cara and Seth in ELAC A & D (STEAM Lab)

Japanese Translation: Kasumi, Yoshiko, Remi

Transitions: 

• Specialist teachers will pick up the students for their activity from lunch recess at 12:55 and will handle the transition from the playground, to the homeroom class, and then onwards to their activity venue. 

• Between sessions, one specialist teacher will walk the class to the next session and then return to their original venue while the other teacher stays to receive the new group. Specialists will dismiss the students at the end of the day from outside their homerooms. Homeroom teachers need to remain in class to ensure a smooth dismissal.

Rotation Schedule:

Aug 27	Time	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
Day 5	1:00- 1:45	Art MPR	Games  ELAC A&D	Japanese Jpn classes	Library/Tech Library and Maker Space	PE  Gym
	1:50- 2:35	Music ELAC H&G	Art MPR	Games   ELAC A&D	Japanese Jpn classes	Library/Tech Library and Maker Space
	2:40- 3:25	PE  Gym	Music ELAC H&G	Art MPR	Games   ELAC A&D	Japanese Jpn classes
Sept 3	Time	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
Day 1	1:00- 1:45	Library/Tech Library and Maker Space	PE  Gym	Music ELAC H&G	Art MPR	Games   ELAC A&D
	1:50- 2:35	Japanese Jpn classes	Library/Tech Library and Maker Space	PE  Gym	Music ELAC H&G	Art MPR
	2:40- 3:25	Games   ELAC A&D	Japanese Jpn classes	Library/Tech Library and Maker Space	PE  Gym	Music ELAC H&G