ES Leadership Team Communication
Dear Colleagues
Attached here is the presentation from our Wednesday Learning this week. In regard to the Student-Led Conferences, slides 38 through 45 are the zoom tips and tricks for breakout rooms, renaming, adding an iPad to the call, and co-hosting.
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to the spring season of learning! After the hopefully refreshing and relaxing break, we all feel ready for the final quarter of the year. The month of April will bring us both the PYP Exhibition and the Student-Led Conferences. Both of those events are amazing celebrations of student progress and learning. This Wednesday, we will look into the preparation phase of the Student-Led conferences.
As the school moves forward with its strategic goals focusing on data, DEIJ, and inclusive and exceptional learning journeys, we are interested in finding out what might be some of the Elementary School specific program or practice areas that we may want to focus on in the coming years. Therefore, in the Wednesday session, we will harvest some ideas and teacher voices about the areas of foci to plan the school year 22-23 with those in mind.
The EAL team is getting WIDA-ready as we are exploring and utilizing the WIDA assessment tool to have a school-wide assessment and data trail for our multilingual learners. With Saiko’s leadership, the team will take WIDA training this Wednesday between 9:00 and 11:00 AM. Please, note that the whole EAL team will not be available to support students and teachers during this time
This week, we will also invite parents to learn where the discipline of science and thinking like scientists lie in our programs and daily lives. We are hoping to gather some materials from the faculty and students to showcase science learning.
We are excited to see so many new students joining us this week thanks to the slightly loosened travel restrictions and the continued interest from Japanese families. I am sure they will be overwhelmed with the warm welcome from both the students and the ES faculty.
Finally, please note that Friday is the final day for placing the overseas orders so that they are at school for the August start.
Let’s have a wonderful week!
Riana, Trevor, and Heikki
This Week's Schedule: Master Schedule 21-22
As we are diving into the final week before the spring break, it is somewhat sobering to think that we have 12 weeks left in the school year after the break. When we think about 12 weeks in autumn, it sounds like a really long time and now it feels that again the time is slipping away with increasing speed. In terms of learning and consistency, April is one of the truly impactful months to plan for as it offers quite a long sequence of consecutive teaching days without a break. The month will conclude with the Student-Led Conferences and the PYP Exhibition, celebrating learning in 2021-2022.
The furniture group met last week to look at the furniture options in light of the renovation of the classrooms in the main building. This week will conclude the process so that there is a well-thought proposal for the School Leadership Team. After the spring break, Heikki will share the update of the renovation plans, furniture conclusions, and how we might need to prepare for the renovation.
We would like to say thank you to everyone for paying close attention to the routines last week. It clearly made a difference in how the children responded to transitions, lunchtime, and the ways they played together outside. Let's keep it up this week.
The week starts with the afternoon Talent Show on Monday. Wednesday presents itself with a parent coffee morning led by Ellen and Yoshiko, focusing on the exciting yet challenging parenting world. In the afternoon, the Teachers to Teachers celebrates the expertise, dedication, and professional learning amongst the Elementary School faculty. On Thursday, we invite the Gr 5 parents to join the PYP Exhibition coffee on zoom and faculty and students to join the March Assembly filled with performances, celebrations, and announcements. By Friday, we are surely ready for a break.
Let’s have a great week!
Riana, Trevor, and Heikki
This Week's Schedule: Master Schedule 21-22
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 Catalogue 21-22. Here is the IB search engine to find a workshop.
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.
Dear Colleagues,
First of all, congratulations to the Grade 1&2 students and of course Tangala and Satsuki for the wonderful Art and Music Show on Friday. As expected the students did incredibly well and enjoyed both singing and playing the instruments. The pieces of art on display send strong personal messages and show the variation of artistic expression and the huge capacity we have in our children. Thank you to everyone who helped the concert to be successful with your flexibility, and directly supporting Tangala and Satsuki. Naturally, the expertise of Nobu-san is an incredible privilege we can enjoy every time when performances take place.
The PTA teacher appreciation week created some excitement and smiles on our faces through the wonderful messages from the children. The occasionally hectic balloon mornings created a few head-scratching moments but in the end, resulted in smiles and appreciation towards everyone in the community. The nachos on Friday were a great way to launch the weekend.
This week we will have a short Extended Learning on Wednesday followed by Clover’s and Sarah’s presentation on DEI and then finishing the day with Tankyuu meetings across the campus. A great opportunity to learn and spend time with colleagues across the school.
Finally, we would like to encourage you to continue to pay close attention to routines and expectations for transitions, recesses, and snack & lunchtime. As the spring is clearly around the corner, both physical and emotional energy levels are up. In order to guide and encourage the positive use of that energy, it is important that we adults remind and stick to our expectations consistently about inside voice (particularly in the hallways), moving safely in the hallways and to and from snack and lunch. Preventive class meetings about routines prior to the transitions and recesses are often the best ways to avoid the often time-consuming and less pleasant interventions.
Let’s have a great week!
Riana, Trevor, and Heikki
This Week's Schedule: Master Schedule 21-22
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 Catalogue 21-22. Here is the IB search engine to find a workshop.
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.
