March Faculty Meeting - Tuesday March 2nd

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for joining the faculty meeting this morning. As we covered many important topics, here is the presentation for your reference.

Key Points:

1. Referral Process Update
2. Emergency Drill procedures
3. Covid Information

Weekly Updates, Monday 1 June, 2020

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to June, the last month of the school year 2020-2021! I would like to congratulate you all for
getting us here successfully with such creativity, resilience, and professionalism. The next two and a half
weeks will be focusing on wrapping up the year with both students and faculty. Please, check the
Last Four Days - protocol on the blogger and read it carefully to prepare for the grand finale of the
school year.

On Monday, this week, the grade 12 students are celebrating their graduation. The 97th commencement
ceremony will take place on the Nestle field. In order to ensure social distancing, this event is for grade
12 students, their closest family, and faculty by invitation only. Should you be interested in watching the
ceremony we are streaming the event here. On Tuesday afternoon the Leadership Team and Learning
Leaders will continue the planning of school year 20-21. We are looking at protocols for opening the
school given the possible COVID-19 influence on organizing school days in a safe manner. On
Wednesday, we will join zoom meetings and breakout rooms to share the proposed class lists for the next
school year. Finally, on Friday the KB and Gr 1 teams will meet with KB parents to explain the plans for
the KB’s smooth transition from ELAC to grade 1 and the main building. Please, check the blogger
tomorrow for the End-of-Year checklist.

Riana, Trevor, and Heikki

Helpful Scheduling Documents:

• June Report Writing Guidelines
• Updated live sessions schedule
• Weekly overview of live sessions  ie. for grade level slides 

Day	Morning	Afternoon
Mon  1 June		15:50 Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony (Nestle Field - by invitation only)
Tues  2 June		14:00-16:00 20-21 Operational Planning Meeting
Wed 3 June		Classlist Meetings on Zoom 14:00-14:45 Breakout Room PreK->KB Trevor  Breakout Room G1->G2 Heikki Breakout Room G3->G4 Riana 14:45-15:30 Breakout Room KB->G1Heikki Breakout Room G2->G3 Trevor Breakout Room G4->G5 Riana
Thu 4 June
Fri  5 June		9:00-10:00 KB-G1 Online Transition Meeting Parent Coffee

Faculty Meetings:

Wednesday June 10 Town Hall (Whole Faculty)

Thursday June 11 afternoon  (Reflection of 19-20)

Friday June 12 afternoon (Planning of 20-21)

Monday June 15 afternoon (Planning of 20-21)

Professional Development

Author to Author (Matt Glover, Kathy Collins) A parent resource

Link to Faculty Distance Learning site and online PD

Articles worth skimming through

15 Strategies for Online Learning

Using Thinking Routines in Distance Learning (Ron)

Accommodations, Modifications, and Interventions at a Distance

Successfully Taking Offline Courses Online

When Schools Are Closed: What Matters, what does not John Hattie

Family coping during coronavirus

That Discomfort you are feeling is grief HBR

How to Combat Zoom fatigue HBR

Last Four Days of School - Please, read carefully

  NO HUGS                 NO  KISSES 

Dear colleagues,

Please find below the protocol regarding the last few days of school.

1. Students

Students in each grade level will be assigned a date, and a time slot (approx 20 mins) to enter their
homeroom and collect all their personal belongings including their emergency package placed in a
paper bag(s), drop-off their loaner laptop if applicable, and quickly say goodbye and wish happy
holidays to their classroom teacher, TA, and LSAs.

We will limit the number of students in each classroom level at the time (4-6 students per classroom in
Grades 1- 5, one student, and parent at a time in PreK/KA and KB). All students are asked to wear
masks when entering the school buildings. Please, note that we will ask students to place the items they
are returning into a separate plastic/paper bag from home for quarantine.

Please note: Returning students are not bringing their library books to school until August.

2. Students’ Visiting Dates
Grades 1 - 3 Morning of Thursday 11 June
Grades 4 - 5 Morning of Friday 12 June
PreK/KA and KB morning of Monday 15 June

A more detailed schedule with student names will be provided soon.

3. Teachers, Assistants, and LSAs

All teachers, assistants, and LSAs are asked to come to the campus prior to and during the student visits.
Dates and times will be confirmed soon. On the 11th, 12th, and 15th of June, the temperatures of faculty
will be checked as we enter the school building. All faculty and staff are asked to wear masks at all times,
maintain social distance, and maintain hygiene protocols including washing hands, keeping the doors open
to avoid touching the door handles, etc.

Prior to the visiting days (teachers can plan the dates and times as they see best), we will collect and
place all student material (notebooks, folders, artwork) and their personal belongings (if known) in a paper
bag and in a designated place in the classroom.

- Specialists will bring and organize the subject-specific learning material in the homeroom.
- Additionally, teachers are asked to organize a designated place in the classroom where they can
will drop-off their loaner laptops and sign-off. The laptop will need to be placed in a plastic bag.
- Classroom teachers and LSAs are asked to be in their designated classrooms during the visits.
- Specialists are asked to support the flow of the students’ movement through the building as

explained below.

4. Movement and social distancing

- In the main building, students will enter through the sliding doors next to the Health Office and exit
through the sliding door facing the ELAC building. This is to avoid cross traffic in the building.
- Routes will be signed and specialist teachers will be guiding (as well as waving goodbye) the
students through the corridors to maintain safe distances and to follow the protocol. 
- PreK/KA and KB students will enter the ELAC building along the corridor that is divided for entering

and exiting traffic by cones and ropes.

5. Parents

- For grades 1 - 5, only students are allowed on campus
- Parents are asked to wait outside, preferably in their cars to maintain social/physical distance. 
- PreK/KA and KB students are allowed to bring one parent to the ELAC corridor.
- If parents are not able to organize the visit to the school on the designated day and time, the

student's equipment will be kept at school until the start of school in August.

6. Other areas at school

Playgrounds, cafeteria, Atrium, Library, and other public areas will be closed. Construction work is taking
place in the Library, Third floor - Secondary School, and in the General Admin sections. Offices will not be
open to parents or students.

7. Report Cards and Certificates for Leaving Students

- Report Cards will be open to parents on the 16th of June.

- Remi-san will prepare hard copies of the documentation for parents to be picked up from the Reception
or mailed home from 17th June onwards.

8. Detailed plan with dates and time

A more detailed plan with dates, times, and sign-up sheets will be shared with faculty in the near future.

9. Special cases
- Families with multiple children may choose to come to campus multiple times or choose a time

slot(s) for one of the children to collect all the materials. In those cases, we will ask families to
contact Remi-san so we can organize the personal belongings in one classroom. 

- Families leaving before the school ends will contact Remi-san and we will organize their drop-off
and pick-up at the reception.

- No show. If a returning family does not show up for the pick-up, we will keep their materials in
plastic bags with a name tag until August.

Tuesday Faculty Meeting and Wednesday PD 6 -7 November, 2018

Dear colleagues,

Please, find the Tuesday morning and Wednesday PD slides and link to Gini Rojas' podcast on the Professional Learning International website.

Tuesday Morning Meeting on Reporting and other things

Data-driven Instruction: Wed Professional Learning

Podcasts 

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!

Faculty Lounge - Locked

Dear all,
Please note that we are trying to keep the faculty lounge locked in the evenings, nights and weekends. This is to secure the personal mailboxes from strangers or students who may accidentally or intentionally wonder in.

The faculty key should open and lock the doors. So please, lock the door after school hours, evenings and during the weekends if you need to visit the lounge.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Field Trips Protocol

Field Trips Protocol

As the field trips are getting planned, as a reminder, please check out the field trips protocol below. 

FIELD TRIPS PROTOCOL

Canadian Academy encourages experiential learning. Enriching units of inquiry and building strong learning community are
effectively achieved through field trips. Please ensure that planning including scheduling, communication, 
and approval of transportation is done early so as to avoid conflict in the calendar of events, 
other teachers' plans and reserving transportation. The ES Office can help you arranging the field trips. 
Please follow the checklist below in support of designing successful experiential learning experiences.

• Introduce new initiatives or plans regarding field trips to the ES Principal for pre-approval.

• Check the field trip calendar in the ES office for any conflicts.

• Check with the Business Office whether buses will be available.

• Place request forms like RAM, transportation, and packed lunch (if needed) from Cezar's Kitchen 

• For curricular, safety and emergency reasons RAM form must be approved before the field trips can take place.

• List your field trip on the field trip calendar maintained by the ES office after the RAM has been approved

• Communicate to all other teachers teaching the class, counselor, coordinators and ES office about the field trip 

as early as possible and check the Duty Schedule to swap duties or find substitutes if necessary.

Request the ES secretary's help in making reservations with the field trip destinations if needed.

Organize the pre-order sack lunches from Cezar’s Kitchen by reserving a lunch on their field trip permission slip you sendhome. (Please, note that Cezar’s kitchen must receive the request one week before the field trip using the Food Request Form.)

• Inform parents about the details of the trip in an email and on the class website, and request volunteers for supervision if necessary.

• Collect all necessary fees. 

• Pay all fees to the accounting office.  

• Include road toll and parking and admission fees for teachers and assistants. 

• Plan clear, structured and detailed information packets for parents joining the trip

• Pick up First Aid kit from the Health Office and any medications for students

• Set and communicate learning, working and behavioral expectations for students and parents

ICE SKATING TRIPS
All grade levels usually go ice skating in winter months (November - February). 
These trips are often coordinated with Buddy Classes.  E.g. Gr 1 T & Gr 3 T (last year) Please, start asking around buddy class 
connections as soon as possible so that all the younger students can have older students as their buddies for the ice skating trips.

Due to scheduling issues, these have to be booked many weeks in advance. The ES Secretary coordinates these trips and will
send a message to all teachers at the end of September.

Tuesday morning meeting slides

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for the smiles, effort, open-mind and support of everyone to ensure a successful school year 2016-2017!

Here are the slides from yesterday's meeting.

Please, note Heikki's proposal for the Sayonara Book Protocol:
1. This year's end-of-year leavers will be acknowledged in the end-of-year assembly (Sayonara Books)
2. From August 17-18 onwards, we will acknowledge all leavers in the ES assemblies if there is one between the family withdrawal and the departure date.
3. If assembly acknowledgment is not possible, classroom teacher will organize a Sayonara moment in his/her classroom and invite relevant teachers and the Principal to the event.
4. The basic protocol for both assembly acknowledgment and classroom Sayonara moment will be developed in August 2017 by Kim, Trevor, and Heikki with the input from teachers.

Weekly Update, Monday 5 June, 2017

Dear colleagues,

We are already well in the month of June and it feels that the days are slipping away like sand through our fingers. Big thank you to all for the effort, thought, and timeliness of writing the reports. Kim, Trevor, and Heikki will continue reading the reports this week and provide you with feedback. Timeline for the reporting process can be found here. The big ticket items at this point of the year include class lists, schedule, moving and packing as well as the end-of-year checklist.

This week we will meet on Tuesday morning to briefly look at the logistics of the Wednesday class lists, and transition meetings, and ES Schedule for 17-18, as well as to celebrate the end of the year by having breakfast together.

In the meanwhile, if you haven’t had a chance already, please use one of your planning meeting slots to design a draft-class-list going up from your grade level before the Wednesday meeting. Here you can find the outline for Wednesday's meeting and links the class list sheets (Gr 1 - 5 and PreK - KB) to record the suggested new mixture of students with their specific academic, social and placement information. Please note, that we are not able to accommodate teacher or friendship requests from parents or faculty.

Let's have a good week! 

Supervision:                                          Links to: Supervision Schedule 16-17    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
June 5	Suki	Angela	Aimee	---	Maiko, Kaight

This week's schedule:

Day	Morning	Afternoon - After School
Mon	8:45 ES Student Support Team Meeting 15:40 Math R&D Meeting (Bridges)
Tue	7:50 ES Faculty Meeting Breakfast, Wednesday meeting logistics, ES Schedule for 17-18
Wed		2:25 - 4:30pm Professional Learning Time: Class Lists and Transitions
Thu		KB students trying out the big cafeteria
Fri	Report Card Committee: working on the new report card all day in the Headmaster's Conference Room
Sat		End-of-year Dinner 6:30 at the Kobe Club

Professional Learning

How to apply for PD

Wednesday Professional Learning: Wednesday Professional Learning Schedule

Coordinator's Meetings:                                  ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

UOI: This week looking at the AERO math standards & UOI#6 reflection

• Mon KB
• Tues G4 8:45-10:00, G1 12:45, G2 14:50, Prek-KA 15:40
• Weds: G5 8:45
• Thurs: G3 14:05

Literacy:

• This will be our last Literacy meeting of the year. The focus will be mid-unit reflection on the final units of study (although still in progress)

Future Dates:

12 June: All Feedback given on report cards by this date

13 June: All report card corrections made in Powerschool

16 June: Last Day of School, ES Assembly 9:00-10:00, school day finishes at 11:30

End-of-year Procedures