Dear Middle School Parents,
We have reached our first break of the year. Students and teachers have been working hard to during this first quarter and deserve this break to decompress and hopefully come back rejuvenated. Of course, we also appreciate the parent support throughout these past few months. We look forward to your continued support for the rest of the year. We truly appreciate your involvement in your child’s education. You will have a great opportunity to do so that the Three-Way Conferences in November.
Progress Reports
Please note that the mid-semester progress report will be given to students today. These grades and comments are to give parents an indication of how students are doing after the first two months of school. If there are concerns, parents can always meet with teachers throughout the year; to make an appointment with one of the teachers, please contact Ms. Aziz in the Middle School Office.
Following these reports will be the Three-Way Conference (student, parent and teacher) on 14 and 15 November. Along with the BYOT, we have switched over to an e-portfolio blog format for all students. With guidance from their teachers, students are given time in class to create their portfolios. It is completely student-driven and student-created. We encourage you to ask your children to share their e-portfolios with you. Please remember that it is still early on; therefore, students are at the early stages of building and composing their e-portfolios.
We will be sending directions for sign up for the conferences after the break.
In April, the MS will have student-led conferences, which are a process where students engage in a meaningful dialogue with their family about goals, accomplishments, and learning. The aim of the conference is to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and share their academic progress with their families.
This format gives students the opportunity to:
o Reflect on their academic performance,
o Take accountability for their own work,
o Improve organizational and communication skills,
o Include their parents in their learning experiences,
o Learn to set and achieve realistic goals,
o Take pride in their achievements.
Week Without Walls
Grade 8 and 7 students will be going on their WWW shortly after the break during the week of 18-22 November and 19-22 November, respectively. If you have any questions regarding the trip, please remember to contact the teachers before departure.
United Nations Day
Prior to the UN Day, the MS and HS had an assembly in the Fine Arts Centre auditorium on Tuesday in recognition of the United Nations day. We were treated to a mock debate with members for the Model United Nations club.
We had another wonderful UN Day with a whole school flag processional. Thank you all the teachers and staff for their efforts in making this event happen.
Thank you to all of the parent volunteers and to the PTA for their time and effort in providing such wonderful learning opportunities with the international pavilions. I have heard appreciative comments from students and teachers. Thank you for adding to the students United Nations experience.
Withdrawing Students
Any students that are withdrawing will need to contact Ms. Aziz in the middle school office a minimum of two weeks prior to the withdrawal date to ensure all necessary documents can be compiled in a timely manner. Records from AISC are usually required by the next school. However, it takes us some time to prepare these records. Please note that for students leaving school before the winter break, we will be able to provide previous years AISC report cards and this year’s mid-semester 1 progress report.
From our Athletics Director-Mr. Ron Thomson
AISC Athlete of the Month
On Tuesday last week, we started a new tradition at AISC, The Athlete of the Month; we recognized our first recipients of this award. Two HS and two MS athletes will be selected each month from our talented pool of nominees. Athletes of the month will be recognized by having their pictures on the awards board outside the AD's office as well as news of their accomplishment in the morning bulletin and on the athletic web site. In addition, these students will receive a t-shirt, certificate and pizza lunch provided by the athletic department.
So for the month of September, our Athletes of the month are:
Mason Bridges H.S. - Swim Team
Momoko Nishimura H.S. - Girls Volleyball Team
Emilie Hahn M.S. - Swim Team
Amore Tripaathi M.S. - Swim Team
We would like to congratulate these athletes for their dedication to their respective sports.
Soccer Camp
We have a great opportunity for our kids at AISC coming up on November 9-10th. AISC will be hosting the U90 Soccer Camp here. We have convinced the folks at U90 Soccer Camps (which is a U.S. Soccer Group) to provide the camp for our younger kids as well as our high school kids. So with that being said, we have a block of time set up for our younger 10-12 year old students and 13-14 year old students. Please refer to the flyer, which was sent to you, for details and register on-line at the following links:
There will be no registering at the door, so please complete the on-line registration if you are interested in sending your son or daughter.
Have a wonderful and restful break and safe travels!
Alan Phan
Middle School Principal