Dear Middle School Parents,
Thank you for your support and the donation for the Grade 7 Yard Sale. We were able to raise over 37,000 Rupees, which will be donated to local charity in the very near future.
End of School Year Notice and Report Card
Please remember that all students will need to return all textbooks, library books, sports uniform and any other items issued by the school. Everything needs to be settled before we can release the documents and before students get their yearbook.
Please note that we will only issue the report cards to students who are leaving AISC on the last day of school, 30 May. All other report cards will be issued the following week.
Middle School Party
There will be one last social event for Middle School students. The End of the Year Middle School Party will take place next Friday, 23 May from 4:30-6:00pm in the Cafeteria.
End of year Recognition Assemblies
As we are coming close to the end of the school year, there will be some celebration done for each grade level at the End of year Recognition Assemblies on Thursday, 29 May. Each grade level holds a year-end assembly that celebrates and is tailored to their age level. This approach to end-of-year recognition is in keeping with the middle school philosophy and is a positive and meaningful celebration for all of our students.
The 6th grade will be celebrating the important goal that each student feels that they have accomplished and will be given a certificate stating the attainment of their goal. The 6th grade I-awards will be on held in the FAC auditorium. All sixth grade parents are invited at 9:15 to celebrate and recognize the emotional, intellectual, and social achievements that sixth grade students have made.
The 7th grade recognition assembly will be in the Hall of Light. The 7th grade will present certificates recognizing student with the 4 C’s Awards during this formal part of their assembly. All seventh grade parents are invited to this portion of the assembly at 1:45. Afterwards, the ‘fun’ awards will be presented for only grade 7 students.
The 8th grade celebration will be in the Cafeteria. All eighth grade parents are invited to this portion of the assembly from 2:30-3:00. The first part will be a slide show and 4 C’s activity with parents. The second thirty minutes will include two different reflection activities for all students.
Thought of the Week – Service Learning at AISC from a Parent’s Perspective
Our family moved to India for family reasons 7 years ago and it has been and will continue to be home base. The process of retraining my eye and thoughts to find and make beautiful things around me, making peace with the surroundings, and trying to focus on the big picture while moving past the (in retrospect) trivial daily annoyances has served to clarify what I want for myself as a human being, and help define the experiences I would like to give my children before they reach adulthood.
With this in mind, one huge leap AISC has taken in the last couple of years is defining the mission, vision, and core values for the school. And this year, it is clear that the mission and vision is coming to life. This has affected me, as a parent, when I was asked by one of my children’s teachers to join the Service Learning Team and I have to admit that it was a slow acceptance on my part. However, having made the commitment, I am extremely grateful that I did as it refined my thinking around this big idea of serving others and how critical it is to ensure that we make the value of service a habit for our children. And the team was also a fantastic group of people to work with!
We all realize we are surrounded by opportunities to serve others and increase the good in the world. And our big hearted AISC community is always up to something whether it be within our own extended families, helping out our friends (who hasn’t watched their friends’ kids in a pinch or give them lift somewhere because their driver didn’t show up?), or addressing a favorite cause here in Chennai or elsewhere. We value this and it feels good to help – and I hope that our children are watching all of us when we expend our efforts helping others.
However, with Service Learning at AISC – we think we can get even the littlest ones doing service - not just watching the adults doing service. And we think we can create a school culture where our children will actively choose to serve – because helping is a habit that feels good, and they can use skills they are learning, refine them, reflect on the consequences of their actions, while doing something to make the world better. And as long as we build a process where both success and failure is tolerated, where improvements in thoughts and actions are encouraged, we will be on the right track.
I am looking forward to supporting AISC as they bring the value of service into life for my children. I know the net result for my children is they will be more equipped to collaboratively problem solve, more empathetic, and more able to reflect on how their actions affect others - and more good in the world will be accomplished in the short term and long term.
Margaret Rajan is the parent of two elementary aged children at AISC and was a member of the Service-Learning Task Force. Please do not hesitate to contact Margaret, or Jason Hicks (hjason@aisch.org), who was the teacher-leader of the task force, with thoughts, questions or ideas.
Have a great weekend.
Alan Phan
Middle School Principal