27 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

As we are off to our Spring Break, please encourage your children to pack a book to read over the break. Let them select a book for themselves, even it’s a book they have read before. We watch good movies over and over again so why not do the same thing with a favorite book. Here is a great article, shared by Mr. Rob Martin, about reading: How to Get Kids to Read Independently.

Progress Reports

Please note that the mid-semester progress report has been given to students today. These grades and comments provide parents an indication of how students are doing at this point in the second semester. Please focus on what your child is doing well and what s/he needs to work on. If there are concerns, parents can always meet with teachers; to make an appointment with one of the teachers, please contact Ms. Aziz in the Middle School Office.

Following these reports will be the E-Portfolio Presentation on 29 April and Three-Way Conferences (student, parent and teacher) on 29 and 30 April.

Middle School Coffee

The last Middle School Coffee will take place on Tuesday, 21 April. We will be presenting the data from Lifestyle Survey that students took this past month.

Elective Form

If your child has not done so, please take the time to go over their elective choices for next year, sign it and have your child turn in the form to the Middle School Office as soon as possible. If you are not 100% sure you are leaving, we ask that your child completes the form, just in case.

Model United Nations (MUN)

Upon returning from the break, we have a group of students who will be going off to our second Middle School Model United Nations (MUN) Conference. They will be representing Spain and Pakistan on a number of issues. Congratulations to all the delegates who have been selected to travel to Malaysia for the conference:

Grade 8	Grade 7	Grade 6
Anna Seong Nicholas Aya Kamio Jin Young Kim Kyungjae (Peter) Jung Serin Kim Tarun Krishna Yoon Jung (Jenny) Kim Yuki Haga	Abhi Desai Gyeong Deok Park Manav Mandyam Chakravarthy Natsumi Shindo Reuben Nielsen	Luis Zink

AISC welcomes singer-songwriter, Kathryn Claire as our Spring 2015 Artist in Residence!

After a successful residency last year, Kathryn will return for two weeks of teaching and performance.  Part of a new generation of traditionally-inspired musicians, Kathryn’s guitar and fiddle-playing exhibit a technical grace which is matched only by her truly captivating voice and her rare ability to move seamlessly across genres. She will be working in elementary, middle, and high school music classes and will conduct after school song-writing workshops with MS/HS students.

Beginning April 13th, Kathryn’s residency will culminate in a Friday@5 concert in association with R.I.S.E. on the 24th of April. Her charismatic presence and infectious smile have made her a favorite at venues and festivals around the world- and we are thrilled to welcome her back to our campus.

IB and AP Art Exhibition

If you missed the Opening Reception, please stop by at any time before 17 April. It will be a treat to see their creative and beautiful art pieces.

Safe travels and have a great Spring Break! See you in April!

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

20 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

The biggest show of the year is here! Cabaret 2015 will be as big as ever, with dozens of students performing in more genres than ever before. This year's exciting theme is "Spin Cycle". With vocalists, dancers and rock bands covering dozens of countries and styles, a good time is guaranteed for everybody!

Due to the enormous popularity of Cabaret, the continued growth of our school community and the limited number of seats available in the auditorium, students, parents and other audience members are kindly requested to reserve their seats in advance for Rs.50, available for pickup starting Monday, March 16 at main reception and elementary reception. All students in grades 6-12 are warmly invited to reserve tickets, as are all parents of elementary, middle and high school students. While we love audience members of all ages, this show is appropriate for patrons eight years and older with direct parental supervision.

We would like to recognize and thank The Cabaret Design Team: Mr. Cary, Ms. Diane, Ms. Lee and Mr. William.

Cabaret 2015: Spin Cycle is Saturday, March 21 at 7:00pm in the AISC Auditorium.

See you there!

IB and AP Art Exhibition

The High School IB and AP students invite you to their final art exhibition. The Opening Reception will be on Monday at 5:00opm in the Atrium of the Fine Arts Center. The exhibition will be up for a while so if you cannot attend the Opening Reception, please stop by at any time before 17 April. It will a treat to see their creative and beautiful art pieces.

Virtual Learning Drill Reminder

Please plan ahead for our Virtual Learning Drill scheduled for March 25th.  On this date,  all students will remain home from school for a full schedule of learning using both digital and traditional materials.  This is what you should expect in the days leading up to this drill and on the day of the drill.

1. You will receive an emergency sms message from AISC on Tuesday, March 24th notifying the community of our plans to close school the following day.
2. You will receive an email shortly after the sms from the Head of School explaining the situation. These communications are part of the drill and are not meant to cause concern.
3. You and your child will then receive an email from each of your section Principals further explaining what teaching and learning will look like the following day for your children.
4. On the morning of March 25th at 8:30 am you will receive an email indicating that school has begun for that day.  
5. Your child, possibly with your help depending the age and independence of your children, will log into Moodle to find instructions for learning.  
6. Middle and High School students will log into their normally scheduled classes (it is a 2E in the Middle School) and, ideally, complete those during the normally scheduled times.  It is best to follow the schedule as closely as possible so as not to miss the teacher's office hours, which will be open during that class.   
7. Elementary School students and/or parents will access the homeroom teacher's Moodle page where they will find further instructions and links for the subjects the child would normally have on that day. Specialist teachers will link to their lessons through the homeroom teachers' page.  
8. Students will have opportunities to interact with teachers via both chat or video conference to have their questions answered.
9. In the event of technical issues,  please call our direct tech support line at (44) 2254-9029 or (44) 3357-9029.

Lost and Found

The Lost and Found items will be displayed on tables on Thursday, 26th March and Friday, 27th March in the main entrance. Please stop by to see if any of the items belong to your child(ren). Those items not claimed by Friday, 27th March will be donated to local orphanages.

Coming Soon…

AISC welcomes singer-songwriter, Kathryn Claire as our Spring 2015 Artist in Residence!

After a successful residency last year, Kathryn will return for two weeks of teaching and performance.  Part of a new generation of traditionally-inspired musicians, Kathryn’s guitar and fiddle-playing exhibit a technical grace which is matched only by her truly captivating voice and her rare ability to move seamlessly across genres. She will be working in elementary, middle, and high school music classes and will conduct after school song-writing workshops with MS/HS students.

Beginning April 13th, Kathryn’s residency will culminate in a Friday@5 concert in association with R.I.S.E. on the 24th of April. Her charismatic presence and infectious smile have made her a favorite at venues and festivals around the world- and we are thrilled to welcome her back to our campus.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

13 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

It’s that time of the year again when students will need to select their fine arts classes for next year. Students will be given their selection form next week. Please take the time to go over their choices for next year, sign it and have your child turn in the form to the Middle School Office by 27 March before we leave for Spring Break. If you are not 100% sure you are leaving, we ask that your child completes the form, just in case.

Middle School Coffee with Social Justice Educator

Please join us at the next coffee with the Social Justice Educator, Muneer Panjwani.  We will merge the HS and MS coffees for the month of March on the 17th at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Our purpose is to provide space for young people to engage in structured courageous conversations around issues of identity (in regards to culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, ability, etc.). We welcome you to join us in this conversation.

Cabaret 2015: Spin Cycle

The biggest show of the year is here! Cabaret 2015 will be as big as ever, with dozens of students performing in more genres than ever before. This year's exciting theme is "Spin Cycle". With vocalists, dancers and rock bands covering dozens of countries and styles, a good time is guaranteed for everybody!

Due to the enormous popularity of Cabaret, the continued growth of our school community and the limited number of seats available in the auditorium, students, parents and other audience members are kindly requested to reserve their seats in advance for Rs.50, available for pickup starting Monday, March 16 at main reception and elementary reception. All students in grades 6-12 are warmly invited to reserve tickets, as are all parents of elementary, middle and high school students. While we love audience members of all ages, this show is appropriate for patrons eight years and older with direct parental supervision.

Cabaret 2015: Spin Cycle is Saturday, March 21 at 7:00pm in the AISC Auditorium. See you there!

World Scholar’s Cup Results

We had a number of awards from last weekend and we would like to recognize some of our students with their accomplishments. Because we have quite a long list of awards, only the top three places will be announced  here and teams who placed in the Top 10 Team Champions. For the rest of the list please view it here.

Award Category	Place	Teams
Quiz Bowl Team	3	Vinay Sriram, Prahalad Giridhar, Reuben Nielsen
Debate - Individual	2	Jin Young Kim
	3	Yoon Jung (Jenny) Kim
Debate - Team	2	Yoon Jung (Jenny) Kim, Hana Aqila Sivakumar, Anna Seong Nicholas
	3	Jin Young Kim, Aya Kamio, Seojin Park
Writing - Individual	3	Hee Sun (Sunny) Hwang
Writing - Team	3	Yee Ryeong Hur, Yoojin Lee, Gyounga Kim
Subject Winners	Social Studies	Siddesh Vijayakumar
	History	Gyeong Deok Park
	Science	Vinay Sriram
Challenge - Individual	1	Karthik Narayanan
	2	Reuben Nielsen
Challenge - Team	2	Gyeong Deok Park, Karthik Narayanan, Manav Mandyam Chakravarthy
Top Scorer from AISC		Jin Young Kim
Top Individual	2	Jin Young Kim
Team Champions	2	Vinay Sriram, Prahalad Giridhar, Reuben Nielsen
	4	Yoon Jung (Jenny) Kim, Hana Aqila Sivakumar, Anna Seong Nicholas
	5	Jin Young Kim, Aya Kamio, Seojin Park
	6	Advika Srinivasan, Natsumi Shindo, SeoYoung Park
	8	Gyeong Deok Park, Karthik Narayanan, Manav Mandyam Chakravarthy

World Scholar Participants

Our two debaters: Seo Young Park (middle) and Jenny Kim (bottom) and three judges: Reuben Nielsen, Jin Young Park and Domenic Wilbur (top)

Virtual Learning Drill Update

Please plan ahead for our Virtual Learning Drill scheduled for March 25th.  On this date,  all students will remain home from school for a full schedule of learning using both digital and traditional materials.  This is what you should expect in the days leading up to this drill and on the day of the drill.

1. You will receive an emergency sms message from AISC on Tuesday March 24th notifying the community of our plans to close school the following day.
2. You will receive an email shortly after the sms from the Head of School explaining the situation. These communications are part of the drill and are not meant to cause concern.
3. You and your child will then receive an email from each of your section Principals further explaining what teaching and learning will look like the following day for your children.
4. On the morning of March 25th at 8:30 am you will receive an email indicating that school has begun for that day.  
5. Your child, possibly with your help depending the age and independence of your children, will log into Moodle to find instructions for learning.  
6. Middle and High School students will log into their normally scheduled classes (it is a B day) and, ideally, complete those during the normally scheduled times.  It is best to follow the schedule as closely as possible so as not to miss the teacher's office hours, which will be open during that class.   
7. Elementary School students and/or parents will access the homeroom teacher's Moodle page where they will find further instructions and links for the subjects the child would normally have on that day. Specialist teachers will link to their lessons through the homeroom teachers' page.  
8. Students will have opportunities to interact with teachers via both chat or video conference to have their questions answered.
9. In the event of technical issues,  please call our direct tech support line at (44) 2254-9029 or (44) 3357-9029.

Food Service Update - Nutrition Month

AISC launched Nutrition Month activities in both cafeterias starting last week. During these two weeks, a number of teachers have donned chef coats to serve up fruit and vegetables while encouraging students to make healthy choices and they will continue this for the next two weeks.

We also held our first Fresh Snack Friday last week and we had one today in the ES cafeteria where students were offered free servings of cut fruit and carrot sticks with ranch dip.  This was a huge success!

Middle and high school students took part in a nutrition game show during recent assemblies; students with correct answers earned gift certificates to the iHub.

The recipe contest closed on Monday, March 9th. We will be serving the prize winning muffin to all of our students and visitors to the iHub on Monday, 16 March and on Friday, 20 March to our ES students.

Thanks to everyone who entered the recipe contest! We are pleased to announce the following March winners:

Pasta: Ms. Nanda's Chicken and Vegetable Pasta

Asian Non-Veg: Shiki and Uta's Chicken with Beans

Vegetable side dish: Rhea's Cucumber Dill Salad

Quiche/Frittata: Japanese PTA's Omelette (available next Monday before school) and Makot and Matsumi's Muffin Size Quiche (available in the snack counters at the iHub and ES cafeteria sometime in April)

The winning muffin, "No Way Muffins" will be passed out to MS and HS students in the iHub on Monday, March 16th as part of "Muffin Monday". The No Way Muffins will also be served to ES students on "Fresh Snack Friday" on March 20th. Watch for the winners on the April menu.

In order to provide dairy options to our students, especially our elementary students, the ES cafeteria, the main cafeteria and the iHub will be selling milk and yoghurt @ Rs.25 each starting Monday, 16 March.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal