27 November

Dear Middle School Parents,

As we are approaching the winter break, we have many events coming up in the calendar next week and the following week. Please mark your calendar for the following:

Middle School Events

• December 3: Grade 6 Week Without Walls Parent Meeting @2:30 in Hall of Light
• December 4: Winter Choir and Strings Concert @2:30 in Theater
• December 7-9: Scholastic Book Fair
• December 9: Winter Band Concert
• December 11-12: AISC hosts ASIAC Soccer Tournament

All School Events

• December 2: Early Dismissal @1:30
• December 3: 20/21 Learning Dialogue @3:45 ES/MS CIC
• December 7: Christmas Tree Lighting
• December 7-11: Hour of Code (See below for more details)

ASIAC Housing Request from Ron Thomson

In just two weeks time, we will be hosting the 2015 ASIAC Soccer Tournament. We need your help in finding homes for our visiting athletes from AES and ASB. We have 40 boys and 40 girls to house from Thursday Dec. 10th through Sunday Dec. 13th. Please reply to our housing director Ms. Sally Victor at vsally@aisch.org if you can help us out. Thank you in advance for your hospitality.

Continuity of Instruction - Middle School School Specifics

While we all hope for drier weather in the coming weeks, know that should we miss another day due to heavy rainfall, AISC Middle School classes will continue online. Below please find the section specific guidelines referred to in Andrew Hoover’s Head of School Notes this week.

As you know, Moodle is our online learning platform and all students are enrolled in a Moodle page for each of their classes. Should school be closed, students will receive an email message at 8:30 am from the Middle School Principal announcing the start of the school day. This should prompt students to log into Moodle and check their assignments for each class they would have attended.  By 8:30am teachers will post a brief instructions, in writing or via video, as well as the lesson to complete during the day.  All formative assessments as part of such a virtual day are due by 3:30pm and students are able to work at their own pace throughout the day.  At 3:30pm students will receive a follow up email from the Middles School Principal announcing the close of the school day.  

Please note that teachers will hold virtual office hours during their regularly scheduled class periods and, as such, students who realize they need further clarification or help when they review their assignments at 8:30am are encouraged to reach out to teachers via email or google chat during their regularly scheduled class time.

Teachers will take attendance for each and submit it electronically to Ms. Margaret.  They will base attendance on the completion of the formative assessments assigned for the day and/or clear participation in the online assignments, whichever is most appropriate given the course.  

Students who find they do not have internet access at home are encouraged to use their 3G phones to text or email Ms. Margaret (smargaret@aisch.org or 90-0301-9124) and/or Mr. Phan (msprincipal@aisch.org,) to indicate their limited access to the internet.  Students who do not have access to phone service should check in with the office when school resumes so attendance records can be amended.  

Students unable to complete online assignments because they do not have access to the internet will be given additional time and support to either complete the missed assignment or engage in an alternative.

Robotics Competition

The National Robotics Competition is here and you are still invited! The competition is on November 28-29,  that is  this weekend at 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday and 9:30 to 5:30 pm on Sunday. No experience required, and no signup fee either! It's a great opportunity to learn how to make robots using Arduino, and it's going to be tons of fun!  This is the schedule for both the days.

Early Release Wednesday - December 2nd

In order to support continuous professional learning and development for AISC faculty members, there are seven Early Release Wednesdays on the calendar this year. On December 2nd, we will have our fourth Early Release Wednesday. As a reminder, students will be released at 1:30 p.m. and are expected to depart campus in a timely and organized fashion. We appreciate your patience. In preparation, please plan on allowing longer time for entry and exit to the school at release time. Lunch will be a quick "grab and go" sandwich on this day. If students want a hot lunch, please remember to pack one from home.

Greetings Students, Parents and Faculty,

We are three senior IB students and for our CAS project we are planning a game night: The Giving Games. The event will occur Friday December 4th and will run from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. Students from elementary, middle and high school, in addition to faculty, staff and parents are all welcome to enjoy an evening of charity and community in the spirit of the holidays. Elementary students however must be accompanied by a parent due to school policy. Due to the recent flooding in Chennai all of the proceeds from this Game Night will go to the flood relief effort. We will be supporting the organizations that our school is working with in order to help as much as we can.

At the event there will be various booths that will have different games that you can go around and play. As you go along you will collect points and at the end of the event the person with the highest score and the runner up will be awarded a prize. Tickets will be sold in the elementary entrance and at the main entrance starting Monday Nov. 23rd and continuing until Wednesday Dec. 3rd before school from 8:00 to 8:20 and after school from 3:30 to 4:00. Tickets for individual are priced at RS. 300 and tickets for pairs are priced at RS. 500. Any additional donations will be welcome.

        Come enjoy an evening of fun and games! There will be baked goods sold and music. Come support our initiative by purchasing a ticket and participating in the event. If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to email:

Dafne Mistrangelo- mdafne16@aisch.org

Giulia Gouet ggiulia16@aisch.org

Jade Hopkins- hjade16@aisch.org

Thank you for your support.

Hour of Code

This December we’ll again participate in largest single learning event in history and we hope to get even more learners involved. From December 7-11, children and adults all over the world will devote at least one hour to learning the absolute basics of how our computers and software programs work. Why? This graphic is a good place to start.  

However, it’s about more than just jobs; coding is also constructive play, or what we call hard fun. When we code we use critical thinking skills such as design, analysis, evaluation, and problem solving to be creative while having fun. With code we can be entrepreneurs, artists, communicators and collaborators to name just a few.  

We encourage learners from all grade levels to participate and share in the fun. Here are some ways you can get involved.

1. Talk to your child about what they know about how their favorite programs are made?
2. Sign up to learn to code with help from your child at school during that week.
3. Encourage your children to visit the ES/MS CIC or FAC Cafeteria at lunch for some organized fun.
4. Encourage your child to sign up for an ASA that will be held in the ES/MS CIC after school Dec. 8-11 3:45 - 4:45 (4 days) with a teacher from Wolfram. This is open to students from Grade 4 - 8.
5. Simply send this link to your kids and give them some time explore with these great ideas from Edutopia or directly from the Hour of Code itself.

Have a nice weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

20 November

Dear Middle School Parents,

Week Without Walls Appreciations

We would like to recognize and thank all the chaperones for the Grade 7 and 8 WWW trips.

Grade 7: Bill Hoffman, Pepper McFarland, Aneesh Kalode Rajan, Lakshmi Saravanan, Gareth Huxtable, Kanthi Sundaram, Michelle May, Vinitha Rajkumar, Lucy Palmquist and Tommy Bohorquez

While the trip did not take place, the teachers have put a lot of time and effort into planning the trip. We would like to thank them for the service learning opportunity of the beach clean up with last minute planning.

Grade 8: Ross Connelly, Cristian Luca, Laura Klecker, Andrew Ranson, Heidi Sager, Ryan Sager, Michelle Roy and Justin Carlson

Counselors’ Corner

Please visit the counselors' blogspot. Should you want information regarding social emotional needs, please visit: http://aischscounselor.blogspot.in/. Here is an article about How to cope with traumatic news: Many of us feel distressed by the rolling media coverage of frightening events, such as the attacks that have occurred in France. Unfortunately these traumatic news stories can also leave children feeling particularly stressed and anxious. The article linked below considers how it can affect people, especially children, and suggests some strategies for coping.

Follow up to MS Parent Coffee on November 17

Thank you to the parents that attended our November Coffee. Many parents asked about having access to the slides on Six Essential Life Skills presented by Jennifer Gold, our Middle School Counselor and the link to that presentation can be found here.

Design Saturday Nov 21st,  9-12 am - no sign-up necessary

The origin of the Maker movement is found in something quite personal: what we might call experimental play. Makers are enthusiasts who play with technology to learn about it. A new technology presents an invitation to play, and makers regard this kind of play as highly satisfying. Makers give it a try; they take things apart; and they try to do things that even the manufacturer didn’t think of doing. Making is a source of innovation.

The follow-up to our wildly successful first-ever Design Saturday will feature a blend of techie and not-so-techie.  At the one end we will unleash our Bee Bots (easily programmable floor robots) and challenge our participants to send them through courses of varying difficulty.  At the other end we will make things with cardboard and MakeDos that allow you to make a great many things and solve problems in creative ways.  We will be designing, making and playing in the ES Discover Studio this time.  

Photographing Varanasi Exhibit

The High School would like to invite you to visit our Photographing Varanasi Exhibit in the FAC Foyer from November 23rd to the 30th.  As you may know, each year High School students travel in small groups all over the country as part of our Discover India program.  This year a group traveled to Varanasi with a professional photographer to learn more about the art form and explore the amazing city.  Each student has chosen three images out of the hundreds of photographs taken to share with the community.  We hope you enjoy the exhibit.

Cancer-Lap- A-Thon

Global Issue Networks will be organizing the Cancer-Lap- A-Thon again this year on November 27th. This year we have decided that the proceeds will be donated to the 30/30 project, an organization that is working to bring healthcare and health checkups to various communities around the world. Recently they have started to build a clinic in India, which we would like to sponsor. Our overall theme for the project is "Healthcare is a Human Right," - which is a key issue that GIN aims to tackle.

To participate, each person must get sponsors to pay them for the number of laps that they will run around the field. Participants can walk, run, jog, crawl, anything they like around the field, as long as they complete as many laps as they please to raise money for 30/30 Project. Everyone would need to pick up a form from the High School, Middle School, and Elementary School office to start getting sponsors. This event is open to all community members.

Have a nice weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

13 November

Dear Middle School Parents,

The First Trimester Report has been posted online in Skyward. Please take this opportunity to have a conversation with your child(ren) regarding their progress thus far in the first trimester. If you need any support in reading the Trimester Report, please feel free to contact us in the Middle School Office.

Steps on How to Access Skyward

1. Where is Skyward?
1. www.aisch.org
2. Under “Quick Links” select Skyward
2. Login to Skyward using Parent Log-in
1. Username
2. Password
3. If you forgot your password, click on “Forgot your Login/Password?” (see below).
1. Enter your email that you use for the school and the password will be sent to you.
3. Click on Report Cards
4. Choose “Trimester 1 Report Card - 2015 -16”

Where is Skyward? Go to www.aisch.org Under “Quick Links” select Skyward, which will take you to this screen:

If you forgot your password, clicking on the button will take you to this screen. It will send you an email. Click on the link and it will take you to another screen to request for a new password.

Middle School Coffee

Topic: Essential Life Skills for Adolescents by Ms. Jen Gold, MS Counselor

Date, Time and Location: Tuesday, 17 November @8:45 in Hall of Light

Come to the parent coffee and learn about some of the essential life skills that we can be cultivating in our adolescents. Fostering developing skills now in areas such as stress management, perspective taking, self control, and resiliency, among others, is important for our children so that they are prepared for the demands of life beyond Middle School. Join other Middle School parents in learning about these life skills and discussing ways to encourage their development at home.

Week Without Walls

Grade 7 and 8 students will be leaving on Monday for their respective trips in India. Please remember to bring your children to school on time. The arrival time is an estimated arrival time as of now. Should there be any delays, we will be in touch:

	Departure	Arrival
Grade 7	Monday, 16 November Come to school at 12:oo pm (Noon)	Saturday, 21 November Pick up at School at 2:15 pm
Grade 8	Monday, 16 November  at 5.30 am - Drop off location: AISC Front Gate	Friday, 20 November  at 6.30 pm - Pick up location: AISC CAmpus

MS Administration on Trips

Mr. Phan will be going with the Grade 8 WWW and Mr. Jason will be going with one of the High School Discover India trips. Should you have any questions or concerns, please see Mr. Hoover or Ms. Jen Gold, Middle School Counselor. Both will be back on campus on Monday, 23 November.

Cancer-Lap- A-Thon

Global Issue Networks will be organizing the Cancer-Lap- A-Thon again this year on November 27th. This year we have decided that the proceeds will be donated to the 30/30 project, an organization that is working to bring healthcare and health checkups to various communities around the world. Recently they have started to build a clinic in India, which we would like to sponsor. Our overall theme for the project is "Healthcare is a Human Right," - which is a key issue that GIN aims to tackle.

To participate, each person must get sponsors to pay them for the number of laps that they will run around the field. Participants can walk, run, jog, crawl, anything they like around the field, as long as they complete as many laps as they please to raise money for 30/30 Project. Everyone would need to pick up a form from the High School, Middle School, and Elementary School office to start getting sponsors. This event is open to all community members.

Design Saturday Nov 21st,  9-12 am - no sign-up necessary

The origin of the Maker movement is found in something quite personal: what we might call experimental play. Makers are enthusiasts who play with technology to learn about it. A new technology presents an invitation to play, and makers regard this kind of play as highly satisfying. Makers give it a try; they take things apart; and they try to do things that even the manufacturer didn’t think of doing. Making is a source of innovation.

The follow-up to our wildly successful first-ever Design Saturday will feature a blend of techie and not-so-techie.  At the one end we will unleash our Bee Bots (easily programmable floor robots) and challenge our participants to send them through courses of varying difficulty.  At the other end we will make things with cardboard and MakeDos that allow you to make a great many things and solve problems in creative ways.  We will be designing, making and playing in the ES Discover Studio this time.  

Have a nice weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

6 November

Dear Middle School Parents,

Happy Diwali! We hope you will enjoy this festive holiday here in India or wherever you may be heading to this break. Have a safe journey.

Upon return from the break, on Friday, 13 November, we will be publishing our first trimester report with the new standards-based reporting format. I will post instructions to access it on Skyward in the next Principal’s Notes. We have provided a series of special parent coffees to explain all the different components of the trimester report. Once the report is out and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us.

Students Art Work

Here is a short video of Mr. Aneesh’s Grade 7 students working on your Fine Art Photography project. The video is less than two minutes and worth every second.

AMIS MS Honors Band Festival

AMIS results have come out.  Out of many challenges, MinJae Kim has earned a place in this year's Asian MS Honors Band Festival that will be held in the International School of Yangon in February 2015.  Congratulations to MinJae, and all other students who worked hard and learnt the audition music passionately, and recorded and submitted it courageously!

Cancer-Lap- A-Thon

Global Issue Networks will be organizing the Cancer-Lap- A-Thon again this year on November 27th. This year we have decided that the proceeds will be donated to the 30/30 project, an organization that is working to bring healthcare and health checkups to various communities around the world. Recently they have started to build a clinic in India, which we would like to sponsor. Our overall theme for the project is "Healthcare is a Human Right," - which is a key issue that GIN aims to tackle.

To participate, each person must get sponsors to pay them for the number of laps that they will run around the field. Participants can walk, run, jog, crawl, anything they like around the field, as long as they complete as many laps as they please to raise money for 30/30 Project. Everyone would need to pick up a form from the High School, Middle School, and Elementary School office to start getting sponsors. This event is open to all community members. The form is available in the Middle School Office.

Art Sustains would like to thank everyone who came out to support our local artists at the craft fair. During the 3.5 day event, we sold $3,615 in merchandise and managed to raise $700, which will enable us to fund numerous service based initiatives throughout the year.  

We will continue to sell Ayyanar horse, elephant, ganesh, and numerous other terracotta sculptures in the IHUB throughout November and December.  Baskar, one of the terracotta sculptors who worked with us during the Ayyanar Horse Project, had an accident in his studio two months ago.  He could use our support now, more than ever.

Art Sustains is also happy to announce, that our Bollywood/ Signboard painters are back on campus! Make sure you stop by our Art Sustains table, outside the IHUB, on Fridays to place your order for a large Bollywood style family portrait.

Have a nice weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal