29 April

Dear Middle School Parents,

Middle school years are quite interesting years for children, with challenges of puberty and developing independence while still needing parent support. These can be trialing years for some children. However, with the support of adults who understand them, these can be wonderful memorable years. Here are some things to think about for parents and teachers to understand teens better: 7 Things Parents and Teachers Should Know About Teens. Some of what they say in the article applies more to older teens than the younger ones. However, we do have many students already thinking about some of the questions about their purpose in life and contributions to this world as well.

End of School Year Notice

As we are approaching the end of the school year, there are a few things parents need to keep in mind. 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.

For those families that are leaving, please complete the Request for Transfer Certificate Form in the Middle School Office by Friday, 13 May. Please note that we will only issue hard copy trimester reports to students who are leaving AISC on the last day of school, Thursday, 2 June. All other report cards will be open on Skyward the following week.

Scholastic Book Fair

The book fair will take place from Monday, 9 May to Wednesday, 11 May in the Main Courtyard. Please visit the fair or remember to send money with your children to purchase books.

Middle School Art Exhibition

Please join us at the opening reception for our Middle School Art Exhibition on Tuesday, May 10th from 3:45 to 4:45. This show is for all middle school art students, showcasing at least one amazing work from each student who is taking an art course this year in the middle school. Works displayed will include paintings, sculptures, mixed-media creations, and technology projects. We encourage everyone to come see the show! The exhibition will continue from May 10th to May 20th.

Heads Up…

The Indian Government has declared Monday, May 16th as the state assembly election day. Businesses and establishments have been directed to close. In order to abide by this directive, AISC will not have school on this day and will engage a Virtual Learning Day (VLD) for our students. We anticipate that the power and communications infrastructure in Chennai will be fully operational. We have a make-up day on April 29, which allows us to stay within our school policy minimum of 175 days of school. We appreciate your understanding.

Heat and Hydration Reminder

With the heat coming and students are continuing to play outdoors, please remember to pack a water bottle for your child(ren) to bring to school. They need to stay hydrated. We also recommend that they wear a hat (cap) when playing outside.

Food Service Update

The heat is on!  Taj Madras Flight Kitchen is now serving fresh Mango with Vanilla Ice Cream (rs.110). The sales of kebabs are high and people are enjoying those as a recent addition to the iHub offerings.  We are considering new varieties of salads and sandwiches to be served in the iHub and ES Cafeteria.  Starting May 2nd, please help us gather ideas for new salads and sandwiches by dropping your favorite recipes in the box provided on top of the counter in the iHub. We will collect those through May 16.  Thanks for you help here.

Food services at AISC are always looking for ways to improve. Should you have questions, suggestions or concerns, please contact Catering Manager (antony.rex@tajhotels.com), Elementary Associate Principal Lori Newman (nlori@aisch.org) or Secondary Associate Principal Jason Hicks (hjason@aisch.org). If you have not had the chance to have a meal in the IHub or Main Cafeteria, please join us. We would love to hear your feedback about the food at AISC.

Have a great weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

22 April

Dear Middle School Parents,

It was great to see all of you yesterday at the e-portfolio presentation and the SAISA Track and Field Meet, which is still going on Friday afternoon and Saturday. We have a total of 189 athletes, with 159 visiting from six international schools including: ASB (Bombay), AISD (Dhaka), OSC (Sri Lanka), KAS (Pakistan), AISD (Bangladesh), LS (Nepal) and AISC. Here is the link for results and live streaming:

http://aiscathletics.weebly.com/saisa-t--f-schedule--results.html

Please come out and support all of our Raptors and visiting Track & Field athletes. See you there!

Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) Testing: 25-29 April

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a computerized adaptive test. Students will take tests in Reading, Math, Language and Science. MAP tests students with engaging and age-appropriate content. As a student responds to questions, the test responds to the student, adjusting up or down in difficulty. Our team uses the data to inform instructional decision-making for increased student growth and achievement.

The school is reviewing our science curriculum; therefore, we will be testing students in science for the first time to get baseline data for the science curriculum review.

Please remind your children to charge the laptops each night, especially during testing week. There is no preparation required for MAP testing. We do, however,  recommend that students get adequate sleep and a good breakfast before they come to school for the MAP test.

IMPORTANT NOTICE about our Migration to aischennai.org

Next Thursday evening all students and teachers will be migrated over to our new domain for Google Apps. We are migrating from @aisch.org to @aischennai.org for all of our digital tools. The links to our website and Skyward will change along with student email addresses.

The change is largely seamless for student users especially in the MS, however, if your child has signed up for any accounts with his or her school email address, they will need to change this on their own. For a comprehensive analysis of the impact on our different tools please see this document.

April 29 - School Day Reminder

Please remember that Friday, April 29 has been re-scheduled as a school day following the missed days during the floods in December. It will be a Day 1D. Please take note!

Heat and Hydration

With the heat coming and students are continuing to play outdoors, please remember to pack a water bottle for your child(ren) to bring to school. They need to stay hydrated. We also recommend that they wear a hat (cap) when playing outside.

Malaysia MUN

From the sponsors Pepper McFarland, Michelle May and Ross Connelly: AISC finished strong in debate today. All of our resolutions passed this morning and we received two awards at the closing ceremony: Most Improved-Adam Ludwig and Most Diplomatic-Luis.  Regardless of the amount of awards that we received from the conference, we'd give half of our delegates Most Passionate and the other half would get Most Improved. We are still overwhelmed and full of pride by their performance.

Have a great weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

15 April

Dear Middle School Parents,

Parents have asked many times about how long students should spend in front of the computer, meaning screen time in general. Of course, it varies according the age and grade of each child. Here is an honest article from the NY Times from Dr. Perri Klass who specializes in family health, which talks about screen time and the content that they see is just as important. Here is a quote that hits home for me and hope it does for parents as well: “Media violence will never be good for kids; sexual content at a young age will never be good for kids; first-person shooter games will never be good for kids. The research is very clear, and it will never change.”

Middle School Coffee

Please join us on Tuesday, 19 April at 8:45 in the Hall of Light. We have had two trimester of reports and would like to get your feedback of our new standards-based reports. Please be prepared and come with your thoughts, questions and feedback. We will have a process where you will share the strengths and weaknesses of the trimester report and provide us with feedback of how we can improve it for parents. 

E-Portfolio Presentations, Thursday 21 April

Please remember that we will have e-portfolio presentations at either 1:15 or 2:05, on Thursday, 21 April. You should have received an invitation from your child to the presentation. Please remember that your child takes the lead in the presentation. 

During this time, it will be 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. The skills they develop in reflecting on their learning, organizing their thoughts and presenting to you are all very valuable in school and beyond. 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.

Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences, 21 - 22 April

If you have signed up for the student-parent-teacher conferences, please ask yourself the following questions:

1. What information am I lacking? Can I ask my child to help me gain a better understanding of the question or concern I have?
2. Have I communicated my question to the teacher as a part of an ongoing concern or could I find the answer to my question by calling or emailing the teacher?
3. Have I asked my child to show me his or her e-portfolio, Moodle page, Google docs folder, rubrics or other evidence that may help me answer my question?

During this time, the student still takes the lead in the three-way dialogue. The teacher is there to help guide the student along. As the article on Student-Led Conferences stated, “the message, once again, is that the students are responsible for their own success.” 

Grade 7 Art

Students do amazing work in here in the school. Here is a short video of the grade 7 students working on their Acrylic painting project in Mr. Aneesh’s class. Enjoy it. 

SAISA Track and Field

Coming up next week on April 21-23rd, we will be hosting the 2016 SAISA Track & Field Meet here at AISC. We have a total of 189 athletes, with 159 visiting from six international schools including: ASB (Bombay), AISD (Dhaka), OSC (Sri Lanka), KAS (Pakistan), AISD (Bangladesh), LS (Nepal) and AISC. This will be a really exciting meet and we are looking forward to hosting this great event. 

Here is the link for results and live streaming:

http://aiscathletics.weebly.com/saisa-t--f-schedule--results.html

Please come out and support all of our Raptors and visiting Track & Field athletes. See you there!

April 29 - School Day Reminder

Please remember that Friday, April 29 has been re-scheduled as a school day following the missed days during the floods in December. It will be a Day 1D. Please take note! 

Have a great weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal

8 April

Dear Middle School Parents,

With the conferences coming up in a couple of weeks, Mr. Rob Martin shared an article with me about Student-Led Conferences, which says that “at schools built on Deeper Learning principles, the meetings are often turned into student-led conferences, with students presenting their schoolwork, while their teachers, having helped them prepare, sit across the table, or even off to the side. The triad then sits together to review and discuss the work and the student’s progress. The message, once again, is that the students are responsible for their own success.” Click on the link to read the whole article to understand the importance of this process.

E-Portfolio Presentations and Conferences: 21 & 22 April

In the past, after the e-portfolio presentations, parents had a chance to schedule a follow up conference with teachers. Given the increased focus on student reflection and more detailed information contained in the trimester report, plus your experience in the e-portfolio presentation, you may realize that there is no need to schedule a follow-up conference. In the past, many parents choose not to attend the Spring Student-Parent-Teacher Conference and based on recent changes, we anticipate that even fewer parents will make the choice to do so this year. If a teacher feels like a conference is needed, they will be contacting you.  Also, if a student feels similar, there request for you to schedule a conference will be included in the e-portfolio invite email.  If you do not hear from your child, or any of you child’s teachers, then there is no need to schedule a Student-Parent-Teacher Conference.

With that said, should you feel that a conference is needed, please ask yourself the following questions:

1. What information am I lacking? Can I ask my child to help me gain a better understanding of the question or concern I have?
2. Have I communicated my question to the teacher as a part of an ongoing concern or could I find the answer to my question by calling or emailing the teacher?
3. Have I asked my child to show me his or her e-portfolio, Moodle page, Google docs folder, rubrics or other evidence that may help me answer my question?

Middle School Coffee

Please join us on Tuesday, 19 April at 8:45 in the Hall of Light. We have had two trimester of reports and would like to get your feedback of our new standards-based reports. Please be prepared and come with your thoughts, questions and feedback. We will have a process where you will share the strengths and weaknesses of the trimester report and provide us with feedback of how we can improve it for parents.

MS MUN Malaysia

Congratulations to all of our delegates who will be going to Kuala Lumpur to represent AISC. Here is a list of their committee assignments and the countries they represent.

Delegation Name/Assignment	Committee Assignment	Name
Indonesia	Disarmament I	Ye Won Lee
	Disarmament II	Prannoy Thakore
	ECOSOC I	Prahalad Giridhar
	ECOSOC II	Vinay Sriram
	Environment I	Abhi Desai
	Environment II	YoungIn Song
	General Assembly	Luis Zink
	Human Rights I	Diya Kumar
	Human Rights II	Bhavni Joshi
	Special Conference	Soo Youn Hwang
Brazil	ECOSOC I	Anant Bajaj
	ECOSOC II	Celia Malone
	Environment I	Arunveer Kahlon
	Environment II	Manav Chakravarthy
Russian Federation	ECOSOC I	Srivatsan Ramaswamy
Germany	Disarmament I	Daehyeon Song
	Disarmament II	Arjan Chakravarthy
	ECOSOC I	Minki Kim
	Human Rights II	Harin Jeong
	Security Council	Adam Ludwig

Did you know bikes are one of the most efficient machines in the world?

Are you interested in helping local kids?

Mr. Ryan is putting together a team of students to pair up with a local orphan. You can work together with another kid to rebuild their bike. Don’t know how to work with bikes? No problem. We can learn together! The Orphan Bike Project will take place on 4 Saturdays here on campus. Here is the schedule: April 23rd: Introductions, Clean bikes, Note what needs to be replaced,Pictures and interviews May 7th: refurbish bicycles            May 14th: refurbish bicycles (brake pads, brake cables) May 21st: Bikeathon! To raise money for the orphan’s school costs. Want to know more? Click this link to watch a video from last year’s Orphan Bike Project. Ready to sign up? Fill out this form, get it signed, and turn it into Ms. Heidi (Room 2123) by Friday, April 15.

World Scholar’s Cup Recognitions

The MS students represented our school very well. Below are some medals and honor medals that student received last weekend. Congratulations to all of our students.

Category	Student Name
Champion Writers - Honor Medalist	Silver: Woon Ji Lee, Harin Jeong, Siddharth Vijay, Advika Srinivasan, Anjana Ganesh
Challenge Science – Honor Medals	Siddharth Vijay
Top Writing Teams – Honor Medalist	Harin Jeong, Advika Srinivasan, Anjana Ganesh
School Top Scholars	Advika Srinivasan
DaVinci Scholars	Gold: Meghana Rachamadugu, Hee Sun Hwang, YoungIn Song, Ji Eun Park
Champion Scholars – Honor Medals	Siddharth Vijay, Advika Srinivasan

AISC HS Theatre proudly presents Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night.

On the sun-drenched coast of Illyria, love-sick Count Orsino sends his young man-servant, Cesario, to deliver his love letters to the beautiful Olivia.

That his man-servant is actually Viola, a noblewoman in disguise: that's a complication.

That Viola has fallen in love with him: that's a problem.

When Olivia falls in love with Cesario: that's a comedy.

Please join us for Shakespeare’s hilarious Twelfth Night, a play full of mistaken identity, misplaced love, and surprising revelations. Two performances: Thursday, 15 April at 7pm and Friday, 16 April at 3pm. Tickets are 200 Rs. and go on sale the week of the show.

Featuring Jannick Frampton, Dafne Mistrangelo, Sanna Vasu, Adrienne Hoover, Merlin Thirion Gueltas, Anjan Mani, Alyssa Pinkerton, Kiana McBride, Jared Sager, Alex Bonello, Bhavia Joshi, Hana Sivakumar, Ashira Haime, Tanika Naidoo, and Tayla Glason. With music by the AISC Jazz Ensemble.

April 29 - School Day Reminder

Please remember that Friday, April 29 has been re-scheduled as a school day following the missed days during the floods in December. It will be a Day 1D. Please take note!

Interact Club Book Drive

There are boxes outside the section offices, reception and libraries (CIC). Contact ksanjana16@aisch.org or jslakshmi@aisch.org if you have any questions!

Have a good weekend.

Alan Phan

Middle School Principal