31 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

We just completed a week with the consultant from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD). Thank you parents, for attending the MS/HS Coffee. Parent involvement is crucial to efforts to reduce the risks that teenagers face and we appreciate your commitment to keeping children safe. If you would like further information, go to www.fcd.org. I also saw this video about rethinking addiction, which provides a different perspective about addiction and boils down prevention with human bonding and connection.

Writing Assessment Program (WrAP) Test

Next week, students in the Middle School will complete a standardized writing assessment. WrAP asks students to respond to a writing prompt in two timed writing sessions administered over consecutive days—closely replicating the natural writing process of drafting, revising, and completing a final version. Due to the nature of the test, children who are newer to learning English may not be required to take this test.  The data we receive from such tests helps us re-evaluate our teaching and learning programs allowing us to make further improvements to better meet our student’s learning needs.

Date Change

The High School Theater Production recorded in the community calendar for Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22 will instead be held on Thursday. April 20 and Friday, April 21. Kindly mark your calendars. More information on the play and ticket sales will be shared soon.

AMIS Asian Honor Boys and Girls Choir

Congratulations to the boys and girls who will be going to Jakarta Intercultural School from 4-9 April to represent AISC. The voices will be coming from these wonderful singers:

Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Clara Fanny Marie Bouvier d'Yvoire	Junhyuk Choi	Yoobin Yoon
Christian Horchler	Noa Daryn	Miyu II
Palani Thevan Rajan	Taehee Kim	Minki Kim
Gyubo Shim		Eunbo Shim

IB Art Exhibition

Please join us on Tuesday, April 4th, at 4:00pm in the FAC atrium as we celebrate the accomplishments of our 2017 IB Art cohort. This year we are celebrating the works by Adrienne Hoover, Arya Giri, Eunbin Choi, Aline Nicolai, Marie Schumann, and Seoyoung Park.

Grade 2 Mela!

Join us on Friday, April 7th, from 9:30am to 11:30am in the main cafeteria, covered basketball courts and field for food, fun and crafts.

Grade 2 has been working on our SEVAI service learning project. Students are producing items and developing activities in collaboration with the students from Seva Samajam, a local school in Taramani. We will have a variety of goods and services for sale and recommend bringing between 250-500 rupees, as the average cost of an item is 100 rupees. All proceeds will be donated to the students at Seva Samajam. This is an integration of our economics unit exploring the exchange of goods and services, consumers and producers and the choices people make when purchasing goods and services. We have adopted a project-based approach integrating economics in social studies, money in math and persuasive writing. We hope to see you there! :)

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration

24 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

As you continue to have conversations about the previous trimester report with your children, please remember to focus their reflection, feedback from teachers and their learning habits. Here is an article about “Why High-Flying Singapore Wants More Than Grades.” While some schools and countries are thinking about this shift, we’re happy to know that we made this shift two years ago. We will continue to report in this manner and make tweaks to make it even better for students and parents.

Middle School SEVAI (Service Learning) Day

On Friday, 31 March, the Middle School will have our first service learning day. We will shorten the classes for the day and students will be participating in various service learning activities. The purpose of the day is to expose all MS students to a service learning experience and inspire students to participate in ongoing service learning programs.

During one of the projects on Middle School SEVAI Day, students will assemble care packages for the Night Owl delivery for those in need in Chennai. Collection of the materials for the care packages has already begun in Advisory. To help our efforts, please begin collecting materials, including non-perishable foods, empty water bottles and especially toiletries (such as soap,  toothbrushes and toothpaste) to donate and send them with you children to their advisory classes.

Scholastic Book Fair

Get lots of great new books! AISC is holding its next Scholastic Book Fair on March 27-29 in the Main Courtyard (8:00-4:30on Monday and Tuesday, 8:00-3:30 on Wednesday). Please stop by and check out some of the wonderful books on sale! You will find books available for students in elementary and middle school. There are nonfiction and fiction books with many different genres, series, and fun topics you will enjoy!

In addition, several AISC parents are running a book drive during the fair to get books for a local school. This means that students and parents have the option during the Scholastic Book Fair to purchase books towards this project. More information can be found here: AISC Volunteer Parent Book Drive

Please contact Mr. Jet at wjeremy@aischennai.org if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at the book fair!

AMIS Asian Honor Boys and Girls Choir

Congratulations to the boys and girls who will be going to Jakarta Intercultural School from 4-9 April to represent AISC. The voices will be coming from these wonderful singers:

Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Clara Fanny Marie Bouvier d'Yvoire	Junhyuk Choi	Yoobin Yoon
Christian Horchler	Noa Daryn	Miyu II
Palani Thevan Rajan	Taehee Kim	Minki Kim
Gyubo Shim		Eunbo Shim

Join AISC as we embrace people with Invisible Disabilities from March 27-31. Read more about it in the Head's Notes.

AISC's lecture series, RISE, is looking forward to a performance by Ishamuddin Khan and his acrobats and magicians next Friday at 4:00pm. Read more about it on the Head's Notes.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration

10 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

I like to keep up with parent education as well as student education trends. With over 20 years in the field, that’s how I keep energized and enthusiastic about my job. I thoroughly enjoy every part of it. Last week, I came across another great article about teaching kids about empathy. The short article also contains a short video about how to explain it to someone.

Trimester 2 Reports

You should have received an email with the instructions to access the second-trimester report in Skyward. Please take the time to look through the trimester report thoroughly and read the student reflection from your child and feedback from the teachers. It should provide you with more information of what your child is doing well and what s/he needs to work on for the next trimester. Please note that students who arrived in January or after, their report card might not be complete. Should you have any questions about any of the classes, please feel free to contact the subject teacher.

Curriculum Update

We have updated the curriculum and you will find what students are doing in the third trimester. We will have one more update of this document before the end of the year.

AMIS (Association for Music in International School) Honor Band

Congratulations to Finn Wohltmann for earning a prestigious spot at the Asian Middle School Honors’ Band Festival in Manila, Philippines from 8-12 March. We would like to recognize him for his passion for music, confidence and hard work to get him there.  The AMIS Asian Middle School Honors’ Band Festival is a lifetime experience for students who attend them, and a great way to represent AISC in an international music festival.  

​As part of our health education program and ongoing commitment to prevention and wellness, each year we invite a trained prevention specialist from FCD Prevention Works to join our community. FCD is a non-profit organization that provides substance abuse prevention education for schools. Their mission is to:

• Encourage and support the non-use of alcohol and other illegal or illicit drugs during the growing years
• Empower young people to make healthy, responsible choices regarding alcohol and other drug use
• Teach students and adults how to recognize the early warning signs of substance abuse and to intervene appropriately
• Educate students, parents, teachers and administrators on the physiological and psychological effects of alcohol and other drugs

The prevention specialist will be meeting with students in Grades 6-12 during the week of March 21-28. Their aim is to provide students with the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to make intelligent, healthy choices about alcohol and other drug use. During that time, they will meet with students as follows:

• Grade 6: 3 meetings during health class
• Grade 7: 3 meetings during health class
• Grade 8: 2 meetings during health class

Save the Date - Middle/High School Parent Coffee

*Please Note The Change of Date for this Coffee*

The FCD prevention specialist will also present a parent workshop on Tuesday, March 21st at 8:45am in the BBT. Please note that this is the day students return to school after Spring Break and it is a change from what is currently on our school calendar (it will no longer be on March 28). We wanted to give parents a chance, at the start of the FCD visit, to listen to the facilitator so that they can more easily engage their children in conversations about the topic while it is also being discussed at school. Some of the topics the facilitator will discuss with parents include:

• Effective ways to communicate with your child about alcohol/drug use
• Up-to-date facts about current alcohol/drug use and trends
• What to say about your own experiences with alcohol and/or drug experimentation
• How to spot early warning signs of trouble and effective ways to respond
• The importance of communication among community members

This program presents a perfect opportunity for discussing alcohol and other drug-related issues with your children. Parent involvement is crucial to efforts to reduce the risks that teenagers face and in the commitment to keeping children safe. We hope to see you on March 21st. If you would like further information, go to www.fcd.org.

Have a great spring break!

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration

3 March

Dear Middle School Parents,

We have a busy couple of days this weekend. The school is hosting Makeology, a Maker Summit for educators around the world. We are also hosting our final ASIAC event of the year, the 2017 ASIAC Tennis and Volleyball Tournament on Friday and Saturday. If you missed Friday’s matches, please come out and support all of our Raptors as they take to the courts on Saturday. The following live link will take you to the schedule, results and live streaming for this event.

http ://aiscathletics.weebly.com/asiac-volleyballtennis.html

See you there!! Go Raptors!

SEVAI Day Night Owl Collection Heads Up

During one of the projects on Middle School SEVAI Day (March 31st) students will assemble care packages for the Night Owl delivery for those in need in Chennai. Collection of the materials for the care packages will begin the day after Spring Break in Advisory. To help our efforts, please begin collecting materials to donate over beak, including non-perishable foods, empty water bottles and especially toiletries (such as soap,  toothbrushes and toothpaste) to donate.  The toiletries in hotels you may visit over Spring Break would be a great addition to any care package!

Elective Forms

It is that time of the year when we are planning for next year already. Students will begin to select their elective classes for next year. Students were given their elective form in their advisory classes on Thursday, 2 March. The form will be due back to the Counseling Office by Wednesday, 8 March Grade 6 and Grade 7 students.  Please take the time to discuss these important options with your children.

Reminders for Class of 2021! Grade 8 students!

If you missed the presentation by the High School Team, below are links to the presentation and other documents that have been shared with parents and students:

• 8th Grade to High School Course Selection Presentation
• Course Registration Form for Current Grade 8 (Grade 9 in 2017-18)
• AISC High School Curriculum Guide 2017-18

March 7	Registration forms to be returned to MS Counseling Office
March 22	Registration verification forms given to students
May (TBD)	Raptor Agents (students) to meet with G8 students

​FCD Prevention Specialist on campus March 21-March 28​

​As part of our health education program and ongoing commitment to prevention and wellness, each year we invite a trained prevention specialist from FCD Prevention Works to join our community. FCD is a non-profit organization that provides substance abuse prevention education for schools. Their mission is to:

• Encourage and support the non-use of alcohol and other illegal or illicit drugs during the growing years
• Empower young people to make healthy, responsible choices regarding alcohol and other drug use
• Teach students and adults how to recognize the early warning signs of substance abuse and to intervene appropriately
• Educate students, parents, teachers and administrators on the physiological and psychological effects of alcohol and other drugs

The prevention specialist will be meeting with students in Grades 6-12 during the week of March 21-28. Their aim is to provide students with the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to make intelligent, healthy choices about alcohol and other drug use. During that time, they will meet with students as follows:

• Grade 6: 3 meetings during health class
• Grade 7: 3 meetings during health class
• Grade 8: 2 meetings during health class

Save the Date - Middle/High School Parent Coffee

*Please Note The Change of Date for this Coffee*

The FCD prevention specialist will also present a parent workshop on Tuesday, March 21st at 8:45am in the BBT. Please note that this is the day students return to school after Spring Break and it is a change from what is currently on our school calendar (it will no longer be on March 28). We wanted to give parents a chance, at the start of the FCD visit, to listen to the facilitator so that they can more easily engage their children in conversations about the topic while it is also being discussed at school. Some of the topics the facilitator will discuss with parents include:

• Effective ways to communicate with your child about alcohol/drug use
• Up-to-date facts about current alcohol/drug use and trends
• What to say about your own experiences with alcohol and/or drug experimentation
• How to spot early warning signs of trouble and effective ways to respond
• The importance of communication among community members

This program presents a perfect opportunity for discussing alcohol and other drug-related issues with your children. Parent involvement is crucial to efforts to reduce the risks that teenagers face and in the commitment to keeping children safe. We hope to see you on March 21st. If you would like further information, go to www.fcd.org.

Yearbook Photo Orders

Your child's individual and class yearbook pictures from the August 2016 & January 2017 photo sessions may be purchased using this Form. Instructions are on the order form .

To order photos -  On the All School Moodle page,(guest password: raptors17) you will find a folder- Yearbook photos 2016-17. If your child joined school after September 4th, or missed the first session, the photo can be found in the folder labelled "SESSION 2 ".

Please complete the form, make payment at the cash counter and submit the form at the respective section office.

Last day for orders is 7 March. Prints will be ready for pick up after 21 March.  If you have any questions about the ordering process, please contact the MS office.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration