Dear Parents,
This week we are delighted to be hosting the Regional MathCounts competition and the MS ISTA Festival. We are welcoming schools from Mumbai, Delhi, Cairo, Amman and Columbo. A special thank you to all families who have volunteered to host. Without your cooperation, these events would not be possible. ISTA, MathCounts and our other MS co-curricular events that bring together diverse groups of students from India and our region are key to developing rich learning experiences for our students and support our commitment to international-mindedness. A special thank you to our MS Theatre Teacher Rachel McCallum, our Activities and Athletics Director Ryan McFarland, and our MathCounts coaches Jayme Garwych and Kala Ganeshan for their coordination of these events.
Community Calendar Change
February 14 is now a school day and will be an A4 day.
SEVAI Day Wednesday February 12
This past week, students have been preparing for their second SEVAI field day of the year. Students are reminded to wear their SEVAI T-shirts on Wednesday, February 12. In this second field experience, students will be applying what they learned from their previous SEVAI day and will be putting their planning in action to help meet the needs of our community partners. More information about all of SEVAI projects can be accessed in our SEVAI menu. Students will be sharing their learning from their SEVAI projects at our Celebration of Learning April 29.
Challenge Success Survey
As published in last week’s notes, we will be administering the Challenge success survey to MS students on Friday, February 14. From the Challenge Success website: “The Challenge Success Student Survey¹ is a 30-40 minute online survey for middle and high school students that measures perceptions of their academic engagement, connection to the school community, physical health and well-being, technology use, family norms, and how they use their time outside of school.” You can learn more about the survey here.
Today you have received a message via email about passive consent. Passive consent means that you give permission for your child to take the survey if you do not return the form. If you return the form, we will ensure your child does not participate in the survey. Participation is voluntary for all students. Please contact Ms. Gold (gjennifer@aischennai.org) or Ms. Pechhold (pjessica@aischennai.org) if you have questions.
MathCounts Regionals at AISC
MathCounts is a math competition amongst U.S. middle school students, and students from the State Department schools outside the U.S. Regional competition is held in February. Eight of our students will be competing with students from the American schools in Jordan, Cairo, Delhi, Mumbai, and Colombo.
Sprint and Target Round competitions will take place on Friday morning. The team and countdown rounds of the competition will take place on Saturday morning. While the Friday competition rounds are not open to the public, the Saturday Countdown round is open for everyone. It is an exciting buzzer round with the top ten students selected from the earlier rounds, engaged in an intense problem-solving contest. Math department would like to invite students and parents to come and view the contest. The contest will start at 10.30 am on Saturday, February, 8th.
Early Release
This coming Wednesday we will have an Early Release Wednesday. Students are expected to depart campus in a timely and organized fashion upon dismissal at 2:00 pm. We appreciate your patience with traffic on these days as all three sections are picking up students at the same time. In preparation, please plan on allowing longer time for entry and exit to the school at release time. For our Middle and High School students, hot lunch will be served. Please note that the iHub will be open to provide an air conditioned waiting space until 2:40 pm in case drivers are delayed. Food services in the iHub will close at 1:50 pm.
From EAL Department
Each year, AISC assesses student's English language proficiency with the online WIDA MODEL (Measure of Developing English Language) test. This year, testing will take place from 6-12 February. The EAL Department works tirelessly with all faculty and staff to minimize disruption during instructional time, (the complete test takes roughly 2.5 hours). If you have any questions regarding WIDA, please reach out to Sarah Sahr, ssarah@aischennai.org.
Eighth Grade Course Registration Reminder
On March 3, eighth grade students will be receiving their ninth grade course registration forms. Details and steps in the High School Course Registration process can be found here: G8 Course Registration/Transition Overview.
Documentary Screening of Batman and BillOn Monday, February 17 at 3:45 pm, we will be presenting the documentary, "Batman and Bill," which is based on our visiting author's book, "Bill the Boy Wonder." This documentary tells the story of Bill Finger, the uncredited creator of Batman. Following the screening, we will have a Q&A with the author, Marc Tyler Nobleman. Teachers, staff, parents, and students from grade three and up are invited to attend, but please note that all students in ES are required to attend with a parent and that parent will be required to stay with the child for the entire time. While the film doesn't contain any objectionable content, parents should know that the run time is over 90 minutes and the intended audience is not young children.
AISC Libraries Book Swap
The AISC Libraries want to celebrate Earth Week with the community by organizing a way to reuse your previously loved books! If you have any gently used books at home (in any language and/or genre) that you'd like to donate, please bring them to the ES/MS or HS Library. We will accept books for babies, toddlers, children, teens, or adults, as long as they are in good condition. For every two books that are donated, you will receive a ticket for one free book at the Book Swap! Please contact Barbara Bowman at bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have any questions.
Have a great weekend,
Jessica Pechhold
Middle School Principal