Dear Students and Parents,
Thank you for your support and feedback this week. These past few weeks have been a transition into our online learning program. Now, that we have had some practice implementing with our model, we will be looking closely at what’s working and what may need adjustment based. Thank you for your patience as we develop a system that best supports our students. Sunday you can expect a video and email message for week 4. Thank you to Brune, Jiwon, Yuya, Seojun and Ritika for this week's art work.
Calendar Updates
There will be no virtual learning Tuesday April 14 (Tamil New Year). Because of the holidays, our modules for the next weeks will offer 90 minutes of engagement/per class for students. Optional extension activities will be offered as well.
STEAM Fest Save the Date & Message
We will host a virtual STEAM Fest Friday, April 17 & Monday April 20. STEAM Fest will take place on Padlet. This week and next, teachers are working with students in all grade levels to polish their STEAM presentations for a virtual environment. Students will receive instructions from their teachers to submit their final STEAM presentation so that we can compile all of the projects in one shared space. Next week, students and parents will receive instructions on how to view and participate in STEAM Fest. We look forward to connecting through this virtual event to celebrate the innovation of our students!
Attendance Tracking
We are now taking attendance through a google form emailed to students each day at 12:00pm IST. Students can complete the form anytime after they receive it. We will follow up with students and parents when students do not complete the form.
From the school-wide Counseling Team
This week, our counseling team is sharing an article that pertains to helping students—across age—manage fear and anxiety. While this article might not be directly relevant to the COVID-19 situation that we are currently facing, the writer provides a comprehensive picture of what to expect age-by-age around anxiety and offers parents/educators strategies to support kids and adolescents manage their anxiety. If you are interested in learning just about these suggestions, scroll down to the bottom of the article. If you might not have time to read the entire article, we have recapped below the strategies shared in the article:
- Give them plenty of information.
- Meet them where they are.
- Play.
- Be careful not to overreact.
- Don’t avoid.
- Let them explore their fear safely.
- Don’t give excessive reassurance.
- Understand the physical signs of fear.
- Something soft and familiar makes the world feel lovelier.
- Be alive to what they are watching on TV or reading in books.
- Remember they’re watching.
- Validate their fears and let them put word to their fears.
- Acknowledge any brave behavior.
For parents who would like additional resources to tap into in the upcoming long weekend, here is a suggested podcast. In this podcast, grief expert David Kessler and a renowned writer and professor Brené Brown walk the listeners through individual and collective grief, what meaning is, and what finding meaning isn’t. In light of COVID-19, their conversation might be relevant. In fact, it is suggested in this article that the discomforting emotion we might all be experiencing right now is grief. Grief is a challenging subject to talk about and we hope that the podcast and the article shared here would be of a helpful starting point for parents who would like to learn more about grief, processing grief, and finding meaning in grief.
Library Support at Home
Middle school students have access to a wide variety of digital resources via the ES/MS Library. If your child needs any extra support in navigating these resources, requesting book recommendations, clarifying passwords, etc, please ask them to drop into the library's office hours with Ms. Babs. You'll find days and times for each grade level below, but please know that emails will also be answered as quickly as possible.
Grade 6: Mondays 9:30-10:00
Grade 8: Wednesdays 9:30-10:00
meet.google.com/phf-vpyy-zvt
Ms. Babs will also begin offering book talks to all middle school students, beginning Monday, April 13th. Students will receive a zoom link to attend on their scheduled day and time:
meet.google.com/phf-vpyy-zvt
Ms. Babs will also begin offering book talks to all middle school students, beginning Monday, April 13th. Students will receive a zoom link to attend on their scheduled day and time:
Grade 6: Mondays 1:00-1:30
Grade 7: Tuesdays 1:00-1:30
Grade 8: Wednesdays 1:00-1:30
Please encourage your child to attend if they are looking for a great book to read!
Athletics and Activities Office Challenge
Starting on Monday the 13th, the Athletics and Activities office is challenging families to participate in a game that you can do from your home. Called the GYFT (Get Your Family Together) Challenge, there are 15 different activities that you can earn points doing. Most are mainly offline and intended for you to spend intentional time together. If you're interested, read about the GYFT Challenge here. We'll run it from Monday morning through Sunday night - the 13th through the 19th. Complete this form with your team or family name and be sure to make a copy of this sheet or write down the points that will be earned for each activity. If you want to share your progress on social media, just use the hashtags #GYFTchallenge and #AISCwellbeing.
Families Out of Country
If your family is planning to leave Chennai, please inform the MS Office (msoffice@aischennai.org) so that we can track the number of students out of time zone. If you family is out of the country, students can continue to access PowerSchool to continue their learning as long as they are enrolled as students at AISC.
Have a safe and healthy weekend,
Jessica Pechhold
Middle School Principal