Friday September 25

 Dear Parents and Students,

 

As we end seven weeks of online learning, I wish you a relaxing fall break! Students have done an outstanding job engaging with our online program. We are not just “doing” school online, we are thriving in our connection times, advisory sessions and ASAs that are providing new learning opportunities. When we return from break, we will launch October by introducing India month! During advisory throughout the month, students will participate in activities that celebrate the culture of India. 

 

Mid-Semester Reports

The week of October 5 will be the final week of classes before mid-semester reports are issued on October 13. Teachers have been in communication with students over the past several weeks about outstanding assignments. Please support your child in following up with any outstanding assignments that he/she may be notified about. You can always check your child’s progress on PowerSchool. 

 

Arts, Sports & Activities

As ASA Season 1 is coming to an end on October 9th, please check the Athletics & Activities Blog for information on the ASA Showcase (Oct. 5-9) and to find the Virtual ASA Parent Feedback Survey. Registration for ASA Season 2 will be sent out on Friday, October 9th and the activities will begin Monday, October 19th. Email bjack@aischennai.org or dmonicka@aischennai.org with any questions. 

 

MS Theatre Performances

It's been quite a few weeks in our theatre classes! We have been learning new theatrical conventions, styles and techniques and applying them to original performances. Please enjoy each padlet showcasing our student's work!

 

Grade 6: Dreams Movement Piece

In Grade 6, we have been learning about Laban Efforts and how we think about moving our bodies to express emotions, thoughts and ideas. In groups, we explored Langston Hughes' poem Dreams, which rooted out of the Harlem Renaissance. The students broke down themes from the play and generated movement to them using Laban.

Grade 6 Performance: https://padlet.com/drenato1/f1v7j996a8cqrkzz 

Grade 7: Festival of Dionysus

In Grade 7, we are learning about Ancient Greek theatre. We learnt about the Festival of Dionysus - a theatrical festival where plays depicting stories of Greek gods, goddesses and royalties are performed by thespians. Our students had 4 different legends they had to create into an Ancient Greek theatrical piece. 

Grade 7 Performance: https://padlet.com/drenato1/xr6n2xv8pwos392k

 

Grade 8: Miming Scenes

In Grade 8, we are learning about miming - specifically Lecoq's 7 levels of tension and corporeal mime. Students applied these techniques to create their own mini scenes. 

Grade 8 Performances: https://padlet.com/drenato1/nl7qj7kvbpk721y9 

 

Student Location Information

If you and your family are returning to Chennai, please notify the MS office of your travel dates so that we are aware of your attendance and your new location.

 

Have a great fall break!

 

Jessica Pechhold

Middle School Principal 

 

Friday September 18

Dear Parents and Students,

 

Thank you for your engagement this week with our program! As you will see below, there are summaries from our Virtual Learning Survey and our parent coffee. Online, students are engaged in producing plays, singing, investigating social responsibility, growing crystals, and practicing analytical writing. Outside of the “classroom” we have new opportunities for engagement. Please note the new after school activity selections (linked in today’s post) that are being offered. These activities will be in partnership with the other ASIAC schools, American School Bombay in Mumbai and the American Embassy School in Delhi. At the conclusion of next week, each grade level will have an online social for students from 3:30-4:00 before we head off to fall break. Students will find details for these events in our student daily bulletin. 

Virtual Learning Survey Results

55 middle school parents responded to the School-Wide Virtual Learning Survey. Here are highlights of the results:

·      86% are satisfied/very satisfied with our online learning program

·      93% feel the online learning activities facilitate engagement and connection well/very well

·      89% agree/strongly agree that the amount of time students are engaged in their learning is appropriate for their grade level

·      87% find expectations for engagement for online learning clear/very clear

·      87% feel they are engaged/very engaged by accessing information to understand our online program (thank you!)

·      86% feel it is easy/very easy for students to access additional help

·      82% feel it is easy/very easy for students to access materials in PowerSchool

·      82% feel advisory, ASAs and other activities are beneficial/very beneficial for students’ wellbeing

    From your comments, themes that emerged for what working well are:

·       Connection time & engaging with classmates and teachers

·       Tools for planning (calendar, planner)

·       Consistent schedule (A/B day)

·       Relationships with teachers & advisors

·       Engaging learning activities, fun!

 

Themes that emerged for what is not working well are:

·       Student focus during independent learning time

·       Internet connections or tech proficiency interfering with learning

·       Inconsistent workload between courses

·       Fostering social connections for students

 

We will be looking into these results more closely along with feedback we will be collecting from students to examine areas of our program where we may be able to provide clarity and ensure a positive online the experience for all students.In the meantime, the following support is available to parents and students for our program: 

       - Advisors are a first point of contact for general questions about navigating our program,     

        schedule, or  social-emotional concerns. 

·      Contact teachers directly if you have a concern about assignments.

·      Our Digital Skills Academy is available to access at any time to support learning on technology platforms.

·      The middle school office is available to provide information as needed: msoffic@aischennai.org.

Parent Coffee Slides & Recording

Thanks to everyone who joined us Tuesday morning for our September Parent Coffee. Our topic was social justice and anti-racism. Within these topics, we addressed the following:

• Connecting our core beliefs to education about identity, race & racism.
• Sharing overview of advisory lessons & principal’s screencast for students.
• Exploring the role of parents as partners in educating our children about identity, race & racism.

 You can find the slides with all of the information shared here and the video recording of the session here. As mentioned last week, students are engaging with the topics of identity and race in advisory. Please see last week’s notes for more information about these lessons. 

 

Resources for Anti-Racism Education and Parenting

Also shared at the coffee were resources for parents related social justice and anti-racism. These resources are explained in the slides and video and highlighted below: 

How to talk to kids about racism: An age-by-age Guide, Today's Parent

Kids speak their minds about race, CNN

Here's How To Raise Race-Conscious Children, Buzzfeed

How White Parents Can Use Media to Raise Anti-Racist Kids, Common Sense Media

Talking Race with Young Children, NPR

Parent Access to Sora

All AISC parents can now access our digital library, Sora, by clicking this link and logging in with your personal email and password: Chennai20. 

Please browse, read, and contact Babs on bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have any questions!

After School Activities

Are you interested in collaborating and competing with students from American School Bombay and American Embassy School in Delhi in activates like E-Sports, Robotics, Trivia, and Murder Mysteries?! Click here to learn more and register for Virtual ASIAC activities!

Student Location Information

If you and your family are returning to Chennai, please notify the MS office of your travel dates so that we are aware of your attendance and your new location.

 

Have a great weekend,

Jessica Pechhold

Middle School Principal 

  

Friday September 11

 

Dear Parents and Students,

 

Ending our fifth week of online learning for the year, our routines and schedules are well underway. Our teachers have been monitoring student engagement to support students in their learning and navigating our platforms and online schedule. We are pleased to be offering personalized support through multiple avenues. Advisory 1:1 appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays, independent work day check-ins, teacher office hours and individualized support for organization and planning are all ways we are able to connect with students individually to meet specific needs. We also have learning facilitators working with our students in the US and Europe to bridge time zones.  

 

Later this month, look for grade level socials before our fall break! Each grade level is planning an online social event for students. Information will be coming in our student daily bulletin in the coming weeks! 

 

Parent Coffee

Tuesday September 15 from 8:45am-9:45am IST we will host our September parent coffee. The link for the coffee is here. 

Meeting ID: 792 355 0247

Passcode: 3de8zl

 

This month’s topic is focused on work we are undertaking in the middle school related to identity, race and racism. Given global events from this past year, we have identified a need in our program to explicitly educate our students in these topics and connect anti-racism to our Core Beliefs and definition of International-mindedness. We invite you to attend to coffee to understand how we can partner together to support students in their understanding of identity, race and racism. 

 

Advisory Lessons

This week in Advisory, student lessons will expand their conversations on identity to make connections to race and racism. The purpose of these lessons is for students to be informed, to develop an understanding of identity, race and racism, and to raise thoughtful questions they have on these topics in a safe environment. These lessons will support a presentation to students from the Middle School Principal raising their awareness of the connections between identity, race, racism and our Middle School Handbook. If you have questions about these lessons, please attend the parent coffee, contact your child’s advisor, our counselor Ms. Galaty or Ms. Pechhold. 

 

Virtual Learning School-Wide Survey

On Monday the community received a direct email, asking for your insight and perspectives on the first month of Virtual Learning at AISC in the 20-21 academic year. This was a short survey, and should take no more than 3 minutes to complete. Warmest thanks to those that have already contributed by sharing their feedback.  If you have not yet completed the survey, it can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdG6IdgG0cBaAzjIpPwCX4GDXMjK8FEZBlzgQ54giNKPLDiuQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

 

The survey will be open until Tuesday, September 15. 

Thank you again for your time and attention. 

 

AISC x UN75 Discussion on ‘Inequality in the time of COVID-19’ 

3:45-4:30 pm IST on Monday, September 21

 

‘In January, the start of the UN’s 75th anniversary, Secretary-General António Guterres launched the world’s biggest conversation on building a better future for all. The vision was to spark conversations (“UN75 dialogues”) in all settings on priorities for the future, obstacles to achieving them, and the role of international cooperation in making progress. Over 330 dialogues in 87 countries were held in the first three months of the year – physically and virtually. It is vital that peoples’ voices are heard at this crucial time for the world.’

 

The UN has created a global survey to help guide them on global priorities. Please take a moment to share your opinion: https://un75.online/

 

AISC’s MUN Impact Chennai club thoroughly believes in the vision of the UN and the message of the Secretary-General. We believe that international cooperation is pertinent in the times of COVID, and that starts with greater global engagement, through discussions like these. Please join us. Here is the Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88568496425

Meeting ID: 885 6849 6425

 

Daily Attendance

Daily students are sent an email with a check-in form to register their attendance. Students are expected to respond to the form daily. Please note that by not completing this form, our records for attendance may be incorrect. So that are records are correct and that our semester reports accurately reflect student attendance, please ensure your child completes the form daily. Students are expected to complete the attendance form even if they are not engaged for the day (absent). The MS office will follow up with students and parents if students do not complete the form within a 24 hour period. 

 

Student Location Information

If you and your family are returning to Chennai, please notify the MS office of your travel dates so that we are aware of your attendance and your new location.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Jessica Pechhold

Middle School Principal 

 

 

Friday September 4

 Dear Parents and Students,

 

We have successfully completed four weeks of online learning. Thank you for your support of our students and program! Today we had our first monthly assembly of the year. It was a mix of live and pre-recorded segments. It will be available in the student daily bulletin for students who were not able to join live. Our September assembly is a special opportunity for each of our advisory groups to present a skit that shares their name and identity with the rest of the middle school. We have moved this tradition online, and for this assembly each advisory created a short video to share their advisory names and a little about themselves as a group. Assemblies and advisory are part of the community building that is so important in our middle school. In the coming weeks, grade level teams will continue to introduce activities to build community for our students.

 

Lastly, today we celebrated Indian National Teachers Day. A huge thank you to all of our teachers who are bringing our online program to life! 

 

Middle School Newspaper

Thank you to our dedicated crew of students who have launched the first edition of The AISC Times! Thank you to: Sahana, Yashvi, Mihika, Ha Young, Yunia, Chaitanya, Siyeon and Ms. O for producing this publication! 

 

Daily Attendance

Daily students are sent an email with a check-in form to register their attendance. Students are expected to respond to the form daily. Please note that by not completing this form, our records for attendance may be incorrect. So that our records are correct and that our semester reports accurately reflect student attendance, please ensure your child completes the form daily. Students are expected to complete the attendance form even if they are not engaged for the day (absent). The MS office will follow up with students and parents if students do not complete the form within a 24 hour period. 

 

Student Location Information

If you and your family are returning to Chennai, please notify the MS office of your travel dates so that we are aware of your attendance and your new location.

 

SPIRIT WEEK!  

Spirit week is taking place between the 7th of September and the 11th of September. Here is a summary of all the spirit days.

Show us your daily School Spirit next week by dropping your photos to this UPLOAD LINK.

7th of September, Monday: Bring an Animal Day - Have any pets or stuffed animals at your house? Bring them to your virtual school meetings!

8th of September, Tuesday: Covid Theme Day - Design and customise your own personal N-95 mask and then wear it, or wear your best, favorite, or craziest mask to school!

9th of September, Wednesday: Crazy Day - Mess around with the virtual backgrounds option on Zoom and attend your classes with a brand new look! But the fun doesn't stop there! Spruce up your hair in a crazy manner, and throw on a wacky outfit to accompany that background!

10th of September, Thursday: Multiples Day - Dress up like your favourite character, or friend, or twin with your profile picture.

11th of September, Friday: Sports Day - Flaunt your AISC spirit by donning the School's Colours (Blue, Mango and White).

Math Counts

AISC has been participating in the MathCounts competitions for the past 14 years and our students have been invited to compete at the Nationals in the U.S. as a member of the U.S. State Department team, three times during these years. If you need more information about MathCounts and the competition series you can look up www.mathcounts.org

 

Last year our students performed extremely well in the Regional competition at our school winning first place. The coaching session strives to engage seventh and eighth grade students in challenging problem solving in math. Students participating in these sessions will practice concepts and solve non-routine problems that will prepare them for entry into the competition series. 

   

Coaching sessions for Grade 7 & 8  are scheduled on Fridays after school from 4 pm to 5 pm. This year it will be run virtually through zoom sessions till we are back on campus. 

 

The Pre-MathCounts coaching session strives to engage sixth grade students in challenging problem solving in math . Students participating in these sessions will practice concepts and solve non-routine problems that will prepare them for entry into the competition series in their seventh and eighth grades. Coaching sessions for the sixth graders will take place on Thursdays after school from 4 pm to 5 pm.  

 

There is no fee for these sessions.

 

I look forward to your cooperation in encouraging and supporting the young matheletes. On hearing from you, I will send you more information about the coaching classes. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Thanks and Regards,

Kala Ganeshan

High School Math Teacher and MathCounts Coach

 

Student Voices Forum Application 

Student Voices Forum is the middle school platform for students to be able to provide input on programs, procedures and school-wide initiatives. Students complete an application process to participate. The application is available to download on the student daily bulletin. Applications are due by Monday September 7 to Ms. Pechhold (msprincipal@aischennai.org).

 

Last year, SVF created plans and provided input to: 

· Add more clocks to public spaces around the school

· Use locker room space and time more efficiently

· Design a MS movie night

· Support RISE speaker assemblies

· Refine our online program

Last year, students worked with school-wide personnel in our facilities, communications and athletics and activities, and library departments to collaborate and take action in these areas. Students will also share out on projects with their peers at our MS assemblies. If your child is interested in participating and has questions, s/he can reach out to Ms. Pechhold.

Virtual Book Fair

Scholastic and the AISC Libraries are bringing a virtual book fair directly to you! Please click on the link here to browse through a wide variety of books available for purchase for students, families, and teachers in EY-8. Once books are chosen, please use the following login information to proceed with the purchase:

 

Login ID: bbarbara@aischennai.org

Password: aisc234

 

The books will be delivered to your address in Chennai, but if you aren't there, they could also be sent to a family member or friend here in India. 

 

The virtual book fair will be held from August 31st-September 11th. Please contact Babs on bbarbara@aischennai.org if you have questions and happy shopping!

 

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Jessica Pechhold

Middle School Principal