Dear Parents and Students,
Thank you for attending our Student Parent Teacher Conferences this past week. We hope that you found this opportunity helpful to understand your child’s progress and their reflection on his/her learning at this point in the semester. At the conclusion of the semester, you will receive a detailed report card with grades for all reporting standards in each subject and comments from each teacher. If you have questions at any point in the semester about your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to reach out to individual class teachers. PowerSchool is also available to you at any time. You can check your child’s progress on assignments by logging into PowerSchool.
Student Support
There are a range of ways students can receive support from teachers and connect with them outside of class connection time.
· Office Hours: Teachers have office hours daily from 8:30-9:00. Links to office hours for A and B days are publish in our student daily bulletin. Students may drop in at these times without an appointment. Sometimes, students are invited to office hours by a teacher. Students are expected to attend if they have been invited by a teacher.
· Independent Work Time: Teachers are available following daily Connection Times to follow up with student questions as needed.
· Independent Work Days: Teachers check in with students individually or in small groups on these days.
· Email: Teachers respond to questions received over email within 24 hours.
Our Daily Runway is time for students to review their daily schedules and gather questions they have for teachers. Checking email and PowerSchool for feedback regularly during this the Daily Runway is a part of daily preparation that can support students in their learning as well.
Experiential Learning: SEVAI
This week students will be introduced to SEVAI. SEVAI is service in Tamil and is our service learning program in the middle school. The purpose of experiential learning in the middle school is to provide opportunities beyond the classroom that promote connections to our community, the environment, and local culture and nurture students’ self-management, self-awareness and positive relationships through applied learning and reflection. You can read more about SEVAI and Experiential Learning in the middle school in our handbook starting on page 44.
This year, our SEVAI program will be virtual and our service learning activities have been designed for students to continue to provide meaningful contributions to the community while we are virtual. Students will select projects from a menu. All activities are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
This year, as students complete the SEVAI projects in November, they will also be working towards learning targets that have been aligned with the aims of SEVAI and our AISC Vision for a Learner. The learning targets are below:
Wellbeing Day
On Wednesday October 28 students will participate in our first Wellbeing Day of the year. The purpose of the day is to take time to focus on activities that support our Wellbeing Framework. Below is our framework and details for each petal of the framework. On Wednesday, students will participate in wellbeing activities during connection times and continue to work through the module during their independent work times.
October Grade Level Social Events
Our second grade level social of the year will take place on Friday October 30 from 3:30-4:00. Each grade level will be hosting an event for students. Students can access the events in their google calendars and the student daily bulletin.
Have a great weekend,
Jessica Pechhold
Middle School Principal