AIAN will be a widely respected school providing a model US based educational program with an internationally minded community. September 16, 2011 Dear Community, The fifth week of the school year as ended. We hope that those parents who received a progress for their children have been able to make suitable appointments with the teachers concerned. If not, you may also call the school Office on 86869999 to do so. We highly encourage parents to make these appointments with teachers to help students improve their grades in subjects with 75% or less. The ASA program has started and the few glitches that occurred are resolved. We expect students to remain in their activities for the full block. We also expect students who are working in activities that finish at 5.00 p.m. to organize their bus schedules and not to make changes. This is to make sure students travel home safely. Changes in the busing schedule can only be made by parents, not students. Other items for you attention are, WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES (WASC) We wish to remind the community that WASC is the US based organization that accredits AIAN. Two years ago AIAN was awarded a three year term of accreditation. At the same time a number of action plans we generated to help AIAN grow and become a stronger school. The school as been working on these plans and last April a WASC representative came to AIAN by way of follow up on progress. In May a progress report was sent to WASC for their review. This year is significant in regard to WASC because we will have two visits from their representatives. The first visit is on the October 19 and is another progress check. The second visit occurs at the end of April 2012. This visit is a full team visit and four WASC representatives will be in school for a week inspecting all aspects of operations and governance. Presently, the faculty is busy working on curriculum matters as part of the WASC process. Soon we will be continuing with other WASC committee work. This work will be very focused during the October to March period. A full report is expected by WASC in March prior to the team visit in April. We wish to involve parents on these committees. Next week we will send home more information about the committees and ask parents to volunteer their time and service to the school. Students will also be involved on these committees. Community input is important in the WASC process so please get involved if you can. The information below is taken from the WASC website and may be useful for parents in that it succinctly explains the value of having your child in an accredited school.
REVISED MISSION STATEMENT As part of the WASC process the school was advised to review its Mission Statement. Last year the Board restructured its philosophical outlook and created a Vision Statement for AIAN. The Vision Statement was completed and is now part of the schools fabric. Please see the top of this page to review the Vision Statement. Remember that a vision statement is what the school wants to be in the future. With this established, work on a revised Mission Statement started. The Mission Statement is about what the school does at this point in time. The AIAN mission statement presently is Academic Excellence and Social Responsibility. We have spent sometime reviewing this and the Expected School Wide Learning Results (ESLR's) or learning outcomes. The Mission Statement Draft at the moment is AIAN is an accredited college preparatory institution committed to providing best educational practices to the multicultural community we serve. Students are encouraged and empowered to become global citizens, life long learners, collaborative workers, and effective communicators enabling them to contribute toward the betterment of the world. We continue to refine this. By the end of the month we hope to have this completed and accepted by the community. TERRY FOX RUN In 1980 a 21 year old Canadian called Terry Fox faced considerable challenges while trying to run the equivalent of a marathon every day for 143 days. He was attempting to cover 3,339 miles across Canada . This was called the Marathon of Hope. The fact that he had lost a leg to cancer makes his determination all the more inspiring. It was all about effort for Terry. He challenged himself every day with one goal in mind: raise the most money he could to end cancer. He died before completing the run. The run lives on and it is truly moving that the heroic, unselfish mission of one young man serves as such an inspiration to all of us no matter where we live in the world. The Terry Fox Run is no longer just a Canadian tradition. Many countries around the world stage annual events in support of Terry's dream of finding a cure for cancer. Nearly all the money raised is remitted to institutions accredited by the International Union Against Cancer in Geneva . (Extrapolated from the Terry Fox website) This year students in Canadian schools are running in the Terry Fox run on Wednesday, September 28 and AIAN intends to do the same. Our desire is to support the idea of recognizing the world wide concern for cancer by walking or running in this event. The event will be around the AIAN track. All the community is welcome to participate. It will start with Middle and High School students and adults at 8.30 a.m. Elementary Students will join in at 8.40 a.m. The event ends at 9.30 a.m. for everyone. Participants may walk or run as needed. The number of laps covered by each person is recorded by them receiving a rubber band for every lap completed, to place on their wrist. Should parents decide to sponsor your child/ren with an amount of money per lap that is fine. The school will happily collect this money later in the week and send it to the official foundation on behalf of AIAN. Similarly, if anyone wants to donate money for this cause we will send it off. We will obtain an official receipt for the total amount remitted by the school. It is not compulsory to have sponsorship or donations. So, please be ready for a little activity on this day. Come to school prepared to walk or run and have some extra clothes to change in to if you get sweaty. Water stations will be available. Awareness of this activity will be presented in class time and the educational aspects discussed and considered. Interestingly enough, if you read the section below regarding the AIAN Core Values, you can see the clear links to the values of Responsibility and Global citizenship, to name but a few. AIAN's CORE VALUES For your information all the students in the school will be learning about and considering the following core values over the year. Perhaps parents can take time to discuss these with your children? This will reinforce the schools work and allow you to have engaging conversations with your children. You may be surprised at what they know!
STUDENT COUNCIL (SC) The SC is now being formed. We introduced the idea of the democratic process to the students this week. Then we set about identifying candidates to stand for election for the posts of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of the SC. Also, we will elect class representatives from Grade 3 to 12. Mr. Centers is the member of staff responsible for guiding the SC over the year. These positions will be filled and a new SC in place by Friday, 23 rd September. The new members will be announced in the Eagle Eyes Newsflash next week so watch this space! EARLY CLOSURE As indicated in the events Calendar, on the last Wednesday of a month the school will close at 2.30 p.m. and students will go home. This action is needed to allow the teachers to plan and execute the WASC process successfully and thus for the school to obtain re-accreditation with WASC. This idea was discussed and agreed with the PTA last year. Please be ready on these days for the children to be home one hour earlier than normal. We will remind you of these days through the Eagle Eyes Newsflash as the year progresses. The first such day is Wednesday, September 28. NO CLASSES, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (PD) DAY There are five PD days set aside for the year, marked in blue on the school calendar. The faculty will undergo professional training and development and continue with WASC work on these days. There will not be any classes on these days. The first such day is Friday, September 30 and occurs before the October break. SCHOOL HOLIDAYS There will be a school holiday from Friday, September 30 up to and including Sunday, October 9. Classes resume on Monday, October 10. PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) The PTA will hold is first general assembly of the year on Wednesday, September 21 at 9.00 a.m. We hope to see as many parents as possible at the meeting. The main purpose is for fellow ship. At the same time a new PTA Board needs to form and an explanation of the PTA's idea for the year will be given. We are looking for parents to stand as officers on the PTA. Please let us know if you are interested. The best way to find out about the AIAN PTA is to come along to this first meeting and see if you can help out in anyway. Thank you. BAKE SALE The parents are organizing a bake sale on Wednesday, September 21 from 11.00 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. for the students. All proceeds raised will be donated to the PTA. kindly ensure that your child has some money to enjoy this event. Some parents are also involved in baking classes next Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday's event. Thank you everyone concerned! Please see the attached flyer. HIGH SCHOOL COURSES Next week we will be sending home letters to high School parents that confirm the course choices your child is taking, including the electives. We would like you to confirm these choices by sending the return slip back to school. SCHOOL SECURITY This year we had hoped to have a finger print system that teachers, parents, visitors and school suppliers could use to identify themselves as legitimate adults allowed to enter AIAN. The system is fitted but regrettably it is not robust enough to handle the temperature changes that occur in the summer and winter when placed outside of the guard house. The unit has been placed in the guard house and the faculty is using it. At this time the placement is not conducive for a high volume of traffic, thus for parents and visitors we cannot use it. We are still trying to solve the problem. If we cannot solve the problem we must return to the old fashioned way of asking parents to submit passport photo sized ID photographs that the office can place on an ID card and braid. Such ID's will be needed for any adult that needs to do business in school or is supposed to collect students from school. The ID should be shown at the gate to allow entry in to school. Without the school ID you will be asked to submit an alternative ID to enter school. This is obviously not ideal, but we believe we need to ensure good security for the children. We will confirm which action we will take in next week's newsflash. SCHOOL LIBRARY UPDATES The school is continuing to upgrade the library services we offer. Over the summer the school invested in a new software control system from a US based company called Follet. Follet have been in the education business for more than 135 years with bookstores in more than 800 locations. They remain the industry's premier wholesale book distributor. More than half of America 's K-12 school districts rely on Follett Software because of its innovative management of educational content and library materials, textbooks, assets, data and other critical resources. Follett's Destiny? software program is an automated system for library management. Now everyone in school, students, parents and teachers can search the AIAN library catalog from school or home. To search the catalog you need to go to the AIAN website, www.aian.org.cn Click the Library tab, and then the Library Catalog tab. From there you can search by typing in a title of a book, an author's name, keywords or a subject that you wish to browse. However, if you wish to use other services and resources, you need to use a Username and Password . Next week the students of grades 4 through 12 will receive from the library a note that looks like the sample below.
As you can see this note provides each student with their own username and password. If parents want their own account in the Library or you wish to change your child's username or password, please speak with the librarian. From your own account you will be able to see what books you have already checked out, reserve a book and use Destiny Quest and WebPath. The information below is mostly taken for the Follet website. Please take time to read it so that you can appreciate the capabilities and possibilities it provides our students with. Destiny Quest is a K-12 student-friendly search interface included with the Destiny Library Manager package. This is a comprehensive, award-winning K-12 library automation solution. Destiny Quest is designed to appeal to student's interest in the internet and digital interface technology. Destiny Quest engages students in a visually appealing and highly graphic online searching experience, leveraging Destiny's proven K-12 research strategies to help them easily locate and identify appropriate resources. Students can apply the web-savvy skills they already know and expand the skills they need to thrive as 21st century learners. With Destiny Quest, students can see the top 10 books and new arrival titles highlighted on the Destiny Quest homepage, search the library collection, browse the scrolling carousel of bookshelves, view book covers, and link to title details from any computer with an Internet connection. Students become more active learners using Destiny Quest's engaging interface, which invites them to explore and dig deeper through ¡°You May Also Like¡± automatic suggestions. They can refine their search results by author, subject, series and more, and find the best titles for their interests or reading levels and save their favorites for easy retrieval with the easy drag and drop functionality of ¡®My List'. Younger students or non-English speakers can easily find materials using a picture-based icon search option. The Destiny Quest Book Club . MyQuest expands collaboration and communication beyond the classroom while encouraging discussion about books. Similar to social networking sites, MyQuest requires login and password, and lets students invite or remove friends at their school. They can share what they're reading with friends, recommend titles to other, let friends see their Have Read, Now Reading and Want to Read ¡°shelves.¡± Users can add a comment to the last comment made, send messages to other individual friends and read threads between two friends. All communications are exclusively between ¡°friends¡±; there are no public ¡°walls¡± or display areas. WebPath Express is an educational search tool that provides today's K-12 kids with a safe, fun and familiar search tool that integrates trustworthy, relevant websites into your library catalog while filtering out questionable content. Through WebPath Express, all sites that your children access are educator-reviewed and verified for factual accuracy, currency, authority, educational value, coverage and objectivity. Content is differentiated by grade level, encouraging information literacy by supporting each student's self-directed research. SCHOOL BASED WEBSITES In line with the library information about Follet websites for students, we want you to also be aware some teachers are now using their own educational websites to help our students with school work. Please see the Middle School section for the specific sites. All parents are invited to visit these sites. Core Values Last Month Our Core Value was Responsibility. Students made advertisements, acrostics and commercials for this Value. The students did an excellent job and soon these posters will be visible around the school. We will continue our study or ¡°The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Teens¡± by Sean Covey. Core Value Kids of the Month: Elena Shortes and Christine Lin for their wiliness to be brave and make a creative script demonstrating responsibility, acting it out and making a commercial. INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEAN UP On Saturday, September 17, 2011 millions of people will flood the beaches for an International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). The Middle and High School students will be taking an optional field trip at a nearby beach to participate in this International event! Parents and families of middle and high school students are welcome to attend. The purpose of ICC, which was initiated by Ocean Conservancy (OC), engages people to remove trash and debris from the world's beaches and waterways, identify the sources of debris, and change behavioral patterns that contribute to pollution. There will be a pick-up at Metro at 8 a.m. on September 17 and we will depart for the beach at 9 a.m. from the school. We will participate a beach clean-up, do some activities and then have a picnic before returning to school. We will return to AIAN at 12 p.m. and the bus will arrive at Metro at 1 p.m. Only students who have submitted completed and signed permission slips are allowed to attend. For more information: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/international-coastal-cleanup-11.html AIAN Middle School Team News Vol. 2 We have just completed week 5 of our 2011-2012 school year and we are over half way done with the first quarter! We would like to thank everyone for a great week! We would like everyone to take a look at the following upcoming events, along with teacher websites. Math Grades 6, 7, 8 and Social Studies Grades 6, 7 Be sure to check out Mr. Jack's website: http://mrjackjenkins.wordpress.com/ Science Grades 6, 7, 8 Be sure to check out Ms. Higley's websites: http://www.teacherweb.com/CH/AIAN/MsH Have your student show you our Science class Wiki and tell you the latest about our School Gardens : http://higleyscience7.wikispaces.com/ http://higley8science2011-2012.wikispaces.com/ SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Sixth Grade: Using the scientific method students designed and built a boat with limited materials and competed against peer groups to determine which boat design would hold the most mao/pennies. Penny Boat Contest Winners: Dina Hwang and Hyun Seung Chae! Science Buddies: 7 th and 3 rd Graders Seventh grade students gave Ms. Augustinas third grade class a tour of their GIANT Peace School Garden and did a hands-on soil investigation together! A HUGE THANK YOU TO 3 rd Grade!!!! Eighth Grade: Students showed hard work in their school Salad and Pizza Garden and began a Flower Dissection Experiment to investigate seeds, germination, plant anatomy. Communication When we as parents/guardians teachers communicate frequently and freely, your student will receive the best education possible. Please contact us by calling the school office at 86-574-86869999 or by emailing us. We would be happy to discuss your student's progress. Thank you. Regards, Mark Bretherton , Head of School. |
