AIAN will be a widely respected school providing a model US based educational program with an internationally minded community. September 23 rd , 2011 Dear Community, Two significant events occurred this week. The Student Council and Parent Teacher Association elections took place and brought the sixth week of school to a conclusion. Both events were pleasant and productive for the school. I'm sure no one will mind me announcing the Student Council Election results as the first order of business in this edition of the Eagle Eyes Newsflash! Please offer your congratulations and support to, The President: Emily Ahmadi The Vice President: Elliott Miles The Secretary: Thomas Wu The Treasurer: Jenny Chen The faculty was impressed by the effort and enthusiasm that our students showed for this democratic election process. Importantly, several students stood up to be counted and by doing so created a choice situation so there could be a voting process. Without such risk takers elections would be meaningless. So, we also wish to acknowledge and congratulate those who participated in the election and were not voted into office. Do take time to thank the students listed below for their involvement and offer of service to the school. Eivind Wu Kirill Chelombitko Steven Hsu Please see the Middle School class representatives below and offer them your congratulations as well. These ladies and gentlemen were also selected via a democratic process and will be involved in the Student Council. 6 th grade: Dina Hwang 7 th grade: Paula Baigorri 8 th grade: Itsuki Sakamoto Next week we will publish the full list of students who have been selected as class representatives, including the Elementary School. Other items for you attention are, PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) The first PTA assembly for this year was held last Wednesday, Sept 21. During the meeting new Board members were nominated and elected. A lot of interest in terms of working on the Board was evident. Thus, it was agreed by the PTA body to allow more members to become part of the Board for this school year. The following are the new Officers and Board Members: President Katherine Ruhe US Vice President Lisa Shortes US Secretary To be appointed Treasurer Isabel Bessa Spain Board Member Park, Hyun Suk Korea Board Member Nan, Jihwa Korea Board Member Valerie Rampal France Board Member Miyoko Horiuchi Japan Board Member Carrie Koh Taiwan Board Member Elisabeth Pauls Germany Teacher reps Melissa Malug, Philippines Dana Carney US Elaine Jenkins US We would like to thank and congratulate these parents and teachers for volunteering to help the students and school over the course of this academic year. We thanked the out going PTA in June. I wish to sincerely thank them once again for a great year. This PTA were a modest and unassuming group who worked hard, achieved a great deal and continue to offer their services in some way to this year's PTA. BAKE SALE The bake sale which ran following the PTA meeting on Wednesday raised RMB1,820. Thank you very much to the ladies who contributed the cakes and cookies! TERRY FOX RUN Please have your children ready to participate in this event on Wednesday, September 28 here in school. 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 their 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. An official receipt for the total amount remitted by the school will be obtained. 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. The AIAN Core Values of Responsibility and Global Citizenship are certainly relevant to our school's participation in this event. For those who are not yet aware of the origins of the Terry Fox run please read on. 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 a 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. LAPTOPS IN SCHOOL Over the summer work was done to make the school's computer wireless access system more robust and effective. We are now strongly encouraging students in the Middle and High School to bring their laptops to school so that they can be an important platform for learning. Ms. Daniela Silver, the school's IT coordinator, has done a great deal of work to get us ready for this important step towards the school having a stronger IT learning environment. Many of our teachers are highly computer literate and able to support students in the use of IT in their subject areas. Everyone will appreciate the importance and significance of this. The platform of the laptops may be either PC or Apple at this time. We hope to get good support for this initiative. 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 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.
The WASC Focus on Learning handbook is on the school's website for those interested in having detailed information. Please click on News and Calendar and then on Focus on Learning. 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. 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. SCHOOL SECURITY At the PTA meeting on Wednesday, September 21 the matter of maintaining security at the gate was discussed. It was agreed that the finger print system that is in place for the teachers will be adopted by the parents. This system was selected over the suggestion made in last week's newsflash of working on a picture ID system. As indicated last week the placement of the system is inside the guard house. So parents and visitors will need to go inside the guard house to place their finger on the unit. Parents and other responsible adults who collect students from school will need to record their finger print in the school system. This is done by visiting the school office and recording your print against your name. Tom from the IT department is in charge of this. He will be available in the school office from Sep 26 th to Sep 30 th and October 10 th to October 15 th , from 8:00a.m. until 4:00p.m. UPCOMING EVENTS October is a busy month for the school. Please check the school's website and the calendar of events so that you are informed and prepared. Please note that the PTA requested the Halloween Day parade be moved to Monday, October 31. This has been agreed and the events calendar changed. AIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM NEWS VOL.3 This week was exciting as Middle School Students voted on AIAN Student Council and Middle School Class Representatives! These students will represent the Middle School at Student Council meetings and will serve as liaisons for any Student Council information. Congratulations Dina, Paula and Itsuki! This week AIAN Middle School Students took a Baseline Writing Test in all subject areas which we will use to compare and improve writing through-out the year and in all subjects. Students will soon begin creating writing portfolios. We want encourage you to bring your laptop and/or translators to school each day. Continue to check Mr. Jack's and Ms. Higley's websites for information. Middle School teachers are sending home another grade report with students who have a C or below in their classes on Friday, September 23 rd and Monday, September 26 th . Please sign and return the reports, recognizing that parents and students have reviewed and discussed this grade and how to improve before the end of the first Quarter. 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 News Seventh and Eighth grade continue their experiments in their School Gardens . We are asking your contributions for their experiments. Seventh grade needs fruit and vegetable compost and Eighth grade needs coffee grounds donated. If you can send these items in a old plastic bag to Ms. Higley. We greatly appreciate your help in advance. Communication When we as parents/guardians and Middle School 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. – Middle School Team: Ms. Higley, Mr. Jack, Ms. Berger, Ms. Carney, Mr. Carroll, Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Silva Thank you. Regards, Mark Bretherton , Head of School. |