AIAN will be a widely respected school providing a model US based educational program with an internationally minded community. November 18, 2011. Dear Community, Week thirteen of the school year ended today. Today is a faculty Professional Development day in school and there are no classes. School resumes as normal on Monday, November 21. Other items for you attention are, WEDNESDAY EARLY FINISH DAYS. As you know the faculty uses the time created by the early finish days on selected Wednesday's over the year for WASC preparation. Following the recent visit of WASC we believe we need more time to ensure we are fully prepared for the team visit in April. Thus, the School Board as agreed to provide some additional Wednesday early finishes that help with the WASC process. These additional dates are December 7 January 18 February 15 March 14 These dates will be placed in the schools events calendar. We run a revised schedule on these Wednesdays and each lesson period is shortened by 7 minutes, so a single class does not lose too much time. We appreciate your support in this regard. THE DIGITAL SPOT Parents want to help their child(ren) at home with many school based topics. There is no age limit for technology usage and as some parents mentioned, during the Parent Teacher Conferences, there is a need for the school to provide support with online resources. Thus, we have created THE DIGITAL SPOT . THE DIGITAL SPOT is one way to let you know about many of the exciting websites for children that AIAN uses. No matter what the child's age, they always need to improve or polish their English language skills. So this publication will be for all the students (and parents if you would like to learn as well) with incredible ideas and website addresses for English reading and speaking skills. The Technology Phrase of the Week URL = Uniform resource locator, the address of a World Wide Web page. (http://www.aian.org.cn/)
Most parents are concerned about their child(ren's) development while using the computer. This is a valid and reasonable concern and my advice is to ALWAYS keep and eye on what the child is doing at the computer and try to provide parental protection and website censors. I will give more suggestions in next week's Eagle Eyes! INFORMATION and COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT EDLINE (A Single Communication Platform for the Entire Learning Community) AIAN has a parental portal called Edline that will provide an easy way for you to keep-up-to-date with your child(ren's) progress online. An introduction letter, quick start guide and activation code will be sent home via email and with your child on Monday November 21.You will only have 1 code if you have more than one child in the school. Once you activate the code, you will be able to access the following:
Daniela Silva MCP, M.Ed. PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) Our next event is the Holiday Bazaar coming on November 25th and 26th. Please encourage friends and family member to attend. We have over thirty vendors in attendance and we are certain you will all find something to buy and have an enjoyable time. There are several refreshment booths for everyone to enjoy as well. PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED BAZAAR FLYER FOR MORE INFORMATION. As always, if you have any comments or inquiries, don't hesitate to contact your PTA board members at: PTA@aian.org.cn COUNSELOR'S CORNER The school uses the International Schools Assessment (ISA) testing protocols with the Grade 3 to 10 students in February of a given school year. Please find a more detailed explanation of the ISA below. What is the International Schools' Assessment (ISA)?The ISA assessment program is designed especially for students in international schools in Grades 3 to 10. It is based on the internationally endorsed reading and mathematical literacy frameworks of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Who uses the ISA? International schools and schools with an international focus, whose language of instruction is English, take advantage of the ISA. When is the ISA offered? AIAN uses the ISA February testing period each year. What does the ISA provide?
Uses of ISA
What does the ISA Measure?
It is not possible to specially prepare students for this assessment in the few weeks leading up to it. Rather, it is the work that occurs in school over the year in Math and literacy that is assessed in the tests. We are proving this information early so that parents and students are aware of the testing and also to help reduce any concerns there may be over being involved in the testing. FACULTY PD DAY, NO CLASSES Today Friday, November 18 the faculty is involved in professional development and the students do not have classes. Thus, the students have a long weekend from November 18 up to and including Sunday, November 20. Classes resume as normal on Monday, November 21. Also, on Wednesday, November 30 the school will close at 2.30 p.m. and students will go home. This time is also for faculty professional development. DATES IN NOVEMEBER AND DECEMBER FOR YOUR DIARIES. November 18th No School, teacher PD Day November 24th Pride Assembly November 25th Progress Report Cards Day for the second quarter. The PTA Bazaar. November 26th PTA Bazaar November 30th Short Day, early finish at 2:30pm December 1st Drama, Macbeth December 7th Teachers appreciation breakfast and an early finish at 2.30 p.m. December12th to 16th Activities suspended December 16th School closes for the holiday break Thank you. Regards, Mark Bretherton , Head of School. |