Author: Melanie Sylvester

Dear ES Team, A few important details for the week ahead: Working hours are now 7:30am-3:30pm The HS is hoping to have 10 ES teachers in the plaza area to help welcome their students on Monday morning– please sign up here:  Welcome Back HS Students Weekly Snapshot: Monday, May 4 Welcome back G9 and G12 Students Tuesday, May 5 Wednesday, May 6 Thursday, May 7 Friday, May 8 Happy Birthday, Thi NGUYỄN – KG Welcome back G6, G7, G8, G10, and G11 students Welcome back G5 students(8:00-11:45am) Welcome back G4 students (11:45am-3:00pm) Upcoming: Monday, May 11 Welcome back G1, G2,...

Dear ES Team, We have a short, but potentially busy week ahead!  Minh has been doing a great job putting together our ES yearbook.  We have a few pages dedicated to our Virtual School experience.  If you have any pictures (even Google Meet screenshots), please send them to Minh as soon as possible.   Stay Tuned for more updates regarding these next few weeks Cheers, Donna Weekly Snapshot: Monday, April  27 Happy Birthday, Diane OLLIFFE Tuesday, April 28 Wednesday, April 29 Thursday, April 30 No School Friday, May 1 No School Important Info at your fingertips: Wellness Blog SSIS Professional and...

Weekly Snapshot: Monday, April  20 Tuesday, April 21 Happy Birthday, Vi VŨ – KG Happy Birthday, Natalie ROUSE HOS Weekly Zoom meeting (11:45-12:15) Wednesday, April 22 Earth Day Earth Day Cardboard Challenge from Kat: Register here to be a part of the fun!   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIYlekGyD590Q9OJC5-UAMw2k0lB_mFKynLcAc8l2pGf3GTA/viewform?usp=sf_link Here is a promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoQZnTQxyng&t=15s Thursday, April 23 Friday, April 24 Happy Birthday, Được NGUYỄN – G5 Happy Birthday, Bình LÊ (April 26) Happy Birthday, Marjon BARTON (April 26) ES Faculty and Staff meeting (11:00-11:15am) Important Info at your fingertips: Wellness Blog SSIS Professional and Personal Travel Guidelines (COVID-19) Travel Questionnaire International SOS Travel...

Dear ES Team, I hope everyone had a good first week back! I am incredibly impressed by how well you and your teams have been able to be so responsive to the needs of your students, colleagues, parents, and our entire school community.  As we move into the final quarter of the year and continue to deliver exceptional learning experiences, we need to intentionally work together to nurture our collective well-being in order to sustain the work we are doing. We have an incredible team–I am honored to work in a culture filled with people who genuinely love, care, and...

Dear ES Team, I hope everyone was able to rest and relax a bit this past week!    Of course I miss going to the gym, so my goal this week was to find a new home exercise routine!  I am adjusting to life without heels and I am embracing the concept of wearing my gym clothes all day– every day!   Last Thursday, I insisted on wearing a dress (and blow drying my hair)– I even took out a pair of shoes, but I didn’t put them on!!! My feet will be in for a rude awakening when school...

Dear ES Team, I hope everyone was able to settle into a remote teaching work routine this past week. I know I have been working closely with some of you to support students who are not fully participating in virtual school right now. If you need help communicating with a family or need any type of support for a student, please see this link for information about the system we are trying to implement.   I  miss walking through our hallways and having casual check-ins with everyone– please feel free to touch base with me anytime.  Please add me to your...

Dear ES Team, People, programs, and places are often what we think about when we visualize schools.  As a school we focus on serving the needs of our people, developing and delivering our program, and constructing student centered learning places.   SSIS has always been committed to continuous improvement, which is why we recognize and invest in each of these areas as part of our school’s strategic plan. We know that a well articulated curriculum is an asset– and we should be proud of the alignment work that we have been doing in this area,  but I believe that the...

Dear ES Team, As you know According to directive 708, the HCMC’s People’s Committee is allowing Grade 12 students to return to campus on Monday, March 9.  At this time, no other grades will be allowed to return to campus until Monday, March 16.  Please be aware of these points related to the above decision:   We will all be operating during our normal hours of 7:30am to 3:30pm (faculty) and 7:30am-4:00pm (teaching assistants/staff) As a condition of opening school on Monday, the Ministry of Health requires the school to open windows and use fans in all student areas. The...

  Dear colleagues, We want to first thank you for the great work you have done providing Virtual School to the youngest learners in our school.  Thank you for all of your efforts to deliver high quality learning experiences in a virtual setting! As we move into a mode of extended virtual school, we have started to receive some feedback from parents through a variety of channels.  As parents become partners in the delivery of curriculum, we need to consider strategies that set up our parents for success, such as:  -Simplify: Simplify activities and directions to activities -Video: Videos from...