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Weekly Update: May 21-25

| May 17, 2018 | Weekly Update | No Comments

IB Testing and most AP testing is now complete, seniors are wrapping up their time here at SSIS with a senior transition program, rehearsals, 2nd grade buddy ceremony, senior dinner and graduation are almost here.  This is such a hectic and amazing time to be in the HS.  Take some time to engage with the class of 2018 during this last week.  Enjoy them while they are still around.  They are a special group of young adults.  Have an amazing weekend.

Jacob

Friday, May 18
Day 5 CDAB
Sunshine Breakfast, 7:30 hosted by the Sunshine Committee

Saturday, May 19
Prom, 5:30-6:00pm (Reverie)

Monday, May 21
Day 6- GHEF
Advisory Schedule
Grade 4, 8, 10 & 11 Student Film Festival, 6:00-7:30 (HS Building Floors 3 & 4)

Tuesday, May 22
Day 7- DABC
Grade 8 Transition Program, 1:45-3pm (MPR)
HSLT Meeting, 3:15-4:45 (Counseling Conference Room)

Wednesday, May 23
Day 8- HEFG
Senior Transition Program, 9:30-12:50 (MPR, Jay, Anne and Byck’s Rooms)
HS Faculty Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (MPR)

Thursday, May 24
Day 9- ABCD
Special Yearbook Assembly
Grad Rehearsal/Senior Walk-through/2nd Grade Buddy Ceremony

Friday, May 25
Day 10- FGHE
Copies of Final Exams due to Huyen by 3pm

Saturday, May 26
School Transport to GEM Center, 2:15 (SSIS)
Graduation, 4:00-5:15 pm (GEM Center)
Transport Back to SSIS, 5:50pm

On the Horizon

  • Group 4 Project, May 24 and 25
  • HS Final Exam Schedule
  • Friday, June 1- Tuesday, June 5 Semester Exams
  • Wednesday, June 6 – Conflict Exams
  • Wednesday, June 6 – All grades inputted in PS by 3pm
  • Thursday, June 7 – Special Schedule (Assembly, House Leagues, etc)
  • Thursday, June 7- Last Faculty Meeting and Farewells, 2pm (MPR)
  • Friday, June 8 – Last Day for Teachers

Staff Action Needed

Graduation Information– Commencement is just around the corner.  A few pieces of info in preparation of the event.  The staff bus leaves from SSIS promptly at 2:15pm.  If you are taking your own transportation you need to be at the GEM Center by 3pm.  When you arrive, you can connect in a private area with the graduates right before the event.  By tradition, you will process as a SSIS faculty into the GEM Center before the students at 4pm by years of service at SSIS.  This is a formal event, so dress appropriately.  Most men will wear ties and jackets.  If you have questions about attire see you department head or Tim/Jacob.  The ceremony will end around 5:15.  A bus taking staff back to SSIS will leave around 5:50pm.

Grade 11 Group 4 Info– The group 4 project is a compulsory part of the IB science courses, with the goal of creating collaboration between scientific disciplines on projects that students work on entirely by themselves. This year we have moved the Group 4 project to the 24th and 25th of May while the students are still in Grade 11. On these days they will be working in science classes with their teachers all day (except for the yearbook assembly). After school on the Friday there is a presentation along the third floor corridor until ​4:15pm to showcase the students’ work which teachers are very welcome to attend.

Yearbook Assembly– This year’s yearbook assembly takes place on Thursday, May 24 in the HS gym.  We have a special schedule that puts advisory/assembly time before lunch on this day.  You will meet your advisory students in the gym at a location set by the yearbook staff.  They will have A3 paper with advisory names posted around the gym for you to meet with your kids.  After an intro by the staff, the yearbooks will be dispersed through advisory teachers.  Special thanks to Anne Lauer and her staff for all of their hard work this year.

Senior Transition Program May 23– The Senior Transition Program happens from 9:30-12:50 on the 4th floor in the MPR, Jay’s, Anne’s and Byck’s rooms during the times below.  The MPR will host a session with an alumni panel from the class of 2017, Jay’s classroom on bringing closure to a HS career, Anne’s classroom on Third Culture Kid transition (Ryan, Josie, Brennan and Tuan present) and Byck’s classroom on finance.  If you have a chance to see what our seniors are doing in respect to transition to life after high school and are free, please stop by and check things out.  The seniors will be split into 4 groups by house and rotating through each session.

  • Session 1- 9:30-10:15
  • Session 2- 10:20-11:05
  • Session 3- 11:15-12:00
  • Session 4- 12:05- 12:50

HS Faculty Meeting This Week– Our May 23rd meeting will cover a large array of topics as we close out the year.  We will review the IB calendar to determine if there are any pinch points during the year that are difficult for students/staff, will do an overview of activities for the last week of school, and have time as a department to plan our last day of school house leagues event and choose departmental award winners.

StuCo Officers 2018-19– I just realized that I sent this email to students, but not staff in regards to election results.  Below are the StuCo officers for next year.  We will have grade level elections when we return in August.

  • President- Sung Bin Cheong
  • Vice President- AV Vo
  • Secretary- Thanh Doan
  • Treasurer- Min Seo Jeong
June 7 Final Farewells– Our last faculty meeting of the year will take place on Thursday, June 7 at 2pm in the MPR.  The HSLT has suggested a format change for this year.  We will be presenting each leaving faculty member with a “special and unique” award.  Then staff will have an opportunity to say their individual goodbyes informally during a social.  Food from Ganesh will be catered and an “assortment” of drinks available for us to celebrate together.
Master Schedule Update– The master schedule for next year is pretty locked into place.  Teachers were all able to get the courses that were shared by their respective department heads.  It took a lot of work to get to this point.  Moving any class to another block at this point is virtually impossible.  The counseling team is now looking to clean up the schedules of those kids that did not get all of their requests.  Special thanks to David and Nghi (on the PowerSchool scheduling side of things) and our counseling team.  Many days and countless hours have gone into this schedule.  Nothing is ever perfect, but this schedule is pretty close on a macro level.

End of Year Key Dates
May 24-31 Only review information (no new content), no HW, quizzes/tests that impact student grades (except final exam/project).  This is also known as a dead week.  If a teacher has a summative project such as a final exam, students are able to work on this during dead week.

May 24-31  Review time with students (grades 9 & 10)

May 24-25   Group 4 Project (all grade 11 students are off time table and working on Group 4 for two days)

May 28-31 Review time Grade 11

May 28-30  Y1 students completing their IOCs for English
IOCs should not impact students missing classes.  These will take place during English class time or study halls.  In a rare instance, a handful of students might have to miss part of another class.  If this is necessary, information will be shared with impacted teachers at least a month before the date.

June 1-6  Final Exam Schedule

June 7  Last day of school (early release)

Key Grade 12 Information– Here is the letter to seniors and families about end of the year important dates and events.  Please review, especially if you teach seniors.

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About The Author

Jacob Hendrickson

Jacob's 20 plus years in education have taken him from California to Seattle, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam as an educational leader. He is currently the high school principal at Saigon South International School.

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