Weekly Update: November 25 – 29

After International Teacher’s day and as we approach American Thanksgiving, I am reflective of my time here at SSIS. A lot has transpired in the five years I have been here. Some of you have been with me during the entire duration of my time, while a number of you have hopped on later in the journey. While our division’s work is not complete and we are not perfect, so much improvement has taken place during our time together. As I get a bit nostalgic on Thanksgiving Eve, I am so grateful for the HS faculty and staff over the last five years. Each of you has contributed to improving the experiences of our students. I have never led or worked with a more dedicated faculty that puts students interests front and center of our attention. We are in the home stretch of semester one. Hang on tight, break is around the corner.

Indebtedly yours,

Jacob

Friday, November 22
Day 3- BCDA
HS Block Party, 4-9pm (Jacob’s House 01 My Giang 1B)

Saturday, November 23
Family Fun Day, 10:30-2:30 (various locations)

Monday, November 25
Day 4- FGHE
Advisory Schedule

Tuesday, November 26
Day 5- CDAB
HS Music Concert, 6-7pm (Auditorium)

Wednesday, November 27
Day 6- GHEF
HS Divisional Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (MPR)

Thursday, November 28
Day 7- DABC
Advisory Schedule

Friday, November 29
Day 8- HEFG
HS Lock-in, 7pm-7am

On the Horizon

• Semester 1 Exams Start, December 6 Semester One Exam  Schedule 2019 – 2020
• Semester 1 Make-up Exam Day, December 12
• Early Release Day, House Leagues and Assembly, December 13
• Winter Break, December 14-January 5
• Non-student day, January 6

Staff Action Needed

• Read the all school Wellness Blog from the WELL Core Team
• Review Check important dates that impact instruction here
• Send a kudos to a colleague
• Begin writing your comments for S1
• Check your gradebooks. There should be a multiple data points for Q2 that include summative and formative. entries

Semester One Report Card Dates

• Semester One Exams, December 6 – 12th
• Share comments with a colleague by Friday, December 6 (some comments may need to be adjusted depending on how a student does on his/her exam)
• Review comments of colleague by Tuesday, December 10
• December 12 Quarter 2 Ends (Grades & Comments due by 9:00am)
• December 12 Quarter 2 Grades and Comment Verification Reports due 2pm
• December 13 Quarter 2 and Semester 1 grades sent electronically by 4pm

Sunshine HS Block Party– The fourth annual Sunshine HS Block Party is almost here on November 22.  RSVP for the Sunshine HS Block Party by November 15. In addition to amazing food and beverages we will have a distinct opportunity to connect with one another’s families and listen to some great bands (Shoe and anyone else that wants to play).  The party is at Jacob’s House, 01 My Giang 1B at the end of canal street and is right near the Crescent Bridge and park along the river.  We will be starting at 4 and going until 9pm.  Stop by for as long as you can, but the bands will likely be playing between 5 and 7pm.  Please park your bikes and motorcycles on the sidewalk across from the house by the construction wall.  Special thanks in advance to Ms. Ha, Ms. Huyen and Ms. Tram for their logistical support of the event and Sunshine Committee members: Amy, Evan, Ted and William.

HS Staff Video– Every year, the staff in the C building make a hilarious video to showcase to the students before the Christmas break. Last year we did this video.  This time, the chosen song for us to act out is You Need To Calm Down. Please have a look at this scripting file to know which lines of the script you are going to act out. Each department has been randomly assigned with some lines in script to act out. We need each department to arrange 15 or 20 minutes for filming between NOW and December 6th.
Department Heads, please discuss with other members in your department and fill in the last two columns of the “Lines and Casting” sheet to indicate the location and time for me to come and film your department. An example has been made for the Administrators. It won’t take more than 20 minutes for filming all your department’s lines.
All the filming must be done by December 6th so that the video editing afterwards can be done timely.

Report Card Comments and Peer Review–  The links below will remind you of these expectations and you begin to write these for semester 1.   Additionally, each teacher needs to share the draft of their S1 comments with a peer for review by December 6.  Most teachers share their comments via Google Doc with someone in their department.  Peer editing should include looking for grammatical errors, spelling, correct student names, and adherence to the HS comment writing format.  We have created a quick guide about comment writing that is more useable than the previous documents.