Thanks to Janelle Sculley for covering my class for a bit so I could go and see the EC4 concert.
Great job to 7th-grade social studies, Bev, Ellen, Julianne, and Matt for engaging students in a Renaissance socratic seminar.
Megan Kottwitz, Greg Jardin, Janelle Sculley, Ivory Chang, Carlos Simon Lazaro, and Ellen Mussleman for chaperoning the dance!
Bev Giacobbe Larson for an amazing MUN conference.
Rebecca Jardin, Nguyen Do, Nathan Larson and Nomer Adona for a fantastic Art Party!
Ann Laros-Weaver for holding supportive transition meetings for her students. The tone was so positive.
Meghan Ricker for starting up Dragon Ambassadors again with such a clear focus and supportive training for the students.
Adele VanDeVenter for another successful dance examination and G7 drama showcase. Wonderful talent on display all around.
Thanks to Brian Benck and Patrick O’Brien for coordinating an amazing experience on Friday for our grade 8 students at the Anh Linh Love school. It was such an amazing experience for our students!
Thanks to Cintia Bastos, G6s have honed their research skills using our library’s online database resources. Thanks for the interactive and engaging presentations!
I would like to send a HOD to the PE department for covering in my absence to support my visit to ISB. Also, a big thanks to Phil and Meghan for leading the team 6 meeting in my absence.
I am grateful for technology. The cell phone that helps me connect to my parents in Taiwan. The technology tools help students engage in content and learn at their own pace.
Thanks to Meg K. for organizing some great viewing of the partial-solar eclipse for our staff and students!
Dan Long for being our Star Wars courier straight from VEX in Dallas – Oh! and for chaperoning our awesome MS team while they were there!
Meghan Ricker, Thao Dinh, Duong Nguyen, and Thao Huynh for creating amazing Star Wars decorations and costumes!
Phil Wendel for ensuring Dan Kerr’s visit is running smoothly!
Sunshine Committee for setting up a great social for Dan Kerr.
And kudos to Dan Kerr! You were great with the students and the parents. We are so happy you are now an SSIS Dragon!
Phil Wendel, Jake West and Daniel Mendes for all the conversations around standards based teaching and learning – and how we can continue to grow and develop as a division.
Adele VanDeVenter and Tam Tran for amazing G7 and G8 drama productions
Stephen Ada, Phil Wendel, and Meghan Ricker for hosting Part 2 of the Talent Show – it was amazing!
Thank you, Kevin Brodeur, for immediately impacting the MS Dragon News. Your efforts have greatly improved the quality of the show and the impact it has on the students involved.
Kudos to Katja Gerasimova for hosting a wonderful author visit!
Stephen Ada, Meghan Ricker, and Phil Wendel for helping StuCo put on a fantastic talent show.
Carlos Simon Lazaro, Tom Lupton and Ivory Chang for working on the Schoology Task Force.
Jake West and Bryce Boudreau for sharing during the speed geeking session on Wednesday.
Matty Hart for his grace and patience in development of the health units.
A huge shout out to Nguyen Do and Matty Francis for helping me out when I was sick during SLCs. It is so comforting knowing things would be under control and taken care of. I particularly enjoyed the photos Nguyen sent me of students making their parents print and create. Thank you!
Trinh Nguyen for all her help organizing the set up and supervision of all science demonstrations for families during Student Led Conferences.
A big HOD to Matty Francis who stepped in during SLCs to supervise, facilitate, and help coordinate another group of advisory students, in addition to his own, during the absence of his advisory partner.
Janelle stepped up by helping me organize and prepare for CTP testing training with our advisories. She printed me a check list and helped me create a practice code. Thank you Janelle!!
The person I want to express my gratitude is Jacob West. He is my advisory partner who always helps me a lots and leads the G7 team moving on effectively. The highlight of the last week was SLC. Thanks for Jacob’s help to make it come to a successful end.
Phil Wendell for stepping in and covering a duty for me so that I could score WIDA Writing Tests.
Julianne Athon for being an awesome leader and teammate. She works incredibly hard to run our department, and she is always willing to reflect with me and share her thoughts!
A big shout out to Daniel Mendez and a big thank you for his patience, kindness, time, and effort. He is not only an amazing person, he is amazing at what he does. I just want to say that Daniel Mendez is invaluable. I went to him three times today about 3 different issues – Schoology issue, Internet issue and Powerschool issue and he was more than happy to help and he solved all three issues. He is not only Superman, he is “THE MAN”.Thanks to Daniel Mendes for his quick and cheerful help with students and teachers!
Thanks to the Dragons Fantasy League (and our endlessly creative Commissioner) for an outstanding American Football season!
Thanks, Cintia Bastos, for putting together a great Spring advisory plan. We miss you!
To Blaire Hart, for always making time to meet and help plan.
To Brian Benck, for always having a fresh pot of coffee waiting for us in the morning.
A big shout-out to Sean Boyes, Danial Hogg, Deb Jones, Sanny Tran & Bryan Phan for all their support to make the PE Dance Unit a fantastic experience for the Gr 8 students so far!
A big thank you to Ms Thao Dinh & Ms Duong Nguyen for their help, support and crisis management(at times!) when we as teachers need a helping hand.
Thank you to Josh Smith and Dan Long for organizing the logistics for the Midnight Marathon and so many other opportunities at our school that build community!
Thanks to Meg Kottwitz for always being a sounding board for new lessons and ideas! Your advice is invaluable!
Thanks to the Middle school Social Studies team. Everyone comes ready with fresh ideas and a willingness to collaborate!
Mr. Ada for volunteering to supervise the cafeteria during morning break EVERY DAY of the school year!
The PE, Science, and Math department members for their time, flexibility, and positivity in interviewing MS teacher candidates.
Shoutout to Ann Laros-Weaver for being such a supporting co-teacher in G6 math this semester!
Shoutout to Kevin Brodeour for always having organized, engaging Advisory lessons for our kiddos!
HOD is for Ms Adele, our Dancing Queen! Currently spearheading the MS Dance for G8, amazing with the students and even has me and Sean putting together a mean 2 step.
Daniel Mendes who is always willing to stop what he is doing to help with a question, problem, or solution!
A big thank you to Molly Burger for her support, kindness and guidance throughout this semester. Her door is always open, she lends you an ear, provides honest feedback, and guidance when asked. Thank you again.
Meghan Ricker, Daniel Mendes, Thao Dinh, Duong Nguyen for supporting new students.
Tyler Banks and Phil Wendel for a great welcome back assembly.
Praise for Steve Ada and his work with the band students in middle school – kudos to all on a fantastic performance!
Congratulations to Adele VanDeVenter on three fantastic drama productions and this week’s dance performance. Wowza!
Danial Hogg for fantastic emcee of the holiday party.
Thanks to Sanny Tran for her amazing support of the MRISA tournament.
Coaches Ward, Benck, and Jardin for leading their teams through the MRISA tournament with a positive coaching approach that supported our grade 8 boys and girls basketball and HS volleyball teams to capture the tournament championship. Congratulations!
Carlos Simon Lazaro and Juan Jose Sanz del Alamo for their amazing dia de los Muertos altar. Thank you for sharing this important holiday with the community. And thank you to Rebecca Jardin for collaborating with them on it.
Special thanks to Juan Jose Sanz del Alamo who let me hold my science class in his room after a pipe broke causing an awful smell in my room! Muchas Gracias!!!
Julianne Athon, Cintia Bastos, Bryce Boudreau, Greg Jardin, Daniel Mendes, Meghan Ricker, and Jake West for their participating and engagement with Adaptive Schools training.
Janelle Sculley and Lisa Strock for including me in their impromptu conversation about SBTL. So much depth of thought and willingness to explore ideas!
All our coaches as they head into SISAC championships this week.
Adele Van de Venter and Tam Tran for all their efforts getting our G6 actors ready for their upcoming performances.
Sanny Tran and Bryan Phan for all the work they put in to setting up for after school sports events.
Huge kudos to the PTA for their amazing Halloween Party on Saturday; and to all the SSIS faculty and staff who supported the event!
Adele Van De Venter and Jeff Redman for attending the architect meeting regarding the Black Box theater.
To Brian Benck, for stopping by O’Brien and Hart’s class to clarify a small detail, then staying to give a Braveheart-intensity breakdown of writing research questions!
Meghan Ricker, Phil Wendel, Thao Dinh, Duong Nguyen, Brian Benck, Gary Bertoia, Blaire Hart, Jake West, Andrew Ward, Ann Laros-Weaver, Rebecca Jardin, and Kevin Brodeur for all supporting the StuCo Dance.
Greg Jardin for coaching the Varsity Girls Volleyball Team to a championship at the tournament this weekend!
Congratulations on a very successful set of Parent Student Teacher Conferences!
Thank you to Thao Dinh, Duong Nguyen, Sanny Tran, Bryan Phan, Thao Huynh, Trinh Nguyen for all they did behind the scenes to make sure conferences ran smoothly!
Daniel Mendes for building the VTC website
Jake West and Daniel Mendes for serving on the VTC planning committee
I wanted to give a huge thank you and shout out to you and all of the staff that take time out of their busy schedules to pop into the gyms and provide their support for our student-athletes. It is fantastic to see the level of support for our athletic programs.
Phil Wendel for his support of students and teachers that comes in so many different ways!
The Student Support Team, Ann Laros-Weaver, Lili Dubois, Julianne Athon, Blaire Hart, Meghan Richer, Phil Wendel, and Najela Blaine-Hammond, for the dedication to providing high quality support for all our students.
Thao Dinh and Duong Nguyen for their attention to detail and ensuring things run so smoothly for all of us.
I’m looking forward to the conversations with families at PTCs. Also looking forward to the Fall Break!
I’m optimistic about another month of feeling less new to SSIS and Vietnam and, thus, being in a better position to support our students and faculty better.
I’m optimistic about finding more time to get to know my colleagues better.
Professionally—optimistic about building deeper connections with students and their parents during conferences.
Personally– optimistic about making it to Da Lat on my bike, which I have been told is not a fun ride. Haha.
I am looking forward to Halloween. It’s a big deal at our house, and things are already getting started here.
I am also really looking forward to Fall Break. Fall is my favorite time of year, and we are heading to Dalat, hopefully, we will have some cooler weather to get us in the fall mood.
Meghan Ricker for organzing a Mac support class for students needing some TLC.
Nguyen Do for his amazing installation of our collaborative art project!
Bryce Boudreau and Janelle Sculley for forming Mathletes to participate in upcoming math competitions.
I really owe a big thank you to Daniel Mendes for having the patience of a saint as he has been supporting me with incorporating tech into the grade 8 PE swim unit. It really has been a big success.
Lisa Strock for working with HS Dragon Tutors to provide math tutoring for MS students.
Phil Wendel and Meghan Ricker for getting StuCo off to an amazing start!
Brian Benck for popping popcorn and more popcorn and more popcorn …
All G8 Advisors for continuing the great tradition of G8/G1 buddies.
Jacob Humes and Catriona Moran for hosting the Cultural Adjustment workshop for new faculty members. So helpful and meaningful!
Meghan Ricker for hosting 3 excellent workshops for new parents to SSIS. It was informative and supportive for all the parents who attended!
Danial Hogg for setting up a student/faculty challenge at Family Fun Day!
Meghan Ricker for setting up support meetings for new parents to SSIS.
Our thanks to the Grounds Team for a fast and efficient job switching out the old desks for the new. Lan and I arranged them, and it works just as we hoped it would. We appreciate your attention and hard work in this, and in all you do for us.
I am grateful for my co-teachers, Andrew and Patrick, who are both already having a positive influence on my teaching practice.
I’m grateful for Trinh Nguyen and her support of new lab experiences for MS Science students!
Catriona Moran subbed for my class when I went to PDL!!!
Duong Nguyen for keeping things running so smoothly in the MS office.
Meghan Richer and Daniel Mendes for picking up many extra duties during Molly and Phil’s absences.
Catriona Moran for covering welcomes, the office, and even a class this week!
Thank you to two MS teachers for sharing their expertise and passion by offering after school wellness classes for the faculty. Deb Jones is offering High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes and Rebecca Jardin is offering Art for the Soul. This is amazing and so appreciated by their colleagues!!!
I really appreciate Julianne and Lili for helping me give Admissions tests. They stepped up when I was overwhelmed, and they gave me the gift of time. I am most grateful to be on their team!
All of our math and ELA teachers for administering the STAR screener last week.
Daniel Mendes for all he does – and especially for creating a duty Google calendar he made for team awesome who supports in the cafeteria.
Julianne Athon for her fantastic presentation of Kagan structures. Thank you for showcasing ways to help students find access points to participate and speak.
Meghan Ricker for all the schedule adjustments and ensuring that students are getting into the right classes.
All faculty and staff for reaching out and supporting each other as we start the year!
Thao Huynh, Trinh Nguyen, Sanny Trang, Bryan Phan for supporting the office in getting things ready for this week!
Cintia Bastos, Lili DuBois, and Kevin Brodeur for setting us up for success with Dragon Days.
