Week Ahead: Nov. 5-9

It’s been another great week.  Kicking off the weekend with an amazing Dance Celebration, 4 SISAC events, an unexpected evacuation, and let’s throw in Halloween!  You guys rocked it all.  Thanks for keeping things flowing smoothly, for supporting students all along the way, and for having fun together.

Oh yeah, and we are hosting a SEASAC Tournament.  If you have an opportunity to sport the teams by watching a game (or even part of one), just remember that you need to provide supervision for your class.  If you want to see the scheudle CLICK HERE.  Go Dragons!

Here is what’s up next week:

Monday, Nov. 5
Day 6, GHEF (Adv)
11:30 Release Boys A Team for SISAC tournament @ ABC

Tuesday, Nov. 6
Day 7, DABC (DEAR)
7:15-7:45 Review session on Tripod Surveys
11:30 Release Girls B Team for SISAC tournament @ ABC
11:15-12:15 SST Mtg
3:30-6  SSIS Innovate

Wednesday, Nov. 7
Day 8, HEFG (DEAR)
11:00 Release MRISA Boys and Girls Teams for travel
1:30-2:30 HOS / MS Principal Meeting
3:15-4:30  Full Faculty Mtg (Auditorium, Vision 2030)
5-6:30  Andrew Hallam, Session 1: What’s Your Financial Freedom Number? How to calculate and reverse engineer your retirement (Auditorium)

Thursday, Nov. 8
Day 9, ABCD (Adv)
8:15-9:15 HOS Parent Coffee
9:30-11 Admin Team Mtg (Molly attends)
4:30-5:40 Andrew Hallam, Session 2: Simple, Smart Investing For Americans: Personal Investing to Work Less and Live More (MPR)
7pm Molly Departs for Dubai Recruitment Fair

Friday, Nov. 9
Day 10, FGHE (DEAR)
*Molly Out — Dubai Recruitment Fair
7:30 Breakfast Club Sponsored by Gr 7
3:30-4:40 Andrew Hallam, Session 3: You Can Afford Anything … But Not Everything: How To Land On The Right End Of The Wealth Gap (for all nationalities)  (MPR)
5:15-6:25 Andrew Hallam, Session 4: Simple, Smart Investing for Non Americans: Personal Investing to Work Less and Live More (MPR)

Upcoming (on the radar)

• Nov. 8-13   Molly at Dubai Recruitment Fair
• Nov. 12   MS Pep Assembly and Dragon Day (school spirit dress up)
• Nov. 12   Season 2 ASA Registration
• Nov. 12-23   Tripod Student Surveys
• Nov. 16   PD Day – Saigon International Schools combined PD extravaganza Saigon International Teachers PD Day
• Nov. 26-30  WWW
• Dec. 1    SSIS Holiday Party (Sheraton)
• Dec. 7   MS Division Cocktails and Cookies Party
• Dec. 7  Accidental Counselor training at SSIS (has just been moved to SSIS)

Update on Cleaner Mr. Tam:  We have learned that Mr. Tam, one of the cleaners on the 2nd floor this year, has a herniated disk and must have surgery.  He will be out for at least a month.  If you are interested, we are taking a collection to assist with health care costs.  You can drop these off in Molly’s office.

Save the Date:  Sunshine is bringing Cocktails and Cookies to the MS on Dec. 7th.  Watch for more information – and be sure to save the date!

New location for David Rynne:  Now that Curriculum has moved to Bldg C, we have resumed divisional use of those rooms.  David Rynne has created green screen recording studios, a place for VEX robotics, and a space for his desk.  These are great news areas – and remember to notify David when you want to use them.  At this time, it isn’t a place to just “send” students without supervision and notification.

FishBowl Booked:  A group has booked the FishBowl on Fridays from 9-12 until December 14.  Please keep this in mind when looking for small group spaces.

MRISA Games:  We will be live streaming MRISA games on the hallway monitor.   Here is the MRISA MS Basketball game schedule.  You can also track information on the MRISA website.  Let’s try to bump up our school spirit and support these teams while they are away.

Backing Up Data:  From David Perkin
Backing up your data is critical. Your computer, USB and external hard drives will fail.   The only way to protect yourself against valuable data loss is through regular backups.

Repeated Topics:

Sports Absences:  We have many sports tournaments coming in the next 2 weeks.  Student athletes are expected to make up missed work using the timeframe allowed for any excused absence (at least 1 additional day).  Though they should be communicating with you, these athletes are still learning how to do this and at times are less successful than we would like.  Please work with our athletes to help build their skills at preplanning (and follow through).  Lists of the athletes traveling for each trip are included in Shelley’s weekly email updates.

Tripod Surveys: We will be giving student surveys starting November 12-23 designating 1 block per day for the survey.  Each teacher will have at least 3 of their blocks take the survey for them.  So some days you will be giving the survey and some you will not.  Here is the list of blocks/courses that will be surveyed.  For more information about the Tripod Survey and the data you will receive, please read through the  Teacher Toolkit for Tripod.  Here is the actual block schedule for the surveys:

• Nov 12- G
• Nov 13- D
• Nov 14- H
• Nov 15- A
• Nov 16- PD Day
• Nov 20- E
• Nov 21- B
• Nov 22- F
• Nov 23- C

Gearing Up for WWW:  These amazing trips are right around the corner.  Thank you to all team leads and members for working to make these trips the best they can be.  We will be reviewing last minute logistics and requirements on Wednesday, Nov. 21.  In advance of that meeting, please review the MS Chaperone Guidelines.  Adherence to these guidelines will ensure a smooth and successful trip.  Please also download and activate the SOS app if you have a smart phone.