Week Ahead: May 29

What a great and busy week!  Starting with the amazing experience of a massive food drive delivery with Grade 8 students and Brian Benck to Anh Linh Love School, moving to Grade 8 Transition Activities and the HOS Year Review Parent Meeting, followed by the High School Athletic Banquet, continuing on with Grade 7 and 8 drama productions on Friday, it has been a whirlwind.  Winding out the week with what I know will be an emotional graduation experience, the realization that time passes quickly is fully on my mind.  The journey is rich and rewarding because of the people in it.  This also has been on my mind this week.  What an amazing group of students and adults I get to work with every day!

Here is what’s up this week:

Monday, May 30
Day CDAB (Advisory)
3-4:00 Eggcellent Prep (MS Conference Room)

Tuesday, May 31
Day GHEF (DEAR)
11-11:45 Gr 6 EAL/LS Check In

Wednesday, June 1
Day DABC (Advisory Special Schedule)
*All Library Books Due
11-11:35 Gr 7 EAL/LS Check In
3-4:30 No Divisional Mtg – time is for writing and editing comments

Thursday, June 2
Day HEFG (Advisory)
8-9:30 Music Rehearsal (Gr 7 and 8 Music Students out)
1:30-3  Gr 8 Human Rights Project Displays

Friday, June 3
Day ABCD DEAR
7:30-8 Breakfast Club sponsored by Tech/Specialists
11-11:45 Gr 8 EAL/LS Check In
1:40-2:40  SRT
7-8:30  MS Music Concert

Upcoming (on the radar)

• June 6 – Grades/Comments Due; Gr 8 Promotion Ceremony
• June 7 – Talent Show (AM); Splash Day (PM)
• June 8 – Gr 5 Bridge Crossing (2:45)
• June 9 – Special schedule (will include Team meetings, HL fun, and MS assembly);
• June 10 – 8:30-9:30 MS Divisional Mtg, sometime between 9:30-12:30 final Team mtg, 12:30-2 Final AS Lunch (stay as long or as little as you like)

Wednesday Schedule:
Time                   Special Advisory Schedule
8:00 – 9:25        Block 1  (85 min)
9:25 – 9:35        Break
9:35 – 11:00     Block 2 (85 min)
11:00 – 11:35   Lunch (35 min)
11:40-1:00        Block 3  (80 min)
1:05-1:35           Advisory
1:40-3:00           Block 4  (80 min)

EAL/LS Check In’s:  This is the last check in for EAL/LS students.  The focus will be looking at services for next year.  It is also an opportunity to identify any really urgent issues that need to be addressed before grades become final.

Grading and Comment Deadlines:  As noted on the Google Calendars, the comment and grade report deadlines are as follows –

• June 3 – soft deadline for comments to have been reviewed by peers
• June 6 – Grade and comments due by 3:00
• June 7 – Verification reports due by 3:15
• June 8 – Report cards printed
• June 9 – Report cards and end of year documents distributed in Advisory

End of Year Schedules:  Be sure to be tracking the last week schedule.  Lots is going on!

End of Year Clearances: Students and teachers complete end of the year clearances.  These are done electronically using Google Docs.  Here is the break down of dates and forms.  Sang and I will be handling any student who is departing early as well.  If you hear from a student that they are departing early, please let Sang know.

             Returning Student Clearance:  Students will be emailed clearance directions and the Google Doc on Monday, June 6th.  Cells that are empty and colored green mean the student has been cleared for that item.  Cells that have an X in them mean that the student has not been cleared for that item.  Advisors are asked to help encourage kids to complete outstanding items.  Students need to be cleared by Wednesday, June 8.
Withdrawing Student Clearance:  Withdrawing student (those not returning next year) will have a paper clearance form.  This form will be due to Admission by Wednesday, June 8 (at least I think that is the date .. I am checking all this with Bonnie who usually takes care of all withdrawing students).  Please do not delay signing these forms.  The stress this causes is magnified by the stress of leaving school.
Curriculum Materials Return:  The curriculum dept. will be on hand June 3rd to collect all curriculum materials.  Trinh will be on the 3rd floor in the Curriculum Library (just down from Tina’s office) on Friday, June 3rd.  These are the times for each grade:  A Block = Gr 8 9-9:25; C Block = Gr 6 1:00-1:30; D block = Gr 7 1:35-2:05.  Teachers can also turn in curriculum materials on June 3rd in the Curriculum Library (or you can turn materials in earlier if you take them over to the book room).
Teacher Clearance:  Teachers also have to complete clearance tasks.  These are done them same way as students.  If the box is empty and highlighted green, that task is complete.  If the box has an X, the task is yet to be complete.  The columns are controlled by the person listed in row 5 at the top of the column.  Many of the tasks will be completed on June 9 and 10.

• This the the form:  MS Teacher check out form
• All teachers need to complete the Summer Information and Maintenance form.  MS Summer Information and Maintenance Form  Maintenance requests should include any repairs and fixes that need to be done over the summer.
• Follow David’s Digital Dust email directions:  Please take a few minutes before you leave for the summer and clean up your digital dust.  Delete or remove unneeded files form your P drive, the courses folder and the exchange folder. If you have not accessed a file in over a year please remove the file and store it on an external drive.  Please note: The exchange folder is a temporary storage place and will be cleared out over the summer break.

New Faculty Joining Us for 2016-2017:  So sorry for the lack of information about our new hires.  Here are some short bios:

Andrea Khambalia – A self professed tech geek, Andrea has most recently spent 3 years at the Anglo American School in Sofia teaching 6th grade Language Arts and Social Studies.  From American School of Barcelona and Graded in Sao Paulo, Andrea has spent her entire career working with middle school students.  A musician, dancer, and artist, Andrea has a wide range of interests and a love of using technology and media literacies in transformative ways to cultivate “curiosity, creativity and empathy.”  Andrea will be teaching Gr 7 and 8 Social Studies for us this coming year.
Katherine Werner – Coming to us from California, Kate has actually just visited SSIS last year in order to see her good friend Jodi Fetterolf.  Kate has taught for the past 6 years at Piedmont Middle School as a Learning Resource specialist.  Prior to this, she taught for 5 years in Pennsylvania supporting students with autism and emotional/behavioral disturbances.  Her wide range of experiences including co-teaching will certainly serve our students well.  This will be her first overseas experience, and she is eager for this next great adventure. (I’ll get a picture soon)
Rick Freil – Rick, along with his wife Catherine Brown (ES Learning Support) and their daughter Emma (rising Gr 10), is coming from American Embassy School in New Dehli where he spent the past 7 years teaching middle school PE (the past year he has been working with former SSIS teacher Lori Umera).  Prior to AES, Rick taught for 16 years at White Salmon Middle School in Washington.  An avid outdoorsman and river rafter, Rick is passionate about physical education, sports (in particular wrestling), and helping students live healthy happy lives.
Dawne Kaba – Following in the footsteps of the Jardins, Dawne and her family (husband and 2 kids age 6 and 7 years old)   are joining us from Lincoln Community School in Ghana where she is completing her 11th year.  She is currently the Athletic Director and PE Department Head for 7 years and had spent 4 years PE in grades 6-10 in Ghana.  Equally passionate as Rick about athletics, sports, and healthy living, Dawne is a successful basketball and volleyball coach.
Ryan Butz – After completing 3 years at American International School of Bolivia, Ryan (and his wife Polly who will teach HS science) will be joining us to teach Gr 6 and 7 science.  Prior to that, Ryan taught 3 years of middle school science in New York.  Another outdoor enthusiast, Ryan lists basketball, baseball, soccer, backpacking, rock climbing and kayaking as passions and hobbies and is eager to coach SSIS students in basketball, volleyball and/or soccer.  Ryan also is passionate about environmental issues and sustainability.
Liz Stanley – A current HCMC resident (her partner is a teacher at BVIS), Liz is joining us as a part-time teacher in Health and PE.  Her past experience includes 3 years in the Middle East (Oman and Qatar) and 4 years in the UK.  In addition to hockey, squash, golf, climbing, and mountaineering, Liz lists kayaking, skiing, surfing, kite boarding, and biking as interests.  Liz will be continuing her Masters study while working part-time.