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The 2005-06 calendar is now posted on our website
and is also available on the credenza in the front office.
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Welcome to ISM's weekly newsletter for the week of
October 17 - 21, 2005! Please note that the ISM news brief is now available
to ISM families during regular school weeks via our website no later than 7:30 p.m. each Monday (Tuesday, if Monday is a holiday), unless otherwise noted. To request hardcopy notification, please contact Business Administrator / news brief editor Lisa Griffin Burns
at lburns@ismonterey.org
or call at 583-2165.
Please note: Past newsletters can be found
here.
: Welcome back, all! We hope that you had an enjoyable and restful Fall Break, the first-ever two-week October hiatus that we have ever scheduled at ISM. Some of you, we were informed, vacationed in exciting destinations ranging from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas to Hawaii, while others enjoyed the beauty of the Peninsula doing day trips or experiencing ISM camp (see item #8 below). Whatever was on your agenda, we hope it was fun, rewarding, and relaxing!
We began this week with the addition of two new students in Grades 7 and 8, bringing both of those classes to full enrollment with 24 students each. Joining fellow ISM seventh graders is Hussein Elbakri who has previously attended charter schools as well as international schools abroad. Having waited with anticipation for months for the "would you like to join us" waiting list call, he and his family are thrilled to be at ISM! Our new eighth grader is Kelsey Hughes who spent a day with us in early September and was very jazzed about the experience and excited to become a full-fledged ISM student. We welcome them both and look forward to getting to know each of them and their family members better!
: As a follow-up to a previous email sent to parents of students in Grades 3, 5, and 7, those students will be participating in the International Schools Assessment (ISA) test, commencing tomorrow Tuesday, October 18th. The ISA is a standardized test published by the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER). One of the key values of the ISA is that it provides parents and the school with information on how each student has performed in comparison to students at international schools around the world; the sample includes 91 schools in over 40 countries. The ISA is a quite "friendly" test in terms of its design, and it only takes two mornings to complete. If you have any questions about the test, please feel free to contact us. For more information, see http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/school/isa/intro.html.
: The first quarter ended on Friday, September 30th prior to our departure for Fall Break. As is typical for our academic calendar, we invite parents at the conclusion of Quarter 1 to participate in student-led conferences in their child's classroom per a schedule determined by the respective teachers. These conferences provide students the opportunity to share with their parents those aspects of their academic work that show growth and development, mastery, room for improvement, as well as skills acquired outside of the classroom, such as piano, chess, or Taekwondo, for a well-rounded representation of each student. If you have not yet scheduled or received a suitable conference time, please contact your child's respective instructor(s), as these conferences are a unique and valuable element of ISM's assessment practices. For this reason, we also request that you make childcare arrangements for siblings during scheduled conference times to ensure children's safety and conference effectiveness. If you would also like to request a traditional "Parent-Student" conference, please also make such arrangements with your child's teacher. For those wanting more details about the value of student-led conferences within an international school environment, pleased contact Curriculum Coordinator Steve Carber at scarber@ismonterey.org
: Hopefully, everyone received the email notification prior to the break that we postponed the October work day until this coming Saturday, October 22nd from 9:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. We have requested that a number of dedicated parent volunteers support staff to co-chair two work days per year and this Saturday, Steve Moore will serve in that role. Steve was extremely instrumental in heading up volunteer site duties related to our Manzanita move and construction needs from November 2004 to January 2005 and we thank him for his continued dedication to ISM! Last month's workday was extremely productive with a host of new and returning families joining forces to accomplish sizable organizational tasks. The feeling of the morning was supportive, energetic, and positive. We invite you to stop by this Saturday to experience a workday first hand and to meet some new ISM friends.
 : Welcome back students and parents! We are excited to reconvene after our two-week break. As a reminder, ISM makes every effort to provide for the welfare and safety of students through staff and volunteer supervision, communication, rules and regulations, and planning
and evaluation. As we had ongoing discussions with students prior to the break relating to appropriate playground conduct and uniform issues, we respectfully request that you take a few moments to review the following policies with your children:
* Playground Expectations;
* Student Expectations; and
* Student Uniform Guidelines
We do make each student, even our younger students, accountable for their actions and discussing the options they have when less desirable choices have been made. By consistently taking the time to discuss choices, we hope that an effective learning curve is established so certain poor choices are not repeated and that new opportunities for learning occur instead. With our older students, one of the premier "grumbling points" concerns the ISM uniform policy. For this purpose, the policy was included in the back of the Student planning calendar so that students could self-refer to the document if they or their parents were unsure if a particular outfit was appropriate or not. As a staff, we will continue to have older students refer to this document on their own before they inquire of staff: "Is this uniform appropriate?" This should effectively cut down on the amount of staff time spent "diagnosing" uniform issues, students will hopefully begin to feel independently accountable, and teachers and staff can be about the business of instruction. We thank you for your support!
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ISM has, from its opening year, valued the notions of inquiry-based instruction and teaching for understanding. These are intended to constitute much of the how of instruction at ISM, including instruction in the middle school. Over a year ago now, ISM's original middle school staff committee added to this blend the work of renowned educator Ernest Boyer, who proposed eight "core commonalities" that are intended to organize and reduce all truly relevant knowledge in the information age. Boyer's work begins to link the how to the what. (Please note: Staff development in the past has focused on understanding-focused, inquiry-based methods, and these methods were complimented with a bundle of relevant scholarly articles, including Boyer's; these are available in the curriculum office.) The what of ISM's middle school curriculum is shaped by the very specific California State Standards, and Boyer's commonalities help teachers to organize them into these eight themes that resonate throughout the school and that are intended to be a sort of "glue" that holds together all of a student's experiences from classroom to classroom. To see the state standards, check out http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp and to read up on Boyer, please refer to the following website: http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/ICBSRC/pages/comm.curr.htm.
: Parent coordinator Janice Barker is already in the Halloween mood and wanted to remind the community-at-large of the spooky happenings planned on campus for Halloween on Monday, October 31st.
Beginning with the TRICK OR TRUNK DECORATING EVENT, parents are invited to go crazy and have some fun too! Decorate your car or van trunk or truck bed with a holiday theme and enter your "spirited vehicle" in the Most Creative Trunk competition! ISM youngsters will then have the opportunity to "Trick or Trunk" (treat) to each car during our Halloween Festival. Please note: Parents are responsible for their own decorations and treats to hand out to the youngsters. Anyone who would like to participate can contact Janice Barker at 384-5524, 402-0303 or at barkerjf1@sbcglobal.net
HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL: Reliable sources say, "Ghouls, goblins and monsters are on their way! Beware! They will be running about at ISM's Mini Halloween Carnival! Festivities will take place from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. on Monday, October 31st. Students are asked to come to school in their uniforms and following lunch, may change into their costumes for the Halloween merriment! Bibbity, Bobbity, Boo! There will be a Costume Contest too with students in Grades K-4 and 5-8 competing for: Scariest Costume, Funniest Costume, and Most Creative Costume. Great prizes will be awarded!!
Attention: Pumpkin Carvers Needed for our annual Pumpkin Carving Contest: Interested students may bring their beautiful, scary, inventive, and uniquely carved pumpkins -- small or large -- to the Judging area on the tables outside the multi-purpose room for contest consideration and judging prior to 10:00 a.m. that morning. Prizes for the funniest and scariest pumpkin will be awarded for in each age category, Grades K-4 and 5-8, following judging at 12:45 p.m.
In order for the festival to be successful, we are asking that parents provide donations of food and related supplies, keeping in mind that we now have 303 students fully enrolled. We have developed a list of items needed per grade, so please look below for your little goblin's grade. We thank you in advance for your contri"boo"tion!
Kindergarten and Grade 5 = Home baked goodies
Grades 1, 4, and 6 = Healthy snacks
Grade 2 = Paper plates / napkins / cups
Grade 3 = Juice
Grades 7 and 8 = Haunted House materials
: We are pleased to say that we have received supportive feedback from families whose youngsters were enrolled in one or both Fall Break camps, offered over the past two weeks. With approximately 30 students registered each week, we definitely saw there was a need for childcare during this break time period. During the first week, Spanish instructor, Alejandra Candia, joined forces with Lisa Wichael-Loomis, our Afterschool International Program Coordinator, to offer a creative Spanish Camp in which the participants spent at least half of their day (8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. daily) listening and speaking Spanish! Youngsters participated in piņata-making, creating Guatemalan worry dolls from yarn and pipe cleaners, and watching popular kids movies in Spanish. They also were exposed to relevant foods and pastries, and concluded their week with a bus trip to Jose's restaurant in Seaside where they had a chance to order their meal completely in Spanish!
For the second week, we offered Dramatic Arts Camp with drama instructors Miss Sarah and Miss Anna. Miss Anna, currently the Instructional Aide for the Kindergarten classes, led her charges in Grades K - 2 in discussions of shadows and light and shadow-puppet making. Meanwhile, Miss Sarah worked with the older students in Grades 3 - 7 on a production of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". With only a week to assign characters, learn lines, design puppets and backdrops, create lighting arrangements, not to mention, perform, our enthusiastic actors put on a wonderful show Friday afternoon for family members and friends lasting over an hour! All of the students seemed to benefit from the experience, learning that smooth teamwork is invaluable when producing a puppet show or play. Kudos to all involved!
: The November lunch menus will be coming out today and will be available online later this week! All meals are prepared fresh daily, which requires weekly shopping for proper quantities to be on-hand based on orders submitted. Once again, the deadline to turn in menus to Program Provider Lisa Wichael-Loomis is the Wednesday prior to the coming week. Late menus will not be accepted after Wednesday as shopping is conducted by staff each Thursday and Friday. Any late menus will be returned to families to be adjusted and can be resubmitted for the correct timeframe.
All orders for the entire month of November or the first week of November are due by Wednesday, October 26th to ensure that proper quantities are purchased in advance. An important reminder when completing the menu: please complete all important information, to include the full name and grade of your child (as we do have multiple children on campus with the same name) as well as the dates for which you are paying. We are regularly trying to decipher forms lacking this critical info, which makes tracking students' individual orders extremely difficult.
Flyers and signup sheets can be found
here.
: Any students who have not yet been picked up by 3:45 p.m. (a full 25 minutes after the end of the school day) by an authorized family member or friend will be forwarded to the After School program for further caretaking. Parents/guardians are then responsible for paying the $10 per hour fee, payable at the time you retrieve your child from the ASI program. Checks may be made payable to "ISM". Thank you for your cooperation!
:
Listed below are a few things desired by community members:
1) Carpooling Help: Important! Important! ISM Parent Merilee Kolpaczyk has undergoing orthopedic surgery recently, is in a fair amount of pain and needs carpooling assistance for several weeks while she recuperates. The Kolpaczyks live in Monterey, in the area behind Monterey High. If anyone can help out, please contact her directly at 655-0961.
2) Home for a Few Good Fish: Julie Rauch, mother of Kindergartner Jillian, writes: The black molly in our fish tank has had babies. We have about ten (hard to count them) and need to give them to a good home or two. Families are needed to adopt these fish as well as a possible ISM classroom interested in taking care of them and watching them grow. Additionally, if adopted by a classroom, a fish tank would also be needed. Julie would be willing to set it up for the class and possibly the adopting family. Contact her at
jar00agr03@sbcglobal.net.
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