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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
September 19-23, 2005. Please note that the ISM news brief is distributed
to ISM families primarily via email, unless otherwise requested. To request
hardcopy notification, please contact Business Administrator / editor Lisa Griffin Burns
at lburns@ismonterey.org
or call at 583-2165.
Past newsletters can be found
here.
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This past week, our ISM community expanded by three new students in Grades 1 and 4. Please welcome first graders Emi Kogawa who started on Thursday in Miss Touryan's class and Josef Kolpaczyk who started today in Miss Basu's class plus fourth grader Alexandra "Sasha" Polovneff who completed the roster in Mrs. St. Germain's class. Enrollment is now at 301 of 304 students with one vacancy each in Grade 3 (Ms. Sigman), Grade 7 and Grade 8. We either have waiting list families or a viable lead for each opening currently, so our goal of reaching full enrollment in the coming weeks is a realistic one. This is a priority goal for the admin team as it ensures that ISM receives the highest level of state funding based on student attendance, specifically "ADA", Average Daily Attendance funding, which is critical to our overall financial stability as well as the completeness and strength of our community base.
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Safety and security of children is a fundamental goal that parents, students, and staff expect in a school setting throughout the school day. To achieve this goal, it requires the due diligence of all of us! With this in mind, we would like to request the support of parents to: (1) reiterate our expectations of "safe and injury-free" play during all recess periods; and (2) volunteer to be an additional set of eyes and ears during recess times.
The Instructional Aides who staff the seven daily recess periods have been noticing and addressing a higher than desired level of aggressive play during recess. Examples include:
* overly physical play, often related to basketball, football, or soccer play, which includes tugging at players' shirts, pushing and/or using shoulders while pursuing a ball, rough tagging, and tackling;
* play fighting, which often escalates into real fighting;
* chasing and tackling other children;
* throwing balls or other items toward or at other students;
* aggressive or unkind words toward or against other individuals or groups of students; and
* disrespectful responses to adults who address behavioral concerns.
These behaviors are not in keeping with ISM Student and Playground Expectations and will consistently be met with efforts to remind students of alternative options for safer play and/or consequences based on ISM's discipline plan. Please take a moment to discuss with your child that we support "hands off" play to lessen the chance that a student will be hurt on the playground. Also consider volunteering during one of the following times:
Mondays: 9:45-10:15, 10:10-10:50, 12:00-12:20, 12:40-1:15
Tuesday: 12:40-1:15
Wednesday: 12:40-1:15
Thursday: 12:40-1:15
Friday: 12:00-12:20, 12:40-1:15
Thank you!
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Elliot Eisner, Stanford Professor of Education, has written that curriculum is the sum total of everything that a child experiences in a school, right down to that which is implicit within the lunch schedule or the type of furniture in the school. If Eisner is correct, then the middle school "did" some awesome curriculum last week! I was honored and fortunate to attend the grade 5-6 trip to Camp Jack Hazard in the High Sierras; the 7-8th graders had an equally brilliant trip to the Headlands Institute in the Golden Gate Recreation Area. During the course of this week, the students learned about their perceived limits, and found out that they could exceed them. This expansion of "What I thought I could do," (quite transferable to math class!) occurred in places like the rock climbing cliffs, the high ropes course, and on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail at Sonora Pass. (See attached photos.) As confidence increased, so did bonding among the students. It has been said several times since the tower-building contest two weeks ago that it seems like we have a middle school now. A big thanks is due to the middle school teachers and parent volunteers for arranging this wonderful experiential learning opportunity. Your hard work and planning allowed students to strengthen physical, mental, and emotional attributes -- a tremendous week's curriculum, indeed!
Next week, we will highlight the experiences of the 7th and 8th graders who attended the Headlands Institute retreat program.
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The retreat has come and gone, though I trust its influence will last yearlong. The aim of the trip was, for me, to foster a sense of team, and to introduce major themes for the school year. I believe the retreat was a success on both accounts, and more! An individual student's performance on the hikes, challenge course, rock climbing, meal preparation and clean-up revealed general attitudes and dispositions; how they respond to a physical and emotional challenge; their willingness to delay personal gratification in support of the group; and their willingness/ability to pursue understanding, as opposed to identification with strong emotion and perceived conflict. Heady ideas, but then a four-mile hike at ten thousand feet, dangling from a safety harness on a sheer rock wall, and having to wash sixty sets of dishes draws dispositions to the fore.
From my view, two central themes emerged from the retreat, a little different for each grade level. For grade five, the message was this: A group, which identifies itself with a common set of strongly held beliefs, is capable of a very high level of performance, without limit. This was made clear on our hike along the Pacific Crest Trail from Sonora Pass. The group accepted the challenge, and breezed up to a high ridge, without complaint. For grade six, there was a different theme: One cannot eat an elephant all at once, but it is possible if we take it a little at a time. In this case, the hike becomes a metaphor: any initiative attracts obstacles and periods of discouragement. Nevertheless, we persevere, taking one step at a time, moving deliberately, resting at intervals, and resisting the impulse to give-in. How many times in our lives, in pursuit of a goal, do we face these contradictory, conflicting impulses: to persevere, or to quit?
Our week at Camp Jack Hazard was a process of becoming acclimated to the milieu, and learning to accommodate ourselves to a new kind of community. It was interesting to observe, with respect to the individual, the two grade levels, and the community generally. The students were noisy on the first day, and I wondered then whether they were simply recapitulating what was familiar. The quiet and the grandeur of the Sierras, however, is fairly profound in the Jack Hazard area, and gradually we settled. By week's end, both grade levels had slept outside, many choosing to spend the evening on a tarp, exposed to sky, moon, stars, and frost.
Individual students revealed heroic sides. Ian and Luke orchestrated the Korean dinner on Wednesday night. Eric and Ian led the cooking team on Monday night. They prepared a full menu: nachos with guacamole and salsa, Cesar salad, two types of quesadillas, apple empanadas, and Mexican nectar. Adults encouraged, but the kids did the work. (The camp had never had a group prepare their own meals before.) Greg pushed himself beyond himself to the Pacific Crest Trail ridge, as did Raven, and Jalsa, and Blyth. Jalsa had never hiked before, never worn hiking boots! Samantha refused to give-in on the rock wall, despite tears, and revealed her determination to accomplish the task. Stories such as these were common, of kids trusting, taking a risk, persevering, and helping others.
A trip of this size requires broad support. To simply say "thank you" to our chaperones seems a little underwhelming, given their investment of time, energy, and twenty-four hour duty. Still, on behalf of myself, Mrs. Sally Burns, and the youngsters, I extend warm thanks to the following staff, parents, friends, and relatives: Dr. Steve Carber, our campfire minstrel and hiking companion; Robby Fabry, part cheerleader, part sheep dog, nipping at the heels of wayward children; Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Seva'aetasi, Mrs. Murphy, Dr. Hulstedt and Mrs. Chavez, Mrs. Welsh, Mr. Tregenza, Dr. Dickinson, Mrs. Sage, Mrs. Simmons, Mr. Rodda, Mr. Burnett, and Mrs. Wang. Special kudos to Mr. Shifflett, who lent us the family Suburban to tow our U-Haul, and was willing to return the trailer on Friday afternoon; to Ms. Wichael-Loomis, for offering her expertise in planning our menu; and to Mrs. Kim, who sponsored our Korean night, and trained Luke and Ian in its preparation. Thank you all for making this experience a memorable learning one for our students!
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In connection with their "Energy and Electricity" unit, ISM fourth graders will be trekking to Merced County to view first-hand the B. F. Sisk San Luis Dam, an earthfill dam completed in 1967 on the San Luis Creek near Los Banos. This sizable structure is 382 feet high and at the dam's crest, is 30 feet thick, making it the third largest dam behind the Fort Peck and Oahe Dams on the Missouri River Basin in terms of mass. Their next stop on the trip will be to the Wind Farm located in Pacheco State Park where students will see huge windmills in operation with propellers 80 feet in length. This carpool outing will enable our fourth graders to experience the roles that water and wind, two renewable resources, play in energy creation. This is yet another example of applying knowledge gained in the classroom to practical exposure in order to deepen the learning experience here at ISM.
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Coordinators of the ISM Family Association, to include Volunteer Coordinator Ellen Gaucher, invite you to attend an introductory organizational meeting on Thursday, September 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the ISM Library. The multiple goals of this group are to help plan, coordinate, and organize school-wide special events, recruit new volunteers to assist with these events, and to work together as a group to ensure success and to further strengthen community bonds. If your forte is organizational and creative event planning, please consider joining this group to help design and offer ISM's Halloween Festivities, the Winter and Spring holiday programs, Earth Day celebrations, Friday fundraiser luncheons, and as-yet undetermined events. The regular meeting time will be the last Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m.
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For more information, we encourage you to view the Community Message Board section of this news brief available below.
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Incredibly, in a mere two weeks, we will be recessing for Fall Break! This schedule is in alignment with MPUSD, which is a relief for families juggling the demands of youngsters at other MPUSD schools; however, it also poses a greater childcare challenge as thousands of students are simultaneously "on break". Here are the ISM campus-based options for the two-week break:
(1) Spanish Camp provided by Spanish instructor Senorita Candia and ASI's Lisa Wichael-Loomis from 8:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. daily Monday, October 3rd through Friday, October 7th. At a cost of $110 per student, payable to "ISM", youngsters will practice their Spanish skills while enjoying Latin art, food, crafts, music, and movies!
(2) Dramatic Arts Camp will be offered for aspiring ISM actors by Drama instructor, Miss Sarah, and former Drama whiz, Miss Anna, Monday, October 10th through Friday, October 14th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. daily. The cost is also $110 per student. As with previous camps, parents and friends are invited to view a "Fantastic Friday" drama performance by the creative "campers".
This coming Friday, September 23rd is the last day to register for either of these camps. Please note that a minimum of 15 students per week is needed for the camps to "go", so sign up now.
Flyers and signup sheets can be found
here.
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The October lunch menus are out! All meals are made 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 October or the first week of October are due by Friday, September 30th to ensure that proper quantities are available for meals following the October break. 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.
AFTERSCHOOL INTERNATIONAL / LATE PICK-UPS AFTER 3:45 P.M.: 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!
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KION is sponsoring Kidfest 2005 on Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th at the Monterey Fairgrounds from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. both days. This event promises to be one of the biggest FREE family events on the Central Coast and ISM stands to benefit financially from this event if we are able to provide 50 volunteers for both days. If we meet this goal, KION will donate $500 per day for a total of $1000 to the International School of Monterey for our organizational volunteer service. Parents and youngsters are encouraged to volunteer together and the list of options includes: costume characters (4 volunteers), parking (6 volunteers), carnival games (13 volunteers), prize central (14 volunteers), sports zone (4 volunteers), and relief and hospitality providers (9 volunteers). Kidfest volunteers will receive a free event t-shirt and lunch (sandwiches and chips), in addition to breaks throughout the day. Stay tuned for more information in coming weeks. Those community members eager to volunteer for this special event are asked to contact Administrative Assistant Karen Kushel at kkushel@ismonterey.org.
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After some schedule refinement, the Instrumental Music schedule for this school year will be as follows:
* Tuesdays, 12:00 - 12:40 p.m.: Intermediate Winds (Band Rehearsal)
* Tuesdays, 1:15 - 1:55 p.m.: Advanced Strings (Violin, Viola, and Cello)
* Tuesdays, 2:00 - 2:40 p.m.: Intermediate Strings
* Wednesdays, 8:20 - 9:00 a.m.: Beginning Strings (Violin, Cello)
* Wednesdays, 9:05 - 9:45 a.m.: Beginning Brass (Trumpet, Trombone, Saxophone)
* Wednesdays, 9:50 - 10:30 a.m.: Beginning Woodwinds (Flute, Clarinet)
* Wednesdays, 10:30 - 11:15 a.m.: Extra Help 1
* Wednesdays, 11:15 - 11:55 a.m.: Extra Help 2
We may find that this schedule still may need some adjustments, so we ask that students, staff, and parents stay flexible with the process until all the "kinks" are worked out. To contact William Gee, ISM's Instrumental Music instructor, email him directly at bgee@ismonterey.org.
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Listed below are a few things desired by community members:
* Emina Ivetic, mother of 3rd grader Sasha Krnic, is interested in carpooling help from her home on Parcel Street in New Monterey. If you are interested and able to assist, please contact her at eminaive@hotmail.com.
* ISM staffers, Ms. Sigman, Miss Sarah, and Moises Santos, all new to the area, are needing furniture items, such as: bookcases, small desks, patio furniture, bbq's, TV, night stands, etc. Please email them directly per their respective ISM emails based on their first initial and last name, e.g., for Moises Santos - msantos@ismonterey.org.. Thank you for your assistance!
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