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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
April 3 -7, 2006! 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.
A. BABY KOGAWA: During the first week of Spring Break, our ISM community expanded by one glorious bundle! Her name is "Kana Marina Kogawa" and she was born to parents Edward Forsythe and Mayumi Kogawa on Friday, March 17th! She weighed in at eight pounds, four ounces and was 20.5 inches in length. Her proud sisters are: Mika in Miss Carrie's Kindergarten class and Emi in Miss Touryan's Grade 1 class. Welcome, Baby Kana! We look forward to seeing you as part of the incoming Kindergarten class of 2011-12!
B. NEW STUDENTS JOIN ISM: Correction to last week: Please join us welcoming two new students to ISM, both of whom started last Monday. They are Gabriel Aquino in Mrs. Augustine's Grade 2 class and Eleanor Bennett White in Miss Sweeney's Grade 2 class. Both students are transitioning very well to their new classroom and we are very pleased to have them here at ISM. We also welcome our new parents, Celeste Hall and Emilio Aquino, who are Gabriel's parents, as well as Lisa Bennett and Robin White, who are Eleanor's parents, to our ISM community. We look forward to getting to know you more over the coming months!
As many of you already know, tonight the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District's (MPUSD) Board will be meeting for its regularly scheduled Trustee's meeting at the Board of Supervisors' Chambers at the Instructional Materials Center, which is located at 540 Canyon Del Rey. The International School of Monterey's application for charter renewal for the next five academic years (2006-2011) is on the agenda, beginning at approximately 7:00 p.m., at which time the board members will have the opportunity to hear public commentary and feedback regarding our renewal application. We look forward to seeing many of you at this meeting as a show of support for our quality international curriculum offered uniquely within a public school environment. To ensure a smooth flowing meeting, please be aware that individuals who choose to address the Board at this meeting will be limited to three (3) minutes of commentary each, no longer. Per prior arrangement (pre-registration by 12 Noon today), childcare for parents attending this meeting has been arranged via a "Pizza, Pajama, and Movie night" with Miss Jessica and Mr. Robby. This will take place tonight in the Multiuse room and library, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday night, so that those parents can attend the meeting unencumbered. See you there!
After a year's hiatus, the ISM adult co-ed volleyball team has resurfaced. Last Tuesday, the 28th, the team comprised of Chrissie Jahn, J.R. deVera, Robby Fabry, Tod Jones, Craig Novak, Bob Oliver, Bridget Sweeney, and Chantel Touryan toughed out two games, ultimately coming up short against the "Whoo Pass" team with set scores of: 14:25, 14:25. This week's game takes place Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at the Monterey Sports Center. Come down and cheer them on. Just in case many of you may not know, the dolphin serves at ISM's mascot -- hence the name "The ISM Spiking Dolphins"!
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A. KUDOS TO SPRING BREAK CAMP STAFFERS FOR EXCELLENT PROGRAM: Parent Carrie Bretz, mother of Kindergartner Finnegan, wrote the following: " I just wanted to let you know what an exceptional job Miss Lisa (Wichael-Loomis) and Miss Sarah (Benbow) did for the first week of the ISM spring camp (Spring Fling). They provided the children with an unbelievable abundance of fun, interesting, and safe projects throughout the week. Finnegan was absolutely ecstatic after each day's activities, and ... he will [probably] be rehashing the outcome of the 'leprechaun traps' for months (years?) to come. The availability of these camps was not only very convenient for me due to my work schedule, but was worth every penny for the enthusiastic and professional way the program was conducted. Hats off to Miss Lisa and Miss Sarah! We are looking forward to an Week 2 of camp, featuring Kidlympics!" Carrie then followed up today with the following compliments about Week 2, Kidlympics, programming: "In summary, hurray for Ms. Barbara [who did] another outstanding job with the preparation and execution of the camp theme! In addition to the "Big Game" segment of the daily schedule, there were morning warm-up exercises (great!), sports-related arts & crafts (including learning about the food pyramid, clever), the grand finale Awards Ceremony, and just all-around fun. Barbara (and her assistants Miss Jessica and Miss Kristen) even prepared an agenda for the parents, outlining the daily activities for the week - a real plus in my book. The staff is doing a real wonderful job with the holiday camps!"
Thank you to Carrie for her kind words and acknowledgment of a job well done by our Camp program staffers.
B. 6th GRADERS SCORE HIGH MARKS AT 2006 MONTEREY COUNTY SCIENCE FAIR: 6th Grade science instructor, Mr. Tod Spedding, reports: The 2006 Monterey County Science Fair competition has come and gone with 480 middle and high school students having participated this year. The sixth graders compete in the Junior Division, toe-to-toe with 7th and 8th graders. It was the first year that ISM participated, and our students set themselves apart.
Ten ISM projects were submitted for competition, including projects by Maile Murphy (the Law of Thirds in graphics composition), Jasmine Villegas (the diagnosis and treatment of bronchitis), Jamie Berg (the effect of cooling on the color of kiln-fired ceramics), Robin Trumble (on neutralizing the hot in hot sauce), Blyth Barrymore and Enrique Garcia (the effect of environment on maze learning among rats), Cobi Allen & Luke Kim (how awareness regarding the need for hand washing changes student behavior), Victoria Hutchins (on the phases of Venus), Conor Jahn (the effect of static electricity on liquids with chemical polarity), Emily Shifflett (comparing/contrasting oral bacteria among four animals), and Ian Casey & Iljin Cho (on the microfossils of the Monterey Formation).
All of these projects were strong and competitive. Typically, Science Fair winners are not necessary chosen based on the greatest effort, or insight, or rigor. It can be about luck, the number of projects in your category, who is judging, etc. With that said, the following students/projects were awarded prizes:
1. Emily Shifflett, 2nd Place, Microbiology;
2. Cobi Allen and Luke Kim, 1st Place, Social Sciences AND a $250 award from the Monterey County Schools Insurance Group Award;
3. Robin Trumble, 1st Place, Pharmacology and Toxicology AND Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge Award AND Finalist for the California State Science Fair;
4. Jamie Berg, 2nd Place, Materials Science AND ASM National Foundation Award AND California State Science Fair, Alternate;
5. Victoria Hutchins, 1st Place, Physics and Astronomy AND Naval Sciences Award AND Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge Award AND Finalist for the California State Science Fair.
This year, the California State Science Fair, which is the final science fair of the academic year for students throughout the State of California in grades 6 - 12, is hosted by the California Science Center (formerly, the California Museum of Science and Industry) and will be held on May 22 - 23, 2006. More than 900 participants from nearly 350 schools throughout the State will meet to compete for awards totaling over $50,000.
Two have two finalists and one alternate eligible to compete at the state level is phenomenal and a truly remarkable showing for our first year! We anticipate ongoing success in the future. Watch out for ISM next year and years thereafter! Congratulations to all students, parents, and mentors who helped contribute to this worthy outcome!
C. HISTORY DAY SUCCESS: ISM students did very well this year at the annual History Day competition sponsored by the Lyceum of Monterey. Three ISM teams were selected as state finalists and will be competing at the state competition to be held this year in Sacramento on Friday, May 12th. The winning teams were as follows: Deepti Gopinath, Jacque Leahy, and Caterina Poehner for their project on Margaret Ownings, the founder of
Friends of the Sea Otter, Will Perkins and Aaron Schaffer for their project
on the work of the Carmel-based Freedom Fields organization, and Misha Polovonoff for his project on Mahatma Gandhi. Several other ISM teams won special awards,
including the AT+T Award presented to teams who best utilize primary sources. ISM students Hannah Gordis and Carla Hambley received this award for their interview with Julie Packard of the Monterey Bay Aquarium as did Team Perkins and Shaffer for their research with Freedom Fields. All of the students in Ms. Burns' 5th grade class did an excellent job and both Ms. Burns and Mrs. Jahn, who was also present at the award ceremony, received numerous compliments on the presentation skills and poise of the participating ISM students.
At the state competition coming up in May, the students will be competing against teams from nearly 60 California counties and several hundred entrants are expected to participate in each category. Our very own, Ms. Sally Burns, Grade 5 instructor, will be serving for the first time as a judge at the state competition, so it should be a very exciting weekend on many levels!
D. WORLD AFFAIRS CHALLENGE: The 8th grade class has an exciting opportunity to attend the World Affairs Challenge at San Francisco State University over the Spring Break. Participating 8th graders, Ms. Burns, Grade 5 instructor, as well as Instructional Aide Barbara Peters drove up to S.F. on Friday, March 17th and overnighted in preparation for the next day's events. The Challenge was open to both middle and high schoolers, although they were judged separately. Each group was tasked to pick a "topic of controversy" in the world today, research it, and explain what the inherent problem(s) are as well as suggest possible solutions. They did this in the form of a presentation board, an essay, and a live presentation. ISM students chose the World Trade Organization as their topic and preformed a skit depicting the controversy involved. The day's activities began with groups of students unknown to one another assigned the task of solving a theoretical controversy as a team. Presentation boards were available throughout the day for viewing, and in the afternoon, the live presentations were held, followed by the awards ceremony. Although ISM students did not come away as award winners, they and staff collectively learned a lot by attending this event as first-time participants. The students' favorite element of the Challenge was the chance to work with other students whom they had not met before to brainstorm and solve world-weighty problems.
A. SEM WORKSHOP UPDATE: The last six-week round of SEM Friday workshops begins this coming Friday, April 7th and we are pleased to have a line-up of 22 SEM offerings from which our students in Grades K-8 chose their top four choices. Of these 22 classes, seven have ISM parent involvement, either serving as the primary instructor of the class or as an assistant aiding an ISM staffer. The range of classes include: "Sandcastles at the Beach" with Ms. Barbara Okamura (parent) and Miss Barbara Peters, Fantastic Friends from Six Countries" with Ms. Natalie Webb, "It's Hip to Knit" with Ms. Christy Gervase, "Creative Jewelry" with Mr. Nick Trachsel, "Organic Gardening at the H.A.B.I.T.A.T. with Jane Atkins (community volunteer)", "Computer Repair" with Mr. Stuart Satchell, and "Girls Soccer" with Mr. Ash Vasanji. We heartily thank all of you for your amazing willingness to commit to the six-week SEM schedule and helping to further enrich our programs for ISM students!
B. PARENT CONFERENCES: Second Notice: In order to grant more flexibility, it was agreed in a recent staff meeting to create a larger window of time this quarter in which to complete conferences. Some teachers held conferences last week, while others are conducting them this week. Almost all grade levels are planning student-led portfolio conferences, and the focus of these is generally on the contents of a "total talent" portfolio (showing among other things student growth over a period of time) rather than on a report card. Teachers may tweak their own approach, however. Last year, several grades held well received "group conferences" with several student-led parent meetings running
simultaneously. Parents may, of course, schedule an additional private
meeting with a teacher if needed. If you have not yet done so, please contact your child's individual instructor to arrange a conference time and/or an additional meeting, if desired.
C. REMINDER: STAR testing will occur during the week of May 1 - 5, 2006.
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A. NONE CURRENTLY ON THE APPROVED CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES
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A. NEXT FAMILY ASSOCIATION MEETING - Thursday, April 6th, 6:30 p.m. The Family Association led by Volunteer Coordinator Ellen Gaucher will be holding its next organizational meeting next Thursday in the ISM library. We welcome the participation of all parents, to include new parents just joining ISM, at this meeting to see how you might be able to help with the number of special events during this busy last quarter of school. Events on the docket (many listed in this newsbrief) which will require parent support include: the two Spring concerts, 2006-07 New Student Registration, the International Festival, Field Day, and Kindergarten and Grade 8 Graduation. Plan on attending this meeting to how your volunteer hours can best be used!
B. APRIL SATURDAY WORK DAY - Saturday, April 8th, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
C. EARTH DAY CELEBRATION AT ISM - Friday, April 21st Instructional Aides Miss Barbara and Miss Anna have arranged a day-long celebration of Earth Day for this Friday. Students throughout the school will take part in a series of four environmentally related stations according to the following schedule: Grades K-2 in the morning from 9:45 to 11 a.m., while Grades 3-8 will participate from 12:25 - 2 p.m. Both groups will enjoy a Schoolwide potluck picnic lunch on the lower playground and blacktop. We would love to have parent volunteer help with the day's events. As per our regular schedule, SEM classes will convene from 2 - 3:20 p.m. Contact either Miss Barbara or Miss Anna for more information or to volunteer to help.
D. SPRING SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR - Friday, April 21st through Friday, April 28th In conjunction with our first 2006 Spring Arts Concert (see below), we will holding our Scholastic Book Fair from 4/21 - 28/06 in the ISM library. According to Coordinator Janice Barker, the fair will be open at the following days and times: Monday, 4/24 from 8 to 8:45 a.m. and 3 - 5:45 p.m.; Tuesday, 4/25 8 to 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and 3 - 5:45 p.m.; Wednesday, 4/26 from 8 to 8:45 a.m. and 3 - 5:45 p.m.; Thursday, 4/27 from 8 to 8:45 a.m., 3 - 5:45 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. until the end of the Concert; and Friday 4/28 from 8 to 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and 3 - 5:45 p.m. followed by the packing up of the fair. Thank you, Janice for coordinating this event again as the Book Fair always benefits ISM classrooms and the library itself with an influx of donated books!
E. REVISED DATES FOR SPRING ARTS CONCERTS - Thursday, April 27th, 6:30 p.m. for Grades 5-8 AND (revised) Thursday, May 11th, 6:30 p.m. for Grades K-4: (originally scheduled for Thursday, April 20th) Given that we have over 300 students attending ISM this year, we will be hosting two Spring concerts this year, with the earlier date highlighting the student drama and music performances by 5th - 8th grade students, while the REVISED later date will feature Kindergarten - 4th graders in addition to an Instrumental music program performance. The evenings' entertainment is being coordinated by staffers Miss Sarah Benbow (Drama) and Miss Natalie Sarrazin (Music) who have whipped up an array of musical pieces and drama skits unlike what we have seen to date. Please mark your calendars for one or both of these concert dates, depending on the grade of your child or children. We apologize for any inconvenience related to the schedule change for the K-4 concert. It was needed based on a recent schedule conflict that could not be amended. With regard to parent help needed for these events, we are still looking for someone to coordinate food and refreshments for the two evenings. If interested, contact either Sarah Benbow at sbenbow@ismonterey.org or Lisa Griffin Burns at lburns@ismonterey.org . Thank you!
F. ISM STAR TESTING SCHEDULE (GRADES 2 - 8): Monday, May 1st - Friday, May 5th: Please mark your calendars for this week and do not, if possible, plan family vacations, medical appointments, and the like, wherein students will be absent from school, increasing the need to follow-up with make-up testing. Youngsters also have a better chance at performing to their highest potential on standardized testing when they are well nourished and have adequate sleep, so we highly encourage stable home and extracurricular schedules during this time. Thank you! .
G. 4th ANNUAL FIELD DAY - Wednesday, June 7th: The last day of school this year is scheduled for Wednesday, 6/7/06, which means - yahoo, Field Day! Once again, over 35 different activities will take place on the fields and blacktops surrounding ISM for a fun-filled last hoorah of the school year! Of course, to make this day a success, we rely on the active participation of our family base to host the day's activities as well as the newly added lunch/potluck for our students and helpers. If you can help with this event, please refer to the flyer sent home with students today (3/27/06) and complete the bottom section of this form and return it to Ms. Livingston, ISM P.E. instructor, no later than Friday, May 5th. Event set-up will be from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m., Field Activities (including clean-up) from 9:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Water Activities (including clean-up) from 10:30 - 3:00 p.m. If you have a special request for a particular station, please notate that on the form or email Julie directly at jlivingston@ismonterey.org. We certainly appreciate the amazing help we receive from many of you each year to make this day one that our students will never forget!
: As Volunteer Coordinator, one of Ellen's (mother of 3rd grader Riley and ISM's unofficial sibling mascot, Fletcher) responsibilities is to ensure that parents so diligently volunteering each month are credited with the appropriate number of volunteer hours. To ensure that this process is accurate, please remember to take a moment to log in ALL volunteer hours, to include those put in by members of the Technology and Site Committees, volunteers on
Saturday Work Days, those involved with regular water/copy paper delivery, Gala efforts, and, of course, any recess/lunch and classroom time. Once again, the volunteer log-in binder is located in the admin office on the credenza by the front door and is organized by your child's name. Ellen notes that we are not necessarily getting an accurate accounting of overall volunteer hours as many folks - who are active, regular volunteers are not all logging
In their hours on a consistent basis. The ISM Parent Agreement stipulates that each family will contribute three hours of volunteer time each month and the volunteer logging process is in place to identify those meeting this requirement (and then some!) as well as those who are not. We heartily thank those of you that are contributing phenomenal numbers of volunteer hours and who have also taken the time to log in hours.
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A. CHESS FOR KIDS : The second Winter/Spring session of Chess began on Wednesday, March 1st prior to the recess and is scheduled to conclude on April 19th. Instructor Lev Frenklakh is happy to take on new students at this time and will prorate any late registrations received for this session. The third and final session for this school year is slated for Wednesday, April 26th through Wednesday, May 31st. Session fees are $60 per session and the class is held in Mr. Brandau's Grade 8 portable on Wednesday afternoons from 3:45 - 4:45 p.m. Registration forms are available in the front office and checks can be made payable to "ISM" with 15% of the fees donated to ISM, following contractor payment.
B. MANDARIN CHINESE LANGUAGE LESSONS AT ISM : For the Winter/Spring sessions, instructor Yu Chuen has added an additional day of class Afterschool; this program is now offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. The cost is $8.00 per class, per student, payable per session. The April session will begin on Monday, April 3rd through the 27th and the total cost is $96 per student. Please return registration and fees directly to the ISM office. Questions can be directed to Yu Chuen at 224-6470.
C. TAEKWONDO PROGRAM : This is an ongoing program offered Tuesdays through Fridays during the school year in ISM's multi-purpose room. Classes start after school and run until 4:45pm. Registration flyers are available at the front office. Additional information can be obtained by calling or e-mailing the Instructor, Master Daniel Rogers, at: 641-220-5503 (cell) at MasterR@mac.com
or via his website at www.geocities.com/koryotkd99/> .
D. TAIKO DRUMMING : The next session of taiko starts today, Monday, March 27th. The costs for the remaining sessions are as follows:
Session 6 ($50) : March 27, April 3, 10, 17, 24 (5 weeks)
Session 7 ($40) : May 1, 8, 15, 22 (4 weeks)
Please also let Denise Hasegawa know if you are planning to sign yourself or your child up for these sessions... or if you would like to be off of her mailing list. Anyone who has previously been in the class is on the list. Also, is anyone interested in buying a practice drum? The taiko instructor may have one for sale.
: Listed below are a few things desired by community members:
1) Recycling of Printer Cartridges Yields Payoff: We continue to generate a steady stream of revenue from the printer cartridge recycling program with nearly $160.00 in checks awaiting us in today's mail from the Empties4Cash program. Please keep them those cartridges coming!! We are enthusiastic to continue this program, so please spread the word to family members, colleagues, etc and forward your used cartridges to the admin office. The empty cartridges that we - as a community - typically throw away can be recycled and remanufactured. ISM will then benefit by getting paid up to $4.00 for each empty inkjet cartridge that has a print head. Acceptable brands include HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Compaq, Brother, Dell, Canon, and Apple; however, Epson print cartridges cannot be accepted as they are produced without a print head. If possible, please submit cartridges either in their original packaging or a Ziploc bag to keep it safe from damages and spills. Thank you!
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