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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 February 6 - 10, 2006! 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.
As you have been told in the past, parent feedback is extremely important to us and allows us to continue to improve our program. To that end, every year we conduct a survey of all ISM parents. To ensure that all responses are kept confidential and anonymous, we began using a web-based survey tool. Please follow the link: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB224B5YADJS5 and fill out the Zoomerang survey. Please take a few moments to answer the 24 questions by Friday, February 17th. Another great advantage of this survey format, besides guaranteeing anonymity, is that Mrs. Jahn is immediately able to see tallied survey results with a mere button click. However, for those of you that prefer hard copy surveys, we do have extra copies available on the credenza in the front office for you to pick up and complete. Thank you for your feedback!
This week elections for the SSC are taking place and we are happy to report that three parents are running for the two open spots: incumbent Murali Tummala (mother of Neeli, 4th grade), Sally Stock (mother of Ellie Beckett, 7th grade), and Kenley Butler (father of Simon, 2nd grade). To read a brief description of each candidate and cast your vote, please follow this Zoomerang link: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB224ZE8RYF3D and vote for two candidates by Friday, February 17th.
Good feelings will be in the air this coming Friday, February 10th from 6 - 8 p.m. during our Valentine's themed Middle School Dance. As with past dances, it is co-sponsored by Chartwell School http://www.chartwell.org and offered to their middle school students in Grades 6 - 8 as well. Permission / Guest slips are being distributed today and are due back in the office no later than Thursday, February 9th by noon. Please note that each ISM student is eligible to bring one guest only; guests' names will be available to chaperones at the multiuse room door and only pre-registered guests will be allowed to participate. Students and parents, please also be aware and supportive of the rule that we do not allow "in and out" access to the multiuse room during the dance. Once students enter, we ask them to stay inside for the duration of the dance, for their own safety. Refreshments will be provided and a DJ will be "spinning" favorite radio tunes.
Also coming up this weekend - already - is the Saturday Work Day for this month, which I am pleased to note is being chaired by parent volunteer, Marco Poehner, father of three ISM students: Caterina, Natalia, and Andreas. Marco is a long-time Saturday workday supporter since our first year of operation and responded positively to my request to chair this month's event. On the line-up is the ever-present need to go through the burgeoning "lost and found" items, tackling the debris and trash in the lower parking lot (which is frankly an eyesore at present), possibly "demo-ing" the display case at the entrance to the campus driveway in preparation for building a new one in the coming months, and as yet, unidentified tasks. We'll see you there from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
As we continue with the "skills" required for Developing Capable Students, this week our focus in on Interpersonal skills, the second of the four skills identified by authors Glenn and Brock in the 7 Strategies for Developing Capable Students.
Interpersonal skills are also known as "people skills" and they include the ability to share, listen, communicate, empathize, negotiate, and cooperate. These skills are learned through experience and are built on a foundation of dialogue. So, how can we assist with teaching students to learn these skills? "By modeling good listening, practicing meaningful dialogue, and structuring the environment to provide practice and reinforcement, we greatly improve their listening and other "people" skills." Keep in mind that children see things from different perspectives than do adults. Therefore, it is important that we listen for children's perceptions, rather than imposing adult perceptions onto children (i.e. threats, warning, and negative assertions).
Phrasing questions that that are open ended to elicit dialogue are important. For example, rather than asking "Did you have fun today at school?" a more effective approach is to ask "What did you to today that was fun?" Likewise, instead of "Did you learn anything new today?" ask "What is one interesting thing you learned I school today?" This allows the conversation to continue, provide depth and develop further dialogue that leads to discussions for learning Interpersonal Skills. Reply with respect to the child's response, which promotes mutual respect and encourages communication.
Recently our music teacher, Natalie Sarrazin, published an article in the Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education, with ISM listed as her
institutional affiliation. Congratulations to Natalie for this
accomplishment! We have just learned that she received another acceptance
letter for a second article in a larger national music journal. As several
of us discussed Natalie's publishing accomplishments, we were reminded that
other ISM teachers have been published as well. Grade 6 homeroom teacher, Tod Spedding, contributed a wonderful article on an intelligence-friendly archaeology unit to a Project Zero book a couple of years ago (a Harvard project, no less!) In addition, I also published an article in 2004 on the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), which we successfully implement here at ISM on Friday afternoons, in the Journal of Research in International Education. These are indeed accomplishments worthy of recognition in our community, and they attest to
the above-average nature of our teaching staff. We look forward to
reporting on more ISM scholarly publishing in the future.
:
A. GRADE K / REIMER & TURNER: FIELDTRIP TO FROG POND (CORNER OF DEL REY OAKS): WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8th - 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Students will meet with a naturalist to further their understanding of flowers and insects.
B. GRADES 2 & 8: FIELDTRIP TO FORMER FORT ORD RE: NATIVE PLANTS RESTORATION PROJECT: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9th - 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Bus transportation to be provided.
C. GRADE 8 / BRANDAU: WHALE WATCHING TRIP: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15th - 10:15 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
D. GRADE K / REIMER & TURNER: FIELDTRIP TO FORMER FORT ORD RE: NATIVE PLANTS RESTORATION PROJECT: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th - 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Bus transportation to be provided. Students are to bring a bag lunch.
E. GRADE 2 / AUGUSTINE: FIELDTRIP TO HERALD NEWSPAPER: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th - 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Parent carpool trip.
F. GRADE 2 / SWEENEY: FIELDTRIP TO DENNIS THE MENACE PARK: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17th - 11:00 to 1:00 a.m. In celebration of reaching 333 marbles in their classroom marble jar (marbles collected for great behavior!), Miss Sweeney's class voted to celebrate by going for a luncheon outing to Dennis The Menace park. What fun!
G. GRADE 1 / BASU / TOURYAN: SCIENCE CAMP: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH Students from both Grade 1 classes will be participating in a 2.5 day overnight science camp experience at the Web of Life Field School located in Aptos, CA. ISM first graders have attended this particular camp for several years now and we have always been pleased with the accommodations, staffing, food, and, of course, the opportunities offered to participating students and chaperones.
H. GRADE 2 / SWEENEY: FIELDTRIP TO HERALD NEWSPAPER: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd - 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Parent carpool trip.
:
A. FAMILY ASSOCIATION COFFEE: Friday, February 10th, 7:50 - 8:50 a.m.: Join fellow ISM community members over a "cuppa" during the morning drop off!
B. PRESIDENTS DAY HOLIDAY: Monday, February 20th: ISM will be closed this day in recognition of Presidents Day!
C. KINDERGARTEN - GRADE 2 MOVIE NIGHT: Friday, February 24th, 6 - 8 p.m.: The Student Council will be hosting its second annual movie night for Kindergartners through 2nd graders
D. WORLD BOOK DAY: Thursday, March 2nd, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.: Held for the second consecutive year here at ISM, organizers, specifically parent volunteer Janice Barker, are feverishly searching out relevant individuals to participate by coming to ISM and sharing with students their love for books in a variety of ways: by reading to students, sharing their favorite books, discussing how reading has impacted them, e.g., in their personal lives and careers, etc. We would love to hear from interested ISM or greater Peninsula community members who would want to contribute to this event. Please forward any recommendations directly to Janice Barker at 384-5524 or via email at barkerjf1@sbcglobal.net. Thank you!
E. 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!
:
A. TAIKO DRUMMING: New Spring classes now being offered! Monday afternoons, 3:30 - 4:15 p.m. (K-2) and 4:15 - 5:00 (Gr. 3 - adults)
* Session 5 ($40): February 6th through March 6th:
* Session 6 ($50): March 27th through April 24th;
* Session 7 ($40): May 1st through May 22nd.
QUESTIONS? Please contact Denise Hasegawa, ISM parent, at 384-4651 or dthasegawa@aol.com .
B. MANDARIN CHINESE LANGUAGE LESSONS AT ISM: Monday and Thursday afternoons, 3:45 - 4:45 p.m. (K-8) Have fun learning Mandarin Chinese through this innovative Chinese immersion program, which is open to all youngsters, not just ISM students. The cost is $80 per month and checks are made payable to "ISM". Students may enroll at any time and receive a pro-rated fee based upon start time. New Saturday session also begins this Saturday, February 4th at the ISM campus. Contact instructor Yu Chuen at his website http://www.mandarinorange.org/index.htm or via email at dayuchuen@gmail.com.
C. CHESS FOR FUN AND SUCCESS: Wednesday afternoons, 3:45 - 4:45 p.m. Students are invited to join long-time instructor and professional chess coach Lev Frenklakh on Wednesday afternoons to explore the creative and intellectual world of chess. The next session will resume on March 1st through April 19th with the exception of the Spring Break dates of March 15th and 22nd. Registration forms are in the front office and checks are payable to "ISM" at $60 per session.
: Listed below are a few things desired by community members:
1) INTERESTED IN A TIMESHARE?: Just in Time for Spring Vacation and Summer! For sale, flexible points program Timeshare. With the flexible points program you can stay all over the world, as well as use the points for Airline Tickets, Rental Cars, and at Restaurants. The timeshare is not set in one location, which allows for more flexibility to travel wherever and whenever you want. Points continue to accumulate every year, which means the value of your time share continues to increase! Call Drama instructor Sarah Benbow at 240-5054 for more information.
2) CIRQUE DU SOLEIL - CORTEO TICKETS AVAILABLE?: Mr. Spedding has available at a reduced price two tickets to see Cirque's du Soleil performance of Corteo in San Jose on Friday afternoon, February 17th, at 4:00 PM. If interested, please contact Mr. Spedding at tspedding@ismonterey.org .
3) RECYLING OF PRINTER CARTRIDGES: In a fairly short amount of time, community member contributions of inkjet printer cartridges for recycling have yielded a $165.00 payoff from Empties4Cash. 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! If anyone is interested in heading this project as the volunteer coordinator, please contact Lisa Griffin Burns.
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