| |
|
The 2005-06 calendar is now posted on our website
and is also available on the credenza in the front office.
|
|
Welcome to ISM's weekly newsletter for the shortened week of
January 17 - 20, 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. WELCOME NEW ADDITION: Our ISM community now includes Baby Paige Elizabeth Wrighton, sibling of Jaime (Gr. 2) and Billy (Gr. 3, born last week on January 11th at 9:59 p.m.! She weighed in at 6.7 pounds and is cute as a button! Congratulations to her parents Jennifer and Bobby!
B. NEW STUDENT JOINS ISM: The words listed in the #1 header above are from our self-composed "Welcome to ISM" song, which we sing to all of our new students and this morning, at our K-4 assembly, we welcomed Justin Williby to ISM and Mrs. St. Germain's Grade 4 class. Justin took advantage of the opportunity to "shadow" this class last week and enjoyed the experience. In addition to Justin, another one of his family members, his mother Lorraine, is also joining ISM as a new staff member, taking over officially today in her capacity as our new Director of Advancement. Welcome to them both!
C. WELCOME TO TWO OTHER NEW STAFFERS: We are so pleased to also welcome Miss Peggy Brown to ISM, beginning today. She will be assisting Grade 2 instructors Mrs. Augustine and Miss Sweeney as the Instructional Aide for those two classes. Miss Peggy joins us following many years on the Peninsula working with youngsters. She has been known as "Miss Peggy" for nearly a decade by legions of preschoolers who took part in the City of Monterey Preschool program at Hilltop Park Center over the years. Following her employment there, Peggy tackled the challenge of going back to school as an older adult and graduated this past Spring having proudly earned her Bachelor's degree. She is currently pursuing her teaching credential via the Cal Teach program at CSUMB and is thrilled to be here at ISM, having kept tabs on our development since our inception. Welcome, Miss Peggy!
D. Miss Marilu Ochoa joins our Spanish team part-time, effective today, and is assuming responsibility for Spanish instruction for Grades 1, 5/6, K, and 2. She will be on campus each morning until 9:45 a.m. at which time she will depart for another teaching responsibility. She then will return to provide afternoon instruction. Marilu has been interested in employment with ISM since our first year and we are thrilled that she is now a part of our staff. Welcome, Senorita Ochoa!
: We apologize for the delay, but continued illness on the part of our critical Information Technology volunteer, Mr. Doug Rodda, as well as his whole family has further delayed the production of report cards for Quarter 2. We are hopeful that Q2 reports will be mailed out to parents no later than this Thursday, January 19th following staff review. Once report cards have been mailed, we do ask that parents take a moment to sign the backside by the "Quarter 2" signature line and return it to ISM. By doing so, we have a signed record of parent receipt. Thank you!
: Despite threatening skies, chilly temps, and intermittent downpours, nearly 100 prospective parents and youngsters stopped by this past Saturday from 2 - 4:30 p.m. for our Annual Open House, conducted each year in advance of our first enrollment deadline, which is today at 5 p.m. This event gives interested community members an opportunity to visit our campus, find out more about our curriculum, meet faculty and staff, and possibly decide to apply to ISM for the 2006-07 academic year prior to today's first (of three enrollment window) deadline. At this writing, we have already collected over 300 applications for Grades K-8 next year, so interest in our unique public charter school remains high!
The public lottery affiliated with this first deadline will take place in two weeks on Monday, January 30th at 5:00 p.m.. For those folks who do not meet today's application deadline, there are two more enrollment windows available this year (refer to our calendar online); however, this first deadline is the one which holds the greatest possibility of placement in our program, especially at the Kindergarten level, which we already know will have 40 openings for next year. We thank all of our staff who took time out of their three-day weekend to be available for this event; your participation made it a worthwhile and successful event for visiting parents and students!
: This past Saturday's team of volunteers was 15 strong, coming out in the rain to help prep for the Open House and to assist Gala coordinators with readying outgoing invitations. It was great to have the friendly "hustle and bustle" about the campus as a myriad of little tasks were accomplished, in addition to "sprucing" the campus for our Open House, setting up for the event, and finalizing materials for distribution. Thank you to all of you who helped, and especially for your willingness to devote your time for the full time period, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Parent commitment, enthusiasm, and positive attitude made the day spectacular!! The next Saturday work day is slated for February 11th, 2006.
: Through the generosity of Grade 2 families who donated baked goods for a recess time bake sale and the entrepreneurship of Mrs. Augustine's students, over $225 was raised for the Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org. This organization was established in 1976 to promote the "protection, preservation, and propagation of gorillas. Project Koko, a primary focus of TGF/Koko.org, involves teaching a modified form of American Sign Language to two lowland gorillas, Koko and Michael." The original purpose of the bake sale was to raise a nominal amount to pay the fee to become members of the organization, which had already so generously donated a number of videos and other educational materials to Mrs. Augustine's class and our library. Clearly, the students not only met, but exceeded their goal, with the Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org organization benefiting from a greater than expected contribution check from ISM students. Thanks to all, parents, Grade 2 students, as well as purchasing community members who made this experience successful!
Many educational settings in recent years have taken an interest in the book Differentiating Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson. As the title suggests, it is about effectively addressing the mixed or bimodal skills sets increasingly found in contemporary classrooms. Many of us in classroom practice can attest to how many months or years it took to progress through the learning curve associated with these approaches, and to related rewards and challenges. It is a pleasure to announce that we have ordered copies of the Differentiating Instruction book for all teachers at ISM, and that we plan to share a training video featuring Dr. Tomlinson. For more information on this particular school improvement approach, see (the second page of) http://www.theptc.org/ttc/DIFFSTRATprep2005.pdf.
Continuing excerpts from The Significant Seven; the Seven Resources of Exceptionally Capable Students, the 2nd & 3rd of the seven resources for students are:
#2) Strong Perceptions of Personal Significance: Three conditions appear necessary for any relationship or experience to meet the human need
for significance:
1. Understanding: to be listened to;
2. Acceptance: to be taken seriously with respect to feelings, thoughts, and ideas;
3. Affirmation: to be genuinely needed as a contributor.
It is important to talk with students and not at them, to them, or for them. This affirms students as significant and strengthens their skills in dialogue and communication through modeling. When children choose what they are willing to be responsible for, they tend to see what they do as more significant.
#3) Developing Strong Perceptions of Personal Influence: Validating students for their efforts increases one's sense of being influential. The experiences through problem-solving gained during class meetings and family meetings also contribute to children's senses of influence. The perceptions of being capable, significant, and able to influence one's own life are powerful
confidence-builders that instill the courage to take healthy risks, improvise, and transcend failure. As children’s self-perceptions grow stronger, four sets of skills help complete their toolbox for effective living and learning. These four skills will be addressed in following newsletters.
:
A. GRADE 8 / BRANDAU: FIELDTRIP TO ELKHORN SLOUGH: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18th - 8:00 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
B. GRADE 4 / ST. GERMAIN & WHARTON: FIELDTRIP TO USGS MENLO PARK: THURSDAY, JANUARY 19th - 8:00 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. The tour of this United States Geological Society will include presentations tailored for a 4th grade audience from a USGS seismologist, volcanologist, and geographer. The students will also be gaining information on the Parkfield, CA earthquake experiment and the San Andreas Fault Observatory.
C. GRADE 3 / DVORAK & SIGMAN: FIELDTRIP TO THE MONTEREY MARITIME MUSEUM: THURSDAY, JANUARY 26th - Time being finalized. Both Grade 3 classes will be visiting the Maritime Museum as well as other sites significant to local Native American tribes (Ohlone and Rumsien) as well as the Chinese fishermen, both groups which have played a significant role in the history of the fishing industry in Monterey. Students will benefit from an exclusive slideshow presentation at the museum. At this writing, staff is considering public transportation as the means of transport for this field trip. Details to follow.
D. 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.
:
A. ISM FAMILY ASSOCIATION MEETING - Thursday, January 26th: The next ISM Family Association meeting, chaired by Volunteer Coordinator Ellen Gaucher, will be on the 26th at 6:30 p.m. in the ISM library. This organization serves a critical support role at ISM by coordinating volunteer help for special events such as this weekend's Open House, evening parent meetings, and special school-wide events, like the Winter Holiday program. Plan on attending to see how you can become more involved.
B. ISM MIDDLE SCHOOL (GR. 5 - 8) SNOWBOARD AND SKIING ADVENTURE - Friday, January 27th - Sunday, January 29th: Miss Livingston, ISM's courageous Physical Education instructor, has organized ISM's first ever weekend ski adventure for students - in good academic standing - in Grades 5 through 8. The costs for the trip are as follows: $175 per student / $225 per adult (without ski equipment rentals), $200 per student / $250 per adult (needing ski or snowboard rentals), $30 extra for lessons, and family discounts are available (contact Julie Livingston for details). These prices include: transportation by buses and vans, two days of skiing / snowboarding at the Lake Tahoe ski resorts of Sierra Summit (day 1) and Kirkwood (day 2), two nights lodging at Viking Motor Lodge, Lake Tahoe (4 students per room), and breakfast and dinner meals; lunch meals on the ski slopes are the responsibility of participating student. Please note that rental "try-on" will be Monday, January 23rd.
Event flyers are available in the admin office, from Ms. Livingston, and were distributed to 5th - 8th graders last week. The deadline to sign up for this sure-to-be fun-filled trip is this Friday, January 20th!. Please complete a registration form, attach payment to "ISM" with the form, and forward to either Miss Livingston or Business Administrator Lisa Griffin Burns. For more information on this trip, please contact Miss Livingston directly at jlivingston@ismonterey.org.
C. 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!
D. 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!
: 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. Contact Miss Sarah, ISM's Drama Instructor / Gr. 4 Instructional Aide at 240-5054 if interested.
2) IMMEDIATE NEED FOR HOST FAMILY: A 16 year old Thai student currently attending Monterey High School is in need of a new host family placement. His current placement is jeopardized by a serious medical situation and he needs to be transferred to a new home as soon as possible. This exchange student has a good command of English, loves nature and sports, including soccer, is polite and reserved, and is the eldest brother in his family. ISM community members interested in helping to host him temporarily for a week or several weeks, or permanently are asked to contact Patricia Jones, AFS Hosting Coordinator at the following telephone numbers: home - 663-3498 or cell - 419-5818. She will be happy to set up an opportunity to meet this youngster before hand, to help ease the decision to host or not host. Thank you!
3) Recycling of Printer Cartridges Yields Payoff: 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.
|
