Es Parent Bulletin Vol#5 2009 Oct 23

International School Manila

ES PARENT BULLETIN 23 October 2009

Volume 05

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER Oct 26 Nov 2

School Holiday

NOV 4, 11, 18, 25

Wednesday Morning Student Late Start @ 8.30am

9 - 12

Photo Shoot Re-takes @ 7.30am-12pm, 1118

16 - 20

PTA New Book Fair, FAT Lobby

19

ES Parent Coffee @ 7.30am, Little Theater

21

K-12 Dance Recital

27

School Holiday for Eid’l Adha - No School

30

School Holiday for Bonifacio Day - No School

From the ES Administration Dear Elementary School Parents,

We have come to the end of our first term of the 2009/2010 school year. We would like to thank all of our students and parents for a successful start to the school year. Parentteacher conferences were well attended this week. Please ensure if you have any unanswered questions or concerns that you are arranging a time to meet with your child’s

teacher. Today is Filipiniana and we are looking forward to our students learning more about the Philippines. We look at ways to incorporate learning about the country we live in throughout the year when connections can be made to the curriculum, but today is a great way to come together as a community and celebrate. This year we focused our food of the Philippines on learning how to prepare some local dishes, which we will be distributing to our support staff at the end of the day to thank them for all of their hard work. It has been announced that Friday November 27, 2009 has been declared a national holiday by the President for Eid’l Adha, and therefore we will not have school on this day. We wish everyone an enjoyable week break and will see you at the start of November. We look forward to a great day celebrating and learning more about the Philippines! Yours in Education,

Simon Gillespie ES Principal

Michael Rourke

ES Assistant Principal

Dear Grade 3 and Grade 4 Parents, This year, ISM will conduct tests called Measures of Academic ProgressTM (MAP). During the weeks of November 9th, 16th and 23rd, all students in Grades 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 will take MAP tests to assist in determining their instructional level. These tests will measure academic growth across the school year in the areas of Reading, Language and Mathematics, and will be taken again in Semester 2 of the 2009-10 school year. Your child will take the tests on a computer. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. The test becomes more difficult the more questions the student answers correctly. When a student incorrectly answers a question, the test becomes easier. Therefore, your child will take a test specifically created for his or her learning level. Students in Learning Support and ESL will be given the opportunity, where appropriate, to participate in the MAP testing. More detailed information will be communicated to parents of these students after the October break. Our students’ MAP results are reported in RIT (Rasch Unit) scores. This is a different type of score than a typical test that provides a percentage correct. It is also different from many tests that provide results based on your child’s score compared to others in his or her grade level. Instead the RIT score is an equal interval scale that is independent of grade level. Test items match student performance, not grade, giving educators a clear yardstick for measuring progress. This type of score increases the value of the tests as a tool for learning because it gives accurate information about where each child is on his or her learning journey. This in turn, assists teachers in finding the appropriate instructional level for each student. We are looking forward to focusing our external testing at ISM on individual student growth and achievement. For more information on MAP testing, please consult the NWEA (North West Evaluation Association) website at www.nwea.org for the Parent Toolkit, or speak to Mr. Rourke.

Elementary School Parent Bulletin

23 October 2009

From the PE Department Our first school holiday has finally arrived! Holidays are always a special time of year for many children. A chance to stay outside and play all day. Or so it used to be. Many children will spend these holidays indoors no doubt watching television and playing computer games. These can both be entertaining and educational, but moderation is the key and these indoor pursuits should not be at the expense of all other activity, especially regular physical activity. Recommended activity guidelines for elementary aged children is a minimum of one hour per day. This can be cumulative as in 3 sessions of 20 minutes. It is the total accumulated time over the course of a day that is important. For those of you going away to various holiday destinations we ask you to take some photos of children being active to share with us upon your return. We will use these as part of a display. E-mail photos to [email protected] For a list of sports available in Manila for children please visit http:// sportsmanila.wikispaces.com/ For a list of fun games visit http://funandgames.org/games.html This website has an extensive list of tag games, non team games, team games, skipping rope games plus many more.

Amanda Pekin

ES Physical Education

From the ATAC Office A BIG THANK-YOU to all ISM parents who housed a visiting IASAS Soccer Player last week. Your support for these events is very much appreciated and we cannot run IASAS events without this invaluable assistance. I hope it was a good experience for all! ISM IASAS RESULTS: Girls Cross Country- SILVER Prerna Bhargarva GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY GOLD MEDALIST! CONGRATULATIONS! Boys Cross Country- 4th Boys Volleyball – BRONZE Girls Volleyball - BRONZE Girls Soccer 4th Boys Soccer 6TH Well done to all our ISM Bearcats teams on your hard work during IASAS events last week. Your determination to represent the school to the best of your ability and strive for success was fantastic. 2nd SEASON TRYOUTS are underway for HS teams and MS tryouts will begin after the break. Please consult notice boards for all details regards tryouts. The 2nd season practice schedule will be posted after the break. ISM/ISSA Soccer Festival this Saturday morning from 8-noon at HS field for Midgets B and F teams.

Mark Pekin Athletics & Activities Director 2

Elementary School Parent Bulletin

23 October 2009

From the School Clinic

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR THE 2ND HEPATITIS A AND B VACCINATIONS

Date

Price (Php)

November 11th, 2009

Hepatitis A (Adult) Hepatitis A (Junior) Hepatitis B (Adult) Hepatitis B (Junior) Hepatitis A and B combined vaccine (Adult) Hepatitis A and B combined vaccine (Junior)

2249 1125 630 355 2000 1000

(Prices are per individual vaccine in a course of either 2 or 3 vaccinations) If you would like more information or you wish to sign up to receive any of the above vaccines, please call in at the clinic to pick up a registration form (next to the elementary canteen). Only people with a valid ISM ID may participate in this program. PAYMENT FOR THESE VACCINATIONS MUST BE MADE TO THE CASHIER DEPARTMENT BY NO LATER THAN FRIDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2009. VACCINES WILL THEN BE ORDERED AND NO FURTHER REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Many thanks

Debbie Duckworth

ISM Clinic Administrator 840 8581 [email protected]

Clinic direct number: 840 8580 Email: [email protected]

From Go Green

From the PTA

Please donate your glossy magazines to PCF!

WHY? Glossy Magazines cannot be pulped and recycled like regular clean paper here in Manila so if you don’t ensure that they’re made into something else… they just end up in a land fill.

Come join in this fun activity! All ISM community are invited Students, mums and dads of all grade!

I S M S W I M AT H O N Saturday, November 28th at ISM Pool from 2.30pm Visit www.ismanila.org/atac/sailfish.htm for details and pledge forms, or contact Andy Astfalck, Head Coach at [email protected]

Part of the proceeds goes to charity.

WHAT does PCF do with them? Parents of the school children are employed to make beads out of them which, in turn, get made into jewellery and bags. HOW does this help families? The money from the products generates income for them so that they can afford to buy food and clothes for their children. WHERE? Collection boxes can be found in ES, MS and HS offices Thank you for your support! "Dream the world you want and deserve to live in. Write it down. Communicate your vision passionately, as if your life depended upon it!" (Randy Hayes, Founder of Rainforest Action Network)

www.ism-online.org/gogreen/ 3

Elementary School Parent Bulletin

23 October 2009

From the Admission Office Please update the Admission Office if you have changed your residence or billing address, telephone or cell phone contact numbers, or your current e-mail address. This is especially important with regard to the mobile numbers for the school TextConnect system which is used in emergency situations when parents need to be urgently informed about something. We try to keep everything current in our database but if you are not sure if we have it right, please either call us at 840 8488 or email your current information to [email protected] using the form below. Thank you for your help.

IN T E R N A T I O N A L S C H O O L M A N I LA – Admission Office University Parkway Fort Bonifacio. 1634 Taguig Metro Manila . Philippines Box 1526 MCPO . 1255 Makati City, Philippines . Tel. 840-8488

CHANGE OF CONTACT INFORMATION

Address :

Home Phone :

From :

From :

To :

To :

Office Phone : ( Mother o

Father o )

Mobile Number : ( Mother o

From :

From :

To :

To :

EMAIL : ( Mother o

Father o )

Father o )

From : To :

Child’s Name :

Grade Level :

Change of contact information given by: Name : ______________________________

Relation : ________________

Signature : ___________

Office Use Only Below

Receiving Office / Initials / Date

Admission Office Updated / Initials

4

TextConnect Updated / Initials