issue no. 21 (week of january 31 to february 4, 2011

8/7/2019 Issue No. 21 (Week of January 31 to February 4, 2011

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From the Middle School Office

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

Dear Parents:

This coming week we will be celebrating Readers Week. Anumber of activities are being planned and we encourage allstudents to get involved. For each grade level there will be dailytrivia questions and a Short Story/Poetry Creative WritingCompetition. On Friday, we welcome the author of the novelsTrash and Ribblestrop , Andy Mulligan, who will be sharing hisexperiences with the grade 6 and grade 7 classes. Reading opensup doors and is a fantastic way to learn about people, relationshipsand the world. If you and your child are looking for a book tocrack open, reading lists are available in the MSMC. Encourageyour child to visit the MSMC to pick up a new book and startreading.

On Wednesday, February 2 we will be hosting a Grade 4 to Grade 5Transition Meeting for parents beginning at 5:00 P.M. in the LittleTheater. If your child will be moving from Elementary School toMiddle School in August, we encourage you to attend. We will besharing information about life in Middle School and courseinformation.

On Friday, February 4 there will be a Grade 5 and 6 Party from5:00 to 7:00 P.M. sponsored by the MS Student Council. Permissionslips have been sent out through Homebase, and all students musthave a signed permission slip in order to attend. We hope to seeas many students as possible at the MS Party.

Each grade level has been busily planning and preparing activitiesfor the Classroom Without Walls week from February 14 toFebruary 18. Information will be sent out via your childsHomebase. Please make sure to keep an eye out for theinformation and return the signed permission slip to school viayour child. If you have any questions about the activities, pleasecontact your childs Homebase teacher.

On Saturday is International Family Fun Day starting at 2:00 P.M.We hope to see as many parents and students as possible enjoyingthe activities and international cuisine. See you there!

Danielle Fredericks Clarissa SaysonMiddle School Principal Middle School Assistant Principal

ISSUE # 21

WEEK OF J AN. 31 TO FEB . 04, 2011

Middle School

M I D D L E S C H O O L

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATEPOWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

Feb. 04 MS Progress Reports due

Feb. 11 Grade Update

From the Mathematics DepartmentParent Volunteer Opportunities

Bearcat Book WeekTrack and Field AnnouncementParent Book Group

AFAC Announcements

Filipino Courses for Parents

ATAC Announcements

From the Operations & Security Office

Video Recordings of Performing Arts Events

Upcoming Events

Inside this issue:

UPCOMING EVENTSUPCOMING EVENTS

JANUARY

31-Feb. 04 Bearcat Book Week

FEBRUARY

02 Gr.4 Student Transition Assembly(1:00 P.M., LT)

02 Gr. 4 Parent Transition Meeting(5:00 P.M., LT)

04 Friday Afternoon Mini-Concert:MS Strings (3:00 P.M., Courtyard)

04 MS Party (Gr. 5 & 6)

05 PTA Family Fun Day (ES Field)

07-11 ERB Testing

09-13 AMIS Honor Girls Choir Festival

10 PTA Liaison Meeting(8:00 A.M., MS Conference Room)

14-18 Classroom Without Walls

23 Grade 8 Parent Session on Transi-tioning to High School

(5:30 P.M., FAT)

24 MS Parent Coffee (7:45 A.M., LT)

28 School Holiday (EDSA Day)MARCH

01 School Holiday (Faculty In-Service)

02-03 World Maths Day

02-04 Course Registration

04 Friday Afternoon Mini-Concert:MS Advanced/Intermediate Band(3:00 P.M., Courtyard)


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M I D D L E S C H O O L F R I D AY B U L L E T I N P AG E 2

Parents,

Looking for opportunities to connect with your Middle Schooler? Do you have a talent or skill you can sharewith the kids?

ISM Guidance is looking for parents who can share their hobbies or skills with our kids. Photography, Film-Making, Culinary, Arts, Writing, Music, are all areas the Middle Schoolers are interested in.

If you have a talent or a hobby you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you! Contact MS Guidance to findout how you can get involved.

Parent Volunteer Opportunities

Dear Sixth and Seventh Grade Parents,

Please be aware that in the week of February 21 25 , your child will take part in placement testing for po-tential placement into Honors Mathematics. Every student will participate in this testing to help us deter-mine their appropriate placement for next school year.

The test that will be given is only part of the selection process. We will also consider the students ISMgrade and teacher recommendation. The upcoming test is not one that students can study for. The test willassess two things: a students computational skills as well as their analytical thinking skills and their abilityto extend mathematical ideas beyond the typical drill type of math problems.

The Middle School Math department works collaboratively and diligently to assess students and place them ina class that both challenges them and allows them the opportunity to succeed. It is important that all stu-

dents are given a chance to succeed in Math. Honors level class is not for every student.

There is no guarantee that a student will continue in an Honors class, even if they were in Honors the yearbefore. Each student must test into an Honors class every school year, based on the criteria outlined above.

If you have any questions or concerns about the Honors program, please contact the school at 8408550 or840-8553.

Thank you,

Trent Peabody and theMiddle School Math Department

From the Mathematics Department

Were on the web!

www.ismanila.org

IF YOU HAVENT LOGGED ON TO POWERSCHOOL

please call the Guidance Office at 840-8555

or email [email protected] to obtain your username and password.


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Bearcat Book Week

Monday. January 31 st Friday, February 4 th

The Bearcat shortlists are ready to collect from the MSMC. These lists promote 15 of the newest, most excit-

ing titles circulating this school year. It does exclude repeat entries, and series repeat entries. Take thechallenge to read as many books as you can before we vote in March.

The Daily Trivia Question will be held every day next week. There will be a question based on the Grade 5 &6 shortlist, and a question based on the Grade 7 & 8 shortlist. Prizes are awarded to each grade level daily.

The Annual Short Story/Poetry Creative Writing Competition begins on Monday. Be sure to pick up the com-petition image and entry form. Prizes are sponsored by National Book Store. This is open to each grade level,and there is also a category for faculty, staff and parents! Do give it a go.

The week culminates with an author visit by Andy Mulligan. He wrote the books Trash and Ribblestrop. Andywill be on campus next Friday to talk to Grades 6 & 7. Students from Grades 5 & 8, teachers and staff are

welcome to meet Andy at break. His books will be sold on campus next Friday and students will be able toget them signed.

A reminder for all budding TRACK AND FIELDstudents. Please come out to try out even if you have little orno experience of track & field. It will be fun!

Try outs are on February 3, Thursday and February 4, Friday. Practice nights are Mondays & Thursdays,3:00 - 4:15 P.M.

Coach Relf & Coach ONeel

Dear ISM parents,

The PreK-12 Guidance Department would like to announce the second Parent Book Group of the2010-11 school year. Continuing with what we have been reading about how neuroscience ischanging our ideas about human development, learning, and education we will be reading EllenGalinskys book Mind in the Making . Below we have included a link to the authors website aswell as an interview with her on the book.

http://mindinthemaking.org/

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/mind-making-10451950

Each session will be from 8:00 A.M. and finish around 10am on either Tuesdays or Thursdays starting in February. Inter-ested parties please contact Myrna Perez in the Elementary School Guidance Office (840-8455) to add your name to thelist. In the past these groups have been very popular and fill up almost as soon as they are announced. Spaces are lim-ited and are on a first come first serve basis. Participants will need to acquire their own copy of the book which isavailable locally.

We are looking forward to your participation!

ISM Guidance Counselors

Parent Book Group

Track and Field Announcement


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From the Learning Coordinators Office


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Athletics and Activities Office AnnouncementsIASAS BASKETBALLThe tournament schedule can be found in this bulletin oron the ATAC blog.http://atac.ism-online.org/iasas-basketball-jan-26-31-2011/

I hope many of the ISM community will come and supportour teams during this event. We hope to have full gymsand a great atmosphere for all our visiting teams. Comeout and cheer for the Bearcats.

Whilst our Basketball teams are battling here at home ourother season 2 teams will be doing the same in Taipei(Rugby/Touch), Singapore (Tennis), and Kuala Lumpur(Swimming). To all our travelling teams and coaches wewish you the best of luck at IASAS. All the action/resultsfrom all IASAS events can be followed by visiting the IASASwebsite where you can find links to results and livestreaming for some of the events. Visit www.iasas.asia forall the 2 nd seasons IASAS Championships action.

ATAC ANNOUNCEMENTS

GAME SCHEDULE INFORMATIONInformation about all mid week/weekend fixtures for ISMteams can be found by going to the GAME SCHEDULE tab

on the ATAC page of the ISM website. You can also accessthis information via the ES/MS/HS divisional web pages.Please note the game schedule does change often due toinvolvement with many local schools so please check thepage regularly to find out the latest information of whereand when the Bearcats teams are playing. Access to thegame schedule page is also available via the ATAC blog.Click on the Bearcat logo to be directed to the gameschedule page. http://atac.ism-online.org

ATAC HIGHLIGHTS/UPDATES JANUARY/FEBRUARY: (forALL match/schedule details check game schedule page

as above)

Jan. 27-29 - IASAS Basketball at ISM Jan. 27-29 - IASAS Rugby/Touch at Taipei, Swim-

ming at KL, Tennis at Singapore Jan. 29 - MS PRFU Juniors Touch/Tackle Rugby

Tournament at ISM- JV Touch at UP for UP Invitational Touch

Tournament

Jan. 31 - 3 rd season sports tryouts begin for HSteams

(Track/Softball/Badminton) Feb. 3 - 3rd season sports tryouts begin for MS

teams(Track/Softball/Badminton/Mixed Touch)

Feb. 12 - Brent track meet for MS/HS Feb. 19-20 - ISM International Swim meet Feb. 26 - ISM Track Meet Mar. 2 - IASAS Cultural Convention Teams Depart Mar. 3-5 - IASAS Cultural Convention (Art/Music at

JIS, DDDF at ISKL) Mar. 5 - ISM Goodwill Gymnastics Meet

Middle School 2nd

Season Sports Awards, February 9at 4:00 P.M. in the ES Gym(Touch/Tennis/Rugby/Basketball)

High School 2 nd Season Sports Awards, February 11

at 5:30 P.M. in the HS Gym(Touch/Rugby/Tennis/Basketball/Swimming/Cheerleading)

BEARCAT DENRegular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:30 A.M. 1:00

P.M. and 2:304:00 P.M. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2:30-4:00 P.M.

Thanks to all our great volunteers. If you are interested injoining our group of volunteers in the Bearcat Den, pleasecontact our BCD volunteers coordination Chantel([email protected]) or pop in to the Den near theHS Cafeteria and talk with one of our volunteers. Theywill be very happy to make you welcome.

Mark PekinDirector of Athletics/Activities

International School ManilaE-mail: [email protected] Website:http://www.ismanila.org/ Blog: http://atac.ism-online.org/


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M I D D L E S C H O O L F R I D AY B U L L E T I N P AG E 1 0

(continued from page 09)

Vehicle checks

The practice of inspecting vehicles will continue. During off-peak hours all vehicles will be checked before they are al-

lowed to enter the campus. During peak hours (drop off and pick-up times), all vehicles without valid stickers and ran-domly selected vehicles with stickers will be asked to undergo an examination.

Whether an examination is conducted or not, it is important that the security staff at the gates are able to identify theoccupants of vehicles entering the campus; therefore IDs must be clearly displayed. Vehicles with tinted windows mustroll down windows to allow a clear view of the interior of the vehicle.

Drivers, Helpers and Bodyguards

Drivers, helpers and bodyguards should not be waiting on campus for students throughout the school day. After droppingoff students they should exit the school grounds and not return more than 30 minutes before dismissal time. Those whorepeatedly fail to comply with the regulation will have their access privilege suspended.

Only those vehicles carrying parents or other people with business within the school will be allowed to return to the cam-pus before 1:45 p.m.

There are designated areas for unaccompanied drivers, yayas, helpers and security escorts to wait for parents and stu-dents. Unless specifically authorized, they may not enter any other area. In the interest of security, and to prevent con-gestion at the pedestrian entrances to the covered parking area, parents are requested to emphasize to their employeesthe importance of cooperating with the security staff and remaining in the appropriate areas.

Termination of Employment

In the event of the termination of service of a family employee, parents are asked to secure the former employees ISMID card and return it to the Security office. If this is not possible, it is important tat the Security Office is still informedof the change of circumstances.

Finally, I would like to thank all members of the ISM community for their cooperation in helping us maintain ISM as a safeand secure environment for our children.

Firearms

All members of the ISM community are reminded that it is strictly forbidden for firearms to be brought onto the campus.This includes concealed weapons carried by bodyguards for close protection. Any person arriving at the school with afirearm should inform the gate guard and arrangements will be made for the weapon to be safely and securely storedduring the visitors stay.

Security staff directions

Our security team is endeavoring to make the school as safe and secure an environment as possible for all members of our community. We as that everybody cooperate with us in this important task. In particular, all those entering ourcampus are requested to comply with any direction given to them by members of our guard force. In the event that any-one is unclear as to the purpose of such instructions they can seek clarifications from the security office. Please notethat it is the parents responsibility to advise their staff accordingly.

Thank you for your cooperation. We are looking forward to another successful semester at International School Manila.

Regards,

MICHAEL FLYNNDirectorOperations & Security


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issue no. 21 (week of january 31 to february 4, 2011

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