ISY Elementary Blog

FAMILY FUN FAIR – SEE YOU THERE

Sandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal

 17Th of February, 2023

Random acts of kindness this week was so amazing, it is great to feel the love in the school. Let’s keep celebrating each other in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to Bekka and all involved with the Wizard of Oz production.

Please take time to read the articles on good practice celebrated that you will find below.

Reminder: we can now use the kitchen in the cafeteria for learning opportunities, see photos below. A Grade 4 group did a wonderful Math lesson and PreK had another opportunity to use the space.

Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Chinthe Social.

It is always fun to visit classrooms, see pictures below of things that really stood out to me when visiting 3S this week. Seeing the use of choice boards in this class is something you might like to sign up to observe. Look out for sign up opportunities next week.

Dr Hedger introduced the Chinthe Fund in an email to the community today as well as to us all in the morning meeting. He shared that after deliberation with the committee and leadership team, ISY will be creating a new fund called the Chinthe Fund.  We will commit as a community to raising $15,000 USD a year.  This money will be split evenly and be dedicated towards the operations of each organization. The first fund raising event is the Family Fun Fair tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow at the Family Fun Fair.

See you soon

Sandy

REMINDER

ISY Family Fun Fair (4-7pm). All faculty are expected to attend for the whole event (4-7pm). Those with shifts starting at 4pm, please arrive at 3:45pm to make sure all is in order. This is a great opportunity to connect with our students outside the classroom and also to support them in their activities – it has been awhile since the last Fun Fair so if you see something that needs attention thanks for stepping in!

IMG-3871 (1)

IMG-3873 (1)

IMG-3875 (1)

IMG-3872 (1)

POOR AIR QUALITY

In the situation where the the poor air quality sign is up in the window of the A building please note, that at first break, the students may go outside but cannot participate in any physical activity e.g. no football all 4 square. We always anticipate that by 2nd break the sign will come down. For those of you on morning duty, please look out for the sign, the air quality if poor is usually at its worse in the morning.

Whole Faculty Professional Development

Monday, Cafeteria, 2:45pm – 3:45pm:

Science of Learning – Strengthening the Student Toolbox. This will be a shared reading exercise around the article linked here and how its ideas can inform our own instructional choices.

INTROUDUCING THE CHINTHE FUND LOGO

GUIDED MATH

GOOD PRACTICE IN ACTION

Guided math groups meet the needs of all students. Like other grades, Grade 3 has a wide range of levels. Using the Grade 3 standards to plan from, teachers use data to drive their planning and instruction. They follow the structure of a mini-lesson where they explicitly teach the objective of the day, then the rotations of instructional leveled math groups and Independent practice allow students to learn and practice at their level.

What is Guided Math? 

‘While teaching content in small groups is important and allows you more face time with students, Guided Math is NOT teaching the same lesson multiple times to different groups.  Why not? Guided Math focuses on what Vygotsky called a student’s Zone of Proximal Development, which is individualized to each student.  The model of teaching the same content to different groups doesn’t allow the teachers to meet students at their instructional level.  Instead, the teacher is still “teaching to the middle,” but in a smaller group setting.’

At times we feel that we should be moving students along faster to ‘keep up with standards’. Standards are a guide that helps to plan and teach from. Meeting students’ needs where they are is more important than ticking off standards and moving through chapters. Sometimes we worry students are not moving fast enough, but some students need time and that is okay.

By using inclusive practices such as Guided Math, teachers meet the needs of their students using leveled math groups, modeling, direct instruction, anchor charts, a range of strategies, and other opportunities to practice skills at students’ levels. A lot of work goes into the planning of these classes, routines are set up and students are engaged, learning, and enjoying math. They are questioning and thinking deeper about math, they feel comfortable expressing their ideas, and are showing growth.

Post-covid ‘gaps’ In learning are a thing! If we don’t take time to ‘fill’ those gaps now, they are just going to get bigger. Continuing to teach skills that students need until they are mastered is key, rather than moving them on. Focusing on domains such as Operations, Base 10, and Fractions until they are consolidated. We will continue these conversations in planning meetings.

This is a great article that explains guided math. If you would like to set up guided math and observe Laura please let us know and we can arrange cover.  

MAP TESTING

Our second (and final) MAP testing session will be February 20 to March 3.
Testing will happen as it did in September with the addition of the Science assessment for Grades 4 to 9.

In preparation for MAP testing, please read the instructions and do the following by the end of next Wednesday, February 15.
The tests will be set up for you (so we can make sure accommodation settings etc are consistent). However, please get familiar with the instructions. These instructions are very similar to the September session but if you are new to MAP testing or have any questions, please send me a message and I would be happy to run through the process with you.

  • Confirm necessary MAP Student Accommodations. Check the document and check in with Stacey or LuAnn if any additions or changes are necessary from September. The most common accommodations are a separate testing room and ‘text to speech.’ We can provide ‘text to speech’ as an accommodation for all tests except the Reading test (unless there is a special circumstance).
  • Confirm your MAP Testing Schedule. Your September schedule still appears on the spreadsheet but schedule changes etc and the need to add a Science test for Grades 4 to 9 will mean you will need to check this. Once you have confirmed your testing times, please turn them blue so we know they are confirmed.
  • Check that the students’ devices are able to run the tests. ISY Chromebooks will be available on the day the students test in case any students’ devices cannot load the test but these are limited so please have the students check their own devices next week and contact TechGroup@isyedu.org if you know a student will need an ISY device.

All information about MAP testing (including student data) can also be found on our ISY Faculty Pages.

COMPASSION CONFERENCE INFORMATION

This year’s Compassion Conference will be on Thursday, March 2. The date has changed as SEASAC tournaments will take some teachers away on the original date, February 3.

More details will follow, but I wanted to introduce our keynote speaker. Kathryn Berkett will speak to us in 2 workshops:

The Impact of Early Development and Adolescent Brain Changes. If you want to learn more about Kathryn and her work, check out the resources on this website:

https://www.engagetraining.co.nz/online-resources

Kathryn will present to us in the morning. The afternoon session will be set aside for teacher workshops. This is a great opportunity for us to hear from those teachers who have put together a workshop proposal for EARCOS, along with any other teachers who have an idea or practice to share. Please let Mike or Sandy know if you would like to share something.

DATES TO REMEMBER

18th February – 

20th February – MAP testing begins

20th February – Whole faculty PD 2:45-4:00 in Cafeteria

2nd March – Compassion Conference (no school for students)

3rd March – Chinthe Social (more information to come)

6th March – No school

CYBER SECURITY LINKS

CHILD PROTECTION

The child protection handbook can be found on the Faculty Pages, see the link below.

CHILD PROTECTION HANDBOOK

MINDFULNESS

Find information on compassionate communities and mindful curriculum at this link

ISY FACULTY PAGES

DRILLS

Please find the information for the ISY drills at this link

phttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YNOvnIY0r_14bRaou2xRLDjdK5wO2sHa2wtpLKyH_Gs/edit#slide=id.p

TEACHER NOTICES

NEW SCHEDULES CAN BE FOUND HERE

  • We will be starting playground clean-up duties. Each week a class will be assigned. This will start the week of the 16th of January.  PLEASE SEE THE DUTY SCHEDULE HERE
  • There have been a few small changes to supervision see the new Quarter 3 supervision schedule here
  • Classroom clean up responsibilities for the end of day, can be found here

DUTIES BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL 

Monday – Sabine, Snow, Tuesday – Bekka, May Zin, Wednesday – Jono, Me Me, Thursday – Charlie, Swe Zin, Friday – Isabel, Ei Ei

PLAYGROUND RESPONSIBILITIY – 3M

Previous Elementary School Posts

Elementary School Faculty Blog – February 19, 2021

Elementary School Faculty Blog – February 19, 2021

Feb 19, 2021 |

To my Myanmar colleagues, on behalf of all my international colleagues, thank you for the support that you continue to give us as we work together for our students in these most challenging of times. We want you to know that we support you and can adapt the way that we work to allow you to deal with whatever you need to deal with outside of school.

The International School Yangon
20 Shwe Taungyar Street
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar

+95 1 512 793 /94 /95

office@isyedu.org

Privacy
Careers
PowerSchool Login (Parents & Students)
PowerSchool Login (Teachers)
Annual Reports
Health, Safety and Security Handbooks

Website Feedback Form

Blogs