MS Parent Bulletin (Week of March 9 to 13)

8/9/2019 MS Parent Bulletin (Week of March 9 to 13)

1/9

After School Activities Office:

Season Dates for Season 3 and 4: Third Season: February 16 - March 31, 2015

Fourth Season: April 13 - May 29, 2015

MAP Tesng 5

2-13 MAP Tesng

MIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOL

ISSUE # 26

SY 2014 –2015

WEEK OF:

MARCH 9 to 13

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

Friday Bulletin

Athlecs & Acvies 6

Inside this issue:

MARCH

19Student-Led Conferences

1-10 School Holiday

APRIL

21 Parent Coee

30 Acvity Day

Student-Led Conferences 2 Dear Middle School Parents,

This month as part of our advisory program we are connuing to discuss Digital Cizen-

ship and what is our responsibility as users of technology and the online world. This is a

great opportunity to be speaking with your child about how they are using technology

and how they are demonstrang responsibility.

With students further increased screen me in their lives at school and home we would

like to trial a period of me with no devices at lunch - while we nd that the majority of

students use their break me for social interacon, being acve and eang, there are anumber of students who struggle with this balance. We will be communicang this to

students at our assembly on Friday and will update everyone on how this trial period

goes.

March 19 is scheduled for student led conferences in the Middle School. You will have

received a separate email with the detailed informaon for the aernoon in terms of

the process and also strategies and quesons for taking part in the conference together

with your child.

Have a great week ahead…

Yours in Educaon,

Simon Gillespie, Middle School Principal

Amanda Pekin, Middle School Assistant Principal

ISM Upcoming Events

Events & Acvies:

7

1 Naonal Holiday

MAY

4-14 MS Art Exhibion

Leaving ISM?

Please be reminded that parents are obliged to ocially inform the School in wring

through a WITHDRAWAL NOTIFICATION FORM if their children will not be returning in Au-

gust for School Year 2015-

16. Families are encouraged to submit the Withdrawal Noca-on Form, stang the student's nal date of aendance, immediately. Forms must be sub-

mied on or before May 8. Failure to submit the form by that date may lead to a deducon

of US$1,000 from the Facilies Upgrade Deposit (FUD), in compensaon for having held a

space for your child, prevenng the School from oering that space to another candidate.

The Withdrawal Nocaon Form can be obtained from the Admissions Oce or directly

from the ISM website under Admission > Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal > Withdrawals

Please feel free to contact the Admissions Oce at 840.8601 for quesons or claricaons.


2/9

Dear Students and Parents,

Welcome to our Middle School student-led conferences. We hope that you nd this me together sharing your learn-

ing to be a worthwhile experience. The purpose of this student-led conference is to provide students with an oppor-

tunity to share their learning with their parents and teachers in their classrooms. The goals of a student-led confer-

ence include the following:

Encourage students to accept responsibility for their learning and progress.

Help students recognize and take ownership for the things that interfered with their learning success.

Teach students the process of self -evaluaon.

Facilitate the development of students’ oral communicaon skills and self -condence.

Enhance communicaon between student and parents.

During the aernoon of March 19, you will take part in one of two sessions (12:30 – 2:30 p.m. or 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.)

together with your child going around to each of their classrooms. The schedule for each session is included in this

program guide. We encourage you to aend the rst session if your surname begins with the leers A-K, and the se-

cond session if your surname begins with the leers L-Z (If you need to aend the other me because of conicts, this

is acceptable).

During each class that you visit your child has prepared a presentaon of their learning for you. They will be sharing

work samples and their reecons, and we encourage you during this me to engage in a conversaon. Included in

this guide are some suggested quesons that you may ask your child to facilitate the process. Students in Grade 5 and

6 may be using school provided laptops and students in Grade 7 and 8 should bring their laptop with them. As part of

Physical Educaon you will be in the MS Gym, please bring appropriate footwear.

On the back page of this guide is a worksheet for you and your child to complete at the end of your session. This me

is an opportunity for you to sit down and reect together on the aernoon and to set goals for the remainder of the

school year.

Thank you for taking me to parcipate in your child’s learning during our Middle School student-led conferences. We

hope that this has given you addional insight into your child’s learning, and an opportunity to understand what hap-

pens on a daily basis in our classes at Internaonal School Manila.

Yours in Educaon,

Simon Gillespie Amanda Pekin

Middle School Principal Middle School Assistant Principal

2


3/9

3

Please attend one of the following two sessions – 12:30 – 2:30 or 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. You will begin in

your child’s advisory where an overview will be provided. Then go in order of your child’s schedule

spending approximately 10 minutes in each room (the time is flexible). Your child should know their

schedule and where to go, but if you need an individual copy of their schedule or a map of the Mid-

dle School, please stop by the Middle School Office.

Guiding Questions for parents to ask students during and after the conference:

1. What has been the most difficult part of this class?

2. What has been you favorite assignment this year?

3. What assignment did you learn the most from this year?

4. Which subject do you feel is the most difficult for you? Why?

5. How do you think I could help you in this subject?

6. Do you feel that I am helpful to you, in your studies?

7. How do you manage your time when you have assignments that are large?

8. What inspired you to.....?

9. When you're given a choice, what type of assignment would you choose?

10. How do you communicate with your teacher for help?11. Do you use the tutorial time after school?

12. Do you challenge yourself to try new things?

13. Do you take risks with your assignments?

14. How do you learn best?

15. What study habits do you need to improve? Why?

16. How will you use what you know about your learning styles to improve?

17. How well do you manage your time? What do you need to work on?


4/9

4


5/9

Dear Parents,

From March 2nd to March 13th 2015, ISM will conduct tests called Measures of Academic ProgressTM (MAP) for Semester 2.

What are MAP tests? MAP tests are an external assessment from the United States, used to assist in determining students’ instructional level.

Currently, there are 370 international schools in 123 countries, including 56% member schools of EARCOS (East AsiaRegional Council of Schools), who conduct MAP testing.

Who does MAP testing at ISM? Students in Grades 3 to 10 take MAP tests. Students receiving Learning Support and ESL support will be given the oppor-

tunity, where appropriate, to participate in the MAP testing. Parents will be contacted individually regarding anymodifications taking place.

What do MAP tests assess and how often do they occur? These tests will measure academic growth across the school year in the areas of Reading, Language and Mathematics, and

are administered twice a year at ISM.

How do MAP tests work? Your child will take the tests on a computer. MAP tests are unique in that they are adaptive. The test becomes more diffi-

cult the more questions the student answers correctly. When a student incorrectly answers a question, the followingtest question is adjusted accordingly and is at an easier level. In this way, your child will take a test specifically cre-ated for his or her learning level.

How are MAP tests reported? Your child’s 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. Parents will receive a report that shows their RIT score, the normative RIT scores forthe grade level at ISM, and the normative scores for students in the United States within the same grade level. These

reports will be available in November.

What does ISM do with the information that MAP provides? Teachers use the data from MAP testing to inform learning and teaching. It assists in determining which skills require en-

hancing, which skills students have already developed, and which skills need to be introduced. MAP tests also provideour school with a reference point for the ongoing development of the school-wide curriculum. This data allows us tolook for trends within certain areas of our curriculum.

How do I prepare my child for MAP testing?Factors such as sleep and how a child is feeling can affect the results of a standardized test. Your class teacher will let

you know which three days in the coming weeks your child will sit the tests. Please talk to your child to help avoidhim/her feeling anxious about MAP testing.

Lastly …It is important to remember that MAP results provide one piece of assessment data in the process of acquiring information

and making judgments about student progress toward intended learning. At ISM, we believe sound assessment in-volves creating a multitude of ways to measure and communicate student learning over time – a photo album versus asingle snapshot.

For more information on MAP testing, please consult the NWEA (North West Evaluation Association) website at www.nwea.org. In addition, parents can access the MAP Parent Toolkit at http://www.nwea.org/support/article/930/parent-toolkit.

Sincerely,

Simon Gillespie Amanda Pekin Middle School Principal Middle School Assistant Principal

5

http://www.nwea.org/http://www.nwea.org/support/article/930/parent-toolkithttp://www.nwea.org/support/article/930/parent-toolkithttp://www.nwea.org/


6/9

The pracce schedule for season 3 is posted on noce boards and on the ATAC blog. Season 3 will run

from Feb 9th to March 31st.

Well done to the VBoys soball team and coaches who won the ASSL League nal last Sunday 8-5.

Next Tuesday Mar 10 ISM is hosng the MS Academic Bowl at the Lile Theatre from 9am-2pm. Drop by

to check out the acon as our MS test their minds against Faith, Brent and Chinese Internaonal School.

Upcoming dates-

Mar 5-7 IASAS Debate and Forensics at ISM

Mar 5-7 IASAS Art/Dance/Drama at SAS, Music at ISB

Mar 6 Twilight track meet at ISM

Mar 7 ISM Chess Invitaonal/Swim meet at BSM

Mar 7 HS Golf team at Wack Wack

Mar 7 Sailsh swimmers at Brish School Meet.

Saturday Community Tennis for semester 2 has now commenced again. See link for informaon on dates

and how to book. Use of the courts is only available to ISM community members. Outside guests are not

allowed hp://atac.ism-online.org/atac/saturday-community-tennis/

Please note the pracce mes for the following ATAC programs: ATAC all year round teams- 3:15-4:30.

Sailsh/Gymnascs and all HS seasonal teams now conclude pracce at 4:50pm each day. MS seasonal

teams 3:10-4:45pm. The last bus is now 4:55pm and all aer school programs will conclude by 4:50pm in

order to try and clear the campus prior to 5pm due to the ever increasing trac concerns in our area.

Parents and students please take some me to peruse the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of informaon

and links to our sports and acvies program. If you have any quesons regarding the compeve pro-

gram of sports at ISM aer reading the informaon on the blog please send an email

to [email protected] and I will endeavor to assist you as best I can.

Bearcat Den- drop by our fantasc spirit store. There is a range of new products and items to purchase

including items from our service partners. Bearcat Den hours of operaon- 7am-4pm Mon-Fri.

The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated regularly by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athlecs Coordinator)

gives the most up to date informaon on where/when and who our Bearcat teams will be playing

throughout the school year. Access to the game schedule is via the ISM parent portal. Use this link to ac-

cess the parent portal, log in with your user name/password and look for the ATAC Game Schedule tab.

Remember to refresh the page when the pdf schedule appears so you view the most current schedule.

GO BEARCATS!

Mark Pekin

Director of Athlecs and Acvies

6


7/9

7

http://goo.gl/tBqVVB


8/9

8

Sign up to host grade 10 and 11 students for the week

of June 8

- 12th.

For Career Experience Week to be suc-

cessful it will need the support of the ISM community,

please sign up today!

Sign ups are easier than ever before, just contact me and

ll out the survey with basic informaon regarding your

company or organizaon!

Google Sign up form: hp://goo.gl/forms/2z6tncYDOR

Or contact Crystal Cappuccio at [email protected]

https://docs.google.com/a/ismanila.org/forms/d/1gWUr_IGZNIwIgY5utrjFg4enFtzqqNhy019ggPJYdQs/viewform?c=0&w=1https://docs.google.com/a/ismanila.org/forms/d/1gWUr_IGZNIwIgY5utrjFg4enFtzqqNhy019ggPJYdQs/viewform?c=0&w=1https://docs.google.com/a/ismanila.org/forms/d/1gWUr_IGZNIwIgY5utrjFg4enFtzqqNhy019ggPJYdQs/viewform?c=0&w=1


9/9

9
http://bit.ly/ISMFirstAid

MS Parent Bulletin (Week of March 9 to 13)

Documents