AAS Moscow Newsletter

Director's Message

Director's Message

AAS staff was so excited to welcome back Huddle A students to campus yesterday and look forward to Huddle B students arriving on campus this morning. It was truly a first-day experience with lots of smiles and happiness, and all looking forward to what comes with the beginning of a new school year.

Our students were outstanding in engaging with one another while recognizing and adapting to the new learning environment. While reminders to keep masks over noses were needed, the masks did not create challenges for re-engaging with one another, and the students were social distancing as required. Thank you to parents for your support in sharing the safety video with your children so that they knew what to expect when they arrived on campus. AAS staff will continue to support everyone in these new expectations for health and safety and ensure our students feel comfortable as the newness of the first day goes away, and we settle into the Hybrid model for the immediate future.

AAS will be making an adjustment to our DAILY PASSES. You will soon receive an updated DAILY PASS template with your child’s name prefilled. As of Monday, September 14, students will no longer have to be excluded from campus for 14 days if their family member returns from travel abroad, tested negative for covid, and is showing no symptoms. If a student travels abroad, then that student will still be required to complete a 14 day quarantine and they will not be allowed on campus until that is finished, regardless of covid tests being negative.

Our teams are closely monitoring the daily sharing of information within our own community. As of last Friday, we had 135 (~14.9%) students schoolwide whose families have not been able to return to Moscow. In addition, we were pleased with the very few students who had not completed the daily passes yesterday. We appreciate this support from parents so that we can efficiently screen students and let them get to their classrooms. Also, with the opening of all Russian schools on September 1, slightly more than a week ago today, AAS is following the possible impact this opening could have on Covid-19 cases in Moscow with an influx of hundreds of thousands of individuals into school spaces that have been physically closed since mid-March.

Yesterday was our first concrete opportunity to test the real-time video and audio technology with students on campus and off-campus. Not all classrooms planned to use this technology in the first two days; however, this approach will be implemented as we move forward for most learning spaces by the end of this week, along with delayed video access for those in time zones further away from Moscow. We are all still learning and will continue to refine, enhance, and expand as teachers and students engage. We are also expecting several tool upgrades by the later part of September that allows educators to group students like they do in the classroom and work together in “break out” rooms. This will enhance the engagement between students on campus and those off-campus.

AAS values our partnership with parents in the learning of our students. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can provide support for your child or if you have suggestions as we move forward with Hybrid Learning.

Warm regards,

Rhonda Norris

Director

Anglo-American School of Moscow

ES Express
ES Counselors

ES Express

ES Principal Jeff.Hinton@aas.ru

ES Associate Principal J ulie.Villers@aas.ru

ES Associate Principal E ric.Burnett@aas.ru

Dear ES Families,

We were so excited to welcome students to campus this week. It was wonderful to see them “eye smiling” above their masks as they arrived, meet their teachers and get caught up with their classmates. Arrivals worked very well. Some rain made it a little more interesting for dismissal, but in a very short period of time all children were on their way home. We will continue to learn and improve as we go. Students seemed very comfortable with the social distancing requirements, wearing their masks and ensuring they kept their hands clean throughout the day. Students quickly engaged with learning, having been in class for two weeks, during which they met their teachers and classmates through Launching Learning.

Launching Learning was a unique experience. Each year, the ES begins by Launching Learning in order to create shared expectations, community and a unique culture of learning for each subject area. This year, the students engaged in Launching Learning from a distance. Since this pathway will not happen again this year, we will not be officially collecting feedback on it through a survey. However, if there is a celebration you would like to share from this experience, or if there might be an area for improvement, please feel free to communicate this with us. If we move to Distance Learning, and as appropriate, we will send out surveys on particular pathways in order to both continue with what is working and make adjustments.

Goal Setting Conferences will be taking place on Thursday September 24 and Friday September 25. These will last approximately 20 minutes each and will be conducted through Webex. A sign up system will be sent out to families next week so please watch out for that communication. It is an expectation that each child attends their conference with their parents (but with Webex, may actually be in different locations). These conferences are for students to establish their goals, create a plan for meeting those goals and for both parents and teachers to offer support.

iPads To support learning in either Hybrid or Distance Learning, students are best equipped if they have familiar school materials with them in their home environment. For students in Kindergarten to Grade 4, this includes an AAS iPad. If a parent has agreed to our expectations regarding iPads and completed and returned the iPad Check Out Form, students will be able to take home and use AAS iPads at home. These iPads must come to school every day that a student is on campus as they are critical to supporting and accessing learning at school.

Tomorrow, we will begin synchronously engaging students at home who are in Huddle B with those that are on campus in Huddle A. We have, and will continue, to use a design thinking process in our approach as we are creating unique systems and opportunities to engage learners, no matter where they are. Some technology glitches will most likely arise but together we will support each other so that students are engaged in learning. Students are watching us and our responses and learning that taking risks, being courageous, being open minded, being a risk taker and being resilient are all ways to engage in learning as globally minded citizens.

Enjoy the rest of your week,

The ES Leadership Team

What's Up in MS

MS Principal, Christopher Schuster chris.schuster@aas.ru

MS Senior Associate Principal, Karisti Cormier karisti.cormier@aas.ru

MS Associate Principal, Alex Lopez alexander.lopez-barton@aas.ru

Click here to like AAS MS on Facebook!

Back on Campus!

It has been so great to see so many of our students join us back on campus either in Huddle A or Huddle B for Hybrid Learning. Even though we are all masked up - it was great to see the “smiles in the eyes”.

Hybrid Learning

In our Hybrid Learning pathway, students are expected to attend all of their classes daily. It is vital for students to be fully engaged even when they are not on campus. If you have questions about attendance or participation, please contact karisti.cormier@aas.ru

Daily Pass

A reminder to parents that you must fill out and sign your student’s daily pass each day they are on campus. If a student arrives without a completed daily pass, the health office will hold the student until contact can be made with the parents. These procedures are to keep our campus safe and healthy. We appreciate your support!

Cafeteria Payments

During Hybrid Learning, students may either bring a home lunch or purchase a lunch in the cafeteria with their badge. As the cafeteria will not be taking cash payments (neither in the morning nor at lunch time), please make sure your student’s badge has been loaded for any purchases they need to make. You can load money through the Nutrition at AAS page.

Google Classroom Guardian Summary emails

New MS parents and those not already connected to Google Classroom have been sent invitations to receive Google Classroom Guardian Summary emails. When you accept the invitation, you have the option of receiving a daily or weekly email with Google Classroom announcements and assignments from all of your student’s classes in one summary. If you have not received this invitation, please contact distance.learning@aas.ru.

MS Counselor

James Villers| james.villers@aas.ru | Room 2075

I would like to share two helpful websites for parents. First, Common Sense Media: In addition to thoughtful reviews of the games, shows, and movies that our teens play or watch, this organization also offers numerous resources related to parenting our children about their lives online. On the Common Sense homepage, hover your cursor over “Parents Need to Know.”

Second, please take a look at ParentTeen Connect: This website is run by Committee for Children, a global nonprofit organization that, for 40 years, has been working to help children grow, learn, and thrive (they are also the creators of the Second Step program, which I described last week). ParentTeen Connect offers resources, guidance, and conversation-starters related to teen screen time, responsibility, and independence, to name a few.

Yesterday and today were the first days back on campus in several months for many of our students. It was good to see everyone in person. If your child has questions or needs some support during these initial days of hybrid learning, thank you for reminding them that they can email me or come to my office. In addition, if you have questions about any of the above, or if you wish to discuss your child, please email me.

HS Flash

HS Principal, Christopher Schuster chris.schuster@aas.ru
HS Associate Principal, Matthew Groves matthew.groves @aas.ru

HS Associate Principal, Andrew Wiese andrew.wiese@aas.ru

The first day of Hybrid Learning went very smoothly, it is great to see so many excited students back on campus. From the entrance to school in the morning to lunch and dismissal at the end of the day, students, staff and faculty worked together to ensure everyone’s health and wellness. In many ways it feels like a second first-day of school, albeit with new social distancing rules in effect and fewer students on campus.

Students and faculty are working collaboratively to ensure that both the students on campus and the students in the at-home huddle are participating in learning. We encourage you to review our hybrid learning plan as a family to help plan for successful learning engagements both on- and off-campus. It was wonderful to see learning occurring once again from our classrooms, here is a photo from an English class this afternoon. You can see the teacher working with both students that are in class as well as those who are watching her at home through the camera on the iPad. Additionally, she has on Bluetooth headphones to interact with students who are off-campus.

To help facilitate your child’s swift entry to school in the morning please make sure they have a printed and signed Daily Pass. These were sent to families last weekend and are required for all persons entering the building. Advisors distributed first day packs to Huddle A yesterday and Huddle B tomorrow. Please review, sign and return these forms to the HS office by Friday Sept 18th.

Learning From Different Time Zones: For families who are out of the Moscow time zone and cannot engage synchronously with classes, please review these guidelines and expectations to help you plan for learning. If you have any questions or concerns please contact your child’s teacher or counselor.

Cafeteria Payments

Badge Only Payments: During Hybrid Learning, students may either bring a home lunch or purchase a lunch in the cafeteria. As the cafeteria will not be taking cash payments, please make sure your student’s badge has been loaded for any purchases they need to make. You can find more information on the Nutrition at AAS page.

Refilling your child’s cafeteria account virtually: To protect the safety of our community, cash payments will not be accepted by the cafeteria to refill student cafeteria accounts. The AAS Cafeteria launched an online prepayment service through which you can refill your child’s cafeteria account. Please find more details on the Nutrition at AAS webpage, or go directly to the AAS Cafeteria webpage to refill your child’s cafeteria account.

Our doors are always open! If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to make an appointment with us so that we can address them promptly.

IB Office

Sean Sonderman sean.sonderman@aas.ru

Grade 11 and 12

The IB Coordinator is sending out an electronic copy of the IB Due Dates Calendar for both cohorts for the 2020-2021 school year this week. This document should be used to help your child maintain an organized schedule in what is a very busy two years. You will notice that April, May and June of Grade 11 year and August-November of Grade 12 are periods of a high volume of work and due dates. Please note, on the document, Grade 11 work is marked as (Grade 11). All other due dates are for Grade 12s. Also, note that it is a living document. With changes the IB has recently made, some of the dates may change in the short term.

Grade 11 & 12 Kognity Accounts

AAS subscribes to an IB online textbook and revision education vendor. Students receive online accounts as a part of their IB experience at AAS. Mr. Sonderman has set the accounts up based on choices students made on their Grade 11 Course Selection Forms. If a students changes a course or level , e.g. Chemistry SL to HL, then they should contact Kognity directly at support@kognity.com to request the change. This is the most efficient and quickest route to assuring uninterrupted service.

Grade 12

Grade 12 Extended Essays, the 4,000-word culmination of a major research topic of a student’s choosing has an important deadline approaching. On September 14, the first full draft of the EE is due. This will be the only full draft in which a Supervisor can provide extensive written feedback. Therefore, it is important that students provide as complete a draft as possible. The Supervisors will return the drafts by October 6 so that students will have time to complete edits and formal presentations of the papers by the November 6^th Final EE deadline.

Grade 11

Mr. Sonderman is meeting with the Grade 11s in a series of three assemblies over the next few days. The first two assemblies focused on a welcome to the IB Diploma Program. The assemblies dealt with the nuts and bolts of the program as well as the overarching aims of the Learner Profile, Global-mindedness, and Approaches to Learning that anchor the International Baccalaureate. The third assembly addressed resilience and goal setting. Each student will be asked to complete a Goal Setting Survey. Mr. Sonderman will collect the results and sit down with each Grade 11 student individually to complete the process of forming realistic academic goals during September. Please discuss the process with your child.

Best,

Sean Sonderman

HS Counselors

Bryn Will bryn.will@aas.ru supports students with last names beginning with L-Z
Lauren Zimmerman l auren.zimmerman @aas.ru supports students with last names beginning with A-K

The HS Counselors have been on hand this week to welcome new students, make schedule changes and meet with students regarding university applications. It was an exciting morning to welcome students from Huddle A to school and to have the Peer Helpers there to welcome new students and show them to their advisory classrooms. Though things may look a bit different around school there was a reassuringly “normal” feel to the day as students lit up upon seeing peers and staff alike.

University Counseling: If you are wondering about university planning and what you can do to support your child, please go to our university counseling page on our school website. It is a wealth of information and you can get a tour of the website here.

Support from counselors: Please know that we are also here to support students and families in navigating the challenges of the long-term stress we are all under. This article gives some tips for parents about how to recognize the signs of long-term stress and some ideas about how to help your child manage it as well. If you have concerns regarding your child, please feel free to reach out to us.

Library News

Penguin Life

Email: plife@aas.ru

Registration for MS/HS Fall season Activities and Sports begins today!

This upcoming Fall season will differ from the one we would have on any other year.

Please check out the detailed PL Fall Season Schedule for information about every Activity and Sport being offered.

Registration Guidelines:

Parents register their students for the PL programs of their choice
Students attend on the days when their Huddle comes on campus. Each Activity and Sport is tagged by huddle name - A and B. When you choose the Activity/Sport to register for, make sure that it matches the huddle of your child
Students can only participate in ONE activity or sport this season.
Please only register when already in Moscow. During this season participation limits are placed for each Activity and Sport. By registering and not attending you block participation slots that no other student can use.
Students not registered will not be able to attend practices.

NEW PL Registration System!

To register for Penguin Life Fall season, follow this link: https://plife.aas.ru/login

Start with choosing the “First time user” link below the Login bar to create your password.

Use email already registered with AAS (tip: use the email address this newsletter was sent to)

Username: your email registered with AAS

Password: one that you create for this system

If any questions please contact us at plife@aas.ru

Health Office

Email: health.office@aas.ru

Website: https://www.aas.ru/student-life/health-office

The flu season is coming up and we are going to be offering vaccines this year again! Getting your flu vaccine is strongly recommended this year!
Please help us get enough flu vaccines for our community! Fill out our Flu Vaccination Survey now!
As of Monday, September 14, students will no longer have to be excluded from campus for 14 days if their family member returns from travel abroad, tested negative for covid, and is showing no symptoms. If a student travels abroad, then that student will still be required to complete a 14 day quarantine and they will not be allowed on campus until that is finished, regardless of covid tests being negative.

Admissions

Badges - an important message for all our new families:

Parent badges for our new families are ready for collection from the Admissions department.

There are three ways we can get your badges to you:

We can send them home with your child;
We can meet you at the Pokrovsky Hills gate (there will be someone from the Admissions department on duty at the gate on Thursday and Friday this week from 7:45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.);
We can arrange to meet you or your designated helper at the main entrance to school. Please call us on +7 495 231 4486, so that we can arrange a mutually convenient time.

If you could complete this short questionnaire to indicate your preference, we will get your badges to you as soon as possible.

AAS Parent-Teacher Organization

AAS Parent-Teacher Organization

Kristina Tadic | pto@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,

To make a difference in someone's life, all you have to do is care. And in PTO we do care, and we have proved it today again. PTO Shop and Welcome tent was a full success! Our dedicated team of volunteers, Elsbeth, Rebecca, Naree and Elena led by our PTO Shop Manager Pauline and VP Elementary School Ines did impress again, and all to welcome you and give you a chance to get familiar with PTO Shop Merchandise with an opportunity to order what you need and like.

Thank you all for coming today and sharing your stories, smiles and positive energy. We hope you enjoyed meeting other parents, browsing our mobile PTO shop and hearing about PTO opportunities. A big thank you also goes to our School Leadership for great operational help and communication support. If by any chance you missed our event today there is no reason to be sad or disappointed, we will be waiting for you tomorrow again, same time, same place, and same good vibes.

Yours,

Kristina

Together we make a difference!

UPCOMING EVENTS - MARK YOUR AGENDAS

SEPTEMBER 10

PTO Welcome/Shop tent - Last day this week!

8 - 10AM - PTO TENT/SOUTH FIELD PARKING
Stop by for a quick hello and a chance to meet the PTO Executive Committee Team and use the opportunity to browse a wide sample of PTO Shop merchandise!
We will ensure to make this experience a safe one, and if there is a short wait involved prior to entering the tent, you may have a cup of coffee and chat with PTO Executive Members and other parents!
Stay safe, wear a mask and respect social distancing rules!

SEPTEMBER 29/30

PTO Connect

2 - 3.30PM - PTO TENT/SOUTH FIELD PARKING
Join us for a casual get together. This will be an opportunity to CONNECT, to meet with other parents, to have fun and to simply enjoy yourself.
Please let us know if you plan to join by sending email to pto@aas.ru, we will have a small surprise for all of you who sign up!
We will be waiting for you on 29th/30th of September (depending on your Huddle group), in our PTO tent on the South Field Parking, from 2pm onward, we plan to finish just in time for pick up.

SEPTEMBER to OCTOBER 10

AAS Mug Competition - WIN a set of AAS Mugs for your whole family!

Do you like drawing, decorating or designing? Do you drink coffee, tea or milk? If at least one of the answers is YES, we are happy to tell you that we need YOU!
Help us design the most original AAS Coffee Mug - to become our official Community Coffee Mug!
Think of AAS and our mission statement and use a coffee mug as your canvas.
We are looking for a penguin drawing, a slogan, a motivational message, or a fun message, et cetera… be creative and think out of the box! Do it yourself or together with your friends.
Everyone is welcome to participate, the entire AAS community - students, teachers, parents…
Submit your work to pto@aas.ru by October 10th.
The winning design will be announced on October 13, at our next Community Coffee.
Show us your AAS spirit and be part of our AAS MUG COMPETITION!

PTO SHOP

MOBILE PTO SHOP

Are you looking for AAS uniform items or spirit wear?
We are happy to offer you the services of our Mobile PTO Shop.
We are open every week day from 12-3PM, in Pokrovsky Hills, house VV 39.
You can browse our SAMPLE rack, make sure what size you need and simply fill in the order form.
Take a photo of your order and send it to our email: PTO.Shop@aas.ru.
If you need access to Pokrovsky Hills, please contact us at PTO.Shop@aas.ru.

VOLUNTEERING IN PTO

PTO Executive Committee VACANCIES FOR 2020/21 - last call

Do you like to meet new people?
Be part of your child(ren)’s AAS experience?
To increase your connection to the school and contribute to building our AAS community?
If so, help us fill in the following positions:
- Vice President - Internal Affairs
- Committee Secretary.
- Learn more about vacant positions HERE.
Please send in your statement of interest by September 15 to pto@aas.ru. Sample of interest letter HERE.
We are looking forward to having you on board!

PTO Volunteers

‘Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart!’ -E.A.

And the heart of all we do is YOU!
Whether you have just a few hours to spare now and then, on a more regular basis, or even just once a year, we definitely have something for you.
We hold events year round and we are always looking for more people who can help us set up, and generally help the event run smoothly. It is great fun and you will get to meet and interact with a whole range of people. If you are an event volunteer this does not mean you have to help out at every event, you have the option to say yes or no to helping out.
We are looking for your talents, hobbies, skills, or just your good will and we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch, pto@aas.ru!