Warm regards,

Rhonda

We encourage you to stay updated through community updates on the coronavirus resources page, as well as the distance learning page. Stay connected via our newsletter and through leadership videos, and share your own experiences with our learning community.

• Click here to like AAS MS on Facebook! 
• Here is the LINK to the week four distance learning video for families.
• Here is the LINK to the student video.

Dear Parents,

We hope this newsletter finds you happy and healthy. As we come close to the end of week four of student learning, many students are thriving, but many students might also be struggling with the load of work and assessments.  

Wellness Tracker Results: Our latest wellness tracker results from students gave us some great information. 48% of our MS students report on our latest Wellness tracker that they are working more than 4 hours every day. 90% report working more than 3 hours per day. While this is encouraging as we strive to provide the most effective Distance Learning program possible, many of your children might need some extra care and structure to meet the demands of the final two weeks. Students are reporting feeling more connected, particularly to their teachers and only 1% report not being motivated to do their work. Interestingly enough, 27% report being hungry, so maybe an extra sandwich, blini or kimbap might be in order!

Reporting: In the interest of making this 6 full weeks of Distance Learning and not 5 weeks plus report writing, we are not publishing report cards until the 8th of May. We will have all of our leaving packets for departing families ready on the 18th of May provided we can access our campus per current Russian Moscow restrictions on movement. This timeline will allow us to focus on students for the full distance learning period.  

Parenting During Covid-19: As a parent and a lifelong MS educator, I can deeply sympathize with the challenges you as parents might be feeling at home. I understand first hand the frustrations that parents can feel while trying to work and support their children’s learning, the difficulty imparting the importance of social distancing and the sadness that your children experience by not being able to socialize. This article is a great resource:  Supporting Teenagers and Young Adults During the Corona Virus Crisis.

Gratitude: Thank you to all who have reached out, supported our teachers and of course supported our student’s learning. Together we are stronger.

Take care of yourself, and if you can, someone else.

Stay Healthy!

Noah, and Karisti

As we move through our fourth week of distance learning, I want to take a moment to recognize the extraordinary contributions of the parent community during the past two months. I can't thank you enough for your overwhelming support through this crisis. As a leader, it was incredibly difficult to incrementally take so much away from your children. 

Every time we did those things (like canceling Discovery Week or closing the pool), there were parents who sent kind emails or stopped by the office to show their support for the difficult decisions we made. You are such an essential part of helping the AAS community thrive, and your connections to the school are genuinely appreciated. 

Since distance learning started, your role has shifted to always managing a teenager in your home, which is no small task. We are quite pleased with the levels of engagement we are experiencing from your children in their classes. Much of the credit goes to you for ensuring that routines have been established and maintained throughout the crisis. 

In difficult times of transition or crisis, we emphasize the importance of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As parents, you are providing the most important aspects of this hierarchy. We work to create a school environment where we play a complementary role to what you create at home. After all, a student cannot learn if they are hungry, uncomfortable, or in fear. With our campus closed, you are given the added responsibility of meeting their needs 24 hours a day. Thank you for feeding them, holding them accountable, and, most of all, loving your children during these difficult times. Your efforts allow our students to focus on and maintain some form of normalcy during a period of substantial added stress. This is hard on all of us, but we can take comfort in the fact that we are all playing our part in the responsibility of ensuring the success of your children. It is a real honor to be a part of that relationship with you. On behalf of the high school leadership team and the faculty, thank you for all you are doing for your children. 

• FCD free webinar - Healthy Parents/Healthy Kids during COVID-19
• 18 tips on how to cope with children during quarantine? 
• One parent's experience being home with children. Perhaps you can relate...

PTO Divisional Updates

ES: Grade 5 Hoodies

Due to the quarantine situation in Moscow, the timeline to pick up 5th-grade hoodies has been extended. You may collect your child’s hoodie through April 30 in Pokrovsky Hills, Moscow regulations permitting. Please email PTO.secretary@aas.ru to arrange a pick-up time.

Any hoodies not picked up by April 30 will be returned to school to be distributed in the fall.

MS: Grade 8 Hoodies

Grade 8 graduation hoodies are also ready to be picked up from PH after 3.30 pm on weekdays or anytime on weekends Please email Marjo at PTO.MS@aas.ru or pto@aas.ru to arrange a pick-up time.

HS: Graduation Blankets

12th-grade graduation blankets can be picked up in Pokrovsky Hills until May 1. Contact pto@aas.ru to arrange a pick-up time. If you cannot pick up the blankets before May 1, distribution will be handled by the HS office at a later date.

New Voting Dates! PTO Elections

In order to get off to a quick start in the next school year, the PTO needs to elect next year’s PTO Executive Committee.  

We have one candidate per position, but per our by-laws we need to hold an election to ratify the candidates.  The candidates’ statements of interest are attached here. (Please add the link) 

We kindly ask you to take a few minutes to review the statements.

PTO e-voting New Date! The email with a link to e-ballot will be sent out on Thursday April 16 with instructions to submit your vote. Voting will close at midnight on Thursday April 23. 

In order to get off to a quick start in the next school year, the PTO needs to elect next year’s PTO Executive Committee.  Keep an eye out for an electronic vote election email in the coming days. 

We have one candidate per position, but per our by-laws we need to hold an election to ratify the candidates. The candidates’ statements of interest are attached here. We kindly ask you to take a few minutes to review the statements.

The email with a link to e-ballot will be sent out after April 1st with instructions to submit your vote.

Finally, a  big thank you to all the parents, Class/Grade Reps, Event Coordinators and volunteers for making AAS PTO a community to be proud of during these extraordinary times.

And, before ending let me take this opportunity to express gratitude and appreciation to all the doctors, nurses, other health care workers and essential services providers who are carrying on their work under very difficult circumstances, along with those working in the media and communication, everywhere across the world.