☕️ ES Virtual Parent Coffees

Enjoy the rest of your week and the February Break!

🧒 ES Placement for Fall 2021

 February 10  -  April 12 

• Creating class lists is a complex process that requires great thought and time involving many perspectives.  As professional educators, we invest a great deal of effort in the development of homeroom class rosters to create the best learning situations for all our students and classes.
• A request for a specific teacher will not be considered. However, a request to be thoughtful about a child's learning style will be considered as part of our process. Please fill in the form below to tell us about factors unique to your child’s needs. Please do not request friends by name. We make every effort to place each student with a friend but cannot guarantee your child will be placed with specific friends. The survey is only available for parents whose children are currently in grades PK - grade 4.
• All information from this survey is confidential and will only be seen by counselors and administration. Thank you for your partnership!

💚 Please see the AAS Wellness Page for resources to support your child and family.

❄️ Winter Field Day

February 4 & 5 - Please remember to send your child to school in appropriate winter wear on Thursday and Friday for our days of snow fun.

❗️ Pilot Full On-Campus Learning for Grade 1 & 2 Students

February 8 - We are pleased to share that we would like to pilot having all of our Grade One and Two students in full on-campus learning every day starting next Monday. Some recent research continues to provide evidence indicating a lower risk of COVID spread, with fewer or no symptoms if it is contracted, by younger learners. Our mitigations for safety, no evidence of spread on campus, smaller class sizes in these grade levels, and taking into consideration that for our younger learners the ideal situation is to have them on campus each day instead of a need to have them engage through synchronous learning from home, provides confirmation for taking this next step.

The stamina and level of independence during learning from home has greater challenges for many younger learners and being on campus every day would provide an enhanced balance between safety providing for the interactions and scaffolding that is more effectively provided in person for these students. In addition, Grade One and Two classroom teachers will be re-arranging classroom spaces and will integrate further mitigations in these classrooms before all of these students return to campus. When making family plans, please be mindful of our fluid circumstances during this pandemic that may result in last minute notifications of a transition in Learning Pathways for a class, grade level or division as we continue to strive to keep our students and school community as safe as possible.

As a reminder to our families and students, please adhere to health guidelines that protect all individuals:

• We understand the challenges of self-isolation, families should be maintaining their social bubbles and not mixing with others
• For the greatest mitigation, wear masks at all times when outside your home, and particularly if  you  are not able to socially distance (grocery store and other essential activities)
• We recommend that social gatherings including playdates, sports outside of AAS, or parties outside of family bubbles, should not be participated in
• If your child is not feeling well or has any symptoms, please keep them at home and contact the AAS Health Office
• If a family member or student receives a COVID test result, please send this to the AAS Health Office
• Everyone should wash their hands regularly for at least 20 seconds.
• If your child is identified as a close contact, either from being on campus or due to an event off-campus, he/she must have a PCR test according to our protocols and obtaining this test as soon as possible is recommended to best manage transmission within our community taking the following into consideration:
  • This gives prompt identification of positive cases who may be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic as these individuals can still transmit the infection to others
  • This helps us identify further close contacts and to minimize further exposures
  • This allows AAS to continue to monitor any impact a positive case on our campus might have
• Please follow our AAS COVID Response Flowchart
• Please remember to accurately complete the Daily Health Pass each morning and follow the response flowchart if any answers are “yes” to these questions

We continue to prioritize the Learning Pathway that has been determined by the school for each class, grade level, or learning cohort. All students are expected to be on campus for in person learning when they are scheduled to do so. Some subjects and learning experiences will continue to only be available to those students while on campus and in person. We appreciate your collaboration so that we can provide the best learning environment for each student.

📒 Transitions

During this time of year families sometimes become aware of a need to transition to another country and/or school. Please reach out to our Counselors for support with this, whether it be for references for a possible new school, getting school records or for support in the transition.

☕️ ES Virtual Parent Coffees

The Elementary School has had several Virtual Parent Coffees this year. In order to further support families, we are asking for feedback on additional topics that might be of interest for future coffees.

Please fill in the survey to help us plan

So far, the topics of previous ES Virtual Parent Coffees have been: Reading and Writing in the ES, Digital Citizenship, Introduction of the ES Coaches and how they support learning and an open session supporting each other with tips and tricks for making Hybrid and DL a success for students.

Take care!

🌎 International School Counseling Week:  February 1-5, 2021

MYTH School counselors only help the neediest students.
FACT  School counselors provide ALL students with support and standards based on school counseling core curriculum to address universal academic, career, and social/emotional development.

MYTH School counselors and other types of educators can be hired interchangeably.
FACT  Certified Professional School Counselors are uniquely trained in areas of human development, trauma, relationships, crisis response, and specific counseling techniques and theories.

MYTH School counselors have a job that is similar to a principal or administrator.
FACT  The role of an administrator can be discipline-oriented in nature. The school counselor’s role aims to be restorative, supportive, and student centered. It is not appropriate for school counselors to perform disciplinary actions or to assign consequences.

MYTH School counselors give long-term, intensive therapy for students who need it.
FACT  School counselors are trained to provide short-term, brief, solution-focused, and structured interventions for students. We refer out to a mental health professional when a student needs ongoing therapeutic services.

MYTH Guidance Counselor and School Counselor are the same thing, right?
FACT  The term “Guidance Counselor” is outdated - the position focused solely on graduation and course selection for secondary students. Today’s professional school counselors are working hard to eliminate the term.

School counselors are trained professionals who holistically focus on the academic, personal/social, and career development of all students at every age of their journey.

💙 Please see the AAS Wellness Page for resources to support your child and family.

📑 End of Semester Reporting

In our first distribution of the MS Semester 1 Report Card there was a technical issue with the colored bars and proficiency language. We were able to fix the reports and resend on Tuesday evening.

We apologize for any confusion or undue stress this might have caused families.

If you have any questions, please contact the MS Office.
 

❣️ Spirit Days

 Thursday  and  Friday 

MS students will have Pink/Red/White spirit days on Thursday and Friday this week to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

This means they do not need to come to school in uniform if they are wearing Valentine’s colors.
 

👕 School Uniform

When students are on campus, it is important that they are in school uniform.

This means blue/black/khaki trousers or a skirt and a red or white polo shirt. If it is a PE day, students should wear their PE kit to school. Now that it is winter, a quick reminder that students should bring a pair of shoes to change into from their outdoor boots.
 

❄️ Outdoors

With temperatures dipping down into the negative double digits, it is important that our students are still prepared to be outside for recess and PE.

We do still have outdoor recess and PE until the temperature is -20, which is closely monitored every day, and all students are expected to go outside (even in cold temperatures). We ask that students come prepared to be outside for both 20-minute recesses by wearing a warm coat, boots, scarf, hat, and gloves. In addition, snow pants (or two layers of trousers) are optional for recess, but are a requirement for PE class.
 

☕️ Parent Coffee - Save the Date!

 February 24 

After the break, on Wednesday, February 24 at 9:30am, we will be hosting a MS Parent Virtual Coffee. During this coffee will be talking about student wellness as well as Standards-Based Learning in the MS.

The Webex link for the virtual coffee will be sent out to all MS families on Monday, February 22.

💻 Hybrid Learning

❄️ Winter Unit

🏫 A Healthy and Safe Campus

• If a family member or student receives a COVID test result, please send this to the AAS Health Office: health.office@aas.ru
• Everyone should wash their hands regularly for at least 20 seconds
• If your child is identified as a close contact, either from being on campus or at home, they should be PCR tested as soon as possible
  • This gives prompt identification of positive cases who may be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic as these patients can still transmit the infection to others
  • This would help us identify further close contacts and help to minimize further spread
  • This allows AAS to continue to monitor any impact a positive case on our campus might have
  • Please follow our AAS COVID Response Flowchart
• Please remember to accurately complete the Daily Health Pass each morning, when we return to campus, before your child leaves for school

📝 End of Semester Reporting

👕 School Uniform

📸 School Photos

We’re happy to have students back on campus this week, and they seem to be happy to be back, as well.

If your child is having any problems adjusting to the hybrid learning schedule or routines, let me or their teachers know right away.

👨‍💻The Upside to Screen Time is a recent article from the NY Times. While the author doesn’t argue that all learning and socializing should be done digitally from now on, she does assert that our kids may be getting more positives from the online lives they’re living than we realize. If you read the article and feel like sharing your thoughts, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

💬If you would like to discuss your child for any reason, please email me, and we can set up an online meeting. 

This week the HS Counselors met with Grade 10 for a presentation on Child Protection and Healthy Boundaries. This is part of a school-wide annual approach to review our child protection policy and procedures with students in every grade.

📝 Grade 11 Parent Questionnaire

The HS Counselors have begun meeting with Grade 11 students as they complete their University Questionnaire and we begin the university planning process with them. Parents are strongly encouraged to be a part of this planning so please speak to your Grade 11 child about the questionnaire and arrange a group meeting with your child’s counselor.

You can also contribute to the university planning process by filling out the Parent Questionnaire:

Fill out the Parent Questionnaire

🏫 Last university visit for this school year

 February 24 

Navarra University (Spain)
The presentation will take place at 12:15PM on Wednesday, February 24 via WebEx.

Recordings of all university visits this year are located in Maia Learning – University Visits – under past events.

In total this year we have had, 60 universities meet with our students from more than 16 different countries.

Watch the video of Blind University Fair

📰 Article(s) of the week

Do you know what activity is an instant mood enhancer, helps you connect with others and allows you to find joy more easily?

Check out this article to learn more about How Exercise Changes Your Brain.

February break will be an excellent time to get back on track with exercise and prime your brain for more joy and connection!!!

🌎 International School Counseling Week:  February 1-5, 2021

🏫 Next week's university visits

• University of British Columbia (Canada)
• University College London (UK)

📰 Articles of the week

• When you feel like complaining try this
• How to prime your mind for optimism

💙 Please see the AAS Wellness Page for resources to support your child and family.

• what families should start thinking about;
• how AAS will help support you and your child during this important process;
• how the school and the IBO are supporting students in the IB Diploma Program during COVID;
• what changes we may see over the course of the two year program as a result.

🌎 International School Counseling Week:  February 1-5, 2021

🏫 Next week's university visits

• University of British Columbia (Canada)
• University College London (UK)

📰 Articles of the week

• When you feel like complaining try this
• How to prime your mind for optimism

💙 Please see the AAS Wellness Page for resources to support your child and family.