Archive - PTO Updates

📜  Message from The PTO President

Kristina Tadic | pto@aas.ru
 

Dear AAS community,

Have you participated in our PTO Community coffee yesterday?

It was a pleasure to meet many of you and share all the news and updates happening around the school and PTO.

School year is almost over but there are still so many things happening in PTO.

MS Socials were full succes, HS grade 9 to 11 enjoying their barbeque lunches and ES is getting ready for their Summer Field day and End of the year parties, thank you Dayra, Linda and Ines for sharing it with us. 

We discussed some serious topics, like the PTO budget for next school year, thank you Naree for the brief but still very informative and useful presentation.

The current PTO Executive team is pleased to announce that your new PTO Executive team is in place. Yesterday we had the pleasure to meet our future VP ES, Megan Theis, thank you everyone for your support and voting for Megan. Welcome on board!

We would like to thank our Ira for a live stream from Exchange sales (read more about it below in the text) and to our speakers and guests, our School Director Rhonda Norris for and Community Relations Director Vitali Verkhovski for updating us about school life, Pauline and Kirby Boychuk for presenting the transition of PTO Shop to Penguin Store, and big thank you to Yana Tucker, our senior speaker at the graduation ceremony for sharing her thoughts, plans and advices with us.

As always, we totally understand if you missed the meeting, that’s why we have recorded it!

Check it out here

Have a great day and enjoy the last days of school!
Yours,
Kristina
 

 UPDATES 

🏫  HIGH SCHOOL

Linda Corallo  |  pto.hs@aas.ru

This week we have our PTO High School BBQ lunches for grades 9, 10, and 11 to celebrate the end of the year.

Thank you to all the volunteers! We had a great response from all grades.

Have a great summer!

🏫  MIDDLE SCHOOL

Dayra Conrado  |  pto.ms@aas.ru

The grade 8 students celebrated their last social as middle schoolers last Friday.

They had a fun time playing games and just hanging out with each other. The PTO provided pizza, chicken wraps, ice cream and donuts!

This is my family's last year in Moscow and it has been my pleasure serving as PTO MS VP. I wish the students, families and staff all the best!

Safe travels wherever you may be this summer! 

📜  Message from The PTO Exchange Coordinator

Irina Elizarov  |   pto.exchange@aas.ru
 
Dear AAS community,
 
The PTO Exchange is thrilled to be back! 
 
We are a PTO community service offering a platform for swapping gently used uniforms, books and skates. Every year thousands of items find a new home with our help, serving all AAS family members.

Due to Covid restrictions, this year we were unable to operate, - until now.

We are excited to announce that we will run not one, but two services during the next week, from June 7-11:

• Uniform drop off: for those of you leaving or just wanting to send us your children's uniforms they no longer need or fit.
• Selling and swapping uniforms, in the open air and covid-free, at the South Field parking lot (entrance under the green bridge).

Read more about our events in the PTO Updates section below!

We are looking forward to seeing you all next week in covid proof environment!
 
Yours,
Irina 
 

 updates 

👕  Uniform Drop Off

Irina Elizarov  |  pto.exchange@aas.ru

 June 7 - 11, at the time of morning drop off, 8:00 - 8:30 

The PTO Exchange will be collecting your no-longer-needed uniforms. You can donate your items, or get Swap Tickets in return, for future purchases at the PTO Exchange.

• Pack your gently used uniforms clean and ironed if possible, with no holes or stains, in a taped bag
• Mark the bag with: Student name and class/grade, parent phone number/email for communication, whether or not you would like Swap Tickets in return
• Give your bag to our volunteers while dropping off your students

Swap Tickets will be waiting for you at the Exchange under the names indicated on the bags in the beginning of the next school year, after the items are quarantined and sorted.

Before packing your bags, we kindly ask you to review the AAS uniform guide and the Exchange Swap rules. All items that will not be swap-ticket-worthy, will be sent back along with the Swap tickets.

AAS uniform guide

What NOT to send
(scroll to the bottom of the page)

For more information, please contact Irina at pto.exchange@aas.ru.
 

🪙  PTO Exchange SALE 

Irina Elizarov  |  pto.exchange@aas.ru

 June 7 - 11, 9:00 - 11:00 and 14:00 - 15:30 daily 

Visit the South parking lot PTO tents.

For social distancing reasons, to visit us please sign up using the link below.

Sign Up Here

The PTO Exchange will operate daily next week, offering the AAS community to swap or purchase gently used uniform items.

Please remember to wear a mask and gloves, and sanitize your hands before and after touching uniforms.

If you have any questions, please contact Irina at pto.exchange@aas.ru.
 

🙋  Volunteers Needed

To make our PTO Exchange drop off and selling week full success we need your help.

We are looking for volunteers to help next week and we have only 2 tasks for you:

• Getting uniforms from drivers and students at the time of morning drop off, 8:00 - 8:30
• Helping to sell and sort the uniforms, either in the morning, 9:00 - 11:00 or in the afternoon, 14:00 - 15:30 

Review the slots and sign up here

Thank You!

📜  Message from The Newcomers Program Coordinator

Myrte Dijksman-Schouten  |  pto.newcomers@aas.ru
 
Dear AAS families,

The start of the Summer holiday is approaching, with only three more weeks in counting. Can you believe this…..? End of the school year means the beginning of a new one.

Do you remember how it felt to arrive in a new country and school? 

Help our newcomer families by becoming a contact they can reach out to if they need help. We will only share your contact details with our newcomer families so they may contact you if they need help. 

Click Here for more details from PTO Newcomers Coordinator, Myrte.

I wish you all a very pleasant summer break. Stay safe and healthy.  See you in the new school year 2021-2022. 
 
Kind regards, 
Myrte Dijksman-Schouten 

 updates 

☕️  PTO CONNECT

Kristina Tadic  |  pto@aas.ru

Thank you all for coming, we had so much fun together

Great weather and amazing company, who could ask for more? 

• We started the day by having our Volunteer appreciation session, where we had a chance to say a BIG thank you to our extraordinary volunteers helping out with all PTO activities throughout the year! Thank you for having a heart and serving the AAS community in an outstanding way this past year. You are simply the best!

• Later on other parents joined us, we were more than 40. It was a pleasure to look at all the smiley faces, to be part of many small talks, to hear about summer plans and for some new life adventures.

• We had special guests from Robotics club, Maximo and Vikrant, visiting our PTO Connect  to present their E-bike project. What a great idea and initiative. All the parents were interested to hear more and to support the young scientists in the pursuit for their dream.

Here is what they said after yesterday's event: “Thank you to the AAS PTO for supporting us in the ACL E-bike project! We are getting close! Help us reach our target!"

Support eBike Project 

 
Thank you all for coming and making our picnic a full success!

🛍  PTO SHOP UPDATE

Pauline van der Sman-Archer  |  pto.shop@aas.ru

• We are currently planning a transition from the PTO Shop to the School this summer.
   
• Merchandise will stay the same and may even have a wider selection.
   
•  recommendation  Order next year’s uniform this year to avoid scrambling in August.
  We can take your orders until June 1st.
   
• The link below showcases all our uniform items, as well as AAS hoodies and T-shirts.
  
  See the items here
  Note that the hoodies we have in multiple colors and sizes and the T-shirts come in Youth sizes and Adult unisex and Women’s sizes.
   
• We are also providing you the order forms for both Uniform and Spirit Wear.
  
  Uniform Order Form   Spirit Wear Order Form
   
• Please email your orders to pto.shop@aas.ru and one of our volunteers will be in touch.
   
• Payment (envelope to school) and order delivery can be made through your child's class.
   

🎓  High School Graduation

Linda Corallo  |  pto.hs@aas.ru
On Saturday May 22 we celebrated with the Class of 2021! It was a great celebration for all.

Everything was perfect including the weather.  Thanks to the Leadership Team and Ms Natasha for organizing such a fabulous day.

Congratulations to all the Seniors!

Best of luck wherever you go!

📜  Message from PTO MS VP

Dayra Conrado  |  pto.ms@aas.ru
 
Dear AAS Community,

Last Friday the grade 6 students celebrated their Spring Social!

The weather forecast had everyone a bit concerned but it turned out to be in our favor and could not have been better!

The kids had a great time dancing, playing games and just doing the basic things that middle schoolers do......hanging out and having fun while enjoying food, snacks, and drinks catered by D&D and provided by the PTO.

I would like to give a big "THANK YOU" to all the volunteers, as well as, to the Korean Community who graciously offered to treat the kids with Krispy Kreme donuts for all three socials!

This Friday will be the grade 7 social! Let's keep our fingers crossed for more great weather!

Best,
Dayra Conrado

☕️  PTO COMMUNITY COFFEE

Kristina Tadic  |  pto@aas.ru

PTO is proud to have the following amazing and enthusiastic candidates voted in for the PTO Executive Committee for 2021/22.

Candidates for Executive Committee 2021/22

⭐️ President: Celia Schweizer

⭐️ Secretary: Leyla Beck

⭐️ "Interim" Treasurer: Naree Jung

⭐️ VP Internal: Julie Michaels

⭐️ VP External: Lena Feygin

⭐️ VP High School: Kirsten Welbes

⭐️ VP Middle School: Gerdi van Twillert

⭐️ VP Elementary School  still open 
      please email your letter of interest
      till May 25 to pto@aas.ru
 

Thank you all for coming to the meeting and supporting our candidates by voting for them and allowing them to get on board for the new school year 2021/22. 

Another thank you goes to our amazing Election Committee team: Ines Cremers, Alison Abovsky, Tiiu Pedaja, Julia Held. 

The biggest thank you goes to our candidates, now PTO officers for 2021/22. You made the right decision and the AAS community is thankful to you and your efforts to help and support building a strong, caring and positive community! Good luck! 

In case you have missed the meeting please follow the link below.

Watch PTO Community Coffee Recording

 invitation to vote 

🪙  PTO ENHANCEMENT GRANT PROGRAM

Irina Elizarov | pto.grant@aas.ru

We are pleased to announce that we closed the Spring Round of PTO Enhancement Grant Program for the year 2020-2021.

We have one Grant proposal that has been approved by the PTO Executive Committee and AAS Administration and presented to the whole AAS community at the PTO Community Coffee on May 18.

Learn about ESports Event Support

• A personal email was sent yesterday to all the AAS PTO members, inviting you  to vote on the Enhancement Grant Proposal (ESports Event Support).
   
• If you haven't received it, please check your Spam folder, and if you don't find it there, contact us at pto.grant@aas.ru.
   
• Results of e-voting will be announced in the newsletter and at the PTO Community Coffee in June.

If you have any questions please email pto@aas.ru.

 congratulations 

🎓  High School Graduation

Linda Corallo  |  pto.hs@aas.ru
 
Exciting week for our High School Seniors!

Thursday they’re off to celebrate Prom on the Radisson boat cruise and on Saturday they will have their graduation ceremony.

Looking forward to a lovely day with plenty to celebrate.

Congratulations Class of 2021! You did it!

Look for photos in next week's newsletter.

📜  Message from PTO Election Committee

Dear Community,
 
PTO is proud to have the following amazing and enthusiastic candidates ready to join PTO Executive Committee for 2021/22.

For more information about the candidate, please click on the link behind the candidates name. The link contains the "letter of Interest".

Candidates Executive Committee 2021/22

President Celia Schweizer

Secretary Leyla Beck

 interim  Treasurer Naree Jung

VP Internal Julie Michaels

VP External Lena Feygin

VP High School Kirsten Welbes

VP Middle School Gerdi van Twillert

VP Elementary School  open
(if you are interested please email Ines Cremers, pto.es@aas.ru)

Join PTO next week Tuesday, May 18 at 10:00, for the Monthly Community Coffee. You will have the opportunity to meet the candidates as they will introduce themselves.

Positions with only one candidate are approved at the meeting, while positions with multiple candidates will be submitted for e-voting. The Results will be published on May 19 or in case of e-voting on June 2.

Thank you,
Election Committee

☕️  PTO COMMUNITY COFFEE

 May 18, 10:00 
Kristina Tadic  |  pto@aas.ru

Do you want to meet our PTO Executive Committee for 2020/21? 

• Just click below and find out all about our candidates and have your vote!

Join Community Coffee

• Join us for our official monthly meeting on May 18, 10:00 via WebEx
• Meet our candidates for PTO 2021/22, hear from students, school leadership and PTO, vote for our enhancement grant proposals and much more 

See the Agenda
 

🪙  PTO ENHANCEMENT GRANT PROGRAM

Irina Elizarov | pto.grant@aas.ru

We are pleased to announce that we closed the Spring Round of PTO Enhancement Grant Program for the year 2020-2021.

We have one Grant proposal that has been approved by the PTO Executive Committee and AAS Administration.

Learn about ESports Event Support

• The application will be presented at the PTO Community Coffee on May, 18.
• Electronic voting will take place following the meeting, you will receive a separate email asking you to vote.
• Results will be announced in the newsletter and at the PTO General meeting in June.

If you have any questions please email pto@aas.ru.

📜  Message from PTO President

Kristina Tadic |  pto@aas.ru

Dear AAS friends,

Today I would like you to meet Melisa Erdem, a Year 12 student at our fellow school, ISM! Melisa served on the Students Council and is a high achiever in all her studies.

Sadly, in 2017 Melisa fell ill and suffered heart failure. Doctors are advising that she needs a heart transplant in the next six months. Operations such as this are long, complicated and extremely expensive.

Please consider helping Melissa and her family reach the 1,100,000 Euros goal allowing her to undergo this life saving surgery.

DONATE TO MELISSA’S HEART TRANSPLANT

Melissa needs our help NOW!

The AAS Community has always shown its big heart, let's prove it one more time, together!

Thank you all in advance for your support, your big heart and readiness to help when it's needed the most! 
 
Yours,
Kristina

🙏  PTO Vacancies for 2021/22  sign up window closed! 

PTO would like to thank our Election committee for their excellent work, finding amazing and enthusiastic candidates ready to join PTO Executive Committee for 2021/22.

Big THANK YOU goes to

• Alison Abovsky
• Ines Cremers
• Julia Held
• Tiiu Pedaja
   

Election timeline and process details

• May 11 - PTO Executive Committee will approve all the candidates.
• May 12 - The candidates list will be published in the AAS Weekly Newsletter.
• May 18 - The Executive Committee presents the candidate list at the monthly Community Coffee. Positions with only one candidate are approved at the meeting, while positions with multiple candidates will be submitted for e-voting.
• Results will be published on May 19 or in case of e-voting on June 2.

📜  Message from PTO VP ES

Ines Cremers |  pto.es@aas.ru

Dear Community,

Today at PTO Connect one of the topics of conversation was "if your family is moving, where are you moving to?"

This summer our family is leaving after 4 great years in Moscow. We will go back to our home country, the Netherlands.

And when you know moving is around the corner, you start counting how many more weeks to enjoy Moscow. How many more weeks for my kids to go to school? I realized there are only 7 more weeks of school left.

In Elementary School we are planning, together with ES leadership, to have some fun events these last 7 weeks. Such as 5 Grade PYP Exhibitions "Picnic Celebration", Summer field day with ice-cream & End-of-year- parties!

Thanks to ES Class parents these events will be organised, enjoyable and a succes.

Wishing families who are moving too, good luck. And for families who are staying, enjoy Moscow and consider the rewarding task of being a volunteer for PTO school year 2021-2022.

Warm wishes,
Ines Cremers
 

 updates 
 

🚀  PTO CONNECT UPDATE

Kristina Tadic  |  pto@aas.ru

• The weather made us change the location of the meeting but for sure it didn’t change our mood, we spent an hour of fun, chatting and supporting each other 
• THANK YOU for jumping into PTO WebEx and sharing your thoughts, suggestions and concerns
• We have agreed on having a happy hour for parents next week while our students are engaged in DL, follow up our Whatsapp groups for more info soon
  
   

🛍  PTO SHOP UPDATE

Pauline van der Sman-Archer  |  pto.shop@aas.ru

It is hard to believe that the end of the school year is only two months away. For many families that may mean planning for changes and saying goodbye to friends. Hopefully it also means planning for summer holiday trips! At any rate, the summer season will provide good weather and more outside time, which will be a welcome change for us all.

The PTO Shop volunteers want to thank you for your continued support for the PTO by buying uniform and spirit wear items throughout this year. We have had to be creative in getting the merchandise to you, and in many cases we exchanged multiple emails with you to make sure you were getting the merchandise you had in mind. So, thank you for your patience and flexibility.

We want to invite you to think ahead and consider getting uniform pieces now for the next school year. It will likely reduce stress for you and for the PTO Shop volunteers alike in August if your kids are ready to go to school in the proper uniform so there is no last minute scramble.

• You may wish to buy one or even 2 sizes up. You can place your orders before June 1st allowing us enough time to get the order to you.
• You may also want to get some AAS Penguin Spirit hoodies, t-shirts, bags, mugs, either for yourself or for presents for others.
• The link below showcases all our uniform items, as well as AAS hoodies and T-shirts.
  
  See the items here
  Note that the hoodies we have in multiple colors and sizes and the T-shirts come in Youth sizes and Adult unisex and Women’s sizes.
   
• We are also providing you the order forms for both Uniform and Spirit Wear.
  
  Uniform Order Form   Spirit Wear Order Form
   
• Please email us at pto.shop@aas.ru to ask questions and/or place your order.

Again, thank you for all your support throughout the year and we wish you and your family a wonderful summer.
 

📜  Message from PTO President

Kristina Tadic |  pto@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,

Happy snowy Wednesday to all of you! 

Yesterday was another interesting day in PTO, we held our monthly PTO Community Coffee. Have you joined us? 

As always, I would like to thank all of you for engaging, and for your continued support. 

Thank you goes to all our speakers, we were happy to hear the words from our Director Rhonda Norris, from our Community Relations Director Vitaly Verkhovski and from our PTO officers.

ES Student Council rewarded us with great presentations of what they are doing. We have learnt that the council has 6 different, very active committees and our students are committed to their work and their constitution. They reminded us about the Earth Day on 22nd of April, and they shared with us how we can help:

1. Support your children as they consider Earth Day clothing options or accessories
    
2. Choose some activities for you to help out on Earth Day
    
3.  Respond to the Survey

In case you have missed our meeting, click on the link below, grab a coffee, find a comfortable chair and enjoy yesterday's meeting!

Watch the PTO Community Coffee

Looking forward to seeing you all next week, it’s PTO CONNECT time!

Yours,
Kristina.

 announcements 

☝️  PTO Vacancies for 2021/22

 April 30 

Are you thinking about joining the PTO Executive Committee for the SY 2021-22? Submit your statement of interest by April 30!

• Joining the Executive Committee is a great way to increase your connection to the school and contribute to building our AAS community. Please consider joining the Executive Committee and encourage other parents to do so as well. You are welcome to contact any of the current Executive Committee members for more information about the roles or email your queries to pto@aas.ru.
• The time commitment varies by role, with all members participating in a monthly Executive Committee and Community Coffee meetings.
• There is a "How To" guide for each position available to help get you started.
• All AAS parents are equally welcome to join the Executive Committee. 

The following positions need to be filled

• President
• Vice President - Internal Affairs
• Vice President - External Affairs
• Vice President ES
• Vice President MS
• Vice President HS
• Treasurer
• Committee Secretary 

Brief Description of Positions

Statement of Interest

Election timeline and process details

• March 17 - Elective Committee has been established (4 PTO Members) and starts with its work
• April 30 - Deadline to submit a Statement of Interest to pto@aas.ru
• May 5 & 12 - The candidate list is published in the AAS weekly newsletter
• May 18 - The Executive Committee presents the candidate list at the monthly Community Coffee.
• Positions with only one candidate are approved at the meeting, while positions with multiple candidates will be submitted for e-voting.
• Results will be published on May 19 or in case of e-voting on June 2.

📜  MESSAGE FROM THE USED BOOK FAIR COORDINATOR

Alexandra Giannakopoulou |  pto@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,
 
Hope you had a relaxing Spring Break, no doubt spending some of it reading the ‘new to you’ books that you choose at the PTO Used Book Fair!! What a great event the Used Book Fair was this year!!
 
There are so many people to thank...

Of course all the PTO and parent volunteers who took the time to come into school to help organise the books, display them throughout the school and tidy up at the end of the event, such a happy and enthusiastic group of people to work with! Thank you so much!

The amazing Green Team, who delivered the books to each display area, collected the boxes of books at the end of the event, put the tables out and helped to load up the books we had set aside for local donations, your efficiency and cooperation made the whole event run smoothly! Большое спасибо!

All the teachers who took their classes out to visit the displays and drum up excitement about the Used Book Fair; we are so grateful you made time in your schedules to support this event!

And thank you to the wonderful Communication Department for their amazing posters, letting the whole school know about the event!

Over the 2 days the AAS community donated 130,000 Rub! Unbelievable! These funds will go towards future PTO events, that keep our school community such a happy, thriving place to learn in!

Well done everyone and happy reading!

Yours,
Alex.

 announcements 

☝️  PTO Vacancies for 2021/22

 April 20 

Are you thinking about joining the PTO Executive Committee for the SY 2021-22? Submit your statement of interest by April 20!

• Joining the Executive Committee is a great way to increase your connection to the school and contribute to building our AAS community. Please consider joining the Executive Committee and encourage other parents to do so as well. You are welcome to contact any of the current Executive Committee members for more information about the roles or email your queries to pto@aas.ru.
• The time commitment varies by role, with all members participating in a monthly Executive Committee and Community Coffee meetings.
• There is a "How To" guide for each position available to help get you started.
• All AAS parents are equally welcome to join the Executive Committee. 

The following positions need to be filled

• President
• Vice President - Internal Affairs
• Vice President - External Affairs
• Vice President ES
• Vice President MS
• Vice President HS
• Treasurer
• Committee Secretary 

Brief Description of Positions

Statement of Interest
 

🪙  PTO Enhancement Grants Program!

Open till  April 18 
Irina Elizarov | pto.grant@aas.ru

• We are pleased to announce that the PTO Enhancement Grant Program is once again open!
• Deadline for applying is April 18th, 2021.
• We are looking for submissions from parents, students, or staff that will positively impact learning at AAS. 

Example Proposal   Submit a grant proposal

If you have any questions, contact Irina.

📜  MESSAGE FROM THE VP MS

Dayra Conrado |  pto.ms@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,
 
It has been a great start of the week! On Monday the PTO had the great pleasure of welcoming back our MS and HS students with ice cream treats! Linda Corallo (PTO HS VP) and I had so much fun handling out the icy treats that we completely forgot to take some photos but there were definitely some happy eyes and many “thank yous” from our amazingly, resilient students!
 
It's hard to believe that in just a few months the school year will be over! Now with school back on full campus and better weather that will allows us to be outdoors, we are excited to hopefully be able to bring back some of our end of year events!
 
We wish you a safe and enjoyable Spring Break! 
 
Stay healthy and stay tuned!
 
All the best,
Dayra Conrado
 

Used Book Fair

Alexandra Giannakopoulou  |  pto@aas.ru

Hooray!

The PTO Annual Used Book Fair is happening this week: April 1st and 2nd! We are all so excited and hope you are too!

As with so many other activities, the book fair will look a little different this year... We won’t be able to do a book swap, or accept Book Bucks, but with your voluntary donation of  200 Rub , each student takes home up to 5 ‘new to you’ books!

Envelopes were sent home on Monday with all ES students, which can be returned with your donation. All MS and HS students were informed about the fair too, and posters are displayed around the school! 

Display tables have already been set up around school just waiting for students to come and choose their favourites!

When
  April 1 and April 2

Why
  Reading is Great!

All the money raised will go towards more fun PTO events!

Yours,
Alex

🗓 PTO CALENDAR | Mark Your Agendas

We are happy to offer to our community more opportunities to get together, virtually or in person in safe environment. Browse our events, activities and clubs, decide what you like and join us.

📸  Used Book Fair

 April 1 & April 2 
 

☕️  PTO Community Coffee

 April 20 
 

🚀  PTO Connect

 April 27 
 

📷  Photo-Walk with Ekaterina Dashkovskaya

 April 28 
 

🦋  PTO Social Clubs

 April 

•  NEW  Book club | Julie Michaels | + 7 985 765 54 35
  We have chosen our April book, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. 
  Message Julie if you want to join in the discussion!
  Discussion will be mid-April (exact date TBD).
  The discussion location will be the Metropol Hotel, where the entire novel takes place. 
   
• We Talk A Lot | Michaela Rezkova
  +7 905 586-01-53
   
• Walking / Cross Country Skiing Club | Irina Elizarov
   
• Tennis club | Michele Kuhlen

📜  MESSAGE FROM THE PTO USED BOOK FAIR COORDINATOR

Alexandra Giannakopoulou  |  pto@aas.ru

Dear AAS community,

Let's get some Penguin Spirit going, it's PTO’s Annual Used Book Fair!

MS/HS Theme
  Chill out and Read a Good Book!

ES Theme
  Waddle You Read Today?

When
  Just over a week away, on April 1st 2nd!

Where
  A corridor near you!

How
  Bring in a voluntary donation of minimum  200 rubles  and choose up to 5 'new to you' books!

Why
  Reading is Great! 

All the money raised will go towards more fun PTO events! Further details will be sent home next week! 

Yours,
Alex

 announcements 

☝️  PTO Vacancies for 2021/22

 April 20 

Are you thinking about joining the PTO Executive Committee for the SY 2021-22? Submit your statement of interest by April 20!

Joining the Executive Committee is a great way to increase your connection to the school and contribute to building our AAS community. Please consider joining the Executive Committee and encourage other parents to do so as well. You are welcome to contact any of the current Executive Committee members for more information about the roles or email your queries to pto@aas.ru. 

The time commitment varies by role, with all members participating in a monthly Executive Committee and Community Coffee meetings.

There is a "How To" guide for each position available to help get you started.

All AAS parents are equally welcome to join the Executive Committee. 

The following positions need to be filled

• President
• Vice President - Internal Affairs
• Vice President - External Affairs
• Vice President ES
• Vice President MS
• Vice President HS
• Treasurer,
• Committee Secretary 

Brief Description of Positions

Statement of Interest

Election timeline and process details

• March 17 - Elective Committee has been established (4 PTO Members) and starts with its work
• April 20 - Deadline to submit a Statement of Interest to pto@aas.ru
• May 5 & 12 - The candidate list is published in the AAS weekly newsletter
• May 18 - The Executive Committee presents the candidate list at the monthly Community Coffee.
• Positions with only one candidate are approved at the meeting, while positions with multiple candidates will be submitted for e-voting.
• Results will be published on May 19 or in case of e-voting on June 2.

📜  MESSAGE FROM THE PTO VP HS

Linda Corallo | pto.hs@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,
 
With Spring just around the corner, I cannot believe that we have completed a full year of this Covid world. Our school will be back to full campus learning, the snow will be gone, the sun will shine brighter and there is a hint of things getting back to normal. It's time to celebrate - with masks on. The AAS community has proven that in difficult times, we are all here for each other.

It's now time to give a big shout out to all of the HS students.

I would like to take this opportunity to say Well Done! They have proven that when things get tough -they get tougher. We congratulate you on how quickly you adjusted to the new changes this school year. They no longer were in class full time, no longer travelling to represent AAS and no longer meeting up with their friends or meeting new ones. This would be challenging for anybody.
 
Last week the grade 12 students had their Mock exams and I had the opportunity to see them hard at work. The PTO provided a few snacks and a bit of encouraging words. It was a tough week for them but they came out of it with their heads high.

To the Class of 2021.

You have all set a fine example for all the students who will follow you. After this year, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Good Luck! Seniors - You're almost done.

All the best,
Linda Corallo.

 announcements 

🪙  PTO Enhancement Grants Now Open!

 April 18 
Irina Elizarov | pto.grant@aas.ru

We are pleased to announce that the PTO Enhancement Grant Program is once again open!

Deadline for applying is April 18th, 2021.

We are looking for submissions from parents, students, or staff that will positively impact learning at AAS. 

Examples of previous Enhancement Grants   Submit a grant proposal

If you have any questions, contact Irina.
 

☝️  PTO Vacancies for 2021/22

 April 20 

Are you thinking about joining the PTO Executive Committee for the SY 2021-22? Submit your statement of interest by April 20!

Joining the Executive Committee is a great way to increase your connection to the school and contribute to building our AAS community. Please consider joining the Executive Committee and encourage other parents to do so as well. You are welcome to contact any of the current Executive Committee members for more information about the roles or email your queries to pto@aas.ru. 

The time commitment varies by role, with all members participating in a monthly Executive Committee and Community Coffee meetings.

There is a "How To" guide for each position available to help get you started.

All AAS parents are equally welcome to join the Executive Committee. 

The following positions need to be filled

• President
• Vice President - Internal Affairs
• Vice President - External Affairs
• Vice President ES
• Vice President MS
• Vice President HS
• Treasurer,
• Committee Secretary 

Brief Description of Positions

Statement of Interest

Election timeline and process details

• March 17 - Elective Committee has been established (4 PTO Members) and starts with its work
• April 20 - Deadline to submit a Statement of Interest to pto@aas.ru
• May 5 & 12 - The candidate list is published in the AAS weekly newsletter
• May 18 - The Executive Committee presents the candidate list at the monthly Community Coffee.
• Positions with only one candidate are approved at the meeting, while positions with multiple candidates will be submitted for e-voting.
• Results will be published on May 19 or in case of e-voting on June 2.

 updates 

📘  PTO Community Coffee Update

Kristina Tadic | PTO President

THANK YOU all for your virtual visit to our March Community Coffee meeting!

• We have celebrated Maslenitsa by having Pancake Master class run by amazing ES chefs: Aatos, Min Joon, and Abigail from grades 3 - 5. In case you want to try to make this amazing Russian ‘blini’, please follow the recipe here, and if you want to feel the atmosphere of our master class check the photos below 
• Studio 4 was another interesting live stream, it was a pleasure to see how one of PTO enhancement grants came to life, and we have learnt so much from our ES students 
• It was again, an hour full of news, updates, useful  information, students presentations, leadership updates and PTO events and activities
• Special thank you goes to our:
• ES students for sharing their knowledge, enthusiasm and passion with us, 
• Director Rhonda Norris for joining us and talking to us about latest news, modified full on campus learning path, 
• Alex, Used Book fair coordinator and Irina, Enhancement grants coordinator, for joining and sharing their projects with us 
• Kari from Cafeteria, for his excellent job in preparing all we needed for our Pancake Master Class, not that we had all ingredients and equipment, he also put a special touch in decorating the table in style of Russian Holiday Maslenitsa 
• Community Relation Department, Vitali, Ilya, Julia and Nastya, without you this meeting would not be possible
• In case you missed the meeting, please check it here, and make sure you join us next time, on April 20th 

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO VP SECRETARY

Celia Schweizer | pto.secretary@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,

Happy spring! The days are getting longer and the sun has been shining quite a bit in recent weeks. I had to dig out my sunglasses for the first time in months!

I hope everyone had a lovely International Women’s Day. My family took advantage of the extra time this past weekend to further explore Moscow and enjoy the sunny weather. We just moved to Moscow in August and we still feel like “tourists” because we want to spend all our free time exploring the city and all it has to offer (in COVID-safe ways, of course!) For example, on International Women’s Day we visited the moose and deer at the Elk Biological Station, also known as “Elk Island,” which is located at Losiny Ostrov National Park. We had a lot of fun feeding – and in some cases petting! – the animals and hiking through the nearby national forest.

Like proper tourists, we took a lot of great photos during the outing. I am not a skilled photographer so I am looking forward to the March PTO Connect, which will feature photography tips and tricks from professional photographer, Ekaterina Dashkovskaya. I can’t wait to learn more about the best apps for editing photos on my phone so I can do justice to all the interesting and beautiful sites we’re visiting in Moscow.
 
Please join the PTO at our upcoming Community Coffee on March 16 and PTO Connect on March 30.
 
Warm Regards,
Celia Schweizer
 

 updates 

📘  HS UPDATE

Linda Corallo | HS VP  |  pto.hs@aas.ru

Good Luck to the Seniors and their Mock Exams this week!

The PTO is making sure our seniors are hydrated and fed and ready to go!

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO VP INTERNAL

Pauline van der Sman-Archer | pto.internal@aas.ru

Dear AAS Community,

“To Spring or not to Spring?”

That has been a question in our house this week. Early last week it was still -20C and now it’s above 0C, so maybe, just maybe, Spring may be on its way? We started to dare and hope for warmer days now. Funny enough, all 6 of us were enjoying the cold, snowy winter with all the skating, sledding,  skiing and walking across the frozen Moscow Canal until last week. But now that we have had some warmer temperatures, all of a sudden we have lost all patience with winter and want it to be Spring immediately. I realized that in our family, Spring fever combined with complete Covid fatigue may mean some more challenges in keeping the children motivated and focussed and, above all, positive. And to be honest, not just the children in our house, but also my husband and I may need to try harder to stay patient while waiting for both the Spring and some normalcy to return.

Perhaps your family experiences the same. We certainly have our days where it’s not so easy to stay positive. For me, staying busy is the only effective way to make sure I have enough energy to keep my kids ‘on track’. If you feel like staying busy is helpful, but you are not sure what to do during this time, please consider joining any of the new PTO Clubs. If you joined the last couple of PTO Coffees where the brainstorming evolved into several concrete new clubs, this is not news. But for those of you who haven’t been able to join, please consider the new Walking/Cross Country PTO group, the Book Club, the Cooking Club, the Lunch/Explore Moscow Club, the Tennis Club. Joining doesn’t involve more than showing up and having a good time doing whatever activity the group is dedicated to do. These are the groups already active, but of course if you have some more ideas, please join us at the next PTO Community Coffee or PTO Connect.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Best regards,
Pauline van der Sman-Archer

PS: if it starts freezing again and you are slipping and sliding on your daily walks, please email us at pto.shop@aas.ru to get a pair of amazing WhiteWalker spikes!

 updates 

📘  HS UPDATE

Linda Corallo | HS VP  |  pto.hs@aas.ru

• All our HS students enjoyed a Valentine’s Day treat last week!

• Good Luck to all grade 12 on their Mock Exams next week!
  PTO will provide snacks and drinks to all the students for their exams
   

📗  MS UPDATE

Dayra Conrado | MS VP | pto.ms@aas.ru

Once again, it was great to surprise the MS students with a special Valentine’s Day treat bag last week!

A bit late, but as they say, “better late than never.”

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO TREASURER

Naree Jung | pto.treasurer@aas.ru

Welcome back AAS community!

I hope that each of you had a safe & relaxing break and enjoyed time with family. I’d like to share with you my trip during the spring break.

After my Sputnik vaccination, my family and I hopped on the plane to Murmansk to catch Northern lights and see the Arctic ocean. Murmansk is approximately 1500 km away from Moscow, located in northwestern Russia, at the end of a deep bay off the Barents sea and is famous for Northern light hunt and exploring Tundra region and experiencing extremely cold weather. This is the first trip since Covid 19 outbreak  and we were so excited and nervous at the same time. Life has changed after Covid 19 and we all learned to cope with new normal. We are now used to wearing masks and taking temperatures wherever we go.

During our trip to Murmansk, one of the highlights is exploring Teriberka – Arctic Ocean and the edge of the world. Just seeing splendid sceneries through the tundra on our way to the shore and looking at breathtaking view of the Arctic ocean in the end, this mother nature seemed to show me and tell me there is always HOPE which provides a positive vision for the future about what’s possible, motivating us to look forward. Life is like the ocean. It can be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful. At home, school and work, we all go through the darkest times in our life and yet we are able to endure all these difficult patches because we have HOPE. To have HOPE, we feel a sense of meaning in our lives. When we believe in HOPE, Courage, and Confidence, and come in together with joint hands, we are going to win our lives downfalls.  

And don’t forget that PTO is always here for you. If you want to share your hopes with us, feel free to come and connect with us.

Warmly,
Naree

 updates 

☕️  PTO CONNECT UPDATE

Kristina Tadic | PTO President

Yesterday we spent an hour together in pleasant conversation, talking about PTO social clubs, PTO shop, sharing ideas and simply enjoying each other company

• Special surprise was a live stream from our PTO shop, thank you Pauline and Ines for making our day yesterday :). It was amazing to see our school, PTO shop, blue Lounge, PTO Exchange, although it was only on the screen, it felt quite real. We will work on more life streaming in the future, as we realized how important it is for all of us to stay connected with the school and how precious this short but sweet experience was for our new parents who didn’t have a chance to see our school so far
• Special thank you goes to our Social Club Leaders for joining us and presenting their clubs, motivating and inspiring all the parents to join and engage
• The final thank you goes to all of you who joined us yesterday, for your time and your engagement, thank you for having your cameras on :) and thank you for sharing your views and ideas

Looking forward to seeing you at our next PTO connect in March!

📚  HS UPDATE

Linda Corallo | HS VP  |  pto.hs@aas.ru

Before the February break the PTO helped celebrate the grade 12 seniors on completion of their extended essay.

Every year we celebrate with cake and a personalized pen and this year was no different. 
The seniors got together, along with Mr and Mrs Sonderman, and enjoyed some cake and cupcakes.

Don’t forget to ask your child to see the pen!

If your child was absent they can pick up their pen in the IB office with Ms Natasha.

Well Done Seniors!!

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO VP ES

Ines Cremers | pto.es@aas.ru

Courage

Courage is the word we have seen, read and heard a lot about this school year, it is one of the core values in AAS.

☕️ PTO COMMUNITY COFFEE UPDATE

Kristina Tadic | PTO President

February 9, 10-11am, an hour full of news, updates, useful information, students presentations, leadership updates and PTO events and activities.
If you missed it, watch it here

• Special thank you goes to our HS students and to Vitali for inviting them, to our Director Rhonda Norris for joining us and reminding us about Directors Connection happening Thursday, February 11 at 6.30pm (please make sure you join us!), and to PTO team, always ready to present new activities and update us on what PTO was up to lately!
   
• From our HS students we had a chance to learn about Global Health activities, please follow on Instagram for more info, and we have finished the meeting with a spectacular presentation by HS students, presenting to us the whole Penguin Life Leadership program. They were amazing and we wish them luck at the Leadership academy this Friday!
   
• For some fun, we played Valentine's Scavenger hunt (in 30 sec, find 5 objects that remind you of St Valentine's day, take a photo of them and send it to us) and some parents were quick and  lucky enough to win our new PTO mug!

• pens I will give my kids as a part of their Valentine’s Day treats baskets
• chocolates
• orchid bloom
• lipstick in “Russian Red”
• AAS mug with hearts
  
  

• We are also proud to announce that our New resolution board is ready, thank you Community Relation department for creating it for us! PTO is committed to work on it hard, providing you with tips, ideas, support and lessons to help you achieve your goals and celebrate together with you!
  
  

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO VP ES

 update 

👋 PTO NEWCOMERS PROGRAM

Newcomers Coordinator Myrte Dijksman-Schouten | pto.newcomers@aas.ru

Yesterday, the PTO together with Allison Abovsky and myself organised a seminar about “Life in Moscow”, for new families and all other interested attendees.

• We have discussed all kinds of local (online) shopping facilities/places to go for leisure, to organise birthday parties and to buy birthday gadgets/local services like Yandex and US Dental Care
• In case you missed it, feel free to watch the recorded version via this link Life in Moscow Seminar
• The knowledge about the topics described is coming from “worth of mouth” and from Alison’s own experience. 
• It would be helpful if you could send us your advices and suggestions to pto.newcomers@aas.com

Parents attending the seminar had a suggestion on publishing all locations where people can get COVID tests and vaccines. We currently are still working on this topic, but we are confident it will be published next week.

We use this opportunity to thank all of you who joined us and to say big THANK YOU to Alison for spending her time with us and sharing all her great knowledge about Moscow and its life.

 update 

🛍 PTO SHOP

Pauline van der Sman-Archer
VP INTERNAL & acting PTO Shop Manager 

Although the PTO Shop is closed on campus, we continue to be busy filling uniform and hoody orders and getting the merchandise to new and returning customers!

This week we started selling 2020-2021 PTO mugs designed by Soheun Lee, 7th Grade student who won the design competition. 
The mugs are very well priced at only  250RUB  per mug!

There is a limited supply! place your order

📜 MESSAGE FROM THE PTO PRESIDENT

❣️ ‘Fabulous Day!
We need to do it again!’
L.C.

❣️ ‘One of the best moments in 2021!

Food was so good and our guest, chef Richard,

was super nice. It was like

watching Food Network live!’
N.J.

❣️ ‘It was fun to watch an authentic

Mexican cook demonstrate delicious-looking

recipes while chatting with friends over Webex.’
A.A.

❣️ ‘Thank you, I enjoyed it!

The cooking class inspired me

to try new recipes at home and

I also had a fun time with other parents.’
S.E.

❣️ I loved the Mexican Cooking Class,

organised by the PTO! Thank you

for supporting my New Year Resolution - ‘

to try a new recipe every week’! 
I.C.

 

Above are just a few of many positive reactions and feedbacks on our yesterday's PTO Connect meeting. We had the pleasure of seeing Richard Virgil, owner of Latin soul and trade, in action, preparing authentic Mexican food and passionately talking about the tradition, food, spices etc.

It was an amazing hour and a half of pure fun and joy, we appreciated time spent together and at the same time learning more about great Mexican cuisine and updating our recipe book with some new, interesting and colorful dishes.

Big thank you goes to all of you joining us, to our MS VP Dayra Conrado for organizing it and to Richard Virgil for visiting us and sharing his passion and excitement with us.

You missed it? No worries, here is the link, watch and enjoy and make sure you join us next time!

Yours,
Kristina

 N E W 
👋 PTO NEWCOMERS PROGRAM
LIFE IN MOSCOW

Newcomers Coordinator Myrte Dijksman-Schouten | pto.newcomers@aas.ru

• 2nd of February, 10am | https://aas.webex.com/meet/pto
• Join us for 1,5h of useful insights about Moscow - where, what, how, why... and many other questions will be answered by our personal insider Alison Abovksy
• Seminar is mainly organised for our New Families, but everyone is welcome to join

MESSAGE FROM THE PTO PRESIDENT

MESSAGE FROM THE PTO NEWCOMERS' COORDINATOR 

• Click here for the New Families Facebook Page. In order to become a member of this site, you have to reply to a security question. After giving the answer, you will get access. 
• Newcomers’ What's app group 2020-2021. Please send your mobile phone number (-s) to Myrte at pto.newcomers@aas.ru. 
• Series of welcome events and weekly orientation seminars organized by the school and the PTO, more info to follow 
• The PTO runs an amended set of social events, “COVID proof”. We announce them on our Newcomers Facebook page/ via the What's app group/ in the AAS Newsletter. It offers a nice way to get relevant information and to stay connected.
• This coming Thursday, January 14 at 9 am Moscow time, AAS community relations will run an information session. It will be a Webex Meeting, which you could join after downloading the Webex Meeting App. JOIN HERE!