Dear Students and Parents,
Congratulations SAISA athletes! Our Boys Basketball Team came in 7th, our Girls Soccer Team came in 3rd and our Track and Field Team came in 3rd as well. Speaking of Track and Field, this season our Raptors broke 14 school records! Wow!
Many thanks to NHS for their recent trip to the old age home called Little Sisters of Poor. The Music Club, Strings Club and Art Sustains team joined NHS. Together they delivered more than 100 kg of rice, 50 kg of dahl and various other groceries. They also organized a music show, taught the residents origami and created hand drawn images as gifts. Everyone enjoyed the visit!
Also this week, one of our students, Serin Kim, was recognized by Paul Salopek for her contribution to the Out of Eden Learn project. Over one hundred students participated in the project and Paul chose Serin as one of a handful to highlight. In the project Serin wrote instructions in Spanish illustrating how to make parathas and also made a video of a local vendor making them in Chennai. Privacy settings prohibit us from sharing the link to her post but you can view her video here and can read Paul’s comment below! He congratulates Serin for “a beautiful contribution to the gallery of close looking” and celebrates her video for capturing a meaningful moment of local life! Well done Serin!
Parent Coffee - Presentation Available
Many thanks to the parents who attended our final Parent Coffee of the year. The counselors did a wonderful job sharing the Student Lifestyle Survey data and we all found the resulting conversations helpful. If you missed the coffee and would like to view the presentation, click here.
Mindfulness for Moms - Second Session Coming Up
Ms. McGlamery will lead our second session on May 12th in the SHED. These sessions will be experiential in nature and will allow attendees to cultivate their own practice while offering the exercises to their children as well. Moms from all divisions are welcome to attend. Dads, of course, are welcome too!
Virtual Learning Day - May 16th
As Mr. Hoover indicated in his notes last week, we will run a Virtual Learning Day (VLD) on May 16th in observance of the elections. As with other VLDs, students will receive an email from the school opening the day at 8:30 am. They are expected to check the Moodle pages of blocks EFGH to see their assignments. Students should budget their time accordingly and are able to work on all of their assignments as they see fit throughout the school day. They will receive an additional email at 3:30 pm announcing the close of the day.
Teachers will host “office hours” during their regularly scheduled classes to help and support students. Students confused about assignments or in need of help are encouraged to email their teachers or avail of whatever application teachers will utilize during office hours (e.g.: Google Hangouts).
Should students find that they do not have the internet available to them when they wake up on May 16th, they are encouraged to call the school. In turn, we will help them determine if they should wait and make up the work upon their return to school or if an alternative paper assignment can be prepared for pick up. This will be handled on a case by case basis.
aischennai.org Migration - Repeat Announcement
Next Thursday all students and teachers will be migrated over to our new domain for Google Apps. We are shedding @aisch.org and adopting @aischennai.org for all of our digital tools. The links to our website and skyward will change along with student email addresses. The change is largely seamless for users, however, some external accounts such as Managebac and Naviance will retain the @aisch.org login for the next month before we switch those over as well. For a comprehensive analysis of the different tools see this document.
Food Service Update - A Message from Mr. Hicks
The heat is on! Taj Madras Flight Kitchen is now serving fresh Mango with Vanilla Ice Cream (rs.110). The sales of kebabs are high and people are enjoying those as a recent addition to the iHub offerings. We are considering new varieties of salads and sandwiches to be served in the iHub and ES Cafeteria. Starting May 2nd, please help us gather ideas for new salads and sandwiches by dropping your favorite recipes in the box provided on top of the counter in the iHub. We will collect those through May 16. Thanks for your help here.
Food services at AISC are always looking for ways to improve. Should you have questions, suggestions or concerns, please contact Catering Manager (antony.rex@tajhotels.com), Elementary Associate Principal Lori Newman (nlori@aisch.org) or Secondary Associate Principal Jason Hicks (hjason@aisch.org). If you have not had the chance to have a meal in the IHub or Main Cafeteria, please join us. We would love to hear your feedback about the food at AISC.
Summer Program Information Available - From the Counseling Office
Believe it or not, it is time to start thinking about how you might spend time this summer. While summer provides a great opportunity to relax and recharge, it is also a great time to participate in an activities that will enrich you in some way. Many summer programs are available around the world for students your age and any of these programs have applications that are due earlier than you might expect. If you wait until April or May to plan, you might be too late. Check out the Counselor's Corner HS Summer Enrichment Programs Page on our blog for information about summer programs.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal