 Message from the Principal: Dear Parents, Thank you to our 2016-17 Homeroom Parents! Our first HPAC meeting was well attended by these classroom representatives and even resulted in some consent and action items. HRPs (Homeroom Parents) will be in contact with all parents about upcoming events and opportunities to support the school. This week I will kick-off our Parent Partnership series. Several times a month members of the Elementary staff will host a Parent Partnership meeting around important topics such as: Technology Usage, Parenting Support, Literacy and Math Learning, and of course, the Primary Years Program (PYP). Below is a list of upcoming Parent Partnership Meetings. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have an idea or need which might support a larger group of parents. Our partnership goes both ways! In fact, the ES Counselors are busy preparing for their first PP Meeting in a few weeks. They would appreciate your feedback on this survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf17KZjSdQMCOyVG2CR-veaw4LP0zyzC4ZCmVw3cxYoHkr00w/viewform. Finally, the photo above is a fun and shows our wonderful Office Assistant Weronika at her desk, keeping us all connected. However, we recognize that she has the very serious job of contacting parents to check in on reported absences each day. Our goal is to ensure every child is where we think they are. If we don’t know why a child is absent we will call you. As we work to perfect our internal systems, and as parents support us by communicating absences ahead of time, I hope Weronika’s calls to you in the morning become less frequent. However, until then, your support of Weronika if/when she calls you is appreciated. Warmly, Jen Important Upcoming Dates to Note: September 26-
Information and Events in the ES: Parent Partnership:  COUNSELORS' CORNER: Dear Parent/Guardian, The ASW elementary school counselors would like to help service the needs and wants of our students and parent community the best that we can. We have created a survey that we feel will help us when planning out our year-long goals for this school year. Please click the following link and answer the following questions by checking the box that most fits your choice so we may use this information when planning our school counseling activities. We will distribute this same survey at the end of the year to measure program success. Your input is extremely important to us! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf17KZjSdQMCOyVG2CR-veaw4LP0zyzC4ZCmVw3cxYoHkr00w/viewform Note from the Nurse’s Office Regarding Absences related to illness or a medical issue that will affect participation in Physical Education.
Thank you, Marilyn Dypczynski RN - mdypczynski@aswarsaw.org School Nurse Teacher-Led Conferences will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 11th (no school for students). Single Subjects (Art, Music and PE) as well as Additional Languages (French, Polish and Polish Culture and Language) teachers will be available for you conference with- by appointment. We will be sending out sign-up sheets the week before. If you require the assistance of a translator, please let your child’s homeroom teacher know. News from the Librarian ASW Family Storytelling Night with Niall de Búrca On Thursday, October 6th, from 18:00 to 19:00, Irish storyteller Niall de Búrca will be weaving his magic in the ASW Theatre. He tells stories for all ages. His audiences describe him as bewitching, boisterous, exuberant, passionate, and absolutely unforgettable. Free admission.  Laptop Meeting for Grade 5 Parents A 5th grade one-to-one laptop program has been in place at ASW for many years. Our 5th grade students are provided with a MacBook Air for use in the classroom, with the opportunity to take the laptop home as well. Grade 5 students will begin taking home their laptop on Monday, October 10th. We have been working with the students in class, discussing responsible use and digital citizenship. Information will be coming home in the next few days regarding the process and procedures for taking the laptop home. In addition, we will hold an informational meeting in the MPR for interested fifth grade parents on Wednesday, October 5 at 10:00, immediately following the PAC meeting.
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  Message from the Principal: Dear Parents, This beautiful weather became slightly cooler this weekend. It reminded me that coats, hats, gloves and boots are soon to be part of our children’s wardrobe. With these additional items comes additional loss. Our Lost and Found, positioned this year at the foot of the stairs, across from the Tower, is often overflowing with items students have lost or left. The majority of these are unlabelled, making it impossible for us to try to locate the owner. At the end of each semester, ASW Elementary school donates all unclaimed clothing to a local charity. Please make it a point to label your children’s clothing and personal items this year. Black permanent marker on the inside of a coat, hoodie, shoes, even on a water bottle, can go long way in helping us- help you- find items which have become lost in the hustle and bustle of the school day. Warmly, Jen IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES: September 19-23-
Information and Events in the ES: MAP- Measures of Academic Progress Testing- Grades 3-5- During the week of September 19-23, we will be conducting the MAP test in the Elementary School. This test is a standardized test students in Grades 3-5 take on a computer. It is also an “adaptive test” meaning the questions change based on how the child answers them. A few important items to note:
Teacher-Led Conferences will be help on Tuesday, Oct. 11th (no school for students). Single Subjects (Art, Music and PE) as well as Additional Languages (French, Polish and Polish Culture and Language) teachers will be available for you conference with- by appointment. We will be sending out sign-up sheets the week before. If you require the assistance of a translator, please let your child’s homeroom teacher know. Parent Partnership: PYP Implementation News Our Elementary Weebly site continues to grow as a resource where parents can find important information about our school. Last week I encouraged you to check out the Counselor’s Corner where Jamie Hamlin and Karen Gentilini are detailing their work in classrooms and offering parents information on helping students with their social emotional learning. Here is a little blurb and survey from the Counselors' Corner: The ASW elementary school counselors would like to help service the needs and wants of our students and parent community the best that we can. We have created a survey that we feel will help us when planning out our year-long goals for this school year. Please click the following link and answer the following questions by checking the box that most fits your choice so we may use this information when planning our school counseling activities. We will distribute this same survey at the end of the year to measure program success. Your input is extremely important to us! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf17KZjSdQMCOyVG2CR-veaw4LP0zyzC4ZCmVw3cxYoHkr00w/viewform This week, please take a look at the new blog: PYP @ ASW written by PYP Coordinator- Miranda Rose. Parents: This site is for you! It is updated regularly. Please make it a point to check in every so often! Photos The individual photos for the Elementary students will take place on 28-29 of September. Class photos are scheduled for Friday, September 30. There will be a pre-payment. Each student will receive a printed form. Parents need to fill the form and attach the total payment due ( cash only ). Forms and money will be collected on the photo day by the photographer. Please state clearly on the form which packages you desire. Each student must have his/her own form completed. The photographer offers full refund for those who are not happy with the photos. Community News: Chechen Refugee Club encourages you to participate in the Educational Tools Drive for the Kindergarten students from the Refugee Center in Dębak. The center would greatly appreciate any of the following items:
There will be plastic bins placed in the High School entrance near the elevator, near Ms. Ligita's office at the main entrance, and at the Elementary School entrance. The drive will be held until September 30th. Please feel free to stop by and drop off your items to support the Kindergarten at the Dębak Refugee Center! Questions: sdoering@aswarsaw.org   Message from the Principal Dear Parents, The PTO Fall BBQ! What a wonderful event for our community. Brian Mason- PTO President has sent a big thank you out to to parents and staff who contributed their time and energy. I’m sure you will agree with, me when I give a shout out to Brian too. With his leadership, the past two community events have been a great success. (I can’t wait to see what UN Day holds in store!) The raffle closest to my heart, Elementary Principal for a Day was won by: Yu Jeong Lee in Grade 3. Yu Jeong and I will be getting together soon to discuss the event- which will more than likely occur in the Spring. This week we send our Grade 5 students off to Łopuszna in the Polish mountains. I will be helping at the train station this morning and on Thursday afternoon to send them off and welcome them back. It is a big event for all involved. If this weather holds… it will be a magical trip. Have fun Grade 5! Warmly, Jen Important Upcoming Dates to Note: September 12-15-
Information and Events in the ES: Parent-Led Conferences- Thank you for attending Parent-Led Conferences. They were a great help to our teachers who wanted to hear and learn from you- our students’ first and most important teachers. Teacher-Led Conferences will be help on Tuesday, Oct. 11th (no school for students). Single Subjects (Art, Music and PE) as well as Additional Languages (French, Polish and Polish Culture and Language) teachers will be available for you conference with- by appointment. MAP- Measures of Academic Progress Testing- Grades 3-5- During the week of September 19-23, we will be conducting the MAP test in the Elementary School. This test is a standardized test students in Grades 3-5 take on a computer. It is also an “adaptive test” meaning the questions change based on how the child answers them. A few important items to note:
Grade 5 Trip Site - Once again this year, we will be using a web site to share pictures and information regarding the Grade 5 trip. The link to the site is http://aswgrade5trip.weebly.com/. Information will be updated throughout the trip. Parent Partnership Endicott Survey to the Community An Important Accreditation Survey from Endicott Research Center was sent to you via Email. It is confidential and will be completed by the whole community. Please remember to complete you survey by September 14. The information will help our school! Counselor's Corner Blog: Our ES Counselors, Karen Gentilini and Jamie Hamlin, have been working in classrooms and with students over the past three weeks. The focus on helping students have a positive start to school. They also have a new Counselor Blog where information about their work and tips/advice for families will be posted. Check it out! http://aswarsawelementary.weebly.com/counselors-corner REMINDER: If your child is absent... When your child is absent, please let the classroom teacher or/ and ES Office (esoffice@aswarsaw.org) know as soon as possible. If we do not hear from you by 9:30 and your child is not yet at school, we will call a parent to make sure he/ she is indeed absent. Please remember to call ahead so we don’t need to call you. “Wheelie Shoes” are not allowed at school. They pose a danger on our stairs and outside. Please do not send your child to school in Wheelies.    Message from the Principal: Dear Parents, My message today is full of thanks! Thank you to the PTO for hosting a lovely get together on Saturday night. I enjoyed seeing so many of you outside of school. Hopefully this will be an annual event! Thank you to parents who attended our Back to School Night last week. It was a well received event by all (teachers too!) and sets our community off on the right note. Thank you to a parent who emailed me with an important question/clarification. (Excerpt reprinted here with permission, though names are removed.) Parent email: Jen, I feel naive and a little silly asking this, but is there really that big of a problem with bullying in our school? I always thought the students were fairly nice to each other, with an expected amount of peer-conflict stuff. I was curious after hearing the presentations last night about bullying and the energies to prevent it. When we visited the classroom, we saw bullying identification stuff on the whiteboard. I absolutely love the efforts and energies to build community, to build the warrior way, and that kids need to feel safe and happy to learn (I agree 100%). Do we have a lot of bullying at ASW? My response: What I've learned is the question isn't, do we have bullying? The question is what are our processes as an organization to deal with it when it happens? (Not if- when.) Bullying is a problem- everywhere. To help children, schools need processes to prevent, support and react to it - before anything occurs. Last year we had a couple- what I would call- severe issues of bullying. We also had 100s of small issues which created the sense that we were not a caring community. In many instances, the children were afraid to speak up, because they worried it would get worse and that the adults (parents too) wouldn't do anything. Added to the mix was the fact that we also did not have a statement or policy in our ES Handbook. So, when faced with a bullying situation (repeated name calling, teasing, taunting, exclusion, etc.)- there weren't guidelines for my work or for how teachers, parents, and kids needed to react. Our goal is not to prevent bullying- you can't prevent it. Our goal is to have a process for dealing with it when it happens. I hope this information helps to clarify why we are highlighting this. I have received tremendous parent and staff support for the initiation of a process and clarity in community-wide expectations. Last year I had the benefit of wise and patient council from many parents around this issue. They taught me so much. So, Thank you to all parents willing to partner with our community this year to keep our school safe, happy, and learning focused! Have a wonderful week. I’ll see you at the BBQ! Warmly, Jen Munnerlyn ES Principal Important Upcoming Dates to Note: September 6-
Information from the ES: REMINDER: Student Absences When your child is absent, please let the classroom teacher or/ and ES Office (esoffice@aswarsaw.org) know as soon as possible. If we do not hear from you by 9:30 and your child is not yet at school, we will call a parent to make sure he/ she is indeed absent. Please remember to call ahead so we don’t need to call you. Elementary Lost and Found Across the year, our Lost and Found grows. At the end of each semester we donate unclaimed items- just to make room for lost items in the next semester. Parent and students are encouraged to check the Lost and Found- located near the stairs and beside the tower- frequently this year. In addition, please be sure to put your child's name on all jackets, sweaters, shoes, water bottles, and hats. Parent Partnership News: After School Activities- Today we had an impromptu Parent Coffee (so impromptu in fact- there wasn’t coffee!) to discuss important aspects of our ASA program and to brainstorm possible improvements to the program. I am lucky to work with Neil Riley- ASA Coordinator and Stephen Sidaway- Activities Director on this project. Please note a handout regarding important procedures around ASAs will be sent home with students this week. Thank you for partnering with us on this! Community News: September 10: The PTO Fall BBQ- All families are welcome! Brian Mason, our PTO President will send out PTO ENotes with more details. Please contact him if you have any questions. ptopresident@aswarsaw.org "Time to Get Baking for the Fall BBQ Cake Walk! The PTO is asking you to get baking for the Cake Walk at the upcoming BBQ on Sept 10. The Cake Walk is a popular activity at the ASW Fall BBQ, it is very much like musical chairs, except the prize is a delicious baked treat. We are looking for homemade or store bought wrapped baked goods. Please bring them to the PTO Store (or the Cake Walk table) on the day of the BBQ, Sept 10, between 10 and 12. If you need to make alternative arrangements to drop off your cake, please call +48 608 02 40 50."  |
