ISM Upcoming Events 11

Admissions 10

MIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOL

ISSUE # 9

SY 2014 –2015

WEEK OF:

OCTOBER 6 TO 10

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents Friday Bulletin

Parent Teacher Conferences 2

Inside this issue:

Events & Activities:

OCTOBER

1-23 MAP Testing

Dear Middle School Parents, Reading and writing has been a focus of our week with faculty in our Eng-lish, Learning Support and ESL teams. Learning and thinking more about how we engage our students in active reading and writing, conferring with students, and developing their skills to be critical thinkers and skilled writ-ers. This has been facilitated by our consultant Stevi Quate. It was great to have 100 parents to our parent workshop on Tuesday morning. Many left with affirmation for what they are already doing to support their child's literacy development and many also took away tools to help further support. The main message is to be reading and writing with your chil-dren, along with modeling your own reading and writing, engaging togeth-er in reading and writing. You will receive an email today from the Middle School office with specific instructions for signing up for Parent Teacher Conferences online which will be taking place on Monday October 20 and Tuesday October 21. We will have early student dismissal on both days at12:00, with conferences taking place between 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. If you have any difficulties sign-ing up or are not able to schedule a time on those days, please contact the Middle School office directly so we can assist you. We have a couple of events coming up. We will have a student leadership retreat for our ambassadors and student council members next Friday Oc-tober 10. Friday October 17 during assembly and after school we will have a courtyard event with some activities planned and an opportunity for stu-dents to socialize and interact together. Then on Friday October 24 we will have our annual Filipiniana celebration in the afternoon with a barrio fiesta, special assembly presentation, and an activity period for students to learn more about the Philippines. More information will be shared with you and students about these upcoming events. We hope everyone has a good long weekend ahead… Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie, Middle School Principal Amanda Pekin, Middle School Assistant Principal

Clinic

Athletics & Activities

After-School Activities

Leadership Retreat MAP Testing

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Saturday Service Learning Parent Coffee 6

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20-21 Parent Teacher Conferences

Campus Card Corner

School Activity Payment

The Kiosk may be used to pay for school activity fees like concerts, school plays, even for shirts. Watch out for the organizer’s announcement on the availability of the item at the kiosk. Note: The Disaster Relief Fund is a regular item at the kiosk if you wish to make a donation.

For more information, visit: http://campusonline.ismanila.org

For questions/concerns, email: campuscard@ismanila.org

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The MS Leadership Retreat will be held on campus from 10:30 am, October 10 until October 11at 9 am. This overnight event is intended to build leadership capacity, organizational skills, and team dynam-ics amongst our MS student leaders. It is open to all Student Council Representatives and Student Am-bassadors. An informational letter, including the permission slip, was emailed to students. This should be returned to the MS Office ASAP. Additional forms are available in the MS Office.

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Beginning on September 13, different service opportunities will be offered on Saturdays. Some events involve a trip to visit a service partner while others involve hosting a local education program. Along with the joy of giving, students benefit by in-teracting with children from different backgrounds and getting to know the Philippines beyond Makati and Taguig. To partici-pate, students simply pick up a permission slip from the MS Office on the Monday before the trip. Once it’s been signed and returned to the office, a student can sign up on the roster. Some trips fill up quickly so encourage them to sign up early. Par-ent are welcome to attend!

Saturday Service Dates for Semester 1 (Dates are subject to change.)

September 13 Philippine Community Fund

October 11 Rotary Reading Club

October 18 La Mesa Watershed & Hospicio de San Jose

November 8 Cottolengo Filipino & CRIBS

November 15 Chosen Children Village

November 22 Love to Learn and PAWS

November 29 Papaya Academy

December 6 Tzu Chi Foundation

If you have questions, please send an email to Mr. Cory Willey at willeyc@ismanila.org.

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Sick Day Guidelines

Is Your Child Too Sick For School?

Our goal as a school clinic is to promote and support the health of the students so that they may fully participate in their classes and all activities offered. We understand that good attendance in school is important for a child’s success; howev-er, there may be occasions when parents are undecided whether their child is fit to attend school. Generally, if a child is too sick to be comfortable at school or to participate in classroom activities or if they may spread a contagious disease to other children, they should remain at home. The following guidelines cannot cover every eventuali-ty but may help you decide whether your child should stay at home or come to school. Student should remain at home if:

They have a fever of 37.8° C (99.8° F) or above (please take temperature before medication is given) They are vomiting They have diarrhea They suffer from frequent or persistent coughing They have persistent pain (ear, stomach, head, etc.) They have a widespread rash They have a “pink eye” (conjunctivitis)

Cough – A student who has a persistent, hacking cough will find it hard to concentrate and may cause significant disrup-tion in class and should be kept at home. If the cough is such that it interferes with the student’s ability to talk or function normally, they should stay at home. A mild, infrequent, cough is not generally too debilitating and is quite common but if your child develops a cough that is more severe than you would reasonably expect with the common cold, you should consider taking them to their doctor, particularly if this is associated with fever, abnormal behavior, difficulty in breathing or wheezing.

Diarrhea and vomiting – Students suffering from this should be kept at home and should visit their doctor if symptoms persist. They should be free of symptoms for 24 hours and able to keep down food and drink before they return to school.

Fever – It is school policy that a child with a fever of 37.8° C (99.8° F) or above should not come to school and cannot re-main in school. Before returning to school the student should be free from fever (without medication) for 24 hours.

Pinkeye or Conjunctivitis – This can be caused by a virus, bacteria or allergy. There may be redness, swelling, itchiness, discharge and puffiness. A student with these symptoms should not come to school but should visit their doctor to see if antibiotic drops are necessary. The school requests a medical certificate of clearance by their doctor before returning to school, as this condition is extremely contagious.

Rashes and skin infections – They are most often caused by bacteria or viruses, which can be passed to others easily. The student should consult his/her doctor before returning to school and present a medical certificate of clearance.

Runny Nose – This is often the first indication of a common cold virus or a reaction to allergens such as pollen or dust and should not usually be a reason to keep a child at home. Only if the child is too uncomfortable to be able to participate in normal classroom activities or to complete their work should this be considered a reason to stay home. The younger chil-dren particularly may find that they are too uncomfortable to come to school as their nasal passages are smaller and they find it difficult to manage a constantly dripping nose.

Sore throat – The student should stay at home and consider visiting his/her doctor, particularly if there is significant swell-ing or pain of the throat. If a student is diagnosed with strep throat, he/she should not return to school before they are fever free and on antibiotics for 24 – 48 hours.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THE SCHOOL HAS YOUR CURRENT CONTACT DETAILS AND ALSO ALTERNATIVE CONTACTS IF YOU CANNOT BE REACHED. NOTIFY THE SCHOOL IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE AWAY FROM HOME AND NOMINATE AN ALTERNA-

TIVE GUARDIAN WHO WILL BE ABLE TO COLLECT AND CARE FOR YOUR CHILD IN YOUR ABSENCE.

IASAS Volleyball/XC housing needed ASAP! ISM is hosting the IASAS Volleyball/Cross Country Championships from Octo-ber 15 to 19. We need to house 170 athletes for this event and as of today (Friday, October 3) we still need 15 beds with a little under 2 weeks to go. Please print and submit a housing letter to ATAC office asap if you can support this event. We really need lots of ISM community spirit to help make this a wonderful event for our community. You can access housing information/FAQ's and the housing letter via this link: http://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/ Due to the PSAT test on Wednesday, October 15th some student athletes from the visiting IASAS schools will have to fly in on Tuesday October 14th in order to sit the test at ISM on the morning of Wednesday October 15th. For some schools flight schedules will not allow students to sit the test at their own school and then catch flights to arrive into Manila at a reasonable time Wednesday, thus they have to come in a day ahead. As a result a need will arise to ask some families who have volunteered to house to offer an extra night and house from Tuesday. Currently TAS, SAS and JIS will be sending a group of students to sit the PSAT test here at ISM. The ATAC office will be confirming final numbers this week and make a start on putting the housing puzzle together. If you are affected and we need you to house an extra night you will be contacted by the end of next week to give you advanced notice. Our apologies in advance for any inconvenience and our hope is that the extra nights accommodation required will not be too burdensome for host families. Our soccer teams will depart for Malaysia Wed Oct 15th all together. ISM soccer players who will be taking the PSAT test will be coming in at 6:30am on Wed morning Oct 15th in order to sit the test and then be able to make the bus to the airport at 10:15am with the other team members and coaches. Our counseling team will be providing detailed infor-mation to soccer players taking the PSAT test. 2nd season tryouts and season practice schedules are now posted to the ATAC blog! Check the ATAC game schedule page for the most updated matches mid week and on weekends! Upcoming matches: Friday, October 3- ISM twilight XC races MS 3.2km 5:10pm/ HS 5km race 5:50pm/ HS Volleyball vs Brent (JV games 4:15pm at HS Gym) VGirls 4:15pm followed by VBoys at 5:45pm at MS Gym. Parents and students please take some time to peruse the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of information and links to our sports and activities program. If you have any questions regarding the competitive program of sports at ISM after reading the information on the blog please send an email to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will endeavor to assist you as best I can. The ES/MS Soccer Festivals have information at these links. The next festival is Saturday, October 11th. Please check carefully as these links are current and updated http://atac.ism-online.org/atac/1st-season/es-soccer-rifa-league-festivals/ and http://atac.ism-online.org/atac/1st-season/ms-soccer-rifa-league-festivals/ Bearcat Den: Drop by our fantastic spirit store. There is a range of new products and items to purchase including items from our service partners. Bearcat Den hours of operation: 7:00 A.M.– 4:00 P.M. Monday –Friday. The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated regularly by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athletics Coordinator) gives the most up to date information on where/when and who our Bearcat teams will be playing throughout the school year. Access to the game schedule is via the ISM parent portal. Use this link to access the parent portal, log in with your user name/password and look for the ATAC Game Schedule tab. Remember to refresh the page when the pdf schedule appears so you view the most current schedule. GO BEARCATS! Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

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Please send us an email for any clarifications or concerns:

afac@ismanila.org

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IASAS Volleyball/Cross Country- housing needed ASAP! ISM is hosting the IASAS Volleyball/Cross Country Championships Oct 15-19. We need to house 170 athletes for this event. Please print and submit a housing letter to ATAC office asap if you can support this event.

You can access information/FAQ's and housing letter via : VB/XC housing information

We really need lots of ISM community support to help make this a wonderful event.

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For more information about

the Vicky SyCip Herrera Scholarship,

click HERE or drop us a note at

ism95@ismanila.org.

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ISM Community Art Auction on November 20, 2014

You are cordially invited to the ISM Community Art Auction on November 20, 2014 at The Fine Arts Theater. But first... WE WANT YOUR ART! We are looking for artistic works and/or estate objects made or owned by members or friends of the ISM community. This includes, but not limited to, paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, jewelry, tex-tiles, ceramics and estate items such as furniture and china. For more information, visit artauction.ism-online.org or email at ism95@ismanila.org.