ISY Elementary Blog

ISY Spirit Week

Mike Simpson, Elementary School Principal

April 1, 2022

Next week is Spirit Week. This is an opportunity for students and staff to celebrate what makes ISY special and to take some time to really connect with our compassionate Mission and Vision.

We want all of our students to become compassionate global citizens, lifelong learners, and agents for positive change. These are our ISY Learner Outcomes.

To achieve these outcomes, we nurture the ISY Learner Attributes of Compassion, Collaboration, Communication, Courage, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Reflection in all that we do.

Next week, students will be participating in activities that help them develop the ISY Learner Attributes and understand why they are so important to them.

On Friday, their ISY Learner Attributes will be put to test in a very special Olympiad. During the Olympiad, our Elementary School students will be working with Secondary School students in a series of fun activities and challenges. All students will be dismissed after the Olympiad at 11:45am on Friday

Donations can be made at

https://isyedu.org/life-at-isy/online-ordering/

Care for the Least

Pizza Fundraiser Next Week

Below is a message from one of ISY’s Student Service Learning Groups:

Our service learning group (Care for the Least) is holding a Pizza Fundraiser to help purchase school supplies for a local orphanage.

This event will be held on Thursday, April 7th during lunch time. Each pizza slice costs 4,000 kyat. We will only have Margherita pizza. Please fill out this pre-order form by Tuesday, April 5th, and pay for the pizza by Wednesday, April 6th.

Your child can pay for the pizza by giving the money to the Elementary School Office Assistants before school or during recess. If you do not pay by Wednesday pizza will not be ordered for you.

Thank you for your support,

Members of Care for the Least

UWS Used Book Sale

Thank you!

The Elementary UWS Group and Student Council would like to thank the ISY community for their generous support of the Used Book Sale held this past week.

The donated books brought together a wonderful sale which raised over $700.00 for the ISY-UWS partnership.

Community efforts like this bring us closer to the $10,000 USD annual commitment ISY has made to support the students of Wan Kaung, Myanmar.

COUNSELOR’S CORNER with Ms. Patty:

A Healthy Relationship with Screens

It’s hard to believe it was 2 years ago this month that ISY first closed its campus due to Covid and began online learning. Students needed to access and use digital tools and many had little knowledge of how to use them before the pandemic. With the increased use of digital media, students learned to access other screen entertainment. Recently, Common Sense Media published their research confirming that media use by older elementary children has grown faster since the start of the pandemic than it did in the four years prior to the pandemic. It’s not reasonable to expect children to avoid all screen time, but how can we help our children to find a healthy relationship with their screens?

Model a balanced relationship with screens. Balance your own media use with exercise, connecting with family and friends and healthy sleep habits. Put your own screen down to listen and engage with your family.
Show an interest in what your child is doing online. It is easier to guide and support your child to develop healthy media habits if you understand how they are spending their time.
Inquire about their well-being. Online platforms can influence your child’s social and emotional health. Ask them how they feel about their screen choices and the content they are viewing. Do they feel supported online? Can they recognize unhealthy influences?

If you are interested in reading more about Common Sense’s Report on Media Use, it can be viewed here.

Ms. Patty has had the pleasure of serving the ISY community for the past 9 years. She is available to support students and families. You can reach her at escounselor@isyedu.org

Patty Amundson-Geisel

Pre-K to Grade 6 Counselor

Quarter 3 Progress Reports

Your child’s Quarter 3 Progress Report is now available on Powerschool. The purpose of the progress report is to provide a summary of what has been covered during Quarter 3 and indication as to academic progress and learning behaviours as described by the ISY Learner Attributes. This report and your child’s progress will be further explained in our Quarter 3 Parent Teacher Conferences on Friday, April 29. As this is a progress report, academic grades have not been assigned. Academic grades are assigned in reports at the end of Quarter 2 and Quarter 4. If you have any questions about the report, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher(s).

Instructions for accessing your child’s Quarter 3 Progress Report:

Accessing PowerSchool:

Click the following link to access PowerSchool
Enter your username
Enter your password
Click on the login button
If you have forgotten your username and/or password, please email powerschool@isyedu.org for assistance.

Accessing your child’s report:

Once you log in, you will see your child/children’s name on the left-hand side top of the screen along with the information of the student schedule.
Click on your child’s name
Click on the “Document” icon on the left side of the screen
Student Documents box will appear on the screen
Click on the file name “Q3 Progress Report 21-22”

If you have difficulty accessing your child’s report, please know that you can contact the Elementary School office by email (elementaryoffice@isyedu.org) for assistance.

Mask Wearing

ISY has come to the end of the spike in cases which is in line with what was seen in Yangon. There are almost no cases currently being reported at school among students or staff. Therefore, we have made the decision that, while students and staff are in outside spaces on the ISY campus, mask wearing will be optional. As the situation changes we may go back to mandatory mask wearing at all times or may continue to relax the requirements so please bear with us as we move forward.

Online Learning: A Message from Dr. Hedger

I am writing to you regarding our hybrid program where students not attending school in-person are able to join classes virtually. This program was designed primarily for students unable to come back to Myanmar but who still wanted to continue their studies with ISY.

Now that we are back to in-person school I feel very strongly that any student able to attend class in person should do so. Even in the situation where their teacher has been unable to return, a student has a better learning experience in the classroom and benefits from the social and mental well being of being with classmates physically.

It is important that we prepare students for the end of the hybrid program and with this in mind we are setting a goal to phase out the hybrid program during the remainder of this year. After the Thingyan break, only students who are residing outside of Myanmar will be able to continue to learn virtually for the remainder of this school year. Students in Myanmar who wish to continue to attend the hybrid program will only be able to do so with special permission from their principal and only for select periods of time. If you think your child has a special reason to attend the hybrid program after this time, please email Mr. Simpson on msimpson@isyedu.org to make an appointment to discuss this.

Moving forward, we are also setting a goal to eliminate the hybrid /virtual program for the 2022-23 school year. The only exception to this would be interruptions due to directives from the Myanmar authorities, or short term COVID spikes causing class, grade level, or full school return to virtual learning for short periods.

Many thanks in advance for your cooperation. Together we can hopefully begin a return to normal school life for the students of ISY.

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