ISY Elementary Blog

End of Quarter 3

Mike Simpson, Elementary School Principal

March 25, 2022

Today is the last day of Quarter 3. Elementary School Progress Reports will be available on Powerschool this Thursday, April 1.

These Progress Reports will provide a focus for Parent Teacher Conferences to be held on Friday, April 29. Parent Teacher Conferences will be online based on the successful format we used earlier in the year.

Last week your child heard a presentation about the UWS-ISY Partnership and the Sponsor the Students of Wan Kaung Program. Your child learned that this service learning endeavour has allowed the children of Wan Kaung in Shan State to receive a quality education while providing ISY students with valuable skills as well. At the end of the presentation, students were asked to share what they learned with their families and ask them to consider making a donation. Please talk with your child about what they learned! Donations can be made in-person at the ISY business office or online using one of the following payment programs: ISY Pay Now or through Powerschool’s online ordering system.

Donations can be made at

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

COUNSELOR’S CORNER with Ms. Patty:

Empowering Girls

On March 8 International Women’s Day was celebrated throughout the world. This celebration continues in the United States, throughout the month, with Women’s History month. These events are significant to empower girls to become advocates for themselves and develop into confident young people. So how can we support our girls in becoming strong and capable?

Research and read about female role models with your daughter. Provide examples of women throughout history that have made a difference. This will inspire your daughter and encourage her to see women as capable and able to contribute.
Teach her advocacy skills. Provide her with tools to stand up for herself when she is denied or discouraged to participate. Encourage her to question when someone says she can’t or isn’t able to participate.
Allow her to express herself. Don’t limit her interests or activities because they have been traditionally assigned to a specific gender. Allow her the freedom to explore and celebrate her curiosity.
Be an involved Dad. Girls learn a lot about how males treat girls from their father’s example.
Focus on who she is, not how she looks. Praise and admire her character traits; smart, caring, persistent. Don’t focus on her outward appearance.

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

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.

Wellness in Action

This student organized event focused on student wellness and mental health. It featured a set of highly interactive activities that students from grades 1 to 12 engaged in. The ideas for the activities came from ISY students and secondary students ran the activities. We will have more of these events this year. The students loved it!

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