ISY Elementary Blog
Elementary Update – March 13th, 2020
Sandy Sheppard, Elementary School Principal
Dear parents,
This week saw ISY students participate in Freedom Day to raise awareness of modern-day slavery. Our Grade 5 students’ efforts were acknowledged on CNN World and you can see their work below. Last Saturday’s UWS Family Fun Night was a great success with the school now having met this year’s fundraising goal in support of our UWS Wan Kaung Partner School. Thank you for your continued support of this school.
It is Spirit Week next week so please check the schedule below to see what your child(ren) might like to wear.
Mike Simpson (on behalf of Sandy Sheppard)
Early Years Week
Please note that the Early Years Week that was planned for next week has been postponed until further notice. This is due to the change to Level 3 precautions announced by Dr. Hedger earlier today. Please review his email which can also be reviewed on our clinic page.
UPCOMING DATES
We have lots of important events coming up:
16th – 20th – Early Years open week – 8:00 – 9:30 AM daily (POSTPONED)
16th – 20th March – Spirit Week (see information below)
24th March – Transitioning Families presentation 5:30-6 PM in Cafeteria
27th March – Holiday (Armed Forces’ Day)
30th March – No School (Teacher Training Day)
13th – 17th April – Thingyan Break
Measures ISY are taking regarding Coronavirus
ISY continues to monitor the developing events around the COVID19. We are committed to ensuring the well-being of the students and the staff. We would like to provide you with an update on what we are doing at ISY to educate, support, and guide the community regarding COVID19 :
- We are actively communicating with health officials regarding the development and behavior of the COVID19 in Myanmar and in the world.
- We obtain reliable and up to date information from credible sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) among others.
- ISY counselors and the health clinic teamed up to offer support to teachers regarding students’ emotional needs during this ever changing health environment.
- The health clinic has provided one to one handwashing teaching to all students in the elementary school. Students were able to practice using soap and water in the classrooms as well as proper respiratory hygiene.
- Teachers are being attentive to students who display any type of respiratory symptoms. These students are sent to the clinic for further evaluation.
- ISY administration is in constant communication with school staff regarding preventative measures and any other information that may affect our community.
- Ensuring all classrooms have hand sanitizers, soap, paper towels, and tissues. Hand sanitizers are also placed around campus.
- Teachers continue to reinforce the importance of proper hand washing and proper respiratory hygiene with students on a daily basis.
- Daily disinfection of surfaces and objects that are frequently touched such as doorknobs, handrails, toys, light switches, tables, toilets, etc.
- Disinfection of all classrooms with UV light on a 3 day rotation cycle.
- Videos on hand washing and respiratory hygiene made by students are being displayed on the schools TV monitors.
- COVID-19 posters are located at clear and visible locations on campus.
- Monitoring food services vendors closely to ensure good and proper hygiene practices are followed.
- Informed parents to keep students at home if their children are sick, having a fever or presenting cold like symptoms.
- Notice posts are placed in school buses that indicate avoiding to get on a bus if one of the family members has flu symptoms.
- Monitoring visitors entering campus. All visitors need to fill out a form upon arrival stating that they have not been to China, South Korea, Iran or Italy the last 2 weeks.
- ISY continues taking body temperature of all people who enter the school.
- ISY is prepared to deliver online teaching (Virtual Learning) should the government of Myanmar close school.
- ISY health clinic will continue to work with the administration to help remind students and staff of everyday actions they can take to help prevent the spread of germs and viruses.
Mother Tongue Language Learning at ISY
One of our school’s undoubted strengths is the cultural diversity in our community. We have 50 nationalities represented in our student body.
ISY is committed to celebrating our cultural diversity and capitalizing on the many social and academic benefits that it offers our students. One such benefit is an environment rich in language.
It is important that we celebrate and support the languages of all of our students. One way that ISY can do this is by supporting our community’s nationality and language groups to set up their own language instruction classes as part of our After-School Activity (ASA) program. If a minimum number of ISY students are participating in the classes, ISY will provide a classroom free of charge. The program itself, including the cost of the instructor, instructional materials, and program planning, would be the responsibility of the parents of the students involved.
Arabic Mother Tongue
Ms. Nesma Sharshera would like to know if there is interest in starting an Arabic mother-tongue language class as part of our ASA program. If you are interested, please fill out this short Arabic Expression of Interest Form.
Burmese Mother Tongue
We would like to know how many parents would be interested in having their Burmese speaking child(ren) attend Burmese classes as part of our After School Activity (ASA) program.
If you are interested in having your child(ren) study Burmese as an ASA, please fill out this short Burmese Expression of Interest Form. This information will be used to help us decide how we can further support the Burmese language at ISY.
If would like any more information about how ISY can support the languages of all of our students, please contact our Director of Curriculum and Learning, Mr. Mike Simpson at msimpson@isyedu.org.
The 5th Annual ISY Maker Faire is here and it is open to all students from PreK-12. It will be on Saturday, May 23rd. You can learn more before signing up by clicking the following link:
See some pictures from last year below.
Thank you,
Freedom Day
Our Grade 5 students’ Freedom day efforts got a mention on CNN World. Scroll all the way down to the Signs of the Times section.
Here is what freedom means to our students:
Spirit Week March 16-20, 2020
Previous Elementary School Posts
Elementary School Blog – September 13th
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
Elementary School Blog – September 6th
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
Elementary School Blog – August 30th 2024
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
Elementary School Blog – August 23rd 2024
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
Elementary School Blog – August 16th 2024
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
Elementary School Blog – June 7th 2024
Read the blog this week and find our more about what is happening in the Elementary School.
The International School Yangon
20 Shwe Taungyar Street
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar
+95 (0) 9 880 441 040