ISY ISY Elementary School Blog - 24th April

ISY Elementary Blog

Elementary Update – April 24th, 2020

Sandy Sheppard, Elementary School Principal

Dear all,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thingyan Break, it is great to be back doing Virtual Learning and supporting our families.

I hope everyone received their child/ren progress reports and that you had the opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher. This was a wonderful opportunity to remain connected.

I would like to take a moment to thank our teachers for the wonderful job they are doing. They are all working very hard to plan engaging lessons and ensure your child/ren learning continues. We are constantly in communication an I know they all miss the students so much.

Next week I will be hosting a parent coffee morning, look below for more information.

This week we had our first ‘Global Learners, Virtual Wednesdays’ for KG through to Grade 5, we celebrated Earth Day. Participation by students was high and the feedback was that everyone enjoyed the opportunity to have a little fun and do something different. We are very proud of our Earth-Heroes and Eco-Warriors who continue to protect our beautiful planet. See lots of pictures to celebrate this event below.

Next week you will receive slides for learning every day.

Wishing you all the best.

Sandy Sheppard

WE CARE

We care about our families and no matter where you are we are here for you..

Parent Coffee Morning

On Thursday, April 30, 2020, at 9:30-10:15 AM Yangon time I will be hosting a Elementary school parent coffee. Please join Mr. Hedger, Ms. Patty, Mr. Simpson, and Myself for a coffee chat. We look forward to seeing you soon. The agenda will include the following:

Updates
Counselor update
Wellness tips
Question and Answers

To join the meeting please click on this Zoom Link.

Global Learners, Virtual Wednesdays

Our special Wednesday’s will continue next week. As a reminder we will by providing learning that we hope will meet the following student needs:

Ensure we remain connected to the ISY Mission and Vision and our ISY Learner Attributes with a focus on Compassion, Creativity, and Critical Thinking.
Allow for interdisciplinary learning, which is a key part of what we do during our normal school days
Provide variety for students to ensure we continue to spark interest and engagement in Virtual Learning.

You will still receive slides on a Tuesday afternoon for Wednesday work, however, the expectations will differ from what normally happens on the other four days of the school week.

We hope the students will find the activities meaningful and fun. We will aim to balance screen time with non-screen time.

Next Wednesday is dedicated to our school Mission and the focus will be on ‘compassion’. There are lots of fun activities planned. We will also be having our first virtual recess time. We hope you can all get involved.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THEM:

Elementary School Welcome Back Slides

We wanted to welcome everyone back to school and let you know how much we missed our community and how ready we were to continue with Virtual Learning. See the slides here.

PE Newsletter

Mr Wyatt and Ms Lisa put together their first PE Newsletter, this newsletter has important information about the PE program and can be found here.

A Musical Message

Just in case you missed it here is the video made by the faculty at ISY. Wherever you are in the world, you can count on us! It’s on both the Facebook page and the YouTube Channel. Enjoy.

Message from the Director

Dr. Hedger’s second message for the whole community can be viewed both on our Facebook page and on our YouTube Channel. In this video Dr.Hedger talks about how we are all feeling right now and gives some ideas about how we can continue with our daily lives in our changed circumstances.

UPCOMING DATES

29th April – Second Global Citizens, Virtual Wednesday

30th April – Elementary Coffee Morning for Parents

1st May – No school

4th June – Report Cards

10th June – Last day of school for the 19-20 school year

EMAIL CONTACTS

Principal – ssheppard@isyedu.org

Counselor – escounselor@isyedu.org

Office – office@isyedu.org

COUNSELOR’S CORNER

Weekly, through a format called Counselor’s Check-In, I contact students to get a general wellness measure of our students. This week I asked the students how they felt about the announcement that the school campus would not reopen until next school year. Throughout the grade levels a theme of grief surfaced. Typically one connects grief with a loss of life or death but more broadly grief is the loss of expectations. The impact of Covid-19 is multifaceted and has numerous areas in which student’s expectations may not be met. The sudden but needed campus closure, although necessary for public safety, left farewells unsaid, parties not celebrated, projects undone and milestones acknowledged in different ways. So how can we help our students process these feelings? Here are a few thoughts.

Encourage your child to talk about his or her feelings. As parents we often want to fix things. Telling them that things will be okay and to forget their sad or disappointed feelings. Accept their feelings as valid and understand that these feelings will and can change quickly.
Be creative. Many students in my survey indicated they were sad they wouldn’t be able to say good-bye to friends or teachers. Although we aren’t on campus saying good-bye can be a powerful tool for closure. Get creative and brainstorm together alternative ways to say farewell to important people.
Be in the moment. When emotions are strong, help your child focus on the present. Breath deeply, take inventory of the senses (how does this feel, look, smell, taste?) or flex and relax muscles.
Make social connections. Virtual play dates and attending class meetings are important for students to feel connected with their friends and teachers. Starting this Wednesday, ISY will offer a weekly virtual recess time for students in each grade to play games, engage in conversation and participate in activities.

If you are interested in further exploring this issue, please feel free to contact me, Ms. Patty, at escounselor@isyedu,org or review these helpful articles. I am available for individual meetings with parents and students throughout the week.

Articles:

That Uncomfortable Feeling you are Having is Grief by Scott Berinato

However you are Feeling Right Now is Totally Normal by Abigail Libers

Virtual Learning

Please feel free to send in virtual learning photos that I can put in this blog. Below you can see some of the pictures from our Earth Day on Wednesday.