TED Talk of the Week
The TED Talk this week explored how body language affects how others see us.
Thank you!
- Jenni, Claire, and Joseph for organizing a fun-filled Book Week! The highlight for me was listening to our visiting author, Rob Loyd Jones. His story was an inspiration for our young authors.
- Allan, Francis, Ms. Bo, Layne, and Joseph for inviting our 2nd-grade parents in to talk about the musical. You are setting them all up to be collaborative and make this a special event.
- Jenni, Lindsay, and Tessa for taking our students to Seoul this weekend for the Battle of the Books competition. I know our students will exhibit DRAGON values and have a great time!
- Sarah Ko, for leading the Alternatives to Hagwon parent workshop. You provided our parent community with some valuable tools to help students improve their written and oral expression.
- Mareena, for taking on extra responsibilities while I was away.
Communication in the ES
A few months ago the ES Faculty Council brought to my attention that the ES Curriculum Overview page on kis.ac was incorrect and needed to be updated. Since then, I have worked with Ryk and the ES Leadership team to create an accurate Curriculum Overview. This process has taken time but now we have an accurate reflection of what is taught in the ES. The next step is for our ES departments to write a more in-depth explanation of each curricular area, which will be included in the Curriculum Overview section.
Let’s Chat
This week I have 3 times booked for you to come in and chat or I can come to your classroom to read to students.
Tuesday 1:30 to 2:00
Wednesday 10:30 to 11:00
Thursday 12:00 to 12:30
DRAGON Winners
If you have a student in your class who has not been to my office this year, please send me their names. I will then create a special session for those who have not been picked but are deserving.
The Month Ahead for April
The focus for the month of April will be on completing Professional Growth Plans. I highly suggest you review this document to ensure you are familiar with the expectations. Mareena and I will be conducting unannounced 30-minute observations this month. Once you have completed your Professional Growth Portfolio, schedule your Professional Evaluation Conference with the person who is supervising you. You will be asked to complete a self-evaluation using the professional evaluation rubric. You do not have to make a copy of this, your personal document will be shared with you. This all should be completed by May 10th. If you have any questions about the process or dates, speak with the person who is supervising you.
To summarize:
- Observation (unannounced)
- Complete Professional Growth Portfolio (you already have this)
- Complete self-evaluation (document to be shared with you)
- Schedule Professional Evaluation Conference before May 10, but after the three items above are completed
Dates to Remember
April 15 - 19 - Spring Bookfair
April 16 - Morning N&B meeting
Additional Information:
Updates From Mareena
HS Fire Drill
Please note that there is a HS fire drill scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th at 1:50 pm. You may hear the sirens on our side of the campus, but you do not need to evacuate. We will remind you on Tuesday morning!
Speaking of Fire Drills…
Thank you to those of you who have checked your maps and asked for clarification on routes. I will be asking CCT to update the map so the alternate routes are clear and accurate. Please expect that I will be contacting you with classroom specific updates as soon as I receive them!
Reminder of clarifications sent Tuesday, April 2nd
- Teacher hangs the all clear and ensure door is closed. Teacher leads students from front of the line. This means to get your students out, give them a spot to stop while you check that everyone is there and the door can be closed. You can as a teacher say, "everyone is here, student ___ close the door" and then proceed to lead the line out.
- 5th grade - only clear YOUR homeroom and proceed as all other HRTs. If you're without students, proceed according to the procedures for "staff without students" I've also tried to clarify notes for what do you do if you're not with your homeroom or class of students, or in any other special situation.
- Drills with alternate routes
- Instruction on school firewalls
- Drills with firewalls lowered
- Evacuation procedures for students or staff with limited mobility
Free Dress Day - Thursday, April 25th
Rachel, a 4th-grade student at KISJ is donating books to an elementary school in Yaowawit in Thailand. She has already collected books and now needs to raise the necessary funds to ship those books. To raise that money, the ES will have a free dress day on April 25th.
If a student would like to take part in free dress day, she/he will need to bring in 1,000 won to their classroom teacher. This money will then be collected by the ES Office and used to send the books to Thailand. Any money collected over the shipping cost will be used to purchase more books for the school in Thailand. Thank you for helping this worthy cause.
Family communication
Weekly update - sent Friday afternoon through Seesaw
Parent text messages and updates - sent during the week as reminders or brief updates
ES Homepage - bookmark this Elementary landing page for staff
Updates From Mr. Vento
Congratulations to Josh Wood for being accepted into the Apple Distinguished Educator Program! Since its inception in 1994, less than 2500 educators have been accepted into this program which supports pioneers in education who are transforming teaching by integrating technology throughout the learning environment.
Thank you to our Director of Teaching & Learning, Dr. Rick Odum and our WASC Focus Group team leads and members for your work in preparing for the self-study. We are already collecting valuable data that will help us better define KISJ as a school and assess our learning program and its impact on student learning. We are awaiting the WASC written report from our special visit and expect to have it ready to share with community members before the end of the month.
If you have a chance, please be sure to check out the Jeju Invitational Soccer Tournament today and tomorrow which has high school teams participating from Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.
Communication in the ES
Your feedback is appreciated as the ES strives to improve communication. As always, submissions are confidential. I have posted the QR code on my office door for continued feedback as the year progresses.
Here is the ES Suggestion Box. This form is for ideas, solutions or comments about issues that matter to the ES community.
Sunshine Weekly
PD Schedule
4/12 - ES Faculty Meeting in the ESPAC
Upcoming DRAGON Dialogue
May 8th - Class Placement
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