September 27, 2019

Dear Parents,

This weekend the campus will be full of life with our middle school basketball tournament. Followed by our high school volleyball tournament on Monday and Tuesday.  Please join us in cheering on our Chinthes.

Please take a moment to take part in ISY's World Language survey

Saturday

• Prem Fall Classic Soccer Tournament - Chiang Mai
• Middle School Basketball Tournament at ISY

Monday

• High School Volleyball Tournament at ISY

Tuesday

• High School Volleyball Tournament at ISY
• Glion and Les Roches visit - Hospitality universities- Lunchtime visit

Wednesday

• New York Institute of Technology -Lunchtime visit

Saturday

• SAT Exam

September 20, 2019

Dear Parents,

This upcoming week there are many activities for you to be aware of. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the secondary office.  (secondaryoffice@isyedu.org)

Bullying and Child Safeguarding at ISY:  All families are invited to attend a presentation on Thursday, September 26th at 5:30 to explore the many ways ISY works to safeguard your children.  The evening will address the issue of bullying world-wide and how ISY addresses the issue.  We will explain our Child Protection policy and the strategies it uses to prevent abuse.

'Forgiveness Starts in the Home': This presentation will be held on Tuesday 24th September at 5:30pm at ISY. Parents greatly determine their children's behavior. Children are like sponges--they model everything a parent does and incorporate what they see into their own lives. It is important that parents set the right examples for their children. Negative examples can be detrimental to a child's development. How do couples forgive each other?

Learning Journey: In middle school, we are working at creating opportunities for students to express and reflect upon their learning journey. In an effort to ensure that the process is meaningful, next week our technology team will be meeting with middle school students to brainstorm ways to document their learning over time. Students will have a choice in what platform they use and what they post. In addition, the platform that is being used will be open to the public as it is felt that if the platform is open to the public, there will be an audience and the process will be authentic. Teacher support will be provided and will ensure that the content is monitored. Teacher mentors will ensure students are presenting material in a manner that is appropriate and that appropriate digital citizenship skills are utilized. We will keep you posted on this journey as we progress.

Middle School WWW: In the event that you missed the Monday presentation, please see links to the ppt that was shared during the parent information evening.

• Grade 6 WWW presentation
• Grade 7 WWW presentation
• Grade 8 WWW presentation 

This Week in Secondary School 

Monday

• Board Meeting:6:30 – 8:00pm

Tuesday

• Santa Clara Univ visit - California: Lunch VIsit 
• HS Volleyball with ISM at ISY
• Forgiveness Starts in the Home - Parent Workshop at 5:30 PM

Wednesday

• MS Basketball with ISM at ISM

Thursday

• Boston Univ Lunch visit
• HS Volleyball with ILBC at ISY
• Bullying and Child Safeguarding at ISY at 5:30PM

Friday

• YAC MS Basketball Tournament at ISY
• Prem Fall Classic Soccer Tournament - Chang Mai

Saturday 

• YAC MS Basketball Tournament at ISY
• Prem Fall Classic Soccer Tournament - Chang Mai
• JV HS Volleyball Tournament @ YIS

September 13, 2019

Dear Secondary Parents,

If your child is in middle school, please make sure to complete the WWW trip preparation forms that were emailed to you on Thursday. If you need help, please contact the secondary office.

This Week In Secondary School 

Saturday 

• MS/HS Movie Marathon- (Infinity wars and End Game) 11:00AM -5:00PM in the Drama room 

Monday

• Yale-NUS visit- 9:30-10:30
• MISCA college fair at YIS 12:00-4:30 PM all twelfth-grade students and interested grade 11 students will be attending. 
• WWW MS Parents Information Sessions at 5:00PM 
• Grade 6 in SAS 411E
• Grade 7 in SAS 501E
• Grade 8 in D104

Tuesday 

• HS Volleyball  at I.S.M
• The State University of New York at Oswego visit at 9:30
• The University of British Columbia, Chinese University of HK visit at 12:30
• IB Transition and Looking forward at 5:30 PM in the cafeteria

Wednesday

• MS Basketball with ISM at ISY
Hong Kong Baptist University Visit at lunch

Thursday 

• HS Volleyball vs ILBC
• MS Basketball with YIS at ISY

Friday

• 11:45 dismissal for students

Flood Drive: Community in Action service learning group will be holding a flood drive next week where materials including; soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mosquito nets, blankets and basic English and Burmese books are to be collected school-wide. The donations will be given to Mr. U Win from the Ayeyarwaddy Foundation, and also to the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, and will be sent to relief camps in every township, in the city of Mawlamyaing, Mon State, where the flood has made the heaviest impact.

According to Mr. U Win, the flood has reached 12 feet and in places up to the roofs of people's homes. More than 100 lives have been lost in these heavy floods, and villagers have lost many of their possessions. The Service Learning group's aim is to collect the most required items (listed below) from grades Pre-K through 12th grade and donate them.

The collection will start next week on Monday 16th and last all week until Friday 20th.
Relief food is being provided by the organizations so they have asked for other kinds of items much in need. Here is the list of items required by each grade level:

• Elementary students, please donate any items
• Grades 6 to 8: toothbrush/toothpaste
• Grades 9 to 12: bar soap and English/Burmese books that are simple to read

Labeled baskets will be left in front of the gym between Monday to Friday where the donations will be collected.

MAP Testing: Next week will be our last week of Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments for our Grade 6 to 9 students. Grades 1 to 5 have already completed their assessments. As we are preparing to analyze our data, I would like to take this opportunity to explain why and how MAP assessments are administered at ISY.

What are MAP assessments?
MAP assessments are online adaptive assessments that provide useful data in developing a fair and accurate assessment of student academic achievement and growth. MAP Growth uses a scale to measure what students know, regardless of their grade level. It also measures growth over time, allowing us to track our students throughout the school year and across multiple years.

Why do we do MAP testing?
The academic achievement and growth data obtained from MAP assessments forms one part of a student’s data profile. MAP assessment data is combined with data gathered by classroom teachers to ensure that we have a fair and accurate understanding of each student’s academic and learning needs. This understanding of student academic and learning needs then guides teacher planning and instructional practices in meeting the needs of individual students.

As well as providing important data that guides planning and instruction for individual students, MAP data also guides our continuous school improvement efforts. We can use school, grade and subject level MAP data to identify which academic areas we need to focus our improvement efforts on.

How do we do MAP testing?

Our processes around MAP testing at ISY are designed around the reasons why we have our students sit the tests and our commitment to fair and accurate assessment practices. For a summary of our MAP testing processes, please refer to this document.

Student MAP data is shared, along with other teacher collected student achievement data, with parents during parent conferences. However, if you would like to have access to your child(ren)’s assessment data prior to a conference, please email Mike Simpson, our Director of Curriculum and Learning at msimpson@isyedu.org and he will be happy to forward that information to you. Student MAP reports are also posted to Powerschool after conferences.

September 6, 2019

Dear Parents,

Next week, we will start MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing in the Secondary School (Grades 6 to 9). MAP assessments are online adaptive assessments that provide useful data in developing a fair and accurate assessment of a student’s academic achievement and growth.

To ensure a fair and accurate assessment of a student’s academic growth and achievement, teachers combine MAP assessment data with all other student data that they have collected in the classroom. This combination of data informs teacher instruction in meeting the needs of each student.

Students will sit the MAP tests on their own computer. Students will need to bring their computers fully charged throughout the week.

Middle School Week Without Walls: On September 16, 2019, at 5:00, the middle school team will be facilitating a parent information evening regarding middle school WWW adventures. Room locations will be shared at a later date. 

• Grade 6 - Location: Pyay, Dates of Travel: October 7-October 10
• Grade 7 - Location: Bago, Dates of Travel: October 7-October 10
• Grade 8 - Location Chang Mai, Dates of Travel: October 7 - October 11 

This Week in Secondary School 

Monday 

• MAP Testing for grades 6-9

Tuesday 

• MAP Testing for grades 6-9

Wednesday

• MS Basketball with ILBC at ISY 
• MAP Testing for grades 6-9

Thursday 

• Senior University Night at 5:30 in the cafeteria
• HS Volleyball with YIS at Y.I.S
• Ohlone College (CA)  lunch visit
• Seattle Central College lunch visit
• MAP Testing for grades 6-9

Friday

• MAP Testing for grades 6-9

Saturday 

• MS/HS - Movie Marathon (Avengers) 11:00AM-5:00PM in SAS411

August 30, 2019

Dear Parents,

Thank you for attending Back to School Night. I hope you enjoyed the evening and had the opportunity to learn more about your child's classes. Please let us know if you have any feedback to improve the evening.

Internet Access for Students: Students and parents are required to sign the ISY Student Agreement of Acceptable Technology use by Monday, September 2nd. If this is not completed it will result in the student losing access to the school WiFi. After students complete and submit the agreement, both parents/guardians will receive the form to sign. Only one parent needs to sign the form.

October 11, 2019, Public Holiday and MS WWW - With the additional holiday on the 11th of October, we continue to investigate the possibility of adjusting our WWW schedule. More information will be shared next week once confirmation of the adjustment is obtained.

This Week in Secondary 

Monday

• School Holiday

Tuesday

• Girls and Boys High School Volleyball game will take place at ISY at 4:00PM. Parents are encouraged to attend.
• Parent Focus Group- Parent focus groups will be occurring throughout the day.

Wednesday

• 6th-grade Parent Coffee- Please stop by the cafeteria on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, at 2:30 to talk to the 6th-grade leadership team. This would be an ideal time to ask questions or seek clarification on middle school topics. In addition, our technology integration specialist will be present to answer any google classroom questions you may have. This session will not have a formal presentation.
• Parent Focus Group- Parent focus groups will be occurring throughout the day.

Thursday 

• 9th grade parents night: Setting the Stage (register on Naviance, topics covered during 9th-grade guidance, individual meeting with the counselor)
• Parent Focus Group Feedback Session 

August 23, 2019

Dear Parents,

We look forward to having you join us for Back to School Night on Thursday, August 29, 2019, starting at 5:30 PM. The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for you to get to know your child's teacher and to better understand class expectations. Here are a few key things regarding the evening:

• For a complete program of the event please see this link. 
• As ISY is becoming more environmentally friendly, we will no longer be printing your child's schedule for parents to follow. Instead, you will find your Back to School Night Schedule in PowerSchool. 
• Please log into Power School. 
• On the left-hand column, you will find Back to School Night. 
• Please select this and download the schedule to your phone. 
• Wear comfortable shoes as you will be moving from one classroom to the next.

October 11, 2019,  Public Holiday and MS WWW - With the additional holiday on the 11th of October, we are investigating the possibility of adjusting our WWW schedule. More information will be shared next week once confirmation of the adjustment is obtained.

Internet Access for Students: Students and parents are required to sign the ISY Student Agreement of Acceptable Technology use by Monday, September 2nd. If this is not completed it will result in the student losing access to the school WiFi. After students complete and submit the agreement, both parents/guardians will receive the form to sign. Only one parent needs to sign the form by September 2.

After School Spanish Language Classes at ISY - 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 mother tongue 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.

This year, we are pleased to announce that Yangon Spanish School will be facilitating Spanish language classes at ISY as part of our ASA program.

Native Spanish speaking teachers will be offering classes for students of all ages (four years old and older) and all language backgrounds (from beginning Spanish learners to fluent native speakers). To meet the needs and interests of all students, students will be organized into small specialized groups according to their ages and Spanish language background.

If you are interested in this opportunity for your child(ren), please contact Oriol Mayol, the coordinator at Yangon Spanish School at info@yangonspanishschool.com.

Some of you may have registered your interest last year via a survey that was sent out to our community. We have passed this information onto Yangon Spanish School but we still encourage you to contact Oriol to share your child(ren)’s interests and needs in learning Spanish.

This Week in Secondary School

Monday

• ASA Session 1 Starts

Wednesday

• First PA General Meeting at 8:00 AM in the Cafeteria

Thursday

• Secondary School Back to School Night starting at 5:30 in the Gym

Friday

• HS Volleyball (Invitational) at YIS

August 16, 2019

Dear Parents,

We are excited to have your children back on campus and to have had a great start to the school year. To help ensure that parents have up to date information related to secondary school, I will be sending, on Fridays, a weekly link to the secondary blog. On this blog, I will highlight important items that are taking place during the week. My goal will be to keep the blog short, but informative.

Paul Self (IB Teacher) - Mr. Self, unfortunately over the summer, suffered a stroke and is in the process of finishing up his rehabilitation schedule. We anticipate he will return to ISY in late October. In the meantime, ISY is lucky to have Dr. Swati Rai, a literature teacher, who is teaching his classes.

Student Dress code: Next week we will be reminding students of the ISY dress code. Shirts are to be full length, beer logos and/or insensitive slogans are not permitted. Shorts should be around 2-3 inches in length at a minimum. PE uniforms are required for PE classes.

School Store- The ISY store, which sales T-shirts and notebooks and other ISY items, is open at the following times:

7:45-8:15

11:30-12:30 

2:30-3:30 

Once again, I look forward to a great school year and seeing you all on campus soon.  Below are a few items for you to be aware of.

This Week in Secondary School

Monday

• Student  Photos- Grade 6 and Grade 7
• ASA sign-ups will begin. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the office

Friday 

• Lunchtime Visit University of Massachusetts Amherst Visit

Saturday

• Parent Association 'Pool and BBQ' Event  Saturday, August 24⋅ 4:00 – 8:00pm. Tickets are on sale in the B.O. (20 MMK for adults and 10 MMK for children)