Dear Families,
We would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank-you for all of your support and flexibility over, not only these past two months during the campus closure, but throughout the whole school year. Despite some challenges along the way, it has truly been wonderful working together as a school community. 

We want to wish all of our students and families who will not be returning next year to AISL the very best in their new chapter. Whether that means moving to a new country and/or a new school, please know that you will be remembered. We always tell our students, "once a leopard, always a leopard" and we hope that you will stay in touch.

For those students returning next year, we hope that the fly-up session this past Tuesday was helpful in learning more about what to expect in the next grade-level. Below are some images from our afternoon sessions.

We realize that this is the time when we usually share next year's class lists with families; however, as we are still in the process of confirming class sections, we will share these with families closer to the start of school.

We recognize that the June/July holiday may present a very different routine compared to other years. For some families, depending on where they are and how their travel plans may be affected, that may mean remaining at home for some time. We wanted to share some ideas on how you might wish to continue bridging learning with your child(ren) over the holiday months. Our teachers and librarian have put a few 'Bridging Learning' resources together to provide some ongoing learning opportunities until we return in August. They are not mandatory, but rather, ideas to explore should you wish. Students can access these resources through Seesaw and you can click here or on the image below to access these resource ideas:

After eleven weeks of Distance Learning, we have grown stronger as a teaching team and as a school community. With the shifts and tweaks along the way, we would love to know how the experience was overall for your child and family. We would be grateful for a few minutes of your time to complete a feedback survey about your experience. 

Our Primary faculty had some fun exploring Bitmojis as part of creating a farewell slide (coordinated by Jill Daley). We wanted to extend wonderful holiday wishes to each of you and let you know that we are grateful to have been part of a wonderful year.

We look forward to seeing many of you again soon.

Regards,
​
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal of Systems and Innovation; Tech Integration Specialist
Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning; PYP Coordinator

While not the traditional Transition Assembly, this year we continue in celebrating the Grade 5 students as they set their sights on Grade 6. Congratulations to all the students for their perseverance during the PYPx and Distance Learning to successfully complete Grade 5. We are so proud of all you have accomplished not only this year but also the many years previously that have provided you with a solid foundation in learning.

You may recognise the song that you hear in the background. Grade 5 decided as a grade level that they wanted the song "A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman as part of your Transition Ceremony, marking the end of your Primary School experience and the beginning of your life as a Secondary Student at AISL. Although they were not able to sing this song as planned, they had a new opportunity! The beautiful musician Taylor Davis gave us official permission to use her Violin Cover of the song choice for the Transition Ceremony video! 

​We are pleased to announce this year's recipient of this award is Isla. Congratulations, Isla. We are so proud of who you are, your kind and caring ways, your principled attitude and your courageous way you approach new learning. ​

To view this Grade 5 Virtual Transition Ceremony - and all the other ceremonies from the end of the school year at AISL, please visit the Awards Ceremonies page here.

Dear Parents,
As we conclude our last full week of the school year, we wanted to share some important information to note:

• Our G5 Transition Ceremony will be shared with the community on Monday, 8 June. Please support our G5 students by viewing the ceremony via the link that will be shared closer to the date.
• Our returning ELC2 to G5 students will participate in a 'fly-up' day on Tuesday, 9 June. An invitation will appear in their Google Meet app on that day.
• For families staying or leaving, there is a video tutorial below on how to download and archive student work on Seesaw if you would be interested in doing so.

• Official classwork will continue until Wednesday, 10 June. This will be the last day that teachers will be providing feedback on any student work that has been posted. 
• Because we are still confirming our staffing plan and classes for next year, we will not be able to share next years' class lists with families until July.
• We will be putting together a 'Bridging Learning' virtual board for all students and families to access over the holiday. This will include links to resources for reinforcing skills learned as well as ideas for creativity and student action. These learning engagements are not mandatory, but rather, options for students and families to keep creative thinking going during the months that we are away. Stay tuned for more details next week as to how to access these virtual activities over the break. ​
• Finally, after eleven weeks of Distance Learning, a format that was tweaked and refined over the past two and half months, we are very curious to hear your feedback on how the experience was for your family and child. We would like to ask each of you to complete this brief survey reflecting on our Distance Learning 2.0 program. Thank you for your time. 

​While we wait for our physical campus to reopen, our students continue to use their classroom as 'the third teacher', albeit a virtual classroom environment. As teachers' Learning Boards continue to evolve, students have innovative ways to engage with new content, connect with peers, and lead their own inquiries through our virtual classrooms. In this new format, students click on different icons which lead them to various learning engagements that can be explored in depth at the child's own pace. Here are a few examples from our Librarian, Spanish Teacher and Performing Arts Team this past week. 

​It has been exciting to see so many reading and writing projects coming to completion in the last week. In reading, students have been responding to different sections in pictures, videos and in writing. For word work, students have been consolidating their understanding of unit vocabulary, sorting words for Word Study, and exploring similes. In writing, students have been completing fiction stories, creating non-fiction research books, and then responding to each others' efforts on Seesaw. Well done, Primary students for all of your hard work in building your literacy skills! 

Thank you for your support and another wonderful week.

Regards,
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning and PYP Coordinator
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal of Systems and Innovation and Tech Integration Specialist

Primary school students are engaged with a range of math experiences in their homeroom. From small group activities focused on multiplication, division and fractions to transdisciplinary math involving graphing, geometry and ratios. Well done students for all your mathematical thinking and detailed explanations on Seesaw. We a proud of how much you've grown in your math knowledge and understanding.

Dear Families,
With two weeks to go with students, our teachers and students are busy wrapping up their final projects in different subject areas and preparing for the upcoming transitions. As shared in last week's newsletter, we have many transition projects in progress for students and families as we conclude the 2019-2020 school year.

Monday, 1 June: Ms Driekie Smith, our Middle School Counselor, will be joining the G5 Guidance Meet to address the questions that students asked via a survey regarding their transition to Middle School.
Monday, 8 June: We will be hosting a virtual G5 Transition Ceremony to recognize the completion of the Primary Years Programme for our G5 students. The ceremony will include certificates, speeches, and the announcement of the Learner Profile award winner through a pre-recorded video compilation. This format will allow all G5 students and families to share in this moment regardless of their time zone. 
Tuesday, 9 June: Our ELC2-G5 returning students will have the chance to 'visit' the next grade level by connecting with the teachers via a Google Meet. The Google Meet will take place from 16:00-16:30 on Tuesday, 9 June and will be a chance for students to listen to a brief presentation, ask questions and connect with teachers of the next grade. Each returning student has been sent a invitation which can be accessed through their Google Meet app on their iPad.
Ongoing: Ms Stephanie is working closely with all of our leaving students on a three-part RAFT (Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, and Think destination) process to help students with their upcoming move. If your family will be leaving AISL and you have not already signed up for these sessions, please send an email to our Primary Guidance Counselor, Stephanie Sawchuk (ssawchuk@aislusaka), so she can include your child(ren) in this process. 

​Over the past two months, our  teachers and students have continued to push innovative boundaries with regards to teaching and learning via the distance learning program. One of those examples is how the G3 Performing Arts program has grown and evolved through the weekly choice board. What started out as simple text instructions at the start of our distance learning, turned into boards with choice, video connections and, most recently, a virtual classroom. Our students were able to push their connections with the performing arts through synchronous sessions with the teacher, inquiry through rich resources, and student agency in what and how they shared back to the teacher and peers. 

What is imagery in poetry? This is a question that our G2 students have been inquiring into in creative writing. Students are learning that poets often use imagery to create pictures, which help the reader or listener to imagine something clearly. By reading some examples and practicing with a few scaffolded examples first, students were then encouraged to try writing two original poems of their own. Here are a few examples from our G2 poets. Well done, N'yomi, Philippa and Caitlin for helping the reader imagine the moment by tapping in the senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. 

Please let us know how we can support your child and family in these final weeks by reaching out to your child's teacher, the Primary Principal (dhuson@aislusaka.org) or the Primary Office (primaryoffice@aislusaka.org). As always, if you need any support tech support, please complete the tech support form so that we can provide assistance. 

Until next week,
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal of Teaching & Learning and PYP Coordinator
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal of Systems & Innovation and IT Integration Specialist

Transitions can be difficult.

Join our counselors Stephanie Sawchuk, Driekie Smith, and Julie Ann Baldry who will provide a brief overview of strategies that may make transitions easier. This live, virtual presentation is for both leaving and staying families. It will be interactive with chances to ask questions and gain clarification.

• Tuesday, May 26 2020
• 18:00 - 19:00 (Zambia Time)

Please email one of the counselors for a link to join this meeting: ssawchuk@aislusaka.org; dsmith@aislusaka.org; or jbaldry@aislusaka.org.

Dear Families,
With the month of May well underway, there continues to be a lot of wonderful learning happening across all grades and subject areas with a handful more of exciting weeks still ahead of us. As always, thank you for all your support these past two months in helping your child to stay motivated, focused, inspired, reflective and organized. We appreciate all of your efforts! On with the updates from Week 8...

As we have shared consistently over the past few weeks, we can improve with feedback. Thank you to all of the families who have provided suggestions, asked questions, and shared their family's challenges and successes through our feedback survey along the way. Last week, we were interested in hearing the students' perspective so we asked all of our G1-G5 students to complete a quick survey. We inquired into the workload, what they would like to have more/less of, and their experiences with Google Meets. From the 106 responses received, here is what they said...

As a result of the survey, teachers have been conscious about scaling back the workload for the remaining weeks in grades where it was mentioned. Students, overall, have found the synchronous sessions very helpful, providing opportunities to ask questions, clarify instructions, and connect with classmates. Because not all students can attend all specialists at the designated times due to different time zones, some students were not able to share if those subject's sessions were helpful to them or not. In addition to the questions above, students have asked for more time to connect with teachers. As a reminder, all teachers are available between 12:00-15:00 for students to connect with them as well as additional student check-in times and small group work with homeroom teachers throughout the week. We look forward to providing more balance for the students during the remaining weeks. Thank you to all of the students who gave us important information to reflect upon.

With the end of the school year just around the corner, we are in the process of supporting our students' and families' transitions, whether to a new school, a new country or a new grade-level.

• Ms Stephanie shared in a message via Seesaw that she will be offering a three-part Google Meet series to discuss transitions for families that will be moving next year. She will use the concept of RAFT (Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, and Think destination) to help students process their transition. If your family will be leaving AISL next school year and you would like your child to attend these sessions, please email Stephanie Sawchuk (ssawchuk@aislusaka.org) so she can set up the sessions with your child(ren). 
• Ms Driekie Smith, our Middle School Counselor, joined the G5 Guidance meets last Monday, 18 May, and will have another session with the G5 students on Monday, 1 June to answer questions that students have regarding their move to Middle School. 
• On Monday, 8 June, we will have a virtual G5 Transition 'Ceremony' recognizing the completion of the Primary Years Programme for our G5 students. Stay tuned for more details to come.
• On Tuesday, 9 June, we will be arranging a 'fly-up' day for our KG-G5 students to visit the grade-level ahead by meeting with the teachers and asking questions they may have about moving to the next grade.

Despite the campus being closed, our Early Years teachers have continued to seek ways to promote the love of learning for our youngest students (ages 3-5). Whether that is through sensory play, journal drawing/writing, math explorations, creative projects or science experiments, there has been something for everyone to tap into for enjoyment, inquiry, and inspiration. These are just a few of the examples shared by our Early Learning Center (ELC) students this past week.

As always, we are here to support your child and your family. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or need clarification. We also encourage you to complete the tech support form for any assistance needed with your child's device and/or our distance learning platform.

Until next week,
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal and Tech Integration Specialist
​Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal and PYP Coordinator

It is exciting to see how our Primary students continue to engage with the PYP Units of Inquiry from ELC to Grade 5. Students are asking questions, gaining information online and from interviews, and furthering their understanding of the world. Below are our current units and just a few photos to give you an insight to the wonderful learning that is happening in our primary school. 
ELC - Through our curiosity we discover and appreciate our natural environment.
Kindergarten - Respecting the needs of living things is our responsibility.
Grade 1 - We communicate our ideas and feelings through different forms of expression.
Grade 2 - People migrate to respond to challenges and opportunities.
Grade 3 - Properties and attributes of matter affect how materials are used.
Grade 4 - Understanding how our interdependent body systems work can help us make healthy choices.
Grade 5 - ​Biodiversity relies on maintaining a balance of interdependent organisms in an ecosystem.

Dear Primary Families,

Thank you for your continued support as we near the end of Week 7 of our distance learning program. We have continued to tweak and refine based on the feedback you have provided us and would like to share an update below pertaining to Google Meets.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been finding ways to streamline synchronous learning. This week, as well as being invited through Seesaw, students from KG to G5 will be able to directly access through Google Meet by swiping up as per the image below. This should make it as easy as possible for students to collate and view all their ‘Meets’ in one place so they can plan their time and be responsible for their own learning. 

As shared in the previous newsletter, participation in the Google Meets remains encouraged, but optional. In an effort to provide opportunities for students to engage with the full program, both homeroom and specialist teachers have set up asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities. We were pleased to see that over the past two weeks, students' engagement with their specialist classes has increased significantly, both with posted activities in Seesaw and connecting through the synchronous sessions. We realize that not all timings will work for all families on all days, but we have tried our best to balance many factors across grades and classes. We hope that your child(ren) will be able to join at least some of the Google Meets each week, balancing connections with their homeroom and grade-level peers. As shared above, we have worked to create an efficient system for organizing and accessing them.

Beginning with a sketch last week, our Kindergarten artists took it one step further this week by creating a mixed-media artwork using a range of materials. As part of this learning engagement, they inquired further into key words such as mixed media, materials, sketch, front-loading, and inspiration. Students were encouraged to front-load their ideas by sketching and then lay out their materials on a flat surface before gluing, taping and/or painting their mixed media artwork. Our Kindergarten artists were inspired to use materials such as paint, collage, markers, colored pencils and/or found objects to create their projects. These are just a few examples of the creative pieces that were posted over the past week. Thank you Ahmed, Luka, Christina, Jessica, Charlotte, Hanjin, Kianna, Paco and Florence for sharing your creations with us.

​Though our teachers have been working from a distance physically, this has not blocked opportunities for ongoing professional collaboration and reflection sessions. Last week, all of our teachers (early years, lower & upper primary, specialists, and student support services) engaged in a form of 'peer reflection', sharing with each other their structures, processes, and celebrations connected to distance learning. Using the Visible Thinking Routine "I See, I Think, I Wonder", colleagues exchanged their comments, reflections and questions with each other through Google Slides. Collaboration and reflection that pushes our professional thinking is a daily practice for our Primary team with this being just one example.

Thank you for your ongoing feedback. We are here to listen, refine, and support your child and family. We welcome any feedback via the survey or tech support form. Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to any one of your child's teacher(s) or a member of the Primary Leadership Team.

Until next week,
​
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal and Tech Integration Specialist
Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal of Teaching & Learning, PYP Coordinator

Dear Primary Families,

Thank you for continuing to be part of this journey with us as we wrap up Week 6 of distance learning. Below are some key things we wish to highlight as we look forward to the week ahead.

As we conclude our first week balancing synchronous and asynchronous sessions for all subjects across Primary, with the exception of PE, we want to celebrate the level of engagement we have seen from students in both their homeroom and specialist classes. Our aim is to continue to make the process for joining Google Meets as smooth as possible for families. To do this, your child's homeroom teacher will include the meet times in the weekly overview board. For families that may need an additional reminder, please add those slots to your personal calendar so that you can remind your child to access the Seesaw link for that class. We will also aim to create direct links to the meets in the Seesaw classes so that it is easier for students to join. Below is the updated schedule for synchronous sessions with specialists with the new times for G5 Band. 

We are very proud of the level of digital citizenship that our students have continued to demonstrate over these past few weeks. As we hone our digital practices, there are a few reminders that we would like to mention.

• Please remind your child(ren) that they are to join a Google Meet when they see that the teacher facilitating it is present in the call. The teacher will also be the last one to leave a Google Meet call.
  
• When possible, we would like students to join their Google Meets from a common space in the house or a desk area, remembering that an adult must always be in the presence of the call.
  
• Finally, if your child would like to connect to peers in his/her class, please arrange to connect between families in a different way and avoid using links sent by the school. These links are reserved for educational purposes only.
  

Thank you for your support in strengthening these protocols.

Though we have not been able to say hello to each other on campus each day, our Primary students, teachers, and families still continue to find ways to stay connected to each other. A glimpse into some of those ways in the recent weeks have included: engaging with live and recorded stories and songs; creating collaborative books; sharing our "laugh out loud" moments of the week; sharing the 'small moments'; sending tributes to close friends; participating in weekly live meetings with homeroom and specialist teachers; having student check-ins; providing peer feedback on work posted by classmates (i.e. science experiments, writing projects, research projects); 'observing' teachers' digital classrooms and a whole lot more. Despite our physical distance, our connections remain strong. We value these moments and view them as the foundation for maintaining a strong learning community. Thank you to our students, teachers and families for being part of this process. We are truly grateful!

As we near the end of the school year, we have begun the complex process of creating classes for the 2020-2021 academic year. This process considers many factors such as peer dynamics, gender balance, student support across different areas, and learning styles. Your child(ren)'s teachers have had the opportunity to watch them grow and develop over a year and will take into consideration many factors in making sure that each child is placed in a class where he/she will thrive next year. If you feel there are any additional factors that you would like the school to consider about your child's placement, please email the Primary Principal (dhuson@aislusaka.org) before Monday, 11 May. Please know that we can make a note of the things you wish to have considered, but we cannot guarantee that all of them will be met. Thank you for trusting that we will use our best professional judgement in this process.

Please use our tech support form if you or your child needs additional support with Seesaw and/or Google Meet and let us know if you have any other issues or challenges. 

Have a wonderful rest of your week and a relaxing weekend,
​
Darlene Huson, Primary Principal
Christine Kelly, Primary Assistant Principal of Teaching & Learning/PYP Coordinator
Tony Potts, Primary Assistant Principal of Technology & Innovation/Tech Integration Specialist