Primary School: Week 3 of Distance Learning

Reflections for the week:

Welcome back! We hope everyone had an enjoyable midterm break. With two weeks of distance learning behind us and a week to recharge, we are looking forward to a wonderful Week 3. Some reflections for this week:

• Please continue to guide and support your child(ren) as needed as s/he engages with the distance learning program; however, let the teaching fall on us. Our team is continually reflecting and making tweaks along the way on how to make our distance learning program smoother for students, families and teachers so that it is a positive experience for all involved. If you or your child are having challenges, please reach out. We do not want any family to feel like the teaching and learning has fallen on their shoulders so let us know how we can help make your given situation easier.
• We have emailed each family that asked for a personal follow-up to the feedback survey. We continue to reflect on the comments, suggestions and questions and hope that with each passing week, every family, student and teacher will find the process going more smoothly. If you have anything you would like to share, please complete the feedback survey. We will be checking this regularly and following up personally as requested to provide support.
• After two weeks of distance learning, our teachers and students are ready to build upon the structure we started out with. Homeroom teachers and some specialists have begun setting up live sessions with students to include small group teaching, 1:1 meetings and class meetings. As some of you shared in your feedback survey the wish to see more live sessions where students can connect with their teachers, this aspect will continue to expand in the coming weeks while still aiming to find a rhythm does not feel overwhelming.
• Remember that the work your child posts needs to be his/her own thinking and learning process. This may mean that sometimes the posted piece is not the most polished work and that is ok. It is meant to start a learning conversation between your child and his/her teacher. It also helps your child's teacher understand exactly where you child might need more support or extension. These posted pieces are important formative data pieces that help drive a teacher's planning and instruction. The more the work is authentically from your child, the better informed a teacher will be in how to support next steps. 
  
• We recognize that Quarter 4 utilizes a very different approach to teaching and learning. However, we are still expecting that all of the students engage in the full program, from the tasks set by the homeroom teacher to each of the specialists. Your child's engagement with the full program will be reflected on the Q4 report card so please help your child pace his/her week so that s/he is engaging with all of the specialists as well. If you are having any challenges, please reach out to that particular teacher.
  
• On a lighter note, we thought these images were quite interesting to share. They show the level of engagement with our primary platform for sharing student learning, Seesaw, before our campus closure and since beginning the distance learning program.

Typical week of Seesaw interactions before campus closure

Seesaw interactions during the second week of the distance learning program

Parent-Teacher Conferences: 20-24 April 2020

Please note that our Semester 2 Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place the week of 20-24 April. This is an opportunity to connect with your child's teacher(s) for a 15-minute conversation about how your child is progressing in a particular subject area. Your child's homeroom teacher will be reaching out to you personally to set up a time slot that works for both the teacher and the family. 

To schedule a conference with any of your child's specialists, please reach out to them directly to set up a time that works for both you and the teacher. Remember, regardless of scheduled conferences, you are welcome to reach out to any of the specialist teachers below any time you or your child has a question or needs guidance with a project. 

• Guidance Counselor (ELC-G5) Stephanie Sawchuk ssawchuk@aislusaka.org
• English as an Additional Language Rob Martin rmartin@aislusaka.org
• French (KG-G5) Laurence Cartron lcartron@aislusaka.org
• Information Technology (KG-G5) Frank Louw flouw@aislusaka.org
• Instructional Coach/SEN Maya Monteroso mmonteroso@aislusaka.org
• Librarian (ELC-G5) Jill Daley jdaley@aislusaka.org
• Spanish (KG-G5) Elisa Ingles Velasco eingles@aislusaka.org
• Performing Arts (ELC-G5) Natalie Coombs ncoombs@aislusaka.org
• Performing Arts (G4-G5) Melodie Hausman mhausman@aislusaka.org
• Performing Arts Band (G5) Chel Illingworth cillingworth@aislusaka.org
• Physical Education (ELC-G5) Kate Luwisha kluwisha@aislusaka.org
• Speech and Language Specialist/SEN Kate Dobson kdobson@aislusaka.org
• Visual Arts (KG-G5) Mwamba Mulangala mmulangala@aislusaka.org

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Student spotlight: creative expression through the visual arts

Many amazing creative visual art projects emerged over the past couple of weeks during our distance learning program. It is difficult to share all of them so we chose a few to highlight this week. We would like to share artwork by: Jessica (KG) who drew a creative flamingo; Emma (G1) who created a sculpture of a butterfly; Yali (G2) who experimented with warm and cool colors through painting; Lily (G3) who explored weaving techniques using chitenge; Zhenfei (G4) who created an old map with a bamboo pen and ink; and Josy (G5) who contributed her idea for the G5PYPX logo design using markers. We look forward to sharing more student work next week.

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