Austin International School
December 4, 2013 |
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Greetings!
Please take a quick moment to inform yourself on our newest announcements. If you have an item to submit, please email Suzanne Krause by Tuesday for publication the following Wednesday. |
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Dates to Know
Did you know our full school calendar is available online?
December 4 | 3:15 p.m.
A representative from St. Stephen's Episcopal School will be available to parents this afternoon to learn more about the school, financial aid opportunities, and academics. Parents of students interested in continuing their middle school education at St. Stephen's are encouraged to attend.
December 5 | 8:45 a.m.
"Behind the Scenes" at AIS Early Years Program
 | | AIS Early Years Program - Behind The Scenes (preview) |
At this event, we will show you a short 3-part movie (the movie is about 20 minutes long in total) where you will hear from the PS, MS and GS teachers about how they bring AIS to life each day. They will talk about 6 main topics: the seamless approach to teaching we use at AIS and how they plan their lessons using this, the team work among each grade level, how we create a unique experience for each child, the AIS community, how we assess the students and finally, you will hear about each teacher's inspiration for what they do and how they seek continual improvement each year. The event is 45 minutes in total.
There will be a brief introduction and presentation of each section of the movie from Christine Christy, and we will also welcome questions and answers from the audience.
February 8, 2014 | 6 - 10 p.m.
Annual Spring Gala
 Please save the date for our Third Annual Spring Gala. This year's fun, festive event will again be held at the beautiful Headliner's Club downtown. We will have student art, a live and silent auction, a grand raffle prize, live music and more! Please plan to attend this wonderful yearly event in the company of fellow AIS parents, friends and supporters. Formal invitation arriving soon.
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Announcements
Fund Run Recap
 Thank you again to all of the students, staff, families and friends who participated in this year's Fun(d) Run. We raised over $12,000 that will be used to improve and develop our children's recreational spaces, such as the back playground and basketball court. If you have donations you'd still like to submit for your child, please drop them off in the grey box at reception. Thank you again for making this such a wonderful community event!
As December 31 approaches and we head into a new year, some of you may have already started collecting paperwork for your tax returns. Please contact Kyle Carroll if you need a copy of any letters of acknowledgment for your donations to the school, a compiled list of your donations for the 2013 calendar year, or any other tax-deductible contribution information. Kyle can also provide letters of acknowledgement for in-kind donations if needed. Please contact her with any questions.
Registration for second semester after school activities underway
We are taking After School Activity registrations for the Spring. We will have a table on Thursday, December 12, from 3:15 to 4:00 p.m. We will be at the front of the school to get your children registered easily and quickly, and answer any questions.
After school activities are a fabulous way to round out your child's trilingual immersion education. Questions? Email Laurence Raud, Coordinator of Extracurricular Activities.
And, it's the last week for activities
This week is last week for After School Activities (except for the yoga class which runs until Dec. 20). Check for make-up classes during the next 2 weeks, on our online extracurricular calendar.
Extracurricular Spotlight on Piano
 Recital is approaching! Students will be performing at Steinway Piano at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 7. If you're interested in sending your child to piano lessons after school, this is a good opportunity for all to see what these students have learned during their first semester.
Missing Papers due December 13 Some student files are missing Handbook Receipts. If you don't have a copy, simply email Hilary Routon and she will get one to you. Thank you.
FACTS/Billing
Please note that due to the recent holiday and school closure, the After School Care billings for October and November will be combined and distributed this week. This will be the same situation for the December can January billings will be distributed in February. Those of you who are on the flat rate monthly FACTs After School Care payment method need not worry as the payments will occur automatically and the billings will simply be for your records. Thank you. |
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PTO News
The AIS Facebook Group is the unofficial hub of PTO chatter, and it's bustling! Join up and get in on the conversation.
PTO Special Event
Please join us for a special PTO meeting to talk about "Preventing Bullying in School: a Collaborative Approach". This meeting will take place in the Auditorium TONIGHT at 5:30 pm.
The topic of bullying is a current social issue as well as a topic that is relevant to every parent. In prior PTO meetings we have talked about the importance of understanding this topic better and making sure we are doing all we can as a school, administration, teachers, and parents. As part of our discussion, we plan to talk about what bullying is and is not. Then we plan to hear from Christophe on what the school is currently doing preemptively to address the topic. Afterwards it will be an open discussion to talk about other options, considerations, and thoughts. AIS has a specific advantage of having a tight community between administration, teachers, and parents. This is a great opportunity to continue building the right awareness and activities to prevent it from affecting our children.Philippe Montillet, a parent with a student in GS, will be moderating this event. Philippe currently works in Human Resources and before going to corporate America, was an assistant principal at a boarding school in France. We hope to see you all there!
AIS Holiday Community Outreach
Holiday Food Drive benefiting the Capitol Area Food Bank of Central Texas
Austin International School and our parent organization strive to be an impactful part of our central Texas community. Please help support the food drive in any way you can!
You may drop off a few items or decide to buy a bag of groceries on your next trip to the market to help feed the families and children of central Texas.
Additional Detail:
AIS PTO is running a HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE to raise non-perishable food for needy families in Austin and Central Texas. The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, a 501c(3) non-profit, is the largest hunger-relief charity in Central Texas providing food and grocery products, nutrition education and social services outreach to 300,000 clients each year through a network of 300 Partner Agencies.
CAFB runs multiple programs to feed those in need including providing food to the area "Kids Cafes". Kids Cafes are safe, nurturing places where neighborhood children in need of a nutritious meal can go after school and receive a hot dinner, as well as help with homework from caring individuals. More information online.
Frequently Asked Questions about food types to donate
What foods should I collect?
- healthy non-perishable food
- items with intact, un-opened, consumer or commercial packaging
- items with non-breakable packaging (no glass please)
- food within the expiration date on the packaging
What are the most-requested items?
- canned meats like tuna, stew and chili (pop-tops preferred)
- canned vegetables
- pasta & pasta sauce
- beans
- healthy cereals
- peanut butter
International Potluck
 Thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the International Potluck lunch on November 22. That was such a great event and it all worked so smoothly! That doesn't happen without YOU! Thanks for being such a great community and helping by setting up, cleaning up or just bringing a dish.
Bakery Sale + Donations
The PTO's bread and pastry sale of items from the Artisan Bistro will be out in front of the school on Friday this week. In honor of "Giving Tuesday" yesterday, the PTO will be donating the profits from this week's sale to the Epilepsy Foundation's Camp Brainstorm.
This camp is an awesome experience for kids who may not normally get to go to camp because they have epilepsy. They have medical staff on hand, siblings get to come with them, and counselors are all either trained or associated with epilepsy themselves. So please come and enjoy a pain au chocolate (or croissant or baguette) and help us support this cause! The baguettes, croissants and pains au chocolat will be $3 each. Thanks for your support! New Shirts for Pizza Friday Volunteers  Are you a volunteer for Pizza Friday? Don't forget to sign up for your t-shirt, courtesy of the PTO! There is a sheet in the Pizza Friday folder in PTO file for you to tell us the size shirt you would like. We have unisex S, M and L. Just sign up and we'll leave the shirt in your child's folder. Thank you for volunteering!
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