Dear Parents,

AISK Professional Development  - Thank You  

Our Early Childhood Department (PreSchl - Kindegarten) staff are all now fully trained or recertified in Food Handing and Safety. Thank you for cooperation with timely collection of your children.

This coming week all Elementary core content area teachers, K-5 will benefit from training in Balanced Literacy and Benchmark Assessment.  We will have a trainer from the Heinemann Publishing House coming to the island to conduct this session.  This is really exciting for us as educators and we know that this will greatly revolutionize literacy teaching in the elementary school.  This training will be done during the school day and classes will continue as normal with the help of other teachers and professionals on staff and a few substitutes.

There will be a parent information session on Friday morning at 7:40 am - 8:10 am by the presenter/trainer, Sharon Hull.  We look forward to having you in Rm. 2107 for this.  Please see some information re Fountas and Pinnell below (from their website).

"In 1996, they revolutionized classroom teaching with their systematic approach to small-group reading instruction as described in their groundbreaking text, Guided Reading. Since then, their extensive research has resulted in a framework of professional development books, products, and services built to support children's learning. Fountas & Pinnell's work is now considered the gold standard in the field of literacy instruction and staff development. Teachers, world-wide recognize Fountas and Pinnell's deep understanding of classroom realities and their respect for the challenges facing teachers".

Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences

Thank you for attending conferences on Friday.  This was a great opportunity to have positive sharing with your children about their learning and proactive conversations with their teachers.  I hope you found these successful and we welcome all feedback.

House Meetings 

Monday, November 18, before school @ 7:45am - 8:00am.  These will be held in lieu of morning play.  Inter house football guidelines will be presented.

Elementary Student Government Lunch Time Concerts 

These will begin on November 22nd and will run from 12:20 pm - 12:35 pm.  This is just a short bit of time where students can get up on stage and perform what they like to an audience and bring life into the lunch hour.

Early Childhood Literacy Morning

This will be on Friday, December 6, in the morning. Parents will be given a window into the world of Literacy Activities at AISK.

Elementary School Q1 assembly

Monday, November 25 - 7:50am - 8:10 am.  We will be celebrating achievements of our elementary students including those of the Under 13 soccer team, our Brownie Pack, our Synchronized Swimmers and more.  

JISA Under 13 Soccer

AISK's team played with dedication and persistence. The tournament is now over for us and our players have gained exposure and experience in playing.  We applaud their efforts. I thank Coach Dexter for his stewardship with the boys and our parents for continually supporting the team throughout this tournament.  

Thanksgiving Feast and Holiday Concert

The annual  AISK PTO Thanksgiving Feast will be on Wednesday, November 27.  Further details about this event will be shared in the near future.  Please be sure to mark your calendars and join us for The Holiday Concert, which is scheduled for Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 5:30pm.

Anna Thwaites-Wallace,

Elementary School Principal

 Dear Parents, Students & Staff,

Congratulations to the girls football team, who beat Campion 6-3 this Tuesday. They put in a fantastic performance as a team which supported Julianna James' 5 goals in one game. The girls had fantastic support from our parents. We would therefore like to run a student 'Pep Rally' from AISK to Tuesday's game at Hillel. If your child is interested in joining us, please email me at bransom@aisk.com. 

 

Next week is a break from after school activities which will recommence after Thanksgiving. Never fear however we have House Football on Thursday. The Elementary Tournament is 

9:20 -10:00 and MS/HS is 11:35 - 12:20. Feel free to come and support your house!

We are also starting an inter-homeroom competition on Monday. The B's vs The G's! We are starting with grade 6B vs 6G & 7B vs 7G in  mixed 6 a-side Football matches. It will start at 2:50pm and finish by 4:00pm. Feel free to come and support your B's or G's. We will be working through all grades to raise participation levels for all students. Watch this space!

 

Clay Tournament

 

The inaugural Digicel Cup was a huge success and a great indicator of performance for ClayFeva in February 2014. We finished 2nd overall just behind Hillel who had a very large and experienced team. The two teams we left behind were Campion College and Manchester High. Our athletes shot fantastically and there were several notable performances.  

• Hugh Jones finished 1st in the Junior b category with a joint top score for the day (with eventual winner) and made it through to a shoot-off for the whole tournament. Hugh was shooting so well and very narrowly missed out on 2nd place overall, but still made the podium. This shoot should give Hugh a lot of confidence going forward, as he pushed the top shooters in the country to perform at their maximum levels to beat him. Well done Hugh! 
• Simon Khouri achieved a great score to finish 2nd in the junior b category behind Hugh Jones. 
• Tomas Hudson finished 2nd in the sub junior b category, only two points behind the winner. 
• Reuben Mair also made it into the high tension and exciting 'Super Six Shoot Off' with Hugh Jones and 6 other participants. 
• Ashleigh Azan, finished 3rd in the beginner girls category

Below are comments from Shooting Coach Khaleel Azan:

"I think all the participants were winners, they competed with dignity and sportsmanship and were humble in victory and defeat. They supported their schoolmates during the event with encouraging words when necessary. 

 

Special mention must be given to:

Firstly, the champion of the event, Brandon Reid (Hillel), who won his class in the main event with a score of 45/50 and continued his focus and mental game into the shoot off, where the championship is won or lost, to shoot a perfect 18/18. Brandon took the time last Wednesday to have a private lesson just working on his mental pre and post shot routine which certainly paid off.  Special congratulations to Hugh Jones (AISK) who has been improving weekly and peaked to shoot the high score also of 45/50 to win the Junior B Class and shot 13/18 to capture the 2^nd Runner Up position .He is going to be a force to reckon with."

I would like to thank Khaleel Azan for putting on such a fantastic event and also all staff, students and parents who came out to help and support our team. In particular, Barbara Henriques who was instrumental in preparing our team for the event.  Thanks also to Kim Gonzalez who took great photos. 

 

Games 

 

Football 

 

Next week Saturday,  November 23, the elementary girls soccer team will play in the JISA (Jamaica Independent School Association) five-a-side football tournament. The venue might be AISK playfield,  still waiting on JISA for confirmation of this and time for games.

 

 

Brad Ransom

Athletic Director