MIDDLE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents
ISSUE # 26
WEEK OF MARCH 12 TO 16, 2012

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents: By now your child should have registered for classes for school year 20122013. If your child has not yet done so, your child can see one of the guidance counselors to complete the process. Please note that the Middle School Program Guide is available on the Middle School blog for your perusal. If you have any questions, please contact the Guidance Office at 840 8550. This week, we continue Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing. Please see the letter included in the bulletin for details. Friday, March 16 marks the end of the 3rd quarter. We strongly encourage you to check PowerSchool and discuss your childs assignments, progress and level of achievement with them. On the afternoon of March 20 time has been set aside for Parent Teacher Conferences (PTCs). In connection to this, students will be dismissed at 12:00 P.M. and there will be no afterschool MS activities. Please make the necessary transportation arrangements so that your child is picked up promptly at 12:00 noon. For Parent Teacher Conferences on March 20 please take note of the following information: MS PTC Scheduler opens in PowerSchool on Monday, March 12 after 5:00 P.M. Parents can view only their scheduled appointments. Grade 5 Student-Led conferences. Details will be sent through Homebase. Grade 5 encore teachers, grade 6, grade 7, and grade 8. 12:30 3:15 P.M. Scheduled appointments for parents as requested by teachers. Parents will not need to schedule appointments. Parents will be notified of their scheduled appointment time. 3:30 5:30 P.M. Open House format for informal chats with teachers and sharing student work. Given the nature of an open house, it will not be a time to speak at length with individual teachers about concerns. We strongly urge parents to keep their scheduled appointments. If you are unable to keep an appointment, please contact the Middle School Office at 840 8550. Looking aheadSpring Break starts on March 30 and school resumes on Tuesday, April 10. Have a great weekend! Regards,

Inside this issue:

From the Office of Admissions & Advancement MAP Testing Parent Letter Math Honors Testing for Gr. 6 & 7 Calling for Grade 8 Parent Volunteers MS Academic Bowl PTA Used Book Sale From the Athletics & Activities Office Goodwill Gymnastics Meet 2012 Calendar for SY 2012-2013 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

UPCOMING EVENTS
MARCH 08 to 29 10 20 24 26 to 29 30 to Apr. 09 APRIL 14 16 to 20 20 21 23 to 27 26 28 30 to May 11 MAY 01 02 to 04 03 School Holiday (Labor Day) Gr. 4 Ambassador Program MS Art Opening (3:00 P.M., FAT Gallery) Service Learning Trip ESL Placement Testing Courtyard Event (3:00 P.M.) Service Learning Trip Used Book Fair Beginners Recital - Gr. 7 to 12 (5:30 P.M., LT) Service Learning Trip MS Art Exhibit (FAT Lobby) MAP Testing ISM Goodwill Gymnastics Meet Parent Teacher Conferences Service Learning Trip Spirit Week School Holiday (Spring Break)

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

March 16

Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal

Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

Grade Update/Progress Report Distribution Grade Update Grade Update

March 23 April 13

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From the Office of Admissions and Advancement

Dear Parents, The Admissions Office is sending out a friendly reminder regarding our Withdrawal Procedure. If your family will be leaving before or at the end of SY11-12, we would appreciate that you submit the official Withdrawal Notification Form in order to initiate the withdrawal process. Please note, this does not pertain to Grade 12 students who will graduate in May. Please submit the completed Withdrawal Notification Form as early as possible. All forms are available here: www.ismanila.org > Admission > Re-enrollment and Withdrawal WITHDRAWAL NOTIFICATION FORM (required by ES/HS/MS students) Please submit this to the Admissions Office MIDDLE SCHOOL CLEARANCE FORM Once completed please submit this to the Cashiers Office HIGH SCHOOL CLEARANCE FORM Once completed please submit this to the Cashiers Office

IMPORTANT DATE to remember:

May 11, 2012 Withdrawal Notification Forms for School Year 2011-2012 must be submitted. Forms received after this date will incur a penalty of USD $1000 on the refund of the FUD. For detailed information regarding receiving Report Cards, Transcript of Records, obtaining a yearbook and/or the refund of the FUD please visit our web site at www.ismanila.org under the Admissions TAB < Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal. We appreciate your notification as we have many families awaiting word for enrollment for next school year. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] for any questions or concerns. Sincerely,

Stephanie H. Hagedorn Director of Admissions & Advancement International School Manila www.ismanila.org
Were on the web! www.ismanila.org

IF YOU HAVENT LOGGED ON TO POWERSCHOOL

please call the Guidance Office at 840-8555 or email [email protected] to obtain your username and password.

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MAP Testing Parent Letter

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Math Honors Testing for Grade 6 & 7 Students

Math honors testing will take place on Thursday, March 15th. Grade 6 students will report to the Little Theater at 2:30 P.M. Grade 7 students will report to the rooms of Mr. Martinez and Mr. Cargile at 2:30 P.M. Testing consists of two 30-minute sections. Students and parents should expect the testing to end no later than 4:00pm. Students must bring pencils and erasers. Pencils and erasers are not provided. Calculators are not permitted.

Calling for Grade 8 Parent Volunteers

Dear Grade 8 Parents, We are looking for volunteers to help us in the Grade 8 end of the year activities. If you would like to help, please email Ms. Eva Woodruff ([email protected]), Ms. Child ([email protected]) or Mr. Allen ([email protected]). Help us make it a wonderful experience for your children! Thank you. Dave Allen and Jenna Child Grade 8 Coordinators

Other Announcement

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Middle School Academic Bowl

Congratulations to the Middle School Academic Bowl team for WINNING at the semester two Academic Bowl competition held here at ISM last Wednesday, 7th March 2012. The ISM team members were: Kang, Je Yun (Bryan) - Grade 8 Kim, Dylan Hanyi - Grade 8 Kim, Ho Jun - Grade 8 Liu, James - Grade 8 Mohan, Aparna - Grade 8 Nam, Hyun JIn (Emmy) - Grade 7 Park, Daniel - Grade 7 Ray,Trishala - Grade 8 Thomas, Amita - Grade 8 Zhang, David - Grade 5 Go Bearcats Mrs. Birchenall MS Academic Bowl Coach

From the PTA Office

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From the Athletics & Activities Office

Congratulations to our MS and HS Academic Bowl teams who won this weeks spring Academic Bowl Champions trophies at Tuesdays MS event here at ISM and Thursdays HS event down at Brent. Both competitions were very entertaining with our MS team lead by Mrs. Birchenall running out comfortable winners on the day with Faith 2nd and Brent in 3rd place. The HS event was very tense all day with ISM coming from behind in the last round after being 35 points behind to snatch a thrilling victory, led by a calm and composed captain Matt Borja and his team. Well done to all participants and to David Birchenall our HS advisor for the Academic Bowl Program. Congratulations to our ISM Forensics delegates for their outstanding results at the IASAS Forensics competition in Singapore last weekend. We had 8 students make the finals and come away with 5 medals the most of any IASAS school. All students attending the Pre-IASAS badminton at Taipei and the boys softball at Bangkok (March 16-18 weekend) should have submitted documents and passports already. Please do so immediately to Joan at ATAC if you have not done so. For 3rd Season IASAS athletes please note passports will need to be submitted prior to the break (please submit passports to your coach/ATAC (Mon/Tues March 19/20) for documentation checking. Any student traveling during the spring break must advise Joan at ATAC office so passports can be returned to you before March 29th. ATAC Events coming up: Mar. 10 - JV girls softball at Brent - ISM Goodwill Gymnastics Meet MS Gym Mar. 16 - MS Track Team Mini Meet Mar. 17 - ISM Pre IASAS Track meet (HS only) - JV/Varsity girls softball at ISM Mar. 23 - Twilight Track meet - Varsity girls softball vs. Brent at ISM Mar. 30 to April 9 - Spring break Apr. 11 - Teams depart for IASAS 3rd Season Championships - Track at Taipei - Softball at Singapore - Badminton at Kuala Lumpur May 12 - ISM Gymnastics Dual Meet (this replaces the cancelled SACAC Singapore meet) May 18 to 20 - Mixed Touch Tournament @Jakarta International School GAME SCHEDULE PDF: (access to game schedule information) Information about all mid week/weekend fixtures for ISM teams can be found via the ATAC blog. Please note the game schedule does change often due to involvement with many local schools so please check the page regularly to find out the latest information of where and when the Bearcats teams are playing. Click on schedules tab or the Bearcat logo to be directed to http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/. You will need your Powerschool username and password to access the game schedule. BEARCAT DEN: Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 11:30 A.M. 1:00 P.M. & 2:30 P.M. 4:00 P.M. Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, from 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. If you are interested in joining our group of volunteers in the Bearcat Den, please contact our BCD volunteers coordinator, Radhika at [email protected] or pop in to the Den near the HS Cafeteria and talk with one of our volunteers. They will be very happy to make you welcome. Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

Akshar Bonu - GOLD Extemporaneous Speaking Kei Matsunami - GOLD Oral Interpretation Lynn Yu - BRONZE Oral Interpretation Cody Clifton - BRONZE Impromptu Speaking Sofia Benares - BRONZE Original Oratory
Congratulations also to Yining Zhang who was selected as a featured pianist at the IASAS Festival Concert in Taipei. To all our ISM CC delegates well done on a fantastic CC this year. Next year ISM proudly hosts Cultural Convention Art/Dance/Drama! For a full round up of CC events go check the Fine Arts Blog. ISM Goodwill Gymnastics Meet: March 10th: ISM hosts our annual gymnastics meet tomorrow, Saturday March 10th. We have over 200 gymnasts entered from a variety of local and overseas clubs arriving to compete in the Olympic apparatus of floor, vault, uneven bars and beam, along with boys events under the Mens Artistic Gymnastics program. This day is the biggest event of the year for our ISM gymnasts and is always well supported with a big crowd filling the bleachers to watch the competition. Our gymnastics parents booster club are heavily involved with organizing many aspects of the meet and I would like to express my thanks to the gymnasts parents for all the support they will provide to make this annual meet a big success. Please come along and check out the gymnastics action. Opening parade and welcome for Level 1 gymnasts starts at 8am and is followed by Level 2/3 competition and in the afternoon the more advanced Level 4/5 competition is held. Awarding ceremonies take place immediately after each level section is completed in the Little Theatre.

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Goodwill Gymnastics Meet 2012

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School Calendar for SY 2012-2013