September 11, 2009

International School Pointe-Noire Parent Newsletter September 11, 2009
Calendar Notes

October 16 & 19 – No school (AISA Conference/professional development)

November 11 – No school (Armistice Day) December 2 – End of first trimester (report cards issued)

December 19 – January 3 – Winter Break
Principal’s Note

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. –Herbert Spencer
We had a fabulous first week here, beginning with a terrific turnout for the ISPN Family Gathering on Saturday, continuing through the excitement of a first day field trip on Monday, and ending with four days of steady learning and community-building back here at the school. Our school population is up fifty percent from the end of last year, and the diversity of our students’ home countries has also increased dramatically. We now have eighteen students, aged 4 – 11, from nine different countries representing five continents.
The quotation above speaks well to the philosophy that drives us here at International School Pointe-Noire. We are dedicated to active, rather than passive, learning. The students this week have already worked as naturalists, observing, collecting, and studying samples of beach artifacts; they were writers and artists as well, putting their impressions of shells and sea water onto paper. We have learned new songs, new games, and made new friends.
We will soon be setting a date for Back to School Night, when parents are invited to come in and learn about the curriculum and classroom expectations. You will have an opportunity to view student work and ask questions of the teachers. Later in the trimester, parents will be invited to view our Oceans Museum, and toward the end of the marking period we will be having Parent-Teacher Conferences. Please e-mail me
with your suggestions for the best timing of evening events such as Back to School Night and an exhibition of our Oceans Museum.
Snacks and Lunch We have noticed some unhealthy items in students’ snacks and lunches, and we urge parents to seek out healthier alternatives. Soda and candy are two things we would rather not see the students consuming while they are here. Other “junk food” items like chips and cookies should be balanced out with healthy options: fruit and vegetables, fish, grains, or protein. It’s a hard day of work for most children in school, and good food gives them the energy they need to concentrate and perform to the best of their abilities. Also, we ask that parents do not send in food that requires the microwave. Our lunch period is not that long as it is, and a line of students in front of the microwave slows us down and could take away from time on-task in the classroom.
School Clothes and Supplies
We have students coming to school in skirts that are too short and shoes that are too fancy to allow them to be truly comfortable and safe throughout the school day. Please talk with your children about wearing practical clothing and footwear, and saving the party clothes for special occasions.
Parents of students in the Older Years classroom with Ms. Cloutier are reminded that their children need to have Homework Notebooks that travel with them to and from school. They are to be used for all assignments that do not have a separate worksheet to write on.
Parent-Student Handbook
The revised Handbooks are now available in the school office if you would like to have a hard copy. Otherwise, look for the Parent-Student Handbook attachment in the e-mail with this Newsletter and save it on your computer or print it for your own reference.
Early Years Class Notes (written by the class with Mr. Potter)
On Monday we went to 2 beaches. We collected shells and water and crab legs and sand. We went to the fish store and we drew fish. We looked at our shells in class. We wrote about and drew our shells. We also drew other things we collected at the beach.
We also made pictures with colorful shapes. We learned about ocean animals. We talked about numbers and digits.
Older Years Class Notes
We learned about the water cycle and began our observations of sea water collected on the field trip. We did journal writing about our memories of the trip, and we have been sharing book reviews of the books we read. We have also discussed books read aloud, paying particular attention to the way that describing words create detailed, interesting writing. In math, we reviewed how digits make numbers, and how important it is to write neatly in math, keeping digits in the right columns to show ones, tens, hundreds, etc.
After-School Activities
Parents may have the opportunity to sign up their children for two exciting programs after school – African dance and tennis lessons. We are still working on details like scheduling and setting fees for these activities, but we would like to get an idea of how many children might be interested. Each program would take place on a different afternoon, and would last approximately one hour. Parents would pay for these activities individually. The dance activity is presently proposed for one hour per week, at a cost of 1,000 FCFA per child per hour. Tennis lessons would cost approximately 10,000 FCFA per child per month, with two lessons each week.
Please e-mail or call Davina in the school office to express your interest in either activity, and we hope to finalize the programs by the end of next week.
Looking forward to another great week of learning,
David Potter Principal