October 29th, 2010
Dear Parents,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Our week has been a busy one as students engaged in
learning as well as Halloween festivities! We hope everyone is ready to join us
tomorrow, Saturday, October 30, for the PTO Halloween Party. All students from
grades EC3-5th and their families are invited to attend. The PTO has been busy
planning an extraordinary event! You can count on an afternoon of spooky fun for
the whole family which includes crafts, games, trick-or-treating, haunted house, and
refreshments. Don’t forget to wear a costume! The more Halloween spirit we can
conjure up, the better! Thank you to all of those families who so generously donated
candy for the event! As always, thank you PTO for all of your dedication and
commitment to ensuring amazing opportunities for our AISB community!
Important News for You
PROGRESS REPORTS
Progress reports will be sent home on Monday, November 1st. These reports are
meant to be a snapshot of your child’s performance in the academic areas. Please
bring them along to the parent-teacher conference on Wednesday or Thursday in
order to discuss any celebrations and questions you may have.
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE
Parent-Teacher Conferences are highly valued here at AISB. They provide the first
opportunity for parents to spend time talking about their child’s progress with the
teacher. This is a time for celebrations as well as for action planning. Your role as
part of your child’s learning team is quite appreciated! We look forward to spending
time with you next week on behalf of your child’s learning.
By now, all parents should have signed up for their conference time via the parent
portal. If for any reason you do not have this time scheduled, please contact your
child’s classroom teacher as soon as possible. Parent conferences will take place on
Wednesday and Thursday, November 3rd and 4th after 12:30 pm. Please note that
students will be released from school at 11:50 am on both of those days. Please
plan for proper transportation arrangements as students are not meant to attend
these conferences unless requested by the classroom teacher. Thank you for
understanding that students may not be on campus unsupervised.
Please make sure that you take time to stop by your child’s specialist teacher’s classroom in
order to learn about how your child is progressing in Art, Music, P.E. and Technology. You
do not have to schedule a specific time to meet with them as they will be available
in their classrooms each day from 12:30-4:00 pm. Our counselor, Laurie Winters
will also be available in her office if you would like to visit her. Our support
teachers, EAL, Learning Skills and Enrichment, may be attending the conference
with the homeroom teacher. If you would like to have a separate meeting, please
contact them as soon as possible as you will need to schedule a time to do so.
STUFF THE BUS FOR BERCENI - PTO Service Learning Committee
The PTO Service Learning Committee has organized a community service project for
Elementary and Middle School students to support. They are sponsoring a FOOD
DRIVE FOR SECOND CHANCE in partnership with AISB student council and all
students during the week of November 15 – 25. Please help us collect food for 400
food bags for those in need. Please watch for more details coming soon!
DATE CHANGE – HARVEST FESTIVAL
Please correct your calendars. The much celebrated and appreciated Harvest
Festival will be on Wednesday, November 24th. More news will follow from the
BRIDGE committee.
Important REPEATED Information
DATE CHANGE- PLEASE TAKE NOTE!
Please note the change of Parent-Teacher Conference dates in the second semester.
They will be held on April 6th and 7th. This modification has been made on the
master calendar found on the Parent Portal.
Attendance
Tardies
We know that daily attendance directly impacts student learning. We are
finding many students are arriving tardy each morning. We kindly remind you that it
is imperative that your child arrives at school on by 8:00 am. Arriving after this
time is quite disruptive to the classroom community and routines and can affect
your child’s learning for the day. Students will be marked ‘late’ if arrival is after
8:00 am. If your child arrives after this time, he or she will be instructed to go to
the Elementary Office to receive a notice of entry.
Absences
It is very important for us to know why your child is absent. Excused
absences are given in the event of sickness, family emergencies, legal matters and,
religious holidays. Please call the office at 021-2044301/021-2044307 or email
Claudia at ckiss@aisb.ro to notify us of your child’s absence. We deeply appreciate
your support and adherence to this request.
We will return to school on month welcoming the month of November! It is
unbelievable that time is flying so quickly! If we can just hold onto the sunshine for
a while longer, all will be fine! Here’s wishing you a happy weekend! If you should
have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email, mschaub@aisb.ro or
you can always set up an appointment to meet.
Warm regards,
Melissa Schaub-Diaz
Elementary School Principal
Young AISB Voices Speak
This week, I’d like to share with you some of the words and thoughts of AISB’s
younger elementary children, in their explanations of their strategies for coping with
strong negative feelings. These illustrate that young students are still developing, or
have not yet developed, the means by which to satisfactorily resolve their sadness
and anger at life events. I find their comments developmentally appropriate for their
age and stage (grades K-2), but also see them as an opportunity for us to identify
ways to support our children in these, their strongest, most troubling feeling states.
Here are some of their comments in response to three simple questions; my
observations follow.
What do you do when you are sad?
I not like. I hug a friend or relative. I go to my bed. Bed. I am
going to bed. I am not talking to anyone. I go to my mom. I
stay where there is nobody. I go hug someone. I drink water.
I go to sit alone. I go on my bike. I draw when I’m sad. I play.
I hug someone. I go to get a hug. I hug my dog. I throw my
shoe at the wall. I do not talk to anyone. I go to my room and
slam the door. I play with my cats. I am crying. I’m lying in
bed. I punch my face. I play on the computer. Cry. I cry. I go to my room and I
stop crying. I’m crying. When I am sad I tell my mom. When I am sad I go to the
computer. I go in my room. I’m crying. I stay in my room. I go to my room. I like to
listen to music on my computer.
What do you do when you are happy?
First I do a friendship bracelet-then I jump on my bed and
fall down. I stand on one hand. I play with my brother. I
do my homework. I play with my Legos. I play with my
friends. I jump on my bed. I play crazy stuff. I play
soccer. Yippee-happy. Boing! I’m looking at my favorite
toys. I have a smile. When I am happy I dance. When I
am happy, I run. When I am happy, I hug Me. When I’m
happy, I go to play. I’m playing. I have a smile. I’m
playing football. I play. I smile. When I am happy, I hug
my friends. When I am happy I go to a park. When I am
happy I cuddle with my mom. I jump up and down. I am happy when my friend
comes to my house. When I am happy I look at the television. When I am happy I
play outside. I ride a bike. I make a happy face. I go to the trampoline.
What do you do when you are angry?
When I am angry I scream to it. When I
am angry I hit my sister. I talk with
someone. I am angry when my mom says
no. When I am grumpy, I hit the chair. I
make a face. I hit. I stamp my feet. I am
sleeping in my bed. I talk to the people. I
shout-I punch. I am cross. I feel like
hitting someone. I stamp with my feet,
hard. I stay and think. I talk to others. I try to control myself. I hug my mom. I do
something fun. I breathe. I talk to someone. I hit someone. When I am angry I
shout NO! When I am angry, I shout hard. I stamp my feet. My face gets red. I go
to my room. When I am feeling mad I sort of cry. I shout. I kick the wall. I feel like
kicking whoever made me angry. I throw my pillow on the floor. I stomp with my
leg and I am just throwing everything. I throw my pillow. I punch pillows. I go to
my room and shut the door-boom! An angry shout.
What these responses mean:
These honest accounts from young children tell us a great deal about what
they feel their options are when they are feeling certain ways. Striking is
the tendency of even our youngest ones to turn inward, isolate themselves,
get away from everyone, and be alone in their sadness.
While this can be a useful strategy if used sparingly and briefly, the habit of being
isolated by sadness may indicate the child’s belief that this particular feeling is to be
endured alone. In truth, sadness in young children is best resolved by
communicating the feeling to a loved, trusted adult, and receiving reassurance and
acknowledgement, even if the precursor was that the child was disobedient and/or
behaved badly.
If so, they need forgiveness, and the message that adults believe they can begin
again, and do better. I would recommend watching carefully your child’s style of
handling sadness; if you see self-isolation as their main strategy, it is likely that
they have developed beliefs that this is the best or only choice. Unfortunately, it is a
choice that can ultimately lead to depression and deep discouragement, even in
young children, when they aren’t encouraged to resolve this painful feeling.
Your guidance and reassurance can help set the world right again and can
“immunize” children emotionally from future tendencies toward
depression.
Children are clearly aware that anger produces a visceral, physical
response that is difficult to control. We are learning, in this next round of
Guidance Lessons, that, while sadness needs comfort, anger needs expression.
Younger students are identifying those people who can support them when they
need help with strong feelings or problems.
Older students are considering the three strategies we all use with all strong
negative feelings, especially anger: stuffing (or swallowing the feeling with no
resolution), escalating (engaging in behavior that makes the problem bigger/worse)
and, of course the most useful option, managing the feeling. Staying in charge of
our own reactions is the goal, since a good result is also the goal of handling
feelings.
Strong feelings of anger need a calming or cool-down strategy right away (except in
dangerous situations), which can be achieved by deep, slowed breathing, counting
to town, backing away from a situation, and getting support immediately from a
trusted adult. This allows the child to calm down enough to choose their response.
In most situations, that will be assertive behavior that communicates that the child
perceives a problem. Using “I” statements to describe the experience is best, since
it tends to make others less defensive and more able to listen. An example would
be, “I don’t like it when you never pass the ball to me during our soccer game”, or
“I don’t appreciate you taking my book without asking”, etc. This message gives the
other child/adult a chance to consider the impact of their behavior and correct it,
apologize, etc. Eye contact, straight posture, and a firm voice helps deliver
the most effective message. It doesn’t always work, of course! Which is when a
statement can be repeated for effect, or help can be sought from a trusted source.
These assertive statements may or may not solve a every conflict for your
child, though they often resolve many smaller ones, but they have another
very important function: they reassert the child’s dignity and right to feel
indignant about unfair treatment. That is a skill we want for all our
children.
Laurie Winters
AISB Elementary School Counselor
We are members of the Roots and Shoots after school activity.
We call our club Pause…for Dogs
Back row- Zoie, Amanda, Jessica, Megan, Casey
Front row- Lea, Heidi, David, Zintle, Bukho
We decided that we want to try and do something to help the street dogs.
We visited a local dog shelter in Pipera where 35 dogs are living and
waiting to be adopted.
They need old bedding, blankets, towels, dog collars, leashes and toys to
play with. These dog toys can be old tennis balls, stuffed animals or old
shoes for them to chew. Boxes will be placed in the atrium where you
can drop off your donations. Thank you for helping.
You can help make a difference in the lives of these dogs!
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Director: Dr. David Ottaviano, dottaviano@aisb.ro
Elementary Principal: Mrs. Melissa Schaub – Diaz, mdiaz@aisb.ro
Secondary Principal: Mr. Brian Roach, broach@aisb.ro
Director of Admissions & Advancement: Mr. Lynn Wells, lwells@aisb.ro;
Admission Officer: Mrs. Catalina Pieptea, catalina@aisb.ro; admiss@aisb.ro
Director of Finance and Operations: Mr. Sheldon Hutchison, shutchison@aisb.ro
Chief Accountant: Ms. Lia Comanescu, lia@aisb.ro
Activities Director: Mr. Scott Hibbard, shibbard@aisb.ro
After School Activities: Mr. Luis Ricardo Diaz, lricardodiaz@aisb.ro
PTO President: Mrs. Jeannie Giknavorian, dannofiveo@msn.com
School Doctor: Mrs. Alina Teodoru, ateodoru@aisb.ro
E-News Editor: Ms. Claudia Iordache, ciordache@aisb.ro