November 26th, 2010
Dear Parents,
Thank you to all of you who were able to join us this month for Portfolio Days and the Reflective Conference Day. The students were thrilled to see you and share their work and thoughts with you and the teachers.
I trust you all had an enjoyable and relaxing long weekend while the teachers had the opportunity for some outstanding professional development. We were privileged to have Dr. Anne Davies join us and share her expertise on assessment for learning. Her books have been the cornerstone of our assessment practices and it was very re-affirming to see that we are so well aligned to current, research based ideas around 'best practice'.
One visible consequence of this visit will be some revisions to our report card. We took the opportunity to consider ways to more carefully align our written, taught and assessed curriculum with our recording and reporting systems. I would like to invite everyone to a brief presentation with Mrs. Coffey at 14:30 on Thursday, December 9th to hear a snapshot of Dr. Davies workshop as well as an overview and explanation of the newly formatted report card.
On a slightly different note, I would like to take a moment of your time to remind you of one of our most meaningful annual projects. In addition to the ISD walk-a-thon, the Frauenhaus, a home for battered women and their children, is our second big community service project of the year. Our project begins on November 30th and ends on December 14th. During this time we encourage our ISD families to speak with the children about those people in the world who are not as fortunate as they are. Some of these people live in Düsseldorf and we try to help them for the Christmas Season. This year the Center asked for the following donations:
· Small games and puzzles for different age groups.
· CDs/ Cassettes (children's songs or radio plays in German).
· New and almost new baby/children's clothing up to 12 year olds.
· Arts and crafts supplies.
· Small stuffed animals (no bigger than 30 cms./12 inches long)
· Baby toys
Our Student Council decorates a 'Giving Tree'. All gifts are placed under the tree. The children are asked to donate something of their own from home that is in good condition, or to earn money doing chores around the house to purchase a present from the list above. We encourage parents to involve the children in choosing a gift, buying a gift and wrapping it. Parcels should be marked 'girl' or 'boy' and the age group for which it is most appropriate. The children in the center range in age from infants to twelve.
The generosity of the ISD community has been overwhelming in the past. Please help us make this Christmas special for these women and children who have so little. Thank you for your support during this season of giving and for helping our children learn the value of thinking about others.
Warm regards,
Alan Lorenzini
Elementary School Principal
No comments:
Post a Comment