Week of 16 December-Week 15

Good Evening,

First, I must say thank you to the parent community. I have never seen so much food during last week's Teacher Appreciation Day. This was greatly appreciated and really provided a time for staff to take a few moments to come together. This created such a feeling of celebration...thank you.

I want to extend a "hats off" to Jill Hire, our Drama teacher. The Peter Pan production was a huge success and it was great to see so many students on stage participating with big smiles on their faces.

Last week we had many assemblies and interruptions to our usual schedule. As a result, students did not have their usual ZAP Advisory in order to communicate with you about missed assignments. We will have one ZAP day this week to get everyone pointed in the right direction prior to the break.

Lastly, I want to extend a sincere thank you to all of you for your patience and kindness to me as I have settled in this semester. Not to sound too much like a cliche..but I truly love being at ACS and love each day working with the students. You have wonderful kids and I feel quite fortunate in having the opportunity to work with your children. I learn from them each day, feel privileged to share in their joys, and stress with them over their sorrows. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the lives of your children.

Enjoy time with family and friends during this holiday season. And, safe travels. We will miss the students while they are away and will look forward to their return.

Rhonda Isley
MS Principal
risley@acsamman.edu.jo

Week of 9 December Week #14

Good Afternoon,

I will make this posting brief as I am sitting at the airport in Bahrain and the connection is quite spotty at best.

1.     Please make note of the dates to the left as it will be a busy next couple of weeks.

2.     This week, during the school day, we will also have for students:

·      a matinee performance of Peter Pan

·      a presentation from Carl Wilken  http://worldoutsidemyshoes.org/

·      a presentation on personal security and safety

3.     If you are not returning for the second semester and have not notified us, please contact us as soon as possible. This allows us enough time to have transcripts and other necessary records ready for you by the time of your departure.

4.     A few reminders:

·      As we get closer to the holiday, please make note of our policy on student visitors. We require a minimum of a 24 hour advance notice for any student visitors to our campus. This allows time for teachers to be notified so as not to interrupt instruction and allows us to ensure a secure campus.

·      We publish our school calendar in advance so families may make travel arrangements accordingly. As a school, we place a high value on student attendance and participation within classes. Travel arrangements that require students to depart early or return late are discouraged. As with all absences, it is the student’s responsibility to make an effort to communicate with teachers during any absences.

5.     ES FYI: ES StuCo is sponsoring the Angel Tree Project again this year. Please contact the ES Office for details if you wish to participate.

Have a good evening,

Rhonda Isley

MS Principal

risley@acsamman.edu.jo 

Week of 2 December Week # 13

Good Evening,

Thank you for visiting the weekly MS Missives on a regular basis. We appreciate your efforts to keep up to date with what is going on in the Middle School.

A big thank you to those of you who were able to attend our first Family Connection Chat last Thursday. Our topic was "Hey What Happened To My GPA." This was an introductory conversation to begin a dialogue about what we...parents, teachers, students... want to see on student report cards.

To begin the discussion we viewed the first 8 mins. of the video clip below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKRZuSbACBw

We will continue to have discussions on this topic and will plan more evening Family Connection Chats in the future so all parents have a chance to participate in the discussion. 

I appreciated the honest, straightforward communication we were able to have regarding this topic. 

• Power School is now open to all students and parents with information relating to quarter 2.
• Tomorrow we will celebrate our MS students and their contributions to our MS hallways. All students are invited to share in a donut treat as we recognize  students and their contributions to our MS environment thus far this year--whether it be through academic achievement, participation in activities, random acts of kindness-we are all contributors!!
• Last week ACS MS students were fortunate to hear about an inspirational speaker, Nick Vujicic,  who will be in Amman next week.....see the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE

We encourage our students to attend this event at Prince Hamza Basketball Arena, Sports city on  Dec 13 @ 5:00. Ticket prices range from 10 JD-40 JD and can be purchased through karasi.com

Addition(s) to the following pages have been made. Please check out the postings and the added links.

Activities/Service/Athletics--

1. information about a hats/mittens/socks drive if you would like to donate
2. information about the ACS Food Drive for Jordanian and Syrian refugees
3. information about JV Girls and Boys Basketball Tryouts

1:1 Learning--

1. information designed for parents  from Common Sense Media relating to social media use and cyberbullying that is currently being discussed in Advisory sessions. 

Have a good evening,

Rhonda Isley
MS Principal
risley@acsamman.edu.jo