Sunday, June 1, 2014

Week of June 1

Good Evening,

June 1st..............where did this year go?!?! It seems as though we still have so much to do!

As we go into the last couple weeks of the school year, let's help each other. This is a stressful time of year for the students who are staying and those who are leaving, for parents who are packing out and/or trying to make summer travel plans, and teachers who are continuing to guide students towards continued learning........not an easy feat at this time of year :)

Thanks to Ms. Marinucci, Ms. Martin, Ms. Leidtke and the Gr 8 students for the great IAR presentations. Great speakers were passionate and knowledgeable about their topics....great way to wrap up the school year.

Upcoming Events:
From our French and Spanish Teachers:
The World Language Oral Skills Showcase for French and Spanish will take place on June 3 starting at 4:00. Please attend and enjoy our students performing in a world language.

Gr 8 Reflection Night
Gr 8 parents and students are invited to celebrate and reflect on the student's middle school years at ACS. Students are planning a program of time to say good-byes, time to hang out, and time for parents to gather also. The evening will begin at 6:00 pm.

Dead Sea Transition trips........we are still awaiting confirmation from the hotel, however, these trips will take place during the last week of school. As soon as the exact dates have been confirmed we will notify everyone. The purpose of these trips is to allow students time to bring closure to the school year and say good-bye to friends.

ALL students must complete a check out form at the end of the school year. Students will be given forms on 12 June. If you are departing ACS early, please notify us of your departure date so we can have all necessary documents ready for you. Quarter 4th reports will not be available until 18 June.

Regardless of if you are staying or leaving....below is a link that might be helpful to you and your family during this time of transition.

Food for Thought on Transitions


Sunday, May 25, 2014

Week of May 25

Good evening,

I hope you have enjoyed the long weekend in celebration of Jordanian Independence....it was certainly a beautiful weekend!

Departing Families:
If you are leaving ACS at the end of this year, please notify our Business Office or our MS Counselor so we can begin  the process of having all of your son/daughter's documents ready for the last day.

An Invitation for Gr 8 Parents:
Dear Parents, 

We are very happy to announce the dates of your son/daughter's much-anticipated Graduation By Demonstration presentations. They will be held on May 27 and 28 from 1:30-3:00p.m. in the ACS Middle School classrooms (4th floor).

The presentations are the culmination of several months of research into the students "passion topics." Each student has prepared a speech and a multimedia presentation to demonstrate his/her knowledge of a chosen controversial issue. This work has been completed as part of the Information, Analysis, and Reporting class. We are proud of our students' efforts, and are eager for them to share their work with you. 

In order to remain flexible in accommodating changes to the presentation schedule, we ask that you confirm with your son/daughter which date he/she will be presenting, either May 27th or 28th. The times of the presentations will be the same each day. 

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely, 
Heidi Liedtke, Beth Marinucci and Lisa Martin
IAR Teachers

Looking ahead to next year:
At the end of this month students will have access to their schedules for next school year. We will ask students to check their schedules for accuracy and any change of schedule requests will need to be completed between June 1-June 10. Students will NOT be able to make schedule change requests when they return in August. More information will be sent towards the end of the month.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Week of 18 May

Good Evening,

A big thank you to all of the teachers who gave their time and energy to take the MS students on the various Adventure Jordan trips. There is always a lot of work leading up to the trips but the returns are phenomenal! From what I understand, the students represented ACS extremely well so a thank you to them also.

A thank you also goes out to Mr. Hathaway's advisory group. Today they provided the MS with snacks and a "free homework pass" as part of their contribution to our monthly pay it forward activities. The snacks came just at the right time and there were lots of smiles with the homework passes!

Departing Families:
If you are leaving ACS at the end of this year, please notify our Business Office or our MS Counselor so we can begin  the process of having all of your son/daughter's documents ready for the last day.

An Invitation for Gr 8 Parents:
Dear Parents, 

We are very happy to announce the dates of your son/daughter's much-anticipated Graduation By Demonstration presentations. They will be held on May 27 and 28 from 1:30-3:00p.m. in the ACS Middle School classrooms (4th floor).

The presentations are the culmination of several months of research into the students "passion topics." Each student has prepared a speech and a multimedia presentation to demonstrate his/her knowledge of a chosen controversial issue. This work has been completed as part of the Information, Analysis, and Reporting class. We are proud of our students' efforts, and are eager for them to share their work with you. 

In order to remain flexible in accommodating changes to the presentation schedule, we ask that you confirm with your son/daughter which date he/she will be presenting, either May 27th or 28th. The times of the presentations will be the same each day. 

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely, 
Heidi Liedtke, Beth Marinucci and Lisa Martin
IAR Teachers

Looking ahead to next year:
At the end of this month students will have access to their schedules for next school year. We will ask students to check their schedules for accuracy and any change of schedule requests will need to be completed between June 1-June 10. Students will NOT be able to make schedule change requests when they return in August. More information will be sent towards the end of the month.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Week of 11 May

Good Afternoon,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and....to all the Mom's......Happy Mother's Day.

Thanks to the StuCo for a great dance on Thursday. It was nice to see the students dressed up. The all looked so grown up!

Reminder: Gr 7 and Gr 8 will depart for their Adventure Jordan trips this week. Please contact Ms. VanCleave or Mr. Hathaway, respectively, if you have any questions. ALL medical release forms must be turned in before a student will be allowed to participate on the trip.

We will send regular trip updates each morning and each evening as long as groups are in an area that has either cell service or wifi.  Please do not attempt to contact your son/daughter during the day as they will be involved with activities all day----we do not want to interrupt their "class" time!

Gr 7 contact number is: 079-559-3662 This number should be used in emergency only and please realize for most of the trip the group will not have a cell signal.

Gr 8 contact number is: 079-688-7012

An Invitation for Gr 8 Parents:
Dear Parents, 

We are very happy to announce the dates of your son/daughter's much-anticipated Graduation By Demonstration presentations. They will be held on May 27 and 28 from 1:30-3:00p.m. in the ACS Middle School classrooms (4th floor).

The presentations are the culmination of several months of research into the students "passion topics." Each student has prepared a speech and a multimedia presentation to demonstrate his/her knowledge of a chosen controversial issue. This work has been completed as part of the Information, Analysis, and Reporting class. We are proud of our students' efforts, and are eager for them to share their work with you. 

In order to remain flexible in accommodating changes to the presentation schedule, we ask that you confirm with your son/daughter which date he/she will be presenting, either May 27th or 28th. The times of the presentations will be the same each day. 

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely, 
Heidi Liedtke, Beth Marinucci and Lisa Martin
IAR Teachers

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Week of May 4

Good Evening,

I hope everyone enjoyed the nice holiday weekend. I don't know why, but this weekend really seemed like a long weekend!

Thank Yous
to all of the Gr 6 teachers for their time and energy towards the Adventure Jordan trip. I hope your sons/daughters were exhausted and excited...I saw a lot of tired but happy faces going to the buses last week!

FYI's:
Grade 7 and Grade 8 girls are invited to help with the Reclaim Childhood event on May 17. This is an annual mini-sports festival event organized as a HS Community Service project for Iraqi, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian girls. MS girls are encouraged to help organize and participate to begin gaining an understanding of how our time and energy can impact others. Girls who are interested can contact Mr. Tschumperlin for sign up information. Sign up will be on a first come, first serve basis.

Girls Basketball----Gr 7 and Gr 8 girls who are interested in playing basketball are invited to a basketball clinic hosted by the HS girls basketball players and Ms. Lewis. The clinics will be held on May 10, 24, and 31 from 9:00-10:30. Girls should contact Ms. Lewis if they have any questions.

Adventure Jordan medical release forms were given to students last week. (see links below if your form did not make it home) Students should return the signed forms this week to their advisory teacher. Teachers will travel with these forms so it is imperative all students return the forms in a timely manner. Unfortunately, if a student does not return their form, we will not be able to take them on the trip with us.

If you have any questions regarding your grade level trip,  please contact:
Ms. VanCleave for the Grade 7 trip      mvancleave@acsamman.edu.jo
Mr. Hathaway for the Grade 7 trip        chathaway@acsamman.edu.jo

Grade 7 Adventure Jordan Medical Release

Grade 8 Adventure Jordan Medical Release Form

A message from our Athletic Director:
Hello Everyone,

As we head into May we would like to take advantage of this beautiful spring weather in Jordan.  Over the next month there will be a wide range of sports and activities available after school and on weekends.  This will be a much different format than in the past when spring sports was geared towards preparing our athletes for their fall seasons.  This year we are focusing on community.

Students (8th-12th grade), parents and teachers are all welcome to participate in these activities.  It doesn't matter if you have played the sport your whole life or have never played before.  If you don't have the gear or equipment, no worries we'll provide it.  The goal of this month is to get outside and stay active.  

I have attached a calendar that details the schedule for the next 4 weeks.  On this schedule you'll see that the following activities are offered:

Badminton
Basketball
Cardio Core Workout
Jiu Jitsu
Ping Pong
Running
Soccer
Tennis
Ultimate Frisbee
Volleyball
Yoga

The month of May is a tough month for students and teachers with exams and the final push until summer.  The sports and activities offered this month are meant to give everyone a chance to step away for a hour or two and recharge.   

To keep the body in good health is a duty.  Otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
-Buddha

Spring Community Sports Calendar

And Lastly...
As we get closer to the end of the year, things will get hectic and busy. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns here at the end of the year. We are entering a stressful time of year for students...everyone will be busy....some are leaving.....some are staying. Regardless if a student is leaving or staying it is hard for students to see friends go. As the adults in their lives, it is important we stay in close communication so we can work together to keep things upbeat, positive, and in perspective for all the kids. Of all times, this is when we all need to be working together.   :)

Have a good evening,
Rhonda

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Week of 27 April

Good Evening,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. It is tough to stay inside with all of these beautiful days we are having!

Thanks to Ms. Leidtke's advisory for providing us with our last "pay if forward" contribution to our ACS Middle School. Students in the advisory class organized some great music, a game of Chaos, and a perfect ice cream treat last week. I will be honest.....it was such a nice morning to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, some relaxed social time, and a bit of ice cream....even I did not want to go back to class! It was nice to see the students just take some time and just hang out for a bit....a little balance in life and time taken to appreciate each other.

From our French and Spanish Teachers:
The World Language Oral Skills Showcase for French and Spanish will take place on June 3 starting at 4:00. Please attend and enjoy our students performing in a world language.

From one of our Seniors:
Please come to the Color Run taking place this Saturday. A bus will leave from ACS @ 10:00 to the Scandanavian Forest. All proceeds will go to support school supplies for a local school.

Adventure Jordan reminder:
Gr 6 students depart Tuesday to Azraq and will return on Wednesday.
Gr 7 and Gr 8 students will be departing the week of May 11. Students will be bringing home medical release forms next week. If you have any questions about any of the trips, please contact the following people:
Gr 6   Bill Lewis     wlewis@acsamman.edu.jo
Gr 7   Molly VanCleave    mvancleave@acsamman.edu.jo
Gr 8   Chris Hathaway    chathaway@acsamman.edu.jo

From our Curriculum Director:
Students will begin their Spring MAP testing 22 April and finish 15 May. Once all ACS students have completed the testing cycle we will send results home to parents.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Week of April 13

Good Evening, 

Welcome back......I hope everyone enjoyed their time during Spring Break. It was a much anticipated week, however, I now fear the rest of the school year is going to go by entirely too quickly! 

As we get back into our routine this week, I only have a couple of highlights for you. 

Reminder...
  • Sunday and Monday of next week are holidays
From HS Drama..........
  • The HS production of Who Killed Aunt Caroline? will have one performance only on Thursday, April 17 with a show at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for JD 5
From our Community Service Coordinator...............
  • On Saturday, 26 April, ACS will be sponsoring the Run For Life to raise funds for the King Hussein Cancer Center. We wish to make this a K-12 event. To register and download forms, go to the following website:

 
 Have a nice evening.....