MIDDLE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents ISSUE # 13
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 12 TO 16, 2012

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents: We hope you all had a wonderful school holiday. Everyone seems to have returned refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to tackle the remaining five weeks of school. With the start of the concert season, PTA events, art exhibits in addition to the on-going sports events and service learning opportunities, the weeks are sure to pass in a flurry. This past week we welcomed Peter Gittins and Val Staley who represented the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), respectively. They were on campus serving as a mid-term reaccreditation review team with the aim to validate the various aspects of our school operations and programs. Each of them met with various members of the community to hear firsthand about the teaching and learning that happens here at ISM. The report that they provide us in the coming months will guide our curriculum plan and the goals that we set. We are anticipating their feedback and discussing ways to strengthen our program. On Thursday, November 15 we will host a Parent Coffee in the Little Theater from 7:45 9:00 A.M. The focus for the morning will be a follow-up discussion on information presented by educational consultant John Joseph who visited the school in September. Specifically, the guidance counselors will be facilitating conversations on the World One My Internal World concept and how parents can support their children at home. We hope you can join us. Enjoy a relaxing weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

Inside this issue:

From the Music Department From the Athletics & Activities Office Service Learning Update Lost & Found Viewing From the Office of Advancement Calendar for SY 2013-2014 2 3 4 5 6

UPCOMING EVENTS
NOVEMBER
15 15 to 19 19 to 23 20 23 30 Parent Coffee (7:45 A.M., LT) MS ISTA Festival PTA New Book Fair Gr. 5 & 6 Beginners Recital (5:00 P.M., FAT) PTA Charity Bazaar School Holiday (Bonifacio Day)

DECEMBER
03 to 07 05 to 12 06 07 11 14 15 to Jan. 06 Spirit Week Art Exhibit MS Spirit Assembly (2:15 P.M., MS Gym) Sports Day Gr. 7 to 12 Beginners Recital Early Student Release (12 noon) School Holiday

JANUARY 07 19
Classes Resume MS Local Choir Festival

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

November 16 November 29 Progress Report Distribution Grade Update

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From the Music Department

Dear Parents, On Tuesday, November 20th, the Grade 5-6 Choirs, Bands and Strings will perform exciting music in the Little Theater. Be sure to come and support these young musicians! 5:00 P.M. Gr. 5-6 Choirs 5:45 P.M. Gr. 5-6 Strings 6:30 P.M. Gr. 5-6 Bands and Gr. 7-8 Beginning Band See you there! *** Dear ISM Community, This semester, the High School music department will perform their first semester concert in the FAT on Wednesday, November 28 using the theme Myths and Legends. With this in mind, we would like to invite any interested faculty and parents to join our choir (Showchoir and Concert Choir) as we sing Selections from Phantom of the Opera to close the evening. This 10 minute work will be conducted by Mr. Tom Nazareno (in full costume I might add) and includes your favorite themes from the Broadway hit such as Think of me, Music of the Night, Phantom of the opera, Angel of Music and a few others. Please note that overall the choir will sing the melody and 2-part harmony in English, and it will be accompanied by the High School Orchestra and Symphonic Bands (basically, if you know the tunes and enjoy singing, you will be fine to sing in the choir) We are looking for at least five men and five women to join the choir. If you are interested or have any other questions, please feel free to email me (odendaalg@ismanila.org). We have left music in the Fine Arts Office and the High School faculty lounge. We have also placed rehearsal practice tracks and music here. (please note it is password protected: Bearcat). http://odendaalg.ism-online.org/category/phantom-of-the-opera/ Rehearsal schedule includes: Wednesday, November 14 from 3:00-4:30 P.M. in the AMR Tuesday, November 27 from 2:30-5:00 P.M. in the FAT (We will rehearse the piece at the beginning and end of the rehearsalthere will be some sitting time in between) Concert Wednesday, November 28 Warm up at 4:30 P.M. in the AMR Concert begins at 5:30 P.M. Concert dress is white on top, black on bottom.

Update your contact information!

Please get in touch with the Admissions Office (840-8488) or Middle School Office (840-8550/840-8553) if there has been any change in your home address, email address, and contact numbers. We want to keep you updated with what is happening in school.

Were on the web! www.ismanila.org

IF YOU HAVENT LOGGED ON TO POWERSCHOOL

please call the Guidance Office at 840-8555 or email msguidance@ismanila.org to obtain your username and password.

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From the Athletics & Activities Office

2nd Season ATAC sports: Tryouts concluded prior to the break and the practice schedule for MS & HS sports for (Basketball, Tennis, Varsity Swimming, Boys Rugby and Girls Touch) is posted on the ATAC blog schedules page and on notice boards around school. This Friday, November 9 for HS teams the first rugby and touch games will be held after school vs. Faith Academy. Our MS rugby boys team will play BSM at BSM at 4:00 P.M. for their first game of the season. This Saturday, November 10 sees the start of the tennis season action and Basketball teams matches begin the following week of November 17 with our local leagues. Please check game schedule page carefully for all match times and venues. Swimathon: Sailfish will hold their annual swimathon on Saturday, November 10. The schedule is posted on the sailfish blog, please sponsor a sailfish swimmer for their efforts this coming Saturday! Friday, November 16 is Friday Night Lights #2 for this year. From 4:00 P.M., there will be MS/HS rugby games vs. EIS, Brent and BSM. Our MS and JV girls touch teams will play Brent (Varsity girls touch will be at the Singapore exchange weekend) and in the gyms we will have Basketball opening season games vs. Brent. At 5:00 - 7:00 P.M., there will be a parent sponsored MS/HS tennis teams social night with all players from our MS/HS teams welcome. Come along to support our teams for Friday night lights on November 16. See flyers posted around school! ISM will host IASAS Tennis on January 30 to February 3. We need to house 80 visiting tennis players from the IASAS schools. Please click this link to access the housing letter information http://atac.ismonline.org/files/2011/02/IASAS-tennis-2013-HousingRequest-letter.pdf. For more general information about housing at IASAS tournaments, see the housing and hosting pagehttp://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/ The letter is also available under the helpful shortcuts bar on the right side of the ATAC blog home page. We look forward to ISM community support for what will be a fantastic tennis tournament as our ISM tennis teams attempt to defend GOLD at IASAS! A great way to stay in touch with the ISM ATAC program is to subscribe via RSS feed to the ATAC blog and also to follow via twitter (see twitter feed on the blog home page). Each Monday, I will post the weeks happenings and highlight important events for students and parents information on the ATAC blog and in the regular Friday parent bulletins. GAME SCHEDULE PDF: (access to game schedule information) Information about all mid-week/weekend fixtures for ISM teams can be found via the ATAC blog. Please note the game schedule does change often due to involvement with many local schools so please check the page regularly to find out the latest information of where and when the Bearcats teams are playing. Click on schedules tab or the Bearcat logo to be directed to the PowerSchool secure site http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/. You will need your PowerSchool username and password to access the game schedule. HS Student registration for ATAC activities: (new for school year 12-13) A Google doc registration is now available for all HS students who will take part in any ATAC seasonal sports teams, MUN and Cultural Convention programs. Please take the time to complete this online registration for activities that you plan on joining this school year. Please access the form via the HS Student Registration tab found under the Helpful Shortcuts bar on the ATAC blog home page. *please note this is for HS students only and you must use your school email address to access the link. Personal gmail or hotmail addresses will not allow you to access the page. BEARCAT DEN: http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/ Our Bearcat Den is open for business, please drop by to check out the range of Bearcat products. We have a great team of volunteers who run the den and are always looking for more people to help out. If you are interested in joining a fantastic group please contact Melanie Ball, our volunteer coordinator, at melaniehball@gmail.com. We have a new range of dri fit t-shirts now available along with new Bearcat bags Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Wednesday & Friday, 11:30 A.M. 1:00 P.M. & 2:30 P.M. 4:00 P.M. Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

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Service Learning Update

MS Service Learning would like to thank everybody for supporting our activities. Upcoming Saturday Service Dates: November 10 - PAWs November 17 - PCF November 24 - Habitat for Humanity December 8 - CCV

From the Security & Operation Department

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From the Advancement PCC Sponsorship Letter Office

Were on the web! www.ismanila.org

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