MONDAY MESSENGER

June 17, 2019

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THIS WEEK:

LOOKING AHEAD:

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

PLEASE HELP OUT WHEN AND WHERE YOU CAN!



IS and the ISPTSA are currently seeking the following volunteers:

Click here to learn more and sign up.

PTSA NEWS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you to all parents, guardians, teachers, staff, and family members who have generously donated their time, enthusiasm, energy, leadership, and financial contributions to the ISPTSA this school year! Every bit of support, large or small, makes a difference. Each and every student at IS has benefited from what you have given to this school, and we as a community are grateful for all you do. 

Congratulations to our graduating seniors! We are so proud!

Have a great summer, and we'll see the rest of you in the fall!

LAST CALL FOR CORPORATE MATCHING!

Thank you to all families who have submitted for a Corporate Match through your employers this school year! We are fortunate to live in an area where so many local companies generously offer this benefit. The ISPTSA is a grateful beneficiary of these gifts which make your donations go further—doubling, or in some cases, tripling your support.  

If your employer offers a Corporate Matching Program, please be sure to submit a request to match your tax-deductible donation. The International School PTSA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Local companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, Google, T-Mobile, and Expedia will "match" the charitable contributions made by their employees, including:

Clic here for more information about Corporate Matching on the ISPTSA website.

Thank you for taking the extra step to make your generosity to IS go further!

Questions? Please contact  [email protected] .

A THANK YOU TO THE ISPTSA FOR SUPPORT OF MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL BAND PROGRAMS

Thank you ISPTSA for your financial support of the Middle School and High School Band programs throughout the year. Through four grants, two in the fall and two in the spring, your ISPTSA donations helped to fill the funding gaps needed to provide the students with a well-rounded musical experience in the Band program. 

 

In the fall, Jazz Band members received new band folders through an ISPTSA grant. They have been a tremendous resource in supporting students keeping their music in order and in good condition. The students all demonstrate an additional sense of pride in being a part of the group with folders that look and feel very professional.

 

Also in the fall, the department was able to purchase new heads for our timpani drums through an ISPTSA grant. The new heads allow the percussionists to accurately tune and use our set of timpani. With new equipment, the students are more conscientious about putting away equipment at the end of each class period and show great care in maintaining the quality of the new drum heads. The International School was the host of the Eastshore Solo and Ensemble Festival, during which students from across the region came to International to perform for adjudicators. Several students performed timpani solos using our new drums, and one student continued on to compete on the timpani at the State Solo Contest in April. We were very glad to be able to support the students with quality instruments. 

 

Both the Concert Band (9th and 10th grade group) and Wind Ensemble (11th and 12th grade group) participated in the Eastshore Band Festival on March 14. The Eastshore Music League increased the registration fees for this year to cover the cost of additional clinicians and guest artists at the festival, with the goal of improving the educational experience for the students. The ISPTSA grant covered this increased cost. At this festival, both groups worked with a clinician for an extended period of time before their performance, then went on stage to perform for the festival adjudicators. After the performance, the percussionists worked with the guest artists in a percussion specific clinic. After the festival, the students had great comments about the value of the event and their learning from the clinics and performances. In past years, this festival has not offered the extended pre-performance workshop or additional percussion clinics and the students would come back with little enthusiasm for the event. This year, the students came back to school inspired to keep performing and recognized the event as a very positive experience.

 

The Jazz Band had a great experience at the Newport Jazz Festival in March for which an ISPTSA grant covered the registration fees. After their morning performance, Paul Harshman (Director of the UW Jazz Ensemble) worked with the group and gave them a fantastic clinic. The students were very inspired by his feedback and work with them and have regularly referenced the concepts he worked on with the group throughout the Spring. The students were also selected to perform in the finals concert that evening, and were selected as runner up by the adjudicators.

 

Thank you so much for the financial support!

Andy Rubesch, Band Director

To read more feedback concerning PTSA grants, please click here.

ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR THANKS ISPTSA FOR THIS YEAR'S GRANT USED FOR COMPOSING SOFTWARE

Our PTSA grant this year was used to continue student subscription to the cloud-based software Noteflight . It was originally designed as composing software, but has been expanded in the past several years to include more educational purposes—including a library with pieces that we have access to that allows students to practice along with their music, and even submit playing-test recordings to me.

I believe some amount of composition is essential in music education. Composition is a culmination of a student’s musical understanding. Being able to read and perform music is one aspect. But a student must truly understand music in order to turn around and create it.

As this is the second year of this roll out, I was able to expand my use of it. Students across all grades were composing in some form, whether it be heavily guided (6th grade), or more free-form (high school).

The final project of the year for high school was to create an arrangement of a popular song, the definition of popular music being whatever is cool to them. In addition to creating the music, I asked students to really think about what a finished composition looked like: not just notes and rhythms, but also dynamics, bowings, articulation, rehearsal letters, and other things that inform a player of what the final performance should be like. There was a really wide range of presentations from both concert orchestra and sinfonia: music from the Marvel Universe, New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, and even more popular tunes by the band AJR. After all versions were created, they were practiced and then performed at our recent orchestra concert.

In the end, Concert orchestra selected an Infinity War Medley arranged by Jonathan Whang (10th grade), and Spiderman Homecoming by Lokesh Vuchhuru (10th grade). Sinfonia selected Sober Up by AJR arranged by Eric Chang (10th grade), Ziqi Xu, Alyssa Yin, and Lily Bai (12th grade). Sinfonia ended up so enjoying playing the arrangement that they decided to play it for the Awards Assembly on June 5th.

I have included the links to the concert recordings, as well as the original Noteflight arrangements:

The orchestra has greatly appreciated all of the support we have received from the PTSA, and hope to continue working together in the future.

Sincerely, 

Anna Silarski, Orchestra Director

To read more feedback concerning PTSA grants, please click here.

WE NEED THE SUPPORT OF EVERY FAMILY

Every student is supported by a PTSA member— what a unique and wonderful statement that is. Is it true? This year we had 417 members, which is 72% of our school population. For a PTSA to truly support each and every student and create an IS community, we need every family to become a single or dual member. 

Next year make the commitment to become an International School PTSA member and help us reach our goal of 100%. That's EACH MEMBER SUPPORTING EACH STUDENT. Our 2019-2020 membership renewal form will be available on our website July 1. Thanks to everyone who became a PTSA member this year. We appreciate your support, as do the students and faculty at IS.

 

Best,

 

Meribeth Nordloef-Pedersen

ISPTSA VP of Outreach

“Community Creates Success at IS”

DÉJEUNER EN BLANC WAS A SPLASH!

Thank you to the staff and students who made Déjuner en Blanc such a great success this year. A special thank you goes to Wesley Hung for setting up the water balloon launcher!

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL SCHEDULE

THIS Friday, June 21!

On the last day, school is scheduled from 8:15–10:15 AM. Metro bus 889 will leave International at 10:33 AM, and the yellow busses will leave International at approximately 10:45 AM.

Click here for more info.

TAIWAN TRIP INTEREST MEETING FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS 

Wednesday, June 19, 7:00 PM in the IPAC

Interested in sending your student to Taiwan for Focus Week next year? Come find out all about “A Taste of Taiwan” at the Taiwan Trip Film Screening Event. Listen to students who attended this year, and watch the multimedia videos they made during the trip.

Please contact [email protected] with questions.

PLANNING ON LEAVING EARLY FOR SUMMER? PLEASE TURN IN YOUR LAPTOP!

At least five school days prior to absence: Submit a completed Prearranged Absence Form to Attendance Office (see  IS Attendance Policy  for Reference)

 

Two days prior to absence : Turn in all textbooks to teachers & return laptop to Jess Albrecht in room 213. Any books/technology items not turned in prior to the last day of school will be entered as fines that must be paid in August.

 

When do I turn in my school laptop for the summer?

 

Volunteers are needed! Please sign up for dates/times here . (Also, see below.)

What should I bring on laptop return day?  

• Your laptop 

• Your charger (both pieces)

• Your stylus

• Your laptop bag (laptop bag strap)

 

What happens if my laptop is damaged?

Administrators will be present during collection to assess damage on the computer. The parent/guardian will be charged $100 for negligent damage. Some examples of negligent damage are: missing multiple keys, cracked screens, water spills, etc. Some examples of gross negligent damage are: graffiti that cannot be removed, throwing the laptop, stolen laptop due to leaving laptop unattended (including in full view in a car). Damage fines will be assigned depending on cost of repair. The parent/guardian/student will need to pay the full cost for the repair or replacement. The cost for damage is in addition to any missing items.  

 

Who do I contact if I have questions?  

Please contact Tara Gray ( [email protected] ) or Jess Albrecht ( [email protected] ) via email or by calling International’s main office. If you have any financial concerns, please contact us, as well. 

 

Thank you all for your support, we are looking forward to another successful year in 2018-2019. 

PLEASE VOLUNTEER TO HELP WITH LAPTOP COLLECTION THIS WEEK !

Wednesday, June 19, 8:00 AM–2:00 PM

Thursday, June 20, 8:00 AM–1:00 PM

It's that time of year again and we need your help to make it a successful and fun laptop collection. :) 

Please sign up for any ONE HOUR time slot (or more) during which you can help.

Email  [email protected] with any questions.

A MESSAGE FROM THE DISTRICT:

Dear families,

 

We have developed summer math resources that are available for students to practice their math skills for their upcoming Integrated Math Topics 2, Algebra 1, Geometry or Algebra 2 courses. You can access these resources at this website:  https://bsd405.org/summer/summer-math/

 

Teaching and Learning Department, Bellevue School District

BACK-TO-BUSINESS DAY

Wednesday, August 14, 8:00 AM–2:00 PM

MINI BACK-TO-BUSINESS DAY

Sponsored by ISPTSA

Wednesday, August 21, 3:00–6:00 PM

Please check this school webpage for updated information.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR BACK-TO-BUSINESS DAY!

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Back-to-Business Day will be upon us before we know it! Our Back-to Business-Days have been successful in the past and set the tone for an amazing year ahead because of the help of our dedicated volunteers.

We are currently in need of parent/guardian volunteers for various stations such as photos, Orca card, forms, floaters, etc., for this year’s Back-t o-Business Day, so please consider us as part of your summer plans and sign up to volunteer!

If you have any questions, please e-mail Arty Christianto at  [email protected] . We thank all of you in advance!

We need both student and parent/guardian volunteers to help at Back-to-Business Day with computer handout and setup —monitoring doors; handing out laptops, charge cords, and styluses to students; helping students follow typed directions for setting up laptop; etc.

High School students can earn COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS!

Please sign up here!

Email  [email protected]  and  [email protected]  with any questions!

CITY OF BELLEVUE SHORT TRAVEL SURVEY TO HELP RELIEVE SCHOOL TRAFFIC

The City of Bellevue is seeking travel data on how students travel to and from school. The annual survey will help them evaluate their strategies for the bellevue SchoolPool Program, which aims to reduce drop-off and pick-up congestion at schools.

Please complete this short, five-question survey for each school-aged child in your home. It will remain live until Friday, June 21.

If you have questions, please contact Stela Nikolova, Bellevue SchoolPool Program Lead, at  [email protected]  or 425.452.2851.

STUDENT NEWS & COMMUNITY EVENTS

BSF END-OF-YEAR CAMPAIGN

The school year is almost over and the Bellevue Schools Foundation still needs to raise $40,000 to support technology curriculum and teacher training. Donations will support innovative programs such as Rocketry, Robotics, and Maker Spaces in our schools. Every gift made before the end of the school year will be matched by The Dean Witter Foundation, up to $10,000. The kids would love your support, please donate here.

VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR 2019-20 TEALS PROGRAM

You can help inspire the next generation. Bellevue School District has partnered with Microsoft Philanthropies TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) Program to build and grow successful and diverse high school computer science programs.

This year, 21 volunteers are supporting CS classes in BSD. Volunteers contributed thousands of hours and added matching dollars to support computer science education in the district. Thanks to volunteers, Bellevue students have consistently scored higher on the AP CS exam than the national average.

 

TEALS exists because many high schools want to offer computer science but don’t have teachers trained to teach it. To fill this gap, TEALS volunteers work with classroom teachers to team-teach students, and equip those teachers with the knowledge to teach students on their own.

We would love to have more volunteers from Bellevue join us in supporting schools for the 2019-20 school year. Sign up at  tealsk12.org/volunteers.

Email Grace Waylen, with questions. [email protected]

STUDENT SPORTS & OPPORTUNITIES

METRO OFFERS SUMMER ORCA CARDS FOR STUDENTS

Metro is offering a special ORCA summer program for youths. Because BSD-issued student ORCA cards are only active during the school year, the ORCA Summer Youth card is an opportunity for students to continue using METRO at the discounted rate of 50 cents per ride from June 17–Sept. 4. 

To learn more about the Metro ORCA Summer Youth program visit the King County METRO website: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/fares-orca/orca-cards/youth/summer-program.aspx

TEEN RESEARCH STUDY

Thursday, June 20, 6:30 PM, in a 1-hour group session

 

If you are a teen who uses a stylus, this study is for you! 



You should be between the ages of 14–17 and able to bring an adult chaperone, as needed. Teens receive $100 for the hour of their time and adult chaperones receive $50 for their time. Gratuity is in the form of a Visa cash card or Amazon credit. Parents are welcome to bring more than one teen with them as there are several slots to fill. 

Please contact Holly at 425.296.0199 to answer a few questions and get you scheduled. 

 

Contact: Holly Aaron

[email protected]

 

https://www.caelus-usa.com/