Dear KIS Families,

I hope that you have all had a peaceful and calm winter break. I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that 2023 brings peace and good health to everyone in our community and to the land a people of Ukraine!

We are looking forward to a new year and some of the changes that may come with our hopeful planning.

Taking Steps Towards Having Students On Campus
As we have mentioned in previous communications, we are looking at a three-phase approach to opening our campus back up and having students and teachers back at school. We understand that the situation continues to be fluid and potentially unpredictable.

We are currently setting up classrooms and preparing the areas of the school that would be used. Below is a reminder of the three different phases for reopening the campus and a survey for interested families to complete.

Phase I - Community Events
PTO has already hosted a winter potluck and is planning a Movie Night on January 22nd.

Phase II - Community Center - February 6-17^th 
We are now collecting information from parents to see who would be interested in coming to campus for learning and community. Much of what we organize and do will depend on those who decide to attend. We know this may start small and begin to grow but would like to begin taking these first steps.

Please complete the FOLLOWING FORM, if you are interested in having your child(ren) attend school on campus during phase II.

Phase III - Traditional School
We don't know exactly when we would shift back to this completely and will likely maintain a Community Center system for as long as this makes sense and works for the school.

We want to collect this information and make more specific preparations by Friday, January 20th. We understand that not everyone has the same comfort level, so we will do everything we can to make these transitions as smooth as possible.

Sincerely,

 

 

Luke Woodruff
Director
Kyiv International School

Dear Elementary and Middle School Families,

Happy New Year! I hope the break brought you and your family opportunities to enjoy time with loved ones. Students and teachers have spent the last week settling back into routines and diving into their next units of study.

January Conferences: Students and parents will attend conferences on Friday, January 27th. There will be no classes that day. Parents will get an email from the office with conference details at the end of next week. The style and goals of this conference may be a bit different to the conferences you have attended in the past. Each conference will have two distinct parts to the conversation:

Part 1: Narrative Report Discussion. Parents, please read your child’s narrative report carefully and bring any questions or concerns for discussion to the conference. Your child’s core subject age-level teaching team will be present at the conference. If you have a question for a different teacher (like a specials class, for instance), please email the office and we will organize for that teacher to also attend as well. You can find your child’s narrative report and their grades on the KISMET: Dashboard - if you have any trouble access the reports, please email moodlehelp@kyiv.qsi.org

Part 2: Student Feedback. During the next two weeks we will be helping students formulate feedback to present to their teachers during the conference. Students will be asked to think critically about which parts of their learning experience are working well for them as well as make suggestions about what could be made better. Teaching children how to advocate for themselves in a positive way is a lifelong skill this format helps them develop. We honor each student’s voice by providing this platform for their needs and ideas to be heard.

I am looking forward to the process of helping students formulate feedback as well as hearing what they have to say during the conferences. As always, feel free to write with questions or concerns:

Elementary Office: kiseloffice@kyiv.qsi.org
Middle School Office: kismsoffice@kyiv.qsi.org

Warm regards,

Mrs. Carla Grossman

 

 

Carla Grossman
Director of Instruction
carla-grossman@kyiv.qsi.org

What’s going on in Secondary?

Yawning and Yearning

Monday Morning Mindset, slowly waking up to the reality that vacation was over, students and teachers made acrostic poems to reflect the collective winter break experience. Lots of positive emotions and experiences over the vacation – yearning came up several times and some sleepy yawns about the week ahead. This poem reflects the general sentiment found in all five poems:

As we get back into the routine, we are hopeful that students will quickly readjust to our schedule and their classes and get the new term off to a great start.

Morning Mindset

Over the next four weeks Ms. Rech and I will be meeting with students about their graduations tracking sheets, transcripts and their path to graduation. This week Secondary IV students reviewed these documents and confirmed that they are on track to graduate in June! If students did not come to these meetings, parents have received an email. If you are concerned about your child’s graduation status, please contact the secondary office!

Student Feedback Conferences – January 27th

We will be using our Parent Teacher Conference Day on January 27th in order to facilitate student feedback. During Morning Mindset, the week of January 23rd, students will work with a mentor from our staff to brainstorm and identify the things that they like and find beneficial in the instructional style of each of their teachers as well as the things that they like less and do not find as helpful. With the assistance of their mentor, they will use this brainstorming to formulate meaningful feedback for their teachers. On the day of conferences, they will meet in small groups with their teachers to talk about their feedback and advocate for their own learning style. Providing meaningful feedback and advocating for their own education is an important skill and we are excited to facilitate this at KIS. Parents will have an opportunity to arrange appointments with teachers that afternoon, if they have something that needs attention.

Sincerely,

 

 

Rachel Geary
Director of Instruction
rachel-geary@kyiv.qsi.org