ISM Upcoming Events

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Admissions 8
MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL
ISSUE # 8
SY 2014 2015
WEEK OF:
SEPTEMBER 29 to
OCTOBER 3
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents
Friday Bulletin
MAP Testng
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Inside this issue:
Events & Actvites:
SEPTEMBER
29-30 MAP Testng


Dear Middle School Parents,

Thank you to all of our students and teachers for fully partcipatng in our Classroom Without
Walls experience this Thursday and Friday. This has been an opportunity to build stronger con-
nectons, a sense of community and to have fun together. With the ultmate goal of enhancing
the experience in the classroom throughout the year. When students have strong and sup-
portve relatonships with their peers and teachers there is a correlaton to improved student
learning. Thank you to our CWW organizers and to all teachers involved in the overnight expe-
rience.

This next week we begin MAP testng in grades 5 - 8. This is a standardized test students take
twice per year for Reading, Language Use and Mathematcs. Students will each take part in 3
sessions, the test is taken online. Results will be shared with parents at a later date along with
a complete descripton of the assessment. We use this to get a beter understanding of student
growth along with an overall look at student learning at ISM. This is one piece of data we use
to analyze student learning. Three are 550 schools internatonally that use this assessment so
we are able to get efectve benchmarking data.

This week we have a literacy consultant working with our English Language Arts teachers across
Middle School. Stevi Quate will also hold a session for parents on Tuesday September 30 in the
morning from 7:30 - 8:45 a.m. in the AMR. This is a good opportunity for parents to learn more
about how students learn and acquire literacy skills and how these are taught at ISM.

The Parent Teacher Conferences are once again just around the corner and we would like to
inform you of the schedule in making your reservatons for the Middle School PTCs
on Monday, October 20th and Tuesday, October 21st. ( 1pm - 6pm for both days ) Like last
year, this years parent teacher conferences will be reserved online through the Power Parent
portal.

The system will go live at 8.00 am on Tuesday, October 7th, at which tme you will have access
to the PTC Scheduler part of PowerParent. Once logged in you will see an icon, named MS PTC
Scheduler towards the botom of the navigaton links on the lef hand side of the page click-
ing this icon will send you directly to the PTC Scheduler. Pop-up-blockers will need to be turned
of to allow access to the next page.

Next Friday we will send a reminder email and atach a step-by-step guide which will walk you
through the reservaton process. If you have misplaced or forgoten your PowerParent
username and password, please call the Middle School Ofce at 840 8550 / 8553 or email Kris-
tne Fong (fongkr@ismanila.org).

We look forward to seeing you in the afernoons of October 20th and 21st and hope that your
Parent-Teacher Conference runs smoothly. Many thanks for your contnued support.

Have a great weekend ahead!

Yours in Educaton,
Simon Gillespie, Middle School Principal
Amanda Pekin, Middle School Assistant Principal
Parent Cofees
Service Learning / PTA
Clinic
Athletcs & Actvites
Afer-School Actvites
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Stevi Quate
Parent Cofee
Campus Card Corner
e-Account
Would you like to know how much you have spent
for a specifc period or what items you have pur-
chased using the Campus Card? Heres how:
Log in to your account Go to Reports tab Click e
-Account Report (or Card Actvity Report) Select
your dates Click Show Results tab. You have to
opton to print it too.

For more informaton, visit:
htp://campusonline.ismanila.org

For questons/concerns, email:
campuscard@ismanila.org

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PLEASE CLICK HERE
TO SIGN UP.

INVITATION TO JOIN COMMITTEE TO REVIEW PTA CONSTITUTION AND BY LAWS

Dear ISM Parents and Teachers,

The Parent Teacher Associaton (PTA) is calling for six parents or teachers to join a commitee, independent of the PTA Executve, to over-
see a review of its Consttuton and By Laws (By Laws).

The review will be conducted in consultaton with the broader ISM community over the course of this school year. If any changes are made
on the basis of the review, the entre parent teacher community will be called on to approve the changes.

The commitee will also include a small number of members of previous PTA Executve Commitees who have worked closely with the cur-
rent By Laws. ISM's administraton may also choose to add commitee members from the administraton.

How to Express Interest
We are calling for two parents or teachers from each of the three schools* (2 representng HS, two representng MS and two representng
ES) who can confrm their availability and capacity to:
- atend meetngs at least twice a month for the school year mostly during the school day but may include evenings;
- partcipate in various forms of community consultaton as required;
- draf various sectons of the By Laws based on consultaton; and
- provide considered comment on various drafs.

The parent's school is determined by which school your eldest child is currently enrolled in at ISM.

Please email ismptabylawsreview@gmail.com by 5pm Monday 29 September to express interest or for more informaton. The current By
Laws can be viewed at ismanila.org/pta
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Beginning on September 13, diferent service opportunites will be ofered on Saturdays. Some events involve a trip to visit a
service partner while others involve hostng a local educaton program. Along with the joy of giving, students beneft by in-
teractng with children from diferent backgrounds and getng to know the Philippines beyond Makat and Taguig. To partci-
pate, students simply pick up a permission slip from the MS Ofce on the Monday before the trip. Once its been signed and
returned to the ofce, a student can sign up on the roster. Some trips fll up quickly so encourage them to sign up early. Par-
ent are welcome to atend!

Saturday Service Dates for Semester 1
(Dates are subject to change.)

September 13 Philippine Community Fund
October 18 La Mesa Watershed & Hospicio de San Jose
November 8 Cotolengo Filipino & CRIBS
November 15 Chosen Children Village
November 22 Love to Learn and PAWS
November 29 Papaya Academy
December 6 Tzu Chi Foundaton

If you have questons, please send an email to Mr. Cory Willey at willeyc@ismanila.org.
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Sprains and Strains

A sprain is an injury to a ligament. A ligament is a thick, tough, fbrous tssue that connects bones together. Com-
monly injured ligaments are in the ankle, knee, and wrist. The ligaments can be injured by being stretched too far
from their normal positon. The purpose of having ligaments is to hold your skeleton together in a normal align-
ment -- ligaments prevent abnormal movements. However, when too much force is applied to a ligament, such
as in a fall, the ligaments can be stretched or torn; this injury is called a sprain.

A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon. Muscles move your skeleton in an amazing variety of ways. When a
muscle contracts it pulls on a tendon, which is in turn connected to your bone. Muscles are made to stretch, but
if stretched too far, or if stretched while contractng, an injury called a strain my result. A strain can either be a
stretching or tear of the muscle or tendon.

Causes of a Sprain
As said earlier, a sprain is caused by a ligament being stretched too far. A common sprain is an injury we ofen
call a 'twisted ankle.' This injury ofen occurs in actvites such as running, hiking, and basketball. People will fall
or step on an uneven surface (in basketball this is ofen another player's foot) and roll their foot to the inside.
This stretches the ligaments on the outside of the ankle, called the talofbular and calcaenofbular ligaments.
Sprains are commonly graded according to the extent of the injury. Grade I and Grade II ankle sprains can usually
be treated conservatvely with treatments such as icing and physical therapy. Grade III ankle sprains can place
individuals at higher risk for permanent ankle instability, and an operaton may be a necessary part of treatment.

Causes of a Strain
Strains are injuries to muscles or the tendons that atach the muscles to your bones. By pulling too far on a mus-
cle, or by pulling a muscle in one directon while it is contractng (called an 'eccentric contracton') in the other
directon can cause injuries within the muscle or tendon. Strains can also be caused by chronic actvites that de-
velop an overstretching of the muscle fbers.
Many sports place partcipants at risk for sprains and strains; these include football, basketball, gymnastcs, vol-
leyball, and many others. These injuries also ofen occur in normal everyday actvites such as a slip on ice, a fall
on your wrist, or jamming a fnger. Repettve actvites may also cause a sprain or strain.
Not every injury can be prevented, but some common methods used to prevent sprain and strain injuries in-
clude:

Stretching before you workout
Wear proper footwear for the actvity
Warm up properly before actvites
Do not run on icy or uneven surfaces

Signs of Sprains and Strains
The symptoms of a sprain are typically pain, swelling, and bruis-
ing of the afected joint. Symptoms will vary with the intensity
of the injury; more signifcant ligament tears (Grade III injuries)
cause an inability to use the afected joint and may lead to joint
instability. Less serious injuries (Grade I injuries) may only cause
pain with movement.

htp://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprainsstrains/a/sprain.htm

IASAS Volleyball/XC housing needed ASAP! ISM is hostng the IASAS Volleyball/Cross Country Champion-
ships from October 15 to 19. We need to house 170 athletes for this event and as of today (Friday, September
26) we stll need 25 beds with 3 weeks to go. Please print and submit a housing leter to ATAC ofce asap if
you can support this event. We really need lots of ISM community spirit to help make this a wonderful event
for our community. You can access housing informaton/FAQ's and the housing leter via this link: htp://
atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/

Due to the early release last Friday and cancellaton of matches last weekend local league organizers have
been meetng this week to reschedule matches. Please see updates posed on ES and MS Rifa Festvals pages
and check the ATAC game schedules page for the most updated matches.

Upcoming matches:
Saturday, September 26 - HS Volleyball teams away at Faith
Saturday, September 27 - Cross Country meet at Brent

Parents and students please take some tme to peruse the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of informaton and
links to our sports and actvites program. If you have any questons regarding the compettve program of
sports at ISM afer reading the informaton on the blog please send an email to pekinm@ismanila.org and I
will endeavor to assist you as best I can.

The ES/MS Soccer Festvals have informaton at these links. Please check carefully as these links are current
and updated htp://atac.ism-online.org/atac/1st-season/es-soccer-rifa-league-festvals/ and htp://atac.ism-
online.org/atac/1st-season/ms-soccer-rifa-league-festvals/

Bearcat Den: Drop by our new spirit store. There is a range of new products and items to purchase including
items from our service partners. Bearcat Den hours of operaton: 7:00 A.M. 4:00 P.M. Monday Friday.

The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated regularly by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athletcs Coordinator) gives
the most up to date informaton on where/when and who our Bearcat teams will be playing throughout the
school year. Access to the game schedule is via the ISM parent portal not via power school as in the past. Use
this link to access the parent portal, log in with your user name/password and look for the ATAC Game Sched-
ule tab. Remember to refresh the page when the pdf schedule appears so you view the most current schedule.

GO BEARCATS!

Regards,
Mark Pekin
Director of Athletcs/Actvites
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Please send us an email for any clarifcatons or concerns:
afac@ismanila.org

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IASAS Volleyball/Cross Country- housing needed ASAP! ISM is hosting the IASAS Volleyball/Cross
Country Championships Oct 15-19. We need to house 170 athletes for this event. Please print and submit
a housing letter to ATAC office asap if you can support this event.

You can access information/FAQ's and housing letter via : VB/XC housing information

We really need lots of ISM community support to help make this a wonderful event.
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For more information about
the Vicky SyCip Herrera Scholarship,
click HERE or drop us a note at
ism95@ismanila.org.
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ISM Community Art Aucton on November 20, 2014
You are cordially invited to the ISM Community Art Aucton on November 20, 2014 at The Fine Arts Theater. But frst...

WE WANT YOUR ART! We are looking for artstc works and/or estate objects made or owned by members or friends of
the ISM community. This includes, but not limited to, paintngs, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, jewelry, tex-
tles, ceramics and estate items such as furniture and china. For more informaton, visit artaucton.ism-online.org or email
at ism95@ismanila.org.