MIDDLE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents ISSUE # 14
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19 TO 23, 2012

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents:

Inside this issue:

This Tuesday is the Grade 5-6 Beginners Recital and you are invited to attend. Performances from the Band, Strings and Chorus classes
From the Music Department From the Athletics & Activities Office Service Learning Update From the Security & Operation Department From the High School Guidance Office From the Advancement Office 2 3 5 6 7 8

begin at 5:00 P.M. in the Little Theater. Please come out and support our budding musicians.

The Book Fair opens on Monday in the FAT lobby.

A selection of

books will be on offer and we encourage you to visit the fair with your child. Recommended book lists for Elementary and Middle

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

School can be found on the school website at the PTA News/ Upcoming Events page. Reading opens doors to the world, the

imagination and a world of experiences and we encourage students to read daily. If you are looking for some ideas or ways to get your child reading more, please talk to your childs English teacher or Karen Stewart, the MS librarian.

DECEMBER
03 to 07 05 to 12 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

Looking aheadFriday, November 30 is a school holiday. Please mark your calendars.

07 11 14 15 to Jan. 06

Enjoy a relaxing weekend!

JANUARY 07 19
Classes Resume MS Local Choir Festival Third Culture Kids: The Lived Experience (K-12 Counseling Workshop

Yours in Education,

22

Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal

Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

November 29 December 07 Grade Update 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: 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: 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. Fri Nov 16th is Friday Night Lights #2 for this year. From 4pm 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 5pm-7pm there will be a parent sponsored MS/HS tennis teams social night with all players from our MS/HS teams welcome. See flyers in this bulletin and come along to support our teams. ISM will host IASAS Tennis Jan 30-Feb 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.ism-online.org/files/2011/02/IASAStennis-2013-Housing-Request-letter.pdf For more general information about housing at IASAS tournaments see the housing and hosting page.http://atac.ismonline.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! Well done to our tennis teams who started the season off very well last week. The JV boys team defeated CSA 5-0, the MS girls teams won both their matches 4-1 and 5-0 and the MS boys B team also won 5-0 and 3-2. Last Friday against Faith in rugby and touch our ISM teams came away with a full book of victories with all teams winning their matches. Congratulations to all players and coaches on a great start to the touch and rugby season! Basketball kicks off today with matches against Brent and most of our teams start their local league seasons tomorrow Sat 17th. Teams playing tomorrow 17th are; Varsity girls vs Miriam, Varsity boys vs UST and Kings, JV boys vs Aust Int School and Reedley, JV girls vs Southville, MS Girls Green vs Miriam and Gold vs St.Scholastica and MS Boys White vs CSA and Gold vs Faith Academy. All games are at ISM. Check game schedule for exact times. 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 our volunteer coordinator, Ms. Melanie Ball, at melaniehball@gmail.com. Please note we are looking for a new volunteer coordinator as Melanie is leaving us in December. If anyone is interested in taking on this role, please let Melanie know or contact the ATAC office. Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Wed and Fridays from 11:30am 1:00pm and each afternoon from 2:30-4pm. 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 your continued support in our activities. Upcoming Saturday Service Dates: November 24 - Habitat for Humanity December 8 - CCV

***

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From the Security & Operation Department

***
Dear Locators, Please be informed that effective November 15, 2012 at 7:00 PM, MEG@VPS SECURITY AGENCY shall be the new security service provider for BGCEA, replacing Aglipay Guard Services Inc. We would like to assure everyone that BGCs security, safety and traffic management will not be hampered during the transition. We also would like to formally welcome MR. JOSEPH G. JUACHON as the new Security Manager of BESC. He may be reached thru (0927) 653-46-31. For more queries, please contact BESC Communications Center at (0917) 885-2579 and 8162372 local 2222. Thank you. BESC Communications Center 2/F Bonifacio Technology Center 31st Street cor. Second Avenue Bonifacio Global City,Taguig City Office No. : +63 2 816 2372 ext. 1, 2222 Fax No. : +63 2 818 1603

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From the High School Guidance Office

Dear ISM Parents, We are very pleased once again to offer an exciting career discovery focused program developed by the HS Guidance Department in cooperation with the HS Administration:

The Bearcat Career Experience

As we all know well, high school for students is (among many things) a time of self-discovery. It is a time where our students begin to better acknowledge their aptitudes/likes, where they hone their strengths and where they begin to sort through that rather complicated map known as their educational and future career path. Unfortunately, it is often a map with gaps between what they learn in their academic classrooms and the real world their teachers are working to prepare them for. In short, we hope to help bridge that gap for some of our HS students through a five-day summer internship (June 10th 14th, 2012) with various companies in the Metro Manila area. This is the week right after our school year finishes. Last year we were very fortunate to place over 120 ISM high school students with about 30 companies (including Alaska Milk, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Fed Ex, Hyatt Hotel and Casino, and Makati Medical Center just to name a few) in the Metro Manila area. Demand for this program has increased each year and we expect that to continue. However, in order to keep pace with student interest, we need additional reputable companies from a variety of industries to form partnerships with us and take part. As parents of our dedicated and motivated students, you may own, be employed by, or know of a company interested in supporting this very worthwhile endeavor. We ask for your support in helping us develop potential Career Experience placements and subsequently, lasting positive relationships with companies in the Metro Manila area. We ask that you take time to reflect on this important initiative (currently in its 3rd year) and its value for our ISM community. If you are in a position to take one or more of our students at your company or know of an interested company, please contact Doug McQueen at mcqueend@ismanila.org. He will be happy to explain the program further and how to apply as a company. For more information on the Bearcat Career Experience you may also take a look at our website http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/ in the meantime. Information about how your son or daughter (current high school sophomores and juniors only) could apply for a Bearcat Career Experience internship position will be communicated at a later date. In the meantime, please arrange to be in Manila during the June 10th to 14th week if you think your son or daughter might be interested. Thank you very much for your support and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Doug McQueen Grade 9/10 School Counselor

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From the Advancement PCC Sponsorship Letter Office

Were on the web! www.ismanila.org