The Owl 8/31/22
The First Week of School!
It’s finally here!
For parents of our Early Childhood or new students who are starting the school year on campus: you may expect some nervousness or clinginess during drop off in the upcoming days. That is common even “normal” times. Often it is best to make your goodbyes enthusiastic yet brief.
If you have a particularly emotional drop off, please email Maria Abad or Jenna McCracken, and we will contact you with an update during the day.
We hope that everyone had a wonderful first day of school!
New Teacher Introductions
Please learn a little more about some of the wonderful new staff members who have joined us this year!
Lusi Hong
Please welcome Lusi Hong, our new Chinese Track 1st Grade Teacher!
- From Anqing, Anhui, China
- MS Foreign and Second Language Teaching, Florida State University
- BA in Chinese Linguistics and Literature, Chuzhou University
- Teaching since 2014
Lusi comes to Portland most recently from Florida, where she taught Mandarin immersion in both public and private schools for several years. Lusi says: “Teaching is the highlight of my day. It inspires and energizes me, and I want to devote my time to students and helping them to develop, express, and exchange their ideas. I am honored to be part of the International School of Portland team, promoting my future students using language to become a world citizen and embrace a wider world view that offers more opportunities for them.”
Huān Yíng, Lusi laoshi!
Yessica Rosales
Please say buenos dias to Yessica Rosales, our new 4th Grade Spanish Teacher!
- From Southern California
MA in Education with a focus Secondary Education, Grand Canyon University
BA in French and Francophone Studies, Humboldt State University, CA
BA in Interdisciplinary Studies focus International Business, Humboldt State University, CA
Teaching since 2018
Yessica grew up bilingual in Spanish and English in a small border town in Imperial County, CA. She loves languages; she became fluent in French in college and is now teaching herself ASL! Yessica says, “I am happy to be at ISP, where I can to create an engaging, peaceful, yet fun learning environment for students. The classroom is a space where I naturally become a motivating and encouraging language guide. I strive knowing that students look forward to their classroom and I pride myself in making sure that I create that environment.”
Bienvenidos, Yessica!
Jessica Hanlon
Please say hello to Jessie Hanlon, our new English Teacher!
- From Portland, OR
- Master of Education with a focus Secondary Education, Grand Canyon University
- BA in French and Francophone Studies, Humboldt State University, CA
- BA in Interdisciplinary Studies focus International Business, Humboldt State University, CA
- Teaching since 2018
Jessie recently moved back to her hometown from Nagoya, Japan, where she spent several years teaching at Nagoya International School, and English-based International Baccalaureate school there. Families with older children may remember Jessie from The Children’s Gym, where she was an instructor for several years before heading into a more formal classroom! Jessie says: “I am excited to be at ISP, where I feel a strong sense of community, pride and love for learning. Inquiry learning is so much fun to teach and I enjoy showing up to work every day to be creative and to encourage my students to build a love for learning. I believe inquiry is the basis of curiosity, inspiration, and respectful questioning that promotes critical thinking and perspective taking. It allows students to be problem solvers, which fosters inclusion, kindness and good decision making.”
Welcome, Jessie!
2022-23 Family Handbook Now Available!
The 2022-23 ISP Family Handbook is now available. Please refer to it for information about school policies, procedures, parent responsibilities, and more. It is available on MySchool App in the Resources section.
MySchool App: Directory, Privacy Settings, and Class Rosters
MySchool App has digital Directories! You can search for other community members in the database and view their “Contact Card ‘ information. Parents have Parent, Student, and Faculty & Staff Directories. Log into MySchool App here: https://intlschool.myschoolapp.com/
(NOTE: You can see more information about your own family members on their Contact Cards than other parents can see, such as your child’s emergency contacts and school-assigned email address).
“MY CONTACTS”
The My Contacts feature allows you to save a list of the people that you contact most frequently, thereby creating a personal address book. For example, you can add your child’s teachers to your My Contacts page.
PRIVACY SETTINGS
You have your own Privacy Settings page, which can be accessed by navigating to your name in the upper right corner and selecting Settings > Privacy.
On this page, in the General Settings section, a user can determine what information that teachers, parents, and admins can view about you. By default, information that parents can see about other students and teachers is quite limited.
In the Directory Settings section, a user can determine what information others can view about them in the school Directories. A user has two options:
Include my name but do not include any other information about me
– If you choose this option, only your name will appear in the community directories. ***Please keep in mind that it will be very difficult for other parents to invite you and your child to playdates, birthday parties, and other events if no contact information is shown!***
Include my name and use my General Settings for what other people should see about me
– If you choose this option, the community directories will display the information that you published in the General Settings section
CLASS ROSTERS
The best way to see who is in your child’s class – and to get parent contact information – is through class rosters.
If you haven’t found them yet, here is how you can:
Click on your child’s name in the upper left corner of the screen, then scroll down the page to their list of courses.
Click on the course name – then click Roster
You’ll be able to see all the children in the class
You can find contact information for your child’s classmate(s) by clicking on the three dots below each child’s square and “View Profile.”
Please label all of your student’s clothes!
Please remember to clearly label your student’s clothing that they bring to school, especially hats, sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets. We end up with a very large pile of lost and found clothing at the end of every trimester, and it is very hard to return items to their rightful owner without name labels!
Please help us to return your child’s lost items to them by properly labeling them!
Thank you!