First, I am delighted to report that the Accreditation Team, made up of six individuals from both accreditation bodies who jointly give YISS accreditation, gave YISS a very positive report and are recommending to the Accreditation Boards of WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) and ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) that YISS should be given full accreditation for another six years! That gave us a number of commendations as well as several recommendations to work on. We all were delighted to hear the report after the MANY hours of work over the last several years to prepare for this visit. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers.
Second, many of you have been praying for me as I prepared for a very busy final quarter of After School Activities. Many of you were praying specifically on Tuesday morning at 8:00 when online registration opened. From 8:00 to Noon I was either responding to emails or phone calls to assist parents with the registration process. Overall, it went very well with the usual problems that are caused by a flood of parents all registering for activities at the same time. After the registration closed on Wednesday afternoon, I prepared a document to send to our Business Office with 423 students' names who had registered for 44 activities! The Business Office prepared GIRO Payment Slips for each student's activity and then on Friday evening and Saturday morning, after adding 95 additional GIRO Payment Slips for those students who had registered for 4 After School Swimming Activities, collating all of these slips with each of the 22 classrooms in the Elementary School. Monday, I will be working on the major project of putting together the Bus Lists for our After School Monitors to make sure students get safely to their activities or to the school bus to go home or to the pickup areas for those who will be picked up. Such fun! :-) Here is a picture of my desk on Saturday morning at YISS working on collating all of the 518 GIRO Payment Slips for distribution on Tuesday to students.
My desk on Saturday getting things organized for collating GIRO Payment Slips and Grade Lists with students' names and their activities for Quarter Four!
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On Tuesday, I also had to be in a meeting with the elementary administrators with the Accreditation Team. At least it was scheduled for after the ASA registration flurry of activity. That meeting went well and I still had some time to begin working on checking Report Card Grades and Comments for Grades 2 and 3. That checking would continue throughout the week and finally finish on Friday after all of the tech problems were worked out. Parents received their child's electronic Report Card Friday afternoon.
Oh yes, on Tuesday morning between 9:05 and 9:50 was the Closing Assembly for our annual Read-A-Thon. Kids have been so excited about this and it would not have been good for me to miss it. Prizes were to be awarded and students would learn if they reached their goal of reading minutes for the Read-A-Thon. Students went crazy when the total number of minutes was flashed up on the large screen in the auditorium! They knew that three students were going to be selected to smear a pie in the face of the Elementary Principal and both Assistant Principals! They had been taunting me all day on Monday that they were sure I would get my face smeared. :-) Here are some pictures from that special event!
Kinder through Grade 5 students and teachers singing heartily at the Read-A-Thon Closing Assembly on Tuesday! I love to hear our YISS kids sing! Can you find me?
One of the PTO Read-A-Thon Chairs announcing the winners of various prizes and making the long awaited announcement that the kids had gone over the goal that was set for reading minutes! Let the pie smearing begin! :-)
Mrs. Willetts is first to enjoy a smear from this
little Kinder cherub! She was almost too afraid to
do it! :-)
Then this young man had the joy of smearing Mrs. Roll's face!
Although I made every attempt to talk this fourth
grade lad, J. T., out of smearing my face, he refused!
The kids started chanting, "In his face! In his face!"
Not only did he smear me, he took both hands and smushed it around! Such a bad boy! :-) And the kids were delighted!! :-)
Final result!
When I opened my eyes, I could only get one to open at first! The kids loved that! :-)
And then I decided to clean my face without my towels! Whipped
Cream cannot be wasted!! :-)
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Wednesday was "Hat Day" in the Elementary School and students and teachers got to wear a favorite hat and dress down. I think teachers look forward to the dress down days more than the kids sometimes. They get to wear blue jeans and be more casual in their dress. :-) I am sorry. I did not get pictures of students and teachers with their amazing hats because of all of the responsibilities with ASA Registration, Accreditation, and Report Cards. We did pause in the Elementary Office for a picture of the Elementary Office staff with their glittery hats! :-)
Above is a picture is a "Hat Day" picture of the delightful ladies I get to work with every day at YISS. Left to right: Mrs. Sara Willetts, Elementary Principal; GGG; Mrs. Jane Yoo, our amazing Administrative Assistant; Mrs. Krista Roll, one of the Assistant Elementary Principals; and Mrs. Lauren Hooper; Elementary Counselor.
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1 - Monday, April 4: This is the day for our annual Student-led Conferences in the Elementary School. Teachers and students have been working on presentation skills and on Monday, students will lead the conference with their parents! I always love these times as students inform their parents about what they have been learning. I wish you could be present to witness some of these. They are so good! Please pray as students and parents visit classrooms and enjoy discussions about their child's learning!
2 - After School Activities: Swimming activities begin on Tuesday and Thursday this week and Friday will be the official beginning of our regular Elementary School After School Activities. I am really excited about several brand new events this quarter and a few begin this Friday: Current Events Round Table (Grades 4 & 5), Badminton (Grades 3-4), and Elementary Tennis Club (4-5) are the three new ones on Friday along with some returning ones - Sports (Kinder-1), Taekwondo (K-5), Beginning Band (Grade 5), Friday Free Swim (K-5), and Math Games for Boys in Grade 2.
3 - Korean Language Class: Saturday, April 9, I will be part of a class for YISS teachers to learn a little of the Korean language. I have never been gifted in languages, and I need to hear and write the language. I think it would be so great to be able to get off an airplane and begin to speak and understand the language of the country you are visiting. :-) It just doesn't happen that way. I'd appreciate your prayers that I might be able to pick up a little more of the language in these seven sessions offered to YISS teachers.
4 - Continued Preparation for ICS-Pyyeongtaek: I would like to be able to finish well at YISS but begin really working on various things for ICS-P. I will be going down to ICS-P on April 13 and 14 for their Accreditation Team Visit. I hope to work through some more details about moving my stuff down there as well as getting a Korean driver's license. A great colleague at YISS has been assisting in that area and I think it will be easier than I thought. I will also be working through departure things at YISS at a meeting on Monday, April 4 and then another on April 12. Thanks for your continued prayers.
OK, I will stop. Thank you so much for your faithful love, care, encouragement, emails, regular mail, prayers, and support. They are greatly appreciated. It's beginning to get warmer here in Seoul. The Cherry Blossoms are becoming very beautiful in South Korea! The Korean strawberries continue to be so yummy! :-) I hope you enjoy a great week!
Love, Gregg
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