The Great Debate

We had our "Whether the Colonies Should Have Independence from Great Britain" debate today. I was SOOOO impressed.

Each student took part in a panel of Loyalists or Patriots. First, each presented their opinion, and then they got to question each other. The group of students who were watching evaluated each person for 1) how well they knew their character, and 2) how well they presented their character.

Great job! The only bad thing was that I forgot my camera at home.

We've signed up for a great research compilation site called diigo.com. Students can highlight important parts of articles they read on the Internet, take notes online, and then post all their research to one place.

To do all this at home as well as at school they will need to download the diigo toolbar to your computer. It's easiest to do in Google Chrome, but can be done in any browser. (The students might need more help in other browsers.)

Simple go to www.diigo.com, select tools at the top of the page, and then download the tool bar.

Spirit Week and Valentines Day

Spirit Week is next week. These are the themes for each day of Spirit week:

Monday - Future me

Tuesday - Hippie day

Wednesday - Wacky Wednesday

Thursday - School colors (at this point this is a no jean day- but this might change) Pep Rally

Also on Tuesday they will start selling Valentine Candy Grams.

MAP Test Class Results

These are the statistics that show whether students achieved their target improvement or not in the MAP test. As you can see, 91% of the students achieved between typical and high growth in reading and math, which is to be celebrated. 100% of the students achieved target improvement in language usage. As a teacher, I'm thrilled, although still bothered by the 9% who did not achieve expected growth.

Family Emergency

Dear Parents,

I have a family emergency and will be flying home Friday morning and returning Tuesday night. I've carefully planned lesson plans for the substitute teacher: Mr. Joaquin. Your children will be well-cared for.

Of course there are no classes on Friday. Students will have a math test on Monday and a spelling test on Tuesday. They will also be watching a curriculum-related movie, working on Chapter 11 in social studies, and reading.

Thanks for your understanding,

Sue St.

ACADEMIA DE INGLES PARA NIÑOS Y ADULTOS

Ven y aprende y experimenta el ingles con profesores expertos y certificados. Niveles para niños y adultos con niveles de conversacion y orientado a negocios. Segunda toma de examenes de admision Enero 28 6:00 P.M. y Enero 29 9:00 A.M. Contactanos a admissions@interamerican.edu.ec
Twitter: IAAGuayaquil

The school is beginning an English language school. Please circulate this news to your friends.

Substitute Tomorrow

I, along with a number of other teachers and administrators, will be involved in day-long 5 year strategic planning meetings for InterAmerican Academy tomorrow and Saturday. I'm really excited about this opportunity.

I've created lesson plans that move the students forward while I am gone. We have an agreement that they are going to be amazing with the sub. :-)