Friday, October 14, 2016

October 14, 2016

In this post...

  • MYP: Intercultural Understanding
  • Spring Break Trip to France & Italy!
  • Spring Journeys
  • What We Are Learning...highlights from Language Acquisition and Design
  • Things To Do in our Community

MYP: Intercultural Understanding

The mission statement of the International Baccalaureate reflects attention not only to the development of a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum. It also points to the desired result of such a program: "active, compassionate and lifelong learners" who will "create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect." This is part of the IB's attention to students' (and our) global identity and the central role of intercultural education. Over the course of the school year, students are exposed to a variety of perspectives, voices, and ideas through curriculum, experiential learning, and co-curricular programming, and in Chapel we have paid particular attention to learning about various cultural experiences.This past week, we took time in Chapel to learn about Hispanic Heritage Month, which is runs from September 15-October 15 each year. We opened Chapel with a beautiful poem called "Face and Heart" by Mexican-American author Francisco X. Alarcón, and Advisory groups competed on a quiz about Hispanic Heritage in the US (and the 7th Grade Gettel Advisory won!). We concluded Chapel watching a fantastic video by Colombian music group Bomba Estereo that celebrates an individual's ability to be her- or his-self. In a recent interview, one of the members of Bomba Estereo described that the intention of the song and the video was to combat bullying. The result is a reminder that our goal of intercultural understanding and respect begins with recognizing and respecting each other for she or he is.

Spring Break Trip!

Ms. Gettel is again taking Middle School Students to France and Italy during Spring Break! The "Abundance" Journey focuses on Patronage of the Arts, as studied in 7th Grade Music. The group will fly to Paris, travel by the fast train to Nice, and travel on to Monaco, Florence, Assisi, and Rome. We are again using Explorica, and students may easily register online. Click here for the itinerary. If your student is interested in participating in this trip, there will be an informational meeting for parents on Tuesday, October 25th at 5:00pm in the Library. Please contact Ms. Gettel for further details. 

Spring Journeys

If you haven't already, please register your student for the Spring Journeys via the links below by October 16, 2016. 

What we are learning...

This week, we highlight our Language Acquisition and Design programs!

Spanish
¿Están listos para celebrar? Are you ready to celebrate? A major highlight in Spanish Language Acquisition this month is the upcoming celebration of Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead occurs on November 1st and 2nd and is full of lively celebrations meant to honor our departed. The holiday provides a wonderful opportunity for our students to connect with Spanish speaking cultures outside of the classroom and there are a few celebratory events nearby in our community. This year I will be attending Día de Muertos- A Mexican Celebration to Celebrate our Departed at the Seattle Center. The event will run Oct.29th -30th, and I will be there for guidance Saturday, October 29th from 12-3:00pm. The festivities will be located in the Armory-Main Floor, and will include live performances, a viewing of spectacular community altars and cemetery, special hands-on activities, foods, face painting and exquisite rituals. Participants can create sugar skulls and paper skeletons, explore community altars and march in a musical procession to remember the dead. Admission is free. Come to explore, participate, and speak Spanish! Please contact me either by email (jessica_paco@aw.org) or text/call 541-968-8999 with questions and/or to sign up. Hope to see you there!

On a more academic note, students have been making progress and exploring various statements of inquiry (SOI). Sixth grade has focused on how Our word choice helps us to identify and describe what we see. Students have explored how word choice and identity go hand in hand to communicate who we are. Seventh grade has discussed how Verbal and nonverbal communication affect the way teams interact. We are applying this idea to sports and how a top player needs more than just physical talent, but an ability to communicate effectively. Eighth graders have explored how Purpose and structure can communicate philosophies and ways in communities. Within the realm of daily routines students have looked at various routines and norms around the world. We have engaged in discussions of preference, and how our daily norms communicate the values of our culture.

7th grade Spanish (Calcote/Kim): We are studying a unit on health and well-being. We are comparing important aspects of our everyday lives with those of Spanish speakers. We are learning to explain minor illnesses, talk about a visit to the doctor’s office, and learning to describe people’s personalities, conditions and emotions.
8th grade Spanish (Calcote/Kim): We finished up our unit on train travel where we learned to travel by train through Spain by creating a 7 day itinerary using the train system “Renfe” and traveling on the AVE (high speed train) to historic and popular Spanish cities. This week we began a new unit on “El Restaurante.” The students are looking at the cultural similarities and differences in restaurant experiences in the US and Spain & Latin America. Students will learn how to order and pay for a meal, identify typical hispanic and latino dishes, and incorporate more vocabulary on foods and utensils in order to use the language proficiently when dining in Spanish-speaking restaurants.  
Chinese
The sixth grade Chinese has finished the Pinyin system, Chinese calendar, and numbers 1-31. They are able to spell words using Pinyin and tell dates in Chinese. They also learned the rules of writing Chinese characters and are getting to the mastery through practice. They are in the middle of the learning Unit “My classmates and I” following the MYP principle. They will complete this unit by taking the summative assessment.
The seventh grade Chinese is on the unit “Chinese Calendar and Chinese Zodiac”. They learned how to read Chinese calendar. They are able to ask and answer questions about time.  They know the difference and similarity of calendar between the solar and lunar system. They are able to share information about calendar and their birthday. By the end of this month they will complete this unit by taking a summative assessment.
The eighth grade Chinese learned the unit “Shopping for Clothing”, which my “Read-on” program teammates and I completed during the summer in Boston focusing on Chinese character teaching and learning. I aim on training them to use online tools and the rules of Chinese character configuration to become a good Chinese readers and writers. Now we are on the unit “School Life” practicing some methods from that training. Even though we are only on this unit for two weeks the good result has showed. This unit covers the content from “Far East Chinese for Youth” level 1 and 2, which is intensive. At the end of this unit students will be able to communicate on school schedule and understand the statement of inquire of this unit, which is “Schools are very important connections with structures and should explore different points of view.”
They all celebrated one of the most important Chinese traditional holidays” Moon Festival” by watching videos, telling stories about it, and making “Moon Cakes”. They have learned by doing.
The 2016 Confucius Institute Day falls on Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 from 1:00-4:00 pm at Skyline High School Commons, Issaquah School District. The topic is “Travel around China in Half a Day”. It is FREE and opens to public. You are encouraged to attend.
Design
Sixth Grade Students continue to make progress on the fabulously designed folders they are creating for their clients. They have developed a number of interesting and creative adaptations for their folders, which has been fun to see, and, currently in the "creating a solution phase," they continue to work their way through the design cycle. If you have not already done so, please ask your student to share both the blueprints her/his client's folder as well as her/his Design blog. We will continue to use these blogs as a way to document the process of their projects but also as a way to show growth as we assess each individual's understanding of the Design cycle. Students only have one more day to build their newly revamped folders, and many are feeling the crunch of having to work under a deadline! They are off to a great start.

Things To Do in our Community...


  • Make a Difference Day is October 22! To find out about opportunities to volunteer in Tacoma or in any other region, visit http://www.makeadifferenceday.com/.
  • Looking for ways to explore Tacoma and Seattle? Stay up to date with the events calendar on The Tacoma Weekly and Visit Seattle.
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