Middle School Update

Volume 7 Number 26

April 16 , 2007

CALENDAR:

RECYCLING TETRA-PAK CONTAINERS:  We have a container near the Middle School Office for the recycling of tetra-pak containers.  When you empty a milk or juice container at home (or school) please rinse it out, flatten it, send it to school with your child, and have him/her put it in the collection box.  These will be recycled and converted into desks for public school here in Peru.

WALK THE WORLD, EL MUNDO EN MARCHA CONTRA EL HAMBRE:  The World Food Programme of the United Nations is organizing a walk to raise money to support a campaign against child hunger in Peru.  This will be May 6th from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.  More information will be provided in the Monday Messenger.

MYP GRADING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL:  We will be giving two presentations on this topic, Thursday night April 26th and Friday morning April 27th.  These are Parent Coffees organized by your Middle School Parent Advisory group. There will be simultaneous translation. It might be helpful to bring with you the organizer (agenda book) of your child for reference.

PLACEMENT INTO EXTENDED MATHEMATICS IN GRADE 8:  There are many factors that determine if a student will be successful in Extended Mathematics in grade 8.  We look at the first semester grades in the core subjects, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Math Total score, recommendation of the current math teacher, and the results of the Hanna Orleans Algebra Aptitude Test. We will also ask students to write a reflect piece about their own feeling about what course is most appropriate for them in grade 8. None of these, alone, is a good indicator of success. We combine all of the information. We will then send home a letter indicating which course the student will be placed in for 2007-2008. This letter will go home in early May. At times, the placement is tentative. This means the student is given a chance to try the Extended class but will be moved to the Regular if they can not keep up.  At other times, students show a great deal of growth in maturity and abstract thinking between now and December and are moved into Extended for the second semester.

Until the introduction of the MYP, for a student to be able to take higher level math in grades 11 and 12 it was necessary that they take Algebra (Extended Math) in grade 8 or they would have to take two math courses in grade 10.  With the MYP program, that is no longer true. Students can move from Regular 8 to Extended 9 if they demonstrate the skills, habits and attitude to be successful.

CAS ACTIVITIES:

Grade 6

Group 3:  Consumer Math at Wong’s

Group 4:  Cooking

Group 1:  Yoga + Fun Games

Group 2:  Crafts

Grade 7

Group D and E:  Barranco

Group F and A:  Cementerio

Group B and C:  Museo Arte Italiano

Grade 8

CoFo