AN IB WORLD SCHOOL

Academic News

Lauren Boubel's Math class created drawings of tesselations, where a single pattern is repeated across the page but at different angles.  See a Photo Gallery of this creative, colorful math assignment! 

Middle School parents are invited to an Information Night on the Upper School Experience and the International Baccalaureate Program on Tuesday, Nov. 30 in Founders Theater.  (This is especially helpful for parents of 8th graders, who will be starting their journey through the Upper School next year.)  Learn what makes the SGS Upper School unique and what students can expect in grades 9-12.  Here's the schedule:

6:00-6:40pm
Introduction to the Upper School experience; Academics with Dr. Francesca; Clubs, music & arts, mentors, & events with Coach Rickard; Sports with Coach Peplinski.
6:40-7:00pm
BREAK with coffee and treats. Upper School students will share their perspectives on the US experience and CAS projects. 
7:00-7:30pm
What’s the International Baccalaureate (IB)?; What’s the advantage of IB versus AP?; How does the IB support the college admissions process?; followed by a Q&A time.

Feel free to attend the first part, the second part, or both presentations.  Please RSVP to Paige Halliburton (paige.halliburton@sgs.org) if you plan to attend.

Saint George's has some amazing people working here, and Nov. 22 was a day to honor some of them.  Head of School Jamie Tender presented the annual Faculty and Staff awards in the Schmidt Center Gym with the full student body present to cheer.  Congratulations to Upper School Chemistry teacher Ian Townley, who received the Fred Gilbert Distinguished Teaching Award.  The Harvey W. Clarke Award for Excellence in Teaching went to 5th grade teacher MacKenzie Crittenden.  Admissions Director Tami Peplinski received the Jim Stecher Staff Excellence Award. 

The biggest honor, The Hannah L. Joss Fellowship, carries with it a stipend big enough to allow a teacher to travel anywhere in the world to enhance their classroom teaching abilities.  The fellowship was awarded to 3rd grade teacher Denie Inman, who hopes to travel to England and Ireland next summer to explore her family history and bring back resources and insights to share with her students.  See a Photo Gallery of the ceremony and the happy winners!

The 5th graders posted a new book on the Story Trail for November -- "Tacky the Penguin".  See a Photo Gallery of them putting the front pages on one of the posts, as well as a photo of the full class.  Then be sure to walk the Story Trail and enjoy a book to read in the middle of nature!

The Saint George’s School Alumni (SGSA) is excited to host a College and Career Panel this Wednesday, November 17 from 6:00 - 7:30pm in the Upper School.  This event is open to all 8th through 12th grade students and their families.  Hear from several recent SGS alumni about their college experience, their major and career selections, as well as other great insights.  There also will be a Q & A opportunity with the panel of speakers, including four who participated in the International Baccalaureate program at SGS:  
 
• Caroline Hammett Calder ’16: Pepperdine University ’20 (Malibu, CA) – Bachelor of Arts, Economics, French & Music; Wealth Management & Advisory Associate, Washington Trust Bank (Spokane, WA) 

• Collin Cremers ’16: Stanford University ’20 (Stanford, CA) – Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering; Stanford University ’21 (Stanford, CA) – Master of Science, Engineering; Associate Consultant, Bain & Company (San Francisco, CA)

• Hunter Hyde ’17: Gonzaga University ’21 (Spokane, WA) – Bachelor of Arts, Criminal Justice & Political Science; Gap Year (Spokane, WA)

• Isabelle Nachtsheim ’16: Eastern Washington University ’20 (Cheney, WA) – Bachelor of Science, Biology; Occupational Therapy Doctoral Candidate ‘22, Baylor University (Waco, TX)  

• Hunter Olsen ’14: Claremont McKenna College ’18 (Claremont, CA) – Bachelor of Arts, Economics; Senior Analyst, Health Evolution (San Francisco, CA)

Please RSVP by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16 to tracy.gonser@sgs.org or call 509-464-8830.  The location on campus is still TBD, depending on the number of RSVPs we receive.

Admissions representatives from three colleges will be visiting SGS in the next week: Gonzaga University on Tuesday, Nov. 16 from 12:30 to 1:00pm; Grand Canyon University on Thursday, Nov. 18 during Flex time from 9:45 to 10:15am; and West Point (USMA) on Monday, Nov. 22 from 12:00 to 12:30pm.  All visits are happening in the MS/US Library Study Room.  Students can learn more about these different schools!

IB Question of the Week:   How does the IB and its learner profile trickle down to the learning in the Lower School?  
The aim of all IB programs is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.  The IB learner profile represents 10 attributes valued by IB World Schools.  The IB and SGS believe these attributes, and others like them, can help individuals and groups become responsible members of local, national and global communities. 

All of the IB Learner attributes that the Upper School program emphasizes are also seen in the Lower School classrooms.  Below are three that are emphasized in an activity in the 4th grade classroom right now: 
• Thinker: We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems.  We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.  
• Risk-Taker: We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies.  We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.
• Knowledgeable: We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines.  We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global signi¬ficance

The attributes of being a THINKER, being KNOWLEDGEABLE, and being a RISK-TAKER are evident as the 4th graders, for example, participate in monthly water testing, which implements the idea of change over time and connects directly to their science units where they study water pollution, invasive species, micro worlds and macro invertebrates.  The teachers are training them to be thinkers and risk-takers, while becoming more knowledgeable.  

IB Alumni Highlight:  
The Saint George’s School Alumni (SGSA) is excited to host a College and Career Panel this Wednesday, November 17 from 6:00 - 7:30pm in the Upper School.  This event is open to all 8th through 12th grade students and their families.  Hear from several recent SGS alumni about their college experience, their major and career selections, as well as other great insights.  There also will be a Q & A opportunity with the panel of speakers.  Please come to also ask any questions regarding how their experience with the IB helped them in college.  The speakers include these IB graduates: 

• Caroline Hammett Calder ’16: Pepperdine University ’20 (Malibu, CA) – Bachelor of Arts, Economics, French & Music; Wealth Management & Advisory Associate, Washington Trust Bank (Spokane, WA); 
• Collin Cremers ’16: Stanford University ’20 (Stanford, CA) – Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering; Stanford University ’21 (Stanford, CA) – Master of Science, Engineering; Associate Consultant, Bain & Company (San Francisco, CA);
• Hunter Hyde ’17: Gonzaga University ’21 (Spokane, WA) – Bachelor of Arts, Criminal Justice & Political Science; Gap Year (Spokane, WA);
• Isabelle Nachtsheim ’16: Eastern Washington University ’20 (Cheney, WA) – Bachelor of Science, Biology; Occupational Therapy Doctoral Candidate ‘22, Baylor University (Waco, TX).  

Hunter Olsen from the Class of 2014 is also speaking, but he graduated before the IB was implemented at our school: Claremont McKenna College ’18 (Claremont, CA) – Bachelor of Arts, Economics; Senior Analyst, Health Evolution (San Francisco, CA).

If you’d like to attend, please RSVP by 9am on Nov. 16 to Tracy Gonser at tracy.gonser@sgs.org or call 509-464-8830. 

CAS Experience Highlights: CAS experiences for all of our Upper School Students this week included learning about and working on car tires, participating in Joya Trunk or Treat, and donating blood.

Extended Essay Highlight: Senior Finley Wolff is doing an Economics EE.  His research question will be analyzing data on rents to find to what extent government intervention in the Covid pandemic in Dallas, Texas and Seattle, Washington affected the market for apartments?  For this analysis, he will define the onset of Covid-19 in Seattle and Dallas as the start of March 2020, because the governments in Seattle and Dallas imposed their first restriction for protection from Covid 19 that month in the form of a stay-at-home order.  The onset of the pandemic caused uncertainty for many people about about their health, education, finances, and housing.  With Covid-19 becoming politicalized in the United States, Finley found it fascinating how different locations were impacted in such different ways. The impact on the housing sector in many areas was profound.  He looked at how people's rents changed and the renters’ responses.

CAS Experience Highlights: CAS experiences for all of our Upper School Students this week included cleaning the robotics room, playing soccer, zip lining, sorting food for the 2nd Harvest Food Bank, helping set up a shed at school, going to a pumpkin patch, participating in cross country, baking oatmeal raisin cookies, writing an extra assignment for school, participating in JOYA Trunk or Treat event, making door decorations for the Ronald McDonald House, decorating cakes, performing in the "Coffee House", playing volleyball, Halloween decorating, cleaning the Spokane River, hiking and taking photos in Riverside State Park, performing at the Tuesday morning meeting with the men’s SGS quartet, attending a 200-hour EMT course, rock climbing, and editing a video for the Washington State Speech Language Hearing Association (WSLHA).  

IB Question of the Week:  In each IB class, what are the Internal Assessments and the External Assessments? 
The IB uses both external and internal assessments in the Diploma Program (DP) to assess student learning. 

The external assessments (EA) include the exams in May of a student’s senior year.  These EAs count for 70 - 80% of the score in an IB course.  The EAs are sent in to the IB for grading by IB examiners. If a student takes IB Visual Arts, their EA is an exhibition.  In addition, if a student takes a Language A HL course (Chinese A Literature HL or English A Literature HL), they also produce a written assignment.  These assessments are called “external” because teachers outside of SGS assess and decide what grade they earn. IB examiners and assessors are all over the globe but trained by the IB to ensure uniformity.

The internal assessments (IA) include the many investigations and projects that students undertake here at SGS during the two-year program.  From 20 - 30% of the student’s score is derived from the IA.  SGS students complete an IA in each course.  The grade for the IA is assessed by the SGS teacher but it is externally moderated by the IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization), meaning they are reviewed for grading accuracy. 

External Assessment
Examinations form the basis of the assessment for most courses. This is because of their high levels of objectivity and reliability.  They include: essays, structured problems, short-response questions, data-response questions, text-response questions, case-study questions, and multiple-choice questions.

Internal Assessment
Teacher assessment is also used for all courses. This includes: written work in languages, oral work in languages, laboratory work in the sciences, investigations in mathematics, and artistic performances.

For more information about the DP grading and assessment please follow this link: http://www.ibo.org/en/programmes/diploma-programme/assessment-and-exams/understanding-ib-assessment/

The 5th graders built bridges of toothpicks and glue to balance as much weight as possible before they broke.  See a Photo Gallery of their first group of bridges to get the ultimate test!

A Halloween Treat:  We asked senior Maggie McLaughlin what part of the IB has been most valuable for her, and here was her reply:
"The most valuable experience within the IB was writing the Extended Essay.  I got to research in-depth on a topic I intend to pursue later in college and create my own further advanced analysis.  I figured out a way to combine English, gender studies, and the social ideas surrounding childhood with vampires -- and enjoy the scholarly research process."  Yes, the IB even has a place for vampires.
 
CAS Experience Highlights:  CAS experiences for all of our Upper School Students this week included serving food and drink on coffee house day, preparing a Chemistry lab, going to the gym, participating in the mentor program, making a cake, participating in JOYA Trunk or Treat, creating a video nomination for a parent, participating in a University of Pennsylvania Soccer ID Camp, participating in Knowledge Bowl, making blood drive posters, participating in the school’s ping pong tournament, performing in the coffee house, participating in the Little Spokane River clean up, and sorting food for the 2nd Harvest Food Bank.
 
IB Question of the Week:   How has the IB as an organization adapted its requirements for COVID-19?  Overall, the IB organization has addressed the loss of instruction time from COVID-19 with a range of targeted removals and/or amendments of assessment components or submission requirements.  These adaptations aim to empower teachers to address each subject’s aims and objectives with flexibility and fairness.  To find out about all of the ways the IB is responding to the extraordinary challenges ahead, supporting the learning and well-being of students and future generations, follow this link: https://www.ibo.org/covid-19-support/  

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