AN IB WORLD SCHOOL

Academic News

CAS Experience Highlights: CAS experiences for all of our Upper School students (in the US and in China) include helping with the All-School Talent Show, volunteering at a local food bank, taking a dog on a jog, taking pictures, donating blood, walking dogs, making cookies, bowling, participating in cross country, participating in FTC Robotics, hiking, participating in the trans day of visibility, making rings, replanting flowers, attending a hand gun shooting class, volunteering at a café, caring for stray dogs at a shelter, teaching younger kids piano, and hiking at Palouse Falls.   

IB Question of the Week:  What are other countries doing about administering IB exams this year?  
In the United States, whether a school is on the exam or non-exam route for May 2021 exams is determined individually, since each school can have a different status.  SGS is on the non-exam route.  These countries also are on the non-exam route like SGS: Panama, Indonesia, Poland, Lebanon, India, Turkey, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Iraq, Canada, Colombia, Pakistan and Ecuador.  These countries are giving exams: Egypt, Norway, Spain, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania, Greece, Switzerland, Zambia, Jordan, Bulgaria, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, Iceland, Australia, Costa Rica, Sweden, China and Romania.

IB Visual Arts Highlight:
In IB Visual Art, students are assessed in three ways: 
1. A comparative study in which students analyze and compare different artworks by different artists. This independent critical and contextual investigation explores artworks, objects and artifacts from differing cultural contexts;
2. A process portfolio in which students submit carefully selected materials which evidence their experimentation, exploration, manipulation and refinement of a variety of visual arts activities during the two year course;
3. And an exhibition in which the selected pieces should show evidence of their technical accomplishment during the visual arts course and an understanding of the use of materials, ideas and practices appropriate to visual communication.

Three IB Visual Art seniors, Sydney Bledsoe, Dana Mogensen and Josie Melville, have their exhibitions completed and on display in the Upper School.  See the article on the IB Art Exhibits for details about each student's artwork and links to see their exhibits.

IB Overview:  The Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum for grades 11-12 is made up of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) and the Extended Essay (EE).  Please refer to our IB webpage and to the IB Resources page in PowerSchool Learning for detailed IB information.  

The Spokane Scholars celebration will be live-streamed this year on Monday, April 19 starting at 6:30pm.  Each of the 156 Scholars (including SGS Scholars Gabi Cunningham, John DeForest, Reagan Ivey, Chaitanya Nalluri, Winnie Wu, and Henry Xu) will be recognized, and 24 Scholars will receive financial awards.  The live-streamed celebration begins sharply at 6:30pm and will end about 8:15pm.  No registration is required; make plans to log in early using either This Link or the QR code in the graphic above.  A full recording of the evening will be posted on YouTube within a few days of the festivities.

The featured speaker is Dr. Tod Marshall, professor of English at Gonzaga University, former poet laureate for the state of Washington, and author of numerous poems and anthologies.  Look in the Spokesman-Review's Sunday, April 18 edition for a two-page color spread with a photo of each of the scholars.  

One of the two SGS robotics teams participated in the FIRST Tech Challenge competition on March 31 and April 1.  See a YouTube Video of them earning points by collecting and firing orange rings into a container and knocking over red plastic sticks in a 2-minute round.

Increase test scores!  Students can learn proven test-taking strategies with Josh Hayes, US Econ teacher and experienced SAT instructor.  The SAT Prep Course starts the Wednesday after Spring Break and runs from 6-8pm weekly through June 2nd.  The course will use timed practice tests as well as review math skills, grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.  Students will be preparing for the June 5th SAT test date (11th graders) or to boost their PSAT scores in October (9th & 10th graders).  On average, SGS students who took this class saw a 90% greater improvement over their PSAT scores than those who did not.  Cost is $500 if registered and paid by April 2; $600 after that.  Sign up today!

The 1st graders wrote stories about their favorite animals of the Arctic and Antarctic ("Los Animales Polares") in Spanish.  Here is a Video of four of them reading some of their articles out loud.  Yes, Saint George's 1st graders can write and speak Spanish!

This year’s FIRST Lego League Robotics was a little different due to Covid restrictions.  The team of 6th and 7th graders uploaded videos of their robot performing game missions and then met with the judges virtually on Saturday, April 3.  "I am very proud of what Team 40706 accomplished this season despite the restrictions in place," says advisor Michelle Bledsoe.  The Project Team (Riley, Thatcher & Delaney) came up with a solution to this year’s challenge (“How and where can we help people be more active?”) by researching and designing a prototype for a new kind of knee brace to help those with knee injuries stay active.  The Engineering Team (Adrian, Preston, Hadley, Lindsey and Max) successfully completed four missions within the 2.5 minutes allowed for the game, ending with a final score of 175.  Here is a Video of some of their robot's missions, as well as a Photo Gallery of the teammates with their Lego creations.  Good job, Golden Dragons!

The Spokane Scholars celebration will be live-streamed this year on Monday, April 19 starting at 6:30pm.  Each of the 156 Scholars (including SGS Scholars Gabi Cunningham, John DeForest, Reagan Ivey, Chaitanya Nalluri, Winnie Wu, and Henry Xu) will be recognized, and 24 Scholars will receive financial awards.  Check this space for the link to the live stream; a full recording of the evening will be posted on YouTube within a few days of the festivities.   

The featured speaker is Dr. Tod Marshall, professor of English at Gonzaga University, former poet laureate for the state of Washington and author of numerous poems and anthologies.  Look in the Spokesman-Review for upcoming stories on Spokane Scholars and for the Sunday, April 18 two-page color spread with a photo of each of them.  

Students in the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course explored a variety of "Knowledge Questions" in their exhibitions.

CORE Highlight: TOK Questions

Readers might be interested to see a selection of the Knowledge Questions students explored in exhibitions for their Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course.  They explored questions like the ones below with themes such as knowledge and language, technology, politics, religion, or indigenous societies:

> To what extent does hope affect our thoughts and actions?
> How does our culture affect our emotions?
> To what extent does religious belief help or hinder us?
> What does the quote “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” really mean?
> What role does aggression play in society?
> What role does seeking pleasure have in a teenager’s life?
> To what extent does our social class define how we are viewed and treated in society?
> To what extent does racism affect religion?
> To what extent does culture affect our perception of right and wrong?
> What role does “agency” have in people’s lives?
> To what extent does having a sense of purpose affect how we view the world?
> What effect does history have on our views of privilege and power?
> How does our outer appearance interact with our inner life to make us who we are?
> What is the role of sound in society?
> To what extent are all languages connected and how does that affect our overall knowledge?
> To what extent does humor reflect our ethics and morals?
> Does the pursuit of money help or hinder us in our efforts to become the best people we can be?
> What drives people to be cruel?
> To what extent is someone’s poverty their own fault?
> Under what circumstance are people willing to be consistent or non-consistent with their sense of morality?
> What is the price of happiness?
> To what extent do we let our emotions dictate our actions?

IB Question of the Week:  What are five pieces of advice from a lifelong IB learner?
This question comes from an IB blog.  Diploma Programme graduate Sobina Yu shares advice for incoming IB students as they embark on their learning journey.  

CAS Experience Highlights: CAS experiences for all of our Upper School students (in the US and in China) include playing volleyball, donating blood, cleaning trash around the school, yard work, playing soccer, painting pictures, working in the Biology greenhouse, baking cookies, helping with the clothing drive, picking up trash, programming for FTC Robotics, teaching computer gaming lessons, rehearsal for the violin, going on a drive, and geocaching. 

IB Overview:  The Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum for grades 11-12 is made up of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) and the Extended Essay (EE).  Please refer to our IB webpage and to the IB Resources page in PowerSchool Learning for detailed IB information.  

The 3rd graders spent part of Friday, April 2 walking the Story Trail above campus and reading the story that is spread out over 16 reading posts along the trail.  See a Photo Gallery of them enjoying the story and the warm, sunny day before the start of Spring Break.

Grades 7-12 will move to 5 days a week of in-person/hybrid schooling starting after Spring Break on Monday, April 12.  A combination of factors that include teacher/staff vaccinations and lower case counts county-wide will allow SGS to extend in-person/hybrid instruction to all grades.  "We continue to see the social/emotional benefits of students attending in person for a social outlet and opportunity to connect through class and activities," says Jamie Tender, Head of School.

The week before Spring Break, Upper School students will have in-person/hybrid classes on Monday through Thursday.  Friday, April 2 will be an Asynchronous Distance Learning day for the Middle and Upper School (grades 6-12).


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