Graded is already busy

I want to welcome you to the new Graded High School Blog. We'll be using this throughout the year to open up communication with students, parents, teachers and administrators. I hope that the site becomes a valuable tool for us to share information and for discussions on educational items. Aside from information on school events and initiatives, I envision teachers, students and parents sharing and dialoguing throughout the year. In today's digital world this type of communication makes sense for our community.

While school doesn't begin for six days Graded is buzzing with activity. We're gearing up for the first day of school on August 2. The new teachers arrived this week and they have been busy settling into Sao Paulo and preparing for their courses. Please join me in welcoming the following new teachers.

Wayne Shackleford - Film and Multimedia
Kim Boyd - Math
Jed Oksness - Math
Ange Malony - Math
Trish Beck - Science
Amy Flindt - Science
Adam Cross - Science
Todd Daniel - Counseling
Eliot Greene - English (Substitute for Ms. Mears)

The 16 senior Peer Group Connection (PGC) leaders are off for a three day retreat to prepare for their work with freshman this year. Under the guidance of Ms. Mears, Mr. Stephensen and Ms. Monti they are about to embark on an amazing learning and leadership experience. The group will be taking the entire freshman class for a weekend retreat in September. This program impacts both the senior leaders and the freshman in so many positive ways.

Finally, there are high school teachers attending the 6 + 1 Writing Traits and the Portuguese Language and Logic Knowledge construction workshops. As a school, we are adopting the 6 + 1 Writing Traits program in grades 1 - 10 so you will be hearing more about Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions and Presentation.

Remember, the high school transforms into a 1 to 1 laptop learning environment on Thursday. We're excited about teaching and learning in this 21st century environment.

Please feel free to comment with any questions or comments that you may have.