From the Headmaster
Stop Press! ABC MathCounts Team wins Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Competition!
• Team B THIRD PLACE (Andrea Osegueda, Gerardo Cabrera, María Fernanda Arteaga, José Andrés Cáceres)
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS (out of 120 students from México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua - all ABC students within first 20 places)
• Andrés Butter 2nd place
• Andrés Puente 1st place
Almost 500 participants at the Bicultural Schools Arts Festival
The largest festival yet, with almost 500 participants and 7 bicultural schools, had its closing performances last weekend. With just a few days of workshops and practices an excellent standard was achieved. We must thank all the teachers involved for generating such interest and performances, and thank all the students who were on the drama, dance, and music stage or who had exhibited their artwork in the foyer of the theatre.
Have you seen the ABC Digital Magazine?
The school has many digital publications, including blogs, wikis, photo albums and multimedia. The ABC Magazine is another one of these aimed at showcasing student journalism.
Well done the ABC Swimming Team!
As the ABC Weekly goes to press, the ABC Swimming Team is competing its last few events in the La Libertad Estudiantiles championship. It is good to see the excellent performance of the team and the support that the parent group is giving to them. Thanks to the constant hard work of our Swimming Coach Oscar Lima, the team is producing great results!
Primary News
2nd Grade camping night
Second grade went camping at the American Embassy last Friday. The children had a great time. The event was filled with many activities that allowed them to interact with parents and children from other forms. Second graders particularly enjoyed the rally and the Disco. This event gave the children the opportunity to practise three of the school traits we have been promoting in school, independent, confident and enthusiastic.
Cal 2 reports UP
Reports for Cal 2 were sent home on Wednesday. We have changed the report this year so that it only reports on grades. You can expect a full report on your child at the end of Cal 3. Teachers have already met with parents to discuss concerns which the reports may have raised but you are welcome to phone the UP office to arrange an appointment with any of our teaching staff if you have any concerns about your child’s grades.
3rd Judge assembly
On Wednesday it was the turn of 3rd Judge to showcase their work, in an assembly about CHOCOLATE!!! The children shared a little about the history of chocolate and entertained the parents, teachers and other 2nd & 3rd Grade classes with some fine acting and dancing skills. The topic chocolate is the current IPC unit that the children in 3rd Grade are studying. Please see the 3rd Grade blog for more pictures.
5th Brenes assembly
As a school we consider the ability to read fluently and the enjoyment of reading to be of prime importance. 5th Brenes assembly this week helped to remind us all that in this age of fast moving technology the pleasure and enjoyment of reading is as important as ever and that reading helps us to become better communicators, more imaginative and, some would argue, more intelligent! Thank you to all involved in this assembly for reinforcing this very important message.
4th Grade Spelling Bee
Spelling Bees originally started in the United States with the first national competition starting in 1925. The word ‘bee’ has been used to mean a get-together and the event does indeed bring together some of the best spellers to compete against one another. The competition usually involves children and tests them on their ability to spell a range of different words.
Since the beginning of CAL 1, 4th Grade pupils have been learning a new set of spellings every week, which at the end of the week they are then tested on. 4th Grade therefore chose to hold a Spelling Bee Competition on Friday, 9th March, which has been adapted into a tribal event. This is an important activity that has been introduced to demonstrate our recognition of good spellers and our appreciation for words spelt correctly!
There are 32 Spelling Bee finalists in total, 8 from each tribe and class. These children have been selected from their classes on the basis of their performance of spellings used throughout CAL 2. The winner will earn 150 tribal points. We wish our budding spellers the very best of luck!
Mobile phones in school
Children in UP who bring mobile phones in to school must deliver them to the UP office as soon as they arrive in the mornings and may not collect them until school finishes at 1.30pm. There are landline phones in all three Primary school offices if the children need to make or receive an urgent call. The privilege of being allowed to bring mobile phones into the Primary school will be withdrawn if children do not follow the rules.
Brain Awareness Week
Next week is Brain Awareness week in school. This week we have been finding out from the children how much sleep they get and what they have for breakfast, if anything! Children in UP will be analysing this information in their ICT lessons and comparing this information with national and international guidelines to see how well they are looking after their brains.
Kinder trip
Next week Kinder will go on a trip to reinforce our Unit "We are healthy". We will leave school at 8:05 and we will go to the Supermarket (Walmart). Each child will have the opportunity to buy a healthy - balanced snack. We have been talking about the importance of having a healthy diet, some classes have even illustrated a food pyramid! With our healthy snacks in our bags, we will then head to Parque Bicentenario for a picnic and a walk in the park! We are expecting that it will be a great day!
Dates for your diary
Lower Primary
Friday 16th March: PK Cleaver Assembly, PAC 7.20am
Monday 19th March: PK Swimming Gala (Training pool) 10am
Tuesday 20th March: Kinder Swimming Gala (Training pool) 10am
Wednesday 21st March: Prepa Swimming Gala (Training pool) 10am
Thursday 22nd March: 1st Grade Swimming Gala (25m pool) 10am
Friday 23rd March: PK Carbajal Assembly, PAC 7.20am
Friday 30th March: PK Catani Assembly, PAC 7.20am
Friday 30th March: Last day of Term
Upper Primary
Wednesday 21st March: Upper Primary Poetry Day
Wednesday 21st March: LSU for parents. Leaders: ¿Innate o developed? PAC 7.00am and 6.00pm
Wednesday 21st March: 2nd Quijano Assembly, PAC 10.00am
Wednesday 21st March: 4th Fastiggi Assembly PAC 12.00m
Monday 26th March: Upper Primary Theatre Day
Monday 26th March: 5th Grade Swimming Gala. ABC Swimming pool, 10.00am to 12.00m
Tuesday 27th March: 4th Grade Swimming Gala. ABC Swimming pool, 10.00am to 12.00m
Wednesday 28th March: 5th Grade Speech Competition, PAC 8.00am to 9.30am
Wednesday 28th March: 3rd Grade Swimming Gala. ABC Swimming pool, 10.00am to 12.00m
Thursday 29th March: 2nd Grade Swimming Gala. ABC Swimming pool, 10.00am to 12.00m
Friday 30th March: Last day of Term
Secondary News
Congratulations to the Mathcounts team who are currently in Mexico with Mr. Arriola and on Thursday came second in the Mathrelay event. We are looking forward to hearing how they get on in the main Mathcounts expedition.
HACIA Democracy
We have a large team of Grade 10 - 12 students in Panama City this week taking part in the HACIA Democracy event. This is a Harvard University sponsored event and one of our ex-students is participating in the running of the event. The students return on Monday.
Cal 2 Reports
These were sent home with your son or daughter this week for Grades 6, 7, 9 and 11. Please ensure you have signed the photocopy and returned it to your form tutor. If you have any queries about the report please contact the Head of Year.
Grade 6-8 Exams start next Thursday
Please make sure you have seen the timetable and have helped your son or daughter organise their revision. The blogs and school website have details of revision materials and resources. Please talk to your son or daughter about them.
Brain Week Survey
In preparation for Brain Week next week we have sent home a survey to all parents about sleep and breakfast which are essential elements of a healthy brain. If you have time please answer the questions. The answers will be treated anonymously and will be used to discuss issues with our students at the assembly on Monday.
Copa de Amor
We have been holding a joint T shirt day with the Escuela Americana in support of the Libras de Amor campaign. There is a football match on Saturday at 6 pm at the Escuela Americana which has been arranged by the student organisers from the two schools. If your son or daughter plans to attend please note this is a charity event being hosted by the Escuela Americana at which some ABC staff will be present. Parents are entirely responsible for their children including dropping off and picking up.
CCAA University Fair
The fair will be in the school Auditorium from 1.45 - 3 pm on Monday12th March. We expect all students from Grade 9 to 11 to take the opportunity to find out more about universities and attend the fair. Parents are also welcome to attend the event.
KONY 2012
Many of our students have been excited by the Internet based campaign video KONY 2012 which seeks to stop a man called Joseph Kony from recruiting child soldiers and destroying young people’s lives. We have been asked to get involved in the campaign at school. We are delighted so many of our students are affected by the appeal and it is up to you if you want them to support it. In school we want to check more details about the charity and its intentions who is behind the campaign.
Dates for your diary
Thursday15th March: Grade 6-8 Exams start until Tuesday 20th March
Thursday 22nd March: Grade 11 Exams start until Friday 30th March
Friday 23rd march: Grade 9 Exams start until Friday 30th March
Friday 30th March: End of Term Two.
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