Maya Connections Issue 23 March by Colegio Maya

Issue 23 March

Director's Letter We do all of this while continuing to ask the difficult

What a beginning to 2018 it has been for all of our

questions that PK-12 education must ask to

Maya community!

prepare our kids for the future they will shape. We

There are a multitude of teams and individuals that

thank you for asking these difficult

go into making Colegio Maya the

questions with us, and of us. Sometimes it is not

community that it is. The evidence is everywhere and

comfortable but the stakes could not be higher

there is no time to thank all the people

for preparing students with the critical competencies

that make this school a special place to grow, learn

and character traits they will require to be

and do what’s right for students in their

successful in today’s world. The complexity of

learning. As I watched our community pull together

concepts that our students are faced with

to host AASCA with one of the biggest

requires messy learning, independent struggle,

events for the region it made me proud. Yes, proud of

resilience, reflection and ultimately hopefully

the organization, effort, time and results

success, but not always. What they have learned

but even more proud of how we represented ourselves

through the journey is most important. This is

as a community. From parents to

where education today looks very different from what

teachers to students and all stakeholders we modeled

we have experienced not long ago. I am

what it means to be a supportive,

often asked what parents can do to best support

positive, collaborative community. Witnessing the

raising a happy, well-adjusted child. While

fun and community spirit at Bingo made me

there is no golden key, we at Colegio Maya are in

proud again to be a part of such a family. Watching

partnership in asking the exact same

students display and share their learning

question. As we make changes to drive from extrinsic

from elementary inquiry units to the science fair in

motivation to intrinsic motivation for our

High School reassured me of the rigor, effort

learners, creating self-driven learners is at the heart

and challenge that we put students through daily at

of what we are striving for. How do we do

Maya. Seeing our student projects come to

this together? Take a look at this short article titled

fruition for High School students teaching

“The Key to Raising a Happy Child”. Let’s

Elementary students in robotics, groups dedicated to

work side by side as we ask questions about grades,

building clean burning stoves for our local

college, homework, failure, stress and

community, getting the plastic out of the cafeteria,

ultimately happiness. We love to work with you and

starting a recycling program, building eco bricks,

always welcome your feedback to make

working with our sister school from Antigua, it

our community and the learning ever stronger.

once again reminded me of the greater purpose we hold to learn through real world experience while taking responsibility for people and our planet.

Mike Johnston Director Colegio Maya 2

Table of Contents Cover Page

Daniel Lee

Director’s Letter

Stephanie Cohen

Who are we?

Brunella Effio

Calendar

Brunella Effio

Semana Santa

Stephanie Cohen

Addams Family Musical

Halle Olivo

Women’s Unite

Ingrid Ventura

Looking for Learning

Stephanie Cohen

Elementary Library

Brunella Effio

Math is Visual!

Brunella Effio

Elementary Reading Month

Brunella Effio

What’s Happening on ECC

Brunella Effio

Secondary

Ingrid Ventura

Science Fair

Daniel Lee

Secondary Library

Ingrid Ventura

Rebecca’s Letter

Brunella Effio

Semester 2 Visual Arts

Halle Olivo

The Role of Clash of Colors

Halle Olivo

Backpage

Daniel Lee

-OUR JOURNALISM TEAMBy Brunella Effio

Who are we? We are the creators, writers, and editors of the Maya Connections, which, as you may already know, is an electronic newspaper for Colegio Maya. In the Maya Connections, our community members can find out about different activities or interesting things happening on campus. We take the materials sent to us from people around Maya and we either create or format articles based on them, as well as include original pieces created by us. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find anything from ECC to 12th grade and everything in between!

Picture by Mary Reynolds

In order of appearance Brunella Effio - Brunella is probably the most enthusiastic of us all. She loves to write and read mostly short stories and novels. Her passions are writing, reading, hanging out with friends, watching movies, doing the extraordinary. She believes that success is not real if you don’t work hard for it and learn from your mistakes. What she likes the most about writing in the Maya Connections is that she gets to express her thoughts and ideas through her writing. Halle Olivo - This is Halle, one of our most passionate writers. She loves to read and write fiction stories and to sketch anime characters in her free time. She likes to listen to all kinds of music, depending on how she feels at the moment. What she likes the most about writing in the Maya Connections is that she has the freedom to develop her writing style and skills. Stephanie Cohen - Stephanie is a very creative and imaginative twelfth-grade student that loves to write about current issues so she can be able to inform people who are interested in them. Her passions are graphic design, cooking, yoga, and Judaism. She likes to write in the Maya Connections because there she is able to express her ideas in a creative and original way. Daniel Lee - This is Daniel, a very sarcastic but funny writer. He likes to write about anything and everything. He loves being able to relax and spend time on his own. He also believes that he

is a very good leader and a great student since he loves to study and learn new things every day. He loves to read, write, and listen to people’s ideas, and that is one of the reasons why he loves this class because he has flexibility and autonomy to move around and get information from people to write about it. Ingrid Ventura - She is Ingrid, the free spirit of our team. Ingrid is in her Sophomore year and she loves to write stories and novels about historical events. She also likes to write about things that interest her, like fantasy, her beliefs, romance, comedy, and supernatural mythology. She likes to do art, to cook, read, spend time with her family and friends, sleep, and eat a lot. She loves Journalism class because it gives the freedom and flexibility to choose whatever she wants to write about. Mary Reynolds - Extraordinary Ms. Reynolds is a very important part of our team too. She is our guide during this course. She loves overall writing, but mostly she likes to write poetry and short stories. Her passions are to travel, to cook, to stay active doing the sports she loves, and to attend to live music festivals. She believes that Journalism is an amazing class since she gets to be more flexible and gets to see her students get to know their own interests, and she gets to learn from them too.

“Words: So powerful. They can crush a heart, or heal it. They can shake a soul, or liberate it. They can shatter dreams, or energize them. They can obstruct connection, or invite it. They can create defenses, or melt them. We have to use our words wisely.” - Jeff Brown 5

April 2018 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

30 Holiday - No School

A Day

B Day

A Day

B Day

Easter Monday

B Day

AASCA Volleyball, EIS Map Testing A Day

6th grade Factory FT

B Day

A Day

B Day

Seminar and research presentations

Map Testing B Day Elementary Library Book Swap begins

A Day

Map Testing

Originally designed by Song Eui Lee, Adapted by Brunella Effio

Thursday

Saturday

Friday

Sunday 1 Easter Sunday

B Day

A Day

B Day

AASCA Volleyball, EIS Map Testing B Day

Drama Musical

A Day

Drama Musical

Drama Musical Friendship Fair

Tentative Corro por Voz

Map Testing A Day

Annual Book Swap (Both Libraries) Map

B Day

Testing

29 30 AASCA MS & HS Principalâ �s Meeting, CIG & CAG

WOMEN UNITE

There are many women throughout history who have fought and died for only one reason: gender equality. For example, Susan B. Anthony fought for women to have the right to vote, Rosa Parks stood up for herself and fought for equal rights for black people, Malala Yousafzai took the news by storm when she fought and wanted women to have the right to education, Princess Diana raised awareness for mental illness and reduced poverty, and so many more stories just like theirs. Women’s history month is celebrated in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. March corresponds with the International Women’s Day, which is on March 8. At first, in 1978, a school of Sonoma, California promoted Women’s History Week to commemorate International Women’s Day. As it got more attention, people became more aware and started celebrating it more. This was even supported by WAA (Women’s Action Alliance) and NWHA (National Women’s History Alliance). So many women have impacted their societies, and therefore our world. To commemorate women throughout history, March has been made "Women's History Month". Eventually, this caught Congress’ attention and they made March the official month for women due to the many requests. Although March 8 is known to be International Women's Day, it is actually to commemorate the 12,000 brave women who protested for their rights and were unfortunately burned alive for doing so.

Looking for Learning Designed by Stephanie Cohen Written by Nikki Ellwood, Director of Teaching and Learning Grade 1 students have been exploring the interconnectedness between humans, plants and animals in the rainforest biome. They have learnt about some of the special adaptations that plants and animals living there have, and considered our responsibilities with regard to protecting these biologically diverse and important ecosystems. They have even turned their classroom into a rainforest!

Our Grade 2 artists explored the artwork of the American pop artist, Jim Dine. They replicated his style of artwork using heart symbols and a clever printing technique to give their work creative texture and individuality. And just in time for Valentine’s Day!

The Grade 3 students proudly showed off their learning at the culminating event of their “Uncovering the Past” inquiry unit. The students explored different types of evidence and artefacts that can be used as clues to tell us more about the past, then chose a historical event to research and present to the wider community. Great work, historians!

Our Middle School video game designers have been designing maze-style games to share with their peers at the Hour of Code event. According to the young coders, the key requirements to be a great video game designer are patience, creativity, the ability to be precise and specific, detailed knowledge of the programs and controls, strategic thinking, planning, problemsolving and an understanding of what players want from a video game.

In ELA, Grade 6 students have been working on close reading and analysing short extracts from Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian. They annotated extracts of text, then wrote commentaries identifying the literary techniques they had found. In the final stages, students self and peer assessed each other’s work in small groups before submitting.

Our HS elective for service leadership has been learning about Sustainability, Systems, Service, Social Entrepreneurship, Change theory and Leadership this semester. They are drawing complex maps of Colegio Maya’s service learning outcomes with a goal to improve the experience for all Maya students moving forward. More to come as they dig into the complexity!

In Grade 11 and 12 Spanish class, students have been writing blog entries giving their opinions on the enduring value of reading and exploring classical literature. See their work here! They have also created videos to summarise the story "El cantar del mio cid".

High school art students have been learning about Banksy and Street Art, and are currently planning and executing posters that send a political or social message.

The AP Comparative Government students concluded their study of Russia by carrying our political rally speeches urging the public to join their party. In the Model UN class, the students are running a mock trial at the International Criminal Court taking on the roles of prosecutors, defense counsel, witnesses and judges. Students carried out research about the functioning of the ICC and international criminal law, especially the Rome Statute.

Elementary Library Designed by Brunella Effio

We are having so much fun at Library!! All students are enjoying our different Elementary Library Centers. The Reading Center: In this relaxing center students get to read their favorite book, before they do their check out. The Listening Center: In this center students listen to their favorite online book using headphones and i pads, while we promote the use of Tumblebook Library. This is also a great resource to use at home, do not forget to log in through Colegio Maya website. The Writing Center: Students get to be authors and illustrators by writing their own story. They have been reading “ The Library Mouse” by Daniel Kirk to be inspired in order to write just like authors will do, using some of the story elements as well. Amazingly even some students have created their own author-illustrator partnership working together to inspire each other and to collaborate, like real authors and illustrators do.

Spanish department: Spanish teachers love to take their spanish learners to the library in order to promote spanish reading skills. Class books: We have class books being “published and showcased” at the library. This keep students motivated and proud of being authors. Ms. Claudia Mtz de Obregon

Math is Visual! Designed by Brunella Effio

We know from educational and brain research that children learn math concepts best when given the opportunity to represent problems visually! Students in fifth grade have been exploring division using an area model. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also been exploring volumeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multiplicative and additive properties with connecting blocks. With these visual tools, students have been extending their conceptual understanding of two important topics in mathematics.

Elementary: Reading Month By Brunella Effio, Grade 9

Activities on Campus In case you didn’t know, March is a very important month. It is a month full of fun adventures and entertaining stories. It is the reading month, and in Colegio Maya, we celebrate it in a very special way in the elementary Department. First of all, there will be an assembly on March 2nd, where students will be celebrating our dearest Dr. Seuss’ 114th birthday by singing a happy birthday song in his honor. The month will be full of fun activities like the buddy and parent reading, in which middle school students, high school students, and parents come to read to the elementary students.

Also, there will be the Reading Challenge which consists of every book that every elementary kid reads will be written down on a strip of paper, then all of those pieces of paper will be collected and attached to each other making a chain. The goal of this amazing activity is reading as many books as they can during the month to be able to make the largest chain possible. Finally, there will be an assembly on March 22nd where middle school and high school students will perform for the elementary students a little play about Dr. Seuss’ book, Oh the Places You’ll Go!. This book tells the story of a boy and how he is destined to do great things, but that has to overcome a bunch of obstacles of his to be able to succeed. It is a book that demonstrates how hard and wonderful success can be.

Who was Dr. Seuss? Dr. Seuss, also called Theodor Seuss Geisel, was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. When he was eighteen years old, Theodor left his home and attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. There he became editor of a humor magazine on campus called Jack-O-Lantern. After he got in trouble at campus and was prohibited to participate in the magazine, he decided to change his name to Dr. Seuss so he could still work on it. Before he became a famous writer he was a recognized “ad man”, which means he worked on advertisement for other companies.Then, in 1937, he published his first book called And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was ironically rejected by every publisher he showed it to. All but one. After that, he became very famous for writing children’s books. After a year of writing children’s books, in 1940 he started writing political cartoons too with the purpose of spreading knowledge and interest in controversial topics through caricatures. In 1957, he was challenged to create a children's book that would contain 225 vocabulary words This was a big challenge which ironically created his big step into fame which was The Cat in the Hat. After that, his career as a writer continued successfully.He wrote more than 43 books and won more than six major awards, including the Caldecott Medal, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, Pulitzer Prize, and more. Theodor Seuss Geisel died on September 24, 1991. Being an amazing author, he inspired and cultivated a lot of children's and adults’ ways of thinking. Dr. Seuss is recognized as one of the best writers in history, and for this reason, we like to commemorate his works by celebrating his birthday here at Colegio Maya.

Why should we celebrate Reading Month? Reading has been a crucial element in human life and evolution since the moment it began. Throughout history, humans have used books to express their feelings and ideas, or just to be creative and write beautiful and fantastic stories. Reading month is a way to commemorate all of these amazing human accomplishments. We should all celebrate this event by reading as much as we can during this month, and feel free to also participate in our reading month activities! Let’s catch the spirit of reading during this month as a Colegio Maya community!

What's happening in the ECC? By Ingrid Ventura and Brunella Effio

The ECC (early childhood center) in Colegio Maya is a program where students from Pre-k to kindergarten from all nationalities come to learn English together. Since Colegio Maya is an American school, English is a required and essential language that students must learn. Parents and teachers agree that the program is a very efficient approach for their children when learning a new language. It provides a strong, influential, healthy, and fun community where they are not just learning English, but other factors as well, such as responsibility, independence, making good choices, helping others, and more. According to Mrs. Guzman (one of the teachers working in the ECC), her way of teaching children English is by getting to know each and every one of her students and allowing them to have the freedom of choosing what they want to learn. Hence, the Bird Project was created.

About the Bird Project The Bird Project is basically a fun way for the kids to interact and learn with each other. Not only do they read, write, draw, or look at the birds, they are becoming their own teachers to themselves and to their peers. It is also a good method of learning English. Since the majority of children who enter this program donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak any English, Mrs. Guzman claims that it only takes them a whole semester to grasp English. This means that by the second semester, they fully understand English, but they still need to practice. They acquire this by doing a bunch of activities independently or by working together. For example, they read, draw, play games, write, and work in groups together. She also believes that having a mix of students from different nationalities and ages help with their learning experience and progress because it is exposing them to many more possibilities and getting to know the world by learning about someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture(s).

Although the language barrier is a bit difficult, the ECC teachers help the students learn how to get along together beautifully.

Secondary It’s been an action-packed start to the semester with a wide range of learning experiences taking place both within and outside the classroom. In all these endeavours it has been inspiring to see all our community involved - parents, students and teachers - all working in partnership to support and push ourselves to improve as a learning community. AASCA Track and Field I want to give my thanks to everyone involved in making this year’s AASCA Track and FIeld such as success. As a community it was energizing to see everyone pull together and to watch students enjoying the fruits of all their hard work - dragging themselves out of bed and 5am to run in the cold and mists of winter mornings up at Maya. Witnessing students realize what is possible with hard work and commitment as they literally and metaphorically ran down the “final straight” pushing themselves to the limit, was a refreshing reminder of why we go to such lengths to host and participate in these sorts of events.

Science Fair It was great to see so many students showcasing their work at this year’s Science Fair, with an interesting mix of scientific and engineering projects and investigations. For students, going through the process of using the scientific method and design cycle, was an important learning experience, and it was good to hear some students talking about their desire to keep pursuing their projects, having learned where they could make progress or improve. The four winning groups represented Maya in the AASCA Science and Engineering fair at Colegio Americano on March 14-16th.

Assessment As we continue to refine and work on our learning AASCA Drama Last week our AASCA drama students did Maya ecosystem, we are looking at ways to give feedback proud in El Salvador with some powerful and to students on their conceptual, competencies and entertaining performances in the AASCA Drama character growth and learning. Part of this involves festival. While achieved great success in a number teaching transdisciplinary competencies, and reporting on them separately from their academic of categories and events, winning third overall, the highlight was their one act play, The Other Room, for achievement within each subject. For many companies today these transdisciplinary skills: which they won first place. The play explores the communication, collaboration, critical thinking, selfinside of an autistic boy’s mind represented by different characters who play out both his inner management skills are the key skills they seek in thoughts and imaginings and how these are those entering the job market. As we move forward articulates in the real world. For any parents wishing we will be looking more closely and how we design to see the play, it will be performed on Tuesday learning to further develop these competencies. February 20th at 2:20pm in the PAFA theater. AP Exams - save the dates May 7 - May 18. The full schedule can be found here. Please make sure if Thank you all for your continued support! your child is taking AP exams that they have no Graham Maclure other commitments on these days. Secondary Principal

The Science Fair By Daniel Lee

Secondary Library! Happy Valentine's Day! February was a unique month in our Secondary Library. First, if you were feeling lonely and wanted a DATE, you could easily stop by and enjoy a BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK! The instructions were quite easy: 1. Pick a book. 2. Read the hearts for hints. 3. Find the number in the back of the book and tell Ms. Vives. 4. Do not open your book until you get home. 5. Enjoy your Blind Date!

Book Tasting

Congratulations to Rebecca Tate, whose letter appeared in the online edition of The New York Times on Sunday, January 27!

Semester 2 Visual Art Update

B y: H a l l e O l i v o On a day dubbed ‘Clash of Colors’ one would expect the arts to play a big role, but not many people seem to know what role the arts play. Here’s a peek into the fine arts in our biggest day together. I spoke to the fine and visual arts teachers for a word on how they felt about Clash of Colors. Ms. Kessel, who teaches visual art, spoke about how Clash of Colors brings people together. She talked about how it gives a much needed sense of community, and even went so far as to suggest having it more than once a year. However, though she made banners last year, she doesn’t think there will be an active role for her subject this year.

As for the music role, I spoke to Ms. Sweat for her opinion. This is her third year participating in Clash of Colors, and she couldn’t describe it. “It’s something you have to experience.” She reminisced about seeing an elementary student on a senior's shoulders. It looks unlikely that music will participate this year, but nothing is certain.

Last but not least, we have drama. The drama teacher, Ms. Andrea, was also a student at Maya, and remembers Clash of Colors as some of her best days. Ms Andrea loves Clash of Colors and thinks it’s a wonderful tradition. It’s a great way to get to know people. This year might have a drama aspect to it, as well as small skits or plays.