Friday Open Thread
After three long days, the National Spelling Bee ended in...a tie...for the second year in a row. The judges ran out of words on their list. In a fun twist, both contestants have last names that might be a challenge to spell - Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar. Vanya correctly spelled the word "scherenschnitte" and Gokul correctly spelled the word "nunatak." The story from CNN is great and the recoiling of one contestant who lost from his mother's sympathetic kiss is priceless (we've all been there if you have boys). Show the kids the story from CNN - many great moments.Work Party at Hamilton Middle School on Sunday, May 31st from 10 am-noon.
The school needs to have regular weeding efforts in order to stay off the no-spray list with Seattle Public Schools grounds crew. And as you know, many hands make light work! We will have some work gloves and tools, but bring your own if you can. We'll also have water and light snacks.
More to come on the Sand Point Elementary issue over the City's Department of Early Education and Learning rescinding a grant from the Families&Education levy. New updates make this story even more troubling.
Do fewer French kids have ADHD than American kids? Apparently so but the difference is in how doctors in each country view it, according to Psychology Today.
The highest honor in Mathematics, the Fields Medal, won by a woman for the first time. It's a great story from The Guardian.
Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian maths professor at Stanford University in California, was named the first female winner of the Fields Medal – often described as the Nobel prize for mathematics – at a ceremony in Seoul on Wednesday.
She did poorly at maths for several years at school because she was not interested in the subject. "I can see that without being excited, mathematics can look pointless and cold. The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers," she said.
Friday Funny - a seismologist live-tweets during the disaster movie where an earthquake and tsunami hit California called San Andreas.
Do you know what the newest words added to Webster's Dictionary mean? They include clickbait, WTF and photobomb.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Thank you.
SavvyVoter
reader
NPR story on French teachers strike to protest cuts in middle school Latin, Greek, German and changes to the history curriculum.
Does less Latin mean dumbing down? France debates school reform.
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/05/28/410017058/does-less-latin-mean-dumbing-down-france-debates-school-reform
Wish we also had Latin, Greek and German in middle schools......instead we have SBAC, SBAC, and more SBAC.
-nh
That's 107 days! It looks like the lawyer lawyer-ed up! How is it possible nothing has leaked out about the reason for his suspension of duties.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2VjOLJflILFSWdaeU5ROXcxQ3c/edit
-Southie
NEmom
And when do we get a look at the opt out rates and scores by school? From what I've heard many SPS principals already have their school results.
DistrictWatcher
Ron English? Who knows?
SBAC? I'll ask; I did not attend that work session.
Techy Mom, good for those kids and their teachers.
As a staff member at South Shore, we were shocked Dr Morrison would leave after a year. Things were moving in the right direction to figure out the middle school part and she is an expert in elementary. We are sad to go they another change but are getting used to it - five principals in twelve years. Glad we got her back (she used to be our AP) for the year - she is great to work with and cares about her staff students and families. She has a great opportunity to work on something that everyone knows she is passionate about. Hopefully we will find a new principal that cares about kids and teachers the same way and that can help stabilize our school - especially the middle school.
reader47