MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL CHRISTINE BAKER

Greeting Totem Thunderbirds by Christine Baker, Principal

IB Progress

Totem is making progress on becoming an IB Middle Years Program School. We have completed the initial intent to apply for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP). Our sixth grade teachers are working on unit curriculum that will be piloted second semester. Our 7th graders are participating in an interdisciplinary IB unit on Biomes, written with input from our IB trained coordinator.

We will continue to be an AVID Demonstration Site. Many of the strategies that the Middle Years International Baccalaureate program uses are part of the best practices we use with AVID, increasing academic rigor across the curriculum and building a college going culture. IB will add interdisciplinary units and a focus on internationalism. It will help prepare students for the rigors of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program at Thomas Jefferson, or the Advanced Placement programs of College Board offered at Federal Way High School. AVID and IB together will offer all students access to higher level curriculum, while maintaining the support, structure and organization students need to succeed in a rigorous curriculum.

We will be sending home the College Bound Scholarship forms to all 7th and 8th grade students this week. Some families may not qualify and many 8th graders completed the process last year. Parents may write DO NOT QUALIFY on the top and sign. We are asking all students to return the form, even if they turned in one last year or don't qualify. Before we send them in, we will shred the ones of those that qualified last year, and those that state they do not qualify. If students return the form they get a FREE DRESS DAY on the 25th of November. This is a fantastic opportunity to receive a college scholarship, and we want all eligible students to participate.

Sincerely,

Christine Baker, Totem Principal