Below are two videos of restaurant skits from Spanish class. Enjoy!
Loli's Poem from English Class
The Middle School English class has started their unit on Shakespeare. And what better way to get excited about the bard than with a little poetry?
Loli went above and beyond the minimum assignment by writing and performing a poem expounding on the virtues of Annika's hair.
Enjoy!
Biology Takes A Field Trip To Natural Science Museum
from Ms. Summer
ATA College Prep Biology students recently visited the Texas Memorial Museum at UT. This natural science museum hosts a variety of exhibits including: meteorites, fossils from the Paleozoic Age, evolution, biodiversity, and Texas wildlife. During our field trip we completed a scavenger hunt that helped us learn interesting facts from each exhibit. We thought it was especially interesting to see endangered Texas wildlife, and talk to experts about the fossils on display.
We are grateful to have attended in January, because in August of 2014, due to budget cuts, scientists will no longer be on staff to educate visiting students about the exhibits. Although, it will continue to be free, the quality will be less due to a shortage of staff. We hope the University of Texas will find funds to keep scientists on staff and preserve this valuable resource that has been open and free to the public since 1935.
Spanish Lab Has Fun With Festivals
In Spanish lab, the Spanish III/IV class presented about Los Sanfermines (the running of the bulls) and La Tomatina (a huge food fight) to the Spanish I class. Both of these festivals happen each year in Spain.
Ashley and Grayson did a wonderful job at making the information accessible and exciting for the rest of the students. I was very impressed.
From ATA CP Spanish Teacher Taylor Flanagan
SOMOS ATA CP!
Check out this student created video.
SOMOS ATA CP!
Latin Projects
from Ms Smith
Yesterday, I gave some of the Latin students a challenge to create a model of an ancient Roman temple. This topic followed up on a lesson about the Roman forum and the forum of Pompeii from earlier in the year.
Chase and Caleb competed to see who could sketch the most accurate temple on the board. Caleb was interested in drawing a circular temple, while Chase put a lot of detail into the triangular pediment of his temple.
In Latin class, we rely on multimedia as a tool to bring the culture, archeology, and artifacts of ancient Rome to life. Chase studied photographs of several Roman temples to design his own masterpiece.
Besides images and technology, our Latin course is focused on mastering and applying language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and prose composition. Here, Jackson just put the finishing touches on writing a Latin sentence.
ATA's student athletes are always hungry for competition, so it should come as no surprise that grammar and vocabulary contests are their favorite way to practice foreign languages. Here, Brennan and Meghan compete head-to-head to write the correct form of a Latin verb.
Sock Drive and SafePlace Drive
from Ms Flanagan
The Kids in Business class has been working hard to make the ATACP Sock Drive and SafePlace Drive as successful as possible.
As donations rolled in, students counted and organized:
The donations we received from our ATA community were beyond generous! So generous that Ms. Flanagan could barely carry it all!
The drive was a great success thanks to the hard work of our students and the generosity of our ATACP family!
In the end ATACP donated: 275 socks, 38 items of clothing and some handmade Christmas notes from our students to Foundation for the Homeless. And 200 items of clothing, 5 pairs of shoes, 14 canned goods and 4 cellphones to SafePlace.
Both organizations are very glad to have these donations for Christmas.
Coding in Math & Logic
This week over 5 million students worldwide will participate in the Hour of Code - and try their hand at coding for the first time. Today in Math & Logic, CP students logged on to the Khan Academy, and worked through an interactive basic coding session. They discovered functions, parameters, commands - the basics of technological coding. They also 'drew' some pretty cool images using basic shapes and color fills.
The genius minds and founders of Facebook, Microsoft, and Google all started their journeys with just one line of code; now CP kids have been given the same chance - to not only use the technology of the future, but also to create it.
Check out the Hour of Code on Khan Academy.
The Power of ONE
ATA patron Haden Spencer recently visited CP and spoke of her CASA work with a family affected by the recent floods in Austin near Onion Creek, and the Power of One - what one person can do to make a change.
CP students donated collected clothes, shoes, gift cards and money to give to this family and other the Austinites who were stripped of their homes and possessions. Additional donations go to the Austin Disaster Relief Fund, an organization that immobilized immediately to render aid.
Here is a link to The Power of ONE video.
Le Chat au Chapeau
The Spanish Classes Celebrate Day of the Dead with ATA College Prep
From the Students:
Annika:
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday, celebrated on November 1, and 2. It focuses on gatherings of family and friends, celebrating the lives of dead friends and family members who have died. People will usually make altars, sugar skulls, and eat and drink the favorite foods of the deceased.
Synclair:
They do all of this to celebrate their loved ones.
Adison:
Day of the dead is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the gift of life and to remember those who have died.
Ela:
This holiday has a long, long history. The Day of the Dead started with the Aztecs. Honoring their dead was a daily ritual.
Grayson:
El día de los muertos celebra el fallecimiento de nuestra familia y amigos. En honor de ellos nosotros cocinamos sus comidas favoritas. Una comida popular del día de los muertos es pan de muerto. Es muy azucarado y sabroso. Comidas comunes del día de los muertos son atole de calabaza, pan de yema,
dulce de calabaza, tamales, y sopaipillas. El día de los muertos no es un día triste; es un día feliz.
Callie:
I think el día de los muertos is a great way to remember passed family and friends!
Adison:
At ATA College Prep, us Spanish students celebrated with a glorious Mexican meal. Including tacos, sopapillas, guacamole, Mexican cupcakes and more.
Annika:
We spent time, cooking, decorating, and preparing to share this wonderful festival with the citizens of the school. We made food--
Grayson:
We spent two hours before lunch preparing our meal. I helped juice fruit, cut peppers, cut onions, fry sopapillas, and crumble cheese.
Callie:
Cooking for the day of the dead was so fun! The food was so yummy! I loved making the chicken, guacamole and chocolate sauce.
Ela:
The whole class worked together to do these things.
Grayson:
Cooking an authentic meal was actually a lot of fun and cool. I have never seen any the foods we ate be cooked before.
Ela:
Our dessert was by far the best. We made sopapillas. They were very delicious. With that, we had warm chocolate sauce, honey and a coconut sauce. Our food was amazing.
Hannah:
The class decorated the school with festive decorations.
Annika:
We even learned a song about Frida Kahlo and Día de los Muertos!
Hannah:
Before lunch I introduced what Day of the Dead is and how it is celebrated. Then the Spanish 1 class sang a song pertaining to the Day of the Dead.
Callie:
I was really nervous before singing the song.
Annika:
We performed it in front of the students and after we ate our delicious meal.
Ela:
We had lots of magnificent foods.
Synclair:
My experience with Day of the dead was a lot of fun we got to cook and learn about a different country’s culture and how they celebrate the ones who have passed.
Annika:
I learned about how the Mexican culture celebrates life and death. Celebrating Día de los Muertos opened my eyes to a whole other world, culture, and people, without having to even leave Austin.
Adison:
We all had a blast and the day was a success!
Ela:
I think that this will be a fun thing to do next year.
Chinese Historical Figure Story Project
From ATA College Prep Chinese Instructor Zhu Wang
During the month of October, Chinese students did a story project on Chinese historical figures. Each student read one story in Chinese, researched the historical figure, translated the story into English, rewrote the story in Chinese and then presented it to the class both in English and Chinese.
There are three stories in total. One is about how Confucius and his students solved a trick problem by learning from a young girl. The moral of this story is that everyone has strength and one should be open to learning from people and surroundings.
Another story is about why a young boy, Kong Rong, who is a 20th generation decedent of Confucius, offers the best pears to his brothers. This story illustrates the Confucian ideal of fraternal love among youngsters.
The last story is about how Cao Chong, a renowned child prodigy who lived 1800 years ago, uses the law of buoyancy to weigh an elephant when he was 5-year-old.
The students showed great interest in these stories. They felt they learned so much from this project. I'm very proud to see what they have accomplished.