Social Bookmarking

Not sure what to do with this...delicious.  Deb Reese is sitting next to me with a website called www.symbaloo.com .  It looks like a bookmarking site.  Check it out!

Learning Management Systems

Here at River Ridge we use Skyward as our Learning Management System.    It's different than the Moodle that I looked at this morning because the information in Skyward is maintained by the individual teachers for each of their students as opposed to the audience being the entire community.  I believe that there is an area in Skyward to add lesson plans and resources but I don't believe anyone uses that feature.  As I read through the articles it seems to me that it is a rather outdated version of an LMS.   The other thing I noticed is that not everything done in the classroom is technology based even though it is managed through the LMS.  There seems to be a gap in the two.   In the article "K-12 Student Data and Learning Management Systems Miss the Mark,"  I further question how we we will merge our new curriculum loft with the old LMS...or if it really matters?  Our high school and middle school staff is going to need more training.  

INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND 2011

This year INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND is scheduled for April 1-3, 2011. Please click the link above to see the invitation. If there are any local River Ridge families that are interested in hosting please contact Mrs. Nicholas at school. We would love to have you! If you are a student or the family of an international student please click the link above and contact Mrs. Nicholas for details on how to attend. We would love to meet you!

Fright Fest 2010

Everyone's favorite AFS field trip of the year is to Great America's Fright Fest. The trip was on October 17, 2010. Here are some highlights from the trip! Johanna and Philipp both from Germany had such a great time running around the park that the photographer only bumped into them once to snap a photo!





































2009 video

2010-2011 River Ridge International Students

This year we have two foreign students and both are from Germany.

Meet Johanna:


Meet Philipp:

Guatemala 2010

This past summer 6 River Ridge students traveled to Guatemala for 12 days. While in the country they stayed with local families, walked to school each morning, attended 4 hours of class, and then returned back to their families for lunch. After the midday meal students used the school as a meeting place for the afternoon activities. They visited a coffee plantation, a macadamian nut farm, ziplined through a canyon in the rain, took dance lessons, visited several surrounding towns, parks, and churches, and still had plenty of time to shop and barter at the local markets. One of the favorite afternoon activities was participating in a local service project at a local orphanage. The students bonded quickly with the young children by dancing, drawing, and playing games with the kids. Both of the weekends that we were in Guatemala were used for touring and sightseeing. We visited the Mayan ruins of Tikal, the Mayan market in Chichicastenango, and had a day at the black sand beach in Monterrico. Overall an exciting learning experience for all.

Although it wasn't a year away, our students got a small taste of what it is like to leave your home country and live with a family of a different culture that does not speak their native language!