My name is Lorrie Turner and I am the Elementary School Principal at the Panamerican School of Porto Alegre. I am originally from the Northwestern United States having been born in Spokane, Washington but I have also lived in California, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Arizona. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Education from Washington State University where I double-majored in Special Education and Music Education. After teaching in a variety of positions and schools, I then went on to earn my Master of Arts in Education from the University of Arizona specializing in the areas of Curriculum and Instruction as well as Language, Reading and Culture. I have twenty years of experience in education including eleven years of teaching in all elementary grade levels both in the United States and the countries of Colombia, Uruguay, and Indonesia. I also have nine years of administrative experience including positions as Curriculum Coordinator K-12, Special Needs Program Coordinator K-12, and Language Arts Coordinator K-5.

Our goal in the Elementary section of the Panamerican School of Porto Alegre is to provide a challenging and relevant curriculum in both English and Portuguese which teaches our students to be international minded, global citizens. We are committed to the idea that as a truly international school we must teach our children to value and appreciate diversity including the multi-cultural diversity of our own school community. It is that community which makes PAS such a special and unique environment here in Porto Alegre.

Our commitment to multi-cultural awareness and appreciation led us to adopt the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in 2007. At the center of all that we do in the elementary section is the sincere belief that our students must be taught to develop the qualities of the IB Learner Profile in order for them to achieve our mission of becoming confident, capable and respected citizens of the world. Thus, we explicitly teach, model, recognize and reward students who are:

o Knowledgeable
o Reflective
o Balanced
o Open Minded
o Risk Takers
o Caring
o Communicators
o Inquirers
o Principled
o Thinkers

We also firmly believe in student directed inquiry and the PYP programme allows all of our students the opportunity to investigate topics and issues in a deep and thoughtful way, connecting their newly gained knowledge to their own experiences as well as those of other cultures and perspectives.

It is my sincere hope that we can create a better world both here in Porto Alegre, in Brazil and in the world by working together as a team; educators, students and parents. We invite you to join us in this endeavor!