Seventh Grade

Ms. Mary Nogueira Cardoso de Sá is the seventh grade science teacher and also shares eight grade Science. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, but has also lived in San Francisco, California. She received her bachelor’s degree and teaching degree in biological sciences from the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and University Santa Ursula. She also has a master’s degree of education from Framingham State College. Before coming to EARJ, Ms. Sá worked with landscaping and garden projects, and as a swimming teacher at the YMCA in California.

Ms. Sá has taught at EARJ for 24 years. She has held other positions at EARJ. She was the STUCO advisor for 10 years and Ecology club advisor for 8 years. When she was a little girl her mom already knew she was going to be a scientist when she grew up because she always wanted to know how things worked and was always asking questions that were related to science. Ms. Sá is involved in many other activities such as the study group of “Habits of Mind”, Destination Imagination, the fourth grade drug retreat, HAM radio workshop, and Meditation.

Ms. Sá is not only interested in science; she also likes arts and sports. Her favorite sports are surfing and soccer. Ms. Sá has two important statements that she always mentions. They are: “Chance only favors the prepared mind” and “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent”. 

Written by Sophia Lorentzen.
Revised by Mary de Sá

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Ms. Suzanne Molina, the 7th grade team leader and English and Writing Enrichment teacher, was born in Fortaleza, though she didn’t actually live there. She lived in the United States, where she learned English. When she moved back to Brazil at the age of 17, she started teaching English as a second language and has been a teacher ever. Ms. Suzanne received her bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and English Language and is presently working towards becoming a specialist in English from PUC-Rio.

Before becoming a full time teacher at EARJ, Ms. Suzanne was a substitute teacher for six years. This is her second semester teaching English 7 and her third year teaching Writing Enrichment.  She is very excited and eager to work with all her students. Ms. Suzanne has also been involved with Destination Imagination for eight years, as well as the Experiential Education program here at school.

In her free time Ms. Suzanne can be found reading, mixing and listening to music, riding her bike, hanging out with her friends, watching movies, studying, or relaxing at the beach. Overall, Ms. Suzanne is very excited to work with all students, and very enthusiastic to meet all of their parents. 

Written by  Maya Hanbury,

Enrique Arteaga and Isabel Soto

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Mariana Furloni,

Social Studies 7 and  Brazilian Studies

Ms. Mariana Furloni is the Social Studies teacher for the 7th grade. She was born in Niterói, but has lived in Natal, Macaé, New Hampshire, New York and now here in Rio. She went to college at UFF and has a college degree in History. She has recently finished her master’s degree at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.  Before she came to EARJ, she worked at a school called Oga Mitá and at many different museums.

This is her third year at EARJ as a teacher, but she worked here as a substitute for one year. She chose to teach Social Studies because she would like to understand the present, and for that to happen she must understand the past. She also likes to learn more and more about different cultures. She would also like the students to feel the same way she feels about Social Studies. Even if the students aren’t very interested, she would just like us to have fun and understand more about our past, present and maybe, our future.

As I said in the paragraph above, she would like the students to feel or at least be interested like her in Social Studies. She doesn’t only want students to feel this way, she would also like parents to understand and learn with the children more about our past and our present. She also likes to know students out of class, so she does an activity to learn more about us and vice-versa. The activity she does is Yoga. It is a fun activity and a good opportunity to learn more about others.

                        Written  by Maria Thereza Falcão

Revised by Mariana Furloni

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Sonia Jannuzzi, Algebra 7 & Honors Pre-Albegra 7

Ms. Sonia, the 7^th grade math teacher, was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, but also lived in the US when she was a child. She went to Santa Ursula University, and has college degrees in architecture, urbanism, math, and a master’s degree in education. Before teaching at EARJ, where she has been for 13 years, she worked as an architect. Being an architect provided her a great chance to experience math in real life situations. 

“Today's students must be provided with experiences that will cause them to become active, flexible thinkers and users of mathematics,” said Ms. Sonia. This is why the Pre-Algebra program challenges students to experience mathematics rather than observe it; developing students’ ability to think critically, and connecting their school learning to the real world.  

Other activities Ms. Sonia has participated in are Mathcounts, which is an international math coaching and competition program, and the American math competition.

Written by Andrew Wilson

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