⅞ New York City Spring Field Trip
- ⅞ New York City Voyager field trip letters went out to students with some important information and a “return page” that must be brought back by Friday, November 2. An electronic copy of the letter will be sent home on Monday.
Voyager FAP Book and Media Sale
- Please be sure to bring in any books, dvd’s, or cd donations (drop off in our project room) for our sale at the Craft Fair next week.
Parent Conferences
- Please be sure to sign up for a parent conference. See the wiki at the following address...
Mr. Merrill’s Wrap Up
On Monday, students were introduced to the book titles for our second round of literature groups. Our theme is “Mystery and Suspense.” Ask your student what book they will be reading for our second round.
The 5th and 6th graders also typed their “Where I Stand” constructed responses and created their first post on our Kidblog. We discussed and agreed on our criteria for quality blog comments. Students read and commented on posts at the end of the week. We also compiled a list of our “Election 2012” vocabulary and started a Word Map activity. The vocabulary, along with the two constructed responses (Qualities of Elected Officials and Where I Stand) will form the basis for an Argument Essay.
News from Ms. O
Math 5: We know now why mathematicians have rules about the order by which you solve a problem with multiple operations! Help you kiddo understand PEMDAS rules: Parentheses, exponents and square roots (not a big thing in 5th grade!), Multiplication or Division, whichever comes first left to right and lastly Addition or Subtraction, whichever comes first left to right! When solving these problems students learned to solve one operation and rewrite the rest of the problem, watching the number of operations decrease with each rewrite! We also got back to algebra working on generalizing growing tile patterns. Students are using variables, specifically n to represent the arrangement number in the sequence, looking for characteristics that stay the same (we named them constants) and characteristics that change or vary (variable). They are really getting it! Quiz coming to check in on this learning and then a grand finale for Unit 1 on statistics!
Thanks for continuing to encourage FASTT Math!
Math 6: We are finalizing our understanding of the Properties of a Number with a unit assessment on Monday. Students have been reinforcing computational skills as well as working deeply on their conceptual understanding of the properties that make each number unique. I had announced that we would head into a short algebra unit and then back into fractions! This is traditionally a difficult unit for students because some of the rules and properties we use for whole numbers do not apply to fractions. I will keep close eye on their understanding so that we can scoop up any misconceptions about these kinds of number and address them.
⅚ Science
Students spent the majority of this week working on new understandings about water on Earth. We did a few simulations on Earth’s water and spent our long block day at the Allen Brook! It is fun to learn outside! Students left this experience wanting to know more. Each student will have the chance to self-select into a small research group that will return monthly to the Allen Brook to investigate a specialized topic. This research will be active, including water sampling, tree identification, photographic essays on animal life, and even the possibility of making bat boxes to hang in this natural area. It will be self-guided and collaborative. We hope to learn more about this important local freshwater ecosystem and contribute to some real science for the Williston Town Planner and other local river organizations.
Ms. Q’s Corner
Math 7
The 7th grade class is right in the thick of figuring out linear equations and and the “y” intercept. The synapses were firing on all cylinders as we defended our mathematical thinking and graphic representations. The center of this mathematical controversy.....What happens to our graph when a situation calls for an upfront fee, like a phone plan or a group entrance fee and then you have to pay additional amounts for numbers or people or minutes on a phone? Can we still start our graph at (0,0)? What does it mean when our line starts at (0, 49.99)? Students had a “Pop Quiz” on scientific notation. This week-end they will be correcting those quizzes and the Variables and Patterns Check-up 2.
Math 8
Shifting from equations to tables to graphs, students have been discerning the relationship between x and y. In linear equations, we look to see if there is consistent pattern and if the data creates a straight line. Now students are not only looking at the pattern, but they are looking for a proportional relationship or an inverse relationship between coordinates. We explored how to see inverse and direct variations in a table, what they might look like when graphed and the equations they form. Students will have the “Thinking with Mathematical Models” Unit Test on Tuesday. Reviewing material on Khan Academy would be a great weekend activity.
Science 7th/8th
Students took two days to complete their Ecosystem Quiz. Results will be available sometime next week. After the quiz, we explored biological classification through a textbook reading and we classified “hardware” using the different levels starting with Kingdom all the way down to species. Ms. Cooper our UVM graduate intern, took us outside to do some tree identification. We utilized an online dichotomous key to find what the tree species were. Next week we will look at what happens to an ecosystem when it is disturbed.
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
First, let me just say how nice it is to be back in Voyager! It was very hard to be away, but my recovery has been speedy, and I thank everyone in Voyager for their support.
This week students took the time to finish up and present the projects they had been working on during my absence. Students were working on a project for Language Arts around advertising during the presidential elections and used a FANTASTIC website called The Living Room Candidate. This website was full of wonderful information, including commercials from election years dating back to 1952. Students put together some great presentations and really found the reasoning and persuasive techniques behind media advertising during election years. They were asked to analyze the commercials in a constructed response to help in understanding why a candidate won the presidential race, based on their commercials alone. In Social Studies students were asked to work in groups to put together information and fun facts on the Swing States for this election year. Voyager students once again put together fantastic projects. Their posters told the class not only some fun facts about these Swing States, but they told us some really powerful information such as: which way the state is leaning, how the state has voted in the past, how many electoral votes the state has, the unemployment rate, per capita income, and more.
This week 7th and 8th graders were given their final assignment for our unit on Government and Civics. All of our work around government, what it means to be a citizen, and our work around the political parties and candidates will be coming together in this final essay. Students are being asked to write a 5 paragraph persuasive/argument essay around a political issue of their choice. They will be using direct evidence from both presidential candidates to show both sides of the issue and develop their own view on the issue. This essay is proving to be of heavy interest to the students! They are engaging in serious discussion, looking up direct evidence to back up both candidates views, and are really getting at the heart of this election race. They are reading the candidate’s websites, news articles (online and in print), and are also using the presidential debates as examples of direct evidence. They are working very hard and are being given time in class to get work done, along with peer edit and conference. This essay will not only be handed in on November 6th, but every student will be reading 1 paragraph of their choice to their peers on election day. November 6th will be a big day for our 7th and 8th graders and for all of us! We’re all looking forward to the big day, for one reason or another!
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