Dear Voyager Families,
As
some of you may have heard from your student already, after my first
knee surgery I was told I would need a second surgery. Going into my
first surgery there were 3 things that needed to be fixed. My ACL and
meniscus repairs were both very successful, and I made a quick recovery
through a lot of physical therapy and determination. The cartilage
defect (the 3rd piece of this puzzle) however is much larger than my
surgeon and his team had anticipated. Due to the size of the defect I
need to have a second, separate surgery to have it fixed. The surgery
was originally supposed to be prior to holiday break, but because of
some obstacles that seem to always get in the way, the surgery had to be
cancelled and rescheduled. I finally received word on Tuesday of this
week that my surgery has been rescheduled for January 2nd. I will be
taking a couple weeks off for surgery and recovery. I am planning to
return on January 22nd. There is a very slight chance that my surgery
will need to be rescheduled (yet again), but all plans are in place for
it to happen on the 2nd. I will be sending out an email blast over the
vacation as soon as I find out a definite word.
I
just want to thank (again) all of Voyager House for their continued
support around this. It is not easy being away from this house! I wish
everyone a relaxing break and a Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Lauren Wesnak
Book Fair Teacher Wish Lists
Many thanks to those of you who contributed to our book collections by purchasing books from the book fair. The kids have already signed out many of the requested titles and are enjoying the benefits of many new and exciting books.
FAPAC December Meeting Highlights
To: Voyager Parents
From: Sue Scheer, Lori Mele, Ann Schmidt, FAPAC Representatives
The FAP Advisory Council met on December 13th. Check out the full minutes in a PDF format by clicking HERE. Below are a few highlights:
Williston Wins: The Williston Wins campaign is officially over but your tax-deductible donations can still be made by check or cash at any time. We will be reviewing the future of Williston Wins in the next few months.
School Budget Input: This month's meeting largely involved a review of budget decision packets. The minutes include great detail on many of the decision packets submitted by school staff along with narrative about the discussion that followed. So please check out this information!!! If you have input on any of the decision packets, you are welcome to contact a member of the School Board, which is outlined in the minutes.
Important Change: The next FAPAC meeting is on Thursday, January 10th at 6:30 pm. The topic is the House Placement Process. All are welcome!!!
Please contact me at apechaver@yahoo.com if you have feedback or questions on FAP. Thanks.
Heifer Change War
Students raised $314.57 for the Heifer Project. We will be sending this out for the New Year. You should all be proud that your children are so committed to a worldwide perspective and altruistic action. They were so pleasantly surprised when we counted up the money! Talk about making some family’s NEW YEAR! And thanks for the change!
⅚ Social Studies
This week we continued our study of the three branches of government. We focused on the Executive Branch, learning about the “Seven Hats” of the presidency. We also started the Geo Bee, a national competition that every student participates in. We will be completing 7 rounds of questions to determine the Voyager ⅚ representative for the school wide competition.
⅚ Language Arts
This week we started building our Tier 2 word (frequently used words that are more complex) lists. Students searched for words in their independent reading books and made a list. We then considered strategies that could be used to understand the meaning of these words without going to a dictionary. Finally, students talked about their word lists and the meaning of those words during a rotating partner activity, sharing their word lists and adding new words from their partner’s list.
5/6 Science
This week we explored three chemical reactions, one that produced two color changes, another that produced a reaction in which heat was released (warmed up) and the last, which demonstrated heat absorption (got colder). Students practiced a lot of inquiry science skills this week as chemistry requires following directions faithfully and measuring accurately. Our week ended with a final quiz on physical and chemical change. Our engineering unit will begin in January.
Last summer I took an engineering course and as part of my coursework, I am required to participate in an evaluation. I have sent a letter home regarding the nature of this evaluation for your information. You only need to send it back IF you do not wish me to use your child’s data in the evaluation. There is not pressure to participate, but it does help me become a better science teacher. I will attach this letter in a separate voice posting for your information, in case it doesn’t come home?!
Math 5
Students completed investigations on multiplication and division this week and will return fresh in January for the next unit. Over break, it would be great if students committed to a week’s worth of FASTT math. The second benchmark assessment is expected at the end of January, and it will be fabulous to see the growth. Thanks for giving your child some computer access to this program.
Math 6
Students completed work in Bits and Pieces I this week and will begin fresh in January to work on positive and negative numbers. Please encourage FASTT math over the break. The second benchmark assessment is expected at the end of January, and it will be fabulous to see the growth. Thanks for giving your child some computer access to this program.
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
~ I hope everyone has a relaxing and wonderful break! ~
7/8 Language Arts
This week students worked on descriptive writing. As a class we zoned in on the 5 senses and learned how to incorporate them into our own writing. We did a variety of journal writing, smell tests, and taste tests. Using our senses we wrote about what certain tastes and smells remind us of. Students were also introduced to our next writing project. Students are being asked to find a family member, teacher, or friend of the family who has been an eyewitness to history! We discussed what makes an event historic and students brainstormed who they know that they think may have witnessed a history event. Over the break students should finalize who their person and event is and come back to school with that information. Talk to your child about family members or friends who have witnessed a historic event.
7/8 Social Studies
This week we continued learning about immigration in the 1900’s. We looked at a variety of photographs, data, a segment of a documentary, and we also watched “An American Tail”. Talk to your child about how well this animated movie connected to our class and really showed what immigration was like during that time period. Through all of our classes, students were really able to understand and get a feeling for what immigration was like. We will continue to move through 20th century history, with our next stop being focused on WWI.
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