TA’s Notes
School dance TONIGHT! 6:30 - 8:30pm in the WCS gym. Dance is for students in grades 6, 7 & 8. Admission is $5.00. Permission forms went home yesterday- students must have forms turned in at door for admittance. Have fun!!
NECAP Testing: 5-8 Houses Tuesday to Friday! Yeah...lots of good food and exercise. Be sure to have your child bring in silent reading book for this timeframe.
Voyager House Conferences
Dear Voyager Families,
Conferences are quickly approaching and we are excited to have this opportunity to check in with you and your child about his/her progress this school year. The following wiki has been created to facilitate the scheduling process for conferences. Please sign up for conferences by putting your child’s name in the space provided. Be sure to hit SAVE!
Here are some things we ask of you…
· Conferences are done with both academic teachers. We ask that your child is present at the conference; this conference is about him/her! Both of your child’s academic teachers will be present.
· The conferences are only 12 minutes long. The first five minutes of the conference is reserved for your child’s report out. He/She will be organized and ready to present his/her learning to you.
· The last 7 minutes will be reserved for parents and teachers to share out. To prepare for this brief amount of time, please complete the pre-conference survey attached.
· Please be on time. It helps us stay on time!
Thank you so very much!
The Voyager House Team
FAP News
Voyager Fundraiser
Craft Fair Media Sale, Saturday, Nov. 2nd -- Voyager Sponsors Media/Book Sale at WCS Craft Fair:
Please sign up on Voyager FAP wiki to help. Everyone, please start gathering books and other media (DVDs, Videos, Music CD's, old records, puzzles) and place them aside. There will be a 'collection corner' in the project room where you can drop them and also a large box in both WCS and Allen Brook offices for collections. We are in need of volunteers to collect books from designated neighborhoods. PLEASE sign up on Voyager wiki to help. This is a great opportunity for kids to be involved as helpers!
http://voyagerfap.wikispaces.com/home
Hello Voyager Parents!
A small group met last night to create the calendar for Voyager FAP Fundraising
for 2013-2014. While there is not an out-of-state trip this year, teachers are planning
an exciting overnight, in-state, curriculum-based ADVENTURE that still requires funding.
Our fundraising goal for this year is $5,000. Raising these funds will insure that NO FAMILY
will be asked for money to pay for the trip. Please remember all the fun the kids had at
Siskin last year -- it was FULLY-covered by our in-house FAP fundraising. Teachers will unveil
details for this year's trip soon, but until then, please mark your calendars for the
following events and dates:
Craft Fair Media Sale, Saturday, Nov. 2nd -- Voyager Sponsors Media/Book Sale at WCS Craft Fair:
Fantastic news! Voyager will sponsor the Book sale at the Craft Fair again...this helped
us to raise over $1,000 last year!!!! Please start gathering books and other media (DVDs,
Videos, Music CD's, old records, puzzles) and place them aside. I will send out directions on collections...
we will be in need of volunteers to collect books from designated neighborhoods. I will set up a sign-up sheet in the wiki
for larger neighborhoods (South Ridge, Brennan Woods, Sunset Hill, etc.) This will be a great opportunity for kids to be
involved as helpers! Stay Tuned for more info...and start cleaning those old books off your shelves!!!
Voyager Family Night
Tuesday, Dec. 10th -- Our tradition continues to meet at school to celebrate our Voyager community of awesome families! We'll gather in the lunchroom for snacks and head to the auditorium for student and parent performances.
Voyager-Sponsored Dance
Friday March 7th -- We'll come up with some fun ways to enhance concessions at our school dance.
Voyager Recycle Sale
Saturday, March 29th -- Our biggest fundraiser of the year, please set this date aside and keep your Spring cleaning needs in mind -- earmark those things you'd like to unload and we will be happy to sell them!!! This is a huge community event that raised more than $2,200 last year!
Co-FAP rep Monica Hutt is investigating a fun winter adventure at Catamount, so we may be able to add another great event to the calendar.
Can you help us?
Does anyone have some ideas or own a business that you would be willing to share and create
a co-promotion with us? We need arms and legs! We'd also like to implement a Mexicali night to help round out our fundraisers -- any takers there? The only way to meet our goal is to have our community remain active...so please, if you can help in any way and be proactive in taking on even just ONE event, let us know, it would be great to share the load.
Thanks amazing Voyager families! We are looking forward to another fun year!
Your FAP Reps,
Monica Hutt, Susan Lord and Ann Schmidt
Mr. Merrill’s ⅚ Humanities Wrap Up
In our morning and afternoon Humanities classes we focused on skills used when reading informational text. In one article, we practiced previewing title/subtitles and analyzing pictures and captions before reading the text. Students were able to make very accurate predictions on the content of the article before even reading the text. During our afternoon period, we concluded our practice of identifying the 5W’s with an article about the government shutdown. We practiced good highlighting/underlining techniques by reading the article twice before using the highlighter. We highlighted with a purpose (the 5 W’s) and then only highlighted words and phrases. The students then used the notes from the highlighting activity to write there own opening paragraph for a story on the shutdown. Students were also introduced to the 5 Themes of Geography which we will be using throughout the school year. We had fun watching and dancing to the 5 Themes of Geography rap and used a powerpoint presentation to learn about each theme and complete a practice activity.
Both 5th and 6th graders prepared for the NECAP by using some of the release materials. Test taking, reading, and writing strategies were practiced today and will continue on Monday.
Ms. Q’s Corner
Math 8
The 8th graders practiced their NECAP skills everyday this last week to prepare for our upcoming assessments. Test taking strategies were discussed and students worked through a number of release tasks. We completed our Investigation 2 in Thinking with Mathematical Models where we explored line of best fit, the intersection of two linear functions and began to look at inequalities. Math classes will not be held during NECAP testing, however, students will have some math work to do during our testing window.
Math 7
We began each class this week with preparing for our NECAP assessments. We worked on test taking strategies and reviewed common subject areas that the NECAP covers. We completed Variables and Patterns Investigation 3 which focuses on writing rules for the linear functions. We practiced solving single step algebraic equations. Math classes will not be held during NECAP testing, however, students will have some math work to do during our testing window.
Science 7/8
We took a pause to appreciate the beautiful foliage with a chromatography lab. Using acetone as a solvent, and leaf fibers as a solute, we created a solution that contained leaf pigment. Students took green and colored leaves from the same tree species to see what pigments could be seen on our chromatography paper as the solution flowed through the paper, leaving pigment trails along the way. The pigments have different densities and create an array of colors. We were able to compare and contrast our green and colored leaf. At the end of the week, we selected a periodic element in which to make a “superhero or villain” character that embodies the physical and chemical property of the element. These characters will be placed on our Periodic Table Wall of Superheroes.
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
7/8 Humanities: This week in Humanities we had one main focus: Model U.N.! During our morning and afternoon sessions students put the pedal to the metal with researching background information about their countries, building flags and signs, and of course building up their knowledge on current events. The current event topics ranged from the economy and international conflicts to global warming and food scarcity. Students have also learned how to say “Hello” in the language of the member nation they are representing. As of 3:00 this afternoon students will have completed their 1st and 2nd days of debate, with our 3rd and final debate happening on Monday afternoon! The debates have been FANTASTIC! Students have done some great research, created solid opening statements, and have debated in a respectful manner representing their nations and Voyager well! It has been so fun to watch all of the students go from researching and note-taking to dressing up in professional wear and marching through the halls with their member nation’s flag waving high! Ask your child about the Model U.N. debate and how it’s been going. The level of excitement in the afternoon has been awesome, so they should have a lot to share! Pictures (and maybe a video) to be posted next week!
The RAP from Ms. O
Math 5 and Math 6
What do you get when you factorize? Something happens before your eyes! Numbers flying here and there, prime, composite, why do we care? Well, really you should care because prime factorizing is cool! You can do some many things with a prime factorization, also called the product of primes. You can find the full set of factors for any number, find the Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple of a pair of numbers, AND solve a whole bunch of problems in the real world. Students in both classes have been working on understanding what makes a number unique and how we can use these uniquenesses to discover things about numbers.
Fifth graders will take the Unit 1 assessment on Monday. They spent today doing a series of problems that prepared them for Monday. We have seen some really good representation of learning in algebra, as students have studied and learned how to extend an arrangement of tiles using algebraic reasoning. Strategies used: simple observations of growth over time; what is staying the same? Changing? What would the next sequence look like? How can I use a table to further interpret the pattern? How do I use a variable to state any arrangement number?
6th Grade mathematicians are wrapping up the Prime Time book on Monday with a Unit Assessment. Students have worked hard on integrating the new idea of distributive property and order of operations into properties of number study. 6th Graders are writing a children’s book about a special number of their choice. A rough draft of their writing is due on Thursday of this coming week. Since NECAP’s are this coming week, this should be homework for students in lieu of other classwork. Please be sure that your child shares a google doc with me by Thursday. PS some of them are fantastic, so you should ask to see them!
Science ⅚
Earthquakes and Volcanoes! What causes them? Students have been working on understanding how an idea like Continental Drift can turn into a theory, with a lot of scientific evidence as in the Theory of Plate Tectonics. We are studying the anatomy of a wave and working toward understanding how seismic waves are measured. Look forward to an engineering project building seismographs. After the NECAP break...
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