Friday, February 22, 2013

Week of February 18

photo.JPGphoto.JPGphoto.JPGphoto.JPGFAPAC February Meeting Highlights
To:  Voyager Parents
From:  Ann Schmidt, Sue Scheer, Lori Mele -  FAPAC Representatives
The FAP Advisory Council held its monthly meeting on February 14th.  Check the full minutes in a PDF format by clicking HERE.  Below are a few meeting highlights:
Williston Wins: About 50 percent of Williston School District families participated in this so far.  Will be a survey this Spring to collect feedback on this fundraising approach.  May need to consider other fundraisers to make up the shortfall in funds.  See the full minutes for more information on this.
Proposed School Budget:  Walter Nardelli, District Principal, led a discussion of budget highlights, including the 1:1 iPad proposal, the co-teaching model, and other items.  Please see the minutes for some of the issues raised during this discussion.  And remember to vote on Tuesday, March 5th!!
Regarding the 1:1 iPad discussions, please check out the school website for information on this, including frequently asked questions and other helpful information.  Click here to get to that information.
Next FAPAC meeting is on Thursday, March 14th at 8:15 am.  All are welcome!!!
Please contact me  at atapechaver@yahoo.com, if you have feedback or questions on FAP.  
Thanks.
 

Williston School District 1:1 iPad Initiative Discussion
Do you have questions about the 1 to 1 iPad initiative proposed in the school
budget? If so, please join our Technology Integration Specialist, Bonnie
Birdsall, along with teaching and administration representatives for an
informal discussion on Wed., Feb. 20th, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the WCS dining
room.  For background information, relevant articles and FAQs please visit
WSD’s 1:1 Initiative on the school web page. Childcare will be provided during
evening discussion. Please contact Liz Neeld at lneeld711@gmail.com for
childcare.
 

8th Grade Challenge
The 8th graders made their mid year presentations on Thursday.   There are so many wonderful projects in the works!  The 8th graders will be continuing their research and completing their community connections over the next few months.  
 

Mr. Merrill’s Wrap Up
⅚ Language ArtsL.A with Ms. Furey
This week, students started working on their introductions to their fictional narratives.  They are writing as if they are a Patriot living in the colonies and are told by the British that they must pay taxes.  Students have to choose whether they want to pay the taxes or rebel against the British.  Students worked hard on editing their pieces so that they painted a picture for the reader instead of just telling the reader what happened.  I will be leaving Voyager house after break, so students will be finishing their narratives with Mr. Merrill.  It's been a great working with your students over the past few months!

⅚ Social Sudies
Students used "power thinking" to identify the main ideas and details of a summary of 300 years of history, to understand the key ideas and events that led up to the Revolutionary War.  Vocabulary and other historical concepts were also reviewed in preparation for the game - Mission US.  We will start this unit when we return from break.  
Mission US is a multimedia project featuring the interactive game - Mission 1: "For Crown or Colony?," which puts the player in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a 14-year-old printer's apprentice in 1770 Boston. As Nat navigates the city and completes tasks, he encounters a spectrum of people living and working there when tensions mount before the Boston Massacre.  Ultimately, the player determines Nat's fate by deciding where his loyalties lie.
 

News from Ms. O
Yeah!  It’s break! We hope you all have BIG plans to relax!  Enjoy!
During the play weeks (beginning March 18) Aron and I will be sharing the responsibilities for all learning on house.  This means that we will both deliver instruction in math and science, and both be supporting students in their literature group work and theater unit work.  Math work will continue as expected in the Bridges and CMP programs, while science work will be a shared research and writing project on technology and space exploration.  We are both excited to be bringing our expertise to the research and writing process.  
 

Math 5:  We completed Unit 3, a comprehensive geometry unit, this week and will be mooooving on to FRACTIONS!  New Home Connection packets and practice packets will replace the old ones.  Expect them and help your child keep them organized.  
I will be providing a summary of FASTT math activity for all parents on Jupiter Grades.  The program averages activity since enrollment and many students have not committed to building computational fluency in this format.  Please encourage this over break.  If all else fails, I will be purchasing flashcards for students to bring home and study.  In the 3rd trimester, I will be dropping in pop quizzes for fluency that will affect overall math proficiency scores.  Let’s step it up and help them learn these facts (Expected fluency in multiplication and division 0-12!)!
 

Math 6:  Students are moving through measurement of 2-dimensional figures as part of the early Covering and Surrounding work.  We will be moving into continued work in this area for triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles, as well as some work on 3-D solids in terms of volume and surface area.  
I will be providing a summary of FASTT math activity for all parents on Jupiter Grades.  The program averages activity since enrollment and many students have not committed to building computational fluency in this format.  Please encourage this over break.  If all else fails, I will be purchasing flashcards for students to bring home and study.  In the 3rd trimester, I will be dropping in pop quizzes for fluency that will affect overall math proficiency scores.  Let’s step it up and help them learn these facts (Expected fluency in multiplication and division 0-12!)!
 

Science:  The culminating Energy and Engineering Unit performance assessment is a Rube Goldberg! Rube Goldberg, whose name is now an adjective in the Webster’s Dictionary, inspired his audience with his amazing talents in drawing and engineering.  Please note that the project summary has been distributed to students, but that it is not required to be done exclusively at home.  The document will be posted on Jupiter Grades for your viewing if interested.  BTW...these kiddos are amazing engineers!  I’ve been so impressed by the consistent effort they have put into the engineering challenges.  
 

Ms. Q's Corner
 

7th Grade Math
How do we discern if geometric figures are similar, and what happens to the area and the perimeter of a figure when it is enlarged or shrunk? What is a scale factor? These are a few questions we have been pursuing in our "Stretching and Shrinking" Unit.  Students have experimented with graphing cartoon figures(Mug Wumps) on a cartesian coordinate plane and then changing the rule to see what happens to the original figure.
 

8th Grade Math
This week we have dissected the parts of an exponential equation.  We have examined tables, graphs, equations and several series of numbers to see if they show exponential growth.  We have explored whole number growth rates with the population growth of snakes and fractional growth rates in reproducing rabbits.  Students were given a "Check-up" assessment on exponential growth and Algebra seminar students received their midterm grades.  Compound interest and exponential decay is on the docket for after break.
 

Science 7th/8th
This week we began our motion and forces engineering problem.  Students created a car powered by a single rubber band that would travel to and not exceed 10 feet in distance.  Students tested and redesigned their models to meet the constraints.  After February break students will compete against each other to travel to the designated spot. A lab report showing the relationship between the rotational potential energy of the rubber band and the distance the car travels will be due after our competition. There has been a lot of excellent problem solving and discussion of what works,what doesn't and solutions to try.
 

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
 

7/8 Language Arts: This week we dove right into our work with memoirs and personal narratives. Students were provided time to build a timeline of their life and chose 1 moment to “explode” and expand on for a personal narrative. We took a lot of time in class to brainstorm and go over the outline for the narrative. Students were able to begin writing their rough drafts, and many were able to get quite far in the process! We’re really focusing on descriptive writing. This writing piece is going to twist and turn into a fun and creative project once students return from break. Stay tuned!
 

7/8 Social Studies: This week we wrapped up our work with WW2 through some WONDERFUL point of view projects. Some students were really able to transport our class back in time through costumes, “guest speakers”, videos, music, and detailed scrapbooks. Once we finished our presentations we moved into the 60’s. We started by listening to some music from the 60’s and watching a documentary on the Vietnam War. We will continue learning about the 60’s and all that happened both at home and abroad once we return from break.
Happy Vacation!! Enjoy the week off :)