Happy Summer Letter

To all Voyager families,

We wish you all a happy, safe, and fun-filled summer!  Thanks for all you have done to make our year so successful!

Voyager House

Summer Learning Expectations and Opportunities

Voyager Language Arts and Social Studies Students:

Below you will find some BASIC helpful hints for the Summer to continue your learning outside of our classroom! Yay!

- Read! It doesn’t matter if you’re reading blogs,newspapers, magazines, or chapter books. Reading is important and helps you in more ways than one. Keep track of the books you read,

and challenge yourself.

• Don’t forget about the DCF list! https://sites.google.com/a/cesuvt.org/dcf-award/

 

• All students up to 7th grade may take out up to 5 books from the WCS Library before the end of the school year.  These books are to be returned on the first day of school.  Please encourage your student to take advantage of this opportunity.

• See the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library website - http://www.williston.lib.vt.us/ to check out many great reading opportunities.

- Write! Keep a journal, diary, tumblr, or blog over the summer. We now have a Voyager Kidblog account! You are expected to have at least 3 blog entries for the start of the Fall, and don’t forget to take pictures to post with your entries. These entries will be of HUGE help for your first writing piece of the year!

- Don’t forget: have fun, relax, play, sing, dance, and wear SPF

Happy Summer :)

-Ms.W and Mr. Merrill

WCS Voyager Kidblog

This summer the Voyager Kidblog will be open to the current Voyager student and teacher community.  Students will be able to post and comment on each other’s blogs throughout the summer.  Through this writing community, students will have a forum to share thoughts, ideas, exciting news and summer happenings.  Students can also post pictures to share new experiences and summer fun.  All posts and comments are approved by Voyager teachers before they are published to Kidblog.

We expect students to write three posts this summer, giving updates and details on their summer experiences, new learning, and personal growth.  These posts will serve as the basis for the first writing assignment of the new school year.  We look forward to building and contributing to this exciting Voyager writing site throughout the summer.

Directions:

•  Go to www.kidblog.org 
• Login using Mr. Merrill’s email address – amerrill@cssu.org

• Click on WCS Voyager http://kidblog.org/WCSVoyager/
• Click on Login – select your name and use the password – voyager (unless the password was changed by the student)
• Click on My Blog
• Click on New Post to add a new piece of writing to your blog.  Be sure to include a title.
• Click on All Blogs to read other posts and add comments.
• Comments should include a compliment, personal connection, and a question.

Summer trips…

Don’t forget to take advantage of all our great local museums and learning centers.

Suggestions – Shelburne Museum, ECHO, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Ethan Allen Homestead, Rokeby Museum, Vermont Historical Society and Statehouse

Social Studies

Be sure to ask your ⅚ student to show you his/her Business Google Draw Poster (available on the student Google Drive).  Presentations took place on Friday, June 14th, with the 7th graders acting as the investors, and bidding to invest in the companies created by the ⅚ students. The students that received the highest checks from the 7th grade investors won prizes for their convincing presentations.  

6th Grade Mathematics

25 Great Math Apps...

http://www.teachthought.com/apps-2/25-math-apps-parents-can-give-to-their-kids-from-edshelf/

Incoming 6th Graders - Patterns in Nature Project

From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on an animal’s coat, the visible world is full of shapes and patterns that can be described mathematically.  Through this project, you will develop a deeper appreciation for the patterns that exist in natural phenomena.  Cloud formations, leaf patterns, and even puddles and mud cracks may take on a whole new meaning, as you view these natural phenomena and others, through the lens of a camera.

For the summer, fall and early winter, I am asking you to become an observer of the natural world.  Look for geometric shapes, search for repeating patterns, and suddenly you’ll find that your view of nature has undergone a subtle shift.  It will be like wearing math glasses…numerical patterns, geometry, and proportional reasoning will be everywhere!

Here is your task…

v  Each week you will take pictures of any patterns you see in nature.  Although the human world is filled with patterns (many of which are designs of nature!), I will ask that you focus your data collection on natural things.  I am intentionally asking you to cross over the seasons, as you might find that the winter world will reveal some patterns that you might not have recognized or seen in the autumn world.  You MUST take note of the date and location of your photos.

v  You will view your collection searching for the photos that present the best opportunity to talk about the math and you will post them to your very own blog.  Video may also be uploaded, but be sure that the video captures either the pattern or the cause of the patterning you have found.  

v  Then comes the research and writing!  Your blog posts will need to discuss the mathematics in nature, mathematics that you intuitively understand, but also writing that includes research you have found about your subject.  For example, you might take pictures of tree branching, and then use the internet or book to discover more about tree branch patterns.  Your blog will need to include date and location of pictures and cite any sources you have used to speak about your new understanding of these patterns. One blog posting a week minimum.

v  You will also be responsible for thoughtfully discussing and commenting on one other person’s blog post.  You will only be assessed on one blog post per week.

Project Due Dates:  Fridays weekly through December 2013

Voyager Kidblog - Directions

• Go to www.kidblog.org
• Login using Mr. Merrill’s email address – amerrill@cssu.org
• Click on WCS Voyager http://kidblog.org/WCSVoyager/
• Click on Login – select your name and use the password – voyager (unless the password was changed by the student)
• Click on Ms. O’Brien’s page.  Re-read the project description and get ideas from there.  
• Once you are clear what you are doing, create a NEW Post on your blog page.
• Then comment on someone’s posting.  Try to vary the people you comment to so that each member of the team gets feedback and ideas from you.
• Comments should be specific to the mathematics, not compliments or good jobs!  I want you to share what you learned or were curious about in the mathematics of the photo.

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Patterns and Math in Nature – Photographic subjects

This list was not designed to be all of the possible ideas, but potentially generate some creativity and excitement about all of the possibilities for your mathematics and patterning project.  This is not an exhaustive list.  Please feel free to let Ms. O know if you have an idea that is not on here and give it a go!  Please feel free to develop themes that might make things more interesting for you!

• Leaves (ie, dried dandelions, sunflowers, asters)
• Flowers
• Vegetables and fruits
• Seeds, pinecones and seed heads
• Flying patterns of birds
• Bird calls and other sounds with patterns
• Branch design (roots, leaves, rivers or tree branches)
• Patterns in sand or mud made by water or wind
• Fur and skin patterns
• Rocks, soil structures
• Moving water or raindrops
• Leaves blowing in circles
• Patterns of growth (ie. Cattails or maple trees in bunches)
• Bubble patterns
• Animal tracks
• Things with lines of symmetry (ie. Human face, sumac branch)
• Shells and other sea creatures
• Sunrays and clouds
• Time patterns (daylight hours)
• Stars and moon
• Ferns
• Cactus
• Mushrooms
• Butterflies and other insect
• Reflections
• Aerial views
• Tree bark
• Rainbows
• Snowflakes and ice
• Spiderwebs
• Lichen
• Fish
• Animals
• Pets
• Berries on trees
• Stems (celery, tree trunks)
• Fingerprints
• Human body
• Crystals, gems
• Honeycomb/beehives

Blog about the Mathematics

When you discuss the mathematics of your photos, it will help to use some of the terms and concepts below as a way to stimulate discussion in your blog.  I have provided basic definitions of these terms so that you might know when to search for more information about your photographic subjects.  This is not an exhaustive list.

• Symmetry
• Proportion
• Ratio
• Large and small numbers
• Geometric shapes and designs
• Fractals
• Phi
• Fibonacci
• Similarity
• Measurement
• Numerical sequences/ repeating and growing patterns
• Probability
• Physics of motion

7th Grade Math

A Summer Math Review Packet has been sent home.  Students need to work through the skill pages and then pass in the “Starter Sheets A1-D1 for a grade when school begins.  7th graders have also created a Khan Academy log-in.( www.khanacademy.org ) The Khan Academy Website  has many useful resources in all subject areas.  Spending some time reviewing basic math skills and exploring pre-algebra topics would be a great way to get prepared for our math class next year.

8th Grade Math

A Summer Review will be sent to you at the beginning of summer.  This packet will review important pre-algebra topics to get you prepared for our CMP8 class in September.   I would also encourage you to review math concepts using the Khan Academy website.   (www.khanacademy.org)  

7th/8th Grade Science

Every year WCS hosts a science fair.  Each student selects a topic, creates a testable question, an experiment plan, carries out the experiment, collects data, writes a science lab report and finally creates a visual for the science fair. The summer is a great time to start thinking about your topic and there are many websites that can help you such as Science Buddies:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml.   Also think about a science project where you have to design, build and redesign a device that may solve a problem.  For example, creating a car that will start in one location and stop in a specific spot using the energy from a mousetrap.