End of First Trimester - November 8th
Reports - November 15th
Thai Scholar
Voyager house is pleased to be hosting our Thai Scholar - Chaya “Apple” Prommasakul. Mr. Merrill is her mentor teacher for the school year. Apple’s “office” is in Voyager house, so Voyager has a unique opportunity to see and learn from her on a daily basis. Apple is an English teacher in an all boy’s private school in Bangkok and will be with us for most of the school year. To welcome Apple and give her a wonderful experience here in Williston, we are asking families to consider taking Apple along for an evening or weekend activity. Please contact Mr. Merrill if you would like to host Apple for some evening or weekend fun.
An important reminder to send in donations and sign up to help with Craft Fair.
Craft Fair Media Sale is Saturday, Nov. 2nd -- Voyager is sponsoring the Media Sale at the Craft Fair again...this helped us to raise over $1,000 last year!!!! We can only make a profit if we have good merchandise to sell. Please start gathering books and other media (DVDs, Videos, Music CD's, old records, puzzles) and send them in with your kids or place them in large collection boxes located in front offices of both WCS and ABS. We are storing them in the Voyager Project room. Our sign-up wiki for folks to help with sale and collect books in neighborhoods does not have many names on it -- please try to help. Here is that link:
http://voyagerfap.wikispaces.com/
In order to capture the proceeds from the Media Sale, Voyager must commit 2 volunteers to the general Craft Fair (this is to help do various jobs throughout the day at the Craft Fair...Not at the media sale.) If you can help with this, please sign up at the Craft Fair link and include 'Voyager' next to your name. Again, if we do not have at least 2 Voyager parents to vounteer, we will be unable to keep the proceeds from the media sale. Here is the general Craft Fair volunteer link:
http://2011willistoncraftfair.wikispaces.com/
Thank you Voyager Parents!
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Hi, my name is June Claughton and I am excited to be a student teacher in your child’s classroom for the year! I am placed with Mr. Merrill and Ms. O'Brien. Given that I will be in the classroom with your child almost every day and will be seeing you at parent/teacher conferences, I thought I would tell you a little background about me.
I am a senior at the University of Vermont majoring in Middle Level Education and specializing in Sceience and Social Studies. My previous student teaching placements were in a Social Studies eighth grade classroom. I actually grew up not too far from here and so I am familiar with the area! In my free time I enjoy sports, hiking, painting, and working in a chemistry research lab.
Needless to say, I am thrilled to be student teaching at Williston Central School this semester. I have wanted to be a teacher of some sort for as long as I can remember and I am excited to be working with this class because I can tell that they are a truly amazing group of students. I know that this will be a time full of learning, not only for the students but for me as well!
If you have any questions you can direct them to Mr. Merrill or Mrs. O'Brien. Thank you for this opportunity!
Sincerely,
June Claughton
Mr. Merrill’s ⅚ Humanities Wrap Up
This week we focused on editing and vocabulary in our Humanities am class. Students self and peer edited a piece of writing, using an editing checklist. We also used our collected vocabulary from our Tier 2 words and Vocubulary lists in the spiral notebooks to create Frayer Word Models and play a game called “Overheard Conversations” with the vocabulary.
In our pm class, we started our unit on Lewis and Clark. Using primary documents, maps form the period, and some clips from the Ken Burns - Lewis and Clark dvd, students envisioned what is was like to go on this expedition. Ask your student about Lewis and Clark this weekend.
Notes and Reminders-
- Students should be reading 20 - 30 minutes a night. A goal is to read 25 books by the end of the school year.
- We are starting a new literature group round this week. The theme is mystery and suspense. We are focusing on the literary element of “setting” in this rotation.
- Students are now using No Red Ink (https://noredink.com/) a writing skills and grammar site. They will have a weekly assignment; due every Friday. The 5th grade code is - 9hhkexhe and the 6th grade code is - cxw944v3
News from Ms. O
Math 5 - We have had a very busy week! I’m exhausted! Mathematicians have been exploring modeling that represents multiplication and wow, have they grown. With some really impressive ideas and documentation from group members, everyone has seemingly adopted this new standard of “justifying my thinking.” I recognize that many were disappointed in the scores for the first unit assessment. I did collect some very representative data today on current understandings, which I will be logging on Jupiter Grades. I will try to collect this growing evidence of learning each week, so that the test and quiz scores are not the only piece of evidence used to assess understanding. New problems next week will challenge our current understandings bringing math into the context of the real world. I hope the transfer from modeling on graph paper to real world application will be seamless.
Math 6 - We entered our new unit, Comparing Bits and Pieces, with our first studio of the year. I am the studio teacher for the 5-8 grade at WCS. Although for me this is an honor and privilege, for the students this can be anxiety producing. Studio is a time for me to teach a class in front of 8 other adults, so that we, as teachers, can consider and analyze the instructional moves we make and how those impact a student’s learning, stamina for challenging problems, and confidence as a mathematician. The principles of studio are that we as teachers are critical in helping all of our students see themselves as mathematicians. That said, our first day was a little scratchy, but overall a very positive experience. Clare Earle, our studio consultant, taught our first lesson on ratios, and it gave me a lot of good information about where students are at, in terms of proportional reasoning. We have another studio in December. Thanks to all students for being participants in this powerful experience.
We wrapped up our double dip into the principles of Order of Operations and Distributive Property. Assessment given today looks pretty good! I will update grades soon.
⅚ Science - We had a week of engineering and it looks like a bomb went off in the class! And we were just building seismographs! We had some pretty impressive designs that were able to capture the vibrations from a dropping medicine ball. But the best part of this process is not always the final result. You would have been really impressed by the students perseverance. Create and improve, and improve and improve. They just wanted to build the best mechanism that they could. Ask your Voyager about the Engineering Design Process. They may remember it well.
I also didn’t want to fail to mention that we have a volunteer, through United Way, who has been in our class helping with science. His name is Dan Fleming and he is a retired engineer. He has been great and students are already talking about him! I appreciate having others in the class. Don’t be shy. If you think you add some value to our learning, let me know!
Ms. Q’s Corner
CMP8
We began the week with a rigorous and exciting game of jeopardy to prepare for our “Thinking with Mathematical Models” Unit Test. This unit test took several days to complete and the 8th graders did a great job with their test taking strategies. We ended the week with the introduction of our new book called “Growing, Growing, Growing”; this unit explores exponential growth and decay.
CMP7
The Variables and Patterns Unit test was completed on Tuesday and we began our review of positive and negative integers. Students were exposed to “Accentuate the Negative” last year, and we will continue our work within the book to review adding/subtracting positive and negative integers, using equations and visual models to represent them. We will try some new strategies to help conceptualize where and how negative integers are utilized.
Science 7/8
Chemical Reactions were happening in large quantities in science class this week. The big question was: “How can you tell that a chemical reaction is occurring? Table teams created an experiment plan to combine different chemical compounds to see what type of reaction occurred. Students observed color change, gas formation, heat production and heat absorption. We discussed our outcomes during our science meeting and shared our claims and evidence statements. We finished our investigation with writing a concise conclusion. We rounded the week out with some interactive reading about chemical bonds and reactions. We will be completing our chemistry unit next week with a unit test.
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
7/8 Humanities: This week has been loaded with global fun! We started off the week with our usual independent reading and moved into conversations around current events in the afternoon. Starting on Tuesday students continued their practice on how to research, summarize information, and take great notes. They practiced this by travelling the globe via Scholastic’s Globe Trek program. The program allows students to travel to a variety of countries around the world learning about its history, culture, and people. Students were asked to take notes on 3 different countries, and then pick out the most important information from their notes to include in a postcard of their creation. The postcards are now hanging beautifully in the “Chill Zone” of our classroom.
All students were also introduced to our final Humanities project of the trimester, which is the creation of a Global Village. Students were placed into groups of 3-5 and are being asked to represent traditional families from a variety of countries. This project includes 2 pieces: an informative writing piece and an interactive display. The end result will be a Global Village in which countries will be represented in a designated space on Voyager house. Each country will have to transform their space to convey their knowledge of the country they’ve been studying, and also make all of the “Globe Trekkers” who will be attending the village feel as if they have really travelled to this country. Our “Globe Trekkers” will even be equipped with “passports” that will be stamped at every country. Parents are of course welcome to attend, and you will be receiving an invitation in the coming week! Students will be given AMPLE amounts of class-time to work on this project as well as suggested due dates, break-downs of assignments, and resources. The excitement level seems to be very high, so we can’t wait to really get going! Thursday afternoon was a work period in the WCS library with Ms. Hennig guiding our research, and Friday afternoon was a work period as well. As usual the week flew by!
8th Grade Challenge Update from Ms.W:
All 8th graders took some time out of their week to work on their 8th Grade Challenge. Our main focus was on focus questions and what their purpose is in the project. All students should by this point have their topics finalized, be working on or finalizing their focus questions, be in contact with a mentor or potential mentor, and begin to think about their community connection. Students have been told that there will be a work day in December. So far we have such a wide variety of projects happening in Voyager; we can’t wait to see them all come to life as the year moves on!
Extended Day Note from Ms. Sherman:
Our extended day program on Voyager house meets every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00-4:30. This program was set up so that Voyager students could have a productive work space and time to complete their homework and get extra support during the process if needed. Although, we have set up this program to be by invitation, all students are welcome. Please send an email to your son or daughter’s core teacher if you would like him/her to attend. Students that have more than 2 or 3 outstanding assignments are strongly encouraged to attend!!! For a student to attend, we need parental permission. There is an activity bus that leaves at 4:30 if transportation is needed. Our Jupiter grades is one great way to check on your child’s progress regarding homework.
FAP Advisory Council Meeting Highlights
Administration Report- Walter Nardelli, District Principal, talked with the group about NECAP testing going on right now throughout the school. The Williston results on the science NECAPS are especially strong this year. Williston is one of only five schools in the state making progress on the socio-economic achievement gap. Mr. Nardelli also talked extensively about the SPARK program which is serving as both intervention and enrichment after school. SPARK runs in five week cycles with small groups and lots of teacher attention and offers exciting and interesting programs geared to kids interests.
Williston Annual Fund- Thanks to all those families that have already sent in their donation. As you know, this fund pays for your children's field trips and other education enrichment, saving you from writing a check each time. We are still well below the participation we need to meet our budget and support school activities. Please take a moment and send in your donation or donate on line HERE.
Upcoming FAP Events
Check the School Bell regularly for more info and dates; the FAP website also has a full listing of events.
• Learning Expo and Potluck--Thursday, 10/24/13-- enjoy a potluck dinner and the opportunity to browse among 25+ informational booths about different school programs. We hope you can make it. Please RSVP at this link HERE with your name, what you might bring and indicate if you need child care.
• Craft Fair at WCS-- Saturday, 11/2/13-- start your holiday shopping and support the school; volunteers needed and welcome. If you can help, please click HERE.
• Circus Smirkus-- After School Camp and Performance -- 11/4-11/8/13
• Scholastic Book Fair -- 11/11-11/15/13
Speaker Series
Look for information in the School Bell about a mindfulness speaker series we are supporting on the 1st Wednesday of the month from 3:15-4:15 pm at WCS. Join teachers and parents as we learn to calm our busy minds and re-focus on what's most important.
Also keep your eyes open for an upcoming presentation on Media Exposure- raise your awareness about your child's exposure to media, how to help them manage screen time and even some 1:1 help with setting limitations on specific devices.
