Week of May 23rd - 27th

TA’s Notes:

***Please do not send in any food to be shared among Voyager students***

Last day of School- Friday, June 10th  Half-Day (dismissal is 11:55am)

The Late Activity bus will End on June 1st

The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):

We kicked off a week of studying the Civil War with an ABC Brainstorm, thinking about all the things we know about the war that start with each letter of the alphabet. We studied the causes of the war, the major battles, the aftermath and lasting effects. Students independently read a Civil War ebook and completed a packet of questions, vocabulary, and a map of the Union and Confederate States of America in 1861. Students watched a BrainPOP video on the causes of the Civil War and took a quiz. We then studied and performed a play (in the classroom) on the 54th Massachusetts (the first black soldiers in the war). We also read a graphic novel on Gettysburg and viewed some clips from the movie.  We read the Gettysburg address and translated it to form a easier to understand kid version. We also completed a  read aloud of a short story about the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Students made organizers in their Reading Response Notebooks for the read alouds and wrote reflections in their writer’s notebooks on the play and how the 54th MA contributed to the war effort and in changing our country. We also watched a BrainPop video on the Civil War and students completed a final quiz.

On Friday afternoon, Richard Allen, a local historian and former WCS teacher, spoke about his latest book - Ambition & Grit - The Life of Truman Naramore: Civil War Veteran and Entrepreneur. Naramore was a Williston resident who fought in the Civil War and ended up at Andersonville Prison. When he returned to Vermont, he was an inventor and entrepreneur and later went west to California. The book is available at the Dorothy Alling Library.

FYI - On June 7th and 8th, we will be going off campus and walking over to the Dorothy Alling Library to the Vermont Room to see the collection of objects from the 19th century. We will be analyzing these objects and learning about life in Vermont during the 1800’s.

The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):

Math 5:  We are fully immersed in our solar energy unit.  Math you might say?  Well yes!  Students have been learning about the mathematical side of solar energy by reading tables and graphs, making tables and graphs, collecting data on temperature changes, looking at how the dimensions of a rectangular prism might affect heat retention, making mathematical inferences about heat absorption and reflection (wavelengths) and looking at temperature ratio/conversion (degrees C to degrees F).    The most perfect way to teach math in my opinion. I would be psyched to see some cool things come from this work, building solar homes, looking at energy efficiency and looking at how the angle of the solar cell panel affects the speed of a solar car.  All activities for the next two weeks!

Math 6:  We are really working hard to move through Variables and Patterns with efficiency.  A lot of good learning happened this week.  The focus of our learning is on tables, graphs and stories and understanding variables, how to read relationships between them, how to determine trends and patterns in a data story, and to decide which representation gives us the information we are looking for at any given time.  We focused some on a bike tour that I took along the Oregon Coast.  I have them a set of data and asked them to make inferences about what the data means to them.  Why did I only do 40 miles one day and 80 or more on other days?  What explains this?  Weather, terrain, a great coffee shop, charging my cell phone, climbing the Cascade Range, all affected my distance over time data.This provided a great foundation for students to think about relationships amongst variables and to see that sometimes we need all three representations, tables, graphs, and the story, in order to make the most sense of situation.

Science ⅚:  What a great week!  We finished the Prismatic Pool Explanatory Model and moved right back into the Global Warming Phenomenon. Students are drafting a model that explains Global Warming and this is an assessment piece for this unit.  On Tuesday, we will begin a race around the US to geologic locations of note, in order to stretch our brains and learn more about the rock cycle and its role in a changing planet.

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room (⅞ Humanities):

This week our morning classes together have been dedicated to our myth and legend writing project. Students have been given every morning this week to work on this writing piece and have also been provided with a graphic organizer/brainstorm, steps to success in the writing process, and early access to the rubric. Students are really having a great time with this final writing piece, and a lot of students are interested in having a read aloud to share their writing! Our stories so far are truly spanning the globe, and some students are even providing illustrations to go along with their writing. I look forward to seeing the finished product, and then building our second edition of student written myths and legends from around the world.

Our afternoon classes have been 100% dedicated to The Amazing Race! The Amazing Race is a week long integrated unit between Humanities and Science, and the unit is modeled after the television show “The Amazing Race”. Students arrived every afternoon and were given clues/riddles that brought them to a mental or physical challenge somewhere on the globe. The focus of the race was on the theme of “Traveling the World to Better the World”, so each challenge focused on a global area of need. Students were told they had to travel to Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe as they all started in North America, and they all ended in Australia! Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to get to Antarctica. Students could pick their travel vehicle and which continent they went to first, second, etc. Students had a BLAST with this unit and truly synthesized their learning throughout the year in Humanities, and put their recent work in science to the test for a few of our challenges. Here are our challenges by the day:

• Monday: Earthquakes! Help build earthquake proof buildings in a country that is on the earthquake belt or is prone to earthquakes. Prove that they are prone to earthquakes with scientific research, and then, using limited materials, build an earthquake proof house/building that can withstand the shaking on our earthquake simulator!
• Tuesday: Endangered Languages! Find a place in the world where a language is endangered and at threat of extinction. Brainstorm ways to help preserve that language and explain the importance of language on a culture.
• Wednesday: Volcanoes! Find a place in the world that has a volcano. Research that volcano and find a series of facts about that specific volcano. Once the research was complete students had to run out to the volleyball courts to save a city that had just been buried in ash (sand)! In the sand we had buried vehicles, army men, and buildings. Using limited tools and wearing ash simulating goggles, students successfully saved these cities!
• Thursday: Staple Foods and Food Insecurities! Students had to research the staple food in their final continent and research how that food is grown and what it is used for. Then in a blindfolded taste test, students had to figure out which staple food they were eating went with each continent - all 7! Once they passed this challenge, or perhaps had to wait out their time due to wrong answers, they were off to Australia/New Zealand for their final challenge! Using an atlas and a list of countries with their latitude and longitude points, students had to correctly identify which country was in relation to each set of coordinates. After completing the worksheet, students were off on a foot race to break through the finish line!

We had such a great time with this mini unit. It was amazing to see the work from our geography and geology units come to life in a creative, hands on, and fun way!

  

The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):

CMP7

“It’s all about the base..,bout the base....” We were all about the base of 3-D figures this week and how the base can help us find the volume of a prism.  Students used blocks to create 3-D models and calculated the volume and surface area of these structures.  We also learned to draw a top, side and front view, and then convert those views into isometric drawings using isometric grid paper.  Learning about spatial relationships, how to interpret flat patterns, and then drawing them accurately really tested many of our students this week.  

CMP8

Kudos to the 8th graders!  They worked hard this week to complete their review, organize their notebooks, and work on areas that they struggled with in order to prepare for the final exam.  The exam was given on Friday morning and results should be in early next week.  I am very proud of their grit, determination and focus!

Science: We enjoyed the Amazing race! (See Ms. Wesnak’s explanation above.)  

Week of May 16th - 20th

TA’s Notes:

***Please do not send in any food to be shared among Voyager students***

Last day of School- Friday, June 10th  Half-Day (dismissal is 11:55am)

*****8th Grader Parents*****

Graduation ticket order form link was in an email that went out April 29th.  Tickets can only be ordered online.  If you need assistance with this please let me know

8th grade trip: All 8th graders going on trip to Canada need to turn in asap:

• Passport, birth certificate or certified copy of birth certificate (if you would like your student to hold documentation until day of trip please let me know- they will be responsible for remembering day of)
• Photocopy of birth certificate (I will make a copy from birth certificates I receive- this is needed as extra back-up for getting back into country and is needed for those students using passports or holding documentation until day of trip)
• Letter of consent signed by all guardians
• Emergency contact info for day & evening

Any questions please contact me at KFieldsend@cssu.org or 871-6148

The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):

SBAC testing took up most of our week, but we did take a break on Wednesday to prepare for our overnight field trip to Button Bay State Park. Students met with their chaperone/tent groups to organize camping supplies, breakfast/snacks, and prepare for a skit the night of our trip. We also watched the ⅞ chorus and band concert that morning.

Next week we will be working on a mini Civil War unit/project and taking some time before our trip to learn about Rokeby and its connection to the Underground Railroad.

The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):

Our week was swallowed up by SBAC testing, so not a lot of class time!  I did do a fair amount of conferencing this week one on one. This allowed me to better assess where students are at mathematically.  6th Grade will formally begin Variables and Patterns on Monday, a very important pre algebra unit.  5th Grade is doing a project based math instructional sequence on Solar Energy.  It is a very math heavy unit and draws on the mathematical details of energy.  It does end in a solar design project.   It will be lots of fun!

Science:  Please bring in consumables for an Art Project.  Students will be doing an art project to celebrate the coloration in the Grand Prismatic Pool.  We need any objects that can be glued that are red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and brown.  It is best if these items are smallish, like 1 square inch or less, and are not important to you!  It can be small colored cut outs from magazines, fabric, glass beads, or old board game pieces.  We will have plenty of things in the class, but the diversity of items would be really fun.  Send them in!

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room (⅞ Humanities):

This week has been loaded with great, fun, creative work in both our AM and PM Humanities classes.

During our AM classes we continued on with our unit on myths and legends. Students focused on the Greek Gods and Goddesses by learning about 14 of the main Greek Gods and Goddesses through creating a small informational coloring book. Students then used these books in various ways in class. We used the books to help us make connections to our independent reading books on Monday. Students were asked to connect the main character in the book to a Greek God or Goddess by looking at their personality traits, hobbies, powers, and symbols. We then read our first Greek myth, “The Beginning of The World”. After reading this students were asked to look at how words were used in the myth and how the same words are used today. This activity allowed the students to make connections to how characters, stories, and even words from Greek mythology are still used today in various ways and forms. We then moved into “How the Seasons Came” and “How Evil Came Into the World”. These stories allowed us to compare, contrast, and map out the elements of a story in a myth or legend. Students did a great job with this and created thoughtful and analytical T-charts to report out the different elements in the story. Elements that were of most importance included: characters, setting, conflict, resolution, elements of magic or the supernatural, and identifying whether the story was a story of how something was created or not. On Friday students were introduced to their myths and legends writing project, which will be their final writing piece for AM Humanities. Students seem really excited and engaged in this writing piece as it is not only a narrative, but they get to write the story of how a famous, intriguing, or wild physical feature on our globe was created. So far students seem to be interested in writing about the creation of The Himalayas, natural pools in Jamaica, rainbow eucalyptus forests in Hawaii, the Great Barrier Reef, etc. This writing project tends to be a favorite, and I’m so excited to end the year with such a creative and collective writing task. Writing a myth or legend about how something on our globe was created is truly a reflection of our studies all year as it is asking students to create culturally connected stories that represent a feature on our planet.

During our PM Humanities classes students have been continuing their work with our Global Geography Unit. This week students worked in small groups to learn about 1 of the 7 continents and report out on a series of information/facts on large posters that we placed around our classroom. Students then did a silent “gallery walk”, where they were asked to walk around the class and observe trends, differences or commonalities between the continents. We then held a class discussion where we talked about what they noticed. Both classes ended up having great conversations about how climate impacts the population of a place or the migration of a people over time. The impacts that climate can have on population are very layered and students really pulled in the various themes of geography to help in discussing this topic. Students were then introduced to their final project for PM Humanities, which is the World Wildlife Fund: Endangered Places Project. Students are working with a partner for this project, and are doing some great work to get our poster campaign going! Our hope is to inform our school about the various endangered places on our planet, as most people are unaware that endangered places even exist! Most people when they think of something being endangered they immediately think of endangered species. With this project we hope to inform Voyager House and the WCS community of these beautiful but endangered places, and raise money to help protect them! One of the ways to help in protecting these environments is to donate to the World Wildlife Fund, and it just so happens that one way of donating is through adopting endangered species. We have a large list of species we’d like to adopt, so we are hoping to raise a lot of money! We will keep you posted on how we’re doing and which animal or animals we adopt! :)

The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):

CMP7

This week in “Filling and Wrapping”, the 7th graders have been exploring the relationship between scale factor and the surface area and volume of the figure.  We reviewed net drawing and explored how many different patterns can form a cube.  (There are 11 nets!)

We also practiced forming 3-d drawings with isometric dot patterns.

CMP8

This week we continued our comprehensive review of the major concepts we learned this year.  Students have been working diligently through their review packet and we will conclude our review next week as we prepare for Friday’s final exam.  The 8th graders are trying hard and staying focused!

Science 7th/8th

This week we completed our minerals lab where we identified minerals performing a series of tests such as finding streak color, hardness, whether the mineral reacts with hydrochloric acid and density.  These tests allowed us to access the mineral identification key.  We were able to identify minerals such as pyrite, galena, sulfur, talc, mica, fluorite, quartz and others. On Tuesday, we began a mini-project where students had to research one concept, answer several questions and create an interactive model to portray the concept.  The topics included; earthquakes, tsunami, constructive and destructive forces, volcanoes, landslides, continental drift and many more.  On Friday afternoon we had a brief geology showcase so that students could share their information to the other class.

Week of May 9th - 13th

TA’s Notes:

***Please do not send in any food to be shared among Voyager students***

Last day of School- Friday, June 10th  Half-Day (dismissal is 11:55am)

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Note from WCS Cafeteria for 8th grade families:

From Friday May 13th throughout the remainder of the school year there will be NO CHARGING at all for 8th graders. They must have a positive balance or cash to make ANY purchases in the cafeteria.

All negative balances must be paid before school ends.

All positive balances will be transferred automatically to CVU.

Any graduating 8th graders that are not going to CVU should let us know ASAP so we can figure out what to do with any positive account balances remaining.

We are really going to miss this group. They have been pretty special. Congratulations to them all!

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5th & 6th graders start SBAC Testing Monday!
Please make sure students bring healthy snacks, water bottles and a good independent reading book.  

The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):

This week students wrote a LEAF essay on westward expansion using their concept maps they created in small groups last week.  We also prepared for SBAC tests, which start Monday.

We had a very successful trout release.  61 trout were released into Lewis Creek.  Students hiked the community trail along the creek and had a chance to see Macroinvertebrates that were caught by Bob Wible, our trout unlimited coordinator.  

The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):

Science 5/6:  This week was super productive in science!  We learned even more about the Grand Prismatic Pool, considering the driving question: What is happening in the pool and why is it happening?  So far, students have learned about why the prismatic pool has condensation and steam above it, that the water in the pool is hot and being heated by geologic features below the pool, and all about Earth’s structure based on earthquake data collected from all over the world.  See the Grand Prismatic Pool below.

Also attached are photos from our modeling this week.  Our last mystery to solve and understand is the coloration in the pool!  Don’t share with your kiddo if you are interested and look it up!

Math 5:  We finished Prime Time this week after learning about Distributive Property and Order of Operations!  Tests will be scored at weekends end!

Math 6:  Students worked on percent of a number problems this week and did some early algebra work to prep for SBAC.  I’m seeing really excellent results from Moby, so please encourage more work on this online program.  It has served as great computational practice for students.

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room (⅞ Humanities):

This week we had a bit of an alternative schedule due to the Science NECAP, but here is an overview of our week!

Monday, we had independent reading time during which students read a book of their choice and then responded to a reading response focused around conflicts in literature. Students learned about the various types of conflict which includes: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, etc. They were then asked to identify or predict the conflict in their book and use evidence and analysis to support their reasoning. In the afternoon students turned in their Road Trip projects, completed a check-in about the physical characteristics about the U.S., and then we kicked off our global geography unit! We started global geography with an A-Z Scavenger Hunt across the globe! Students were only allowed to use the clues provided and an atlas to find the answers! As the week continued on 8th graders focused on their Science NECAP, while the 7th Graders completed their Spring Writing On-Demand, began brainstorming and gaining inspiration for their upcoming 8th Grade Challenge Project, and did a fantastic job wrapping up their Literature Group, “Walk Two Moons” with a thoughtful, respectful, connected, and wonderful discussion. The feedback from the 7th grade was that this was the best lit group book they have ever read! YAY! It is so exciting to hear about when a book or a reading experience hooks a student. Big win for “Walk Two Moons”! As the week came to a close, during the morning we began our Myths and Legends unit by defining what a myth or legend is and identifying the difference between the two. We watched a few short films to help in understanding these stories. We also launched into a mini unit on greek mythology! Students made small coloring books of the Greek Gods and Goddesses which they will be using to help in analyzing Greek myths and writing their own stories using the Gods and Goddesses as characters. Students seem to be really excited for our myths and legends unit as they will be creating their own myths and legends about geographic phenomenons across the globe to wrap up the year.

The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):

Kudos to our 7th and 8th graders this week!  What wonderfully flexible and dedicated students we have on Voyager House.  This week 8th graders worked diligently on the science NECAP testing.  They showed grit, stamina and perseverance on this two day assessment.  The 7th graders began their work on their 8th grade challenges and wrote their On-Demand Writing piece.  We also had a day-long interview process with our four teacher candidates for the humanities position.  Each candidate taught a class where a portion of our 7/8 grade community participated.  After each session our students gave written feedback on each teacher candidate.  We are very proud of how respectful and engaged they were in the process.

Needless to say we had interrupted classes in math and science this week.  In science we explored the difference between rocks and minerals and began a mineral identification lab.  In CMP7 we began looking at the relationship between surface area of a 3-D figure and its dimensions.  In CMP8  we are continuing our algebra final review.

Week of May 2nd - 6th

TA’s Notes:

***Please do not send in any food to be shared among Voyager students***

Last day of School- Friday, June 10th  Half-Day (dismissal is 11:55am)

5th & 6th graders received Trout Release field trip forms this week.  Please complete and return as soon as possible letting us know if you need a bagged lunch ordered for your student.

Schedule of Trout Release Field Trip

A note from Ms. Sherman about the 8th Grade Trip

In just a few short weeks we will be taking off to Montreal and Quebec City. Ms. Wesnak and I are so excited and looking forward to it, but…..there are still some outstanding balances that need to be paid in full. If you have an outstanding balance, could you please send in the remainder by Monday, May 9th. If this is not possible, please let me know at: csherman@cssu.org or send Katie Fieldsend an email at: kfieldsend@cssu.org. It should be a great trip and a nice way to come together before graduation.

The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):

We started our week off with a guest speaker. Jill from the DA Library came in to share the summer reading and other programs that will be available starting at the end of the school year. She had a number of books, magazines, games etc. to share with the students. The programs look to be a lot of fun. A bookmark with a list of the programs and activities was given to each student. Be sure to plan some good reading fun for your student over the summer.

Students worked on a couple of Westward Expansion projects over the week. In small groups, they selected a topic to read about and planned and created a large concept map based on the big ideas from their Truflix ebook. Students individually read the ebook about their topic and completed a graphic organizer to highlight key concepts and ideas for the map. They then met as a group to plan the map with the expectation that it would be full of words, phrases, facts, and pictures that captured the big ideas from each chapter of their book. After planning, students worked in pairs to make their contributions to the map.

They also learned about the Homestead Act and analyzed early ads promoting the opportunity to move west. Using the elements and concepts that they identified, students then created their own versions of an ad promoting the opportunities to move west.

We also completed two read alouds of true stories of kids and their experiences during Westward Expansion. One story focused on the Pony Express and the other on the railroads. Students participated in discussions and completed short assignments in their Reading Response Notebooks for each story.

The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):

Math 5:  What an exciting week!  Students worked on the concept of prime factorization and brainstormed and put into practice ways to use a prime factorization to do a whole bunch of things.  For example when you prime factorize the number 20 into a product of primes (a prime factorization), you get the string 5 x 2 x 2.  Students know when they have successfully prime factorized when the multiplication string has all prime numbers in it and equals 20. Students then discovered that you can find all the factors of the number 20 using those prime factors in the string.  5 and 2 are factors that you can see, but 2x2 is also a factor of 20.  That’s 4! And 2x5 which equals 10.  And then of course there are the factors 1 and 20.  And voila!  All the factors of 20.  Students also discovered that the largest factor of a number is always half of the number itself and lower.  Makes sense if you think that even numbers always have 2 as a factor.  Odds then become an exception, but students recognized that the next largest factor will still always be half or less than half the number.  

Math 6:  Students dug in deep this week and worked out algorithms for multiplying and dividing decimals.  This gave us the opportunity to work on whole number multiplication and division which was a needed skill.  Students completed assessments Thursday and Friday (for those at the fitness challenge).  We then worked on finding percents of a number.  We are going to squeeze in several algebra lessons this week in the hope of getting them to some of the algebra standards addressed in SBAC. Please know that the big transition to algebra is an important one and the work students do in the next few weeks may not be reflected in SBAC scores.  Students have good foundational knowledge of ratios and fact families which will help and this coming week’s work will help to hammer out use of variables and how to solve problems using them.  This week also brings some practice problems on the SBAC test.  I am committed to maintaining instructional periods for students.  The practice on SBAC will be on how to get on, navigate the system and look at problems that might be representative of format.  

Science ⅚: See photos below!  Lots of work as we dig to the center of the Earth!  Students main focus is to connect the spheres in the Grand Prismatic Pool in Yellowstone.  We just dug deep into the earth to find out what is there.  Lots of good modeling work and great work writing and recording ideas.

The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):

CMP7

We began our week with finishing up our Moving Straight Ahead Unit.  We created class records and then took the unit test over a two day period.  We are turning our attention to our new unit Filling and Wrapping, which delves into 3-D geometric figures, surface area and volume.

CMP8

We began the week with a review of It’s in the System.  We created a class record  and completed the test over two days.  We are now going to shift our attention to reviewing for the CSSU Algebra Final. We plan to take each day to highlight and review the major concepts that we have covered.  The final exam is on May 27th.

Science 7th/8th

We completed our geological time scale this week and took a pause to think about human time vs. geological time.  Students wrote LEAF paragraphs from many perspectives to answer the question of why it is important to study geological time in relation to human time. We had a reading on earth’s structure and watched a really neat CG  National Geographic movie on earth’s history.  This video created an incredible model of all the changes that earth went through in the last 4.6 billion years.  We rounded out the week with a review of rock cycle and a rock identification lab.