Week of April 25th - 29th

TA’s Notes:

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

Voyager is hosting May’s school dance!!  

Cinco de Mayo decorations are needed!!

Dance is Friday, May 6th.  Money raised from this directly funds our Field Trip budget so please help out!  Parent chaperones and treat donations truly help make this an exciting fundraiser for our team.    Dance Sign Up

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

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

⅚ students spent our first day back as audience members for the 8th grade challenge presentations. The presentations had a wide variety of topics and community connections. Students provided feedback for each presenter and many noted the amount of time and effort that was required of this year long project.

American Progress is a well known painting that symbolizes Westward Expansion in a positive light. We analyzed the painting to kick off our new unit. Students will learn that in some ways expansion was not really what is expressed and symbolized in the painting. See the painting for yourself and talk about it with your student. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_progress.JPG)

After completing a Westward Expansion research packet (due Friday), students will work in groups and select a topic for a Westward Expansion project. Topics will include the Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, Oregon Trail, and Life in the West.

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

Math 5:  Students are doing a great job sliding into the 6th grade books now used for the latter part of 5th grade.  Prime Time, our current book, circles back to properties of numbers and how we can use these to solve problems.  Students have looked at “at the same time” problems, like the Ferris Wheel, Cicada Emergence, and Clock problems all of which require understanding of Common Multiples to solve.  They have also looked at “sharing equally” problems which most often involve Common Factors to solve.  Bagging snacks and problems about bbq items like hotdogs and buns or party favors for friends all involve common factor strategies.

Math 6:  Students are busting out some awesome calculation work this week.  Not only have students finally begun to grasp the traditional algorithms for whole numbers (I’m having a private celebration about it!) they are also getting the hang of decimals.  For students that struggle with fractions, this is further practice with these, but also another opportunity to address place value and the value of numerals in specific places in a number.  We also entered division of decimals by talking about the mean/average.  This was an intentional move to expose students to statistics before SBAC.  Most of our decimal division work will be in this arena in order to practice this concept.  

Science ⅚:  Science has been exciting this week!  We began our first few investigations on the Grand Prismatic Pool in Wyoming’s Yellowstone Park, and students are super interested in the mystery of this phenomenon.  Wednesday we went on a virtual tour of Yellowstone using Google 3D glasses and it was fantastic!  

Ongoing work:  development of understanding the spheres of the Earth and how they are all interacting in the Grand Prismatic Pool.

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

This week in AM Humanities we spent our mornings reviewing our Literature Group Books and assignments, and working on our national parks argument writing piece. Students seem to be really enjoying our final books! The 7th graders are reading “Walk Two Moons” and the 8th graders are reading “Mountains Beyond Mountains”. Both books have excellent connections to our geography work, and “Walk Two Moons” also brings in our work with the national parks. Students have done a great job with reading activities such as building Venn diagrams, analyzing quotes, or reflecting on key moments in the reading. Our work with national parks was taken to a new level this week as we were able to take a virtual trip to 3 of our parks. We toured Mount Rushmore, Yosemite, and Yellowstone through the help of virtual reality and Google Cardboard! This was a really exciting adventure for our class as each student was able to take part in the experience. This was also great because this won’t be the only time students will be using virtual reality at school. A few weeks ago  I proposed the idea to be a trial classroom on how to use virtual reality apps and experiences in the classroom by using some of the apps and experiences I learned about while at a teaching conference in Austin, Texas this past March. My proposal was approved by administration and the tech team, so we are now a VR classroom! We are equipped with 8 Google Cardboards (which are virtual reality headsets made out of cardboard, velcro, and lenses), and we will be using them for station based learning experiences with our global geography unit! We closed out this fantastic week with some in-class writing time on our argument papers.

During our afternoon classes we started to tackle learning and understanding the Western and Midwestern regions of the United States for a quiz on Friday. Students were given two class periods for study times, and some students even took the quiz early to get it out of the way. On Thursday students took part in a lesson around the 5 Themes of Geography and understanding physical characteristics of geography. Students analyzed photos of different places and were able to point out the 5 themes of geography within the photo. Students also took their skills to a map of the United States, where they were asked to answer 10 questions around physical characteristics of the United States and identifying various landforms and bodies of water.

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

CMP7

Stairs....we use them everyday.  They are quite handy for going up and going down, but did you know how handy they are for figuring out the slope of a line?  By measuring the tread and the riser you can calculate the pitch or slope of your stairs.   Students took some measurements around school to find the slope or pitch of the stairs and to find out if they met the regulations needed for building code.

           

We are coming to the end of this unit.  We are going to review how to create equations from tables and graphs, how to find the slope and equation from a set of coordinate points and how to find if coordinate points are solutions to equations.  We will most likely have the unit test next week.

CMP8

This week the 8th graders explored how to graph inequalities and systems of inequalities.  We also learned how to find solutions to these systems by treating them as equalities.  Our unit is coming to an end, so we are reviewing our algebraic skills with solving systems using combination/elimination, and substitution.  Next week will bring the unit test.

Science 7th/8th

“Where does a geologist like to relax?.....in a rocking chair.”

We have started our Geology unit with a variety of videos and vocabulary to get us thinking about rocks and the forces that shape earth.  Students worked together in groups to create a timeline spanning 4.6 billion years.  It is allowing us to see the scope of life on this planet and how truly old the earth is in relation to our presence.

Week of April 11th - 15th

TA’s Notes:

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

No School- April 18th - 22nd

Voyager is hosting May’s school dance!!  

Dance is Friday, May 6th.  Money raised from this directly funds our house Field Trip budget so please help out!  Parent chaperones, food & drink donations and money raising events truly help make this an exciting fundraiser for our team.

We need lots of help- please look at Voyager Dance Sign Up Sheet for ways you can help make this a success!

Voyager Dance Sign-Up Sheet

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

Students wrapped up the argument writing unit this week. Students researched school related issues on teams, learned argument writing techniques and strategies, took a position, and used a graphic organizer to complete an argument paper. In the afternoon period, students worked on teams to prepare and perform in a debate competition. Faculty and community members with expertise on the issues were invited to watch the debates and then speak about the issue with the students. The issues were: more PE time, participation trophies, fining the parents of bullies’, grading participation in class, and volunteer requirements in schools.

We also had a great book talk session on Friday morning. Students have been reading a self selected book and completed a book talk organizer to use as guide for their talk. Many great titles were shared.

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

From Ms. O:  Last week we had the opportunity to connect with Mark Fleming, Head of Pathology at Boston Children’s Hospital.  Mark is Dan’s son, the engineer who dedicates several times a week in our classroom, sharing his expertise of science and engineering with the students.  Students prepared for the conference call by learning more about blood and cells and Mark’s specialty in Sickle Cell and Leukemia.  I have attached a few photos of blood Mark collected just that morning from a patient!

In addition I have posted a few photos from the presentations about the human body!  I did not see all presentations, so send one in if you would like to share it publicly.

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

8th Grade Challenge Presentations- Monday, April 26th

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

CMP 7

This week students learned more strategies around solving multi-step algebraic equations.  We reviewed the distributive property, PEMDAS, and explored what solutions mean in the context of a problem. Understanding how to graph the intersection of two equations is a preview for next year’s solving systems of equations.

We ended the week with rotations where we practiced everything linear.

CMP8

This week we began systems of inequalities.  We focused on solving inequalities like equalities and then graphing them.  Exploring the numbers of miles we drive and the CO2 that our cars produce, we were able to form inequalities to show the relationship between CO2 and the cars we use.  We also investigated what would happen if we cut our CO2 by 20% and how that constraint influenced the number of miles we could drive. Conversely we observed what would happen if we were able to cut our driving miles by 10%. We rounded the week off with a TED talk by Bill Gates on the quest for creating a 0 emission world.

Science 7th/8th

The main focus of this week was revision of the Cold/Hot Pact Engineering Task.  After being given their revisions and an exemplar to review, students needed to go back to their work to add data analysis, connect with the overarching science concepts and create accurate drawings.   We briefly looked at gas laws with a series of demonstrations using temperature, volume and pressure to complete our chemistry study.  Finally, we began with vocabulary and general information gathering on our next unit, which is geology.

Week of April 4th - 9th

TA’s Notes:

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

8th Graders:

• Final payments for 8th grade trip are now due!  Please get payments turned in to Voyager TA as soon as possible.

Did you donate a suitcase to our Recycle Sale?  These items below were returned from the new suitcase owner… they were found inside the suitcase.  If these belong to you please let me know!

A special thanks to Abby Lord for burning all of the Humanimals DVD’s that were sold!  

5th & 6th Graders:

Upcoming Field Trips-

Friday, May 13th- Trout release at Lewis Creek in Starksboro.  Students will release trout that have been raised in the classroom into the open creek, picnic lunch at site afterwards.  Permission slips to be sent home at later date.

Thursday, June 2nd- June 3rd- Camping overnight at Button Bay State Park in Ferrisburgh.  Parents are welcome to join this overnight experience.  Thursday, June 2nd students will leave WCS and head to Rokeby Museum for the day and picnic lunch, then bus will transport all to Button Bay where campsites will be waiting along with a group dinner.  Breakfast in the morning before loading bus and heading to Snake Mountain for a hike and picnic lunch with view.  Students will return to WCS by the end of the day Friday, June 3rd.  More info to come soon with sign up sheet for chaperones, camping supplies and food.

Voyager is hosting May’s school dance!!  

Dance is Friday, May 6th.  Money raised from this directly funds our Field Trip budget so please help out!  Parent chaperones and treat donations truly help make this an exciting fundraiser for our team.  We need help with set-up, drinks/treat donations and chaperones.  

Sign up to help with this fundraiser or email Katie Fieldsend at KFieldsend@cssu.org with how you can help out.   Dance Sign Up

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

    During Reading Cafe, students were introduced to the booktalk organizer that they should fill out and use to prepare for their booktalks next Friday. A link to the booktalk organizer is provided on Jupiter Grades. Students should plan on using the independent reading book that they have committed to reading for this assignment.

    We kicked off our debate unit this week. Students are on teams and will research, organize, and prepare to perform in a formal debate next week. Ask your student what issue he or she will be debating next week. You can see the debate format and some of the organizers students are using on Google Classroom.

     Argument writing will piggyback on the debate unit. Students will use the same topic that they are arguing in the debate for an argument piece. We reviewed and practiced a number of argument writing strategies and techniques this week. Students completed an outline for their piece this week and will write a final draft next week.

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

Note from Ms. Kiely:

5th Grade Math: On Thursday, students moved from the Bridges math curriculum into Connected Mathematics. Students will use this program for the remainder of this year as well as next year in sixth grade. On Thursday, we reviewed how to find factors and multiples of a number. On Friday, students were introduced to the terms least common multiple and greatest common factor and they applied these concepts to a real-world problem involving Ferris wheels.

6th Grade Math: On Thursday, students began a new unit on decimal operations. So far, we have discussed how to decide which operation to use when given a word problem, how estimation can help us determine if our answer is reasonable, and how to use unit rates to solve problems.

Science: This week students began a new unit on global climate change. We launched the unit by modeling the greenhouse effect using mason jars, thermometers, and heat lamps. Students watched a variety of videos about causes and effects of global warming, and they identified from those videos a topic that they want to explore in greater detail next week. Students chose to focus on deforestation, weather, polar bears, coral reefs, human health or rising sea level. This unit is going to go by fast because it will be wrapping up before break, but my hope is that in the next week students will gain a deeper understanding of what is causing global warming, what problems are resulting from it, and what steps can be taken to combat global climate change.

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

This week during AM Humanities students took the time to set a reading goal. The hope is to achieve this reading goal by the end of the year. The goals have been displayed in our classroom so students can look at them daily to be reminded of their goal. At the end of the year students will self-assess to see how they did in meeting or achieving their goal. For the remainder of the week students were engaged in reading articles in relation to our upcoming argument writing piece. Students will be arguing about where the funding should come from for our National Parks. We have already engaged in great discussions, and students have been actively reading by highlighting facts or evidence that could connect to both sides of the argument. Next week we will begin our writing!

In the afternoon classes students wrapped up their work with 20th Century History by completing their Cold War projects. We saw some great presentations on Friday afternoon that were not only fun, but very engaging with fantastic learning activities!

This week we also took time on Thursday afternoon to view this year’s musical “Shrek”! We are all so proud of our Voyager participants in the cast and crew!

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

CMP7

Students have been working hard on exploring  linear equations, graphs and tables. Creating stories or situations for linear equations and finding real world meaning for y = mx + b were just a few of the tasks we worked on. We practiced solving one step equations, balancing equations, and we explored an online math symbol  game called “Solve me”.  We also listened to a fun “cheesy video” by Colin Dodds on Slope .  We finished the week with a Partner Quiz based on the first two investigations.

CMP8

We started the week  with a Sweet Systems of Equation investigation.  Students had to solve the mystery of how many jelly beans and M & M’s were in a bag of 60 candies. We found the average mass of each type of candy and then found the mass of the mystery bag.  We created a system of equations where m + j = 60 candies and .80m + 2.4 j = mass of the bag.  Finding the common solution to both equations helped us to find the number of M & M’s and jelly beans in our mystery bags.  It was a “sweet” problem. We continued solving systems of equations using a solving strategy called substitution and combination.  We practiced a lot of multi-step processes this week.  Kudos to my 8th graders and their perseverance!

Science 7th/8th

After a week of SBAC hiatus, we worked to complete our hot/cold pack engineering task.  On Monday, students did a final test using their models on our GoTemp temperature probes.  On Tuesday we had our competition and it was a close race in both classes. Students completed their lab reports that focused on stating the problem, creating a model to solve the problem, testing the model, analyzing the test results, researching chemical reactions and discussion what worked and didn’t.  This is the first major grade for this term.

Week of March 28th - April 1st

TA’s Notes:

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

Ms. O’Brien needs newspapers!  If you could please save any newspapers and send them in, that would be great!  

Thank you to all who helped with the Recycle Sale this year!!

Voyager raised $1,657.20!  Great job!!

8th Grade News!!

• 8th graders received CVU Summer Camp brochures this week.  You can find more information about the camps at: CVU Summer Camp
• Final payments for 8th grade trip are now due!  Please get payments turned in to Voyager TA as soon as possible.

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

    We started our week with Reading Cafe. Students should have a really good independent reading book that they will finish reading by Wednesday, 4/13. Students will participate in a book talk on Friday,  4/15. They will lead a discussion on the book using an organizer that is due on Thursday, 4/14.

    We also started two different writing projects. In a few weeks, the Williston Observer will be taken over by kids! Students selected from a long list of prompts to write or draw and submit to the Williston Observer by Tuesday, April 5. After writing a first draft in the Writer’s Notebook, students are typing it into a google doc that is posted on Google Classroom. Students will receive verbal and/or written feedback to use to revise and edit the piece before it is due. The submission will be reviewed and selected by The Observer.

    Our Argument Writing unit is also underway. We will be using a number of picture books to learn some important skills and strategies of this writing genre. This week we read,  “Duck! Rabbit!”. Students used the pictures and information to take a position. Ask your student - Was it a duck or a rabbit? We also read “Hey, Little Ant” to learn about the importance of perspective in argument writing. Next week we will be learning more skills and strategies, as well as drafting an argument piece on a school related topic for an upcoming debate in two weeks.

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

Erin Kiely, my math and science intern, begins next week!  She will be taking over my class every day.  Erin is launching Prime Time (6th Grade CMP book) with Grade 5; she is launching Decimal Ops with Grade 6; and finally she will be doing Climate Change 101 for the ⅚ Science classes.  Please feel free to contact her during this time (ekiely@cssu.org).  I will also be at work!

Math 5:  Students spent the week finalizing concepts in the geometry unit on volume and surface area.  We developed several hands on activities to supplement learning for concepts of surface area particularly.  Students were given an odd shaped object and need to use cardstock to create a box that would be perfectly snug for the object.  The process of building was fascinating.  Students were on the clock, a competition of sorts, and the ways students went about this was fascinating. Some of the final boxes successfully enclosed the objects and some did not.  We arrived at the generalization of surface area in a simpler way by measuring length width and height of the object and then noticing that we could use those measures to strategically cut each face.  Assessment today!

Math 6:  Students have been further developing ideas related to volume and surface area.  We spent some time on this in 5th grade, and I am always interested in seeing how this concept sticks or doesn’t in 6th grade.  The introduction of nets related to surface area has been the most challenging.  Imagining a rectangular prism flat on the table is difficult.  We have arrived at some generalizations for nets related to surface area.   The focus for the next few days will be on mixed number dimensions measures, in order to reintegrate fraction work into geometric design of rectangular prisms.  Many students need another hit on fractions so this provides another chance to get back to that.   Assessment for geometry is Wednesday.  Learning maps will be designed for study review. Decimals begin next week.

Science ⅚:  Our week was spent organizing for our presentation which you all attended on Thursday evening.  There were a variety of topics presented and many successful presentations.  We will all be reflecting on the experience in science today working on critical evaluation of each of our roles in how well we presented what we understand about the human body.  Please feel free to pass along photos, as I was not in all the presentations.  Thank you for coming.  Each student was very brave standing up there!  It’s a hard skill to learn.

The week in the 7/8 community:

This week all 7th and 8th graders completed their SBAC tests! We saw some amazing examples of grit and perseverance. We also saw students applying skills such as creating graphic organizers and plot triangles for their writing, and using graph paper to help calculate equations and plot points on linear graphs for math. We also saw students creating data tables and utilizing all of the tools provided on the SBAC test such as highlighting, strikethrough, the notepad, and spellcheck. We are extremely proud of our 7th and 8th graders for putting in huge amounts of effort, thought, and practice into their testing. We ended the week with regular classes in the morning, and then finished the day by watching Apollo 13. As we bring our 20th century history unit to a close with the Space Race and Cold War, we thought this would be a great way to end the unit and our testing week.