TA’s Notes:
***Please do not send in any food to be shared among Voyager students***
***Please notify us if your child has strep. Thank you for this courtesy.***
Voyager Homework Club- Tuesdays (2:00-3:30pm) and Wednesdays (3:00-4:30pm)
Dates to Know:
- Fri, Nov 3rd- School Dance for 6th - 8th graders (Hosted by Harbor House)
- Wed, Dec 6th- Voyager Family Night / Variety Show 6 - 8pm at WCS in Dining Room & Auditorium
- Sat, Dec 9th- Voyager students can volunteer to be elves with the Polar Express from 4:00 - 8:00pm. More info to come. Please note the date if your student might be interested!
For 8th grade families:
Permission Forms for the May 24th - May 25th 8th Grade Celebration Trip to Ridin-Hy. All forms must be completed and returned by December 15th so WCS can reserve enough beds at the ranch. Students were also given paper copies of these forms. Please return to Voyager TA.
Williston FAP Notes:
The FAPAC Meeting Minutes from October’s meeting:
Williston FAP Annual Fund
Please donate to the FAP Annual Fund. This is how your student's field trips are paid for.
$45 recommended per student. Any amount helps!
Send check to Williston Central School, Williston FAP, 195 Central School Drive
Boys & Girls 802 Lacrosse Tryouts
Location: The Edge Field House 115 Wellness Drive Williston Vermont. Players can choose to attend one of three tryouts. You only need to attend ONE of the available tryout times for each age group. 802 Lacrosse Registration Link
Thank you to all who joined us for the PLP Cafe today!!
There were items left behind this morning if you have lost anything in particular please contact Katie Fieldsend, KFieldsend@cvsdvt.org.
Pictures below.
The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):
Last week we introduced the 5 Themes of Geography. This week we started going a little deeper into the themes. We started with Location. Students learned about latitude and longitude and how to find an exact location. We played some location games with US and World maps and beach ball globes. We also used the scale and compass rose on a map to describe relative location. Students wrote relative location descriptions for US cities using these two parts of a map.
Students also spent some time setting up their PLP sites this week. After naming, labeling, and adding some pictures, they reflected on their goals and collected evidence to show their progress and work to meet these goals.
5th graders were also introduced to the country of Gambia and will be writing friendly letters to their pen pals in Gambia soon.
A friendly reminder that all students should be reading 20-30 minutes a night. Every student has his/her own copy of a mystery/spook book. Please be sure your student is completing the assigned reading each week.
The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):
Math 5: This week students wrapped up Unit 1, taking their assessments, reviewing and making corrections, and then writing a reflection. This is a good loop for learning because it allows students to see errors in a timely fashion and then make corrections. We also began our fractions unit, which is the first of several fractions units this year. We began by using modeling as a way to understand fractions. The clock and money models are great starts to understanding a huge misconception when operating with fractions - that you can add or subtract the numerators and denominators. We spent a few days working on this misconception so that we could bust the myth!
Open Math Classroom: Thursday, November 2 9:30-10:30! Come join the learning if you like!
Math 6: We had a productive week with percents and learned a lot of things about how percents, decimals, and fractions are just different names for the same number. Some students worked on the strategy of 10% and 1% first, then use those to help you get to 83%. Other students worked on translating the statement what is 23% of 45, as x = .23 x 45. This is a push for the traditional model for finding percents of a number or identifying the number when a percent is given.
Open Math Classroom: Thursday, November 2 8:30-9:30! Come join the learning if you like!
⅚ Science: It was phenomena week this week! We discovered a few more things about air this week while investigating syringes, competing in the “Biggest Sucker” phenomenon and finding way to blow up a balloon in a jar, the Balloon Jar Phenomenon. I’ve included some photos below.
The Week in Mr. Roof’s Room (⅞ Humanities):
ELA and Social Studies: Students continued their practice of independent reading supported by reading log 8. This week, it involved using context clues to help define unfamiliar words. It also asked students to discuss the theme of their book, using text evidence to support their claims. It is exciting to witness the progression of literacy skills and to see students self select interesting, challenging literature and nonfiction. We spent a lot of time on our PLPs this week. Students designed their PLP websites from the ground up, using google sites. This involved choosing fonts, backgrounds, themes, and other factors of design so that the site represented them exactly the way they wanted. Next, students edited and revised their mini-autobiographies to include on the Identity page. This proved to be challenging, as we are hoping to be error free whenever we post something to an audience. Finally, students brainstormed, planned, and formed two SMART goals; one academic and one personal. These goals are meant to be on the short term side, meaning attainable in approximately three months. We are focused on reflecting often on progress made toward the goals, so please check in with your child about his/her goals. The PLP is a great place for students to collect examples/evidence of who they are, so please feel free to remind them that taking pictures, collecting souvenirs/artifacts from events, and reflecting upon experiences are all excellent opportunities for enhancing and personalizing the PLP. Experiences such as performing, hiking, traveling, attending a performance, competing, etc, are great examples of possible additions to the PLP. One way of understanding the PLP is to think of it as an interactive, evolving resumé, with the added touch of a journal. It is meant to be shared and talked about with family and community members.
The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):
CMP7
This week we completed our “Shapes and Designs” investigation with looking at transversals that cut parallel lines, external angles of polygons and creating class records for our use during the “Shapes and Designs” Unit Test. This unit test is a “leveled” assessment which allows students to show their understanding of the learning targets from level 1 to 4. We will be moving on to positive and negative numbers next week.
CMP8
We have been exploring more multi-stepped algebraic equations this week. We have learned to use the distributive property, collect like terms, and balance equations to find an unknown variable. Inverse variations were explored briefly, but will be explored more when students move onto Algebra 2 at CVU. Students create class records and completed a unit test review. The 8th grade “Thinking with Mathematical Models” test is a leveled assessment which allows students to show their understanding on learning targets from level 1 to level 4. We will be moving on to exponential growth with “Growing, Growing, Growing”.
Science
We explored the Law of Conservation of Mass by creating models of our exothermic reaction between Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda and water. Students counted the numbers of atoms in the reactants and then counted the number of atoms in the product to see what happened. It was Conservation magic that every atom was accounted for! Students worked with their dyad partners to create testable questions and create experiment plans for changing one variable of our original exothermic reaction. Every pair will conduct a series of experiments, collect data, make observations and analyze what they found. Next week we will be writing a formal lab report from our results.
