Week of June 4th - 8th

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:

• June 13th- Voyager Book Swap (see note below)
• June 14th - 8th grade Graduation 6:30pm (Last day of school for 8th graders)
• June 15th - ½ Day, Last day of school (11:55am Dismissal)

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

This week we played Mission US - A Cheyenne Odyssey. Students explored Westward Expansion from the point of view of the Cheyenne through a variety of classroom activities and by playing the game. A complete overview of the game is below.

The mission focuses on the transformation of Northern Cheyenne life on the Great Plains from 1866 to 1876. The game is divided into five parts, plus a prologue that offers historical background, and an epilogue that extends the story into the twenty-first century. Students playing the game assume the role of Little Fox, a twelve year-old Northern Cheyenne boy. As the game opens, Little Fox is growing up with his band around the Powder River Basin (in present-day southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming). Little Fox’s daily life is determined by the needs and traditions of his family and community. His everyday life, however, is soon impacted by the encroachment of United States military expeditions, railroad builders, and white settlers. As Little Fox grows older, the Northern Cheyenne way of life changes dramatically, as the tribe adapts to the United States’ expansion into the West.

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

The current state of the hoophouse…

• We will put cross bracing up to stabilize the hoops.  Need a carpenter for that, so maybe this weekend!
• Plastic will be left off until the fall.  We will try to get some seeds in for some nongreenhouse harvesting in August.
• Dedication of the Hoophouse: Popsicle party on Wednesday at 12:30 PM.  Please join us!
• Special thanks to...Mark and Amy Yandow (excavation of the site), Dan Fleming (WCS resident science and engineering volunteer), Dave Robeson (retired builder and friend of Ms. O), Luna Wood (supported the building process on weekends, afterschool, and during the school day), Vermont Organics (donation of topsoil and recharge soils), John Schaefer and Schaefer boys (husband and kids of Ms. O), FAP (funding of the build project), Robert Nesbit (⅚ student), ⅚ Voyager students, Gardener’s Supply and Deb Miuccio for donations of sun bubble and seeds, Lauren Davis and Sarah Healy (support with architectural design drawings and grant proposal), the Town of Williston Zoning for the permit, Lyall and Wayne, our building managers at WCS, for the pickup of wood etc., WCS parents who helped me manage work days, Ted Milks (volunteer), Linda Chiasson, Community Gardener. I hope that if I forgot someone, you know you were a great help!

Math 5: This week we wrapped up our work in Prime Time, a unit all about multiplicative reasoning and solving problems using the properties of numbers.  We landed on a very important model, a prime factor tree, that can tell us a lot about the properties of a number and how that number may be similar or different to other numbers.  Students completed a final assessment for the unit, shy of all the content, but assessing the most important pieces. We abandoned our Number Story Children’s Book for the year, but will start the year with this important and fun project.  It will be great review for the 6th grade year.

We also mathematized a science activity with a rotocopter.  We will continue to work on this in all the spaces in between next week.  See photos.

As I organize for summer work for 5th grade, which will be handed out next week, I would like to put a special plug in to all parents, as you travel around the US and abroad, and go from here to there this summer!  I am still seeing a lot of students struggling through their multiplication math facts. This is one of the most essential skills to know, because Grade 6 math moves beyond basic fluency into the application of that fluency to real world situations.  Kiddos who do not know these really , really, really struggle in 6th grade math. Please see this as a really essential goal that you can help with. As you move prep for summer, grab a multiplication and division flashcard pack. I cannot reinforce enough how great it would be if all students come to school in August with these simple facts mastered.  Thanks for your help in this. 6, 7, 8, 9’s are the most difficult and the ones that students continuously breeze over. Put your emphasis on these!

Ways to coach your kiddos:

• 4’s are 2’s doubled.  If he/she knows the twos, remind them of the double double.
• 8’s are a double double double.  If you know your 2’s double them, then double again, and you have your 8’s.
• 3’s doubled are 6’s.
• Memorize the 7’s or use the 5’s plus the 2’s to solve.  I don’t know 7 x 6, so I use 2 x 6 plus 5 x 6 and I get 42.
• 5’s are half 10.  Students always know the 10’s, so find that first, then halve it.
• 9’s are one less group than 10’s.  If students know their compatible numbers (3 and 7 make ten, 4 and 6 make ten), then they can use the one less group for the 9’s.  Here is an example: I do not know 6 x 9. So first I find 6 x 10, the remove a group of 6. This is a ten (60) minus 6. 10-6 = 4, so I know I’m at 54.  6 x 9 = 54

Math 6:  I reinforced understanding of the mean this week, in addition to learning about Box and Whisker Plots.  Box and Whisker plots are used to look at variability in data, a skill we did not get to. We simply learned what the five number summary is and how to make a box and whisker.  It will come up again in High School Stats classes! We also played with rotocopters and will continue building understanding of the science and math behind the phenomenon in the spaces between next week.

⅚ Science:

Students have been enjoying our end of year science learning, the Amazing Race Geology style.  It has been fun to do a little out of the box thinking and watching how different students react to challenges, work together, and model geologic phenomena around the US. We made four stops after Yellowstone - Mt St. Helens, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Barre VT.  I have provided some pics of the fun!

The Week in Mr. Roof’s Room (⅞ Humanities):

ELA and Social Studies: This week has been all about writing a four paragraph essay/writing a song, rap, or poem/or designing a slide show and presentation that compares and contrasts important beliefs and practices from two of the world’s major religions. Students worked hard to use facts/evidence, and to explain and elaborate upon that evidence in support of their claim. Students used their notes and internet research to find their evidence. We did not have a reading log nor CNN 10 this week so that students could really focus their energy and thought on this assignment.

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

CMP8

This week 8th graders finished up our brief foray into linear systems.  We explored several ways to solve linear systems algebraically through a method called substitution and another called combination.  These methods allow students to find a coordinate pair, (x,y) that will satisfy both equations. It is also the place where two lines intersect. We ended the week with a final assessment on our It’s in the System Unit.  We may have a few opportunities to do math over the next week in between all the graduation merriment.

CMP7

The 7th graders have been exploring how to find equations from graphs, tables and coordinate points. We reviewed concepts from the beginning of the “Moving Straight Ahead” Unit and we finished with our assessment. Students will be receiving summer math work next week.

Science 7th/8th

Students received their edited first drafts of their natural disaster drafts at the beginning of the week.  We read a wonderful exemplar story written by one of our students that focused on an earthquake in California.  It was descriptive, scientifically factual,and captured the disaster authentically. It was fun to read. Students added more detail and passed in their 2nd draft on Friday.  It has been great reading their work.