Week of February 18

FAPAC February Meeting Highlights
To:  Voyager Parents
From:  Ann Schmidt, Sue Scheer, Lori Mele -  FAPAC Representatives
The FAP Advisory Council held its monthly meeting on February 14th.  Check the full minutes in a PDF format by clicking HERE.  Below are a few meeting highlights:
Williston Wins: About 50 percent of Williston School District families participated in this so far.  Will be a survey this Spring to collect feedback on this fundraising approach.  May need to consider other fundraisers to make up the shortfall in funds.  See the full minutes for more information on this.
Proposed School Budget:  Walter Nardelli, District Principal, led a discussion of budget highlights, including the 1:1 iPad proposal, the co-teaching model, and other items.  Please see the minutes for some of the issues raised during this discussion.  And remember to vote on Tuesday, March 5th!!
Regarding the 1:1 iPad discussions, please check out the school website for information on this, including frequently asked questions and other helpful information.  Click here to get to that information.
Next FAPAC meeting is on Thursday, March 14th at 8:15 am.  All are welcome!!!
Please contact me  at atapechaver@yahoo.com, if you have feedback or questions on FAP.  
Thanks.
 
Williston School District 1:1 iPad Initiative Discussion
Do you have questions about the 1 to 1 iPad initiative proposed in the school
budget? If so, please join our Technology Integration Specialist, Bonnie
Birdsall, along with teaching and administration representatives for an
informal discussion on Wed., Feb. 20th, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the WCS dining
room.  For background information, relevant articles and FAQs please visit
WSD’s 1:1 Initiative on the school web page. Childcare will be provided during
evening discussion. Please contact Liz Neeld at lneeld711@gmail.com for
childcare.
 
8th Grade Challenge
The 8th graders made their mid year presentations on Thursday.   There are so many wonderful projects in the works!  The 8th graders will be continuing their research and completing their community connections over the next few months.  
 
Mr. Merrill’s Wrap Up
⅚ Language ArtsL.A with Ms. Furey
This week, students started working on their introductions to their fictional narratives.  They are writing as if they are a Patriot living in the colonies and are told by the British that they must pay taxes.  Students have to choose whether they want to pay the taxes or rebel against the British.  Students worked hard on editing their pieces so that they painted a picture for the reader instead of just telling the reader what happened.  I will be leaving Voyager house after break, so students will be finishing their narratives with Mr. Merrill.  It's been a great working with your students over the past few months!

⅚ Social Sudies
Students used "power thinking" to identify the main ideas and details of a summary of 300 years of history, to understand the key ideas and events that led up to the Revolutionary War.  Vocabulary and other historical concepts were also reviewed in preparation for the game - Mission US.  We will start this unit when we return from break.  
Mission US is a multimedia project featuring the interactive game - Mission 1: "For Crown or Colony?," which puts the player in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a 14-year-old printer's apprentice in 1770 Boston. As Nat navigates the city and completes tasks, he encounters a spectrum of people living and working there when tensions mount before the Boston Massacre.  Ultimately, the player determines Nat's fate by deciding where his loyalties lie.
 
News from Ms. O
Yeah!  It’s break! We hope you all have BIG plans to relax!  Enjoy!
During the play weeks (beginning March 18) Aron and I will be sharing the responsibilities for all learning on house.  This means that we will both deliver instruction in math and science, and both be supporting students in their literature group work and theater unit work.  Math work will continue as expected in the Bridges and CMP programs, while science work will be a shared research and writing project on technology and space exploration.  We are both excited to be bringing our expertise to the research and writing process.  
 
Math 5:  We completed Unit 3, a comprehensive geometry unit, this week and will be mooooving on to FRACTIONS!  New Home Connection packets and practice packets will replace the old ones.  Expect them and help your child keep them organized.  
I will be providing a summary of FASTT math activity for all parents on Jupiter Grades.  The program averages activity since enrollment and many students have not committed to building computational fluency in this format.  Please encourage this over break.  If all else fails, I will be purchasing flashcards for students to bring home and study.  In the 3rd trimester, I will be dropping in pop quizzes for fluency that will affect overall math proficiency scores.  Let’s step it up and help them learn these facts (Expected fluency in multiplication and division 0-12!)!
 
Math 6:  Students are moving through measurement of 2-dimensional figures as part of the early Covering and Surrounding work.  We will be moving into continued work in this area for triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles, as well as some work on 3-D solids in terms of volume and surface area.  
I will be providing a summary of FASTT math activity for all parents on Jupiter Grades.  The program averages activity since enrollment and many students have not committed to building computational fluency in this format.  Please encourage this over break.  If all else fails, I will be purchasing flashcards for students to bring home and study.  In the 3rd trimester, I will be dropping in pop quizzes for fluency that will affect overall math proficiency scores.  Let’s step it up and help them learn these facts (Expected fluency in multiplication and division 0-12!)!
 
Science:  The culminating Energy and Engineering Unit performance assessment is a Rube Goldberg! Rube Goldberg, whose name is now an adjective in the Webster’s Dictionary, inspired his audience with his amazing talents in drawing and engineering.  Please note that the project summary has been distributed to students, but that it is not required to be done exclusively at home.  The document will be posted on Jupiter Grades for your viewing if interested.  BTW...these kiddos are amazing engineers!  I’ve been so impressed by the consistent effort they have put into the engineering challenges.  
 
Ms. Q's Corner
 
7th Grade Math
How do we discern if geometric figures are similar, and what happens to the area and the perimeter of a figure when it is enlarged or shrunk? What is a scale factor? These are a few questions we have been pursuing in our "Stretching and Shrinking" Unit.  Students have experimented with graphing cartoon figures(Mug Wumps) on a cartesian coordinate plane and then changing the rule to see what happens to the original figure.
 
8th Grade Math
This week we have dissected the parts of an exponential equation.  We have examined tables, graphs, equations and several series of numbers to see if they show exponential growth.  We have explored whole number growth rates with the population growth of snakes and fractional growth rates in reproducing rabbits.  Students were given a "Check-up" assessment on exponential growth and Algebra seminar students received their midterm grades.  Compound interest and exponential decay is on the docket for after break.
 
Science 7th/8th
This week we began our motion and forces engineering problem.  Students created a car powered by a single rubber band that would travel to and not exceed 10 feet in distance.  Students tested and redesigned their models to meet the constraints.  After February break students will compete against each other to travel to the designated spot. A lab report showing the relationship between the rotational potential energy of the rubber band and the distance the car travels will be due after our competition. There has been a lot of excellent problem solving and discussion of what works,what doesn't and solutions to try.
 
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
 
7/8 Language Arts: This week we dove right into our work with memoirs and personal narratives. Students were provided time to build a timeline of their life and chose 1 moment to “explode” and expand on for a personal narrative. We took a lot of time in class to brainstorm and go over the outline for the narrative. Students were able to begin writing their rough drafts, and many were able to get quite far in the process! We’re really focusing on descriptive writing. This writing piece is going to twist and turn into a fun and creative project once students return from break. Stay tuned!
 
7/8 Social Studies: This week we wrapped up our work with WW2 through some WONDERFUL point of view projects. Some students were really able to transport our class back in time through costumes, “guest speakers”, videos, music, and detailed scrapbooks. Once we finished our presentations we moved into the 60’s. We started by listening to some music from the 60’s and watching a documentary on the Vietnam War. We will continue learning about the 60’s and all that happened both at home and abroad once we return from break.
Happy Vacation!! Enjoy the week off :)

Week of February 4 and 11 Double Issue

Voyager House Breakfast Celebration on February 22, 2013

We will be making an egg dish and a gluten free option for all the kids.  We ask that parents contribute the following items for 6-8 kids.  If we have extra cups we will use them for another event.  Thanks for giving us a chance to celebrate before break!  Sign up beneath your child's grade level to donate an item. 

We would love some parent volunteers to help manage food!  Wanna join?

See the house wiki:
http://wcsvoyagerhouse.pbworks.com/w/page/57265244/FrontPage

FAP Update
Two great fundraising results to report!  The February Dance earned $942 and The Pet Food Warehouse Event earned $700 + (we don't have the final numbers yet because the 'coupon' portion is still underway!)  A huge thank you to all parents and students who provided a ton of baked goods to sell.  Most importantly, thanks for all the great energy put forth to drop off baked goods, work the table, shop for pet food and help 'spread the word.'  Voyager teamwork has raised $3,400+ dollars to date.  We still have a ways to go, but we are in great shape!  Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 6th, our Recycle Sale.  If you start Spring cleaning early, make sure you save your 'gently used' toys, clothes, housewares, etc. for the sale!  Thank you!!!!  
FAP reps Sue Scheer and Ann Schmidt

The Week in Ms.Wesnak’s Room
7/8 Language Arts: The past two weeks in Language Arts have been filled to the brim! Using biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs as our guide we plunged into the deep waters of grammar! Our focus this time was to look conjunction and semicolon use. Students were asked questions such as, when do you use conjunctions and what are they used for? Do you have a choice in your punctuation use when creating and building compound sentences? To answer these questions we did some quick in-class work, read sections of text from “The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank”, and we also completed a review and quiz before the week came to an end. Once we finished up with conjunctions and semilicons we moved into our work on personal narratives and students began building timelines of their lives. Each student was asked to build a timeline of their life and then chose ONE moment from their timeline to use as the topic for their upcoming personal narrative. Students will be working on getting to the depths of their moment to make it explode and come to life. Using our 5 senses and our knowledge around the elements of a story, students will begin writing their personal narratives next week. We will also begin learning about how to weave the different types of figurative language into our stories to really create a creative and enticing story. Talk to your child about their chosen moment. You may be able to help them bring it to life!

7/8 Social Studies: We are wrapping up our work on World War 2 and our grand finale is going to be quite exciting. Each student will be taking their class back to the times of World War 2 through presentations of their point of view/perspective projects. These points of view span the globe! Seeing as this truly was a global war we have perspectives from Northern Africa, to Reporters at the London Blitz, to American Women of the WW2 era. So far the presentations are sounding like they will take many forms including: skits, read-alouds, videos, photo presentations, and scrapbook show-and-tells. I cannot wait to see all of their hard work come to life next Monday and Tuesday. To prepare for this project we did a lot of practice with taking notes and we used an amazing interactive map as our informational guide. Each student has been asked to complete a written element and a presentation element. They have been working very hard this week and using their notes from class to work in a lot of great information/facts on World War 2 along with some strong vocabulary. Talk to your child about their project, what they’ve been working on, and how they’re feeling about the upcoming presentations!

Mr. Merrill’s Wrap Up
⅚ Language Arts
This week we really started to get into exploring narrative writing!  We started a read aloud of the book “Chains” by Laurie Halse Anderson and looked at how she describes the characters, setting, and conflict to help the reader paint a clear picture in their mind.  After seeing how Anderson used descriptive words and adjectives, students worked on coming up with their own adjectives that were not “tired” to describe other characters and settings in short films that we watched.  We discussed how conflict is important to a story and how often times it involves the main character making a really tough choice.  We watched a short clip from "The Hunger Games" and students pulled out the conflict that the main character was going through and what her two decisions were.  We also started to talk about what conflicts you might face if you were a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  Students are preparing to start writing their own narratives next week.

⅚ Social Studies
This week in social studies, students explored the events leading up to the American Revolution, and continued to hone skills in deciphering and analyzing historical documents.  We started the week by discussing what students already know about the causes of the revolution and what led colonists to revolt against the British. Many students were familiar with The Boston Tea Party, so we spent some time as a class reading about the details of this act of protest, including specific causes and effects. At the end of the week, we put the Boston Tea Party in context by watching a video outlining the causes of the American Revolution from the French and Indian War through the Battle of Lexington.  Students then used primary sources to get a better understanding of differing points of view about the Stamp Act, discussing whether colonists were justified in their reaction to British taxes.



Ms. Q's Corner
Math 7
What would you do, if you ate a piece of chocolate and shrunk to 12 inches in height?  This was one of many proportional investigations we conducted over the last week.  We looked at various ways to find an unknown value "X"  when placed in a proportion:  3/12 = x/60.  Using mirrors, tape measures and sticky notes we attempted to use the angle of reflection and incidence to figure out the height of a point on the wall. This method of indirect measurement was quite a challenge....nothing that chocolate wouldn't help. Speaking of chocolate, we conducted an M and M biological sampling to see if we could ascertain the number of  green species in the population.  Using ratios and proportions we came very close to the actual number.  It was fun and tasty business. Our "Comparing and Scaling" unit was completed with a unit assessment  and we plunged into the next unit on proportional reasoning called: "Stretching and Shrinking".

Math 8
What is exponential growth?  What does it look like in a table, graph or equation?  What real world situations offer a glimpse of exponential growth?  Students compared the exponential equation from the mythical "rupa" problems to consider an equation for the rampant growth of the water hyacinth.  The water hyacinth is a fast growing invasive water plant that chokes waterways.  We watched a brief video about a Ugandan organization that has created a cottage industry which utilizes dried water hyacinths to make woven rugs, chairs and tables.  We explored bacterial growth and began a mold experiment. 

This week 8th graders took  the NAEP test in either math or English, and a number of  students took the algebra midterm.  

Science 7th/8th
Students received the results from their Thermal Energy and Light quiz. Students are welcome to correct them to improve their grade.   With the completion of light and thermal energy, we “moved on” to motion and forces.  We experimented with ramps, cars and washers to answer three questions:

1)Is there a relationship between mass and the distance a car travels?
2)Is there a relationship between the height of a ramp and the distance a car travels?
3)Is there a relationship between a car's mass and its ability to move a stationary object?

Students were asked to make claims based on quantitative evidence.  Students shared their results and we discussed anomalies in our data collection.  We finished the week with cartoon depictions of Newton’s Laws and a number of physics terms.
The experiment plan for the science fair is due on Monday, February 18th.  Our hope is that students will conduct their experiments during break or during the first week in March.  Students have been given a template for collecting background information on their topic. and a trifold will need to be purchased or students may recycle one from our project room.  

News from Ms. O
Math 5
We are wrapping up our geometry unit which has included quite a bit of learning!  Angles, 2-D polygons and 3-D solids, area, perimeter, and volume of all sorts of shapes and solids, properties of triangles and quadrilaterals, oh my!  We will finish our dip into geometry next week by building a geodesic dome out of newspaper.  Please send in your pile of newspaper!  We could use as much as possible.
If you could get your child a couple of extra pencils to get them through the school year, he/she would appreciate it.  We are low on supplies.

Math 6
We finished up an exciting unit on ratios this week and will be heading forward into the land of geometry.  I will be asking that students do some self learning during this unit, as we will not be covering extensively the properties of polygons.  Students are still responsible for them though, and I will provide some resources so that students can essentially memorize eg. what makes a right trapezoid.    These resources will allow students to practice and assess on this material, which is a review of last year’s work, but are still part of the 6th grade math standards.  We are hoping to be learning about circles by mid-March and coincide some events with  March 14, annual Pi day.  I believe that PIE will be in order.  We will eat pie and memorize as many digits of Pi as possible for a prize!  Start practicing now.  You can start by printing the first one million digits after the decimal.  Ha!  There are some amazing records for this!
We launched our geometry unit this week and will celebrate the beauty of geometry next week by building a geodesic dome out of newspaper.  Please send in your pile of newspaper!  We could use as much as possible.

Science 5/6
Last week...Students left the mechanical energy of catapults and rollercoasters and moved on to a type of thermal energy, called light!  Students explored a light circus, where they learned about how light behaves and made claims about light based on evidence.  We read about Omar, an Egyptian boy, whose ideas about lighting a stage during a blackout, arose from a conversation with a person studying Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  And were based on what he knew about the transfer of light.  

This week...we investigated how materials and light interact, learning about absorption, reflection, and transmission of light energy.  The next engineering task will be to build a lighting system for a tomb in order to view all hieroglyphics well, when electricity is not available!  Seems hard to explain in this format!  Ask you kiddo about the task next week!
Start collecting your toys, game pieces, junk and anything else you can think of!  Students will be creating a Rube Goldberg mechanism during the week of break and the first week of March.  In order to do this, please help your child by considering the things in the house that he/she might be able to use for this purpose.  Something as simple as a set of dominoes, metal washers, a pendulum, or a ramp can all be used in a Rube Goldberg mechanism to illustrate the transfer or transformation of energy.  I am letting you know in advance, even though students have not been introduced to the project at all yet, so that you can consider transferring your junk to a think of energetic beauty!  More to come!

Week of January 28

Watch for the Flash Mob!  

Tonight’s Dance Moves brought to you by Voyager Advisories!  

From the Desk of Kim Russ
We are finding that many emails are being returned to us because email addresses have changed.  Let’s freshen things up!   Could you please print and send in the quick contact form attached, so that we can change our records to reflect new contact information. Thanks!

Hi All!
My name is Tara Furey and I'm a senior at the University of Vermont, studying Middle Level Education.  I've been interning in Mr. Merrill's room for the past few weeks and I will be starting a unit on narrative writing in Language Arts next week.  I'm excited to be a part of such a great team and to see what we will accomplish!

Mr. Merrill’s Wrap Up
⅚ Language Arts
This week, students continued to work on their “Revolutionary” Poetry.  By focusing on our senses and feelings, students used comparisons to make the image in their poem more vivid.  We worked on finding more creative versions of ordinary words through self and peer editing and by using a thesaurus.   Students enjoyed replacing the “tired” adjectives and verbs with new found words.  Students will write a final version of the poem next week and will include illustrations and decorations with the poem.

⅚ Social Studies
This week we took a look at what Vermont was like before it became a state.  We talked about how this land once belonged to the Western Abenaki and what happened when they came into contact with Europeans.  We then read a story about Benning Wentworth and the first towns in what is now Vermont and how the land came to be known as the New Hampshire Grants.  We looked at a number of maps from the period to see how a conflict started between New York and the first Grant settlers.  We had a lot of fun reading and talking about the Green Mountain Boys and their fight to protect the Grants from the “Yorkers”.  Next week we will be exploring the answers to these questions - How do you start a town in a place you’ve never been before?  What natural resources are important for a town?




Ms Q’s Corner
7th Grade Math
Students explored unit rates using different scenarios from buying different types of calculators, comparing bicycle rates to purchasing CDs from different stores.  We  utilized a variety of strategies to solve these problems including  creating ratios, proportions and cross multiplying to find an unknown “x”.  Figuring out taxes on our purchases and forming an equation was found to be a bit challenging. ...but  we persevered!  We also delved into different types of unit rates, how they can be interpreted and what rate works best for a mathematical situation.  

8th Grade Math
A very cunning peasant from the Kindom of Monterek, asked for a kingly ransom after saving the king’s daughter.  The peasant asked the king for a chessboard where “rupas” doubled with each square.  This problem began our exploration of exponential growth in a unit is called “Growing, Growing, Growing”.  It will  promise to be a fun unit of investigating, graphing and solving exponential functions.  Students completed their “Shapes of Algebra” assessment at the beginning of the week. Students should be correcting tests and coming in for extra help where needed.  Algebra seminar students are preparing for the midterm that takes place on February 15th.  

7th/8th Grade Science
Students are forming their ideas for the science fair and have begun to get their testable questions written.  This year, students may choose from any genre of science for their topic, however the testable question needs to lead to good data.

This week was the culmination of our unit focusing on light.  Students worked in groups to investigate a question having to do with a natural phenomenon or technology involving light.  Using hands-on investigations and independent research, teams sought to become expert "luminaries" in their topic.  At the end of the week, students taught their peers what they had learned by presenting their demonstrations and leading a class discussion.

8th Grade Challenge
The Mid-year 8th Grade Challenge Sharing is just around the corner.  On February 21/22 8th graders will highlight their focus questions, what steps they have taken on their project, and what they plan to do for a community connection.  We look forward to seeing their Power points.

News from Ms. O
⅚ Science
We began our week with a marble roller coaster engineering design challenge to firm up our understanding of MECHANICAL energy!  It was loud in our classroom!  We had a flurry of activity as students moved through the CREATE and IMPROVE phases of the engineering design cycle.  The challenge, to make a roller coaster with at least one vertical loop to roll the marble from beginning to end the slowest, proved to be quite challenging. The winning group had a 7.5 second ride!  And the coaster was cool!  We spent a day analyzing the task talking specifically about what math, science, and technology they needed to consider in order to be a roller coaster engineer.  Interesting stuff!  Moving on to LIGHT energy and a circus to explore it!  Ask your Voyager about the Apple in the Dark probe.

Math 5
Angles, angles, angles. Congruence and symmetry.  An explosion of words in Math this week.  Students have been discovering some interesting relationships amongst intersecting lines and able to predict angle measures without a protractor given some minimal information.  Next stop...a focus on properties of geometric shapes and area and perimeter.

Math 6
Sixth graders have been working their way through a ratio and rate investigation that is building foundational understanding of proportional reasoning ( a fundamental concept in algebra).  Students have been dealing with problems that address real life situations and working to solve them using understanding of equivalent fractions and unit rate.  Our next studio day is Tuesday, so students will be on stage again to show how they learn mathematics.  I appreciate their constant flexibility with this!  It is a great opportunity for me and a showcase of their commitment to learning math.

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room
7/8 Language Arts:
This week we finished our reading of a short biography about Adolf Hitler. We held great discussions filled with questions, analysis, and overall fantastic connections between what students already knew about the holocaust/WWII era and what we are currently learning in Social Studies. After a few days of read aloud and journal writing we started to dig our heels into conjunctions. Asking questions such as: What are they? What do they do? and How do I use them? Students got the (oh so catchy) Schoolhouse Rock “Conjunction Junction” tune stuck in their heads, and we went to work on creating sentences using conjunctions in a variety of ways, along with identifying conjunctions in a short biography of Eva Braun, wife of Adolf Hitler.

7/8 Social Studies:
This week we have been getting serious about note-taking! Students have been working so hard and learning all about WWII. We are using a fantastic interactive map via history.com to take journeys across the globe, looking at WWII from the perspective of every continent that took part in this truly, world war. We travelled first to Europe and Africa. We learned about everything from D-Day to Panzer Tanks to the London Blitz. Leaving Europe after a few days visit, we just landed in North America. We will be kicking off next week learning about the draft and war propaganda from the time. I can’t stress enough how hard these students have been working! They are asking fantastic questions, digging deep into photos, videos, and audio clips. Please talk with your child about this time in our history because it is just filled with questions, stories, and information.