To all Voyager families,
We wish you all a happy, safe, and fun-filled summer! Thanks for all you have done to make our year so successful!
Voyager House
Summer Learning Expectations and Opportunities
Voyager Language Arts and Social Studies Students:
Below you will find some BASIC helpful hints for the Summer to continue your learning outside of our classroom! Yay!
- Read!
It doesn’t matter if you’re reading blogs,newspapers, magazines, or
chapter books. Reading is important and helps you in more ways than one.
Keep track of the books you read,
and challenge yourself.
- Write!
Keep a journal, diary, tumblr, or blog over the summer. We now have a
Voyager Kidblog account! You are expected to have at least 3 blog
entries for the start of the Fall, and don’t forget to take pictures to
post with your entries. These entries will be of HUGE help for your
first writing piece of the year!
- Don’t forget: have fun, relax, play, sing, dance, and wear SPF
Happy Summer :)
-Ms.W and Mr. Merrill
WCS Voyager Kidblog
This
summer the Voyager Kidblog will be open to the current Voyager student
and teacher community. Students will be able to post and comment on
each other’s blogs throughout the summer. Through this writing
community, students will have a forum to share thoughts, ideas, exciting
news and summer happenings. Students can also post pictures to share
new experiences and summer fun. All posts and comments are approved by
Voyager teachers before they are published to Kidblog.
We
expect students to write three posts this summer, giving updates and
details on their summer experiences, new learning, and personal growth.
These posts will serve as the basis for the first writing assignment of
the new school year. We look forward to building and contributing to
this exciting Voyager writing site throughout the summer.
Directions:
- Go to www.kidblog.org
- Login using Mr. Merrill’s email address – amerrill@cssu.org
-
Click on Login – select your name and use the password – voyager (unless the password was changed by the student)
Click on My Blog
Click on New Post to add a new piece of writing to your blog. Be sure to include a title.
Click on All Blogs to read other posts and add comments.
Comments should include a compliment, personal connection, and a question.
Summer trips…
Don’t forget to take advantage of all our great local museums and learning centers.
Suggestions
– Shelburne Museum, ECHO, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Ethan Allen
Homestead, Rokeby Museum, Vermont Historical Society and Statehouse
Social Studies
Be
sure to ask your ⅚ student to show you his/her Business Google Draw
Poster (available on the student Google Drive). Presentations took
place on Friday, June 14th, with the 7th graders acting as the
investors, and bidding to invest in the companies created by the ⅚
students. The students that received the highest checks from the 7th
grade investors won prizes for their convincing presentations.
6th Grade Mathematics
25 Great Math Apps...
Incoming 6th Graders - Patterns in Nature Project
From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on an animal’s coat, the visible world is full of shapes and patterns that can be described mathematically.
Through this project, you will develop a deeper appreciation for the
patterns that exist in natural phenomena. Cloud formations, leaf
patterns, and even puddles and mud cracks may take on a whole new
meaning, as you view these natural phenomena and others, through the
lens of a camera.
For
the summer, fall and early winter, I am asking you to become an
observer of the natural world. Look for geometric shapes, search for
repeating patterns, and suddenly you’ll find that your view of nature
has undergone a subtle shift. It will be like wearing math
glasses…numerical patterns, geometry, and proportional reasoning will be
everywhere!
Here is your task…
v Each week you will take pictures of any patterns you see in nature.
Although the human world is filled with patterns (many of which are
designs of nature!), I will ask that you focus your data collection on
natural things. I am intentionally asking you to cross over the
seasons, as you might find that the winter world will reveal some
patterns that you might not have recognized or seen in the autumn world.
You MUST take note of the date and location of your photos.
v You
will view your collection searching for the photos that present the
best opportunity to talk about the math and you will post them to your
very own blog. Video
may also be uploaded, but be sure that the video captures either the
pattern or the cause of the patterning you have found.
v Then comes the research and writing! Your
blog posts will need to discuss the mathematics in nature, mathematics
that you intuitively understand, but also writing that includes research
you have found about your subject.
For example, you might take pictures of tree branching, and then use
the internet or book to discover more about tree branch patterns. Your
blog will need to include date and location of pictures and cite any
sources you have used to speak about your new understanding of these
patterns. One blog posting a week minimum.
v
You will also be responsible for thoughtfully discussing and
commenting on one other person’s blog post. You will only be assessed
on one blog post per week.
Project Due Dates: Fridays weekly through December 2013
Voyager Kidblog - Directions
-
Login using Mr. Merrill’s email address – amerrill@cssu.org
-
Click on Login – select your name and use the password – voyager (unless the password was changed by the student)
Click on Ms. O’Brien’s page. Re-read the project description and get ideas from there.
Once you are clear what you are doing, create a NEW Post on your blog page.
Then
comment on someone’s posting. Try to vary the people you comment to so
that each member of the team gets feedback and ideas from you.
Comments
should be specific to the mathematics, not compliments or good jobs! I
want you to share what you learned or were curious about in the
mathematics of the photo.
____________________________________________________________________________
Patterns and Math in Nature – Photographic subjects
This
list was not designed to be all of the possible ideas, but potentially
generate some creativity and excitement about all of the possibilities
for your mathematics and patterning project. This is not an exhaustive
list. Please feel free to let Ms. O know if you have an idea that is
not on here and give it a go! Please feel free to develop themes that
might make things more interesting for you!
Leaves (ie, dried dandelions, sunflowers, asters)
Flowers
Vegetables and fruits
Seeds, pinecones and seed heads
Flying patterns of birds
Bird calls and other sounds with patterns
Branch design (roots, leaves, rivers or tree branches)
Patterns in sand or mud made by water or wind
Fur and skin patterns
Rocks, soil structures
Moving water or raindrops
Leaves blowing in circles
Patterns of growth (ie. Cattails or maple trees in bunches)
Bubble patterns
Animal tracks
Things with lines of symmetry (ie. Human face, sumac branch)
Shells and other sea creatures
Sunrays and clouds
Time patterns (daylight hours)
Stars and moon
Ferns
Cactus
Mushrooms
Butterflies and other insect
Reflections
Aerial views
Tree bark
Rainbows
Snowflakes and ice
Spiderwebs
Lichen
Fish
Animals
Pets
Berries on trees
Stems (celery, tree trunks)
Fingerprints
Human body
Crystals, gems
Honeycomb/beehives
Blog about the Mathematics
When
you discuss the mathematics of your photos, it will help to use some of
the terms and concepts below as a way to stimulate discussion in your
blog. I have provided basic definitions of these terms so that you
might know when to search for more information about your photographic
subjects. This is not an exhaustive list.
7th Grade Math
A
Summer Math Review Packet has been sent home. Students need to work
through the skill pages and then pass in the “Starter Sheets A1-D1 for a
grade when school begins. 7th graders have also created a Khan Academy
log-in.( www.khanacademy.org
) The Khan Academy Website has many useful resources in all subject
areas. Spending some time reviewing basic math skills and exploring
pre-algebra topics would be a great way to get prepared for our math
class next year.
8th Grade Math
A
Summer Review will be sent to you at the beginning of summer. This
packet will review important pre-algebra topics to get you prepared for
our CMP8 class in September. I would also encourage you to review math
concepts using the Khan Academy website. (www.khanacademy.org)
7th/8th Grade Science
Every
year WCS hosts a science fair. Each student selects a topic, creates a
testable question, an experiment plan, carries out the experiment,
collects data, writes a science lab report and finally creates a visual
for the science fair. The summer is a great time to start thinking about
your topic and there are many websites that can help you such as
Science Buddies:
