Friday, February 1, 2013

Hello everyone,

Happy to report that almost everyone is through with their NWEAs.  They did take up a fair amount of our week, but students who finished more quickly had some time for independent writing and work on their Capstone and Milestone projects.

Here are a few highlights from the week
  • We created Salem Witch Trial tableaus on Monday.  Students were asked to identify the scenario and each character who was portrayed.  Ask what your child's scene was, and which character they portrayed.
  • Nat's math section began the week by calculating the speed of sound (ask about the exploding rocket ship), and then moved forward with our graphing work.  Today, we made a huge leap in our examination of patterns - we now know how to generalize as well as specify.  Ask what a triangular number is - and for a challenge, ask if they can tall you the 50th triangular number.
  • In science, students went to water school at the USGS.  Ask them about capillary action and how they plan to test their theories next week.
  • We had a wonderful collaboration with grade 6 over the last few days.  Ask about the nature or zero, about our freehand circle drawing contest, and about the cultural (mis)understanding activity.
  • In espanol 7: What three fascinating facts are you finding out about Cuba?  How is Cuba different from the United States?
  • ...and espanol 8: What is the topic for your Costa Rica Presentation? Why did you choose that topic and how would you like to present to the class?
  • In Art, student absences are keeping our Las Meninas painting in production! Stay tuned- the new deadline is February Break.  Those who are finished with the initial work on their section of the painting have started creating eggs for the "Breakwater" Museum/Performance scheduled for Feb. 12
Upcoming
  • Don't forget to sign up for a winter conference (They begin this Tuesday)
  • Step-Up night this Wednesday, February 6.  (click for more details)
  • Next Wednesday, February 6 is a half day.
  • Click here for details about the Next All Parent Coffee, and the Four Square Tournament.
  • February Break is coming right up (No school Feb 18-22).
  • Thursday, Feb. 14 from 3:30-4:30 we will have our annual faculty-student basketball game in the Dan.
Have a great weekend everyone.
-Nat