Hi, All!
As we wrap up the 3rd quarter, questions about the middle school are starting to arise. Who better to answer some of these questions than Mrs. Margo Bloomquist, WHMS guidance counselor for this class. Here are some pearls for you to ponder.
· Organization is one of the most important components to success in middle school.
o All students are required to have an assignment notebook (WHMS provides them to students). Students use them to record assignments (daily and monthly) and use them as a pass to go between classrooms. Parents should monitor their child’s assignments each day – this can be done via the assignment notebook or via an online calendar each week – that can be checked regularly.
o Regular locker cleanouts are quite helpful – maybe do this once a week or every two weeks to keep items in order and “easy” to find. House teachers will build these into the school day – about one per quarter during STP. Parents will come after school – sometimes – to help their kids do this when they have more time to get it done.
· A typical 6th grader spends 60 minutes a night on homework – focusing on assignments, studying for a future test, or reading. Students should have a place at home (free from the tv) to complete work. Students should refer to their assignment notebook, homework calendar, or infinite campus to determine what is to be done in an evening.
· Students have a study period (STP) every day - except Thursday – to work on homework. This is 26 minutes in length.
· Parents may want to get their children to bed earlier – try this a week prior to starting middle school. Then, have the kids get up earlier as well. This may help them transition to our early start time. Just remember, the adults struggle with this too J Eventually, they will make the adjustment – we all do…it just takes a couple of full weeks of school. Then, stick to a regular bed time – this will help the kids’ systems to adjust…
o We have an ACE Transition Class first quarter for all of our 6th graders. At this time, they will be given another tour of the building and will learn how to take notes, tests, set-up lockers, etc. In addition, teachers will help students determine a system for organization – color coded folders and notebooks, one accordion folder for all assignments, morning binder vs. afternoon binder, etc.
· At registration in August, students will get 2 locks. One lock is for their school materials (near their house classes) and one lock is for their gym clothes (in the locker room). The combinations are the same so that they only have to memorize one combination. Students should write down the combination in their assignment notebooks. Students should practice this combination at home – over and over – so that when they have to do it at school, they are better at doing it at school.
· The building will be open in August (dates will be published to parents at registration) for students to repeatedly “walk” their schedules. Students can then become more familiar with the set-up of WHMS – which is really made up of 2 rectangles - side by side. At the beginning of the year, teachers will give 6th graders more time (on top of the 4 minute passing time) to get to their classes. So, they do not have to worry about the time in between classes – for a little while…
· We encourage parents to get their children involved in activities at WHMS. We recommend each child to be involved in at least one afterschool activity per quarter. We want them to meet new friends and to be connected to our school community.
Just remember, students come into our building at different places (developmentally) with these things in place – we work to support them throughout their middle school journey. WHMS is a wonderful place and if families need help along the way, there are a lot of people here to help them. If students/parents are not sure what to do to help their children, tell them to call their child’s house teacher or counselor next year. We help families with these things all of the time! We know that the middle school years can be difficult. In order to make these years easier, we will be a partner with them in this endeavor.
Thanks, Margo!
Parents, please let us know if there is anything we can help with!
Cindy Stemper
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Celebration of Words
On Tuesday, we are headed into the computer lab. As part of our celebreation of completing our poetry unit, we are going to play with words. One thing that poets do so well is to play with words and build vocabulary. Check them out and have some fun with us....and words!
WORDO
SeekAWord
WordMagnets
Joggle
FowlWords
WORDO
SeekAWord
WordMagnets
Joggle
FowlWords
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday Newsletter 3/10
Hello, Fifth Grade Families of Room 210!
I think we are finally starting to recover from the winter bugs. We have sanitized, disinfected, and scoured. Many students were out with strepp or stomach flu. We are now looking forward to being able to open up the windows and let in some fresh air!!
In math, we have concluded a very challenging unit on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and mixed numbers. While we will continue to review these important concepts, we have moved into a unit now on coordinate planes and geometry. The kids kicked off the unit by playing a game similar to Battleship where they needed to learn how to call and record ordered pairs.
I am enjoying reading the latest writing projects. Yesterday students turned in an anthology of original poetry. At least six of the poems had to be biographical in topic. They also had to demonstrate a variety of forms and poetic techniques which we studied throughout the unit. They will be bringing home their poems to share with you next week. Many of the students enjoyed writing in this genre.
In science, we have been enjoying experiments in the area of chemistry. We will have our quiz today on our first investigation where we learned about solutions and mixtures. We created mixtures, dissolved solids, evaporated liquids, concocted solutions, and examined crystals.
Now we'll take a quick trip back to Social Studies and pick up at the Declaration of Independence. Social Studies once again provides us with not only a chance to learn content, but a chance to apply our reading skills to non-fiction text. We are focusing on determining importance, important versus interesting, and fact versus opinion. The students are working on becoming note-takers. The Declaration also gives us a wonderful opportunity to explore vocabulary!
The kids are working on their comprehension skills in reading as well, of course. They are currently paired with a partner to read a book together and discuss it along the way. By working with a students who reads at a similar level, the kids are great models for thinking and reading strategies. It is fun to eavesdrop and evaluate their discussions.
Special thanks to those families who provided treats for our Forensic celebration! We appreciate those of you who were able to attend as well!!
A few important dates:
March 15th Please have your Recognition Pictures in (Toddler and Current)
March 18th Band and Orchestra Recital 2:00 in the Cafeteria
March 24th and 25th No Class for Students
March 30th Report Cards Sent Home
April 1 WHMS t-shirt orders due//We will have "try-ons" Friday afternoon
Have a wonderful day!
Cindy Stemper
I think we are finally starting to recover from the winter bugs. We have sanitized, disinfected, and scoured. Many students were out with strepp or stomach flu. We are now looking forward to being able to open up the windows and let in some fresh air!!
In math, we have concluded a very challenging unit on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and mixed numbers. While we will continue to review these important concepts, we have moved into a unit now on coordinate planes and geometry. The kids kicked off the unit by playing a game similar to Battleship where they needed to learn how to call and record ordered pairs.
I am enjoying reading the latest writing projects. Yesterday students turned in an anthology of original poetry. At least six of the poems had to be biographical in topic. They also had to demonstrate a variety of forms and poetic techniques which we studied throughout the unit. They will be bringing home their poems to share with you next week. Many of the students enjoyed writing in this genre.
In science, we have been enjoying experiments in the area of chemistry. We will have our quiz today on our first investigation where we learned about solutions and mixtures. We created mixtures, dissolved solids, evaporated liquids, concocted solutions, and examined crystals.
Now we'll take a quick trip back to Social Studies and pick up at the Declaration of Independence. Social Studies once again provides us with not only a chance to learn content, but a chance to apply our reading skills to non-fiction text. We are focusing on determining importance, important versus interesting, and fact versus opinion. The students are working on becoming note-takers. The Declaration also gives us a wonderful opportunity to explore vocabulary!
The kids are working on their comprehension skills in reading as well, of course. They are currently paired with a partner to read a book together and discuss it along the way. By working with a students who reads at a similar level, the kids are great models for thinking and reading strategies. It is fun to eavesdrop and evaluate their discussions.
Special thanks to those families who provided treats for our Forensic celebration! We appreciate those of you who were able to attend as well!!
A few important dates:
March 15th Please have your Recognition Pictures in (Toddler and Current)
March 18th Band and Orchestra Recital 2:00 in the Cafeteria
March 24th and 25th No Class for Students
March 30th Report Cards Sent Home
April 1 WHMS t-shirt orders due//We will have "try-ons" Friday afternoon
Have a wonderful day!
Cindy Stemper
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
St. David's Day Celebration
Daniel shared with us the Welsh tradition of celebrating St. David's Day. He even brought in a special treat...his Mom's delicious Welsh Cakes. We loved them so much, we asked her to share the recipe. Here it is:
Daniel's mum's Welsh Cakes
225g plain flour ( all purpose flour)
85g caster sugar ( cane sugar- granulated white)
½ tsp mixed spice ( NOT allspice)
½ tsp baking powder
100g butter, cut into small pieces ( I used the brand Pulgra unsalted as this is european style butter, Kerrygold will also do, available from Fresh Market. Please note that if sweet cream butter is used it will give a different flavour but one that may be preferred)
50g currants
1 egg, beaten
splash of milk
Method
Tip the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Then add the cubed butter rubbing in with fingertips until the dry mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the currants. Work the egg into the mixture until you have soft dough, adding a splash of milk if it seems a little dry - it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger or thinner. Cut out rounds using a 6cm cutter, re-rolling any trimmings. Grease a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan with a small amount of butter and place over a medium heat. Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown and cooked through. While still warm I like to sprinkle with more sugar on both sides. ENJOY!
Cakes will stay fresh in a tin for 1 week
Enjoy! Thanks, Daniel and Family!!
Daniel's mum's Welsh Cakes
225g plain flour ( all purpose flour)
85g caster sugar ( cane sugar- granulated white)
½ tsp mixed spice ( NOT allspice)
½ tsp baking powder
100g butter, cut into small pieces ( I used the brand Pulgra unsalted as this is european style butter, Kerrygold will also do, available from Fresh Market. Please note that if sweet cream butter is used it will give a different flavour but one that may be preferred)
50g currants
1 egg, beaten
splash of milk
Method
Tip the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Then add the cubed butter rubbing in with fingertips until the dry mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the currants. Work the egg into the mixture until you have soft dough, adding a splash of milk if it seems a little dry - it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger or thinner. Cut out rounds using a 6cm cutter, re-rolling any trimmings. Grease a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan with a small amount of butter and place over a medium heat. Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown and cooked through. While still warm I like to sprinkle with more sugar on both sides. ENJOY!
Cakes will stay fresh in a tin for 1 week
Enjoy! Thanks, Daniel and Family!!
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