Cluster 6 Newsletter

November 17, 2023

Hello Cluster 6 families and caregivers!

The PowerSchool portal is open for students and families and is the best way for families to check on their student’s progress and monitor for missing work. The link and the login information was sent to students and families in an email from Principal Chen Fein earlier in the year (please reach out to your child’s advisor if you need help logging in). Please encourage your student to check PowerSchool regularly.

English

Nov 7th- Nov. 21st-

Students are continuing with their whole class novel, Warcross by Marie Lu. I would ask that, if possible, you please check-in with your student regarding their at home reading progress and commitment to keeping up with the daily reading. We are hoping that students will arrive to class each day, prepared for class, by having completed the reading. Click here to see a graph explaining the positive impact of reading just 20 minutes each day.

As we continue reading through our novel, students are working on developing their strength in CER writing. They are using (direct) evidence from the text to support their claim and trying “to reason”- the skill of explaining to the reader how their evidence proves the claim that they have made in their writing. It is a skill that we will practice throughout the year in preparation for high school and persuasive/argumentative writing.

As students are reading, they are focusing on character and setting- but the focus will soon change to include deeper elements of the plot (including conflicts). They have done a fantastic job learning from the mini-lessons included in the unit and hopefully this enthusiasm continues with their learning. I’ve very much enjoyed their engagement during our classwork.

We will continue for the next few weeks with Warcross and finish with a CER for the students to show their mastery (or improvements) in their writing.

Please be aware that grades are updated on PowerSchool. If there are any questions or concerns, please encourage your child to set up a time to speak to me. As students are preparing for high school, it is important that they are taking ownership of their work habits, including submitting assignments on time and being prepared for class each day.

Civics

In Civics class, we are working on our last assessment for our Structure of Government/Elections Unit, our “Who serves in Government?” Presentations. After all of our work studying the three branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial) and the three levels of government (federal, state and local), students are completing research on a person of their choice who serves our country now or in the past. Your kids will be making a presentation next week, using their speaking skills to teach the class about their government official.

We also learned all about last week’s local election and local and state government in general. Ask your child to use “municipal” in a sentence! We learned about the electoral college to prepare for next year’s presidential elections. Thank you to everyone who voted last week. We love civic engagement!

After we come back from Thanksgiving break, we will start our Origins of Democracy unit, going all the way back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans to understand how the founders of the United States created our democracy. We pay special attention to the indigenous influence of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy on our Constitution. Also in December, our students get the chance to write about how Martin Luther King, Jr.’s values are shown right here in Watertown for the annual MLK Essay contest sponsored by the World in Watertown community organization.

Current Learning Targets:

I can name and describe people who represent Americans in our government.
I can describe the structure of local government in Massachusetts, and name services it provides for me.
I can explain how we elect the President, and how the electoral college works.

Math

All math students have been learning about slope and y-intercept, which are the main foundational pieces of linear relationships. Slope describes a constant rate of change, while y-intercept tells us where a relationship may "start," in many real-world scenarios. Linear relationships allow us to recognize patterns, and tie them to graphs, tables, and equations. Becoming comfortable with all three of these representations is a building block for many other different types of relationships. Understanding linear relationships also helps us to understand how to model a situation, such as making a prediction based on a set of data.

The Algebra class will expand their learning to different relationships and representations soon, while the 8th grade math classes will move towards solving to find solutions of equations.

Science

We are currently in a 3-week unit on seasons, weather, and climate. This mini-unit ties together content from a number of different topics, including movement of Earth within the solar system, air currents and water currents, and the greenhouse effect. We will have a single quiz for this unit on Friday, December 1.

Learning Objectives for Seasons/Weather/Climate Unit:

Our planet and its seasons→students will be able to:

Create and use models to describe the relationship between the Earth and sun to explain our seasons.
Examine how the tilt of Earth’s axis leads to uneven heating of Earth’s surface.
Describe how the axis of Earth became tilted and how that connects to the formation of our moon.

Weather, climate, and climate change→students will be able to:

Describe how air masses interact to create weather patterns.
Evaluate how the ocean and its currents affect the weather and climate of various regions.
Differentiate between weather and climate.
Interpret data that show how the planet’s climate has changed since the increase in burning of fossil fuels.
Explore the formation of and distribution of fossil fuel resources on Earth.
Examine how coastal areas and other low-lying areas may be affected by changes in our climate in the future.