Team Chefchaouen

Ms. Stacey Gathers, 6th Grade Assistant Principal: Stacey.Gathers@k12.dc.gov

Mr. Marcus Brown, Math 6 and 7: marcus.brown@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Katlyn Clark, Multi Language Learning Specialist: katlyn.clark@k12.dc.gov

Mrs. Alease Medlock, Special Education: alease.medlock@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Ellie Sagan, Science: Ellie.Sagan@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Trenkle, World Geography and Cultures: Amy.Trenkle@k12.dc.gov

Please send notes to the attendance office when a child is absent. Emails should be sent to dealattendance@k12.dc.gov . Thank you for your support!!

Hello all, and welcome to 6th grade and Team Chefchaouen! We’re thrilled to have your child on our team, and we look forward to spending a fantastic year of learning together. This newsletter will be your guide to upcoming activities, important dates and assignments, special announcements, and more.

Team Chefchaouen students and teachers are shouting each other out! Read all about these peer and team inspired shout outs! This newsletter will be updated weekly and the latest edition can always be found in this newsletter! :)

https://www.smore.com/g3rez

All Deal students are expected to be in class and ready to learn promptly at 8:45 AM daily. To help build strong, healthy habits and ensure that students do not miss instructional time, the 6th grade team is assigning tardy hall to students who arrive to school after 9 AM without an excuse or who have established a pattern of late arrivals that are resulting in lost learning time. Students who are assigned tardy hall will stay after school with Ms. Watson, 6th grade dean, until 4:15 PM.

Parents and guardians, please check with your student to review the contents of the red folder and their agenda. We use both in 6th grade to keep track of assignments, study materials, and due dates. Please set aside dedicated time once or twice a week, with your student, to review this folder and clean it out as necessary. It is a great way to hear what your student is learning about and to plan for daily and upcoming activities and assignments. We are actively working to build strong routines now that will help your student be set for success in middle school and in life.

• Thursday, March 28th - Field Trip (information in the Geography section)
• Friday, April 5th - End of Quarter 3

This week in Geography students completed their Unit 5 Summative and missing/retakes for form As and Ds. Students took the GeoBee Test Round 1 on Wednesday (results to be posted on Monday!). All students did a great job of using their geographic skills and powers. 😊 We also started our mini unit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. Students all selected one and next week will dive deeper into what each one means. On Friday we had our pre-visit lesson with the National Portrait Gallery for our field trip this coming Thursday. Students learned what the elements of a portrait are and how to read portraiture.

Next week we will start with our pre-visit lesson with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and then work on our SDGs. Students will have their field trip on Thursday (see more info below).

Thank you to all for their patience with the Flipgrid...I’ve been working with our contact in Central Office and *think* we have solved the issue. The new code is in Canvas and students must log in through their Microsoft (DCPS) credentials.

I really enjoyed our Student Led Conferences last week! One of the goals that a lot of students are working towards is writing down assignments and checking their agendas at home. On Monday I will have a handout for all students that is a homework log that they can keep in their folder to carry back and forth if a student no longer has their agenda or needs another way to keep track of assignments. This homework log can be used for all classes. Please look for it on Monday.

Kudos to all students who signed up for our Poblano Pepper party. Chat GPT randomly selected the 25 participants (of the 51 who signed up) and we enjoyed vegan chili and honey poblano corn muffins---both with the peppers from our classroom garden. Next up: Red and Golden Cherry Tomatoes. Here we grow!!!

We have our field trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) coming up next week. Our pre-visit with SAAM is today (Friday) and with NPG on Monday. Students will have an outcome and celebration as a result of both partnerships. These outcomes will be posted in Canvas when shared with students. Both visits are tied to our curriculum in different ways.

For our field trip on Thursday, 3/28, students need to arrive by 8:45 am and report to 1st period as they would on a regular day. Buses will pick us up and we will travel to the museum. Half of the students will start with NPG, the other with SAAM. We will eat lunch together, and then switch museum groups. We will return to Deal between 2 and 2:30 pm. Students will not follow their schedule when they return, in stead they will begin writing their creative writing for SAAM in their first period class. Students only need to bring a bagged lunch to eat at the museum (please bring food that does not need to be refrigerated or heated). No money is needed for the trip.

I’ve created an Amazon wishlist of supplies for our classroom. Any donations support all students on Team Chefchaouen in our daily activities. Thank you in advance for your continued support! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/FKRNR7Q6JU6?ref_=wl_share Thank you for kind and generous gifts that have been sent—they are already being put to use!!!

Math 6

Math 6 students this week worked on displaying mastery of analyzing expressions using order of operation and in the coming week students will be solving one and two step algebraic equations.

Math 7

Math 7 students this week worked on solving one and two step algebraic equations and In the coming week students will begin solving and graphing one and two step equations.

We are offering the iReady Spring Sprint on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Tuesday, March 19th to Thursday, April 11th. This program will be held after school from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Students will be taught lessons by Deal teachers on Tuesdays and are expected to pass the iReady lesson aligned to that content on the Thursday of each week. This will strategically push them to be on or above grade level by the End of Year iReady Assessment in June and a Level 4 or 5 on the DC CAPE assessment in April/May.

Starting on 2/12 classes will begin competing against other grade level periods in a “CFU (Daily) Challenge” where students will receive and complete a “Check For Understanding Question” based on the current day’s lesson. Teams with the highest average will receive an Incentive Day reward. This 1-3 question assignment will be graded and submitted daily in Aspen based on the following rubric:

• If provided a retake opportunity.. 100-Correct/80-Correct After Re-TEACH/ 65-Incorrect After Reteach
• If not provided retake opportunity... 100-Correct/75-Incorrect

In an attempt to provide extended help outside of the classroom I am making the Virtual Classroom available after school from Monday – Wednesday 6pm to 8pm for students to take additional notes and get extra help from the teacher with the following scheduled days: Mondays –Math 6, Tuesdays –Math 7, Wednesdays –Both. Students will be supervised while in the Virtual Classroom during these sessions and the Virtual Spaces will remain closed during all other hours unless announced otherwise, as students are not permitted to be in the virtual spaces during school hours nor unsupervised.

Students are required to pass one iready assignment by Monday morning each week. Students when given an option are encouraged to complete teacher assigned lessons before my-path lessons however either are acceptable to reach the minimum weekly requirement. Students having zero’s in their gradebook for not having previously passed the minimum weekly requirement have the opportunity to replace them if they have exceeded the minimum weekly amount for that week. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays can attend irecess where students may work on iready assignments in Mr. Brown’s classroom during their recess period. This is HIGHLY encouraged for those needing to make up iready lessons.

This week our students will be delving deeper into our weather patterns units, exploring the intricate connections they have with the water cycle. This topic offers an enriching educational experience that not only enhances our students' understanding of the natural world but also fosters critical thinking and scientific inquiry.

As part of this exploration, we want to encourage our students to immerse themselves fully in the learning process. Therefore, there will be no homework assigned this week. Instead, we encourage students to utilize this time as an opportunity to catch up on any missing assignments or to engage in additional study to reinforce their understanding of previous topics covered in class.

Thank you to everyone who came to student-led conferences on Thursday! As a reminder, all students must bring their required materials (e.g. pencils) to class every day. Please ask your student if they are running low!

Blooket is a fantastic tool that helps students learn the materials in a series of flashcards mini games. I highly recommend that students make an account - they are free and are a fantastic study resource. Once students make an account, they can click on the links in Canvas . Once they click on the assignment, a gray box will pop up, since Canvas cannot host Blooket games. Please tell your children to click the name of the Blooket (above the gray box) to be redirected to the website. Happy Studying!

My wishlist link should hopefully be working again! Thank you to everyone who has donated - I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness ❤️

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/0R5ZjVv?ref_=wl_share

Please ensure that your students are working on their systems of organization!

We began a new unit titled Weather Patterns this week. This week, we connected weather to our topics from our previous unit, but new information and vocabulary specific to this unit will begin next week. Below is a great picture to discuss with your student this week to give them a first introduction to some of these weather-specific vocabulary words and begin to piece together different processes.

Want to support my classroom? My amazon wishlist is below!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/6RAHMLS3MUIO?ref_=wl_share

Each month our school community celebrates one of our IB Learner Traits. The team teachers discuss who to nominate and chooses two students from our Team Chefchaouen students who have demonstrated this characteristic in all of our classes. Stay tuned as we continue to celebrate all year!

Each month our school community celebrates one of our IB Learner Traits. The team teachers discuss who to nominate and chooses two students from our Team Chefchaouen students who have demonstrated this characteristic in all of our classes. Stay tuned as we continue to celebrate all year, and make sure to shout out our past learners!

Congratulations to Orla Ventresca and Pedro Braga who are recognized as Team Chefchaouen's Thinkers for the month of February IB Learner Profiles. Thinkers are people who exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively. They recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

For the month of January, we celebrate the IB Learning trait of Reflective and recognize Jack Maciocha and Sarem Dawit. Students who are REFLECTIVE know what they are good at and what they’re not. They try to think about these things, and they make changes where they can. They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and consider their personal strengths and weaknesses in a constructive manner.

For the month of December, we celebrate the IB Learning trait of Knowledgeable and recognize Sathvik Dutta-Gupta and Violet Anello. Knowledgeable learners explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In doing so, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.

Congratulations to Kayla Perez-Sandoval and Jesse Poehlman for being selected as Team Chefchaouen's Caring students for the month of November! Students who are CARING want people around them to be happy and are sensitive to their needs. They think about the world and work to take care of their community and the environment. They remember to treat others how they themselves would like to be treated.

Congratulations to Tristan Evans and Iris Campbell for being selected as Team Chefchaouen's Inquirer students for the Month of October! Inquirers nurture curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. They know how to learn independently and with others. They learn with enthusiasm and sustain their love of learning throughout life.

Congratulations to Wyatt Hartig and Samayah Stephens for being selected as Team Chefchaouen's Risk Taker students for the Month of September! This means students exhibit the IB learner profile of a student who approaches uncertainty with forethoughts and determination; Risk-takers work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. Risk-Takers are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.

Don't miss out on information and resources from the Deal MS Library! Read the library newsletter! The latest edition features reading recommendations for the holidays, Mr. Reichlen's Must Reads list for December, Information about the Washington Wizards' Winter Reading Challenge, and more! Click the link to read the newsletter:

https://www.smore.com/vzaqf2

Monday, 3/4/24 is Read Across America Day. In support, Mr. Reichlen has created two Flipgrid video challenges. One for staff and one for students. The idea is two record a short video using the link below. Parents and families can also record a video using the teacher and staff link

Students will use the app Flipgrid to make a 90-second video to promote a book that they have enjoyed or read a passage from either a book or poem. Students can also read a creative work that they have authored. Flipgrid is a Microsoft app so it can be accessed through the student's 365 portal. When a student clicks on the link below, they should login using the "Microsoft Login" option.

https://flip.com/66f3df9b - Student challenge

https://flip.com/f21ed523 - Teacher and staff challenge (Also available to parents and families).

Please reach out to Mr. Reichlen with any questions about the process at: stephen.reichlen@k12.dc.gov. The window for submissions is open until March 15th.

📍 3815 Fort Drive NW, Washington DC 20008

☎️ 202-939-2010

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