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.

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.

• Tuesday, April 30th - Friday, May 10th: DC CAPE Testing
  
• Monday, May 27th: Memorial Day, No School
• Tuesday, June 4th: No School
• Monday, June 17th: Last Day of School

Upcoming DCPS Assessments: Deal students will engage in DC Cape (previously known as PARCC) assessments as follows. Please help ensure your students arrive on-time as testing begins promptly at 9 am. Testing for students without an extended time accommodation will end by approximately 11 am.

Students should bring pencils, a printed book to read (no e-readers are permitted!), and wired headphones if they have personal ones they care to use. Pencils and headphones will be provided for students who do not bring their own.

· Tues., April 30 - Thurs., May 2: Math (all grades)

· Mon., May 6 - Wed., May 8: ELA (all grades)

· Thurs., May 9 -and Fri., May 10: Science (8th grade only)

Please view the letter from the Chancellor regarding upcoming DCPS Summative Assessments.

It is that time of year for ENROLLMENT. To kick-off Enrollment Season, there will be a friendly Homeroom competition! The class that has the highest enrollment percentage by next week May 1st will win a PIZZA PARTY! 🍕

Please ensure that you have enrolled online or come to Enrollment Day, this Saturday April 27th. The link to enroll is below. Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck! 🙂

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/

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!

April students of the month, Shar Bradley and Carl Seidelin, are open minded!! The IB Learner Profile states that open-minded students “critically appreciate (their) own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. (They) seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.” Congratulations, Chaouens!

This week in Geography we started our Unit 6: Economics---we have been learning related vocabulary, reading about market, command, and traditional economies, and taking notes on our graphic organizers—we even had a simulation. Students have readings to review, graphic organizers to study, and vocabulary to review. We will be reviewing next week in class. Students should study at home as well—a little every night! The Unit 6 summative is on Friday, May 3 in class. It is a traditional test with matching, multiple choice, and short response. There will be no CEA next week.

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

This past week Math 7 students worked on probability and sampling in preparation for DC CAPE, and this upcoming week students will be taking the DCCAPE Assessment. Please encourage students to study their notes, eat a healthy breakfast and arrive at school prepared to do their best. Next week students will also be given a Statistic Project that will count as a Summative Assessment in the 4th quarter.

I have been made aware of some students receiving an S as Math grade on their report card. Any students with this or any other pending issues should see me on Monday 4/29 to discuss and rectify.

Math 7

This past week Math 7 students worked on probability and sampling in preparation for DC CAPE, and this upcoming week students will be taking the DCCAPE Assessment. Please encourage students to study their notes, eat a healthy breakfast and arrive at school prepared to do their best. Next week students will also be given a Statistic Project that will count as a Summative Assessment in the 4th quarter.

I have been made aware of some students receiving an S as Math grade on their report card. Any students with this or any other pending issues should see me on Monday 4/29 to discuss and rectify.

Students in predetermined groups will complete a Check For Understanding Question to determine mastery of the day’s concept. These groups will compete against one another for a group reward on Incentive Fridays (occurring every other Friday)

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.

iRecess is an opportunity for students to have a designated safe space to work on Math HW, Classwork, and Makeup Work, as well as work from other content areas. Due to the fact that students have been disruptive in the hallways in transitioning from recess, students will have to get a “iRecess pass” prior to lunch in order to attend. There will also be a 15 person limit to attendees where “iRecess Passes” will be returned. If not returned, then the attendee limit with be adjusted according to the available number of “iRecess Passes”

REMINDER - When Mr. Brown is not present, i-Recess is cancelled.

Welcome back from Spring Break, scientists! This past week we wrapped up our Weather and Water unit by learning how to interpret and create weather forecasts based on weather maps. We capped off this week by review for the Weather and Water Summative, which will be on Monday, 4/29.

Next week we will hit the ground running with our summative on Monday, before jumping into a project - Forecast Presentations! Students will be tasked with creating a weather forecast based on a map (provided in class) and presenting it in their classes. If your student needs some help, feel free to show them some example forecasts on YouTube or the weather channel.

Next week's roots are:

Cephalo = head (think encephalitis, cephalopod)

Gastro = stomach (think gastrologist, gastric)

Audi = hear (think audible, auditory)

Hetero = different (think heterogenous, heterozygous)

Duct = to lead (think conduct, deduction, aqueduct)

Keepers: mono, dia, fract, anthropo, auto, biblio, psych, derm, cardio

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!

As you know, CAPE testing is beginning next week! For some of our MLL students, testing began early. This may have caused them to miss some classes at the beginning of the day. Please feel free to reach out to teachers on our team if your student feels behind if they happened to miss a class, or encourage them to discuss it with their teachers at school.

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

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

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

Check out the April edition of Mr. Reichlen's library newsletter! This month's highlights include:

• April monthly theme resources for Autism Awareness, Jazz Appreciation, Earth Day, and National Poetry Month! Resources include library and SORA book collections and web links.

• Resources for students and families to get extra help with homework, test preparation, and live tutoring from the public library.

• Mr. Reichlen's Must Reads book recommendations and more!

Find and subscribe to the newsletter at: https://www.smore.com/u/stephenreichlen4

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 Team Chefchaouen’s IB Learner Profile Students of the month: Antonio Harrison and Eldana Getahun. This month we are featuring Balanced learners. Balanced learners understand the importance of intellectual, physical, and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.

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.

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