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.

• Monday, March 4th - Read Across America Day (information in the library section)
• Thursday, March 14th - Family Conferences
• Friday, April 5th - End of Quarter 3

• Family Conferences are March 14th – Sign-up Beginning Monday, March 4th

  Deal will host IN PERSON conferences on Thursday, March 14th from 12-7pm. Families of 6th and 7th grade students will engage in Student-Led Conferences, empowering students to take ownership of their learning, progress, and achievements. Families will make one appointment (15 minutes) with their student’s Advisory teacher. Students will work with their Advisor in advance of conference day to lead a discussion of their goals, progress, and achievements. Students must attend the conference with their family member(s).

  Beginning Monday, March 4th at 8am please visit https://ptcfast.com/schools/Alice_Deal_Middle_School for appointments. Please note, the system will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, March 12th. The system is available in English and Spanish and families may request conference interpretation for any language by stating the language need in the special request field.

  Hints for a successful student-led conference:

  • Make sure you have seen your student’s Term 2 Report Card and check Aspen in the week before your conference. Student-led conferences will not focus on the nuances of a student’s grade in a specific class but rather look holistically at a student’s academic goals, progress, and achievements. Families should use Aspen to monitor students’ grades and attendance throughout the school year and address concerns early, if necessary.
  • Arrive a few minutes before your conference. It will be helpful to have time to transition into the building and to the classroom without being in a rush.
  • Need more support? Assistant Principals, Counselors, Deans, and Social Workers will be available in their offices on conference day for drop-in check-ins or to support families that have specific concerns not addressed by the Student-led Conference format.

This past week in Geography students dove into the topic of population and population growth! It’s been a busy week! Students participated in a simulation on population growth, learned new vocabulary, read a secondary text, and took a formative using evidence from our week. On Friday we made Flipgrids about our lives using the cultural iceberg as a reference point. The Flipgrids were then shared with our partner school in Germany. Next week they will post videos about their lives using the cultural iceberg and we will post follow up questions on their videos.

Next week in Geography we will start the week with another simulation (on urbanization) and discuss how to analyze political cartoons. Students will practice as a whole class, in small groups, and individually. We will take a formative on Wednesday in class, demonstrating our understanding of political cartoon analysis.

There will be no CEA next week since it’s a short week.

Congratulations to first period who earned their class incentive and will celebrate during lunch/recess on Monday, 3/11.

I look forward to seeing my advisory students and their parents/guardians for student led conferences on Thursday!

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 week Math 6 students looked at evaluating expressions containing exponents. This week students will continue working on evaluating simplifying expressions. Students will celebrate Pi-Day and work on calculating area and circumference.

Math 7

This week Math 7 students looked at simplifying and evaluating expressions containing expressions. This week students will continue working on evaluating, simplifying, and solving equations and expressions. Students will celebrate Pi-Day and work on calculating area and circumference .

All Deal students will be participating in Pi Day activities. Our Math 6 students will develop the concept of pi in their math class by participating in an inquiry lesson. They will examine the ratio between a circle's diameter and circumference, and our Math 7 students will find the volume of cylindrical objects using pi.

After finishing their fun activities, they will enjoy circular treats. Students are allowed to bring in circular treats. We are kindly asking you for some circular treats for our students.

Thanks for your usual support!

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.

Last week, students delved into the intriguing concept of the Coriolis effect, exploring its influence on various phenomena, including ocean currents and prevailing winds. Through engaging discussions and hands-on activities, they gained a deeper understanding of how these forces interact and shape our planet's dynamics. Additionally, students investigated the factors behind ocean currents' circulation, uncovering the complex interplay of temperature, wind patterns, and Earth's rotation.

Building upon this foundation, next week's focus will shift to investigation weather patterns. Additionally, students will complete their term 3 root summative. To aid in their preparation, students will receive a comprehensive study guide in class on Monday, due on Wednesday, March 13th. This upcoming assessment presents an opportunity for students to demonstrate their proficiency and further enhance their academic growth.

On Friday I told students in most of my classes that they have to bring either a roll of paper towels for my classroom or a pack of pencils to keep in their locker. Please ask your student if they have pencils at school - I have around 25 students who ask me for a pencil every day, and more who ask at least once a week.

The Roots Summative for the 3rd Quarter is on Wednesday, March 13th! Please ensure that your scientist is studying the Blooket on Canvas under Modules --> Roots Q3!! They can either use the non-account link or the account link (hopefully) and they should aim to complete it at least 3 times. Reminders about Blooket below!

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!

English Language students have been taking the ACCESS test to measure their understanding of English Speaking, Writing, Listening, and Reading. This also means that ELL students have been missing some class to take the test. I want to encourage parents and guardians to follow up with their students to make sure they do not feel like they are falling behind in the classes they are missing to test. I would also encourage all English Language students to come to Thursday team tutoring after school to help support them in classes they may have missed due to testing.

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

Mr. Reichlen is hosting 3 sessions open to families on Parent Teacher Conference Day. They will each run approximately 40 mins. The goal is to cover resources from DCPL that can help students prepare for DC CAPE. These tools can also be used for general homework help and tutoring. All these platforms are free. Since these tools require a DC library card, it is best to have parents/ guardians present to assist with set-up and sign-up for library cards. Though we are ultimately looking to target level 3 students for intervention, these sessions will be available to all families. These sessions are open on a first come first serve basis. Mr. Reichlen will be promoting them on PTC day and families are welcome to stop in when it is most convenient. Parents are also free to stop in during other times of the day if they are not able to attend the session times below or reach out to Mr. Reichlen at stephen.reichlen@k12.dc.gov.

Session 1: 12:30-1:15pm

Session 2: 2:30-3:15pm

Session 3: 5:30-6:15pm

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.

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