Team Kathmandu: Week 27

Fri., Mar. 13: No School

Mon. Apr. 6: No School

April 13-17: Spring Break

Thurs., June 18: NEW LAST DAY OF SCHOOL*

*Changes due to missed snow/weather days

This short week in Geography we were busy! Students took their Unit 5 Assessment on Monday (Summ A scores are in Aspen, and Summ D scores will be finalized this weekend), and started our new unit: The Americas. Students have completed the political, physical, and thematic maps, along with vocabulary and spent Thursday reviewing. Students have their Map Quiz on Tuesday, 3/17. There are Seterra links to practice for the maps, as well as a jeopardy and a Blooket.

Next week we will begin our unit content on the Americas, starting off with a virtual field trip with the National Portrait Gallery. Students will be identifying the elements of portrayal and discussing global citizenship. Our students will be learning about the diverse cultures of the Americas and ultimately making a portrait of a global citizen and writing them a letter.

Students will also have CEA #20 due on Friday. Again, a shout out to the students who have been coming to Wednesday CEA recess club! They are rocking it and it’s nice to see the collaboration!

Thank you for the Pencil and Kleenex donations! We are set! I appreciate the donations as do the students! :)

Be sure to check out our GeoNewsletter, written by our own GeoScribes! Follow along and see the class through your students’ eyes! https://secure.smore.com/n/nbc3t

On Orientation Day students shared a song they would like to add to our class playlist. This Spotify playlist can be found here.

Pictures that are on our Kathmandu Can Do Attitude board can also be found here.

Amy Trenkle

amy.trenkle@k12.dc.gov

Classroom Wishlist

This week in Accelerated 6th Grade Math

This week students worked on completing their RCT Assessment. This week students will work on calculating volume and related concepts. Please encourage your child should take advantage of iRecess (a quiet space to work and get help during recess MWF), our Virtual Classroom (www.framevr.io/brownmath after school help available upon request), and our Parking Lot (an in class means to submit requests, reminders, and questions) which are amongst various resources available to students outside of their normal class periods (and Advisory) to help towards success. Students should see me about any makeup opportunities. and those Students more than 4 lessons behind on iReady assignments (or multiple grade levels behind at MOY testing) are REQUIRED to report to iRecess to complete multiple lessons weekly (Mon/Wed voluntary on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those not reporting will have the parents contacted to make them aware. Students reporting with receive incentive opportunities. Students and Resources available from Illustrative Mathematics to assist families with the curriculum we are following can be found at https://im.kendallhunt.com/MS/index.html.

This week in 7th Grade

This week students worked solving two step equations and inequalities and solving related word problems . This week students will take an RCT assessment on on solving two step equations and inequalities and related word problems

Please encourage your child should take advantage of iRecess (a quiet space to work and get help during recess MWF), our Virtual Classroom (www.framevr.io/brownmath after school help available upon request), and our Parking Lot (an in class means to submit requests, reminders, and questions) which are amongst various resources available to students outside of their normal class periods (and Advisory) to help towards success. Students should see me about any makeup opportunities. and those Students more than 4 lessons behind on iReady assignments are REQUIRED to report to iRecess to complete multiple lessons weekly (Mon/Wed voluntary on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those not reporting will have the parents contacted to make them aware. Students reporting with receive incentive opportunities. Students and Resources available from Illustrative Mathematics to assist families with the curriculum we are following can be found at https://im.kendallhunt.com/MS/index.html.

Summer Math Acceleration Camp (SMAC)

As you may know, Deal offers an in-person math acceleration program each year for students who are currently taking Math 6 or Math 7. Students who demonstrate mastery of standards on the Middle of Year (MOY) i-Ready and the End of Year i-Ready (EOY) i-Ready by earning the required score will be invited to participate in SMAC 2026.

We will also offer a summer online asynchronous opportunity for students who will not be available for SMAC. To be invited to participate in the online asynchronous acceleration program students must earn the required score on the MOY i-Ready assessment and share the reason why they are not available for SMAC.

• SMAC Boost | June 22 - 25; 9:00 - 12:00 noon (must attend all dates)

• SMAC Dates | June 29 - July 23; 9:00 - 12:00 noon (must attend all dates)

• Asynchronous Math Acceleration Program (Zearn) | June 22 - July 23

Please direct all questions to DealSummerMath@k12.dc.gov.
Attached is Deal’s Math Acceleration Policy

Thank you for your support

-Mr. Brown marcus.brown@k12.dc.gov

Hello scientists!

This week, students showed their knowledge of our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate unit with their Amplify Post Test AND showed their mastery of the 30 roots they learned for the 3rd quarter. Excellent work!

Next week, students will begin their 6th unit - Weather + Water. This unit deals with the water cycle, reading weather maps, predicting weather, and discussing natural disasters. Next week’s primary focus will be on heat transfer, phases of matter, and the water cycle, and close out with an exit ticket on the water cycle.

There are no more roots for this quarter – well done everyone!

-STEM summer program

The National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF) is offering its Explore STEM program this summer. This program includes building and coding robots, solving a crime scene, dissecting and diagnosing in medical labs, designing and testing like an engineer, college immersion, and more. It is not a traditional science camp; it is a full-spectrum learning experience designed to fuel students’ imagination, challenge their problem-solving skills, and show them how STEM shapes the world around them.

If your child is interested in participating in the program, please let me know before March 23 so I can complete the recommendation form. Here is the link with more information about the program, including content, dates, and locations. Explore STEM Summer Program for Middle School Students

Recycling club:

Starting next week, Deal will be participating in DCPS’ Recycle Right! Competition, led by the recycling club which Ms. Ballantines (6th grade science teacher on Team Cebu) leads. Students will compete against other schools to make sure ONLY recyclables go into the recycling bin. This will connect very well with our upcoming unit on Human Impacts and climate change. If your student is interested in becoming more involved they can come to Recycling Club on Thursdays from 3:30-4:30pm in Ms. Ballantine’s classroom, C103.

Donation Request: Health Supplies

As allergy season ramps up and cold season lingers, children are coughing and sneezing at alarming rates, and we are running out of tissues! If you are able to, please have your student bring in either a box of tissues or a container of clorox wipes or a roll of paper towels to help keep our classrooms germ free and sickness-proof!

shanishka.johnson@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Johnson's list SY25-26

Book time to meet with me

This week students READ, READ, AND READ. We made major progress in The Giver, reading Chapters 17-21. In the picture to the right, you can see some of Lilli's annotations tracking changes in tone throughout the chapter. This was the climax of the book, and we only have 2 chapters remaining.

Next week, students will finish The Giver and we will study two different poems, "At a Window" by Carl Sandburg, and "Shoulders" by Naomi Shihab Nye. We work on identifying the theme of each poem and drawing connections between those themes and The Giver. This work will lead to ur second Unit Assessment which asks students to analyze a poem.

On Monday, students will receive their MAP score report to take home. MAP is the reading assessment students take in September, January, and again in June to measure their growth as readers. Students previously completed reflections on their middle of year MAP tests & scores which they have in Class Notebook (housed in "Reading Projects"). This paper does not need to be signed and returned, it is for you to keep.

Katy Byrns

katy.byrns2@k12.dc.gov

This week, we took our RCT for our Integer and Rational Numbers unit. We also celebrated Pi Day on Thursday with interactive activities to measure circles.

Next week, we will begin our Geometry unit where we will be exploring area, volume, and surface area.

By Monday March 16th students should have passed 27 iReady lessons. Please reach out to me if there is any issue with students completing the iReady lessons at home; students always have the opportunity to work on iReady during their recess. Pear assignments are opened on Mondays and Wednesdays and due Wednesday and Friday. Please check Pear to see students’ missing assignments.

brandon.shufelt@k12.dc.gov

The National Cherry Blossom Festival, in conjunction with Events DC, presents Blossom Kicks for Kids! We invite young designers residing in the District of Columbia in grades 5-8 to submit unique soccer cleat designs inspired by the National Cherry Blossom Festival springtime celebration. The top selected designs are then transformed into artistic creations on a cleat by the youth artists themselves, culminating in in a special showcase of the designs. Join this vibrant art initiative today!

https://app.smore.com/n/uxjamz

Read the library newsletter for March! Learn about the new Deal archive project, using DCPL databases, Women’s History Month resources, updates about the Battle of the Books competition and more…

https://app.smore.com/n/2bhpw5

Thanks,

Stephen Reichlen

Library Media Specialist

Deal MS – DC Public Schools

stephen.reichlen@k12.dc.gov

Deal students will have the opportunity to sign up for our Deal Battle of the Books team in April this year. Until then, they can read the books! They have learned about the program from Mr. Reichlen during ELA library visits. They can borrow physical copies of the 10 books from ELA teachers and the library. They can borrow e-books and audiobooks from SORA and Libby (DC Public Library) or purchase personal copies. More information about the district competition and a list of the books can be found at the following link:

https://dcla.org/DCLA-Battle-of-the-Books

We meet once a month in my room, afterschool.

Learn more here: tinyurl.com/bcy5wea7

I did not learn how to do this until my son was in 8th grade, and man I wish I had figured out this trick sooner. You can change your settings on Aspen to send you an email whenever a grade is input for your child below a certain threshold. My husband and I use this function because we don't regularly check Aspen, but we do check email! So every now and then, we can ask our son what happened with a particular assignment or what his plan is for making up missed work. See attached document.

-Ms. Byrns

Beginning this year, families are required to submit excuse notes for students in Aspen GO—the mobile-friendly version of Aspen Parent Portal. The previously existing online system we used has been disabled.

Instructions on how to submit an excuse note are available below.

Submitting an Excuse Note in Aspen GO (Parent Portal).pdf - 443.2 KB (pdf)

Envío de una nota justificativa en Aspen GO (Portal para padres).pdf - 543.4 KB (pdf)

Soumettre une note d'excuse dans Aspen GO (portail parents).pdf - 489.0 KB (pdf)

በ‘Aspen GO’ (የወላጅ ፖርታልParent Portal) ላይ፣ ፈቃድ-ማግኛ ማስታወሻ (Excuse Note)ን ማስገባት.pdf - 504.7 KB (pdf)

在 Aspen GO（家长门户）中提交请假条.pdf - 507.6 KB (pdf)

Nộp Giấy Xin Phép Nghỉ học Trên Aspen GO (Cổng Thông Tin Phụ Huynh).pdf - 315.5 KB (pdf)

Additional information on how to use the Parent Portal can be found at dcps.dc.gov/page/parent-portal.

Congratulations to our IB Learner Profile Students of the Month, exemplifying THINKER: Natasha & Dane. Thinkers use critical and creative thinking skills to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems. They exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.

Chloe & Gregory

As reflective students, they thoughtfully consider the world and their own ideas and experience. They work to understand their strengths and weaknesses in order to support their learning and personal development.

Congratulations to our December IB Learner Profile Students of the Month for Principled: Andrew and True. The IB Learner Profile states that a person who is principled is someone who respects the dignity and feelings of others, is honest and accountable, and accepts both responsibility for their decisions and the consequences that accompany them.

Congratulations to our IB Learner Profile Students of the Month, exemplifying CARING: Diosmar and Max. Students who are caring show empathy, compassion, and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and the world around them. From helping a friend, to picking up garbage after lunch, if you care, it will show!

Congratulations to our IB Learner Profile Students of the Month: Inquirers Amelia and Julian. The IB Learner Profile aims to develop students who are inquirers. Students who are inquirers nurture their curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. They know how to learn independently and with others. Inquirers learn with enthusiasm and sustain their love of learning throughout life.

Congratulations to our IB Learner Profile Students of the Month. This month Team Kathmandu teachers are highlighting the RISK TAKER learner profile: Matlida and Jairo. Risk takers approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; they work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. They are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.