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 14th - Family Conferences
• Friday, April 5th - End of Quarter 3

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!

Families of 6th and 7th Grade Students: Student-Led Conferences

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). While we recognize this is a shift in the format of conferences, we are excited about how student-led conferences empower our students to take ownership of learning and progress.

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 and Counselors will be available for check-ins on conference day.

The appointment system is available at https://ptcfast.com/schools/Alice_Deal_Middle_School. Please note, the appointment system will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, March 12th. The appointment 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.

This week in Geography we watched our final documentary about access to education: On the Way to School. Students made excellent connections and it was wonderful to hear their thoughts on access to education and their appreciation of education. We spent Thursday and Friday reviewing maps (physical and political) , as well as content and vocab, from our first semester. Shout out to the students who won the leaderboard on Thursday! (Friday’s results weren’t available at time of publication!)

1st Period: Sarem and Eldana, Frank and Antonio

2nd Period: Sebastian and Liam, Sathvik and Milo (two separate games!)

4th Period: Coleman (two separate games!), Gus and Lenox

5th Period: Maya, Iris and Elena

7th Period: Owen and Daniel, Liam and Ben

Next week we will being Unit 5: East Asia and our social stopic if Population Growth and Density. Students will learn vocabulary, physical features, political boundaries, and read thematic maps to better understand East Asia. The map quiz for East Asia will be on Monday, March 4. Seterra practice links will be in Canvas and students will have access to their thematic maps to study the content.

Shout out to the following students for coming in early on Friday morning to meet virtually with students from a gymnasium in Berlin, Germany! As an added bonus to our Embassy Adoption Program, students have been connected to a class in Germany and had a chance to meet them. Our team will continue to learn about Germany and all students will participate in asynchronous events with the school. The kick off event, on Friday, was a success as we met each other for the first time! Students participating were:

Violet Anello, Mila Dasgupta, Eldana Getahun, Anna Goecke, Deven Rao, Sebastian Loza, Milo Perry, Orla Ventresca, Alexander Wolski, Anna Benequista, John Dougherty, CC Levy, Scarlett Olcott, Sarah Shepardson, Maya Chen-Race, Iris Campbell, Ashby Metzger-Gilbert, Luke Rubin, Molly Wilson.

Photos are here! https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0iGh7fzTGBSIPH

All students are invited to participate in Deal’s Model UN Conference on March 16, 2024 at Deal from 10 am to 3 pm.

Please return the permission slip (see link below) and the $20 (cash only please) to Ms. Trenkle (Team Chefchaouen Geography Teacher) in W104 by February 29. You may turn it in earlier as well—you don’t have to wait until Feb. 29! Be sure to mark your calendar for March 16—the day of our conference!!!

Upon returning your permission slip and money, you will choose your country, receive a background guide, and a directions page of next steps.

You do not have to be in the Model UN Club to participate. If you are interested in joining Model UN Club we meet on Wednesdays from 3;30-4:20 pm (except the third Wed. of the month when we have a staff meeting and there are no clubs).

https://dck12-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/amy_trenkle_k12_dc_gov/ESADvgIGVltFki4nmYKQ9CkBIEsPldEfp5RIjICKlk6q-Q?e=zIPbMf

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 worked on positive and negative integers, plotting coordinates, and related concepts. This coming week students will work on solving expressions and equations and applying the distributive property.

Math 7

This week Math 7 students worked on evaluating expressions containing exponents and order of operations. This coming week students will work on solving equivalent expressions and combining like terms.

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

CONGRATS to periods 2 and 7 for winning incentives this week. Next incentive day is March 8th.

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.

Dear Parents,

We have sent the SMAC email to parents of students who are eligible to take SMAC in the Summer. If your student is eligible, please complete the form. If you did not receive an email, your student is not eligible, yet.

Students who are not eligible still have another opportunity to become eligible. They will take the iReady End of Year Assessment in May/June and if they become eligible, then they can take SMAC in the Summer. We highly recommend that all of our students pass at least one iReady lesson per week. Attached for you is the Deal Math Acceleration Policy with the required score.

Thank you for your support

Best Regards,

Mrs. Janice Lewis - Samuels

Grade 6 Math LEAP Coach
6th & 7th Grades Mathematics Educator
Alice Deal MS

Hello scientists! This week, students began their brand new unit - Atmospheres and Oceans! They took their Amplify pre-test on Tuesday, which gave a baseline number for their prior knowledge. They then dove into reviewing convection currents and heat transfer with our Land vs. Water lab, which is due on Monday. ANY STUDENTS WHO DID NOT GET TO COMPLETE THE LAB CAN FIND A COPY ON CANVAS UNDER Modules --> Unit 4, where both the sheet and the data from each class is stored.

This upcoming week, our focus in class will be on the intriguing subjects of ocean currents and the atmosphere. Throughout the week, they'll be engaged in a variety of activities and discussions aimed at deepening their understanding of how ocean currents interact with the atmosphere. Alongside this exploration, students will be engaging in a Simulation on Ocean Currents and Air Temperature. This hands-on activity will allow them to actively apply the concepts they've learned. Students will have their weekly roots quiz on Friday, March 1st. This week's roots words are listed below:

The day has finally come - I am officially out of pencils! Please ask your student if they have enough pencils - the ones who have a stash in their locker or who remember to bring theirs around tend to be the most successful!

Aqua = water (in Latin) (think aquarium, aquatic)

Cumulo = heap (think accumulate, cumulative)

Cirrus = curl (think cirrus cloud, cirrostratus)

Photo = light (think photosynthesis, photography)

Nimbus = dark cloud (think cumulonimbus)

Keepers: angle, deci, semi, alp, morph, sed, gram, hydro, iso

The next roots quiz will be on Friday, February 23th

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!

This week, we started a unit called Atmosphere and Oceans. With the new unit, comes new vocabulary that you can review with your MLL student. This week, we learned the words below. Take some time to review these words with your student!

1. Climate: general weather patterns over a long period of time

2. Temperature: a measure of how much thermal (heat) energy is within a system

3. Thermal Energy: the amount of energy associated with the movement of atoms and molecules

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, 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

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