Resource Teachers' Update!
May 16, 2025
Class Updates
Special Olympics Unified Sports
Our next event is Track & Field Day on April 29, 2025. It will be held on Moss Field. Lunch will be provided. Please have your child dress appropriately for the weather. Apply sunscreen in the morning, and if possible, send sunscreen with your child.
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GARCIA
Math 6:Math 6: Have a great summer! You will be able to continue using your IXL account over summer to practice your math skills. 🙂
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MCMAHON ELA 6 P1 and P4
Students are working on final progress monitoring assignments, and are having a blast at camp! Have a wonderful summer and keep reading!
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COCHRAN
Happy Summer!
Please take time each day/week this summer to have your child read. Reading aloud is a great way to improve and sustain fluency.
Ideas:
Set a timer and have your child read the same page 2-3 times for 1 minute. Challenge them to get further each time. Siblings can help with this if parents are busy.
Go to Google, and search “Reader’s Theatre”. Assign parts, and read aloud a play with your child.
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Hake:ELA 7: Period 3: We are finishing our Dystopian Book Club unit. The objective for this unit is for students to pay close attention to small details and try to make sense of them to grow initial ideas about how that world has gone awry. We read, The Giver, together as a class. We are working to complete the final projects for this unit. Please encourage your kids to keep reading this summer! Have a great summer!
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Warren
Have a great summer!
Remember to:
Read at least 20 mins every day- Check out the local library summer reading program
Practice cooking over the summer-pick a recipe and go to the store and decide what you need for the recipe.
Downey:
Math 8: In Grade 8, the class is busy working on our 8th Grade Geometry unit. We covered transformations: translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations. Now, we will discuss slope, the Pythagorean Theorem, and volume by the end of the school year.
Learning Strategies - Math 8: We continue to practice and work (re-work) the Math concepts presented in class to increase our knowledge and mastery.(Volume Unit)
Learning Strategies - Study Skills 6,7,8: Learning Requirement (Goals)
Work on School Behaviors and Organization Skills
Develop Personal Active Learning Strategies for Completing Assignments, Projects, and Assessments.
ENJOY YOUR SUMMER! GOOD LUCK IN HIGH SCHOOL!
Hennekes ELA 8
This week, students continued working in our unit on conveying courage in writing. Students analyzed a letter Frederick Douglass wrote, answered questions, and created a CER with evidence to support a claim. Over the next two weeks, students will be doing the following:
1. Map testing next week
2. Beginning our last class novel: The Running Dream
Learning Strategies
This week, students read an article examining the positives of recess. Students answered questions and then created a CER to support their opinion on recess. Students also applied capitalization rules to their CER. Over the next few weeks, students will continue to look at recess's positives and negatives and look at end punctuation and comma usage.
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Pangelinan:
Wilson Reading:
This week we reviewed progress toward quarter 2 goal, completed plus delta for progress monitoring and set a class goal for quarter 3. Students also reviewed words from their current Wilson step, completed Wilson Fluency drills, read aloud from our class novel and students read a few pages from their independent novel.
Next week, students will complete a progress monitoring fluency passage and graph their scores. We will conference and decide on goals for the second semester. Students will participate in WR activities, Wilson Fluency activities, and practice reading and spelling high frequency words.
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Maguire
This week, students completed their post-tests for inferencing and suffixes. Next week, we will review all of the concepts we have learned this year including context clues; main idea and supporting details; prefixes, roots, and suffixes; summarizing; and inferencing.
Have a great summer!!
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Mullin
Students are finishing up their work on our grammatical unit by correcting errors in sentences, using conjunctions to combine sentences, and reviewing rules for irregular plural nouns and past tense verbs. We are also reviewing how to use prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of a word. All lessons will incorporate articulation skills so students with speech goals can practice strategies to increase accurate productions. Pragmatic language activities will be incorporated to help facilitate generalization and participation in conversations in the classroom.
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Social Work: Shapiro
Hello Wonderful Hixson Parents! It is here, MAY and my last newsletter of the School Year! I cannot begin to tell you just how fortunate I am to work with so many wonderful students and families. I truly have such a great time working with your children and watching them grow and emotionally mature. I am so proud of the progress that they have made. Thank you for your continued support and advocacy. I will be attaching some Summer Resources and if there are any end of the year questions, please feel free to reach out.
Thank you all and have a wonderful summer.
Take Care and Be Well.
Christina
https://explorestlouis.com/celebrate-summer-in-st-louis/
https://saintlouis.kidsoutandabout.com/
If you have a student with an IEP, use the Rec Council to find camps that can suppor your student's needs and even provide financial support. (Funding information and application is located on the website
Summer Programs 2025 | RECREATION COUNCIL FREE EVENTS
Important Dates
May 5-9: Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6 & 7: NWEA Testing
May 7 - Kona Ice at lunches, School Nurse Appreciation Day
May 12 - Late Start Day, school starts at 9:40 am, Outstanding Jr. Statesman Award Breakfast
May 13 - 6 Unity to 6th grade camp
May 14 - Band Pops concert
May 15 - 6 Unity to 6th grade camp, PTO meeting @ 6pm
May 16 - 6th & 7th grade Career Day + 8th grade to Six Flags
May 19 & 20 - 6 Bravery to 6th grade camp, 8th grade Promotion Ceremony (May 19, 6pm @ Roberts Gym)
May 21 & 22 - 6 Integrity to 6th grade camp
May 23 - last day of school, early dismissal @ 12:32 pm
We are in the final 3weeks of school! If you have any questions or concerns about summer activities or resources.
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Walters
During Learning Strategies, students will be working on developing their self-awareness and self-management skills, while also learning to recognize and apply positive defense mechanisms. The self-awareness lessons will help students better understand their thoughts, feelings, and values, and how these impact their behavior. They will also focus on identifying their strengths and challenges, understanding their cultural identity, and adopting a growth mindset. Through activities like creating a personal trait map and writing in a mood journal, students will explore how their traits influence their decisions and emotions.
In addition, students will be introduced to defense mechanisms, learning to identify whether they are positive or negative. They will reflect on times in their own lives when they have used defense mechanisms and discuss how positive mechanisms can help them solve problems rather than create them. Through guided lessons, students will practice choosing and applying positive defense mechanisms in real-life situations.
To support self-management, students will complete a goal-setting reflection sheet where they set personal and academic goals and outline specific actions to achieve them. They will also participate in a "new experiences challenge," encouraging them to try something new, evaluate the risks, and reflect on their decision-making process.
As always please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Christa Walters
cmwalters@ssdmo.org walters.christa@wgmail.org
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McGuire
Math 7: We have been busy finding the constant of proportionality from tables, graphs and equations.
Learning Strategies Math: We are using IXL to address student goals and supporting the work done in their individual math classrooms.
Learning Strategies Study Skills: We are learning skills to help with homework completion and organization.
Class Updates
Special Olympics Unified Sports Our next event is Track & Field Day on April 29, 2025. It will be held on Moss Field. Lunch will be provided. Dress for the weather.
Garcia
Math 6: We are working on order of operation which will be leading into our Pre- Algebra unit.
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MCMAHON ELA 6 P1 and P4
Hello! I hope everyone had a restful spring break.
The classes finished Literary Nonfiction with an average of 81%- well done!
We are now moving into a writing unit, starting at the sentence level and building from there. We are reviewing nouns, verbs, pronouns, subjects, and predicates. Students are participating in fun activities where they roll the dice, choose portions of sentences, and combine them to make silly sentences. They then apply a strategy to check for capitalization, ending punctuation, subject-verb labeling, and checking to make sure they have written complete sentences.
Next week we will move into story writing.
I can be reached at mcmahon.elizabeth@wgmail.org
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COCHRAN
Happy Spring!
Corrective Reading, SIPPS, REWARDS, and ERSB
Corrective Reading Periods 2 and 8:
Period 2: Finishing up Lesson #52
Period 8: We started a new book! We are in Lesson #7 of Book B2
Students are working hard on the following skills daily:
-decoding and encoding new words
-reviewing previously taught words
-fluency and comprehension (through high-interest short fictional stories)
-workbook pages that reinforce all skills
SIPPS Plus Period 3:
Period 3: Beginning Lesson #41
Students are working hard on the following skills daily:
-segmenting sounds into words
-blending sounds into words
-practicing letter sounds
-learning new sight words and reviewing previously learned sight words
-encoding words and sentences
-fluency and comprehension(through short stories/passages)
SIPPS Challenge Period 2 and Period 7:
Period 2 and Period 7: Finishing up #56
Students are working hard on the following skills daily:
-decoding and encoding syllabic patterns and morphological units, along with multisyllabic words
-fluency and comprehension (High Noon Books)
Students are reading High Noon Books that currently focus on spelling patterns, inflectional endings, compound words, prefixes and suffixes and regularly spelled two-syllable words.
REWARDS Period 5:
Period 5 A Days: Lesson 12 Rewards Plus Social Studies
Period 5 B Days: Lesson 15 Rewards
Students are working on the following skills daily:
-mastering the REWARDS strategy for decoding and encoding multisyllabic words
-vocabulary with specific focus on meaning of prefixes and suffixes
ERSB Period 7:
Beginning Lesson #24
We are working through lessons daily.
Specific skills targeted include identifying, blending, and segmenting sounds; decoding words; reading sight words and connected text; and answering comprehension questions. In addition, students use Champion Writer Journals to reflect on what they learned.
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It is helpful for students to read out loud to someone at home. This can be from a book they are reading. To take it further, time your child reading the same passage 2 or more times (for 1 minute). Have them try to progress further each time they read. This builds fluency! It is also always helpful to ask your child questions after they read a few pages to check for understanding and build comprehension.
If you have any questions, please reach out: cochran.melissa@wgmail.org
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Hake:
ELA 7: Period 3: We just started a new unit, Dystopian Book Clubs. The objective for this unit is: Students will pay close attention to small details and try to make sense of them to grow initial ideas about how that world has gone awry. We will be reading, The Giver, together as a class. We will start by discussing characteristics of a dystopian society
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Warren
Essential Skills
This week we will focus on:
We are working on skip counting
We are still reading “The Genius Files”
Welcome back routines and coffee cart in the new year.
Also we are exploring different jobs and what that job requires us to do.
Downey:
Math 8: In Grade 8, We continue to work on our Solving Equations Unit. We were working on solving two-step and multi-step equations using inverse operations, the distributive property, and combining like terms.
We are now solving equations with variables on both sides.
Learning Strategies - Math 8: We continue to practice and work (re-work) the Math concepts presented in class to increase our knowledge and mastery.(Volume Unit)
Learning Strategies - Study Skills 6,7,8: Learning Requirement (Goals)
Work on School Behaviors and Organization Skills
Develop Personal Active Learning Strategies for Completing Assignments, Projects, and Assessments.
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ELA 8
This week, students continued looking at research to answer our research unit question: Are contact sports worth the risk? Students read article and put evidence into a graphic organizer. They also worked on their second vocabulary word set for this unit. They will have a quiz on the vocabulary next week and we will start drafting our CER.
Learning Strategies
This week, students worked on finding evidence of the author's purpose. They read articles and found 3-4 pieces of evidence to support a claim. Next week they will begin drafting a multi paragraph CER.
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Pangelinan:
Wilson Reading:
This week we reviewed progress toward quarter 2 goal, completed plus delta for progress monitoring and set a class goal for quarter 3. Students also reviewed words from their current Wilson step, completed Wilson Fluency drills, read aloud from our class novel and students read a few pages from their independent novel.
Next week, students will complete a progress monitoring fluency passage and graph their scores. We will conference and decide on goals for the second semester. Students will participate in WR activities, Wilson Fluency activities, and practice reading and spelling high frequency words.
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Maguire
In the next two weeks, students will continue to learn and practice identifying the meaning of common Greek and Latin roots as well as practice writing summaries of short, grade-level texts. For our social language unit, students will dive further into direct v. indirect language and perspective-taking.
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Mullin
Language Learning Strategies (Periods 1 & 5):
Students are taking pretests for our next unit on summarizing. They are also participating baseline data activities for their goals. Lessons will incorporate articulation skills so students with speech goals can practice strategies to increase accurate productions. Pragmatic language activities will also be incorporated into all lessons. ______________________________________________________________________________
Social Work: Shapiro
Social Work Services
Hello Hixson Families! With all of this cold I sure have been thinking about warmer summer months a lot. So in all things warm, I have attached some info...
WGSD Summer School
WGSD offers a variety of summer learning
opportunities for K-12 designed to support
academic growth, creativity, and personal
development, these programs provide a
blend of enrichment courses, hands-on
activities, and skill-building in a fun and
supportive environment.
Registration begins March 3 and will be
available through Infinite Campus here
March 3: Registration Opens, 7 p.m.
March 31 Registration Closes, 7 p.m
Summer Opportunities
Blueprint for Summer
This website allows you to search
for camps and programs by date, location, interest, price,
and more.
Fun 4 STL Kids is your local
resource for family friendly events and activities in St.
Louis and St. Louis County. Listings include kids events,
children programs and classes, youth sports, kids eat free
directory, birthday party resources, rainy day activities,
free fun for kids, summer camps and other fun things for
kids and families to do in and around St. Louis
https://activities.recreationcouncil.org/summer/
If you have a student with an IEP, use the Rec Council to
find camps that can support your student's needs and
even provide financial support. (Funding information and
the application is located on the website
Important Dates
February 24 - Late Start Day - school starts at 9:40 am, Budget & RLD Roadshow, 8:15 am
February 25 - Band orientation, 6pm
February 28 - 8th grade mixer
March 6 - PTO meeting, 6pm, Hixson Library
March 7 - 3rd quarter ends
March 18-19 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm-8pm each night
March 21-28 - Spring break
March 31 - Late Start Day
In addition, Sleep Patterns can often go awry this time of year. I have attached an article that may be helpful in getting your students a better night's rest.
Sleep Hygiene-Teen Handout.indd - CHOC
Stay warm and know that Spring is just around the corner!
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Take care and be well.
Christina Shapiro LCSW
557-226-7333
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Walters
During Learning Strategies, students will be working on developing their self-awareness and self-management skills, while also learning to recognize and apply positive defense mechanisms. The self-awareness lessons will help students better understand their thoughts, feelings, and values, and how these impact their behavior. They will also focus on identifying their strengths and challenges, understanding their cultural identity, and adopting a growth mindset. Through activities like creating a personal trait map and writing in a mood journal, students will explore how their traits influence their decisions and emotions.
In addition, students will be introduced to defense mechanisms, learning to identify whether they are positive or negative. They will reflect on times in their own lives when they have used defense mechanisms and discuss how positive mechanisms can help them solve problems rather than create them. Through guided lessons, students will practice choosing and applying positive defense mechanisms in real-life situations.
To support self-management, students will complete a goal-setting reflection sheet where they set personal and academic goals and outline specific actions to achieve them. They will also participate in a "new experiences challenge," encouraging them to try something new, evaluate the risks, and reflect on their decision-making process.
As always please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Christa Walters
cmwalters@ssdmo.org walters.christa@wgmail.org
____________________________________________________________________________________________
McGuire
Math 7: We are finding the probability of events when flipping coins, using cards, and spinners.
Learning Strategies Math: We are using IXL to address student goals and supporting the work done in their individual math classrooms.
Learning Strategies Study Skills: We are learning skills to help with homework completion and organization.
Contact Us
- Ms. Garcia- garcia.hannah@wgmail.org
- Mrs. Hake- hake.polly@wgmail.org
- Mrs. Cochran- cochran.melissa@wgmail.org
- Mrs.McMahon-mcmahon.elizabeth@wgmail.org
- Mr. McGuire - McGuire.Kyle@wgmail.org
- Mrs. Mullin mullin.elizabeth@wgmail.org
- Ms. Maguire maguire.katherine@wgmail.org
- Mr. Downey- downey.cliff@wgmail.org
- Mrs. Hennekes- hennekes.mackenzie@wgmail.org
- Ms. Pangelinan- pangelinan.maria@wgmail.org
- Ms. Shapiro shapiro.Christina@wgmail.org
- Ms. Warren warren.jessica@wgmail.org