Team Almaty Week 1
Week 1: August 28
Save the Date!
Mon. Sept. 7: Labor Day, No School
Tues. Sept 8 & Wed. Sept 9: 6th Grade Family Workshops
Wed. Sept 16: Back to School Night (6pm)
Sat. Oct. 3: 6th Grade BBQ
Find a Tote
While students will leave their backpacks in their lockers during the day, they can use a simple canvas tote bag or a string cinch bag to carry their computers, agendas, and other materials between classes.
Ms. Trenkle, Individuals & Societies, Team Lead
This week in Geography we have been spending a lot of time getting to know each other, the school, expectations, and routines! It’s been wonderful to start to get to know Team Kathmandu students!! In Geography, we opened our curriculum by learning/reviewing the continents and locations and students will have their first map quiz of the year on Wed. September 3! Each day we have review activities (practice maps, Flocabulary videos and songs, and reminders!). All students have a map that is in their green folder and can use this link to practice with on a device: bit.ly/dealworldmap . We also did a Where am I Geography pyramid to place us in our own geography matrix of time and space! We ended the week with IB Learner Profiles and creating a class contract.
All students should have their supplies for Geography on Monday, August 31 so we can set up our binders in class next week. (please see supply list above). All students also have the supply list taped into their agenda.
Next week in Geography, in addition to our binder set up and our map quiz, students will create our giant classroom map.
Students should have supplies by Monday, August 31 and also have a world map quiz on Thursday, September 3.
Supplies needed for geography class:
- A 1 or 1.5 inch binder (this will be kept in Geography class and only used for Geography class)
- Five dividers
- Pens and pencils
- Colored Pencils
- Loose leaf paper in binder
On Orientation Day students shared a song they would like to add to our class playlist. This Spotify playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3esQkInfhlZoxvn59nqBMI?si=3l97B6cHQ26PFeEzp76Prg
A final request—if you, or anyone you know is traveling, and can send a postcard to our class, or post a picture with description from their travels, it would be greatly appreciated! Please see the flyer below.
Amy Trenkle
**KEEP SCROLLING TO "CLUBS" FOR INFO. ABOUT MODEL UN & DiDVE**
Mr. Brown, Math
During the first week of school, we took time to get to know each other, the class expectations and also to calculate operations with decimals, fractions, and whole numbers in preparation for BOY Assessments on September 1.
Next week we will take the BOY Assessment on September 1st and 2nd. The results and data from this assessment will determine whether students will take Accelerated Grade 6 or Accelerated Grade 7 Mathematics based on the attached Deal Math Acceleration Policy. Students assigned to Grade 7 Mathematics will receive an adjusted schedule if necessary. Next week we will also discuss multiplying and dividing decimals by whole numbers and decimals.
Homework will begin starting 8/31. It will be assigned weekly every Monday and due every Thursday by 11pm. Accompanying work should be submitted every Friday. Students will receive a completion grade for accompanying work and an accuracy per percentage grade for the assignment.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, students will have access to my classroom during recess for “iRecess” which is a safe space for students to quietly work on Math assignments (HW/Classwork/Studying) during their recess time. Students must retrieve a pass on their way to lunch with limited spaces available on a first come, first served basis.
Students should bring their supplies as soon as possible, but certainly by Monday, August 31.
- 2 composition notebooks
- 24 pack of pencils
- 3 large erasers
- 1 ruler
- Pack of graph paper
- Pack of lined paper
- Highlighters
- 100 index cards
- Post its
- 1 Pencil Case
- Calculator
Marcus Brown
marcus.brown@k12.dc.gov
Ms. Johnson, Science
Hello Scientists!
Students did a great job getting to know one another through their Gab Lab activities this week and have been busy learning and practicing classroom procedures and expectations. As a culmination of this week's learning, students will complete a creative assignment due on Wednesday, September 2. They will create a comic strip that illustrates one of our classroom's expectations and procedures.
During the upcoming week, students will practice their scientific writing skills by completing a "Letter of the First Week of Class." As they reflect on their first week of school, they will draft, revise, and improve their writing using feedback and the IB rubric before submitting their final version.
Supplies: Please make sure you have all your science supplies ready by Monday, August 31.
For our class, students will need:
A 1 inch 3 ring binder (this will permanently stay in the science classroom)
5 tab dividers for the binder
A notebook with holes punched in it (will permanently stay in the science binder)
Pencils
1 roll of paper towels
1 box of tissues
Optional:
1 bottle of hand sanitizer
Disinfectant wipes
If you are unable to easily find and/or purchase these materials, let me know. We have a few extras from last year. If you want to donate extra paper towels, tissues, or hand sanitizer, they are always appreciated!
Roots: Throughout the school year, students will build their scientific vocabulary by learning Latin and Greek root words. Each week, students will study five new roots and take a weekly quiz. At the end of each six-week cycle, they will take a summative assessment covering the roots they have learned.
Studying roots will be homework EACH WEEK. Students will have a Roots organizer in their agenda, and we will also send the roots out in our weekly email.
This week's roots are:
Uni = 1 (unified, united, unicorn)
Bi = 2 (biannual, bisect, bilingual)
Tri = 3 (tricycle, triplet)
Quadr = 4 (quadrilateral, quadruplet)
Penta = 5 (pentagon, pentathlon)
Ms. Byrns, English Language Arts
We had a great first week of ELA. Aside from practicing locks, we created classroom norms. Additionally, students looked at the benefits of reading and checked out their independent reading books. Students are welcome to borrow two books at a time from our classroom. I suggested that for those who might forget things, it might be easier to keep one book at home which they read daily for homework (and of course the joy of reading) and one they keep here at school. Students are also welcome to bring a book from home or the library. Ask your students what they are currently reading. I did add a few more copies of heavily in demand books to our classroom wish list (see below).
Next week, we will begin our first unit: Characters Who Change and Grow. Our first two texts are an article by Jessica McBirney titled, “Do People Really Change?” and “Home,” a short story by Hena Khan. We will work on annotating by highlighting text evidence and jotting notes in the margins. Our focus will be on how other people can influence us (or in fiction, the role secondary characters can play on the protagonist).
A note on homework: Homework will be on paper. If your child has a particular accommodation and needs to type their answers for the homework, please reach out and we can arrange how that will work.
Katy Byrns
ELA 6 Resouce with Mr. Shufelt
This week, we reviewed both school and classroom expectations and practiced our routines around hall passes, movement around the class, and participation. We created a classroom compact agreement on how to create a supportive and positive classroom environment, and a copy of this agreement will be shared with families. Students made posters about the benefits of reading and began practicing with making claims and explaining their reasoning.
Next week, students should have their materials (pens or pencils, highlighters, and a composition notebook) and should bring them every day to class. I will provide binders and we will begin our first unit on "Do People Really Change?" Starting next week, weekly slides will be uploaded to the class Canvas page.
Library Corner
Meet Deal's librarian Mr. Reichlen! Learn about the great things happening this month at Deal's library. Check out great books and media, read about events at Deal and around the city, and stay connected with Deal's Library:
