Team Kathmandu: Week 3
September 12, 2025
Save the Date!
Wednesday, Sept. 17: Back to School Night
Tuesday, Sept. 23: 6th Grade Picture Day
Thursday, Sept. 25: FIRST FIELD TRIP: Sandy Spring Adventure Park
Saturday, Sept. 27: 6th Grade BBQ (11-1 @ Deal)
Thursday, Oct. 9: Student Led Conferences
Friday, Oct. 10: No School, Prof. Development Day for Teachers
Monday, Oct. 13: No School, Indigenous People's Day
Sandy Spring Field Trip
Thank you for all the returned Sandy Spring forms and money! Team Kathmandu is rocking it! Please return signed permission slip ASAP. Money can be turned in separately up until our trip on September 25. Students must turn their permission slip and money in to Ms. Trenkle during Geography class. It is asked for every day in class.
Last week students received a letter to take home and a permission slip sharing our upcoming 6th grade Team Kathmandu’s trip to Sandy Spring. The purpose of the trip is for students to get to know each other and to have some team building and bonding time. Team Kathmandu will go on their adventure on Thursday, September 25. We will be gone all school day. Permission slips and money should be turned into Ms. Trenkle; she will collect it during Geography class. Any questions about the trip should be directed to Ms. Gathers, our assistant principal, or Ms. Trenkle.
There are three parts to prepare for this trip:
- Sign and return the permission slip (needed for DCPS) (this is paper only and return to Ms. Trenkle)
- Complete the waiver tinyurl.com/Kathmandu2526 (needed for students to get in a harness)—this is online only.
- Return the $50 (cash, check, or Money Order) (there is not electronic payment location at this time, please turn in only to Ms. Trenkle)
English: Permission Slip 09 25 English Kathmandu.pdf
Geography with Ms. Trenkle
Aspen: All students set up their Aspen account in Geography class on Monday (and Wednesday for 1st period due to ELA testing). Aspen is where students (and parents) can access grades and receive academic feedback. All students logged into their Aspen accounts. The log in information was taped to the inside of the student agenda so that they can access the website and login information at any time. Please have your student show you and practice logging in!
This week in Geography we discussed the language of geographers and learned the basics of map skills, including using a compass rose and cardinal directions, using a legend/key, how to read a grid and longitude and latitude, and interpreting map scale. Students have a formative on these map skills, and their vocabulary, on Monday, September 15 and their summative test on Wednesday, September 17. Students have practice sheets for each skill and will receive more practice in different forms next week as well. We will call on these vocabulary words and skills throughout this year. It’s exciting to see students becoming Geo-students! :)
The giant map in our classroom is almost complete! Students have been doing a great job of building our map out! A picture of our finished map will be included in our newsletter next week.
For the fall semester, Ms. Holden will be joining our class. She is a Museum Education Program (MEP) graduate student at The George Washington University. She is with us on Mondays and Wednesdays. She has met all students and will be working with us to learn how to scaffold museum education for middle schoolers. We are excited to have her!
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/7nWMWui4YoJ5WUxe9zqWIY?si=hV7LhQaNSu2SzPI6k58-QQ
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 adjoining flyer.
Amy Trenkle
Math with Mr. Brown
During this week, we worked on multiplying and dividing decimals by both whole numbers and decimals and converting improper and mixed fractions.
This week in 7th grade
This week, students will receive their Mathematics placement based on their BOY assessments. Students may receive new schedules depending on their current schedule and placement based on the Math Acceleration Policy (Attached). Students will also work on multiplying and dividing whole numbers, powers of 10, and decimals, as well as converting and simplifying decimals.
This week in 6th grade
This week, students will receive their Mathematics placement based on their BOY assessments. Students may receive new schedules depending on their current schedule and placement based on the Math Acceleration Policy (Attached). Students will also work on multiplying and dividing whole numbers, powers of 10, and decimals, as well as converting and simplifying decimals.
Students should take advantage of iRecess, our Virtual Classroom, and our Parking Lot which are resources available to students outside of their normal class periods to help towards success.
Marcus Brown
Science with Ms. Johnson
This week, students learned how scientists carry out investigations by making observations and inferences, and by learning the steps of scientific methods.
Next week, we will dive deeper into scientific investigations, focusing on hypotheses and testable questions. Students will complete an experiment testing how different ingredient ratios affect the consistency of slime. This will help them understand how independent variables influence dependent variables, while practicing all steps of the scientific method.
This is the final week of Unit 0: Nature of Science, and on Friday, September 19th, students will take their end-of-unit test — their first summative assessment of the year, titled the Scientific Method Post-Test.
A study guide will be provided (extra copies will be posted on Canvas), and students will have access to a Blooket review game (also on Canvas). Blooket is an online study tool that students enjoy — especially if your child is a gamer! I highly recommend using Blooket to prepare.
Students should study for Roots Quiz 1.3 on Friday, September 19th. Roots 1.3 are:
Epi = on, upon (think epicenter, epilogue)
Sub = under (think submarine, submerge)
Hyper = over (think hyperactive, hypersonic)
Pre = before (think preschool, prevent)
Exi, exo = out, outer (think exit, exoskeleton)
Keepers: uni, bi, tri, poly, gen, post
shanishka.johnson@k12.dc.gov
English Language Arts with Ms. Byrns
This week students read Hena Khan’s story “Home” and students did an excellent job of annotating the text as we looked for ways the protagonist of the story was changed in response to secondary characters (character arc). We practiced identifying different methods of characterization and wrapped up our work with one literary analysis paragraph.
Next week students will read two short stories—we pushed one that was planned for this week to the next to make more room for writing. Those stories are “The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas and “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan. We will continue to work on analyzing the interaction between the protagonist and secondary characters.
Students will also begin their Quill homework. Students should complete 3 lessons on Quill each week. Each lesson takes 5-10 minutes. Students can complete these in their Advisory classes when time permits. The three lessons should be completed between Saturday (9/13) and Thursday (9/18). I will check for completion on Friday morning. This is the same pattern we will use every week. Quill is a grammar program and I will share a bit more about it at Back to School Night on Wednesday.
Below, you can find more pictures of students with their summer reading books. And speaking of books, thank you to Nico's family for the latest additions to our classroom library! 📚
Katy Byrns
Math 6 Resource with Mr. Shufelt
Greetings, Deal families!
This week in Math 6 we continued to review adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals. They have their first Formative Assessment today on those topics. We also began learning long division with decimals in the divisor. Next week we’ll begin focusing on fractions and converting improper fractions.
Please remember that students have an iReady assignment due every Monday. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any concerns about their access to iReady lessons at home.
Finally, I look forward to meeting families this upcoming Wednesday, 9/17 for Back to School night!
Brandon.shufelt@k12.dc.gov
Deal Clubs
Is your child looking to meet some new friends? Or maybe they just want to join an afterschool activity. You can find the current list of Deal Clubs in the document below.
Attendance
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.
Library Corner with Mr. Reichlan
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:
https://secure.smore.com/n/ep68k
Thanks,
Stephen Reichlen
Library Media Specialist
Deal MS – DC Public Schools