Part of my responsibilities as 7th Grade Teacher Leader is to keep families updated on current projects and events at school. I send bi-weekly emails out and post a live link on our school website with each new update. I've listed each newsletter below as a way to track projects and the work we've done so far this year. I want this page to serve as a project tracker, so I don't forget any of the fun we've been having along the way. Having the ability to keep families up to date on what's happening at school has been essential to building community and relationships with families. Parents enjoy seeing pictures of their kids in the emails and appreciate the information. I'm grateful for this technology and important form of communication. I also think it's important to keep these in one place for future reference so I have record of what we did when for each project. Plus it's fun to see the pictures I've been taking throughout the year.
8.31.18 Wow! What a great start to the year! The 7th grade team is enjoying getting to know our students, learning a little more about them each day. We had a fun first week and are now getting into our routines. Here are some pictures we wanted to share from our team-building adventures last Thursday.
Updates: Our first Field Study is coming up next week, Wednesday, September 5th. We will be leaving at 8:15 sharp and will return by 3:20. Please be sure to fill out and sign both permission forms and return them as soon as possible. Students will need to pack a lunch, snacks, water, and sunscreen; they should also be reminded to dress comfortably, in layers, and wear closed-toe shoes. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding this trip. Projects: Science- A word from Mr. Farkas: Wow what a start to the year :) Kids’ minds are getting “blown up” studying chemistry and the world around them. Atoms, elements, molecules, compounds, mixtures and many other buzzwords are driving the kids these days. Please ask your student about what they’re learning. The discussions in class are awesome. We’re building the background knowledge necessary for our engineering project developing a filtration system to filter Animas River water. Yup...that disgusting, brown, smelly mixture of fire water brought to us by forces out of our grasp. Hopefully the Governor will accept our invitation and come down for a glass of clean drinking water supplied by your kid. Who knows... Humanities- Students are building background knowledge on early human migration in preparation for jumping into our Civilizations Project. Students will be selecting the civilization they’d like to focus on for this unit next week. Our trip on Wednesday will further their understanding of the archaeological process and provide an opportunity for hands-on fun! Reminders: The new bell schedule is taking time to get used to, but we’re working together to ensure everyone’s where they’re supposed to be and when. :) Please take a moment to review the schedule with your child and note that core classes begin right at 8 o’clock on Wednesdays and Fridays, with Advisory only on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Thank you for working with your student to further familiarize them with this. Upcoming Dates: Monday, September 3: NO SCHOOL Tuesday, September 4: First day of catered lunches (click here to order) Wednesday, September 5: Field Study- Crow Canyon Monday, September 10: NO SCHOOL- Professional Development Thursday, September 13: Back to School Night & Picnic Appreciations: Thank you for sharing your kiddos with us! What a great group! We’re off to a wonderful start and are excited for the year ahead of us.
Sincerely, Nancy
9.14.18 Happy Friday everyone! Let me start by saying it was nice to meet many of you last night at the Open House and Back to School Picnic. Our team is delighted to have gotten to introduce ourselves in person and chat more about your students. Next, I wanted to share some of the photos from last week’s visit to Crow Canyon. It was a great trip that we hope your students enjoyed.
School Updates:
Come Travel with Us! Community and Conservation in Puerto Rico Experience the island's lush, tropical landscapes as you help restore and protect the valuable natural resources of Puerto Rico. We will begin our trip by exploring the historic Old San Juan and experiencing the Spanish influence and colonial charm of this community. Experience Puerto Rican culture during a cooking class and a Salsa Dance lesson. Explore Seven Seas beach and a kayak tour of the bioluminescent bay. The highlight of the tour however will be our environmental Service Learning work. On this Service Learning Tour, you'll support initiatives such as: – Environmental sustainability – Reforestation – Agricultural restoration This trip is during Intersession week (middle school only) and will leave on either May 4th or 5th, 2019. Families will sign up through EF Tours and will be expected to cover all associated cost of the trip. Any cancellations and or refunds will be based on their policies. The price range depends on when the families sign up as well as the number of students who register. We will wait to register students until we have the minimum of 10 committed to sign up. Space is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis.
Want more information? Come to the family information night on September 18th, 2018 at 3:30 or 5:30 in the Reeder Room. In this meeting we will cover both of the travel opportunities available this year. (Australia/New Zealand and Puerto Rico)
Have an elementary student and still want to travel with us come learn about our summer 2019 Australia/New Zealand trip? We will cover this first in each of our informational meetings on September 18th. If you can not attend the meeting please reach out to Angela for more information. [email protected] Picture Day Picture day is Thursday, September 27th. All students will have their photos taken for the yearbook that day. A photo order form will go home next week with your students. Please have your students bring the order form on the day of pictures.
Project Updates: Science- Students are wrapping up their initial chemistry inquiry and have presented their first posters for the unit. Next week we will begin our demonstrations of chemical mixtures. Feel free to question them on their newfound knowledge of the periodic table! Humanities- Students have been assigned their civilizations and are building background knowledge on the geographic features that made their civilization unique. They will begin to develop their maps next week and will participate in their first Socratic Seminar of the year. Be sure to ask your student about the distinct geographic features of their civilization! Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, September 18th: Guest Speaker Thursday, September 27th: Picture Day Appreciations: Thank you to our 7th grade representatives who are working with the Sources of Strength group to create a kind, understanding, safe environment here at school. Keep up the great work! Sincerely, Nancy
9.2818
Well, September has come and gone- where does the time go?! We’re chugging along with both projects and decided to wrap up the week with a circle-up during skills today. This is a practice we will be implementing from time to time in order to check-in with our students as a collective. We start off with appreciations and then open the floor to discuss what is going well in 7th grade and what the struggles are. This is an important time to connect, show our respect and support for one another, and we think it went really well today! Be sure to ask your kiddo for their thoughts. Projects: Science- After wrapping up our chemical mixture demonstrations, students began their first lab in science this week! Here we’re learning about separating a mixture of elements and compounds and working with weights and measurements. We’re also learning about lab protocols and have emphasized safety and organization. A great question for your student might be which of the elements tested were magnetic. Here are a few pictures from science this week:
Humanities- Students have been busy working on their civilizations maps, taking what they’ve learned from the articles they’ve been reading and presenting the information visually. They finished up the week by giving their first “map presentation” with their groups. We also had a blast playing “Settlers of Catan,” which is a simulation game highlighting how geography influences the economic choices of any given civilization. Here are a few pictures of students hard at work!
Reminders: All students should have a water bottle that stays in their cubby. While hydration is incredibly important, we recognize that 7th graders will find any excuse to leave the class… water breaks are not going to be granted in every class any longer, so we advise each student have a water bottle for school. Upcoming Dates: October 26th: Student Led Conferences October 29th: No School- Professional Development Appreciations: Thank you to all of the students who shared during circle-up today. We had wonderful conversations in both classes and we appreciate all for participating! Sincerely, Nancy
10.12.18 Happy Friday! Fall is officially here and the temperatures are finally cooling off. We hope everyone is as excited about the changing seasons as we are! MMS Updates: Book Fair: The first ever Scholastic Book Fair will take place at Mountain Middle the week of October 22-26. Students can buy books before school, at lunch or after school. Please consider stopping by with your child to take a look at some of the amazing offerings and possibly make a purchase that will help support the school. Scholastic has a generous reward system that will gift the school with free books based on our book fair sales. We could use some volunteers to help with the book fair. You can sign up here:http://signup.com/go/UKnsQzO Thank you for your continued support with our bookworms!
Wolf Pack Challenge: The Wolfpack Challenge is coming! The event will be held the morning of Wednesday, October 31st on the North field at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. Because it's Halloween, students can wear school appropriate costumes (no weapons or blood).
Fundraising packets went home this week and are due back on Oct. 19th. All money raised will be used to help support our intersessions and outdoor learning experiences. Each child’s fundraising goal is $75, but everything helps. Please encourage students to participate!
We need volunteers the day of the event to help things run smoothly. If you or someone you know are willing to give a couple of hours of your time to make this a fun and safe morning for the students we would appreciate it. You can sign up herehttp://signup.com/go/cfQnwNL--
Garden Club: MMS is proud to announce the inauguration of our very own school garden! The Garden Club elective has been busy laying the groundwork for this project and will be “breaking ground,” so to speak, next Wednesday, October 17th. We are looking for parent volunteers to help with this work day. Please contact Miss Nancy if interested in helping with this first of many work days. [email protected] Project Updates: Science- Students participated in a Science Talk today on the topic of climate change. As part of the “Filtration Station” unit, students are learning about global water issues and digging deeper to better understand such issues through the lens of climate change. The talks were fascinating to listen in on and revealed so much regarding the students’ critical thinking skills. Humanities- We’re moving right along in our exploration of the civilizations along the Silk Road. We’ve been analyzing primary documents and in last week’s Socratic Seminar we focused on the topic of intellectual contributions from each society and the spread of various religions along these trade routes. Students have begun working with their groups to create concept maps representing their understanding of this information and will be presenting them next week. Reminders: With the cooler temps come more layered dress styles. We are finding a lot of extra clothing lying around each day, so we’d like to recommend that clothing gets labeled. The lost and found is usually overflowing, so if your child is missing anything, please remind them to look there.
Upcoming Dates:
October 17th - Garden Club Work Day!
October 17th - Board Meeting 4:30 at MMS
October 18th - 6th grade science exhibition 5:00 at MMS
October 24th - Transgender Info Meeting 5:30 at MMS
October 26th - No School- Student Led Conferences
October 26th - School Dance at MMS
October 29th - No School staff PD
October 31st - Wolfpack Challenge
Appreciations: It’s such a privilege to get to observe students conducting Science Talks and Socratic Seminars. We want to thank our students for their mature, thoughtful contributions to conversations like these.
Have a great weekend! Nancy
10.26.18 Updates It’s hard to believe we’re a quarter of the way through the year! SLCs seemed to go really well today! We hope you enjoyed getting to see your student’s work and hear their perspective on how things are going this year. If you have any questions that have come up, please reach out- feel free to email or call if you’d like to set up a time to talk more about your student. Project Updates Science: Our study of global water issues continues with a closer look at 3rd world countries as students engage in individual research. I’m sure many shared their learning today regarding their chosen country of study. Next week we’ll turn our focus to more local water issues with a trip to the water treatment facility here in Durango. Please see attached permission slip for our trip.
Humanities: Students will be working on product revision next week, completing final drafts of their geographic and concept maps in preparation for exhibition. Next Friday will be our next Socratic Seminar, which is the last one for this unit. Reminders Our field study work will require students in 7A to bring sack lunches on Thursday and Friday of next week. Upcoming Dates: October 26: TONIGHT! School Dance (7-9pm) October 31: Wolfpack Challenge November 1 & 2: Science Field Study November 15: Humanities Exhibition November 29: Science Exhibition Appreciations: Thanks to everyone for coming in for SLCs. This is an important part of the learning process. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping students prepare for this reflective experience.
Have a great long weekend!
11.9.18 Thanksgiving is right around the corner! We hope everyone is able to hang in there for the final push before break. We realize everyone is ready for a little rest and relaxation and we hope you all have have fun plans for wonderful week off. Project Updates: Science- After witnessing firsthand the process through which Durango obtains clean drinking water, students have begun working on the design and engineering process for their own filtration systems. We have been through several drafts at this point and construction has begun. This is the fun part! We’re seeing lots of creative designs and are excited to see their ideas come to fruition over the course of the next few weeks. Be sure to save the date for exhibition which is scheduled for Thursday, November 29th. Here are a few pictures from our visit to the water treatment facility. Ask students how many gallons of water the large tank in image #2 holds.
Humanities- We’re in the home stretch for the Silk Road project and are working on refining our exhibition pieces. We will be wrapping up this work next week in preparation for exhibition on Thursday, November 15th at 5pm. Students are encouraged to dress in costume the night of the event as we will be staging an ancient bazaar, otherwise known as a caravansary (ask your student for the definition). We look forward to seeing you all next week! Important Dates: Thursday, November 15: Humanities Exhibition- 5pm November 19-23: Thanksgiving Break Tuesday, November 27: Performance Based Grading Info Session for Parents 5pm Thursday, November 29: Science Exhibition- 5pm Appreciations: We would like to thank all the parent volunteers who helped make last week’s Wolfpack Challenge so memorable! Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our students and school community! It was great! Enjoy your weekend! Sincerely, Nancy and the 7th grade team
12.7.18 It’s December, winter is FINALLY here, and we are in the homestretch, inching closer to the long awaited winter break! Here are a few pictures from the last science project as well as the humanities exhibition.
MMS Updates:
POLs Students in all three middle school grades have been busily working on POL prep during advisory time and in some classes. We also recommend that students set aside some time at home as well to work on their presentations. Advisors should have sent emails for signing up for times this week, but feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Photo Retake Day Tuesday, December 11th will be photo retake day. If your student did not get their photo taken this year they will have their photo taken this day. Anyone not satisfied with their photos ordered can get their picture retaken on this day as well. Please return the complete original package with your student on this day. Please write on the package envelope what you would like to see different in order to help the photographer to capture a better image. If you would like to order photos and did not on the first picture day contact Angela for an order form. [email protected]
Be Local Coupon Books for sale Help support our student travel to Puerto Rico for a community service trip. Buy your local coupon book by seeing Cherish at the front desk or by filling out the form here. Books are $25 and are ready for your shopping.
Travel Opportunities Want to travel to Australia and New Zealand with your student? Contact Angela to find out how you could save 10% off your trip! That is a savings of up to $565. [email protected]
Project Updates: Science- We would like to first say thank you for attending the exhibition last week! We (as usual) were amazed by the effort, refinement, and hard work the students exhibited. This is OUR FAVORITE part of the learning process, and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! Shifting gears now, we’ve launched our next unit of inquiry which will prove to be involved, rigorous, and even more student-centered. Students were given an opportunity to share their interests and inquiries, and from that Mr. Farkas has designed an exciting and dynamic unit! We will start the unit by examining the 7 levels of classification in a Zoology lab, focusing on microscopy and proper microscope use. Then we will shift into a closer look at cells, followed by an exploration of genetics and participate in lab work at Fort Lewis College. We will round out the unit with an inquiry of “16 of History’s Deadliest Pathogens.” Humanities- The first two weeks of our next unit are off to a great start. We started by diving into The Six Questions of Socrates in order to explore important questions like “what is virtue?” We will continue reading selections of this book in small reading groups and engaging in Socratic circles. We have also begun looking at current events in order to contextualize such important questions in today’s world. We will tie these two things together each week with Socratic Seminars each Friday. Students have also been exploring Greek Mythology and discussing the purpose of myths. Be sure to ask about your student’s idea of the purpose of “In Olden Times,” an important Greek creation myth we read this week. Important Dates: Friday 12/7-12/21: Parent Survey open (clickhere to complete) Thursday 12/20: POLs Friday 12/21: Intersession Catalog published Friday 12/21-1/4: Winter Break Enjoy your weekend!