Update on Mr. Caswell

Hi folks,

If you haven't already heard, Mr. Caswell was in an accident last Thursday night on his way home from work. He spent the weekend at the hospital and is now at home, recovering from his injuries. Thankfully, he is going to be fine, but he is in a great deal of pain and will be at home on bedrest for the next two weeks. In his absence, Ms. T-C and Mr. Barber will be co-planning and co-instructing 7th/8th grade math and 6th-8th science. We wish him well in his recovery. If you have any questions/concerns, feel free to contact jfabri@mtsd-vt.org.

Humanities - 10/31

We have officially launched our new unit on "Motivations to Explore". The term explore is being used in its broadest sense. From now until the December break, students will learn about historical, current, and possible future exploration. They will think about why people have historically explored and what motivates current exploration. We will also think, from a literary standpoint, about self-exploration and examine writing that supports this topic. Students will work on using primary and secondary sources, write summaries of text, and ultimately, put together a memoir of sorts regarding their own exploration. More details to follow.

7 Maths 10.29

Today, students completed the mid-unit assessment of their skills in addition and subtraction of fractions. Most students demonstrated significant improvement from the beginning of the unit.

We continue to work on reasoning and calculating with fractions, as we move into multiplication and division.

8 Maths 10.29

Your child should bring home the Filling and Wrapping Unit Test for you to go over and sign. Students who wish to do additional practice and studying to prepare for a re-test will have the opportunity to do so.

Today we begin a unit on reasoning and calculating with fractions. This unit is intended to review and fill gaps in student understanding of fractions and proportional reasoning.

Grade 6 Math October 29, 2012

We are beginning our unit on fractions.  This week we will be reviewing how to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers.  Over the next several weeks we will move on to multiplying and dividing fractions using models and problem solving with fractions.

Homework this week is a packet on long division and expressing remainders in three different ways, as a remainder, a fraction and as a decimal.  It also included a review of least common multiple and greatest common factors.  This packet is due Monday November 5, 2012.

Please remember there is after school math club on Thursday afternoons from 2:30-3:30 in room 214.  Students can get assistance with homework, pre-teaching on what is to come and get support around math questions they may have.  Any student on the team is welcome to attend.

Fundraising Opportunities Coming Up

Dear Families,

We have three fundraising opportunities coming up:

1. The Spooktacular Middle School Dance, is this Friday, October 26, 2012, from 6:45 - 9:00.  The cost is $4.00 with costume/$5.00 without.
   
   I know this is late notice, but i am looking for five students/families to make  baked goods for the dance,  you will be able to get 5% of the total proceeds from the dance for their field trip account.
   
   Also, there will be a raffle at the dance.  All students who attend, will have there name placed in a raffle.  The winner will get 25% of the dance proceeds into their field trip account.
   
2. February Calendar Raffle:  We have started the process of collecting donations for the February Raffle.  If you work for a business or know someone who works for a business that would be able to donate, please let me know.
   
   The raffle works like this:
   Each day during the month of February, different items from local businesses will be raffled off.  The winner for that day is placed back into the raffle.
   
   Last year we made $7090 on the raffle, the most we have ever made on a fundraiser.
   
3. Pie Sale - We will be selling home made apple and pumpkin pies for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I need eight students to pick apples next Tuesday.  We will be meeting at Adam's Orchard, on Old Stagecoach Road, in Williston, at 3:15.  Students are expected to find their own ride to the orchard and have an adult with them.  It should not take more than an hour to pick the apples.  More information about the pie sale will coming shortly.

Thank you for all your hard work.
Joe Smith
jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org

Scheduling Student Conferences Now!

Dear House C Families,

How time flies! We're already well into the eighth week of the school year and it is already time for our first round of Student Portfolio Conferences! Educational research tells us that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives.  To that end, your child will lead a Portfolio Conference where he or she will present to you artifacts of his or her learning - work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

In addition to presenting artifacts of academic growth, your child will also discuss his or her progress with the five Habits of Mind we have been working on this year: Citizenship, Constructing Knowledge, Perseverance, Precision, and Preparedness.

For your convenience, we are scheduling conferences on the evenings of Thursday, November 8, and Thursday, November 15. Any caring adult is welcome - parents, adult siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. Conferences will take place in the Middle/Elementary School Library.

Please click here to sign up for your conference time.

This is an important activity for your child. If no adult is able to attend on these dates, we will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time.

If you wish to meet one on one with House C teachers, we would be more than happy to schedule a meeting when we see you at your child’s Portfolio Conference.

We look forward to seeing you!

Winter Sports Meeting 11/19

There is a Winter Sports Meeting for all 6, 7 and 8th graders wishing to play a sport this season.  The meeting is November 19, in the MS Gym at 6pm.  Sign ups and all information will be available at that time.

8 Maths 10.23

After weeks of hard study, we are wrapping up our unit called Filling and Wrapping. Students will take the unit test on Thursday, where they will be expected to demonstrate their skills with surface area and volume of three-dimensional shapes.

7 Maths 10.23

Last week, we completed the Variables and Patterns unit, and started our new unit: Reasoning and Calculating with Fractions. In this unit, students are learning or reviewing how to solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and mixed numbers.

Literacy - 10/15

As we gear up to launch our humanities unit on motivations to explore, we are frontloading some work in literacy around summarizing literary text. Students will be reading stories of explorers - both past and present - and working on the reading skills of pulling out key details and summarizing the text. To that end we have done a pre-assessment and are determining the areas of need for our students. We will be doing some repeated practice around reading passages, completing plot maps, and writing summaries. Please check your child's planner daily as there will likely be practice each day that needs to be completed before the following day's class. As always, please encourage your child to read independently at least 25 minutes a day. As with any skill, the more you practice, the stronger you become.

Humanities - 10/15

Kudos to our kiddos for persevering through two weeks of NECAP testing. We appreciate the effort that students put in and the support that you showed during this time. Now we are ready to delve into the humanities content and skills that will support a rigorous and exciting course of study for the year. We are spending this shortened week sharpening our map reading skills - knowing the parts of a map, how to use a compass to find direction, scale to find distance, and latitude and longitude to find absolute location. Once we are all on board with these skills, we can move forward with our unit on exploration. There will likely be nightly practice assignments for students to put these skills to use. Please check your child's planner for more information.

Field Trip Update

Our thanks to the students and families for being so flexible and understanding around our change of plans last Friday. As the week progressed, we began to realize that there was a very real possibility of dangerous weather on Mt. Mansfield and indeed, Friday came and it didn't look good. Rather than scrap our plans altogether, we opted to do a short trip to Eagle Mountain and this will allow us to use the remaining funds for another field trip, to be determined. The day was gorgeous and we were impressed by seeing many of our students demonstrate citizenship and perseverance. The opportunity to come together as a team was invaluable and we look forward to more such opportunities.

Reminder: Field Trip This Friday

We're gearing up for our trek up Mt. Mansfield slated for this Friday. In preparation for the trip, please help your child gather the following:

• a small backpack
• 1 liter of water
• a bagged lunch – sandwich, fruit
• snacks – nuts, granola bar
• hiking shoes (sturdy sneakers)
• an extra pair of socks
• layers – long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, fall jacket, wind/waterproof jacket – avoid cotton if possible
• winter hat and gloves

The latest forecast is calling for temperatures in the 40s and a small chance of rain in the morning. For safety reasons, students who do not bring the appropriate clothing and supplies will not be permitted on the hike.

If you still have not indicated whether or not your child will be joining us, please contact his or her advisor as soon as possible. For attendance purposes, this is considered a regular school day. If your child will not be attending, you must provide a note explaining why.

Thank you for your support,
House C

Science 10.9

This week in science, we are starting a new unit of study: Matter! In this unit, students will build on their learning from prior grades as we look at matter at the molecular level. By the end of this unit, students will answer the following questions:

• What is matter made of?
• How does thermal energy affect matter?
• How is thermal energy transferred?
• How does molecular motion define states of matter?
• How are mass, volume, and density related?
• How is gas measured?

8 Maths 10.9

Yesterday, students took a quiz on surface area and volume of cylinders. Students will bring that quiz, and corrections,  home tonight to be signed. Students who wish to improve their performance on this quiz will have the opportunity to take a re-test on Monday October 15. Students who wish to take the re-test must attend a mandatory meeting on Thursday October 11 at 2:30.

The last day of NECAP testing in on Wednesday. Get a good night sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and drink lots of water!

7 Maths 10.9

Today, students took the Variables and Patterns Unit Test. On Thursday students will bring this test home to be signed.

The last day of NECAP testing in on Wednesday. Get a good night sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and drink lots of water!

Math Grade 6

There is no new homework this week due to NECAP testing.

Help Our Tag Sale October 20th

Dear Families,

On Saturday, October 20th, we will be holding a tag sale at the Milton High School from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  Here are eight ways you can help:

1. Clean out your house, garage, shed, barn, closet, attic, car, office etc. and donate any gently-used goods to the tag sale.  We are looking for clothes, baby toys, toys, sports equipment, furniture that is in good condition.  We only want items that have a high probability of selling.  Please do not give items that you would not buy yourself.  Items can be dropped off at Milton Mini Storage, Unit # 32 at 11 Checkerberry Square in Milton.  People will be there to collect goods on:
   
   Wednesday, October 10th from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
   Saturday, October 13th from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
   Wednesday, October 17th from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
   
   You can also drop goods off at the school on October 20th from 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
   
   If these times do no work for you please contact me, Joe Smith, at 893-3215 ext. 1208 or email jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org to make alternative arrangements.
2. Help collect donations at Milton Mini-Storage at the above times.  We need someone to unlock the unit and be there while people bring their items.    We will split the times so that you only have to do a two hour shift.  On Wednesdays, 4:00-5:30 and 5:30-7:00 and on Saturday 9:00-11:00 and 11:00-1:00.
3. Help set up the day of the tag sale. Set up will take place from 6:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.  Last year we were fortunate to get a big truck to move goods from the storage unit to the school.  If we cannot get a big truck a few pick-up trucks would be very helpful.
4. Work at a table to during the tag sale.  Sign-up times are from 9:00-10:00, 10:00-11:00, 11:00-12:00, 12:00-1:00, and 1:00-2:00.
5. Help break down the tag sale.  Breakdown will be from 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm.
6. Bake delicious food.  Please drop off at the school on the 20th between 8:30 am and 12:00 pm.
7. Spread the word.  Let your family members, friends, and co-workers know about the tag sale.  Post on Facebook, Tweet, or any other place where people will see it.  Encourage them to donate goods and to shop on the 22nd.  One person's refuse is another person's treasure.
8. Shop at the tag sale and find hidden treasures.

All 8th grade students who participate by collecting goods at the storage unit, help setting up, work the tables at the tag sale, bake goods for the tag sale, or help break down the tag sale will have the profits from the tag sale equally distributed into their student fundraising account.

Please contact me to let me know how you can help.

Thanks,
Joe Smith

Fall Conferences Update

Dear Middle School Families,

The Middle School will be hosting Student-Led Parent Conferences this year. These will be held two evenings in November between November 5th and November 16th. Each House will be setting their own dates and scheduling times directly with families. Please be on the lookout for more information on the web-site and in House Blogs and also on the web-site: http://www.mtsd-vt.org/MTSD/

Educational research demonstrates that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their own learning with the important adults in their lives. In our Student-Led Conferences, your child will present to you artifacts of their learning from the first trimester- work from each class that will be thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

Please note that all important adults are welcome- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, etc. If no adult is able to attend on either evening, teachers will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time.

Please note that these evenings will be in place of the October 18th date. There will be no conferences for grades 6-8 on October 18. We look forward to seeing you in November!

Thank you,

The Middle School Faculty & Staff

Information Request

To support effective home-school communication, we ask that you provide us with some information about yourself and your child. We apologize in advance if you have already provided this information to the district on other forms. The information you provide here goes into a spreadsheet for our house teachers to access conveniently.

Please visit http://bit.ly/housec2012 and complete the secure form. It will only take a minute!

Thank you!

Boston Trip Update

Dear Families,

I want to thank those who came to the Boston Field Trip fundraising meeting a couple of weeks ago.  It was a good brainstorming session.  Based on the feedback from this meeting, I have created a fundraising schedule.

October 20 - Tag Sale at the Milton High School 8:00 - 2:00.
November  Homemade Pie Sale - Students will pre-sell pies and then bake them.
December/January - Sell tickets for the calendar raffle.
February - Spaghetti Dinner
April 12 - Fire Truck Pull/Carnival

There will most likely be other fundraising opportunities throughout the year.  If you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know.  If your student is inspired to organize a bottle drive or Christmas tree pick up that too is also encouraged.

Help Wanted

Tag Sale
I am looking for a place to store items for the tag sale. If you have know any or have a place that we can do this, please contact me as soon as possible.  I would like to start collecting items this weekend.

Calendar Raffle
Also, I am looking for a parent or parents who could help coordinate getting donations and creating the calendar for the February Raffle.   Please contact me if interested.

Thanks,
Joe Smith
jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org

Upcoming field trip

Your child was sent home today with a permission slip for our trip to Mount Mansfield on Friday 10/12/12. This trip is designed to be a chance build our team identity as well as give individual students a chance to challenge themselves and push themselves to do something new. Please return the permission slip with the $10 fee by this Friday, 10/5. Email jfabri@mtsd-vt.org with any questions.

Literacy - 10/1

Students have been working hard on being able to read a text closely, make a claim about that text, and to support the claim with evidence from the text. This is a skill that is essential in every class and beyond. Basically, we're asking students to back up what they are saying with evidence. We will assess this skill Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Humanities - 10/1

We have culminated our initial work around inquiry skills and students have demonstrated their learning on our first formal assessment of the year. We will now spend our class time over the next two weeks (when not NECAP testing) to build geography skills that will be necessary for our next unit on exploration. Please check in with your child to track his or her progress as we go over the continents, oceans, hemispheres, longitude/latitude, and types of maps.

Attention all 8th grade parents

By now, you all should have received the initial paperwork on the Boston field trip. If you have not, please email jfabri@mtsd-vt.org and we will be sure to send one home. Thanks to those who have sent in the permission slip and the first $25 deposit.

Grade 6 Math

September 24, 2012

Grade 6 has been working on:

• finding factors of a number
• finding the greatest common factor for a set of numbers
• prime factorization
• problem solving
• finding the least common multiple and
• traditional multiplication

This week's homework is a packet that reviews prime factorization, divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, greatest common factor and traditional multiplication. 

Students have a quiz on Tuesday 9/25/12 on these concepts.

Students are expected to work on math approximately 20 minutes a night.  If students exceed this time and are getting frustrated then they are to stop at 20 minutes and make a note of it on their homework with a parent signature.  Homework can then be adjusted so the work load is a better match.

Sixth Grade Math club has started.  It is Thursday's after school from 2:30-3:15.  If your child is to ride the bus home then the arrangement needs to be set up a head of time.  Please contact Ms. Thibault-Cote directly and send in a note for the office.  Thanks.

8 Maths 9.19

Students continue to deepen their understanding of surface area and volume of rectangular prisms (boxes). Today, students took a quiz to assess their mastery of these concepts. Tomorrow, they will bring the quiz home to discuss and get signed. After this quiz, we continue in the Filling and Wrapping unit by extending our understanding of volume and surface area to cylinders.

7 Maths 9.19

We are well into our fourth week of classes, already! Today, students took a quiz on analyzing and interpreting data using tables and graphs. Tomorrow they will bring the quiz home to discuss it and get it signed. We are now more than half way through our first unit: Variables and Patterns.

Late Busses Policy

Middle School students may ride the elementary buses at 3:30, only if the student's parents or teacher(s)  have contacted the office in advance and received permission. The office will have to confirm with the driver that there is adequate room on the bus for additional students as well since many of the elementary buses are already at capacity. MS students will not be allowed on the elementary buses without a bus pass from the office. Thank you.

Humanities

We have kicked off the year with a couple of weeks of inquiry work that have proven to be challenging and rewarding for students and teachers alike. It is exciting to watch those skills taking root as the students are developing their ability to ask good, investigable (ask them to define that one for you) questions and think about how to answer those questions. While they are getting a chance to use these skills in science, we are focusing on the social sciences - geography, history, sociology, etc. - to hone those skills; skills that will prove useful time and again. Students will continue practicing these skills this week as we gear up for the assessment scheduled for next Tuesday. Please check in your child's planner daily to see if he or she has work due the next day.

Literacy

We have been taking our literacy block to zero in on reading and writing skills. The students did a nice job practicing the skills of making inferences (crucial not only in reading text, but also in reading people and situations) first with political cartoons, and then with short informational and literary texts. We also have been using this time to set some independent reading goals and allow time for free reading to progress toward those goals. After all, what better way to strengthen a skill than to practice it. Please encourage your child by talking about his or her reading at home. This week, we will be delving into short pieces of text, making claims, and finding the evidence in the text to help support those claims. Please check planners, as there will likely be some writing tasks that need to be completed outside of class.

As always, feel free to be in touch with any questions,

Ms. Fabri & Mr. Dabritz

Science

Students are off to a great start in Science this year. We are beginning the year with a unit of study on the process of Scientific Inquiry. This unit is integrated with our Humanities class, where students are also studying what the Inquiry process looks like in the social sciences. Give the question "How can we make a paper airplane travel further?" students have developed testable questions, hypotheses, and experimental plans. This coming week, students will implement their plans to test their hypotheses. This activity is intended to give students an overview of the inquiry process, before we begin to focus more in-depth on scientific questioning and developing hypotheses.

8 Maths

Welcome everyone to the new school year. We're off to a great start in 8th grade math! The first unit of study this year is titled "Filling and Wrapping." In this unit, students are expected to become masters of three-dimensional geometry: surface area and volume of boxes, cylinders, cones and spheres. We have already completed the first four Problems in Investigation 1.

Early in this coming week, students will take a quiz to see how well they are grasping the concepts so far.

Typically, students will have 20 to 30 minutes of math practice assigned to them each night. Sometimes students may have time to complete this practice in class or during Enrichment block, but please ask to see your child's planner and completed practice each night.

7 Maths

Welcome everyone to the new school year. We're off to a great start in 7th grade math! The first unit of study this year is titled "Variables and Patterns." This is the first unit in the Connected Math algebra strand, where students explore and describe relationships between variables in tables, graphs and narrative form. We have already completed the first four Problems in Investigation 1.

This coming week, students will complete Investigation 1 and take a quiz to see how well they are grasping the concepts so far.

Typically, students will have 20 to 30 minutes of math practice assigned to them each night. Sometimes students may have time to complete this practice in class or during Enrichment block, but please ask to see your child's planner and completed practice each night.

Library Hours

The library at the Middle/Elementary school is open from 2:30 to 4:00 to all students who want to read, complete homework, or need a safe place prior to sports practices, etc.

Literacy Survey

Here is the link to the survey that all students will take during their humanities block on Wednesday 8/29.

First Day Schedule

We're excited to meet all of our students on Wednesday! Here is what the day will look like:

07:30 - All students meet in the gym. Look for the "House C" sign and sit in that section.
08:15 - Pass upstairs to room 215, where we will break out into Advisory groups.
08:50 - Unified Arts
09:35 - Academic classes
11:30 - Lunch
11:55 - Academic classes
01:35 - House Time
02:30 - Dismissal

See you on Wednesday!