Instructional Coaching Corner

As we end the first grading period, please ensure your student is checking to make sure all of their assignments are turned in. Curious what some of those assignments and learning opportunities look like? Check them out below!

Solar Ovens, Museum Exhibits on Water Properties, Giant Algebraic Graphs and Constructions, Nesting Boxes, and Lego Robots are all amazing products our students have been creating in STEM classes!

Our 6th grade students have been spending time in Science testing their solar ovens to see how well they conduct, insulate, and cook different foods. In math they have been exploring the final pieces of rational number operations such as exponent properties, radicals, and order of operations. Stay tuned for a really cool exponent project!

Our 7th grade students have been exploring surface area, volume, and other geometric properties by creating nesting boxes in Math. Algebra 1 students have been working on their conjectures and creating larger than life graphs! In a similar manner, our Geometry students are showing what they know about constructions by creating giant construction posters! In Science, 7th graders have been exploring the properties of water and are working to create interactive museum exhibits that demonstrate properties such as surface tension, ice density, and more!

Our 8th graders have been exploring other properties such as evaporation and condensation. Next up is weather forcasting and lunar cycles! In 8th grade Math, our students have been applying their knowledge and skills on equations to inequalities.

Finally, our Robotics classes have been hard at work creating and testing Lego Robots. Our 6th grade groups began building robots for the first time this week, and our Lego League has been testing out their designs in the Lego Arena! Stay tuned for final results!

Week 8 has been worth the wait! We’ve got one week left in the first 9 weeks grading cycle, which means it’s crunch time for any late or incomplete assignments. Be sure to remind your student to check their grades on Frontline and make a plan ASAP to speak with their teachers and stay for office hours if something doesn’t look right. As a reminder, you can also always check in on your students’ grades and work on Frontline and Blend via the AISD Parent Portal. It’s not too late to get work turned in for this first 9 weeks, but it is getting close!

The end of the grading cycle also means that ELAR classes are all approaching the end of their current units. In 6th grade, students are applying the finishing touches to their Memoir Posters or finishing their first novel of the year. Our 7th graders are wrapping up their short story unit by focusing on analyzing the relationship between symbolism and theme using textual evidence. In 8th grade, students are nearing the end of one of two novels - The House on Mango Street or Fahrenheit 451 - and preparing to write their final essays and vignettes.

In Social Studies, students continue to work through a variety of lessons relating to maps, geography, power, and precedents. 6th graders in World Cultures have expanded their study of mapping to include essential themes from both physical and human geography. Be sure to ask them what they know now about landforms and the spread of disease! In Texas History, 7th graders have been learning about the Indigenous Nations who have long called Texas home - categorizing their physical, economic, geographic, and social factors and discussing ideas of bias, narrative, and counter-narrative in the telling of history. In 8th grade US History, students have been learning about the precedents set by early English colonization in terms of self-governance, religion, race, land use, and relations with Indigenous tribes, and preparing for their upcoming Socratic Seminar. Ask them about the connections they’re identifying between our past and our present!

Each week we will highlight a few ways that you can help support our Kealing teachers and staff. Take a look at how you can support right now!

1. Sniffle Season: As allergies and seasonal illnesses ramp up, consider donating a box of tissues to your student's Advisory teacher!
2. Kealing Connects: This is a community engagement initiative designed to promote positive campus culture. Volunteers with Kealing Connects work directly on campus helping monitor lunches, tutor in classrooms, and so much more. More information about volunteering with Kealing Connects can be found in the Hornet Herald.

STEM Instructional Coach

Email: anna.walker@austinisd.org

Humanities Instructional Coach

Email: zachary.kent@austinisd.org