Cluster 1 Newsletter

Howdy! We have begun our next unit in ELA: Book Clubs! This unit requires students to exhibit a level of autonomy as they’re responsible for reading their books and completing discussion questions ahead of our weekly discussions. I love this unit because students are provided a chance to shine as leaders, and they often do!

Here are some of the titles that are being offered this round of book clubs:
Starfish by Lisa Fipps
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Blended by Sharon Draper
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia Williams
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay.

Ask your student what book group they’re in and encourage them to go the extra mile with their discussion questions. We (ELA teachers) love to see students that have taken time to compose thoughtful responses ahead of our discussion days. Feel free to reach out if I can help your student in any way!

Yours, Zack

Welcome! This week we kicked off the second half of unit three titled Unit Rates and Percentages. We started the unit off by determining whether a certain unit measures length, area, time, mass, or volume. Then we compared the relative size of different units of measure for one attribute (i.e., length, volume, weight, or mass). We sorted cards with pictures of everyday objects to help us make connections between units of measurement and the best way to measure those objects. We are now onto calculating an unknown percentage and explaining why an unknown percentage can be calculated using fraction logic. We are building connections between fraction, decimals and percentages.

To stay in tune with our work in Unit 3, please check out the Unit 3 Family Resource.

As a reminder to students and parents, Google Classroom is utilized in math class to provide links to the students' Desmos lessons. All work is completed online in Desmos or on paper depending upon the activity. All grading and grading information can be found in PowerSchool. Homework is still optional in term 2 but I encourage all students to complete it in order to help support the learning that is taking place in the classroom. Thank you for reviewing Ms. Palermo’s Math Smore!

Hello Cluster 1 Families!

We have had a fun week in science class! Students have been practicing measuring mass using triple beam balances and to bring this concept to life, we have been working on an egg drop project! Students have been challenged to create a design that will protect an egg from breaking when dropped from the second floor lobby balcony! To see more of our design process and the drops please visit our instagram page!

Moving towards vacation, we will be looking at metric mass conversions and talking about the Winter Solstice! In the new year, we will be starting our unit on cell and organelles.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year!
-Miss Daigneault

Unit 6.2 Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa

Essential Questions

1. Why do human communities create government and laws?

2. What common elements do religions share and how do their differences matter?

3. How is the physical environment connected to people and the way they live?

Enduring Understandings

Students will begin to understand that:

1. Access to water has played a key role in the development of West Asian and North African societies since ancient times — from the river valleys of the Fertile Crescent and Nile, to the trading cities of Phoenicia that rimmed the Mediterranean Sea, to the irrigation systems invented by Persia. Water quality and access remains an urgent need shaping life in the region today.
   
   

2. City life in Mesopotamia introduced new opportunities in religion, education, writing, government, and the economy, as well as new social divisions and limitations. Drawbacks of civilization such as war, conquest, and slavery soon followed.
   
   

3. With more people living in greater proximity, governments and laws arose to keep order and ensure justice (as it was then envisioned). As Hammurabi’s Code illustrates, a range of matters needed regulation.

Learning Objectives:

• I can, in the context of a scavenger hunt, select a kind of map that is most relevant to answer particular geographic questions about North Africa and West Asia.

• I can organize geographical information by adding it to a map, and identify the kind of map created.

• I can analyze a video and maps in order to develop civic knowledge concerning global and Middle Eastern water needs and issues.

• I can analyze the vital importance of water to this region, past and present, and the challenge of scarcity through maps and readings centered on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

• I can describe key aspects of Sumerian city life with a focus on religion, education, government, & the economy.

• I can analyze works of Mesopotamian literature as primary sources to explain the thoughts and feelings of ancient people who read and wrote these works.

• I can analyze Mesopotamian “firsts” related to technology, government, and the organization of societies in order to evaluate the credibility of a source and identify several profound drawbacks of civilization (empire, war and slavery).