Wednesday, October 31, 2012



Sixth Grade Humanities

There is no new homework tonight. Please have a safe and happy Halloween.

Please be sure you have turned in your ...
  • Marco Polo homework
  • Student-led conference form
  • Yellow confirmation of progress reports
Thank you!

Monday, October 29, 2012


Sixth Grade

Please return the yellow slip of paper with a parent/guardian's signature indicating that you have received your child's progress report.

Humanities Homework: Marco Polo and the Silk Road: Reading and Questions

Science 7/8

Students received back two items in class today:
1) Inquiry test and
2) Sugar Cube Race Lab. 

Students are strongly encouraged to make corrections on both of these assignments.  Students making corrections on the test will have an opportunity to take a retest to improve their grades.  There are many students who haven't handed in their "Sugar Cube Race" lab.  Please ask your son or daughter or check using PowerSchool to see if they handed the lab in and encourage them to make corrections! 

 

 

Family Math Night

Tuesday, October 30th

Cafeteria, 6 -7

Please join us to do fun activities with your students.


Monday, October 29th, Math
8th grade
We started the new booklet Thinking with Mathematical Models.  We are learning about modeling by:
*writing equations that summarize or model the data patterns
*making predictions about values between and beyond the data collected
*comparing linear and nonlinear patterns
***** remember to use tables and graphs to aid with analysis

-Work we did last week with formulas of cones and spheres can be submitted as a challenge problem.
-Read pages 6 - 9 and make two table to prepare for tomorrow's experiments
-Do at least one KhanAcademy practice by the end of the week. 
If you have  not changed your password you can use the Google domain to create and account with the first three letters of your first name, then your last name (no spaces)    @mymtsd-vt.org.  The password will be first three letters of your first name, then your last name 123 no spaces.  Please be sure to write your password some place where you will remember it.  If you can not get into your account by the end of the week, please put your name and a note saying you need the password reset in the tray by the end of the week.

7th grade
*We are working on two step equations page 52+ A

Friday, October 26, 2012

Progress Reports

7th and 8th grade students received a packet of progress reports in their last period class today.  Parent/guardians should look over that packet and sign it to signify that you've seen it.  If you have any questions concerning grades or assignments, please contact the corresponding teacher for that class.  

If you haven't done so already, please be sure to send in your requested times for student-led conferences.  Again, the dates are 11/8 (4:00-7:00pm,) 11/12 (4:30-6:00pm,) and 11/13 (4:30-6:00pm.) If none of these times work for you, please send the house teachers an email or call to let us know.  We are flexible and will try our best to work something out.

Students should have received mid-term progress reports today. Sixth grade progress reports have a yellow sheet attached for parent confirmation. Please look over the report with your child, then sign and return the yellow sheet by Monday or at your earliest convenience. Thank you!

Also, we have begun to schedule student-led conferences. Please make sure you have received and returned a conference schedule form. Thank you!

Enjoy the weekend! It sounds like we will have some wet weather next week!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Niquette Bay Field Trip

The house A teachers would like to thank the parents, teachers and students that made our field trip to Niquette Bay State Park a success today!  Fortunately, the weather was cooperative.  There were several scenic views along the way and it was great seeing students deepen their sense of community on our team.  Thanks again!
Wednesday, October 24th Math & Thursday October, 25th
8th grade
page 55#11, 12, & 13 page 59 #33 complete as a reveiw for the upcoming test
Exploration with finding relationships between filling objects and formulas, specifically cones and spheres.
There is a test on Friday on Filling and Wrapping, surface area and volume.

7th grade
Equations representing relationships between variables
reviewed page 56 #3 d = r t
                            #4 lunch costs
*new task: page 58 #21 perimeter, (skill: exponentials)

Thursday, October 25 both 7th & 8th grade were given print outs of assignments and check-up listed in Power
School and reminded them that they should be able to find them in their notebooks and share them with parents.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Winter Sports

To Students & Families,

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

Athletic Department

Science 7/8

The "Sugar Cube Race" lab write up is due Friday, 10/26.  If students have any questions from now until then, they should meet with me during enrichment block, lunch or after school.  This assignment will be collected at the beginning of class.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Family Math Night

Tuesday, October 30th
5/6 Cafeteria
6 - 7
Please come and have fun with your child doing math activities !


Grade 6 Humanities

The Appearance of the Unexpected Constellation
Tuesday, October 23 Math
8th grade
*Percents on a Number Line "The Magic Land between Zero and One"
      completed and put in "Notes"
*Using formulas, substitution, finding the correct value and units
complete page 55 #11, 12 & 13 and page 59#33a to be used for a reference on the test on Friday.

7th grade
*Percents on a Number Line "The Magic Land between Zero and One"
      completed and put in "Notes"
*completed page 49 - 51
*new task page 56#3 equation for distance = rate * time
                  page 56#4 Lunch cost

Monday, October 22, 2012


Reminder: Middle School pictures are tomorrow, October 23.

House A is going on a hiking field trip on Thursday, October 25th, to Niquette Bay. Permission slips went home last week. The cost for the buses is $5.00. Students are asked to pack a lunch and dress appropriately. Pleae make sure these permission slips have been signed and returned.

Monday, October 22   Math
8th grade
*tomorrow the popcorn vendor page 42#22 & page 39 #4-6 figures and calc.
will be collected
* new task  formulas and substitution for cylinder, pyramid and sphere
page 55 #11, 12, & 13 page 59
*Lesson 10 on division of fractions should have been submitted last Wed.
We will be finishing this last investigation and having an local common assessment, LCA, on Thursday or Friday of this week.

7th grade
*Equations with one operation page 49 - 51 due tomorrow
*Lesson 10 on division of fractions should have been submitted last Wed.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Student-led conferences

Dear House A Families,

Tomorrow, your son or daughter will receive this letter.  Please look over it and select your top 2 desired time slots.  Have your son or daughter return the slip quickly so teachers can start filling in the conference schedule.  Thank you and we look forward to seeing everyone at the conferences.
_________________________________________________________________________________


October 22, 2012

Dear House A Parents and Guardians,

We hope you can attend a Student-Led Conference on Thursday, November 8th, Monday, November 12th, or Tuesday, November 13th.  Research tells us that children benefit from meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives. Your child will be presenting you with pieces of their work selected to demonstrate growth in their learning.

Conferences will be Thursday, November 8th starting at 4:00 and Monday& Tuesday, November 12 &13 starting at 4:30.  Anyone is welcome – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, etc.  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.  We would like all students to have the opportunity to share their work with a caring adult interested in their learning.

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,

The Teachers of House A
Nicki Steven
Rebecca Marsh
Amy Macbeth
Amy Johnson
John Finnigan
Sharon Ehret
Josh Roof
Robert DeCicco

Please detach and return
House A  Student-Led Conferences
*Please indicate you first and second choice for a conference time.  We will get back to you to confirm the scheduled time of your conference*

____  4:00pm Thursday, November 8th                                   

____  4:30pm Thursday, November 8                                                                                   
                                                                                    ____ 4:30pm  Monday, November 12th
____ 5:00pm Thursday, November 8th
                                                                                    ____ 5:00pm  Monday, November 12th
____  5:30pm Thursday, November 8th
                                                                                    ____ 5:30pm  Monday, November 12th
____  6:00pm Thursday, November 8th
                                                                                    ____ 6:00 pm  Monday, November 12th
____ 6:30pm  Thursday, November 8th

____7:00pm  Thursday, November 8th                                                                                                     
                                                     
                                                                                    ____ 4:30pm  Tuesday, November 13th

                                                                                    ____ 5:00pm  Tuesday, November 13th

                                                                                    ____  5:30pm  Tuesday, Novmeber 13th
                                                                                   
                                                                                    ____ 6:00pm Tuesday, November 13th
Student:______________________________
                        first & last name

Attendees:__________________________________________________________________

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Math October 18th
Power School has been updated with "tasks", the assignments students have been asked to do, and with  "Tests", the check-ups students have taken.  Check-Ups, an item under tests, can be corrected and they are an assignment if they were not proficient, 85 or higher.  Corrections will still be accepted and should be done on a separate sheet of paper and stapled to the original.

There are no new tasks for the four day break but the ones that have been assigned should be complete.    Enjoy the break!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Science 7/8

Students will be assessed tomorrow, Wednesday, 10/17th.  The assessment will ask students to read a passage, create a question based on the reading, decide how to best answer the question (research/experiment/observation,) develop a hypothesis that cites textual evidence, and create a plan for how they would answer the question.
Tuesday, October 16th  Math
8th grade
*Fraction work with riciprocals and division
*TIPS family partners due tomorrow, if there is need to havemore time please feel free to send them in on Monday.
*Popcorn vendor page 46#22 and calculations and figures page 39#4-6 in progress
*Challenge page 46#33 is a possibility

7th grade
*Fraction work with riciprocals and division
* Interpreting graphs page 34
*Khan Academy can be access through Google by the students on any computer.
*Challenge is a possibility on page 46#23

Monday, October 15, 2012


Sixth Grade Humanities

All House A sixth graders have an assignment tonight. They are to write a Summary of Wheeling the Snake. This is a short story we read in class today. Students may not have a copy of the text, but they should use the plot diagram that they filled out in class today. The notes from this graphic organizer can be turned into paragraph form for their summary.

A good summary will incude...
  • Main character
  • Setting
  • Problem/Conflict
  • Important events in the Plot.
Monday, October 15, 2012      Math
8th grade
*TIPS is a family partnership paper.  We have been working with volume in class and would like to share what we have been doing.  Please let your students share their work and then answer the questions on the last page and sign the paper for them to return by Wednesday, October 17th.
* Fraction multiplication
*Assigned Friday, page 36#4-6 matching calculations to figures &
                              page 42#22  popcorn vendor
Returned today: pages 40 & 41work with surface area and volume

7th grade
* Fraction multiplication
*Interpreting Graphs  matching graphs to stories and identifying independent and dependent variables   page 34 A-G

Returned today: page 37  T-shirt fundraiser  tables, graphs and interpretation questions

Friday, October 12, 2012

Science 7/8

Students should complete the "Germination of Radish Seed" lab that we started in class.  This assignment will be reviewed and collected on Monday.  Students will have an assessment on Wednesday of next week.  This test will assess how will students craft questions, hypothesize and come up with a plan to answer the question.  Any questions students should ask Mr. D during class, lunch, enrichment block or after school.
Friday, October 12,2012 Math
8th grade
page 39 #4-6 Surface Area and Volume
page 42#22  Popcorn Vendor

7th grade
collected: page 37 #4 T-shirt fundraiser and Challenge page 46 #23
Exit Ticket page 22 #12 interpreting graphs

Thursday, October 11, 2012

NECAP

House A teachers would like to thank our students for trying their best on the NECAP assessment.  We hope our scores reflect their hard work and effort.


FYI: The new rotation for both Unified Arts and Enrichment begins tomorrow, October 12. Your child can tell you about the changes in his or her schedule.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012


House A Sixth Grade

All sixth grade students received a new parent letter. It contains some updates from the school, team, and core classes. We are sending home family letters every two weeks. Please make sure your student gives this lettter to you. We are trying to increase student responsibility for home-school communication. Thank you!
Tuesday, October 9th
8th grade
NECAP 2010_8th #14 circle graph and survey
collected yesterday, 10/8/12
      page  41#16&17, page 40#9,10,12,13,&15
page 37 A&B, A New Juice Container
      started yesterday and some may still need work
NO new tasks due to NECAPs

7th grade
NECAP 2010_7th #15 ratios
*collecting page 37#4 Thursday 10/11/12
*page 32 Finding a Price is in progress
*Challenge page 46#23 no due date yet
NO new tasks because of NECAPs

Monday, October 8, 2012

Science 7/8

Students received an exit ticket back today during science class.  Based on what we discussed, students should make corrections on it and hand it back to Mr. D.  This should be done tonight for homework and collected tomorrow.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Grade8
NECAP relaease 2010_8th #12 patterns
Collecting pages 41#16 & 17 and 40 #9, 10,12,13, & 15
page 37 A&B  Finding a New Juice Container

Grade7
NECAP release task 2010_7th #12 perimeter and scale
Collecting page37 #4 Thursday, October 11th
new task page 31 Finding a Price(for the bike tour)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Thursday, October 4th math
There are no new tasks being assigned.  In classes we are working on measuring and looking for relationships, it is all in class activity. 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

October 3,2012 math
Because of NECAPs  there are no new tasks.

8th grade should have completed the tasks on page 41# 16 & 17 and page 40#9, 10, 12, 13&15.

7th grade should have page 30 &31 along with page 35#1 complete.

Student-Led Conferences


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 evening will be in place of the October 18th date. We look forward to seeing you in November!


Thank you,


The Middle School Faculty & Staff

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

NECAP Testing

Students will take the NECAP assessment on Wednesday (10/3,) Thursday (10/4,) Wednesday (10/10,) and, 8th grade only, on Thursday (10/11.)  The NECAP will assess students reading, writing and math skills.  We ask that every student try their best and take the assessment seriously!  Homework may be light during the testing to allow students to focus their best efforts on the test.  Students should get plenty of rest on these nights and eat something each morning.  This will help as the testing sessions can be lengthy.  We hope students show progress since their last testing session and their scores reflect the hard work being done at MMS!

Monday, October 1, 2012

October 1, 2012 math
Grade 8
*NECAP 20108th #7&8 equations (we will be going over this tomorrow)
*page 41# 16 & 17 (triangular prism and cylinder)
*page 40 #9, 10, 12, 13 & 15
*Check-up tomorrow

Grade 7
*NECAP will be done  tomorrow
*page 30 & 31 please give it 20 minutes we will continue tomorrow.
*Almost every one now has access to KhanAcademy through Google with the school accounts so they can practice from any computer