Friday, September 19, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 9/19/14

Good afternoon Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:     Sept. 22nd Term 2 begins
                                   Sept. 26th Term 1 grades mailed

Important Information:    

Fall conferences this year will be held during the following dates and times:
  • October 7, 4pm – 8pm
  • October 8, 1pm – 5pm
  • October 9, 4pm – 8pm
You may schedule a conference with your child’s teachers by clicking on the link below. Before doing so, however, please read the following:

You will need to know the name of your child’s team to sign up.
    • Your student in on DYNAMIC.

    • Please sign up for an available time to meet with your child’s team. In most cases, this will include your child’s English/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies teachers.

    • If you would like to meet with your child’s elective teachers, you will need to schedule a conference separate from the team conference. This may require going back to the address below and logging into the website a second time.

    • Conferences are ten minutes in length. Please be respectful of everyone’s time by being prompt and conscious of keeping your conference to ten minutes. Teachers will be happy to continue the conversation at a later time, if necessary.

Hixson Middle School Conference Scheduler: http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Hixson_Middle_School_1




English –

Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org

This week students visited the library and were invited to participate in the Truman Awards Program and/or the Mark Twain Program: http://www.maslonline.org/?1415FinalNoms

Also this week students worked on revising their selected paragraph response. We began the week by introducing the scoring guide for the writing. Next, we concentrated our revision efforts on our topic sentence and the use of a formal voice in academic writing. Finally, we revised the supporting details for cohesiveness.

Tips for helping your growing writing:
  •  Ask him to read the paper aloud, or read the paper aloud to him
  •  Encourage use of the checklist and the other reference documents provided
  •  Concentrate efforts on revision, not editing (spelling, punctuation, etc.) at this time
  •  if a new word or phrase is needed, offer choices of words or phrases and allow the student to choose their own words




Math-

I have a deal with students that if they do extra math assignments Monday through Thursday, then I would rarely assign homework over the weekend. The assignments should only take an hour or less.  However, if your student is spending more than an hour, please discontinue the assignment. 

I am still entering term grades on the portal (which will come out next Friday).  Dynamic students' earned a lot of (A's) this term because they were allowed to redo assessments; I wanted to show them how starting out with an (A) in a class is easier to maintain a high grade, then starting off with a low grade and trying to raise it to an (A).  


Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org



Science –
In Dynamic Systems Science the students have finished the Scientific Inquiry. The students have been practicing all the details of observing, recording, and managing data in data tables, and graphs. This week they have finished their Dish Soap Bubble lab report, did an introductory hands-on GPS geocache activity, and taken a Formative Quiz Exit slip over Scientific Inquiry which will be reflected in their progress report. 

Next week we will finish preparation for the Summative Assessment over the Scientific Inquiry Unit and continue activities building understanding of Global Positioning, latitude, and longitude.

Progress reports are a mile marker indicator of where the student is at on becoming “Proficient” = 3 or “B” which means they can do all the aspects of the skill independently, and successfully! The Semester grade is cumulative of the three grading terms.

The three learning goals are below:
  1. I am able to contrast and make observations using qualitative and quantitative data.
  2. I am able to question and investigate to find answers using the scientific method. 
  3. I am able to clearly communicate using data tables and graphs.
If you review previous "Dynamic Dialogues" you can see the proficiency scales for the learning goals above.


“Forces of Nature” Multimedia Symphony Field Trip – Powell Hall Tuesday, 11 November 9:00 am  

Pairing planet images and information with symphony music, audiences will be in awe at how the power of nature and various phenomena on Planet Earth and Beyond have inspired famous works.  Just added to this awesome line-up is the Theme from Star Wars!
Tuesday, November 11 at 9:30 am

If you have any questions or comments please let me know.
Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels

314-918-4603

Social Studies –

We have continued looking at Mesopotamia.  Working with partners, students were given a variety of legal scenarios and asked to determine if the outcome was just.  Students then examined several examples of Hammurabi’s Law Code and decided if his laws were just or unjust.  Finally, students examined the U.S. Constitution and created a Venn diagram to compare and contrast both primary source documents.  Next week, we will wrap up our look at Mesopotamia and conclude with an open-note quiz on Tuesday.  The notes are available in the Unit Resources section of my website if students missed any notes or need to clarify what they have already written. 

Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org
314-918-4602


Please visit the following links for more information:



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