Dynamic Dialogue 2/26/16

Good afternoon Dynamic Team!

Upcoming Events:   Mar. 9^th & 10^th – Student-led Conferences

                                             4 – 8 p.m.

DYNAMIC is to be CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCTIVE AND CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING!                                     

Important Information:    

Student Led Conferences Link

You should only sign up for one time slot. Your student will lead this conference and present samples of their work for each of their core classes. We are available if you need to briefly speak with Ms. Kraushaar, Mrs. Pettid, Ms. Coffman, or Coach Daniels.

At least one teacher from Dynamic will be available for help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 4:00.

English –

We are nearing the finish line for our companion novels! By Monday, students should have drafted at least five chapters. Please check with your student on his/her progress. I will be checking for those chapters on Monday, and their work will be reflected on their summative participation grade (assigned right before spring break). 

We will spend next week putting the finishing touches on our companion novels and polishing them up.

Just as an FYI, the summative assessment for informational writing will be the week before spring break (right before parent-teacher conferences). We will spend some time reviewing right before the assessment, which will ask students to publish a piece of informational writing about a topic that they know very well. This is the same assessment as the pre-test, which was given at the beginning of the unit. The hope is to see growth in their writing! 

Email: kraushaar.kaitlyn@wgmail.org

Math- 

This week we worked on finding the greatest common factor in expressions and being able to accurately factor them. We looked at real life situations and how using the distributive property could be used to help solve the problems.

mathrm214.blogspot.com

coffman.ashley@wgmail.org 

Social Studies –

The interrupted week made for some changes in our schedule.  We spent some time on Greek mythology and on Friday completed an activity on Architecture and Art.  I postponed the project to next week so that they can be a little more focused starting up.   The information is available on my website in the Unit Resources menu.

Please ask your students to share the words they are learning as we explore Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes. 

Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Science –

Dynamic Science!

• Students know and I want to keep you informed as well. My youngest brother, age 52, died very early into this week. I will be out a day or two for his funeral and handling his estate.

The students did a sensory lab this week consisting of a 2 point discrimination test. Students tested the forearm, calf, palm, and middle finger with points which were 9 cm, 7 cm, 6 cm, 5 cm, 4  cm, 3 cm, 2 cm, and 1 cm apart. Please ask the student to about this lab activity. The students are working on a differentiated inquiry formative activity which you will see during student led conferences.

Goal 3:  Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

3	Student will: support stimuli/response system understanding with ideas and details.

• Students have the written portion of their summative for goals #1 & #2 on WEDNESDAY, 2 March.
• Next week the students will begin the human body circulatory system, and continue with Stimulus-Response.

Next week the students will continue to research #3 Stimulus - Response.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me!

Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels - daniels.mark@wgmail.org

Please visit the following links for more information: Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson Dr. Smith's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/

Dynamic Dialogue 2/19/16

Good afternoon Dynamic Team!

Upcoming Events:   Feb. 23 – Papa John’s Pizza Night

                                        Feb. 23 – Steiger Night (6:30 – 9)

DYNAMIC is to be CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCTIVE AND CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING!                                     

Important Information:    

Student Lead Conferences Link
https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Hixson_Middle_School_1

You should only sign up for one time slot. Your student will lead this conference and present samples of their work for each of their core classes. We are available if you need to briefly speak with Ms. Kraushaar, Mrs. Pettid, Ms. Coffman, or Coach Daniels.

Mrs. Kraushaar and Ms. Coffman have written another Donors Choose project to get some bouncy bands and fidgets to help our students focus. Any donations toward our project will directly aid students in focusing in on daily tasks, which translates to better grades and increased learning. We want our students to move their bodies while growing their brains. We hope this project will help our students to continue to move toward the goal of lifelong learning! You can find the link to view our project here.

At least one teacher from Dynamic will be available for help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 4:00.

English –

Students are still working hard on their companion books. I checked in on Tuesday to see their progress and asked to see two chapters that were drafted. I'll check in again on Monday, and I'd like to see three drafted chapters. On Monday, I will also be contacting parents of students who are not hitting these "checkpoints" in order to make a plan for how to best help the student meet the goals we're setting in class.

I am available before school starting at 7:30 (please email me the night prior to let me know that your student plans to come in), during lunch and after school on Wednesdays until 4 PM.

The final due date for the completed companion book is tentatively set for the last Monday before spring break, March 7th. 

Please click here to see an example of a companion book just so you can get an idea of what your child has been working on for these past few weeks.

I'm taking Scholastic orders up until next Friday, so please check out the flyer online at www.scholastic.com/readingclub (use my class code HYW38 so that we can get free books for our classes!)

Email: kraushaar.kaitlyn@wgmail.org

Math- 

mathrm214.blogspot.com

coffman.ashley@wgmail.org 

Social Studies –

We continued looking at Greek culture this week, as well as exploring the impact of Alexander the Great.  There are only a few “Greats” in history – why is that so?  What makes a “”Great” great?  There will be a project assigned next week – the information is available on my website in the Unit Resources menu.

Please ask your students to share the words they are learning as we explore Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes. 

Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Science –

Dynamic Science!

ON TUESDAY students will be doing a lab which has then swishing 1 oz of a non-caffeine tea across the tip of the tongue which will temporarily alter their taste bud perceptions for at most an hour.  Diabetic students should not participate in this lab. Other than restrictions for diabetics, there are no other reported drug interactions or allergies. The link to the lab activity is found in the National Institute of Health, NIH, site. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3592606/

If you choose for your student not to participate in this lab activity please notify me by 07:30 on Monday, 22 February 2016 at  daniels.mark@wgmail.org .

Goal 3:  I can gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

3	I will: support stimuli/response system understanding with ideas and details.

• Students should have completed and turned in their summative Cell Project on Google Classroom #047 by Wednesday 8:30 am this week. This project is worth 2 “Summative Assessment” grades.
• Wednesday students did a formative assessment on Levels of Organization and Cell Organelle Structure and Functions.
• Thursday, we reviewed our stimulus/response learning goal and proficiency scale and some students did their voluntary Cell Project presentations for their classmates. After some Q & A did a formative review on cell organelle functions via a Kahoot.
• Friday the students did pre-lab questions, demonstration, discussion, and began data collection on a 2 point skin sensation discrimination lab activity.
• Next week the students will finish their data collection, do the formative re-assessment which will count towards their semester grade, and the sensory taste bud lab. 2 point discrimination lab reports are due on Tuesday.

Next week the students will continue to research #3 Stimulus - Response.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me!

Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels - daniels.mark@wgmail.org

Please visit the following links for more information: Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson Dr. Smith's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/

Dynamic Dialogue 2/12/16

Happy Long Weekend Dynamic Team!

Upcoming Events:   Feb. 15 – President’s Day

                                  Feb. 16 – Term 5 and Explo 3 begin

                                  Feb. 19 – Progress Reports Mailed

DYNAMIC is to be CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCTIVE AND CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING!                                     

Important Information:    

Mrs. Kraushaar and Ms. Coffman have written another Donors Choose project to get some bouncy bands and fidgets to help our students focus. Any donations toward our project will directly aid students in focusing in on daily tasks, which translates to better grades and increased learning. We want our students to move their bodies while growing their brains. We hope this project will help our students to continue to move toward the goal of lifelong learning! You can find the link to view our project here.

At least one teacher from Dynamic will be available for help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 4:00.

English –

Email: kraushaar.kaitlyn@wgmail.org

Math- 

We have started our new unit on Expressions and Equations. 

Learning Goal: I will be able to use properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions and solve real-life problems using algebraic expressions and equations.

Students are working on combining like terms and distributive property right now. We will be moving to solving equations soon!

mathrm214.blogspot.com

coffman.ashley@wgmail.org 

Social Studies –

We have been continuing to examine the many ways in which ancient Greece has influenced our culture and society.  On Monday and Tuesday we had some very spirited class discussions on this topic.  Since the schedule has been a little changeable lately, I did give students time on both Wednesday and Thursday to catch up on any missing assignments.  Most took advantage of the opportunity and many assignments were turned in.

Please ask your students to share the words they are learning as we explore Greek  and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes. 

Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Science –

Dynamic Science!

• Students have been working on their summative cell project covering our 2 learning goals about cells. This project is worth 2 “Summative Assessment” grades.
• Cell Summative Project is due on Wednesday, 17 February.
• The students have the paper versions as well as on Google Classroom are the Scoring Rubric and the Steps outlined for the project.

Next week the students will do goal #3 Stimulus Response.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me!

Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels - daniels.mark@wgmail.org

Please visit the following links for more information: Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson Dr. Smith's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/

Dynamic Dialogue 2/5/16

Good Afternoon Dynamic Team!

Upcoming Events:   Feb. 12 – PD Day, No Student Attendance

                                   Feb. 15 – President’s Day

DYNAMIC is to be CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCTIVE AND CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING!                                     

Important Information:    

Hixson Middle School Attendance to Junior Achievement Career Fair

Mrs. Kraushaar and Ms. Coffman have written another Donors Choose project to get some bouncy bands and fidgets to help our students focus. Any donations toward our project will directly aid students in focusing in on daily tasks, which translates to better grades and increased learning. We want our students to move their bodies while growing their brains. We hope this project will help our students to continue to move toward the goal of lifelong learning! You can find the link to view our project here.

At least one teacher from Dynamic will be available for help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 4:00.

English –

We are full steam ahead on drafting our companion novels! This week, students created a table of contents of proposed chapters for their books. We are aiming for six chapters, with each chapter being about 1.5-2 pages in length. As this unit continues, I'll keep providing mini lessons on strategies and tips to lift the level of their informational writing about their reading. Please ask your student about his/her progress on this multi-week writing project!

Upcoming dates:
February 8th: Page Goal Check-In
February 16th: Books should be completed
**March 1st: MoneySmart Kids Essay Contest entries should be submitted to me
**April 1st: St. Louis Holocaust Museum Lessons of the Past...Promises for the Future Holocaust Art & Writing Contest entries should be submitted to me.

**These are optional essay contests that offer scholarships and cash prizes. 

Email: kraushaar.kaitlyn@wgmail.org

Math- 
Students took their scale factor test this week. We will be heading into the most anticipated unit, expressions and equations. They will be working to make themselves proficient equation solvers! If they did not finish cumulative reviews in class they are due on Monday.
Algebra is working on exponent rules and will have a quiz next week over the four rules. 

mathrm214.blogspot.com

coffman.ashley@wgmail.org 

Social Studies –

Students have spent most of the week exploring Greek art and architecture.  They should now be able to tell you the names of three types of columns.  We have also been looking for examples of ancient Greek influence on the modern world.  We will continue with Greece next week.

Please ask your students to share the words they are learning as we explore Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes. 

Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Science –

Dynamic Science!

The learning goals this week have been:

1. Goal 2:  Student develops and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

• Cross-Cutting Concepts
• Systems and System models: Defining systems and system models are ways to understand ideas/concepts.
• Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure and/or performance.
• Structure and Function: The way in which an object or living thing is shaped & its substructures determine many of its properties and functions.

• Students have been working on understanding “Levels of Organization.”
• Students did the Career Fair on Tuesday.
• Wednesday students reviewed Inquiry, Compare & Contrast Animal vs Plant cells, and then studied for formative using handouts I provided over the structure and function of cell parts and organelles.
• Students completed a formative assessment on cell part functions and worked on Organ Systems graphic organizer.
• Friday students finished their Organ Systems graphic organizer, chose one organ system and listed all the organs within that system.

Next week the students will do a summative project using both Goal #1 & #2.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me!

Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels - daniels.mark@wgmail.org

Please visit the following links for more information: Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson Dr. Smith's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/