11/7 - 11/11

Welcome to the Willow Weekly.  Here you will find all of your Team Willow news and information.  Please sign up for automatic updates and you will be notified whenever an update is made.

Upcoming Events:

November 17th- Session one After School Activities end 
Gravity and Moon Summative Assessment is next Friday, 18 November!
Thanksgiving Break November 23-25

Important Information: 
If you are interested in contributing to a Hixson Holiday Basket you can find information here.

After school help sessions and activities began Sept. 6th. At least one teacher from Willow will be available for help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 4:00. A list of other after school opportunities can be found here.

Please pay for your Team Willow T-shirts! $8 to Ms. K before Thanksgiving break!

English –

We have begun drafting our realistic fiction pieces! Ask your students about their "crappy first drafts" that they started today in class. For more about my philosophy about this approach to drafting, check out my blog below! 

Don't forget to stay updated with what's going on in ELA by visiting blog.katiekraushaar.com

Social Studies –

This week in Social Studies, we began wrapping up our time in Ancient Egypt with a little detour to the modern world.  On Monday, students participated in KidsVote, and cast their votes in a mock election.  Their ballot looked just like yours, so they were able to vote on everything.  On Wednesday, we discussed the results of both the mock and the real election (which were very different).  Projects were due on Wednesday.  I’ve been conferencing with students individually and have seen some wonderful work.  Any revisions should be in to me by next Wednesday.

The summative test over Mesopotamia and Egypt will be next Friday.  I will hand out a study guide on Monday, and students will be given time in class to fill it out. www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Math- 

7th grade will take a test soon over those three learning targets of combining like terms, distributing and factoring.

Algebra students started chapter 4 this week about functions, patterns and linear vs nonlinear.

 Check out my blog for some of the great things we've been doing in class. 

I found a nice website, check it out! Sign up for Table Talk Math here! The goal of this site is to provide clarity for what students could be doing to increase their math fluency and also provide prompts to discuss around the dinner table (or anywhere, for that matter).

To sign up for math homework updates message @math7port to 81010

algebra homework updates- message @a493a to 81010 

Ashley Porter 

porter.ashley@wgmail.org

mathrm214.blogspot.com

Science –

Willow Science

Gravity and Moon Summative Assessment is next Friday, 18 November!

Here are suggested conversation starters for you young engineer:

• How long is a moon day and a moon year? {both are 27.3 days}
• How long does it take us to see all the moon phases? {29 days}
• Why the difference? {Because the Earth is revolving and rotating at the same time as the moon is orbiting.}

The targets this week have been:

1. Goal 2: I am able to develop and use models to describe the role of gravity
2. Goal 3:  I am able to develop and  use models  to describe cyclic patterns of lunar phases..

The cross-cutting concept have been:

1. Patterns: Observing patterns & events guides organization and classification & leads to understanding of relationships.
2. Cause and Effect: Investigating and explaining causal relationships may predict & explain events.

Activities students participated in this week:

1. Monday - Students had a Moon Phases ‘pretest’ on www.quia.com/web .
2. Tuesday - ELECTION DAY!
3. Wednesday: Moon goal introduction and Google Classroom #017 Moon formation and moon characteristics video and answering questions.
4. Thursday: Reviewed moon concepts with demonstrations and class discussion covering inclined elliptical orbit concepts and positions related to eclipses.
5. Friday: Students Q&A over moon concepts and did modeling of moons on a stick to see the moon phases in  relationship to the position of the Sun, Earth, and Moon

Vocabulary Emphasis this week:

1. }Moon “Day” & “Year” are both 27.3 days Cause & Effect = we only see one side of the moon.
2. }Moon’s elliptical orbit- sometimes the moon is closer and moon is further away. .
3. }Ellipse - a “lopsided circle” where one edge is much closer to the center, the opposite edge is much further away and the side are in between and equidistant from the center.
4. Vocabulary: Axis, Ellipse, Gravity, Orbit, Revolution, and Rotation.

NEXT WEEK the students will turn in their Formative Pumpkin Experiment lab report on Monday and complete lunar phases goal understanding the cause and effect relationship between the Moon and Earth.

Goal 3:  Student will develop and  use models  to describe cyclic patterns of lunar phases.

4	I demonstrate innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal. In addition to level 3 I am able to: demonstrate additional understanding of motions that cause lunar phases.
3	I am able to: model motions that cause lunar phases.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me!

Team Willow Science – Mr. 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/