Willow Weekly 2/6 to 2/10

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.

Please remind your students to charge their Chromebook every night! We have had many students come to class with dead Chromebooks, which slows down instruction.

This is also a good time to check your student's supplies. Many students have been asking us to give them paper and pencils during class.

Important Information: 

After school help sessions and activities are after school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until 4:00. 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.

Parents of 7^th grade math students,

Your child recently completed the Algebra Readiness Test.  Please take a moment to discuss the test with your child and reflect on his/her mathematical experiences.  Then complete this one-question form found at this link (https://goo.gl/j1LVeu) indicating which math course you feel is the best placement for your child in 8^th grade.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your child’s math teacher or anyone in the Hixson office.  Student input, parent input, teacher recommendations and Algebra Readiness Test scores are all considered when determining class placement for 8th grade.  For more information about 8^th grade course placement please click here.

(Parents of students in 7^th grade algebra can disregard this message.)

Want to know more about the counselor's Mindfulness group? Check out this letter from them!

Pig Heart Dissection Field Trip Forms
DUE Thursday, 16 February!

English –
We jumped into drafting the first chapters of our companion books. In case you're unfamiliar, a companion book is basically a book about a book. Writers are working to showcase their deep thinking about a book of their choice and writing so that an audience can share in and appreciate their unique take on their chosen novel.

This week, I asked for 600 new words of writing (I'll be checking on Monday, so they have the weekend to finish that up). Just a note on word counts: I always preach that "how long does it have to be?" is my LEAST favorite question--I want my writers to focus more on saying what needs to be said and less on how many words are required. However, I do feel that it is important to give students an idea of where they should be with regards to volume of writing. That's why I have been giving a tangible word count. If writers aren't meeting the shared goal, it's a signal that something needs to change. 

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

Social Studies –

We wrapped up The Ancient World in Social Studies this week with the India/China Summative Test. Students who were absent or did not finish will need to see me ASAP to complete the test.

On Wednesday, we began The Classical World. As usual, we began with geography - which is going to be very different from what we have studied so far this year. Students are very excited about Greek mythology, and we will also be looking at ancient Greek contributions in art, architecture, science, and philosophy.

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

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Math- 

Algebra- Working on Chapter 7 exponent rules currently

7th Math- Students are working on identifying proportional relationships in graphs and tables. They had a formative over learning target 2 and will have their learning target 3 formative Monday. They will have their first test over learning targets 1-3 this next week.

Ashley Porter 

porter.ashley@wgmail.org

mathrm214.blogspot.com

Science –

Summative Cell Project is DUE on Tuesday, 21 February.

Summative Cell Project Scoring Guide

Pig Heart Dissection Field Trip Forms

Pig Heart Dissection Permission Forms are DUE Thursday, 16 February.

Here are suggested conversation starters for your young engineer:

• In science what did you see in the microscopes?
• What does a dog flea look like?
• What does a feather look?

1. Goal 1: I understand that living organisms are systems of interacting subsystems composed, on the most basic level, of cells.
2. Goal 2:  I am able to develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.
1. See Proficiency Scales for these goals below.

The cross-cutting concept have been:

1. Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure and/or performance.
2. Structure and Function: The way in which an object or living thing is shaped & its substructures determine many of its properties and functions.

Activities students participated in this week:

1. Monday - A Venn diagram Plant vs Animal Cells and 10 preset slides students had to classify and predict the organism/structure.
2. Tuesday - Class notes, discussion, and Q&A over the Structure, Function, and Chemical equations for the Chloroplast and Mitochondria.
3. Wednesday - Reviewed Chloroplast & Mitochondria. Completed microscope lab activities.
4. Thursday - BrainPOP “Cells,” and “Cell Structures”, Sorting activity matching the picture, structure, and function for each of the 8 cell structures.
5. Friday - Received Summative Cell Project Scoring Guide and Project Choice selection for their summative cell project.

Emphasis this week:

1. }Structure and Function of the cell parts and what defines something as “LIVING.”
2. Vocabulary: Cell membrane, Cell wall, Chloroplasts, Chromosomes, Cytoplasm, Mitochondria, Nucleus, Organelle

NEXT WEEK the students will work on summative cell project.

Goal 1:    I understand that living organisms are systems of interacting subsystems composed, on the most basic level, of cells.  (Scale/Proportion) (Systems) (Structure & Function)

4	I demonstrate innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal. In addition to level 3 I will be able to: predict the effect(s) on an organism if a specific subsystem or cell does not function properly or does not exist OR demonstrate additional understanding of cells.
3	I use both cell theory and levels of organization to show that an organism is living.

Goal 2:  I am able to develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.   (Scale/Proportion) (Systems) (Structure & Function)

4	I demonstrate innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal. In addition to level 3 I will be able to: create an analogy between cell and non-cell OR demonstrate additional understanding of cells.
3	I am able to develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole. describe the function that each organelle contributes in the cell.  (cell wall, nucleus, chloroplast, mitochondria, cell membrane).

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/