Willow Weekly 4/3 to 4/7

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.

Important Information: 

• MAP testing is coming up. Willow students will be taking their MAP test April 17th (Math), and April 18th (ELA). Please make sure if you know your students will be absent those days let us know in advance. If they miss one of the testing days there will be a make up day for all students.

• Students will need headphones for MAP testing. If your child does not have headphones and you are unable to provide them prior to the MAP testing dates, please contact the team.

• 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.

• 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.

English –

• Our argumentative writing is off to a strong start! Students practiced finding evidence for both sides of an issue, letting that evidence lead them to an informed claim, and structuring an argument that provides a clear position, reasons and supporting evidence. The issue for this week was whether competitive sports are harmful or helpful for students, and students put their hard work into action by engaging in a short debate today with a peer. The amount of evidence and thoughtful analysis that went into this work was amazing to watch!
• Students who participated in the Slice of Life Challenge in March are invited to the Slice of Life Party on Tuesday, April 11th after school. This party is for students who wrote for either 17 or 31 days in March. Pizza will be provided!

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

Social Studies –

This week, we wrapped up our tour of Ancient Greece. Projects were due on Monday and so many of them were very well done. I really appreciate all of the hard work and creativity that went into them. We finished the week with a "How Do We Know What We Know?" moment that involved Archaeology, Anthropology, and Genetics. Next week - Rome!

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

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org

314-918-4602

Math- 

Algebra- We are finishing up chapter 9 and will be testing the end of next week. EOC is April 26th

Math 7- Finished up learning target 2 in our Geometry scale factor unit. Will go over learning target 3 over the next two days and expect to test next Thursday or Friday. MAP test for these students will be April 17th.

Ashley Porter 

porter.ashley@wgmail.org

mathrm214.blogspot.com

Science –

Here are suggested conversation starters for your young engineer:

• What is a the hair color if the offspring is purebred recessive? (blond or red)
• What does it mean that a trait is dominant

Goal 1: I describe factors that impact reproduction.

I am able to draw conclusions from cause and effect relationships concerning:

• parent traits and probability of offspring traits,
• interaction between plants and animals and the probability of successful reproduction,
• and humans altering genetic outcomes.

The cross-cutting concept have been:

1. Structure and Function: The way in which an object or living thing is shaped & its substructures determine many of its properties and functions.
2. Cause and Effect: Investigating and explaining causal relationships may predict & explain  of events.

Activities students participated in this week:

1. This week the students worked using Punnett Squares to predict the probability of traits in offspring. An example for this would be 25% homozygous dominant, 50% heterozygous, and 25% purebred recessive genotypes if both parents are heterozygous.
2. The students had a vocabulary formative on Wednesday.

Emphasis this week:

1. }Target: Developing Punnett Square skills.
2. Vocabulary: Allele, Asexual reproduction, chromosomes/genes/DNA, Dominate, Genotype, Heredity, Heterozygous, Homozygous, Phenotype, Recessive, Sexual Reproduction.

NEXT WEEK the students will be working on understanding genetics and interactions between plants and animals.

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/