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Return to Home Page The McDevitt Book Fair is being held next week in the lobby of the school. Students will have an opportunity to browse the shelves most mornings beginning at about 7:30. We are sure that there will be something there for everyone. The fair will run until about 3:00 each day, so parents plan to stop by and see what they might have for you. The first middle school dance seemed to go off without too much of a problem. There certainly were quite a few students. We do hope that you read the notice that was sent home this week in the Tuesday folder regarding the cell phone usage during the dance. As stated in the memo, rules spelled out in the handbook do apply to all school functions as well as a regular school day. On November 4th, there will be no school for all students in the city of Waltham because teachers will be spending the day in professional workshops. Classes will resume the following day. Please circle this date on your home calendar. A reminder to all, grades close on November 12th. There is still plenty of time for students to catch up on work that they have fallen behind on here at school and to bring up grades that need a boost. First term report cards will be sent home the following week, November 18th. Social Studies – Mr. Hammond Students did a great job with their country projects last week. I have corrected all of them and your child’s point total appears on his/her scoring rubric. The brochures themselves I have kept and will display them in the lobby of the school for all to see. If you happen to be here for any reason, please check them out. Our geography unit has come to a close with students completing a longitude and latitude test today in school. We spent most of the week working on the locating specific places in the world using this skill. Results of the test will be in next week’s folder. Next week we will begin our discussion on early man. Students will begin by reading and answering questions about the excitement a young boy feels as he develops his skill of cave painting. Please check your child’s notebook for outlines on each chapter that we now begin to discuss and continue to check www.homeworknow.com for daily assignments, tests, quizzes, and projects. Science – Mrs. Murray This week we will practice the proper way of using a pan balance and a triple beam balance to measure the mass of different objects. We will also challenge ourselves to figure out how to measure the mass of water in a bottle. Our third activity will be to measure the mass of chemical substances. Mass is not weight and is often confused with weight. We will learn the difference between mass and weight, one of our standards. The last class of the week will be a quiz on measuring mass and volume, the two main physical properties of matter. English/Reading – Ms. Gurry Reading – We are finishing up Hatchet and will be having a test on the story next week. Also, students are working on completing their Hatchet timelines. The timelines have helped the students understand how to sequence stories and identify important events. Next week, we will be starting our guided reading groups. Students will be meeting in small reading groups to help them improve their reading fluency and practice reading strategies. English – Students are finishing up, writing and illustrating their “Scary” stories. We are also reviewing nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Next week, students will be working on their next formal writing assignment. We have also been practicing how to answer multiple choice questions for the MCAS. Please encourage your children to read nightly. English/Reading – Mrs. Creonte In English class this week the students began working on their pieces for the October Author’s Party. We started off by brainstorming possible topic choices and discussed our ideas as a class and with a partner. By the end of the week all students were underway with their drafting and revising processes. Some students have held writing conferences already and by next week all students should be typing. In reading the students were introduced to their new vocabulary words. Throughout the week we worked with these words as well as started our new phonics unit on the short u sound. We did vocabulary centers, took the test and practice phonemic awareness activities with the new words. After the test today students responded to their independent reading books in their response journals. On Monday, the 27th, I will be taking the class to the book fair which will be in the school’s lobby all of next week. If your child would like to purchase some new books they may do so at this time. Math- Ms. Turkington We kicked off our Algebra unit (Chapter 2) this week with a trip to a bicycle store, a basketball game and a visit to math land! Please ask you student to tell you what all of these things have to do with Algebra. The students have been learning about the concept of a variable and how it is used in the world around them. Specifically, they have learned to evaluate algebraic expressions, translate between words and algebra, and create algebraic expressions from a table of values as well as a real-life scenarios. I would like to thank of all you for your support in helping your students stay on top of the homework. All classes have had homework percentages in the 90’s or above for the last two weeks! As the quarter comes to a close we will find out which class has won the homework competition. Next week we will continue to explore patterns and create algebraic expressions. Students will also graph patterns and make predictions based on the graphs they create. We will most likely start solving one-step equations as well. There will be a quiz on sections 2-1:2-3 next week, which I will keep you updated on through homework now and your child’s agenda. I hope you have a great weekend and if your child requests that you make pumpkin cookies please make them do the measurements =). English – Ms. Scalese “…and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher." -Edgar Allan Poe We are having a frightfully good time in class this week producing our MYSTERY PLAYS and reading The Fall of the House of Usher. While this is a challenging piece, we will work through the text together and focus on the use of figurative language. Additionally, our student playwrights have been hard at work turning their mystery ideas into two act scripts complete with stage direction and sounds effects. We will hear these entertaining tales come to life next week when we record our productions with the help of Mr. Coyne. I am very pleased with the collaboration efforts and with the work each individual undertook throughout this group project. Next week, we will work with the poem, The Ravem and begin review of literary techniques such as alliteration and rhyme scheme. Please note that your students had a vocabulary quiz today and will have a short grammar quiz on Monday to review the work we have done on sentences over the past few weeks. Students may review for the quiz using the grammar packets in their binders. English/Reading – Ms. Lenza Ms Lenza has been out most of the week. We hope that she is feeling better and returns the first of the week. Get well soon! |
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