Blog Post Week of 11/13-11/17

Driscoll- Humanities 

This week has been very exciting! We switched classes and now Ms. Casalengo and Mr. Walker’s homerooms will be coming to me and Ms. Tem for the second quarter. We hit the ground running, taking a main idea pre-assessment, completing an opinion writing pre-assessment, learned the difference between fact and opinion, and starting to learn about topic vs. main idea, researching all sides of an issue before forming an opinion, and gathering information. Students started to read 3 different articles about whether chocolate milk should be served in schools and identified pros and cons presented by the authors. They also began creating a t-chart to record their findings. Students were also introduced to “powerwrites,” a fun writing warm-up to increase writing endurance, and the “daily edit,” a way to practice editing and grammar skills.

Tem- STEM

This week has been so exciting! We are off to a great start for the second quarter. We have hit the ground running and have already started with the basics for the geometry unit. So far we have covered the definition of prime and composite numbers, as well as ways to test if a number is prime or composite. In Science we have started exploring matter, and have looked specifically at the different characteristics of each state of matter (volume, shape, and how the particles are moving). We also started looking at changes within matter, such as physical and chemical changes. This has been a great week so far!

Casalengo- Humanities

Welcome to Q2! We took a little time getting to know one another, sharing a few facts about ourselves, then we dove right in. In reading we took a per-assessment on the Main Idea in fictional text and started practicing sequencing events in a plot. Most novel based reading groups started as well. The students wrote about a small moment to demonstrate how much they know about narrative writing, the focus in Mrs. Casalengo’s classroom. Ask your child about the small moment they chose to write about. Additionally the students started reading about early civilizations and the factors that influenced where they chose to settle.

Walker- STEM

Hello New Parents! My name is Mr. Adrion Walker. I am the 2nd quarter S.T.E.M. (Science and Math) teacher for Mrs. Gallion’s and Mrs. Sanguino’s Homeroom students. Mrs. Casalengo is my team partner for Humanities (Reading, Writing, and Social Studies). My units of study are Everything Fractions and Earth Science (The crust and below). In Science, students have been engaged in activities relates to the layers of the Earth. We began to create flipcharts and diagrams of the Earth’s layers labeling and listing important details. We will begin working on our Unit Project after the Thanksgiving break. Students will be creating a fun and engaging science video (like Bill Nye the Science Guy). The projects will be available for parents see at the end of the quarter. Look out for an invitation to our Presentation of Learning Exhibit. In Math, students began to learn about equivalent fractions with and without models. We also practice the previous skill Order of Operations (G.E.M.D.A.S.). Students could decide to create slideshow or teaching video to assist other students to have a deeper understanding of equivalent fractions. Next, we will add finding equivalencies for decimals and fractions to our activities next week.If you need to contact me please email me at adrion.walker@apsva.us

Sanguino- Humanities

It has been an awesome week getting to know students from Ms. Driscoll’s and Ms. Tem’s homeroom classes! They have transitioned smoothly and are already in the groove! This week’s focus was main idea and supporting details in nonfiction. The students also completed their beginning of quarter writing pre-assessment for informational writing. They continued reading their novels, and also continued to begin each class with an “every day edit” grammar warm up. Have a wonderful weekend!

Gallion- STEM

It has been an exciting week getting to know Ms. Tem and Ms. Driscoll’s homeroom kids! In STEM, we have jumped right into decimals and biology. Students have been introduced to decimals and been working on place value. They are being pushed to understand how place values relate to each other (ie: a tenth is 100 times larger than one thousandth) and using their place value knowledge to represent numbers in standard, written and expanded form. In science, we kicked off biology by taking a closer look at cells. Students have studied both plant and animal cells. We have looked at cells through microscopes and compared plant and animal cells to form a deeper understanding. I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!!