SMS Newsletter
December 2020
A Note From Mr.Heilemeier
As per the email you received from the superintendent, Sandwich School District will be returning to full remote for our students beginning Nov. 30, 2020, and running through Jan. 18, 2021. We will return to A/B days on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, as long as the metrics show we are safe to return.
Since September, our students have been engaged through remote learning three days each week. This makes our students better prepared to transition to full remote; it will be easier than it was last year. There are some changes, most importantly, each teacher will hold virtual office hours two days each week. Students should use the attached schedule to find out when your teachers will be available for chatting, phone calls and video conferencing.
In addition, teachers will be available throughout the week at additional times so you should reach out to them for assistance. Teachers will be working at school as long as the metrics show it is safe.
When you review the SMS Remote Learning Plan (see link below), the student schedule is a recommended schedule to help your child stay on task.
Students Enrolled in Edgenuity: For all students completing Edgenuity courses, your schedule remains the same. Keep working; you are so close to completing the semester.
Please use the link below to review the remote learning plan.
Sincerely, Andrew Heilemeier
6th Grade News
It’s hard to believe that the end of 2020 is almost here. We have been having a wonderful school year and are so proud of all the hard work the students have been putting forth every day in all of their classes. It’s been a lot of new routines and expectations to get used to.
Language Arts classes will be finishing up the quarter with more nonfiction practice. We will be learning about the author's purpose and how to summarize nonfiction. Instructional Language Arts is working on sentence writing, grammar activities and comprehension skills in our Language Arts notebook and literature book as well as additional practice in the Readworks, Lexia, and IXL programs.
Social Studies classes will be studying the ancient kingdoms of Africa. We will be focusing on the kingdoms such as Kush, Ghana, Malie and Songhai. We will discuss the geography, architecture, culture and contributions of each kingdom.
Science classes will be digging into fossils after Thanksgiving. We will discover different types of fossils and how they are formed. We will travel back in time and explore the geologic time scale. We will also learn how to figure out the age of fossils.
It’s been algebra fun in all the math classes! In regular math class we will be finishing our chapter on algebraic expressions and doing some mystery math problems. Students will be acting as crime scene investigators as they to find out who stole the sleigh as we approach the winter break. Accelerated and AT math classes will be learning about ratios and rates as well as being investigators this month.
A special round of applause to our two 6th grade students of month:
Chase Russo and Kayla Kressin!
These two are exceptional students who always put forth a great effort. We enjoy having them in our classrooms and appreciate their hard work!
7th Grade News
Happy fall! We are almost half way through second quarter now and we feel that the A/B schedule is working well. We are getting to know that students more and more every day that they are here.
We are holding Parent Teacher conferences, in a group setting with the teachers, through Zoom on Monday, November 23rd and Tuesday, November 24th. If you are interested in setting up a conference, please contact one of your child’s teachers.
The next month, in between holidays, is very essential for students to keep up on their work. This is the time that we see them start to falter on getting their work completed. Please encourage your students to keep up on their work and continue to check their grades on Tyler. We encourage parents/guardians to check the grades and check Google Classroom as well as a follow up. We appreciate all of the hard work and stress through this tough time on both the students and the parents. The end of second quarter is December 18th, so the day we get out for Winter Break.
Every month, we are now going to be choosing two students as the seventh grade students of the month. The Students of the Month for this month are Aeden Wortman and Hailey Gauer. Congratulations to both of you!
8th Grade News
Amazingly, we are already into the holiday season. This year seems to be flying by! We continue to be very proud of our students. They have figured out Google Classroom, and they seem to be much more comfortable with the learning situation. Please continue to ask your child to show you how Google Classroom works, and also, please continue to check Tyler to see if your child has any missing assignments.
History: In history the students are in the midst of studying about America’s Overseas Expansion. Students are learning about the acquisition of Alaska and Hawaii as well as other territories. Imperialism in the Pacific and Central America is also a focus.
Language Arts: The students are now back in their literature books studying literature that takes place during the Holocaust. The play, The Diary of Anne Frank, is the first literature piece that the students will read. They will also analyze the Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize by Elie Wiesel and then read a graphic novel excerpt of MAUS by art Spiegelman. They will also read other various pieces of literature while studying literary elements.
Instructional Language Arts:
Instructional LA students continue to work hard to improve their writing skills. We are moving forward with writing topic sentences in our “writing bootcamp”. Students continue to work on assigned passages through readworks.org to enable students to work at their current independent levels. We are going to get a novel study this year, but it probably will have to wait until after the holidays. We are working on a variety of comprehension skills, finishing up questioning skills and moving forward to inference skills..
Math: In math class the students will be continuing with Unit 2 Equations in One Variable. We are solving one-step, two-step, and multi-step equations.
Instructional Math: In Instructional Math, we have just completed a chapter on integer concepts and absolute value and will be heading into integer operations after the Thanksgiving holiday. We continue to brush up our basic math skills through daily practice on our Math Minutes, weekly iXL time, and periodic review of real-world problem solving strategies. Even though students are required to complete at least 30 iXL “starred” problems (those problems indicated by a yellow star and that were assigned by the teacher) each week, they are more than welcome to work above and beyond those 30 problems -- in any skill area -- for extra credit.
Science: In science, students will be studying the periodic table. They will be memorizing 25 element symbols and learning how to read and gather information about the elements on the periodic table.
STUDENTS OF THE MONTH: Our Students of the Month are Josefh Hernandez and Erin Lissman. These two students excel in every way. They are hardworking, kind and courteous students who exceed all expectations.
Contact Information
Email: smorel@sandwich430.org
Website: www.sandwich430.org
Location: 600 South Wells Street, Sandwich, IL, USA
Phone: 815-786-2138