Cluster 6 Newsletter
October 27, 2023
Hello Cluster 6 families and caregivers!
We are looking forward to our second field trip of the year. This time we’re going to Boston College Campus and the Conte Forum Arena to tour parts of the campus and attend a Women’s Ice Hockey game on Friday, November 17. Students will eat lunch in the Conte Forum Arena during the game, so please pack your child a lunch or have them order a “grab n’ go” lunch from our cafeteria. We have also arranged for each student to receive a concession voucher, which is included in the cost and covers a snack and drink for each student. Find additional details about the field trip at this link.
The PowerSchool portal is open for students and families and is the best way for families to check on their student’s progress and monitor for missing work. The link and the login information was sent to students and families in an email from Principal Chen Fein earlier in the year (please reach out to your child’s advisor if you need help logging in). Please encourage your student to check PowerSchool regularly.
We would like to introduce you to our Instructional assistants and support staff who are in some of our cluster classes: Ivy Madden, Ron Meehan, Lisa Sherwood and Chris Cotreau. Jessie Ewing is our Title 1 literacy tutor. They are all experienced and valued members of the WMS community and we are so grateful for their work to help all students!
English
Fall is coming at us in full force and there’s nothing I love more than Fall in New England!
Students were introduced to a writing process called a Mini-Saga. A Mini-Saga tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end in no more than 100 words. This is a valuable exercise in word choice and revision. We are looking forward to a grade-wide story share next week!
For the next few weeks in ELA class, students will be reading their first whole-class novel, Warcross by Marie Lu. Students will be expected to read some of the novel independently (at home). Please try to engage in conversations about the book with your 8th grader- and encourage reading some of the novel at home.
In class, students are engaging in mini lessons on targeted reading skills, and using sticky notes to show their understanding as they read. Students will use their reading comprehension of the novel to help with their production of some formal “persuasive” writing pieces using their C.E.R strengths. Students will write “C”laims, support those claims with “E”vidence, and “R”eason the evidence to show how it helps to prove the claim.
We are having such a great time in class with engaging discussions and working on our speaking and listening skills.
-Click Here for a quick summary of Warcross on good reads.
-Audiobook available for all students on SORA
Take care and please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Civics
Our Civics classes are well on their way to understanding the structure of government! We’ve learned about the big picture of government having three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial) and three levels (federal, state, and local). Then, we dove in more deeply to each branch, learning about their unique powers and responsibilities. Students took a unit test on Wednesday of this week, and can do corrections to improve their grade if they wish.
Starting this week, we’ll apply our new knowledge of government to a non-partisan unit on elections. Students will learn election vocabulary including the words partisan, bipartisan and nonpartisan. They will learn about the American political parties, the platforms of Democrats and Republicans, and the definitions of conservative and liberal. They will study what’s on the Watertown ballot for our local elections, and learn about how the Electoral College works. We encourage everyone to vote in our Watertown elections, of course!
At the end of our unit on elections, students will review the structure of government by creating presentations about people who serve in our government. Then, we shift from modern politics and government to history. Our next unit will be all about the Origins of Democracy.
Current Learning Targets:
I can name the powers of the legislative branch.
I can explain how a bill becomes a law.
I can understand the responsibilities and powers of the President.
I can understand the size of the executive branch and name some of the work it does.
I can understand the powers of the judicial branch
I can define key vocabulary related to elections.
I can name the major American political parties, and define key vocabulary related to the political spectrum.
I can identify who we elect to government office and when.
I can name candidates on Watertown’s ballot for our local elections.
Math
8th Grade Math students have learned about dilations, which involve “stretching” and “shrinking” shapes/figures. We’ve learned about distance from a center of a dilation, whether it’s farther or closer to the center (above 1 or between 0 and 1). We are using this learning of scale to transition towards slope, or “rate of change” of linear relationships, which we begin on Friday 10/27.
Algebra students are similarly transitioning to graphs, lines, tables/charts, etc. The 8th Grade Math class spends a considerable amount of time on this, and the Algebra students skipped over that course. We will make up for that by covering these standards for a bit more time than the curriculum normally allows. Algebra students will also learn a lot about non-linear relationships, such as quadratic (u-shaped), exponential (think of mortgage interest), etc.
Science
This week we learned about plate tectonics, a theory that ties together concepts from our previous weeks studying earth science. Next week we will learn about volcanoes and then begin reviewing all the content from the Earth Science unit (Unit 1 Learning Objectives), in preparation for a cumulative unit test and a project. The Earth Science Unit Test is scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd for all classes. Find additional tools to prepare for the unit test here: Additional Earth Science Study Materials
During the week of review for the Unit Test, students will start the final activity in the earth science unit: the life story of a landform. Students will select a landform to research and then create a presentation to tell their landform's creation story and history. They will create a model to represent their landform.
Learning Objectives for next week (10/30-11/3):
Review content from the unit to prepare for Unit Test
Explain and create models to show how the Earth is a dynamic system.
Explain how movement of tectonic plates created a specific landform.
Our next unit will be focused on the rest of our Earth and Space Science standards. We will be learning about seasons, weather, and climate for the month of November and then will move on to begin our Life Science standards as the trimester ends. Our topics will include reproduction on the cellular level, genetics, and evolution. This unit will take us roughly to the end of the second trimester and has many labs and activities to reinforce concepts while students learn about life on Earth, how traits get passed from parent to offspring, and how living things on Earth have changed over time.
Links to other Smores
Specialist Smore
Use this link to see updates from your students' specialist teachers on their classes!
Reading Smore
Use this link to see updates from the reading teachers on their classes!
Wilson Reading Smore
Here is the link for the Wilson Reading Smore with Ms. Sorenson
Multilingual Learners Smore
Check here for updates from our English Language Development teachers Ms. Rix, Ms. Gilmartin, Ms. Campos, and Ms. Schoenbeck.
Contact Info
Ms Kiernan, Special Education: kathleen.kiernan@watertown.k12.ma.us
Mr Manoukian, Math: aram.manoukian@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms P-K, Science: katherine.poulinkerstien@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Rix, English Language Development: zara.rix@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Shock, Civics: laura.shock@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Skypeck, Guidance: amanda.skypeck@watertown.k12.ma.us