The Pike Road Bulletin
Community 8 ~ January 4-15
Letter to Our Patriot Parents
Happy 2016!
We will continue to use Remind101 to send text notifications and reminders. (You may sign up for text or email reminders by texting 81010 with the message @prs7-8 or by emailing prs7-8@mail.remind.com.)
Community 8 Lead Learners
Instructional Tools
Edmodo is our learning management system where assignments are posted. Here, you will see assignments, due dates, late notifications, tutorial and resource links.
Parents may access this through a unique code found on your student's edmodo home page. Signing up is easy-just go to www.edmodo.com, sign up as parent, enter your access code and fill in the required information.
Google Drive
This is where our learners submit their work. Each learner has created a shared folder for each Lead Learner where they upload or create their work to be assessed.
Learners receive feedback here, collaborate with peers, and create much of their work in Google Drive.
Ask your learner to open their Google Drive and share what they are working on!
Click here for a basic overview of how Google Drive works.
Composition Notebooks
While our learners have laptops, we continue to use Composition notebooks for notes, assignments, practice work, lab work and journaling.
Please make sure your child has a composition notebook for their respective classes.
Components of Our Day
8:00-1:00 (Lunch included)
90 min M-F Science and Lab90 min M-F Math
90 min M-F ELA and Integrated History/ELA
1:00-2:00 Learners participate in a 60 min elective- Band, PE, Music, Art or Drama
2:00-3:00 Learners will participate in a semester project. Guiding question: How can we promote respect for the diverse cultures we have here at PRS and within the Pike Road community?
Please note: Literacy and Writing Skills are integrated daily into each content area.
FreshGrade: Reporting and Communicating your child's Progress
FreshGrade is the reporting tool used to communicate what skills are being introduced and how our learners are performing on these skills. We are diligently working to improve the quality and efficiency of FreshGrade in order to ensure that you are provided with a clear and accurate view of what your child is learning. On Wednesday, we will upload into the Resource folder a list of skills that we will be working on for the remainder of this semester.
We will assess students based on their knowledge and application of skills and concepts through various methods and activities. We will then provide a level of progress towards meeting that standard. Lead Learners will upload some of their work as evidence to support the skill they were assessed on.
While learners may not have formal homework assignments, they are encouraged each day to identify a skill that "has not met expectation" and review the learning notes, tutorials, and practice activity. Additionally, we provide time for learners to complete all activities; there may be times when your child may need to continue working on it at home.
You and your learners have the ability to comment and send feedback to each skill. In most cases, the lead learner's name is listed in the top left corner of the skill. Learners also have the ability to upload additional work samples as evidence to show their growth with any particular skill.
As always, if you have a specific question about the level of achievement your student has, and need to communicate beyond FreshGrade, please email us.
Below are some informational links that may be of assistance:
Have several children at PRS? How to add multiple portfolios.
..........Learning Objectives..........
Mrs. Harp
Analyze and interpret data from experiments to determine how various factors affect energy transfer as measured by temperature (e.g., comparing final water temperatures after different masses of ice melt in the same volume of water with the same initial temperature, observing the temperature change of samples of different materials with the same mass and the same material with different masses when adding a specific amount of energy).
Over the next nine weeks, learners will work on the design and construction of their own rollercoaster. Within the overall energy unit, learners will investigate forces and motion though small, daily activities.
Mrs. Kenny
I am so excited about getting to know each student and supporting them in their learning. Believing that students are innovative thinkers, not just learners, my role is to help them develop critical thinking and creative problem solving skills needed to investigate and explore issues, as well as reflect on what they discover. My desire is to create a community of learners who are committed to working hard and making a difference in the world around them. I plan to get this started during the next few weeks by kicking off a growth mindset unit. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. This view fosters a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. We will also work on developing our research skills. While most kids know not to believe everything they read online, the majority don’t take the time to fully evaluate their sources. I will work with the learners to use critical thinking in finding trustworthy websites, exploring online privacy, practicing the concept of fair use, and understanding the impact of digital footprints.
The standards we will be working on include
*Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.8.1]
*Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. [W.8.8]
*Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. [RL.8.3]
Mrs. Rice
Ms. Kitchens
Hello. My name is Ms. Kitchens. I am excited to be joining Pike Road Schools for the rest of this school year. I come from Montgomery Public Schools. I am a graduate of Troy University where I received my Bachelor's in Secondary Math Education. I am also currently pursuing my Masters through Troy as well. Throughout this next week, I will work on building relationships with your students, as well as assessing the concepts that need to be reviewed. I look forward to working with you and your learner throughout the rest of the school year!
ASF Cinderella Performance Field Trip- January 28
Junior Youth Legislature
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
ALABAMA STATE CAPITOL AUDITORIUM
The Alabama YMCA Junior Youth Legislature is in its 26th year and it is designed specifically for Jr. High students who show an interest in the government process. It is designed to prepare a selected group of young people for moral and political leadership in the American Democratic Process by providing guidance, training and experience in the theory and practice of determining public policy. It also provides a fellowship that makes for an understanding of other people’s problems, to help accept defeat without discouragement and to stimulate tolerance towards another’s point of view.
During this event, students from throughout Alabama will have hands on experience with writing and debating bills. They will have workshops on parliamentary procedure and how to write a bill so the mock sessions will be a model legislative program.
If you child is interested, please bring send registration form and money ASAP. The registration fee increases after December 16th.
P.O.P Pursue Our Passions
On every other Thursday, Community 7-8 have their "POP" Day. This is otherwise named "Pursue our Passions Day". It gives learners an opportunity to pursue their passions as well as explore other interests!
Thank you to our Volunteers and parents who have consistently made themselves available to make this a success for our learners. We are always in need of volunteers and encourage you to volunteer your time to help introduce learners to a passion that they may not otherwise know they have. We are just as excited to have volunteers to come and assist us with monitoring and supervising.
Volunteer Opportunities
POP Days have provided amazing opportunities for our learners thus far, but we are always looking for more volunteers to bring their expertise in. Please let us know if you want to come share a passion or profession with our learners! You can email Mrs. Dean mailto:robin.dean@pikeroadschools.org if you are able to volunteer any of your time to assist with our P.O.P Days.
Community Wishlist
Scrap electronics
Storage boxes or storage drawers
Chart paper
Putter golf clubs and Golf balls
Market Totes to house and carry books from space to space
Books for choice reading
Glue-elmers, hot glue sticks (small and large thickness), tape
Hot glue guns
Acrylic paint
Paintbrushes-all sizes