Cluster 1 Newsletter
September 24, 2022
Hello Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers!
Hello Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers!
This is our biweekly newsletter where your teachers will provide you with updates on the happenings in their classrooms and at the school. We'll include any important upcoming dates and important messages. We're so excited to begin the year with your students. Please reach out to your child's advisory teacher with any questions.
We were so happy to meet many of you in person at back to school night! However, if you were unable to attend, please see our contact info flier here: https://bit.ly/cluster12022
A few notes for Cluster 1 Families:
All students now have their Chromebooks! Please be sure they are being charged every evening so that your learner can access course materials and complete assignments.
Cluster 1 homework will be posted here daily.
Mark your calendars! Conferences will be 10/27 and 11/1
Yours,
Cluster One Team
English Language Arts Update
”Through research, they located six moves fiction authors make frequently in commonly taught intermediate and middle grade texts. These features were highly noticeable and, upon reflection, offer readers something that helps them connect deeply with texts. ‘We think that these signposts show up in novels,’ write Kylene and Bob, ‘because they show up in the world.’”
In order to practice the skill of identifying signpost moments, students read “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan. “Fish Cheeks” is a story about a Chinese-American girl struggling with her cultural identity. In the coming week, we’ll begin reading our first whole class novel “Inside Out and Back Again,” a story about a Vietnamese family’s desperate move to America when the war comes close to home. Students will be taught how to identify signpost moments in the story and explain their significance.
Lastly, all ELA classes visited the library and checked out new independent reading books! The expectation is that students are reading at least one independent reading book each term of the schoolyear.
Math Update
We would like to extend a special thank you to all Parents & Caregivers who attended our Cluster 1 Back to School Night presentations. We enjoyed seeing some new as well as familiar faces. This week in math we started our Unit 1 Lessons in Desmos on area & surface area. The students worked hard in class and during meaningful discussions in class to understand that the term base refers to one side of a parallelogram and the term height refers to the perpendicular distance between that side and the opposite side. Students learned how to calculate the area of a parallelogram using the length of a base and the corresponding height. We wrapped up the activity by determining the best way to find the area of a parallelogram (A = B ∙ H)! Stay tuned as we learn about the area of triangles next week. Here is a useful link to Family Resources which will enable families to learn about our current unit on Area and Surface Area.
Science Update
Social Studies Update
This week we’ve started to investigate the world’s imaginary lines, Latitude and Longitude. We’ve practiced labeling them on maps and learning the vocabulary associated with this unit. There will be a vocabulary quiz on these words (Parts of a Map) on Monday 9/26. Study materials are on Google Classroom. Next week we’ll embark on building our globes where we plot the coordinates of continents.
ELD Update
Entering (ELD 1)
This week, our students worked to present skits where they greeted people and held a conversation about what they liked or what they needed. They did a great job speaking clearly and confidently in English and we had a good time as students made us laugh together.
Ask your student questions like “How are you?” “Where are you from?” and “What do you like?” and see what they answer!
Next week, we will begin working on numbers in English and how to read and say mathematical vocabulary.
Emerging (ELD 2)
This week we worked on modals: have to, need to, may, might, and could with learning about careers and jobs of community members. We also have learned possessive pronouns and adjectives, and are shifting into subject and object pronouns next week. We are also talking about time, and introducing the concept of cause and effect through readings about life cycles.
Phonics
This week in phonics we learned when to use capital letters and have mastered naming the letters in the alphabet. We are working towards mastery of the sounds of the letters, and identifying them in nonsense words. I’ve been assessing each student’s current phonics knowledge so that the students and I can identify why they already know and what vowel patterns or digraphs they need to work on. Next week we will begin the short a sound and a new set of High Frequency Words.
Specialist Smore Newsletter
This space is where your students' specialist teachers can update you on their classes!
Contact Us
Zachary Allen - English - zachary.allen@watertown.k12.ma.us
Jessie Daigneault - Science - jessie.daigneault@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ann Palermo - Math - ann.palermo@watertown.k12.ma.us
Megan Lipson - Social Studies - donna.lipson@watertown.k12.ma.us
Jim Duffy - Special Education - james.duffy@watertown.k12.ma.us
Jody Gladstein - Guidance - jody.gladstein@watertown.k12.ma.us
Sheila Gilmartin - English Language Development - sheila.gilmartin@watertown.k12.ma.us
Zara Rix - English Language Development - zara.rix@watertown.k12.ma.us