March Elective/SSP Newsletter
Art:
In Visual Art we continue our learning journey of improving art control skills while developing more confident and courageous expressions. Students are actively demonstrating technical skills, strategic/predictive planning skills and the synthesis required to bring all things creative together for compositions that have impact, connection and a sense of authenticity.
We are completely our units related to persuasive art (protest and advertising) along with messaging through art in composition creation. Students were given prompts to persuade with their art by combining letters and images. Always turns into a technical challenge as handwriting is becoming more of a lost art.
Currently, we are beginning a quick unit related to negative space, silhouettes and synthesis of the two for complicated compositions. We will stay without 2D work for a bit before inviting back the 3D art options. As we progress through the semester we will also bring in more opportunities for collaboration and large group work.
Multi-Language Learners (ELD)
Ms. Richards 8th Grade ELD - In ELD, we are working with the 8th grade Language Arts team, on writing strong responses using complex claims and textual evidence. We moved from 1-2 paragraphs to full page articles. Please ask your child what needs to be part of a complex claim, an ACEIEIT response, or examples of contrast language! Our 8th grade class is beating the other grade levels, when it comes to overall i-ready use - keep encouraging your child to meet the 80+ weekly minutes, or to earn an extra $20 of Merrill money by excelling! I promise to keep providing treats for those top 3 weekly winners.
Mr. Garland 7th Grade ELD-In ELD, we are working with the 7th grade Language Arts team, on writing strong responses using complex claims and textual evidence. We moved from 1-2 paragraphs to full page articles. Please ask your child what needs to be part of a complex claim, an ACEIEIT response, or examples of contrast language! Keep encouraging your child to meet the 80+ weekly minutes, or to earn an extra $20 of Merrill money by excelling! I promise to keep providing treats for those top 3 weekly winners.
PE
We are in the beginning phase of refining our sport skills and continuing an emphasis on the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship. Students will be able to quickly identify and appropriately address unsportsmanlike conduct. Skills and movements associated with basketball, volleyball, soccer are our current focal games. Other various activities, such as Speedball, Sharks and Minnows, and dodgeball type games are being played to enhance overall fitness.
In addition, 8th & 7th graders are also learning about the 4 Components of Athlete Preparation- Psychological, Technical, Physical, and Tactical.
Lastly, students are being exposed to regular fitness testing protocols in order to better understand human adaptations to exercise or the lack thereof.
Merrill Jaguars impress me everyday! As their teacher, I am excited to close out this quarter with more challenging lessons and activities for them.
Mr. Guillen
Adaptive PE (Peer to Peer):
Our adaptive P.E. class has experienced some magical moments this quarter. Students are better able to serve and advocate for their peers; Students know what “inclusive” truly means; Students are constantly thinking quickly on their feet about how to adapt and modify activities for peers of different capabilities.
Our class has just finalized Activity Stations that demonstrate inclusiveness for all students in our class. Ask your Jaguar about their Activity Station!
We are continuing to play games like Sharks and Minnows, Soccer, Badminton, Flag Football and much more!
I am very proud of our class. Everyday I see students building upon their communication skills, social skills, their empathy and kindness. I’m excited to close out this quarter with more friendly competition and fun!
Mr. Guillen
Gifted and Talented
6th Grade- Our 6th graders are wrapping up their truth and reality unit in our philosophy class. Please ask your students what is real and how do they know it is real? We have covered philosophers such as: Mary Wollstonecraft, Plato, David Hume, Henry Odera Oruka and a few more. The final project in this PBL unit will be a 6 team oxford formal debate on the “white lie” vs. the “hard truth.”
7th Grade- Our 7th grade students are wrapping up their Race and Racism in America unit by focusing on the OJ Simpson murder trial. We have divided into 7 separate research groups to thoroughly explore and discuss this marker of racial attitudes in the 1990’s and beyond. Students are currently giving research presentations followed by an inside/outside fishbowl discussion on race and racism.
8th Grade- Our 8th graders are finishing up their advanced reading unit with one final unit on poetry. Additionally our students have been working on their creative editing skills. Each student in class is well on pace to produce an original 1,000 to 2,00 word short story that has been story edited by at least two other students. Final products will be judged not only on content but how much collaboration can I see in the google doc history as well.
Reading Intervention:
Period 1 (8th grade) and Period 3 (7th grade): This month we will continue with our spelling lists, as well as our prefix/suffix word studies. Now that students are writing a basic ACEIT paragraph quickly, we will start writing more detailed/developed paragraphs using better word choice and transition words. Students will also continue with their individualized lessons in iReady. The goal is to be on iReady at least 60 minutes per week. Lastly, toward the end of the month, we will start thinking about our passion projects that will be presented to families at the end of the year.
Period 7 (6th grade): Students will start having spelling lists this month, continue working on fluency with their FRY words, continue to work on writing well-developed paragraphs, and continue with their individualized lesson in iReady. The goal is to be on iReady at least 60 minutes per week. Lastly, toward the end of the month, we will start thinking about our passion projects that will be presented to families at the end of the year
Period 8 (7th/8th grade combined): This month students will continue to alternate days between small group instruction and time on iReady. The goal is to be on iReady at least 60 minutes per week. Lastly, toward the end of the month, we will start thinking about our passion projects that will be presented to families at the end of the year.
Deeper Math:
Students have recently updated their IXL diagnostics so be sure to check in with your student for their updated score! We have been trying to get homework done in our bonus math class every day, so your student may be coming home with no homework! We will be reviewing all of our quizzes and concepts from the year to help students feel more confident going into CMAS.
Band & Orchestra:
All students are in full swing learning music for our final concert. It will be a great cinematic spectacular. We are also exploring how culture is shared through music, and how we can express ourselves and who we are musically. 6th grade will describe their musical backgrounds, 7th grade will create arrangements to Lift their voices, and 8th grade is analyzing music written for our class to determine if it best represents world music traditions.
Spanish
6th - We are finishing up Unit 8 / 9 learning about fears and getting ready to jump into our second novel of the year: Agentes Secretos. We will jump into and finish Agentes Secretos before Spring Break! If you would like your child to have their own copy of the novel, you can purchase one here and even save shipping by picking it up! The school will provide a class set, but if your student would like to write in, highlight, etc., the book, they will need their own copy!
7th - We are just starting Unit 24 on Costa Rica, ecotourism and sustainability. This unit leads us into our second novel, Robo en la Noche and our PBL unit for this year. If you would like your child to have their own copy of the novel, you can purchase one here and even save shipping by picking it up! The school will provide a class set, but if your student would like to write in, highlight, etc., the book, they will need their own copy!
8th - We are working on the legend of El lago encantado - The Enchanted Lake. Ask your student about this historical legend! We are also SUPER excited that the District has chosen Merrill to pilot the APPL test for the seal of biliteracy with our 8th graders in May this year! We are eager to see how students perform at proficiency and how close to earning the Seal for Spanish they are! More information will be released as we get closer!
Spain Trip 2026 (current 6th graders!): We are SO excited to be announcing the launch meeting for Spain for our current 6th graders!! To get things kicked off before things get too crazy, we will be having our meeting on Thursday, April 4th, 2024 from 5:00 - 6:15 in room 116. We will open trip sign ups at the end of the meeting and will be accepting the first 30 students that sign up and pay their deposit for the trip.
Spain Trip 2025 (current 7th graders): GOOD NEWS! We have two open spots for current 7th graders to attend the 2025 Spain trip. 7th graders must be enrolled in Spanish and need to have plans to take Spanish in 8th grade as well as remain a student at Merrill. To keep it fair, the first two parents that email Profe Jackson at courtney_jackson@dpsk12.org to get the access code AND sign up for the trip with Live N Learn AND pay the trip deposit will be accepted.
Spain Trip 2024 (current 8th graders):. We will be having a mandatory student + parent (optional, but highly encouraged) meeting from 4:30 to 5:30 in room 116 on Tuesday March 19th. Please reach out to Ms Jackson ASAP if your student has a conflict and cannot attend this session due to sporting events or other non-negotiables. We will be covering the code of conduct, trip planning, packing, and host family information at this meeting!
Host a Spaniard in 2024: For the past 7 summers, Merrill families and friends of families have helped Live N Learn welcome 30 students from Spain to Denver for 4 weeks of fun and cultural exchange! We would love for you to join us for some or part of the 4 weeks this summer! See here for more information or apply here! Reach out to courtney_jackson@dpsk12.org with any questions!
AVID
Students will be researching specific careers, comparing the skills, salary, education and other traits required for various careers. Our upcoming speaker reviews applications for a college and will be presenting about some of the things she looks for in college applicants. We have a field trip to better understand the business of real estate and a visit to Thomas Jefferson High School where students will be partnered with high school AVID students to experience a day in the life of a high school AVID student.
M.T.V
MTV is thriving! Students have really come in this semester ready to contribute and use their voice and vision to evolve the MTV broadcast. Our first broadcast “A Valentines Special” was very successful. The link is below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J56PCjQNbwbO1pDv6b6ONDfTQD0LvGta/view?usp=sharing
Currently we continue to work hard on storytelling focusing on interviewing skills and video imagery. This month student’s have started to think more specifically about their audience and different kinds of journalism and news stories. Students also started to learn to use microphones (gifted to us by the PTSA) which has improved the overall quality of production.
STEM
This month students in each grade level will begin a new project. 6th grade will collaborate with a team to create a stop frame animation video using clay, legos and other props. If students have resources from home they would like to use, they may bring them in and I will safely store each day. 7th grade elective 1 will begin a project using ozobots to learn how to code them through a city they build. 8th grade students will have the opportunity to engage in one of two projects: architecture and building a solar powered device. Thank you PTSA for your support throughout the year and making sure we have the materials needed for our projects. Students and I really appreciate it!!!
SSP Corner
Executive function refers to a set of skills that underlie the capacity to plan ahead and meet goals, display self-control, follow multiple-step directions even when interrupted, and stay focused despite distractions. These are important skills for students to have and will benefit people throughout their lives. Below are some strategies that can help.