Canaan Middle School Update
January 27, 2023
Principal Corner
Canaan Families,
Student voice is essential to the school experience and helps drive many of the activities and events we have at Canaan Middle School. This year students have shared ideas of how to improve our lunch setup to embody the 6th class motto of "Intertwine 2029". Students also have provided great feedback on the redesign of a classroom in the middle school. Amazing ideas and suggestions come from our students when we take the time to listen!
This year a 5th-grade student, Griffin Keene, asked about having a school newspaper. During our discussion, we felt like adding a student article in the building newsletter would be a great way to start this off and get students interested in writing about the happenings around Canaan Middle School. Our plan is to have a featured article in each newsletter moving forward. We look forward to growing the group of students that submits articles every two weeks. It truly has been a joy working with our 5th and 6th-grade students this year and getting to hear all of the outstanding ideas and incites they have. I may be biased, but we have the best students around!
Mr. Walter, Principal
Canaan Middle School
Student Feature Article
-By Griffin Keene
Griffin's first article
Students highlighted each week
A students survey for the next STEM activity
5th Grade Update
ELA:
Students completed MAP testing on January 26th and 27th. Next week students will continue to work on informative writing, which requires students to provide a multi-paragraph response to a given writing prompt by pulling information from two grade level texts. As a reminder, students should be reading 20 minutes every day. This semester, students will be writing a two paragraph response each week to discuss their reading and practice the CER writing strategy. Students will be given this assignment on Monday and are expected to turn this assignment in by Friday. These assignments will not be accepted late, unless a student is absent on the turn-in day.
Math:
Mr. Lanka - For the past couple of weeks, we finished up the first part of our fractions unit. This started with basic fraction concepts and went all the way through adding and subtracting mixed numbers with uncommon denominators.
While we did take a “Quest” covering these concepts, we will not be abandoning them. We will continue to work on these concepts through review and intervention while we move forward with our Decimals unit.
Science: Students learned about the inner and outer planets of our Solar System. We completed a Venn Diagram in our interactive science notebook comparing and contrasting the terrestrial planets and the gas giants. We finished the week with a short quiz covering some of the unique characteristics for each planet, as well as the order of the planets from the sun. Next week, students will be introduced to asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, and comets!
Social Studies: Mrs. Smith’s classes have wrapped up their Maya Unit and are moving on to study the Inca civilization. We will continue to work on timelines throughout the Inca civilization unit and work on comparing and contrasting the two civilizations we have learned about so far! Mrs. Hanson’s class will be wrapping up their study of the Maya next week and will then continue their study of early American civilizations, including the Incas and Aztecs.
Parents, please note that in early February, students will be starting the D.A.R.E program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). D.A.R.E. is a series of ten classroom lessons led by a Madison County Deputy. This curriculum teaches the foundational skills that youth need to resist peer pressure and to be safe, healthy, and responsible in leading drug-free lives. These lessons will take place on Wednesdays during students’ social studies class.
6th Grade Update
What's New In Specials
Counselor’s Corner - Mrs. Hein
Anxiety is very treatable and parents can do a lot to help their children’s emotional well-being. Freeing Your Child from Anxiety contains effective tools for teaching your child to outsmart their worries and take charge of their fears. Here are a few techniques:
Ask your child the million-dollar question. If he could win a million dollars by guessing what’s really going to happen - what’s the right answer?
Bring in the possibility panel. - Have your child assemble her “trusted advisors,” and in her imagination, have her ask them to weigh in about what is really happening in the situation.
Do the side-by side comparison: Have your child list the fears and facts about the situation. Read them off - choose the more accurate side.
Put the problem through the Worry Shrinker. Worry starts a big warning that everything bad is going to happen. Narrow it down to see if there is something that you do need to worry about or plan for. Or does the worry have it all wrong?
Resource: Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, Revised and Updated Edition: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens (2014) by Tamar E. Chansky, Ph.D.
Additional Student and Parent Resources
Commonsense Media
Commonsense Media is an online tool that can help parents and students make informed decisions regarding media use. This tool can be used for many types of media, including books, movies, video games, and apps.
Canvas is a Learning Management System that is used in grades 5-12 at Jonathan Alder. You and your student will find a lot of information about the school and your student's classroom through this platform. It is VERY important to stay connected and log on to Canvas. This link should help you log on and explain Canvas.
Mark Your Calendar
Friday, March 3, 2023