Cluster 1 Newsletter
October 26. 2023
Hello Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers!
It was great meeting with so many of you at conferences! Hope you're enjoying another beautiful autumn in New England. As always, reach out if we can help answer any questions and check out the newsletter below!
Yours,
Cluster 1 Team
English Language Arts Update
Hi!
A note: Our reading comprehension checks (flagged with “R.C.” on PowerSchool) are designed to help students prepare for the types of short reading passages and standard-aligned questions that are used on the MCAS exam. I decided to count them as a small portion of the grade to incentivize students to take them seriously and to give their best effort. I plan to eliminate each students’ worst 2 scores on these types of assignments at the end of the trimester.
As always, reach out if I can help answer any questions or provide support.
Yours,
Zack
P.S. If you want to contribute to our classroom library and promote literacy in cluster one, please consider adding to our e-wallet here! These funds will be used to purchase books for our classroom library and will be available to all cluster 1 students to enjoy.
Math Update
Science Update
Students have been exploring the complexities of life this past month as we observed unknown substances and made observations to determine if they were living, non-living, dead or dormant. Students then used their observations to form written arguments based on evidence!
Now we are moving into our Ecology Unit, students have created visualizations of ecological organizations featuring endangered species native to Massachusetts and this week they have worked in teams to create food webs that display just how interconnected an ecosystem can be!
Moving forward we will continue to examine how an ecosystem remains in balance, and what can happen if that balance is upset. Upcoming activities include a predator prey simulation and graph, a virtual field trip to discover biomes around the world and a town hall debate based on the wolves of Yellowstone!
Social Studies Update
This year, we have chosen to pilot instructional materials from Investigating History, a series of new curriculum units developed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in collaboration with Primary Source, a global education nonprofit based in Watertown. These units are aligned with the Massachusetts History and Social Science standards and are designed to develop students’ critical thinking skills through engaging, inquiry-driven, resource-rich activities. Each Investigating History unit has gone through a rigorous, three-year design and development process that included subject-matter experts, experts in social studies teaching, and practicing Massachusetts educators before being ready for use in your child’s classroom. Our teachers will also participate in ongoing professional development focused on the Investigating History materials throughout the year.
As part of the curriculum implementation process, some teachers may be participating in an independent, third-party evaluation conducted by Tufts University to better understand how the curriculum is working and how it can better serve all students and educators across Massachusetts. As a result, your child’s classroom may be observed and images of their work may be shared with researchers. Some students in grade 6 may also be asked to take a short, computer-based, non-evaluative assessment to measure student learning related to the curriculum. Rest assured that this assessment will not impact your students’ grades nor will students be photographed or their work identified except as being a part of the cohort of students in Watertown. Teachers will have access to the aggregated data at the conclusion of the school year as part of their work to refine the units for the coming school year.
Please direct any questions to the 8-12 Social Studies Coordinator, Kraig Gustafson (kraig.gustafson@watertown.k12.ma.us)
Unit 6.1 Human Origins
Essential Question
What were the most important turning points in early human history?
Enduring Understandings
Students will begin to understand that:
Modern human beings (Homo sapiens) developed from hominids, shaped by the forces of evolution and shifts in the climate. In turn, they shaped their environment through foraging and hunting, the use of fire, migration, plant and animal domestication, metallurgy, and the building of permanent settlements.
Humans experienced many transformations on the way to becoming Homo sapiens, not least physical changes to nearly every part of the body and an increase in the size and cognitive complexity of the brain. The latter led to a capacity for symbolic language and expression through music and art, and greater possibilities for learning and cooperation, distinguishing features of modern human minds.
Spread across many thousands of millennia, the turning points of the Paleolithic Era created modern human beings, while the innovations of the Neolithic Era, condensed into the past 12,000 years, created the conditions for complex societies to emerge.
Learning Targets:
I can practice creating timelines to illustrate how these tools are used to measure and represent the past.
I can apply knowledge about the work of different social scientists to a reading about prehistory.
I can apply knowledge about the work of different social scientists through an exercise in archaeological thinking.
I can argue a conclusion about how toolmaking was a turning point for hominins.
I can draw evidence from texts to describe and analyze the effects of changes to the human body and brain during the Paleolithic Era.
I can identify the effects of fire on human development
I can explain how cave art illustrates changes of the Paleolithic Cognitive Revolution.
I can form a conclusion about how Paleolithic artmaking represented a turning point in human activities.
I can accurately characterize elements of the Paleolithic lifestyle and argue which turning point of the era was most important.
Core Grade-Specific History/Social Science Practices for the Unit
Key Practice Standards
(3) Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources using timelines, categorization, and notes.
(6) Argue or explain conclusions in the form of claims, cause-effect statements, and persuasive arguments, using valid reasoning and evidence.
Contact Us
Zack 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
Michelle Proschek - Reading - michelle.proschek@watertown.k12.ma.us
Tom Cloherty - Guidance Counselor - thomas.cloherty@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