Newsletter #12 (12/13/13)

Hello Quest Families,

Feast
Our feast is fast approaching!  If you have not responded, we could use more beverages and main dishes.  Usually, I make a double meal the night before the feast, so this might help :)  Let us know what you can bring.  It does not need to be for more than 5-7 people.

Team Building

One of our focuses on Team Quest this year is to improve our small group work skills.  Friday afternoons have been spent working in small groups to complete a task or a challenge.  Each afternoon has time built in to reflect and discuss how the group functioned as well as what students can do to improve as individuals.  Here are the new "Small Group Norms" that our students agreed were important for groups to follow:

Include everyone
Focused on the goal/objective
Listen to, ask for, and consider the ideas of others
Be willing to compromise

Respect other groups by using indoor voices
Good sportsmanship
Be kind
Have a positive attitude



ESB
We have started our new ESB unit, titled Ancient Egypt in Motion.  This integrated unit will cover the Social Studies standards around Ancient Egypt and the Science standards around Forces and Motion.  Students will participate in a few inquiry based learning

Steel Drum Residency

We will have an artist in residence next week.  The artist is Scott Paulsen, a steel drummer who features music from Trinidad.  We will begin the week with an all school assembly in the cafeteria. This will be a presentation by Scott about the culture of Trinidad and the history of the steel drum and will run approximately 45 minutes.   During the week, drumming will happen!  Each child will get one small group lesson on the pans (steel drums) during their AA.  We will end the week with an all school assembly/music share in the cafeteria for approximately 45 minutes.

Sleds

We have been sledding at recess, which has been a lot of fun!  The only downside, is our sleds keep breaking.  If you know of anyone with a connection to sleds, who might discount some to us, please let us know :)  Thanks!

Questions to ask your student:
How can you use Quest's small group norms in a family, community, job, or as a citizen of a country?
What does it mean for two fractions to be equivalent?
What are you writing for your narrative?
Why were the ancient pyramids built?

Newsletter #11 (11/22/13)

Eva, Ashley, and Izzy excited for their first CBMS concert!

Hello Quest Families,

Thank-you for attending your student's student led conferences!  We hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!  Here are a few notes  to read over vacation:

ESB Project
Students continued to work on their individual research projects in ESB this week.  They chose from a selection of topics, including early human clothing, tools/weapons, food, language, art, and the archaeological discoveries of "Lucy" and "Otzi".  Student's research on these topics is focused around the question 'What has archaeological evidence told us about Homo sapiens?'  In class, students will write a report on the findings from their research.  

**At home, students should be working on an artifact for their project.  This may range from creating their own prehistoric tools or art to making an early human restaurant menu or cartoon.**  This is due Wednesday, December 4th.

Project Guidlines


Winter Recess
The cold weather is here!  These are a few reminders for what students need for winter recess:  gloves or mittens, winter hat, boots, snow pants (if they plan to play in the snow), winter jacket.

Holiday Feast 

ANNUAL QUEST TEAM HOLIDAY FEAST! We are planning to have our Annual Holiday Feast on Thursday, December ^19th at 11:20 (11:00 set up) - 12:30.  We ask each student on the Quest Team to bring in a sample (4-6 servings) of a dish that their family enjoys eating – perhaps something traditional – and we have a big potluck lunch. Families and other teachers from around the building are invited to attend. We will have live music, from our students!  We’ll need some adults to help us set up and monitor the feast. So, mark your calendar… we’ll send home official invitations soon! 

Newsletter #10 (11/8/13)

Students working together to create a skit using primitive language.

Student Led Conferences
This week, the portal for the student led conferences will open.  This is an online way for you to sign up for conferences.  If you do not have computer access, please write a note to indicate which time slot you would like to sign up for, and we will sign you up.

The conferences may look different than what you have seen in the past.  Throughout the trimester, we have been gathering evidence towards particular goals. This continual reflection is intended to help students understand why they are learning what they are learning, and how it can contribute to their development as a middle schooler.  When students share this information, in a room where other students are also sharing their work, it builds validation for their work, and ownership of their progress.  There is time for goal setting with both teachers and parents during these conferences.

The times for conferences are 30 - 45 minutes in length, and during that time, your student will lead you through his / her work from this first trimester.  As these are completely student led, there will be 4 - 7 conferences going on at the same time.  We reserve the library, which enables us to have space so families can sit together and focus on only their student.

This is a photo of student led conferences from last year.

The teachers are available during these conferences.  Curtis Taylor, Melissa Williams, and Melanie Zima will be in the library, stopping in at the different conferences.  If you want to speak to a particular teacher during the conference, you will put up a small "flag" that will signal that teacher to go to that particular table.  If, after the student led conference, you would like to sign up for an individual conference with one of the teachers, there will be a sign up sheet for Tuesday night's conferences. Note:  There is no sign up for Tuesday night until after the student led conference on Monday night.

If you are unable to attend the conference on Monday night, you might opt to have your student review his / her portfolio at home with you.  Most of the information is on their e-portfolios, and in a paper portfolio at school.  These will be available on Monday, the 25th for you to see.  If you need to see it sooner than the 25th, you may contact us, and we can help your student have it available for Friday the 22nd.

We hope you find this format empowering for your student.  Let us know if you have any questions regarding conferences.  The times on Monday are: 3:00, 3:45, 4:30, 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15. 

ESB
In our Bones and Stones unit, students were busy this week exploring the development of language and early human cave art.  Activities included creating our own early human language, performing skits, using nature to make paint brushes, and painting our classroom with early human cave art.  Next week, students will be starting a project of their choice on a topic from our Early Humans unit.  Information about this project will be available on our website.

Mick painting, using a brush she created from the woods!

Math
This week we will wrap up our work with division strategies and begin a new unit on 3D Geometry and Measurement.  You can find the parent letter linked to the Quest website.

Questers have been working on Multiplication Fast Fact Goals for the past few months and have met their first goal!  As a reward, students will have next week OFF from homework in Math class.  Their Math's Mate Sheet 6 is due Tuesday, but they will not have homework on Thursday or a Math's Mate for next week.  Keep up the fast fact studying so we can reach our next goal!

Language Arts 

This week we used Google Calendars to map out our reading for our most recent book group books.  We also began reading, and looking for details about characters and figurative language.  We continue with writing with details, both to our epals, and in our POWs.  Next week, we will have book group meetings, and will learn about the narrator's point of view.

Questions:
What was your early human skit about?
What is an example of figurative writing?
What has your ePal written to you about?
What did you paint on the "cave wall?"
How does a 'menu' help you solve long division problems?
What did you do with your AG on Early Release Day?

Newsletter #9 (11/1/13)

Hello Quest Families!

ESB
The study of Early Human Survival continued this week with a exploration the advancements in weaponry and fire.  Students learned about how the early humans made fire with the little tools they had and then tried this difficult task out for themselves. Students also learned about early weapons, trying their throwing skills with "spears" and atlatls!  Students will have an opportunity to make some of these tools on their own with a project that will be coming up in a week and a half.

Service Learning
On Wednesday, students worked with community partners on two different projects.  Some of our students met with James Moore, Co-President of SunCommon, to learn about the new solar array at CBMS.  These students are in the process of making a brochure that will educate the CBMS community about solar energy in our area.  The rest of team Quest met with Alan Quackenbush of the Vermont Land Trust to plant seven maple trees around the school's outdoor classroom.  This work will secure the land's riparian zone by providing stability as well as provide shade for our outdoor classroom.

Math
Multiplication and the order of operations were our big focus points this week.  Students worked on tasks such as determining how much solar energy can be produced by our new solar array.  There is so much multiplication in our every day lives.  See if you and your student can find some examples!  If you see your student using an area model to solve multiplication problems, this is a fine place for them to be.  By the end of this year, we will move away from the model, but it is a great tool to support the decomposition of numbers.  Have them explain how it works!

We will be exploring division strategies this upcoming week with an emphasis on the relationship between multiplication and division.   Again, have students explain their strategies to you before you jump in.  We are building an understanding of division before we learn the traditional long division strategy.

LA
We are beginning our fiction unit!  We worked on our first roles that will be a part of book groups starting next week.  Students will be writing about a descriptive event for their next POW.  This could be Halloween, or any other event that has had an impact.  This writing is a part of our fiction writing unit. Students are also writing to their epals.  Sometime soon, we may even go old fashion and send postcards!

Book Orders
Book orders are due Monday, November 4th.


Wreath and Poinsettia Sale We passed out information for our new fundraiser today.  The fundraiser is a wreath and poinsettia sale.  Students have a green paper to bring home today, which has more detailed information.  Please help support this fundraiser!  It helps with field trips and other opportunities for each of the teams in the school.

Questions:
What is an atlatl?
What is your independent reading book?
What are the two "banned" words in your writing?
How does a bow drill work?
How many solar panels does the school have in their new solar array?



Enjoy your weekend!

Due Monday, November 4th

Wreath and Poinsettia Sale

Newsletter #8

Hello Questers!

Welcome winter!

ESB
Students have been working in their band groups on presentations.  One presentation was  via Google slideshow, the other was a poster.  Both of these presentations required assigning roles, reading comprehension, some artistry, and working together!   Next week we will be heading to the woods for some survival skills.  We hope the weather holds up for us!

LA
We finished our Sy Montgomery books.  Students have been working with main ideas and details in their reading. Students wrote summaries, and created posters.  There will be a quiz on summaries next week.  We continued writer's workshop this week which enabled students to choose some of their writing.  We have some good storytellers in our group!  The POW for next week is a free choice, and the students are excited about that!  Next week we will begin our blogs through YWP.

 POWs have started up again.   Please help your student keep on top of these assignments by checking in with them.  The POW (paragraph / paper / prisoner?) of the Week is intended to be a week long assignment.  Each day, students are encouraged to work on a bit of it at home.

Powerschool
You can check on Powerschool to see if your student has any outstanding work.  Most assignments will not have codes, but if they are marked, an orange box  means that it is missing, and a red triangle means that it is late.

Service Learning
We worked more with our service learning this week.  Students mapped out where our 8 sugar maple trees will be planted, or went outside to ask questions about the solar project at our school.  Next Wednesday, we will continue with this work, including planting trees!

Math
This week we worked on multi-digit multiplication and began learning about the order of operations.  The order of operations gave us all a good challenge with some excellent dialogue from our young mathematicians.  There is a very helpful video linked through the Quest website that will walk you through the progression of how students learn multi-digit multiplication.

Math's Mates sheets will be due on Tuesday.  It's never too early to get a jump start on these.  Keep practicing those Math Facts!

Questions to ask:

What service learning project are you working on?
What is the Order of Operations?
What was the main idea of your Sy Montgomery book?
What was your presentation about in ESB?
What was the assembly on Friday about?

Newsletter #7 (10/11/13)

Hello Quest Families!

We are finally through with NECAPS and back to our normal schedule!  Homework will resume this week and you can find the links on the Quest Homework Board. 

Color Groups
Our color groups will be changing at the end of this week.  Students will be with different groups for Language Arts and Math starting the week of October 20th.

Bones and Stones

We started our new ESB unit on Early Humans this week. This unit is an Interact Unit.  Students have been put into cooperative groups called "bands."  In these bands, they will be working on both group and individual projects ranging from research projects to making fire without matches. This week, students worked together to create a group identity, including a group totem, banner, and "stones" bag.  Next week, students will begin to develop presentations on different topics related to Early Humans. 

Math

We are finally back to our regular schedule and well on our way into our exploration of number properties as they relate to multiplication and division.  Students will be getting a NEW weekly assignment called Math's Mates.  This will be due on Tuesdays.  Students who have not passed their multiplication fast facts will still be required to fill in Multiplication Fast Fact Practice sheets.

Language Arts

Students will be finishing up their Sy Montgomery books this week.  Students began their individualized spelling program, and sent off their first epal letters to Germany and Poland!  We are working on non-fiction main ideas / summaries.  The POW for this week is regarding this skill.  Each student received a National Geographic, and can choose from any of the articles to read and to write a summary.

Questions to ask:

What is your band's name for ESB?  Your Stone age name?
What is a square number?
Is your epal from Germany or Poland?
What is one of the words on your spelling list?

Newsletter #6 10/4/13

Hello Quest Families!  

We were glad to see those who could make it to Back-to-School night!  There is so much to cover for fifth grade!  If you were unable to make it, or would like to see the slide shows, you can find them on the Quest website.  The team one is on the front page, there is one for LA, and for math.  The curriculum outline is also posted, so feel free to check it out!

LA: This week we continued our book shares.  Students will be completing a book share once a month about an independent reading book, and will then share their findings with the rest of the class.  Students also completed their bios for their epal.


ESB  This week we will be wrapping up our study of the local ecosystem.  We will also begin a unit on Early Humans.  Our unit will be an Interact Unit, in which students will be divided into small groups to solve problems and complete projects. 

NECAPS  are here! There will be NO Homework during NECAPS.

Tuesday, October 8th from 8 - 9:15
Wednesday, October 9th 8 - 9:15 and 12:45 - 2:20
Thursday, October 10th 8 - 9:15

Please avoid scheduling an appointment for your child during these times.  If your student will be leaving at some point during the day, please make sure we know as soon as possible so we can make other arrangements.   We will not be giving homework during those two weeks.  Good sleep and a good breakfast does wonders for those nights!

Math
We will be starting our new unit, Multiplication and Division Relationships, this week.  Attached is a family letter that introduces some of the concepts that will be covered in this unit.  Success in this unit, as well as many of the units throughout middle school, rely on fluency with multiplication fast facts.  While we will provide students with strategies for studying these facts, we do not set aside class time for fast fact practice.  There are many resources on the Quest website that students can access and use for practice at home.

What was one of the talents displayed at Quest Talent Show?
How did your NECAP testing go?
Tell me about your math project!
What were your results from the crayfish / potato / sunflower lab?  (they chose one of these!)

 
Enjoy your weekend!!