Team Dublin Weekly Update

This week, students will take the Reading Inventory middle-of-year assessment. This will be an opportunity for students to monitor their reading skills. Students will also continue working on how to use themes in their writing.

This short week, students defined four barriers to education around the world. They then began working in groups to analyze photos of journeys to school in order to investigate physical geography as a barrier.

Next week, students will prepare and present their groups photos and share how their journeys impact the students education. This presentation will be a group formative grade for presenting.

Then, we will continue with more case studies to identify the barriers of poverty & labor, gender inequality, and conflict.

Well, certainly not the week we expected! To provide more makeup time, I will be available everyday after school this week. Please help your student come in to complete work this week. This is without penalty as we complete our transition to middle school Science.

We will continue with our study of the Earth's surface by focusing on how the landscape is changed because of Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition. Luckily, we did not get to do Mount Play-Doh because of the snow day. We still need more Play-Doh so please share if you have unused containers. So much more fun for the students if they get to build and slice their own mountains to create a topographic depiction. We will be practicing writing directions for another student to follow and then evaluating the results. Erosion will be demonstrated with Skittles so please consider sending in one small bag with your student.

Finally, please insist that your student have pencils for class. In just two days, 25 pencils were used from my ✏️ can. In other eords, the very generous donation received in December is not going to make it to the end of the month even though it should have lasted four months. Additionally, some hand soap was used inappropriately so we need two more containers, please. The students are great about using tissues and then washing hands so this is necessary, please.

As we head into Middle of Year assessments, it’s more important than ever that students keep up with their System 44 assignments. Please encourage your student to finish their work at home if they don’t finish in class.

Wow, I hope you’ve all been enjoying the gorgeous snowfalls we have been having! The students seem very excited, especially when they get to have snowball fights during recess. Last week in ELA, our MLL students were steadfastly preparing to take the ACCESS tests that measure their level of English proficiency. They completed a Close Reading module where they learned two new testing strategies to help increase their success on these tests and beyond. This week, students will continue to engage in language learning that aligns to ACCESS writing assessment.

In World Geography for MLL Beginners, students are hard at work on their Desertification Infographic Project, where they are researching and analyzing data about a selected cause of desertification (deforestation, overcultivation/overgrazing, overpopulation, or climate change) in order to create a digital infographic on their topic that promotes one solution to improve this world problem. This week, students will have their research completed and they will be working on the Canva app to build their infographics, which are due on Jan. 24, 2024.

Don't miss out on information and resources from the Deal MS Library! Read the library newsletter! The latest edition features reading recommendations for the holidays, Mr. Reichlen's Must Reads list for December, Information about the Washington Wizards' Winter Reading Challenge, and more! Click the link to read the newsletter:

https://www.smore.com/vzaqf2

All Deal students are expected to be in class and ready to learn promptly at 8:45 AM daily. To help build strong, healthy habits and ensure that students do not miss instructional time, the 6th grade team is assigning tardy hall to students who arrive to school after 9 AM or who have established a pattern of late arrivals that are resulting in lost learning time. Students who are assigned tardy hall will stay afterschool with Ms. Watson, 6th grade dean, until 4:15 PM.

Ms. Wesselhoft, team lead - naeemah.wesselhoft@k12.dc.gov

Mr. Kirschenbaum - adam.kirschenbaum@k12.dc.gov

Mr. O'Malley - michael.o'malley@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Osman - catherine.osman@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Patsalos - constance.patsalos@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Garcia - maria.garcia@k12.dc.gov

Mr. Memminger, 6th grade counselor - jacob.memminger@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Barr, 6th grade social worker - ellen.barr@k12.dc.gov

Attendance: For any attendance related concerns, including absence notes, please be sure to contact Ms. Stephens our attendance counselor at dealattendance@k12.dc.gov.

ASPEN Help: For any ASPEN related issues, including help resetting a password or accessing your account, please email Ms. Lerum at dealaspenhelp@k12.dc.gov