The Weekly Update #4

All students requesting a recommendation for high school must complete the following steps:

1. Have a personal conversation with your teacher to request a recommendation.
2. Complete the recommendation request form (linked below by team).
3. Share your teachers' email on the school's application site.
4. Send the teacher an email to let them know you completed the form and thank them for their time.

As Deal teachers receive many recommendation requests, all requests should be submitted at least two weeks prior to the application school's deadline and will be completed in the order they are received. Recommendations are completed at the discretion of the teacher. Students are responsible for maintaining positive relationships with their teacher and meeting high academic expectations.

While completing this form, students are required to submit complete, thoughtful responses that reflect the time and energy they expect from their recommending teacher. Incomplete or insufficient responses may result in the teacher not submitting a recommendation.

Recommendation Request Links:

• Team Kendrick Recommendation Request Link

• Off-Team Teacher Recommendation Request Link

If your student needs a recommendation from a teacher not on these form (including 7th grade teachers), please email that teacher directly.

Each year teachers on our team come up with a list of items we need for our classroom to make your child's learning experience enjoyable and more dynamic. Linked below you will find our team amazon wish list. If you decide to buy through this portal, items will be sent directly to the school and distributed within 48 hours to teachers. We collectively thank you for your support and any contributions. We currently are in need of red tickets and tissues. Our store workers say we are low on everything. Please feel free to use the list below, or send other snack or drink options to the school (3815 Fort Dr NW, Washington DC 20016) addressed to Team Kendrick.

Deal is excited to introduce Ms. O'Brien, our new 8th grade social worker! Her contact information will be shared as soon as it is finalized by DCPS, and she will start introducing herself to students this week. Below, Ms. O'Brien introduces herself in her own words:

My name is Nicole OBrien and I am the new 8th grade Social Worker at Deal MS. I am thrilled to join a fantastic team of professionals at Deal and am so excited to work with the amazing students. I have been a social worker in the District for over 15 years, specializing in behavioral health services for children, youth and families. I hope to bring my passion for providing youth with behavioral services to the academic setting- I truly believe when kids feel well, they learn well.

Students are well on their way to planning their projects! Students spent this week writing goal statements and will continue planning next week by creating an action plan. All donation drives will take place at our annual CP Fair on 1/25 from 4:30-6:30 (before International Night).

We will hold a mandatory meeting for all students and families attending world language trips on Thursday, January 9th at 6:30 PM. This meeting is required for students who are already registered for the trip. Students who are not registered should not attend the meeting, as the deadline has already passed.

Meetings will take place in the following locations:

• Costa Rica - Auditorium

• Costa Rica (Spanish Humanities) - E100

• France - Cafeteria

• Taiwan - W100

The National Cherry Blossom Festival, in conjunction with Events DC, invites young designers from District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) in grades 8th-12th to submit unique sneaker designs inspired by the National Cherry Blossom Festival springtime celebration. The top selected designs will be transformed into artistic creations on sneakers by the youth artists themselves, culminating in a special exhibition. Information about the competition is available HERE. Students should submit their designs by 5:00 pm on Monday, January 6.

Students and families from all grades are welcome and encouraged to join us for International Night! This time-honored Alice Deal event brings together the Alice Deal community as we celebrate the many cultures and nations represented among our student body. The event includes "Taste of the Nation" tables where families share sample size offerings of foods from around the world. Please sign up as a host Deal International Night Volunteer Host Tables

Wear your dancing shoes - we will have a DJ! And of course, Deal merch will be on sale. Join us for this festive night of celebration! Buy your tickets here https://DealInternation.givesmart.com

****International Night is our number one fundraiser for important scholarship dollars for the upcoming 8th grade foreign language trips!

Questions: shannonharrisbehm@hotmail.com

Dear Parents and Students,

I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable winter break! I want to take a moment to update you on important classroom information and expectations for the coming weeks.

Teacher Update
I am currently out of the classroom as I recover from surgery and will return on February 24, 2025. In the meantime:

• Assignments: All assignments for the remainder of the 2nd quarter have been set up in Canvas.
• Grades: I will continue to update grades in Aspen on a regular schedule.
• Communication: I am posting regular announcements in Canvas. Students should review these for updates, instructions, and reminders. If students have questions or concerns about assignments, they can reach me via Canvas email or the weekly discussion board. I will do my best to respond promptly. If a student believes that I have missed their email, they can tell a team teacher and the team teacher should be able to let me know directly.

Classroom Expectations
As we begin the new year, let’s revisit our classroom expectations to ensure success:

1. Respect and Responsibility: Show respect to peers, the guest teacher, and our learning environment. Come to class prepared and ready to engage.
2. Timely Submission of Assignments: Submit all assignments on Canvas by the due date to stay on track and avoid unnecessary stress.

Grading and Resubmission Policy
To support student growth, I’ve outlined a clear revision policy for assignments graded at D+ or below:

• Effort: At least 50% of the original assignment must be completed within 48 hours of its posting. Incomplete assignments will not be eligible for resubmission.
• Deadline: Revised work must be submitted by January 27th. Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Revised Grade: The highest possible grade for revised work is a C, unless the resubmission scores lower.

Key Reminders

• Grades: Please do not send emails asking about grading updates. I will revise any grading mistakes and resubmissions as soon as possible.

• Focus on Improvement: If you are resubmitting an assignment, please review the original submission to see what was incorrect and check for any comments and corrections I've made.

• Staying Informed: Students should check Canvas regularly for new announcements and discussions. If you don’t receive alerts, visit the "Announcements" and "Discussions" tabs to stay updated.

This week students were able to review content covered before the break! Students then worked on preparing for their second seminar of the year. The focus of this seminar is government responsibilities. Students will need to use evidence from the constitution to prove that the government has the specific responsibilities that they chose. Students then researched current events articles to help them determine if the government was or was not meeting that responsibility today.

Next week students will participate in the seminar and then recreate the law making process!

• Monday: Seminar - Government Responsibilities
• Tuesday: Bill to Law Overview
• Wednesday: Bill to Law Process Recreation
• Thursday: Bill to Law Process Recreation
• Friday: Bill to Law Process Recreation

This week in ELA students worked on reading and annotating the next 2 short stories in our second anchor text of the year: "145th Street Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers.

Next week, we will begin a mini poetry analysis unit. We will begin to transition into literary analysis writing by comparing a poem to a short story from "145th Street". We will read "Human Family" by Maya Angelou and begin to compare how both Angelou and Myers use their writing to express similar themes and concepts.

If you have not already, please purchase your student a copy of 145th Street. Students have been graded for their annotations for the first 2 short stories for a practice and application grade. If you anticipate any challenges with purchasing a copy, please reach out to me so we can work to ensure that your student receives a copy of the novel. https://www.amazon.com/145th-Street-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0307976106

*We will likely need 10-15 extra copies of 145th street as a team, if you are able to donate an extra copy or two, please let me know!*

Homework: Due by Sunday January 5th at midnight: 2 vocabulary lessons in Dreambox Reading Plus.

Algebra 1

This past week in Algebra 1, students were eased back into curriculum through an escape room activity on reading and interpreting exponential functions and their graphs. This coming week students will look into compound interest and it's relationship to exponential functions. The lessons in the book that will be covered are 13-17 from Unit 5. A link to the unit can be found here. Students can expect to have a quiz on this material later in the week.

Math 8

This past week students were eased back into solving equations as our next unit focuses on linear equations. On Thursday and Friday students completed seek-n-solve activities on one step and two step equations. Tis coming week students will continue to solidify their understanding of two-step equations as we begin to explore solving multi-step equations on the second day of the week. The lessons in the book that will be covered by the end of next week are 1-6 and come from Unit 4 which can be found here.

If you would like to contact us, please feel free to do so using the links below. Expect a response from teachers, during school hours, within 1 to 2 business days, of the time your communication was received.

Teacher Email Addresses:

• Science: Charmaine.Thompson@k12.dc.gov
• History: Marlena.Wikander@k12.dc.gov
• English: Catherine.Cunha@k12.dc.gov
• Math: Brandi.Anderson@k12.dc.gov

🌐Website: alicedealmiddleschool.org

📬Address: 3815 Fort Dr NW, Washington, DC, USA

📞Phone: 202-939-2010