RISE Program Newsletter

Dear RISE Community,

We had a blast this past Friday with many of our students, laughing and learning, at the Science Fair and at Pi Day! It's always a joy to see the relationships we've built on screen grow and expand in person.

We hope you'll join us for our culminating spring event in RISE, the RISE Retreat. Stay tuned for more retreat info, heading to your inbox tomorrow!

With Care,

RISE Team

Here's what you can expect to find in this newsletter:

🟢 8th Graders: Learn More About CVHS!

🟢 RISE CAASPP Testing Week

🟢 Save the Date - Upcoming RISE community event info

🟢 RISE Class Updates from Teachers

CVHS, or Cottonwood Virtual High School, is hosting visitation tours and info sessions for students entering high school next year. RISE 8th Graders, this is a great opportunity to learn more about what CVHS offers, to meet the teachers, and to get a feel for what it's like to be a CVHS student!

RISE classes will pause the week of April 7th-10th for students to complete CAASPP assessments. No new assignments will be given, and students will attend CAASPP testing sessions instead of classes.

Who can participate?

All RISE students can participate in all tests, regardless of which classes they are taking.

Which tests will be available?

All CAASPP tests, ELA, Math, and Science, will be available to all students during each testing session.

When are the testing sessions?

Monday, April 7th through Thursday April 10th

AM Session: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

PM Session: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Do students have to test during CAASPP Testing Week?

We highly encourage all RISE students to complete their CAASPP assessments during testing week. If a student opts to complete CAASPP assessments with their HST at an alternate time, they will still be responsible for content taught and work assigned by their RISE teacher.

What is my next step?

Use the button below to select four testing sessions to attend. Once a student completes all tests, there is no need to attend any remaining sessions.

RISE Program + Community Dates:

April 7-10, 2025 | RISE CAASPP Testing Week | Sign Up Here!

April 25, 2025 | RISE Retreat at Hidden Springs Farm | Details Coming Soon!

May 15, 2025 | Last Day of Spring Semester Classes

May 22, 2025 | TCS 8th Grade Promotion | Details Coming Soon!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

With Crispin finished, we have begun reading The Golden Goblet. The reading level is more difficult, however the story is aligned to 6th grade social studies standards. Some students are embracing the challenge, but I have given an option for students to read a short story that I post each week instead of reading Golden Goblet. Students may read both the Golden Goblet and the optional assignments.

WAYS TO EXTEND:

If you’d like to dive into learning about Ancient Egypt, I can give some extra credit assignments involving Egyptian research.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

We are making great gains in our RISE Math 6 class. Students conquered concepts on percents and decimals, and are now in Topic 7. This topic focuses on area, surface area, and volume skills.

WHAT'S COMING:

It is especially important for students to complete all of their assignments on time for the next few weeks. Please log in to Canvas with your student every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to check the independent assignments. Thank you for doing your best to complete all work on the day that is assigned. Please join me for Homework Help or Office Hours if your student needs help!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

In English 7, students are currently completing a unit on persuasion, where they are selecting their own topics to write about in a blog format. This project allows students to develop their argumentative writing skills while expressing their opinions on subjects that matter to them. After publishing their blogs, classmates will engage in thoughtful discussion by responding to at least three peers' posts, either supporting or refuting their claims with evidence-based reasoning. This interactive approach encourages critical thinking, respectful debate, and digital communication skills.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Parents can play a key role in supporting their child’s success by staying engaged and offering support, parents can help their child develop strong persuasive writing and critical thinking skills! A few ideas to help your child include:

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

This week will be our last week of Topic 6. We will have our assessment on Thursday. Friday was our Pi Day. Fun was had by all who were there, and making Pizza Pi was yummy.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Please encourage your students to use the class slides/notes to study for the Topic 6 assessment.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

I was thrilled to see so many students participate in the Science Fair in person! The projects were truly impressive, and I loved seeing students' creativity and hard work. If you haven’t submitted your project for grading yet, please do so soon.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

English 8 students have finished writing their second blog posts on their interest-based websites, and are beginning to draft their third and final posts. See the exemplary posts below that show the variety of students' topics and the creative ways they're expanding their writing capacities using ideas they're excited about. Student blogs have challenged students to organize and plan their writing, consider how imagery supports the communication of their ideas, work on effective communication to an audience, and incorporate appeals into their writing to persuade their reader.

WHAT'S AHEAD:

After students draft and complete their third post, they will work on looking at their website as the whole to determine how the appearance and usability of their site can attract and appeal to their readers.

WAYS TO EXTEND:

Encourage your student to look at other blogs about similar topics to see how bloggers set up content and what topics bloggers might typically include on their websites. Have students think about what they find attractive or appealing about various sites, and what elements they might want to incorporate into their own site.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Pi Day was a blast! Thank you to all who made it out for that - students enjoyed relaxing in each others’ company, and many students were able to prove that pi does equal ~3.14 by measuring circular figures around the campus (with precise measurements, dividing the circumference by the diameter of any circle equals pi!).

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

With daylight saving time and the warmer weather, it’s easy for students (and adults) to have “Spring Fever,” where our minds start thinking about the fun of summer, and schoolwork falls down on our priority lists. Please urge students to finish the last two months of school strong! That means be consistent in attending class, submitting assignments, and trying hard on our state assessments! As always, please attend homework help and office hours for assistance and motivation!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

We are finally done with our Science Fair Projects! The projects your students have been working on since January were due last Friday, March 14th. I will be watching and grading students' video presentations over the next several days.

This week, we are finishing up Topic 8: Thermal Energy, Heat Transfer, and Temperature in our textbooks.

WHAT'S AHEAD:

We will be finishing up our work in the textbook in the next two weeks, with Topic 9 being our last topic. We will also be prepping for the CAST test.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

High School Success Coordinator, Carey Brown, recently presented to our class. She shared information regarding the Family Resource that is located in the Course Catalog. Mrs. Brown taught the students how to locate the Family Resource and how to utilize the information for high school planning. We looked at different courses and the various curricula that may be used to support student learning.

Our class also engaged in learning about how to study effectively. We discovered strategies such as the loci method of memorization, using a commitment device, how to add short-term rewards, and the Pomodoro Technique.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Students have been encouraged to take ownership of the direction of their high school career. They have been urged to review the family resource with their parents. We have practiced looking at different curricula and navigating through the syllabus, course expectations and instructions, and timelines. Take a moment to meet with your student and let them guide you through their potential plans

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Spanish 1: Students learned new vocabulary on parts of the home. They also learned about chores they do to keep their home nice and clean. Students learned more irregular stem-changing verbs, and how to conjugate these verbs in the present participle tense by replacing the -AR ending verbs with -ando and replacing -ER and -IR ending verbs with -iendo. They worked on conjugating verbs that describe their chores at home. In cultural awareness, students practiced saying a traditional tongue twister for letters r and rr.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Our RISE Art 6-8 class set aside drawing and embarked on a voyage into sculpture…with cardboard. We began by working with flat cardboard and tried stacking one or two layers to produce a relief project (that means it just barely sticks up into the third dimension). We made a sun face and some kind of animal, such as the sea turtle, which I made as an example in class. We are preparing to make a letter in 3D, using only cardboard and hot glue. Extensive cutting is required!

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART:

Ask to see your student(s) last color pencil project, “Chromatic Dreamscape.” Track with what they are building with cardboard. I am concerned about the safety of students cutting cardboard.

WAYS TO EXTEND:

Ask your student(s) what gives a picture a sense that some things are close and some are far (the answer is usually size).

WHAT'S AHEAD:

3D cardboard building, which will include painting one work. Acrylic paint works the best for this, but it is permanent paint!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Your students’ creativity continues to shine each week—it’s truly inspiring!

This week, we explored improvisation in music, learning how musicians create music in the moment. Our featured composer was Antonio Vivaldi, and we studied La Primavera from The Four Seasons. While Vivaldi’s works were carefully composed, they inspired us to think about how musicians can interpret and improvise within classical forms.

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

To continue the conversation with your student, try questions like:

• “What does it mean to improvise in music?”
• “How might a musician improvise within a classical piece?”
• “What story do you think Vivaldi is telling in La Primavera?”

1. Try improvising: Create simple melodies or rhythms together and take turns adding to them.

2. Listen for improvisation: Explore jazz or live recordings to hear examples of improvisation.

3. Explore Vivaldi: Listen to the rest of The Four Seasons and discuss the imagery in each piece.

We're here to support you every step of the way. We'd love to hear from you at any time if any questions or concerns should arise.

With care,

Wendy Coller

RISE Coordinator

rise@cottonwoodk12.org