Team Woolloomooloo Newsletter

Be sure to dress your best on Friday, September 27th, as that will be 8th grade picture day! Students will take their pictures during their science period.

Deal will host an interest meeting for families in-person at Deal at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, September 25th.

Sign-up information will be shared in the coming weeks. These trips have limited space and are first come, first served, so we encourage families to sign up once the links are shared.

As part of Deal's commitment to inspiring excellence, curiosity, and compassion in our students, Deal Middle School will once again plan optional international trips as a supplement to our world language program. 8th grade students enrolled in Spanish, French, Chinese, or Spanish Humanities will have the opportunity to join their designated trip. These trips are entirely optional, funded by families, chaperoned by Deal staff, and open only to Deal 8th grade students in good academic, attendance, and behavioral standing. We find these trips to be a powerful experience for all involved.

To register for the world language trips, families will need to complete two steps:

1. Submit a signed permission slip to the trip's sponsor by Friday, September 27th. Permission slips should be turned in to your student's language teacher or emailed directly to the trip sponsor.

• Permission slip for students in Spanish

  (DealSpanishClass@gmail.com)
  

• Permission slip for students in French

  (Frederick.Mbayu@k12.dc.gov)

• Permission slip for students in Chinese

  (Yanming.Zhi@k12.dc.gov)

• Permission slip for students in Spanish Humanities

  (Elyse.Lerum@k12.dc.gov)

• Hoja de Permiso Para Humanidades

  (Elyse.Lerum@k12.dc.gov)

Please note, completing the permission slip gives your student permission to travel and expresses interest in the trip, but does not guarantee attendance on the trip. Once the trip is fully approved by DCPS, families will need to complete the tour company's registration process, including paying for the trip and turning in all required documents.

If you are considering joining the trip at all, please submit the permission slip to ensure your family has access to the registration page when it becomes available.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to sharing this experience with our students.

Hello, Eighth Grade Families!

My name is Ms. Ta’Tiana Miles and I am the new 8th Grade School Social Worker! I am so excited to be joining the 8th grade support team here at Deal. I have a passion for supporting students and families and I am here to help create a positive and inclusive environment for everyone.

A little about me is that I bring a wealth of experience in helping young people navigate the ups and downs of life. Whether it’s lending an ear, providing resources, or facilitating group activities, I am dedicated to ensuring every student feels valued, heard and seen.

Feel free to reach out to me at tatiana.miles@k12.dc.gov with any questions or concerns. If you see me around, don’t hesitate to say hi! I’m excited to meet everyone and work together to make this school year amazing!

Best,

Ms. Ta’Tiana Miles

The Deal team apologizes this is scheduled at the same time as our world language trip interest meeting. The Jackson-Reed team has shared the NAF information will be shared multiple ways and all the world language trip information will be shared via team newsletters, so families should choose which event best matches their needs.

September 25th

5:45-6:00: Check-in, arrive, settled
6:00-6:50: Presentation in auditorium
6:50-7:30: Academy Fair and ice cream social in the atrium

As many of you know, academies are an important part of Jackson-Reed's academic culture. We boast of 10 academies, but we know that some of them have different designations. Eight of them are Career-Technical Education (CTE) pathways. Seven are National Academy Foundation (NAF) Academies, and two are specific to Jackson-Reed. So many acronyms! So confusing, right?

To help ease the confusion and to celebrate being together for a new year, the NAF Academy team is going to host a NAF Night on September 25 from 5:45-7:30pm. Please save this date and time on your calendar. Our objective of the evening is to fill bellies with ice cream (and sorbet) sundaes, celebrate student work, outline what current academies are all about, and how they operate here at Jackson-Reed.

If your student is already in an academy, please come! If you are a ninth and tenth grade family who is considering an academy, please come! If you are an upperclassmen family who isn't in an academy but have a child in middle school planning to attend Jackson-Reed, please come!

Please RSVP for this event by September 21 at this link.

If your student is interested in joining the NJHS in their 8th grade year, please review the following requirements:

• Submit 15 hours of Community Service by May 2nd, 2025. I have attached the form to fill out for Community Service. The form must be completed. Fillable_Community_Service_Hours_Form.pdf

• Your student must also be on Honor Role for terms 1-3.

• In October there will be an application form for interested students to apply to NJHS. The application and due dates will be sent out via your student's grade level team newsletters.

• A student is not eligible to qualify for NJHS if they receive a suspension.

• If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at stephanie.lienemann@k12.dc.gov.

8th grade students who were accepted in to NJHS in their 7th grade year do not need to reapply to join, but must maintain their good academic, behavioral, and attendance standing.

Instruction at Deal begins at 8:45 AM and ends at 3:15 PM. To ensure they have time to clear security, visit their lockers, and make it to class before the bell, students should plan to arrive at Deal no later than 8:20 AM. We appreciate your support to build good habits early in the year.

Want to learn more about what's going on in your student's language class? You can find the World Languages Newsletter here: https://secure.smore.com/u/patricia.balestra4

Most of our 8th graders will have the opportunity to be in art class this upcoming year, so please help our art teachers provide our students with all of the necessary supplies to get the most creative work from our talented young people!

Ms. Hargreaves: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/MUK8QEAEHHUO?ref_=wl_share

Mr. Cunningham: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/368Y16JA3GQ30?ref_=wl_share

Mr. Lowder: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/IRPKFUJ90BY?ref_=wl_share

THANK YOU!! We can't thank you enough for donating supplies. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and dedication to helping and supporting our students!

Click here to access our Amazon Wishlist.

Hello Woolloomooloo Families!

It was so good to see you all at Back to School Night! I am happy to see how supportive all our families are on Team Woolloomooloo. I look forward to working with you all as we are planning our team building activities/celebrations. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, my email address is michael.haller@k12.dc.gov

Update on technology - students have been great with their laptops. Team Woolloomooloo has been on top of their duties in regards to charging laptops and making sure they are plugged in before the end of the day. We want to remind families that students are responsible for putting their laptops in the computer carts at the end of the day and before lunch to ensure that they are charged throughout the day. A few of our scholars need helpful reminders to keep on top of their responsibilities with the school laptops. It would be helpful if families could echo this at home as well.

We are also working on a team incentive plan for students to earn great prizes for excellent behavior, academic achievement and integrity. Each student will receive a ticket when they exhibit these behaviors. At the end of the day or before lunch, students will be able to "cash out" their tickets for prizes, food, etc. Parents, please continue to check our Amazon wishlist as this will help restock our store. The "Mooloo-Mula" incentive will begin next week.

Math 8: This week in math 8 learned about how to perform sequences of transformations as well as how to describe them. They took their first assessment on Friday which will be a formative on sequences of transformations. Next week in math 8 students will begin looking at congruence and angle relationships.

Upcoming Assessments

• Tuesday 9/24 (UPDATED) - Mid Unit Assessment

Homework: Paper homework assigned Monday 9/23 due Friday 9/27 and 1 I-Ready lesson completed by Sunday.

Unit 1 family resources:

Rigid Transformations and Congruence (English)

UNIDAD 1 MATERIALES PARA LA FAMILIA: Transformaciones rígidas y congruencia

Algebra 1: This week in algebra 1 students learned how to rewrite literal equations (solving an equation for one variable), reviewed graphing linear equations in slope intercept and standard forms, took a formative on solving equations and then began solving systems of linear equations. Next week in algebra 1 we will continue solving systems of linear equations graphically and algebraically. They will take a formative on these skills on Thursday.

Upcoming Assessments

• Thursday 9/26 - Formative D on solving systems of equations

Homework: Paper homework assigned Monday 9/23 due Friday 9/27 and Deltamath assignment due Sunday at 10PM

Unit 1 family resources:

Linear Equations, Inequalities, and Systems

Unidad 2 en Espanol

It was a pleasure seeing you all at back-to-school night.

This week in science, we completed scientific thinking summative assessment and started unit 1 “structure and properties of matter.” Students learned, “what is matter?”, The subatomic parts, their charges, mass and location in an atom. Students can identify elements on the periodic table, calculate their atomic number and mass number. They can further use this information to deduce the number of protons, electrons and neutrons of an atom. Also, all students were introduced to the adopt an element Project, our unit summative assessment. This project is due on 10/04/2024. Finally, we completed MAP.

Next week, we will reiterate how to find the number of electrons, protons and neutrons in an atom and use this information to calculate the mass and atomic number of an element. Students will be able to describe how the periodic table is arranged with respect to atomic numbers and similar chemical properties.

Finally, we will have our first unit formative assessment on Wednesday.

Hello everyone!

It was fantastic to meet and see you all on Back to School Night!

This week, we finished up our Reading MAP Growth assessment. We read Act 1, Scene 1 in A Raisin in the Sun (ARITS) and looked at descriptive language/sensory details used in the stage directions that help create setting and characterization. Students also practiced this narrative technique in their own writing.

Next week, we will continue to work on the writing technique of sensory details/descriptive language in narrative writing through a formative. Students will continue a scene from ARITS in narrative form with using sensory details/descriptive language to enhance the writing. We will take our first RCT that asks students to analyze dialogue between characters.

If students need to access a copy of A Raisin in the Sun, there is a pdf version in the Unit 1: Dreaming in America module on Canvas.

Have a great weekend!

The school year is off to a great start! Students are coming to the library with ELA classes this month to check out books and learn more about the exciting programs and activities that the library has planned for this year. The hours for the library are listed below in case some students missed out on this month's class visits:

When to visit:

Library Hours 8:15am-3:45pm daily.

•With permission from grade level admin – Students can come from 8:15 – 8:35am

(Mr. Reichlen must be present).

•Recess visits – You must get a pass from Mr. Reichlen or Ms. Gathers.

•No pass, no entry.

•After school – If Mr. Reichlen is here, you can come.

Please reach out to Mr. Reichlen directly with any questions or concerns at: stephen.reichlen@k12.dc.gov

Keep up to date with library news and information at library website aka. LibGuide:

https://bit.ly/DealMSLibGuide

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.

Haller - Michael.Haller@k12.dc.gov

Beliveau - jacqueline.beliveau@k12.dc.gov

Selph - caleb.selph@k12.dc.gov

Mbanwie - Brunhilda.Mbanwie@k12.dc.gov

Turchetta - nicholas.turchetta@k12.dc.gov

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