Team Dublin Weekly Update

This past week, students returned to the library and selected their January independent reading book. Their January bookmark is due at the end of the month. This coming week, we will begin examining how to determine a text’s theme and analyzing different poetic forms. Students will also take the ReadingPlus Middle of Year evaluation to monitor their growth.

Thanks for a great week!

Welcome back! We came back and learned about Hinduism and Buddhism to transition to our new unit, Unit 4: South and Southeast Asia. Students identified political (countries), and physical features (physical features and climate) of the region.

Next week, students will do a thematic map exploration to identify more physical and human characteristics of South and Southeast Asia. Students can take home their maps and vocabulary nightly to study for their quiz. A review will be done in class on Wednesday, and a Nearpod code will be provided for homework to help them review. The quiz will be on Thursday.

In late January will begin preparing for the WIDA ACCESS test. Many students will have taken this test of English language proficiency before and for some it will be new. But we will make sure each student is prepared.

Welcome back and happy new year! Last week, students in ELA for MLL Beginners spent a lot of their time reinforcing their skills with punctuation and capitalization in order to enhance the quality of their writing. They also recorded a read aloud of their digital books. Please ask your student to go online to the Book Creator app (via www.clever.com) and show you the book they wrote. They are awesome! This week, students will learn important test-taking strategies that can be used to improve their responses to text-dependent questions on tests. This work will have a positive effect on their academic achievement in all of their classes so we will be sure to dedicate a lot of time to learning these strategies.

In World Geography for MLL Beginners, students participated in a hands-on lab to explore the properties of water. This activity was an introduction to our summative project for the term 2, where students will study the problem of desertification and create an infographic in favor of a solution to one of the causes of this serious environmental issue in our world. Next week, students will learn about 5 main causes of desertification through the study of a text set on the topic.

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