Team Berlin Update 24
February 7, 2025
Earth Science with Ms. Ballantine
Hello scientists!
This week we wrapped up our Earth’s Place in the Universe unit with an orbit simulation and a collaborative lesson about the life cycle of stars.
Next week we will begin the week with our Earth’s Place in the Universe summative on Monday 2/10. Once students complete their summatives, we will begin our Space Systems and Cycles unit by illustrating past and present models of our solar system.
Next Thursday 2/13 we will have our Roots 3.2 quiz on the following words: *gram = unit of mass (think: kilogram)
atmo = air, smoke, vapor (think: atmosphere)
*hydro = water (think: hydrosphere)
*iso = equal (think: isometric)
baro = weight (think: barometer)
Keepers: angle, deci, semi, alp, morph, sed
Below are the links to Blookets (quiz study games) for the summative next Monday. Students can access them on a phone, computer, or tablet. Please encourage your student to spend some time on these this weekend!
Earth's Place Non-Account: Tower Defense Mode
https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=67978cf708c918f931ed7803
Earth's Place Non-Account: Monster Brawl Mode
https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=67978d2908c918f931ed7808
Earth's Place Non-Account: Cafe Mode
https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=67978d4f890d479011f902d2
Earth's Place Non-Account: Factory Mode
https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=67978d70304b8eaba1319ed5
As we start the 3rd quarter, the science classroom is looking forward to more fun labs, including one of our messiest yet – the Oreo Moon Phases Lab! Before we can have fun getting messy, we need some cleaning supplies as the room is almost out. If they are able, science students are asked to bring 2 of the following:
A roll of paper towels
A container of cleaning wipes
A box of tissues
A box of pencils
Printer Paper
Some other classroom items that I am looking for are some noise-reducing headphones and some surgical masks that I can make available to kids since we are in peak flu and other bug/virus season! THANK YOU!
Math with Mr. Brown & Mr. Gawthrop
Math 6
This week students continued simplifying expressions and combining like terms as well as substitute values for variables in expressions. This week students will begin applying the distributive property to simplify expressions. Included in our virtual classroom is a link to a portion of Illustrative Mathematics website curriculum dedicated to allowing parents to give support of current topics from home.
Math7
This week students continued working on integer fluency and application in preparation for taking an RCT Assessment on the current concept. This week students will begin working on expressions, equations, and inequalities. Included in our virtual classroom is a link to a portion of Illustrative Mathematics website curriculum dedicated to allowing parents to give support of current topics from home.
Any questions or concerning SMAC Program invitations should be sent (and will be forwarded) to DealSummerMath@k12.dc.gov
This week their will be NO IRECESS available as students have unfortunately been irresponsible in returning Lunchroom passes specifically created for iRecess dismissal. Once recreated, iRecess will be limited to those reserving a space with and given a pass from Mr. Brown.
Language Arts with Ms. Byrns & Mr. Gawthrop
This week students read two short stories and practiced taking notes and organizing their ideas before writing an essay. They then moved into writing a compare/contrast essay. We will be doing more work in the future with shorter texts and prompts so we can get in the practice of outlining or making a plan before writing.
Next week will be a bit of a mash up as some students return from being out sick and need to begin or continue the essay while others move on to revision and some more work talking about and writing about our independent reading books. I am also going to try to squeeze in a lesson on AI as that is a growing problem with student work in several classes. As teachers, we aren't looking for perfection or college level vocabulary in student responses. It's all about the process and what they learn as they do their own research and writing.
We will begin our next book, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhhà Lai at the end of the month. If your child has a copy of the book, please send those in by Feb. 27.
Katy Byrns
Geography with Ms. Trenkle
Students jumped into Term 3 with a new unit on East Asia! Students have been mapping political and physical features as well as learning about the population density, climate, land resources, religions, and languages of the region. Students have their quiz on Monday. The thematic maps and all study links are in Canvas to help students study and prepare for their quiz.
Next week students will begin to explore the cultural side of our unit: population growth and urbanization.
A special thank you to Ms. Eva from the German Embassy who joined us on Wednesday for class to help us learn about Fasching (Carnival) in Germany and led the students in making their own masks. She also had a very special treat for us: German pretzels delivered from a German Bakery in Alexandria. Check out picture in our Team Berlin photo link (see below).
CEAs continue to be due at the end of each week. A shout out to the students who have been coming to Wednesday recess CEA club to work together to get their CEA complete! I am so impressed by their focus, collaboration, and efforts! Way to go—I hope you continue to come! As a reminder, any student on Team Berlin is welcome to join!
Lastly, last year I was asked by a parent for a list of books that her daughter might read if interested in other parts of the world. This summer I started, and over break I finished, a list of books. Students are welcome to use the list, but it isn’t required. Students who would like to can participate in our Geography Passport Reader Assignment and collect stamps for reach of the continents they read a book about. I’ve attached the list here, as well as the passport (which I will give a print out of if a student is interested). Happy reading! :) Geography and Young Adult Books.pdf
Please find Team Berlin photos of our students in action here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B1g5IRuBxGAvG9 It will be updated as we go along!
Team Berlin’s Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6XGJMmooyuna2fwFQ9pj9A?si=416e41ad228f4c11
