Team Dublin Weekly Update

This week, we begin Tuck Everlasting. We will be looking closely at characterization and figurative language this week. We are all out of tissues. If you have a spare one, please send a box in with your student.

The middle of the year iReady diagnostic test will be Feb 6/7/8 please be sure students are preparing themselves and completing their iReady lessons each week. Be sure they get a good night's sleep on Monday!

This week we investigated many case studies for barriers to education around the world. We learned about Neeraj, Jefferson, kids in the book Afghan Dreams, an all-girls robotics team the Afghan Dreamers, the Taliban, young women from Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Rohingya Refugees.

Next week, we begin thinking towards solutions... we start our United Nations simulation! We will consider how to approach solutions to educational barriers from different perspectives. Students will gather information, analyze data, give speeches, and debate to decide the budget for the United Nations Education Committee.

Hello scientists! Congrats on getting through your MOY MAP testing!

This upcoming week is a busy week, as we will begin with identifying rocks, bridging over to the rock cycle, and finishing with a slope deposition lab - busy and fun! Students will be asked to identify different rocks using a set of criteria, deciding if their rocks are more brittle, smooth, porous, glassy, and more. Our rock cycle lab on Tuesday and Wednesday will involve modeling the rock cycle by grating crayons and using the pieces to make sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous "rocks." Lastly, we will finish with our slope deposition lab, where students will be tasked with monitoring how the height of a slope affects how much sand is washed off our "rivers."

Roots for 2/5 - 2/9

Alp = mountain (think alpine, The Alps)

Meta = after, beyond (think metacognition, metastasize)

Morph = shape, form (think metamorphosis, morphology)

ic = like, of (think scientific, horrific, terrific)

Sed = sit, settle, rest (think sediment, sedan, sedentary)

Keepers: angle, deci, semi

Please remind your student to always have homework folder and a pencil for class!

Students begin a new unit this week in which they will read magazine articles, source documents and watch a short video about a man who was unjustly jailed but then freed with help from his sister. Please make sure your student is working on their System 44 assignments at home.

Welcome to Term 3, Deal families! It was exciting to graduate 3 of our MLL students from Beginner to Intermediate classes last week. Although it’s sad to see a student go, it is still very exciting to know that they are making strong progress in their English acquisition and I’m happy to see how they flourish in their new courses. In ELA, we are still working hard towards familiarizing ourselves with the tasks that students will be asked to complete on the ACCESS tests in mid-to-late February. This week, students will return to working on their strategies for speaking and writing.

In World Geography for MLL Beginners, students will finalize their digital infographic posters and submit them as an assessment grade for term 3. Students are highly encouraged to get online and work on these during weekend and evening hours because there is always a lot to be done to increase the visual organization of the images, data charts, text, titles, boxes, colors, text, and decorations of their infographic. It is very detailed and painstaking design work.

For students in Beginning Literacy for MLLs, they will start new reading books this week and we will revisit our reading and oral fluency in English for term 3. Students are highly encouraged to spend homework time on System 44 so they can meet their required number of minutes each week. They can also benefit from weekend and evening time spent reading books, online texts, magazines, or anything else that requires silent and sustained reading for at least 20 minutes a day.

Join the Deal Battle of the Books Team!

Come to the interest meeting on Monday, January 29th at 3:30pm in the Deal library if you are interested in participating with this year's Battle of the Books competition in May! Teams compete with other middle schools in DC by reading 8 books selected by the DC Library Association and answer questions to win awards! The team will meet once a week after school to prepare for the competition. See more information at the link below or reach out to Mr. Reichlen if you are interested and cannot attend the interest meeting.

https://forms.office.com/r/CY3pKFEjAa

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.osman2@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