Team Berlin Update 19

Fri., Jan 17.: No School, Teacher Work Day

Mon., Jan. 20: No School, MLK Jr. Day

Fri., Jan. 24: Last day of Term 2

Mon., Jan. 27: No School, Term 2 Records Day

Gentle reminder that our curriculum moves at a set pace and with that, students who are absent will have to find a way to make up assignments outside of class. Furthermore, any student traveling over seas should be aware that Canvas does not work overseas. This means they will have to download their assignments in advance, or have a friend email them the work.

Thank you for your support in this.

Lunch Recess Support: Team Berlin teachers often make themselves available daily for extra help or just time and space in getting assignments done. Students need to plan this ahead of time so they can get a hall pass and make sure that teacher is actually available.

Wednesday CEA Reading and Completion (W104): Ms. Trenkle will begin hosting students on Wednesdays to read and start their CEA summary during recess. Students will sign up that Monday for a pass.

Thursday Academic Advising: During Advisory students have the opportunity to work on assignments in their Advisory class or may arrange to visit a particular class and teacher to complete an assignment.

Happy New Year, Scientists!

I hope you all had a restful and fun break. This past short week students reviewed classroom expectations before finishing up and presenting their PowerPoints about planets in our solar system.

Next Tuesday 1/7 we will have our Term 2 Roots Summative on ALL the Latin and Greek roots from this term. This weekend students should be reviewing their Root words using their Roots organizer in their agenda, the study guide, and the below Blooket links.

Roots Blooket - Tower Defense Mode https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=6776c8d0789c3bb1109eef83

Roots Blooket - Monster Brawl Mode https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=6776c9001f27bc3337daa3fa

Roots Blooket - Factory Mode https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=6776c91f16584db4e03d2267

Roots Blooket - Cafe Modehttps://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=6776c94516584db4e03d2268

After the Roots summative, students will spend the rest of the week completing their mid-year MAP standardized test to track student progress.

lydia.ballantine@k12.dc.gov

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Math 6
This (short) week students continued dividing complex fractions containing decimals and the real-world application of the concept. In the coming week students will continue to divide complex numbers and simplify solutions in preparation for a forthcoming RCT Assessment (Thursday/Friday). 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.

Math 7
This week students continued working with Proportional relationships and percentages along with its real-world application (tax, tip, and finding the percentage). In the coming week, students will complete a RCT Assessment (Monday/Tuesday). 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.

ATTENTION

Interested in math tutoring from advanced 8th graders? Please fill out this form if you are interested. This form will gauge interest but is not binding or a guaranteed spot. There will be 18 kids allowed in tutoring in room C205 every Tuesday from 3:30 to 4:30 starting January 7. (This program is open to students who are not participating in AMP)

Deal will continue to offer an in-person, Summer Math Acceleration Camp (SMAC) and an Online Asynchronous Math Course (Zearn) for our current 6th and 7th graders during July of 2025 (July 7 - July 31; 8:45 am - 12:00 noon).

SMAC Math 7

This intensive course is for 6th graders currently taking Math 6 who become eligible based on the iReady MOY and EOY Assessment. Students who successfully complete this in-person course and the final assessment will be placed in Math 8 in the Fall of the 2025 - 2026 school year.

Zearn 7

This online asynchronous course is for 6th graders currently taking Math 6. Only students who qualify based on their MOY i-Ready score will become eligible. Students who successfully complete the course and the final assessment will be placed in Math 8 in the Fall of the 2025 - 2026 school year.

SMAC Math 8

This intensive course is for 6th & 7th graders currently taking Math 7 who become eligible based on the MOY and EOY iReady Assessment. Students who successfully complete this in-person course and the final assessment will be placed in Algebra I in the Fall of the 2025 - 2026 school year.

Zearn 8

This online asynchronous course is for 6th or 7th graders currently taking Math 7. Only students who qualify based on their MOY i-Ready score are eligible. Students who successfully complete the course and the final assessment will be placed in Algebra I in the Fall of the 2025 - 2026 school year.

We will host a Virtual SMAC & Zearn information Meeting for families on Teams at 6:30 pm on Thursday, January 9 - bit.ly/DEALJAN9

marcus.brown@k12.dc.gov

jeremiah.gawthrop@k12.dc.gov

Happy New Year! During this very short week we focused on independent reading. Since students finished Tuck Everlasting before break, we have a few weeks without a whole class novel. We will be reading shorter texts together, but for daily reading and homework, students are responsible for completing at least one (non-graphic novel) book in January. For this round, I’ve asked students to pick from the books we have in our classroom library (rather than from home) so that when they share their book recommendations, other students will actually be able to check the books out.

Today (Friday) we figured out about how many pages each student can read of their chosen book in 10 minutes. From there we calculated a daily reading goal based on reading 10 minutes in class and 20 at home. Students then filled out bookmarks (see examples below) to track where they should be in their books each day and when they should finish. Those with shorter books should be finishing next week, while some, with much longer books might not finish until the end of the month. What we did find is that if students actually do the 20 minutes of reading for homework each night, they should all be finishing these books before the end of the month.

Next week, we will watch the Disney movie adaptation of Tuck Everlasting and write 3 paragraph essays comparing and contrasting the book and the movie (Intro, compare paragraph, contrast paragraph). Homework will focus on student’s independent reading as well as their work on Quill (grammar).

Take Part in an 8th Grade Community Service Project

On behalf of my own Alice Deal student who is working on his 8th grade project, if anyone (6th graders included!) is interested in joining us, we will be working with the Rock Creek Weed Warriors to remove invasive species from Fort Reno park over the next two Sundays. We will meet at 9am at the stage. If interested, sign up here: Sign Up Genius. 6th graders do not need a parent with them but will need to complete a waiver to participate (parent confession: my son has been volunteering with the Weed Warriors for the past 2 years and this is the first time I'm actually joining him ;) Keep an eye out in future ADCA announcements for other Weed Warrior opportunities.)

Katy Byrns

Katy.byrns2@k12.dc.gov

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Happy New Year!!!! We are starting right back into our curriculum with a new unit!: SSEA (South and Southeast Asia)! Students will have their map quiz on Friday, January 10….links for practicing are in Canvas. We will be going over the vocab, maps (political, physical, and thematic) in class each day next week with a review day on Thursday. As a reminder, students should study 10-15 minutes EACH night—they should not count on studying only the night before. Map quizzes are not retakes.

On Thursday in class we began to explore SSEA through the lens of our Five Themes of Geography. On Friday students were introduced to their CEA Summary Assignment (Form D) and we wrote intro postcards to our sister school in Berlin!!!

The CEA Summary Assignment is an opportunity for students to link our weekly CEAs to one of our three unit’s through a thematic approach and connection to our IB Statements of Inquiry. Next week, students will not have a new CEA, but their summary assignment is due on Friday, January 10. The assignment criteria is in Canvas, as are all previous CEA articles. This is an assignment where students have choice but the assignment itself is scaffolded for success with stop and jot points and sentence starters. This CEA Summary Assignment is a Formative grade (not a homework grade) and not optional. Students have been told to keep all papers for this class and therefore should have their CEAs in their binder. They should absolutely use them for this summary assignment. However, all is not lost if they no longer have them as all articles are in Canvas and can be re-read and referenced.

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

amy.trenkle@k12.dc.gov

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Happy New Year! Let's make 2025 a great year for reading and inquiry! Check out these great resources that the library is offering in January. Check out this month's Library Newsletter below:

https://secure.smore.com/n/veq7k

Library overdue emails were sent out in December and I have heard from several families about books overdue that are owed to different schools. Please disregard titles owed to other sites. At the end of the year, I will send another notice email. Notices will only include Deal items moving forward. Sorry about any confusion!

Congratulations to our December IB Learner Profile Students of the Month for Principled: Noga Hulata and Emil Nooruddin. The IB Learner Profile states that a person who is principled is someone who respects the dignity and feelings of others, is honest and accountable, and accepts both responsibility for their decisions and the consequences that accompany them.

Congratulations to our IB Learner Profile Students of the Month, exemplifying CARING: Evelyn Fielding and Pasha Rubio. Students who are caring show empathy, compassion, and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and the world around them. From helping a friend, to picking up garbage after lunch, if you care, it will show!

INQUIRER learner profile: Alma DiRuggiero and Jake Maretich. The IB Learner Profile aims to develop students who are inquirers. Students who are inquirers nurture their curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. They know how to learn independently with others. Inquirers learn with enthusiasm and sustain their love of learning throughout life.

RISK TAKER learner profile: Camryn Jolly and Abdisa Kiyvyra. Risk takers approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; they work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. They are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.