Team Kendrick

Congrats to all 8th graders on completing their Community Projects! Students will present their projects on the day of their Bouldering Field Trip (with the exception of the Monday group. Those students will present with their team). Final presentations count as a summative assessment grade in each core class (ELA, Science, I&S, Math). All resources are located in ClassNotebook (accessed through the Advisory canvas page), and in the ClassNotebook content library page. If there are questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your students' Advisory teacher and/or Ms. Daniels (Caitlin.Daniels@k12.dc.gov).

Between February 24th to 28th, our 8th grade students will have a fun, free, healthy field trip to the DC Bouldering Project! This trip is free for families and supported by the DCPS Health and PE. On the day of the trip, students will spend half of the day bouldering and the other half of the day at Deal participating in an International Baccalaureate lesson with their teachers. Students will eat lunch at school.

Permission slips and release forms were sent home last week and must be turned in for students to participate. All permission slips are past due - If your child has not submitted their permission slip, they must do so ASAP to attend. Students and families should be aware of the following:

• All signed permission slips and waivers must be turned in to homeroom teachers ASAP.

• On the day of the trip, students should wear comfortable clothes and close-toed shoes. Crocs are not allowed.

Teams will have their field trip on the following dates:

• Monday - Mixed teams

• Tuesday - Team Izu

• Wednesday - Team Woolloomooloo

• Thursday - Team Havana

• Friday - Team Kendrick

Students will spend half the day bouldering and the other half of the day presenting their Community Project presentations. Please note, due to daily capacity limits, some students from each team will participate on Monday. Teachers will assign trip days and your student's permission slip will have their assigned date listed.

The Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP) registration for youth ages 14-24 is now open until Thursday, March 6. The MBSYEP runs from Monday, June 23 to Friday, August 1 for youth who have completed the registration, certification process, and orientation.

If your student plans to attend Jackson-Reed High School, they should consider joining one of their amazing academies! Academies are small learning communities. They all offer:

• Faculty and staff who get to know you and become your advocates
• A chance to meet other students with interests like yours
• Exciting choices for electives and extracurricular activities
• Career development opportunities such as internships and shadow days
• Field trips and community service project
  

Jackson-Reed High School has a total of 10 academies that are grouped under 3 directors. To learn more about each academy, including an overview, its lead teachers and staff, the required coursework, and how to apply, click on the link below: https://jacksonreedhs.org/academics/academies/

With the start of the third advisory, we are officially at the halfway point of 8th grade. Where has the time gone? Who are these tall almost-high-schoolers walking our halls? What happened to those nervous 6th graders we met just two years ago?

As we look forward to our 8th graders' next big step, please save the following dates for promotion-related celebrations. Additional details, including logistics and costs, will be shared in the coming weeks.

• 8th Grade Spirit Week - March 3 to March 7

• 8th Grade Kings Dominion Trip - June 9 (all day)

• 8th Grade Promotional Dance - June 13 (5:00 - 7:00 PM)

• 8th Grade Promotion Celebrations (by team) - June 16 and June 17

Promotion celebrations will take place by team on June 16 and June 17. 8th graders will not have a typical school day for either of these days and will only report for their team's promotion. We look forward to celebrating this amazing class of students and will share more details soon.

Dear Parents and Students,

This is a reminder of the important DCPS grading policies regarding resubmitted and late work.

• Resubmitted Work:

• All resubmitted assignments must be submitted by the late work deadline as defined in Section IV.C.6 (Makeup and Late Work).
• Each piece of work can only be resubmitted once.
• Except for Required Curricular Tasks, the highest grade a student can receive on revised work is a “C.”

• Late Work:

• Teachers must provide an opportunity for students to make up work when they are absent from class.
• Late work must be accepted and graded.
• For assignments due before progress reports, all late work must be submitted by the end of the progress report marking period (March 3, 2025). Assignments due before this period will not be accepted after the deadline.

Staying on Track

• Timely Submissions: In the coming weeks, students must continue to submit their work on time to avoid receiving a WS (Waiting on Submission) score in Aspen.
• Late Work Review: I will review Canvas for late assignments at my earliest convenience and enter grades regularly.
• WS Scores in Aspen: A WS indicates that the assignment was not completed by the time I reviewed Canvas and entered grades.
• Resubmissions & Retakes: Since I am still not in the classroom, if a student does not receive a satisfactory grade, they should take the second attempt (if available). For classwork, both attempts will be averaged.
• Summative Assessments: Per DCPS policy, the highest possible grade on a retake is a C—unless the student retakes the RCT and earns a higher score.

Upcoming Assignments in Aspen

(These assignments will be entered into Aspen on Sunday, February 16 or Monday, February 17.)

• Monday, February 10, 2025:
  IB Form C Energy Skate Park – Kinetic vs. Potential Energy

• Tuesday, February 11, 2025:
  Kinetic Energy Calculations

• Wednesday, February 12, 2025:
  Potential Energy Calculations

• Thursday, February 13, 2025:
  Great Scientists Series: Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson and Dr. Marie Maynard Daly

• Tuesday, February 18, 2025:
  IB Form C – Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy Calculations

• Wednesday, February 19, 2025:
  Sled Wars Gizmo Review and Redo
  (Note: There were quite a few emails about Sled Wars. I have created a short assignment to clear up confusion and give a second chance for better understanding and grades.)

• Thursday, February 20, 2025:
  Exploring Kinetic Energy in a Roller Coaster Race

• Friday, February 21, 2025:
  Great Scientists Series: Neil Degrasse Tyson

Support During My Absence

Office Hours:
Due to increased physical therapy appointments, I am no longer able to offer office hours.

Email Assistance:

• Students may email me with content-related questions, and I will respond as quickly as possible.
• I will not be responding to emails about grades. Please check Aspen and Canvas for assignment details and deadlines.

Extra Work for Students (Parent Request)

If you feel your child would benefit from additional practice, you may ask them to answer the following reflection questions in their science notebook for each daily assignment. These questions encourage critical thinking and real-world connections:

• Prior Knowledge:
  What prior knowledge about science concepts or processes did I use to help me understand this assignment? How did that knowledge guide my thinking?

• Challenges & Strategies:
  What specific challenges did I encounter while working on this assignment (e.g., interpreting data, understanding scientific vocabulary, or completing simulations), and what strategies did I use to solve them?

• New Concepts & Applications:
  What new science concepts or skills did I learn from this assignment, and how might I use them to explain everyday phenomena or solve real-world problems?

• Further Inquiry:
  What further questions do I have about this science topic, and how can I use experiments, research, or other resources to find answers?

How to Use These Questions:
Have your child bring home their science notebook and discuss their responses together. This practice reinforces learning, promotes scientific inquiry, and encourages meaningful discussions at home.

Hello Team Kendrick, Next week is my last week of Jury Duty!! I am looking forward to being back with students on March 3rd. Please continue to check Aspen on a weekly basis to check in on how your student is doing on the assignments. As a reminder if there is a WS in Aspen that means that your student has not submitted the assignment. Since Friday is mid-term, I am adding a make-up day for students on Thursday so that students can complete any missing assignment from my absence. As a reminder anything that is currently in the gradebook must be submitted February 27th.

Thank you all for your flexibility in my absence.

• Monday: Industrial Revolution Essay
• Tuesday: California Gold Rush - Finish from previous week
• Wednesday: Andrew Jackson Introduction
• Thursday: Make up Day
• Friday: Bouldering Field Trip

This week in ELA students finished their Literary Analysis Summative Essay and their A-Net 2 test! Students ended the week with beginning their end of unit 2 mini project titled "Give your Community their Flowers". This project asks students to celebrate a community that they are a part of in a similar way to how Walter Dean Myers celebrated Harlem in his book "145th Street Short Stories". This project has 2 components: a creative representation of their celebration for their chosen community and a 1 paragraph written explanation. This project will be due on Monday, February 24th at 11:59pm.

Next week, students will finish their Unit 2 mini project on Monday. We will transition into Unit 3 starting Tuesday. Students will begin with gathering necessary background information about the setting of our next novel study: To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will learn about the impacts of the Great Depression on rural communities, explore the ways that Jim Crow laws affected every aspect of life, and how people used and continue to use "code switching" to navigate daily life.

We will begin reading and annotating To Kill a Mockingbird starting MARCH 10!! Please make sure your student has their own copy of the book by March 10th! If you anticipate a challenge with acquiring a novel, please reach out to me (catherine.cunha@k12.dc.gov). Please purchase THIS SPECIFIC VERSION OF TKAM (It has margins that are ideal for annotation)https://shorturl.at/Ca6vG

Homework: Students were assigned 2 reading lessons and 2 vocabulary lessons. (Students who have finished all of the vocabulary lessons should complete additional reading lessons).

Math 8

This past week in Math 8, students continued our unit on functions. We looked at different representations (graphs, equations, tables) in our workbooks and compared functions with different independent and dependent variables. We also took a look at graphing stories and noticing how a story can be modeled on a coordinate plane. This coming week we will continue to look at creating and interpreting graphing stories. Students should expect a quiz this week on this information.

Algebra 1

This past week in Algebra we worked on factoring equations in standard form when a equals one. We also looked at vertex form of equations and how this specific form of a quadratics can be used to create the parabolas in retro Super Mario Brothers games when Mario jumps. This coming week we will look at factoring in various ways when a is greater than 1.

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.

Teacher Email Addresses:

• Science: Charmaine.Thompson@k12.dc.gov
• History: Marlena.Wikander@k12.dc.gov and Mallory.Snodgrass@k12.dc.gov
• English: Catherine.Cunha@k12.dc.gov
• Math: Brandi.Anderson@k12.dc.gov

🌐Website: alicedealmiddleschool.org

📬Address: 3815 Fort Dr NW, Washington, DC, USA

📞Phone: 202-939-2010