Dear RISE Community,

It is hard to believe that we are already looking ahead to the spring semester of RISE! Classes will continue to meet weekly through December 12th after which we will enjoy a break before classes resume the week of January 6th.

Since RISE classes are year-long, there is nothing you need to do for your student to continue participating in RISE.

We look forward to creating many memorable learning experiences between now and the end of the year.

With Care,

Your RISE Team

Here's what you can expect to find in this newsletter:

🟢 Spring Semester Updates:

• Study Skills for 6th & 7th Grade
• Semester Charges
• Add/Drop/Class Change Info

🟢 Save the Date:

• Mark Your Calendar
• Register for Field Trips!

🟢 Parents, What's Your Part?

• Weekly Progress Reports
• Tips for Supporting Students

🟢 RISE Class Updates from Teachers

Our 21st Century Study Skills spring semester class will be open for enrollment next Monday, November 4th. This one-semester course is ideal for 6th and 7th grade students to develop the tools they need to be successful in middle school and beyond.

Because this course is a single semester, any students currently taking 21st Century Study Skills will not roll over to the spring. Any 6th-7th grade student who has not yet taken the class is welcome to register. Register using the class request form linked below. This class meets once a week on Tuesdays from 2:00 - 3:00 pm and costs $200.

Spring class fees were withdrawn from student accounts in conjunction with the second funds drop.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: Students who are unable to continue in a class for the spring semester will be issued a refund for the class if dropped by Friday, December 6th.

• Refunds will be processed weekly.

• Use the TK-8 Instructional Programs Request Form to drop a class.

NEW Classes: If your student wants to add another RISE class for the spring semester, semester fees will be charged to their student accounts upon completion of their enrollment.

Since RISE classes are year-long, there is nothing you need to do for your student to continue participating in RISE. If you'd like to make a change in your student's schedule for the spring semester, please use the Instructional Programs Request Form below.

You can use this form to

• request a new RISE class
• request a different section or time for the same class
  
• let us know if you won't be returning for the spring semester.

Join Mrs. Mitchell and the Science 7 class for a guided nature hike and and deep dive into food webs and ecosystems. All RISE 7th & 8th grade students are welcome, even if you're not in a RISE science class!

Registration and details here.

Join Mrs. Guest and the Science 8 class at MOSAC for a guided museum tour and innovative, hands-on solar energy lab. All TCS 8th grade students are welcome to join!

Registration and details here.

RISE Program Dates:

November 15, 2024 | RISE + Cottonwood Teen Event: Effie Yaew Nature Center | Details + Registration Here

November 20, 2024 | RISE Science 8 Field Trip to MOSAC Solar Innovations Lab | Details + Registration Here

December 12, 2024 | Last Day of Fall Semester Classes

NEW: December 13, 2024 | RISE English 8 @ Cottonwood Presents: International Festival | More Details Coming Soon!

NEW: December 13, 2024 | RISE End-of-Semester Celebration @ the CCC

January 6, 2025 | Start of 2nd Semester in RISE

NEW: January 17, 2025 | RISE Math 8 Field Trip to Aerospace Museum

NEW: February 26, 2025 | RISE English 8 Field Trip to Crocker Art Museum

March 14, 2025 | RISE Science 7 + 8 @ The Cottonwood Science Fair

April 7-11, 2025 | RISE CAASPP Testing Week

April 25, 2024 | RISE Retreat at Hidden Springs Farm

May 15, 2024 | Last Day of Spring Semester Classes

Cottonwood Teen Community Events:

November 22, 2024 | Napoli Cooking

December 6, 2024 | Paint Pouring and Ornament Making

We are excited to announce that weekly progress reports are now being sent to RISE students, parents, and HSTs on Monday mornings. Progress reports provide a snapshot of students' grades and missing assignments.

Parents, you can support your RISE student by reviewing their progress reports on Mondays and identifying if there are areas where they need extra support. Students with low grades or missing assignments should plan to meet with their teachers during our Monday Homework Help at 1:00, or during teachers’ Office Hours. Office Hours for each class are listed on the Canvas home page for each class.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

The story-writing focus in class was very enjoyable for the students and for me. We will return to writing stories.

Currently, we are learning how to write essays. Some know how to write essays already. For these students, I will be checking their organization and also challenging them to write about deeper topics. For other students, we are starting with paragraph organization, making sure paragraphs have strong details that are well organized. Then we are taking those paragraphs and using them to write strong essays.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART:

Since students learn at different rates, I have been meeting with students in office hours, and also sometimes in separate appointments. If your student is experiencing any frustration as they learn the writing structures we practice in class, please have them make an appointment with me. I am committed to helping each student learn how to organize their essays.

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

We are continuing Greek and Latin roots. Review them a couple of times a week to enable your child’s vocabulary (and yours) to grow exponentially.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

RISE 6 mathematicians have conquered Topic 2 with great success and are beginning Topic 3 on numeric and algebraic expressions. We are excited for our first few lessons on exponents, order of operations, and prime factorization.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Encourage your student to login to Canvas each and every day to check assignments under modules. Students need to complete assignments independently on Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as complete 45 minutes of iReady lessons on Fridays. I am encouraging students to set aside a dedicated math time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to complete their RISE assignments. Thank you for all your support!

WHAT'S COMING:

Finding Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

English 7 students are writing informational essays with the main focus on editing their work. Editing an essay is incredibly important for students because it helps make their writing clear and easy to understand. Through editing, they can check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. It also allows them to spot sentences that might not make sense or ideas that need further explanation. By taking the time to edit, students have the opportunity to refine their work, making sure their essay flows smoothly and their ideas are communicated in the best way possible. This process helps turn a good essay into a great one!

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Support your student by giving clear and constructive feedback on their essay. Giving feedback on your child's writing is important because it allows them to see their work from a different perspective. Often, when students write, they may overlook mistakes or not notice unclear sections because they are so familiar with their own ideas. When someone else, like a teacher, parent, or peer, reviews their work, they can catch those errors and offer suggestions for improvement. Feedback helps your child understand what they’re doing well and where they can improve, making their writing stronger. It also encourages growth in their ability to communicate and teaches them how to handle constructive criticism, a valuable skill for both academic and personal development.

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

As students have been researching and writing about Africa, it would be wonderful to dive deeper into the culture and foods. Making a meal and discovering new tastes from different parts of the world can help students understand and experience what they are reading.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

We are learning about percents in Unit 3. Assignments are presented in a consistent pattern. There is a lesson with a video and student handout which is filled out while watching the video, then there is a practice of the skill learned in IXL. We usually do 3 lessons per week. Finally i-Ready is assigned weekly with a goal of 45 minutes per week.

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

For our percent unit, there are so many ways to help your student understand the concept. When shopping, talk about the percentage off on sale items, what price the item started out as, and how to figure out the percent off. It’s always fun to know how much money you’re saving!

UPCOMING:

We will continue to work from the binders that were given to the students at the beginning of the year. It is important that they have the binders with them ready to go at the start of each class. The beginning section of the binder is the warm up activities, which can be used as work samples for your HST. The section behind the divider is the notes that we use for lessons.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Science 7 students are continuing their exploration of ecosystems through food chains, food webs and cycles in the environment. In the coming week we will be discussing the connections between the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and the oxygen cycle. During this time we will discuss their connections to each other and the overall ecosystem.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

English 8 students recently began Quarter 2 novels, which explore the big idea, "When is it right to take a stand?" Each novel, I Am Malala, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and Every Falling Star, is a first-person account of a young person's true story of rising to meet hardship or injustice. We will be working on developing our reading comprehension and literary analysis skills simultaneously while learning more about these amazing young people and the backdrop of their stories.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART:

This quarter's writing focus is on developing a compelling argument. Students have been working to choose topics, state their thesis or opinion, and identify evidence that effectively supports their opinion. Support your student by asking them to share their topic, opinion, and evidence with you, and explain how their evidence will be effective and convincing to their reader.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

We have been discussing the importance of practice in personal growth and learning. Our current unit of solving multi-step equations is not easy and relies heavily on foundational skills such as fractions, negative numbers, and inverse operations. These math problems can be very challenging, but in practicing the “equation solving algorithm,” students can solve very difficult equations and feel the pride that comes with taking on and prevailing in difficult tasks. Next week, we will begin looking at how equations can be displayed on the graph as we work into the second half of what I consider to be the most important unit of pre-algebra: equations.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Parents, guardians, and learning coaches are strongly encouraged to check-in with their students on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for work completion and effort. Ideally, students should be working for 40-50 minutes per class on their asynchronous, or not-live, class days. With consistent effort, students will see their math skills steadily improve. I often encourage students to work on their core subject work at the same time during the day that they’d be in their class. For example, why not work on math from 9:30-10:30 on Monday if their class is from 9:30-10:30 on Tuesday?

WHAT'S COMING:

Students are currently working on a cooking and/or baking project where they focus on what it means to solve a problem by following an algorithm (a step by step process to reach a goal). In this case, the problem is baking bread, making salsa, or exploring another delicious treat! Please assist students with kitchen safety and best practices as they complete this project.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

We have entered our Waves Unit and are learning about different types of waves, how waves travel and wave interactions. Next week we’ll be diving into Sound Waves.

Last week, we had an opportunity to prepare for our Energy Unit Assessment in class by playing Energy Jeopardy!

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Progress reports are being sent out. It is important that students complete ALL assignments. Many students are losing points simply due to late submission. Help students organize themselves, utilize a planner and budget their time so that their work is submitted on time and they have an opportunity for full credit. I am more than happy to do an “on the spot” grade check for any student who comes to Homework Help or Office Hours. Please encourage them to come see me at those times–I’m here to help!

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

Our field trip to MOSAC is on November 20. We’ll be participating as a class in the Solar Innovations Lab. If you have not signed up to join us, please do so soon. I’d love to see students there!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

21st Century Study Skills: Students continue to explore executive functioning skills. This week, we will be looking into “Time Management.” We have also been learning about mindful awareness, how the brain regulates sensory input, and how we may deliberately focus our attention, which activates sensory data filters.

High School Prep Study Skills: Students have done an impressive job working collaboratively on Google Slides, displaying their understanding of the 7 Mindsets idea of “Passion First.” We will continue learning about digital citizenship by looking into privacy, security, and our digital footprints.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Spanish I: Students learned to conjugate -AR ending verbs. They learned new vocabulary about school subjects, extracurricular activities, school supplies, classroom items, furniture, prepositions, parts of the body, and the colors. They practiced the new vocabulary by playing Kahoot games, and did matching practices on Nearpod. Students learned about 17th Century Mexican poet Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz.

Explorations in Spanish: Students continued to practice the numbers 1-1000 and worked on number puzzles. They learned new vocabulary about telling time using expressions such as "o’clock," "half past the hour," "a quarter after," "it’s morning," "it’s noon," and "it’s night." Students also learned the color names and did name matching activities, an unscramble word puzzle and a colors Kahoot game.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

It is helpful to have your student review the vocabulary list and make flash cards to practice the words.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

This week we tried our hand at turning circles into 3D pumpkins. We also studied trees and tried to draw some barren or dead-looking ones. Students have the option of using these on Project 5: “Fall Mood,” where they come up with their own idea for an artwork that utilizes the skills they have been learning.

PARENTS, WHAT'S YOUR PART?

Ask your student what they are going to do for Project 5. They are not to turn in the pumpkins and dead trees sheet we did as a lesson, but their own original composition.

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

Have your student show you how they can draw and shade a pumpkin in 3D!

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Your students make my classes a highlight of the week. Their love for music and thoughtful questions bring so much joy to our lessons. Thank you for letting me be part of their lives!

This week, we focused on whole notes and half notes (and rests), learning how to count and play these longer notes in music. Our featured composer was Richard Wagner. We discussed how Wagner used long notes and dramatic pauses to build tension and emotion in his operas.

I would love feedback from you and/or your student about this week’s class at HighsLowsAndGrows.com

EXTEND THE LEARNING:

• To continue the conversation with your student, try questions like:
• "Can you show me how to hold a whole note?"
• “Why do you think Wagner used long notes in his music?”
• "How does a rest affect the music?"
• To win the next RISE Kahoot, you can review these concepts: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CBhRX5siQZi5Qf4iD7QeMpyFTtgE8ZyXusq9fEnIxAk/edit?usp=sharing
• More extension activities you can try at home:
• Hold that note: Practice holding whole notes for four beats and half notes for two beats. Try it with different instruments or your voice.
• Listen to Wagner: Choose a piece like “Ride of the Valkyries” and pay attention to the use of long notes and rests.
• Create a rhythm: Write out a rhythm using whole notes, half notes, and rests. Try clapping or playing it together.

WHAT'S COMING:

Next time, we will explore time signatures and how they organize music.

We're here to support you every step of the way. We'd love to hear from you at any time if any questions or concerns should arise.

With care,

Wendy Coller

RISE Coordinator

rise@cottonwoodk12.org