The Gemini
Blue Tuesday Sheet
“A Weekly School-wide
Communication from Teachers to Families for School Success”
April 13, 2004
English – Mrs. Rezendes: This week we will be working on writing our own folk tales. Students will have a workshop day at school,
and then their rough draft is due on Thursday (red class) or Friday (orange,
yellow, green, and blue classes). The
final draft will be due after vacation on Tuesday (red, orange, and yellow) or
Wednesday (green and blue).
Geography –
Mr. Palagi: 1st
Meeting: Channel One update on Iraq and congressional hearings on 9/11;
“African Journey”, part one; modern, developed paralleling traditional,
undeveloped; two cultures face one another in a non-threatening way. 2nd
Class: Vocabulary, “geo language”; African “overlap maps”; the “out of Africa
theory”. 3rd Meeting: Neanderthals; the passage through the Middle
East; physical mapping model. 4th Class: The art revolution, early
cave art; our modern selves, and what makes us modern (how we behave). Folders
collected and scored (pre-graded); “Origins” charts completed, collected; final
grade; African folders recollected for final grade; questioning throughout,
graded- oral and paper questioning.
Math – Ms.
Burgess: This
week in math, students in the Red and Orange classed will be finishing Chapter
9 and taking a Chapter 9 Test on Wednesday.
Students In the Yellow, Green, and Blue classes are wrapping up Chapter
7. Green and Blue will take a Chapter 7
Test on Wednesday. Yellow will take
their Chapter 7 Test on Thursday.
Remember: you know how to study
for math tests! Make sure that you are
prepared! Have a great week! J
Content Area
Strategies – Mrs. Wheeler: This week we begin our MCAS Boot Camp as we prepare for the ELA MCAS
testing in May. We will spend the week before and after vacation working on
test taking strategies, multiple choice strategies, and open response
strategies. There is no one single
magic wand for MCAS, but there ARE many little tips and tricks to help improve
test scores. Remember every answer and
every point counts – there is only a one point difference between warning and
needs improvement, only a one point difference between needs improvement and
proficient, and only a one point difference between proficient and advanced. We will eventually have Wheeler’s top 10 for
MCAS – almost as good as Letterman’s.
Please note the name change for this course. Because we do much more than just reading, the class has been
renamed to Content Area Strategies. The first journal of term 4 is due
Friday. Good luck in your first week of
Boot Camp.
Science – Mr. Fisher:
This week in science,
we are creating Element Superheroes!
Each of us has chosen an element to research using various web sites and
books and will have to complete an Element Fact Sheet. After we research, we will be creating a
superhero based on the properties of that element. To infinity and beyond!
(or for the older crowd, Up, up and away!) All handouts for this assignment and Science in the News
(including our new, handy dandy, easy to use, fill in the form graphic
organizer) can be accessed on our classroom website. First Science in the News is due April 28th. Grades online at www.mfisher.net. Questions, comment? [email protected]. Have a Great Gallium–like week!
Educational Support
Specialist – Mrs. Baker: Fourth
term is off to a good start. Report cards have been distributed, and now it is
time to make changes if necessary in order to do well this term. Make good
choices and plan ahead so that you don’t get into a last minute bind with
projects. Remember to read each night and make journal deadlines. The first
Science in the News is right after vacation so get a head start by working on
it this week. If your locker and notebooks look like a black hole—now is the
time to get organized. Practice good time management skills. You are in charge
of your education! Make this term your bestJ
World
Languages—Mrs. Borstel and Mrs. Wesley: Work on “Book Cover”
projects due on May 4th, 2004. Parents need to complete scorecard.
TEAM News:
Lance Corporal Jeff Burgess Memorial Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who donated money or baked goods to our
fundraiser last week. It was a huge
success! We sent close to $500 to the
PSHS Band Activity Fund in Jeff’s memory.
Other:
Important
Dates: Wednesday,
April 14th – April Math Competition
Spring Vacation, April 17th
through April 25th, 2004
Have a
pleasant and productive week!
Together Everyone Achieves More