Middle School

Welcome back to a new school year and thank you for having your children here on time, with materials, ready to learn. The kids have been great this first week and I am looking forward to a fun productive year with your children.

Visitors Welcome: I would like to make sure you know you are welcome in our classroom. Feel free to stop in. Remember to sign in at office first. If you do visit, please find yourself a chair, as I will most likely go right on with teaching when you come in. At various times during the year I will ask for specific assistance from you, and there will be numerous volunteer opportunities. Please don’t hesitate to call with questions or concerns.

Donations: Thank you for the $5 classroom donations. There is a receipt in your child’s Friday folder. This money will be spent on your child for activities and celebrations.

Schedule: Included in this week’s Friday folder is a weekly class schedule. Specialists’ schedules and some academic times have been inserted, but many time slots remain open. This gives us the flexibility to schedule lessons and activities that make use of art room and time availability. Math will nearly always be for an hour each morning.

Care of materials: During the course of this year, middle school students will have checked out to them a variety of school materials including scientific calculators, math books, angle rulers, and novels. Please encourage responsible use of these materials. Students are responsible for the replacement cost of lost or damaged items.

Math: As we are now into the first math unit, Prime Time, we will be working daily with factors and multiples. This will be a much greater challenge for those students who are not fluent with their multiplication facts. We have done some review activities, but this will take some work at home. Besides flashcards and multiplication war, which the students have learned to play, there are numerous on-line math sites with multiplication practice activities. Please make multiplication facts a nightly practice until your student knows them well.

Foreign Language: We have worked out an exciting prospect for 6th grade foreign language this year. While we are studying Latin America in social studies during the first semester, Mrs. Lafferty will teach the students Spanish. During the second semester, as our focus transitions to Canada with its strong French heritage, Mr. Gaither will teach introductory French. There are several academic advantages to this approach and we are eager to see how it goes this year.

TSS: There have been a few questions already about the Teton Science School. I do hope to take my students again this year. The tentatively scheduled dates are Feb. 9-12. There will be much more on this to come.

Homework policy: Woods Middle School expects all students to do at least 30 minutes of homework each night. It is important for students to get into the habit of daily work at home. If there are not specific assignments, students are expected to read, write, research, practice math facts and math computation, work logic, visualization, or word puzzles, etc. I generally do not assign a lot of homework, but I do assign it fairly regularly. All assignments are due the following day unless a specific due date is given. I review all assignments at the end of the day. At that time students record the assignments in their planners and get clarification on anything they don’t understand. I try to limit daily assignments to somewhere between twenty and forty minutes. I am very aware of my students’ busy lives outside of school and feel strongly that they have the time and opportunities to pursue their own outside interests and responsibilities. The only time your child should have more than an hour of homework from me is when he or she has put off long term assignments, such as a writing assignment or an independent project, until the last minute. Some students complete most their assignments in the time allotted at school. It is not a good idea for students to figure on finishing homework in the morning before school. They sometimes rush to get it finished and turn in assignments which lack the quality of which the student is capable, run into snags, or find that they underestimated the time it would take to finish. I have told the students that, if they do not understand a part of their homework, they should try the following options in this order: 1. Ask a parent or sibling for help, 2. Call a classmate, 3. Call me at home (234-2566) before 9:00, 4. Come in early the next day for help. Another possible option is to use the online homework help available through the Natrona County Public Library at www.natronacountylibrary.org. I do not want students stressing when they don’t understand. I do want them to be responsible with assignments. Students are allowed two days for each day of excused absence to make up missed work.

Friday folders: Please take the time to read the materials in the Friday folder each week, especially newsletters (I promise they won’t all be this long) and district information. This is an important line of communication between the home and school. Also, please don’t hesitate to use the Friday folder to communicate questions and comments. Be aware, however, that I will not receive the communication until your child returns and hands in his or her Friday folder.

Have a great weekend!

John

Contacting Your Middle School Teachers:

Calling us (or your child) at school: Please use the main office phone number. Please don’t use our classroom phone number (which may appear in your Caller ID if you get a call). Woods office: 577-0315

E-mail: Both of us check our school e-mail several times a day, including in the evening, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Jennifer_Grooms@ncsd.k12.wy.us
Jim_Gaither@ncsd.k12.wy.us

Home Phones: If you do need to call us in the evening or on weekends, you are welcome to use our home phones. If it’s not an emergency, please keep calls between 10:00 am and 9:00 pm.

Jennifer Grooms: 234-1138
Jim Gaither: 472-0461

Stopping in before or after school: It is helpful to let us know ahead of time if you would like to talk to us in person for more than a quick question. Mornings can be busy and chaotic as we prepare for our day, and various meetings often happen after school. Thank you for your understanding. Drivers Needed

Middle school students will be going to the golf course for P.E. next Friday, August 29, if we have enough parent drivers to take us. Please let us know if you can drive between 12:45 and 3:15 p.m. that day. Please make sure you have current driver information registered with the school office. Thank you!

Quebec Trip

Click Here for Quebec Trip Info

Robotics Club

Robotics Club will begin on Tuesday after school at 3:30 and go until 5:00. Any student in sixth through eighth grade is welcome to join. We will be putting together and programming Lego robotic vehicles. A team will be formed for those who wish to participate in the robotics tournament on December 5.

Back to School

We made it through the first week! And what a week it was. Here are a few things we’ve been doing and will be doing in the first part of our school year. Thank you for your part in your student’s success! Included in the folder is a class schedule to let you know what our days look like.

Students created a poster to display information about them as a way to introduce themselves to the group. Research consisted of consulting their parents and other resources, and the project gave an opportunity to talk in front of their classmates. These posters will be displayed in the classroom throughout the year.

American History and Earth Science

Students also began their course of American history, discussing how we study, learn, and report history, and beginning with some study of Colonial times. Earth science will begin a study of geology after this introductory history unit. Science and history will alternate though the year, so if a student keeps up with his or her work, there usually won’t be homework for both subjects at the same time.

French

In French A (7th grade), students were to work with someone at home on their numbers and greetings. Please look forward to doing more of these “family French” activities in the weeks to come! During this first week, students will be connecting their knowledge of spoken French greetings from last year with a look at how the language is written.

In French B (8th grade), students were to work with someone at home on discussing personal possessions and descriptions. Please help your student by working with them on more of these projects in the weeks to come. Our discussion of objects and descriptions will allow us to better use nouns, articles, adjectives, and the irregular verb for “to have.”

Math

Mr. Gaither’s math group has been reviewing fractions and fraction operations. A good understanding of fractions is important for our coming study of ratios, scale, probability, formulas, and equations.

Mrs. Grooms’ math group is investigating linear relationships through tables, graphs, and equations.

Mrs. Snider’s math group is working on measurement and measurement conversions.

English Language Arts Workshop

Students have been reading short stories, as well as working on punctuation, spelling, and grammar skills this week

—Jennifer and Jim