Weekly Update: March 30th

First and foremost, we want you to know that we all miss our students a great deal.  We understand that learning in this manner presents different challenges for everyone.  What we ask is that everyone try.  If your children are having difficulty, email us, and we will do all that we can to help.  Certainly, we hope that all of our Badger families are healthy.  If, however, your child is sick, please email us, so that we will know that he or she is unable to complete the work for a period of time. 

We survived week one of remote learning! Some of us better than others.  As the week progressed each day got a little less stressful as we navigated and learned new things about remote learning. Everyone should remember to check the grade book, as we will post grades regularly.  This will be the best way to monitor your child's work completion. 

Thank you for the positive, uplifting emails we've received from so many of you.  We really appreciate the kind words and supportive comments during this time.  As always, if you ever need to contact us - please do so! We are here!


Class Updates: 

Social Studies: We picked up right where we left off despite not having class in-person! We continued our unit on the Middle Ages and took a deeper look at one of the most prominent leaders in Medieval Times--Charlemagne. Students researched facts about him and the Holy Roman Empire. There was one assessment this week. Please check the grade book to see how your child did!

Literacy:  We have forged ahead with Latin Unit 10 and kids are doing well.  It's wonderful to see how well they have adapted!  There are two recurring problems: kids not reading directions well, and failing to turn in their work in the way they have been taught.  All assignments need to be turned in to the Google Classroom assignment, so that credit can be given. We will continue with practice activities for Unit 10, this week, and then there will be some reading and writing activities assigned.  

Science: Hopefully everyone is getting more comfortable with Amplify on line. I am getting better at navigating it with remote learning. Please have your child read all assignments carefully. Assignments will usually have multiple parts both in Amplify and on attached google documents. Students can always correct class work assignments for credit within two days. Students should check their grades regularly. As assignments come in at different times and are resubmitted a grade could be missed in transition from google classroom to X2. Next week we will continue with the Populations and Resources Unit. Monday is the last day to contact me about  make up work from the week of 3/9-3/13.

English: What a week! Prior to school closing, students were nearly finished reading The Giver in class. Luckily the text is available online, so everyone is able to finish the reading from home. I've been pacing students this week with the reading, and we've had some really wonderful discussions. Their reactions are the best! Along with notes on dramatic irony, euphemisms, and paradox; students completed five more chapters, and now we're just pages away from the ambiguous ending. Coming up this week, students can expect to finish the book AND submit their March IRP projects, which are due on Tuesday, March 31st. I will post the method in which students should submit their projects on Monday.  Thank you to everyone for navigating these uncharted waters this week - you're all doing a wonderful job! 

Math: Students should be about halfway through their Food Truck Nation projects.  All work is to be done in their copy of the Google doc. As of Friday, we have completed up to the Percent Change page. The project will be due on Friday, April 3rd, but I will accept projects up until Sunday April 5th at midnight.  Students will need to upload the project and this will count as a test grade!

Weekly Update: March 23rd

EXPECTATIONS:

Welcome to our new reality!  You have all hopefully received all of the notifications from The Nashua School District regarding its expectations of the delivery of learning opportunities from each of your child's teachers.  Teachers have been working tirelessly this week to prepare Google Classrooms, and invite students to join them.  Thankfully, your kids are very familiar with the format, as Mr. Santorsa, Mrs. McGuire and Mrs. Simeone have used it from the very beginning of the year.  They should plan to see invitations to join the classrooms established by each of their Unified Arts teachers and Special Educators.  All of the classroom icons will reside in one area for easy access during the day.  You can expect each teacher to post something new, every morning that will require a response.  Some of them will be graded as assessments, others just as attendance.  You can expect that each of your teachers will diligently provide the best remote learning experiences and assignments that we can possibly create.  We, in turn, expect all students to participate, and complete the work.  Badger teachers are counting on parents to encourage the more reluctant students to participate.  We have to be partners.  

ATTENDANCE:

The Administrators of the Nashua School District, as well as the members of the Board of Education expect every teacher to be teaching each day, and every student to be learning every day.  In order to prove that this is happening, every student must respond to every teacher, every day.  That is the only way that we can take attendance. We will report each day's attendance in X2 at the end of the day.  It is imperative that your child reply to whatever post in each Google Classroom.  The Google Classes are not connected - so posting attendance in Social Studies does not communicate with Literacy or English or Tech Ed.  Each class must be responded to.

OFFICE HOURS:

The hours listed below are those times when we will be available for immediate response.  We certainly encourage and will accept emails, questions, responses and assignment submissions at any time during the day or night - but we will be at our computers during the hours listed.

Mrs. Simeone - simeonej@nashua.edu Office hours: 10 - 11 am, and 2 - 3 pm

Mr. Santorsa - santorsaf@nashua.edu Office hours: 12 - 2 pm 

Mrs. McGuire - mcguirea@nashua.edu Office hours: 10 - 11 am, and 2 - 3 pm 

Mrs. Duval - duvalbuellm@nashua.edu Office hours: 10 am - 12 pm

Mrs. Folini (Huckins) - folinic@nashua.edu Office hours 9 - 10 am, and 2 - 3 pm 

GUIDANCE: 

We know that these are stressful times.  Our Guidance Department has created a Google Classroom where they can offer assistance as well as communicated confidentially with students and families.  The code to join the Guidance class is listed below:

 25jmqw3

MEDIA CENTER:

Mrs. Sand has prepared an informative video about navigating the PMS collections!  Enjoy!

Pennichuck Library Media Center

Preparing for Remote Learning

Good Afternoon Parents/Guardians,

The Badger team has been in contact with district administrators and coaches to see what remote learning will look like for the next couple weeks.  At this time we are working on making this transition.  Please be patient with us as we navigate what our classes will look like in this new format.  Remote teaching is new to each of us. 

What we know:

• We will be using Google Classroom as our platform to teach.  Please make sure your child is enrolled in all their classes online.  We already utilize Google Classroom on our team, so students should feel familiar with this resource.
• Trimester 2 has been extended through April 3rd at this time.  If we get notified of a change, we will let you know. 
• Students will be required to check in daily for attendance purposes. 
• We will have office hours to offer support and will inform students of our hours on Google Classroom. 
• We are going to get through this together!

We're sorry we cannot answer all of your questions at this moment.  As we receive more information, we will publish updates.  The blog will be our team's primary form of communication.  We are wishing everyone a safe couple of weeks and are awaiting the days until we can resume class as normal.  Stay healthy!

Regards, 

Badger Teachers 

Weekly Update: March 8th

NOTICE: 

We only have a couple of weeks left in the trimester!  Any missing or make up work needs to get completed as soon as possible!  We have many missing assignments from February.

Class Updates: 

Social Studies: Prior to vacation, students were assessed on the Roman Empire. This was the final assessment for Rome. When we returned from break, students spent the first two days reviewing our Classical Civilizations unit (Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great, and Ancient Rome). On Wednesday, students started a three-day task; their Performance Task on this unit. This assessment was due Friday. Please check the grade book. 

Science: We had a quiz on Friday. Next week we will have a class seminar/debate about why Jackie is an elite distance runner and then write a Claim Evidence Reasoning/CER paper about Jackie. This will be followed by the unit test consisting of multiple choice and one short answer question. 

Literacy:  We are in the middle of Latin Unit 9!  The mastery test will be given on Friday, March 13th!  Monday we will watch another fantastic movie that celebrates the power of children - the secret weapons - in bringing about change during the Civil Rights Movement.  It will be followed by a written assessment, similar to the one given following The Children's March movie.  Homework on the Badger team is practice work.  For each of us, it is an integral part of the learning process. Please help us help your children, by checking that their homework is completed daily.  

English: Next week we will continue reading The Giver and focus on symbolism and mood/tone.  Earlier this week, students received their March IRP guidelines.  They are being asked to create a "book in a bag" and gather items that would be symbolic to their chosen books. The written component is due on March 31st and in-class presentations will begin the following day.  

Math: We finished up surface area and volume last week!  Students will start a unit on percents this week.  We will discuss percent increase and decrease and how we use percents in our daily lives.  

Weekly Update: March 2nd

WELCOME BACK!  We hope you had a relaxing break!

NOTICE: 

We only have a few weeks left in the trimester!  Any missing or make up work needs to get completed as soon as possible!  We have many missing assignments from February.

Class Updates: 

Social Studies: We wrapped up the Roman Empire the week before vacation. Students were assessed on the Roman Empire on Friday 2/21. When students return in March, we will have a massive review on Monday and Tuesday on Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great, and Ancient Rome. Starting Wednesday, students will begin to work on their Performance Task on Classical Civilizations. They will have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to complete it. It is an in-class, open-note writing assignment. 

Science: Students will use the spider simulation in a few more activities to review traits and reproduction in Darwin's Bark Spider. Students will then apply what they learned from spiders to running ability in humans. Students will write a final argument about running ability using the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning format.

Literacy:  Unit 8 is complete, so we'll dive right into the next unit of Latin roots on Monday, with the test to follow on Friday, the 13th!  We will also continue with our unit on the Art of Civil Disobedience, with another Teaching Tolerance movie and follow up writing assignment.  

English: Prior to break, students worked on the following skills within The Giver: simile, metaphor, personification, hook, cliffhanger, point of view, and allusion. Students will have a skills test on Friday, March 6th.  They have study guides as well as notes and extra practice from class to review.  Instructions for the March IRP will be going home this week. This month, students will be creating a "book in a bag" -- be sure to check in this week and ask what book they chose! 

Math: Before vacation we spent the week learning about finding surface area of rectangular prisms and triangular prisms through nets.  This week we will continue to work on surface area of triangular prisms and pyramids before ending with the week with volume.  Students will have a test Friday March 6th, the study guide will go home Wednesday March 4th.