January 10, 2016

Independent Projects

Happy New Year!  We had a busy week back,  launching into Independent Projects and new literature groups.  During Independent Project time fifth, sixth and seventh grade students identified focus questions, developed sub-focus questions, created outlines and submitted their bibliographies.  Eighth graders completed their notecards and launched into first drafts as well.  Please click here to see the remainder of the due dates for this project.  Core teachers will post these assignments via Google Classroom as well.

We have one important update, though.  Our administration has scheduled a special presentation about "sexting" and social media use among middle school students at 6:00 on Thursday, January 28th (more information coming soon).  Due to the importance of this topic, we encourage all parents to attend and need to move our Open House to Monday, February 1st at 6:30 pm.

Our Open Houses are required for all students.  We are aware of potential sports conflicts and ask families to work around other scheduled events so that all students have a chance to present their work that evening. Please e-mail your childs' core teacher about extenuating circumstances, or if transportation assistance is needed.

Summary of Upcoming Events

Please make sure these upcoming dates are in your calendar as needed:

• Thursday, January 14th @ 2 pm- CVU Guidance Counselors meet with WCS 8th Graders. Students will bring home important registration forms after meeting.

• Wednesday, January 27th @ 6:30 pm- CVU 8th Grade Parent Night 

• NEW DATE: Thursday, January 28th @ 6:00- Social Media and "Sexting" Presentation  for all middle school parents

• NEW DATE: Monday, February 1st @ 6:30- Independent Project Open House for all Swift House students

Session 4 of Spark Open for Registration

Session 4 of Spark (WCS After School Enrichment) runs for five weeks from January 21st - February 18th. The choices include: 

• Cooking With Sally - Every Thursday students will bake something new and different and bring some home to share, if it makes it there!

• Jigsaw Puzzles - 100? 500? 1,000?What size jigsaw puzzles can YOU put together? Do you enjoy having a calm and relaxing time? Do you have the patience and focus needed to put together large puzzles? Then this group is for you! Join Mrs. T-H with her favorite hobby and let's put some puzzles together! 

• Winter Fun - Snow forts, snow sculpture, tracking, XC skiing, ice skating, and lots of hot chocolate.

• Machine Sewing - Learn to sew on a sewing machine with Mrs. Goulette & Mrs. Lalancette. They will be teaching you how to "up-cycle" clothing from thrift stores and use a sewing machine to create new clothing all your own style! 

• Computer Coding - Mr. Silber will open the door to block coding (used for creating online games and activities) and apply those lessons at Code.org and Scratch. 

• Disc Golf - Learn how to play this super fun outdoor game with Miss Kate and Mrs. Martell. You will be traversing the course built by a former WCS student between the track and the bike path. The object of the game is to get the fewest number of throws of the disc . . . or to see who can have the most laughs!! 

 Click here for the registration link and here for the School Bell article with more details.