Denali Peaks Team 

Denali Peaks Team Newsletter

Parents please sign up as Canvas Observers!  This is a useful tool for helping your student stay on track - you can monitor past and upcoming assignments as well as  grades that come from Canvas. Q is the official grade of record.  Here is the link if you would like to sign up:   ASD Parent Observer

Science (Williams) - For the fourth quarter, we will continue working on energy, energy sources, and both renewable and non-renewable energy. We will continue to work on electricity, circuits, electrons, and uses of electricity. We will also be integrating weather and nature that produces electrical currents. 

Math (Gendreau) - 

In March in advance math we will be working on Lesson 21-23. Lesson 21- Solving one-variable addition equations,  Lesson 22- Analyze two-variable Relationship, Lesson 23- Understand positive and negative numbers. In standard math we will be working on Lesson 19-21. Lesson 19- Write and identify Equivalent Expression, Lesson 20- Understand Solutions of Equations, Lesson 21 - Solving one-variable addition equations.

Social Studies (Bain) - Unit 4: South America In this unit, students will look at how the cultures of South America are influenced by colonization and European contact. Students will look at the diverse cultures and see how they have benefited and challenged the people of South America, and how the ancient traditions are reflected in the indigenous populations’ daily lives. In Unit 5: Europe, Eastern & Western students will look at the extent that Europe is a heterogeneous culture, to what extent these nations share common cultures, histories, geography, and perceptions, how these relationships compare to the rest of the globe, and to what extent do these ideals of peace, and economic strength entice people to unite or lead to conflict and people to unite or lead to conflict and tension in regions or countries. Students look at how the European union came about.

English/Language Arts (Dillman) - Moving into March we are working on argumentation and debate. We will also be working towards writing our second five paragraph essay while learning how to support a claim with evidence and reason.

P.E. (Stoops) -. Hanshew P.E. completed a flag football unit that coincided with the super bowl and then a pickleball unit that concluded with a two on two tournament.  We continue to use Tuesdays as our “fitness days” that includes either a timed mile run, pacer test or fitness circuit where students complete a lap on the track and then alternating exercises.  We will conclude February with a volleyball unit.

Resource Language Arts (Asaytuno) - Unit 4: Change of Scene: , students will read and enjoy limericks written by Edward Lear. They will learn about the fun and playful style of limericks and how they follow a special rhythm and rhyme pattern. Each student will pick a limerick to share with the class and explain what they think it means. They will also read a poem and look for important details, the main idea, and its message in a way that is easy to understand.

Revelation Mountains Team 

Revelation Mountains Team 

March 2025 Newsletter

Dear Team Revelation Students, Parents, and Guardians,

As March approaches, we end the 3rd quarter and begin the 4th and last quarter of the school year. During the course of the year, students have improved across all content areas. 

Language Arts (Franklin):

In the 4th quarter, we will focus on informational texts to help students understand and analyze content. These texts might include articles, essays, biographies, and scientific reports. The goal is to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to identify key ideas, supporting details, and the author’s purpose.

Key skills for informational text include:

Identifying Main Ideas: Learning how to determine the central concept of a text and recognize how supporting details develop the main idea.

Text Features: Understanding features like headings, subheadings, captions, charts, and graphs to help navigate and understand the content better.

Evaluating Sources: Learning to assess the credibility of the source of the information and its relevance to the topic.

Comprehension is the heart of reading, and we’ll be sharpening these strategies this quarter:

Questioning: Students will learn how to ask both literal and inferential questions while reading. This encourages deeper thinking about the text and promotes active engagement.

Summarizing: After reading sections of a text, students will practice summarizing key ideas in their own words.

Context Clues: Students will use context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, helping them gain a fuller understanding of the text.

Making Inferences: We’ll focus on reading between the lines and making inferences based on the information presented, which is especially important for analyzing informational texts.

Math (Forbes):

Students continue to refine their skills working with fractions, decimals, and percentages. If you would like to support your student at home, please call attention to the use of percentages in calculating sales taxes, tips, and discounts. Some activities to consider include asking your student to calculate the amount of discount and the sales price of an item in a store or the amount of tip due at a restaurant. In addition, many of our Hanshew Grade 7 students need extra practice adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals.  Two to three practice problems a day with direct instruction and a review for mistakes, will help to inform you of your student’s current level, and whether or not additional support is needed.

Science (Magnuson):

This month we will focus on Newton’s three laws of motion.  We will continue to apply math skills as we learn to apply laws of motion to predict how forces can change movement.  We will likely finish up unit 3 and have a test by the end of the month.

Social Studies (Stewart):

As March begins, students will be presenting their European Region Project to the class. The project and presentation will be the first grade of the 4th quarter. On March 6, 2025, students will have a quiz over the southern region of Europe. After spring break, students will work on a group project over the regions of Europe. Students will create a food truck campaign about regional food in Europe. We will end our unit of Europe’s geography  before AK Star testing with group presentations. 

Study Skills (Barrett):

February 6th - 8th study skills, students will learn and apply skills such as Growth Mindset Strategies, routine building, time management, note-taking, studying to understand material, and more. Students will complete virtual check-ins throughout the week to monitor their progress in their classes and keep Mrs. Barrett updated on their classes. They will have time to work on missing work or homework. Students will also learn how to get and stay organized by utilizing a binder, planner, and folders in their Google Drive, as well as weekly grade checks to monitor their class progress.

Social Skills (Barrett):

In 6th -8th social skills, students will learn a variety of social skills such as conversational skills, asking for help, apologizing, understanding feelings of self and others, and much more. Students will complete virtual daily check-ins that ask how their day has been so that Mrs. Barrett gets an idea of where they are when they enter the classroom. The class will utilize videos, role playing, modeling, worksheets, and conversation as a group to practice these skills. We also have a weekly game day, where students get to organically practice their social skills with their peers utilizing games such as Uno, Sorry, and more.

Cascade Mountains Team 

We have had quite a few parents sign up as Canvas Observers!  This is a useful tool for helping your student stay on track - you can monitor past and upcoming assignments as well as  grades.  Here is the link if you would like to sign up:  ASD Parent Observer https://www.asdk12.org/domain/4476

Math (Mr. McKenzie) - Math 8 students are continuing their work on understanding and solving systems of linear equations. Algebra 1 students are learning about exponential relationships. And the Geometry students are exploring solids and geometry in 3-dimensions.

Social Studies (Dyer) - In 8th Grade Social Studies we are studying the early American republic and the foundations of the United States government. We will study the Articles of Confederation and reasons that it ultimately failed, leading to the Constitutional Convention. We will then study the Bill of Rights and branches of government as we learn about the first presidential administrations under Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.

English/Language Arts (Baguley) - In the English Class, we will begin a unit studying the Holocaust, using the novel Ashes by Kathryn Lasky l. The unit will prompt us to address the challenges of making a difference in society. We will be reading some non-fiction texts, as well as a few poems. We will also work on argumentative writing during this month.

Native Studies (Baguley): In Native Studies, we just completed a soap carving project that mimics the carving of ivory that the indigenous peoples of Alaska made.  We will begin studying the importance of dance in Native culture and how drums and dance fans play a part in the telling of stories through singing and dance.  We will be making drums similar to those used by the indigenous peoples in Alaska.  We will connect this project to the various native groups and compare and contrast the activities and accouterments used in these ceremonies.

Resource Math (Heather Conner): We just finished all of the fractions units (add/subtract and multiply/divide fractions). We will start working on  Ratio concepts  and Rates of change at the beginning of the month and move into proportional relationships by the end of the month. 

MOUNT OLYMPUS TEAM

March 2025 Hawk Highlights, Mt. Olympus 

This past month, our Life Skills classroom has been hard at work learning about American Peacekeepers, with a special emphasis on Black History Month and historical leaders who have shaped our country. Through adapted lessons, engaging activities, and discussions, our students explored the impact of figures who have dedicated their lives to peace and justice.

We’ve also launched an exciting new project—Hanshew Airlines! Each week, our classroom transforms into a new destination as we "travel" to a different country, learning about its culture, geography, food, and history. Students receive a fake airline ticket at the start of the week and embark on a fun, immersive experience exploring the world. This project ties into our social studies curriculum, helping students build global awareness while reinforcing key skills in reading, writing, and communication. Our first stops have included Sweden and other exciting locations, with many more adventures ahead!

Anna Foley

Life Skills Teacher

Special Education

Hanshew Middle School

March 7th grade Science: Heath

Students will be finalizing their Roller Coaster models during the first two weeks of March. Final models are due March 5th. Roller Coaster Assignment criteria can be found on our class Canvas page. When we return from Spring Break, we will begin our Wave Unit.

Happy Spring! In math 7, I will be providing students with the second math workbook of the year. We will begin the month learning about simple interest, percent change and error, and solving word problems that mimic real world math skills the students will need to use.  In the second half of the month, we will be working on the surface area of three-dimensional figures. In the advanced math class, students will begin the month learning about the surface area of three-dimensional figures and finding the volume of prisms. Class notes and assignments can be found in Canvas if your child misses classes due to illness or travel.

Patricia Garcia 

7th Grade Math 

It’s hard to believe we’re almost done with the 3rd quarter! In 7th grade geography we are still hard at work on our unit on the geography of Europe. Students are identifying the 52 countries of Europe and their capitals, and learning about the human and physical features of the European continent. After spring break, we will continue our exploration of all things Europe before we delve into the geography of Asia. I hope you all have a well-deserved, and restful spring break, and enjoy the return of light to the Northern Hemisphere! 

Gabriel Swiderski 

7th Grade Social Studies 

TEAM ALYESKA

Mt. Alyeska’s March Newsletter

Ms. Harper’s Science: First, in Biology, we are finishing our studies on spiders, and next we are going to study worms to get ready for the earthworm dissection next week. They are a great bunch of students, and I really enjoy them.

The sixth graders have been studying magnets, and now they are studying electricity. We had fun doing a magnet lab, and we are getting ready to build some circuits.

Please try to help the students be mindful of their computers. They need to be charged at home and brought to school daily.

Ms. Labadan’s 6th Gr. ELA: The students showed a lot of improvement in their writing as we levelled up to Argumentative writing for the entire month of February. The class had a variety of opportunities to express their opinion to different controversy. They also navigated how to express agreement and disagreement both in writing and speaking. They also learned how to use different types of evidence to strengthen their claim and arguments. It is happy to note that they were able to produce their argumentative writing outputs. In general, the students have really shown a lot of potentials in writing and when they are on task, behavior problems are minimized if not eliminated.

Ms. Straley's 6th and 7th Grade Math: We are currently focusing on fractions and division. Students are learning how to use visual fraction models to represent fractions as division. We've also been tackling word problems involving division with whole numbers where the quotient is a fraction or mixed number. To reinforce our learning, we have been reviewing vocabulary terms through games and quizzes. Additionally, students spend 20+ minutes each week on iReady MyPath to review, practice, and strengthen any areas of weakness. Math is fun!

Mr. Deckert, PE: Hello parents! We are already going into the last quarter of the school year. February blew by during Physical Education. We are all excited about getting more hours of sunlight and spring coming back. During February we had a pickleball unit, football unit, and a soccer unit. We are going to move forward with a volleyball unit. Next week we are having some people from the district coming into our class to lead a Native Youth Olympics unit! Then we are off to spring break. Some housekeeping things are that students still need to show up to gym class, dressed and ready to go. That means athletic shoes and their Hanshew Hawk shirt. Grades are also due for the third quarter next week! Please give your teacher a heads up about any makeup work. Thank you all, we are excited to finish the year on a strong note.

Ms. Grant’s 6th Gr. Social Studies: Objective: Students will learn about the geography, climate, history, and biodiversity of Central America. Activity Overview: Research Phase:

Students will work individually to research a country of their choice. They will explore aspects of Central America, including countries, major landmarks, traditional foods, festivals, and wildlife. Each student will focus on the general topic, such as their entire country. Content Creation: After gathering information, students will demonstrate their understanding of the country of choice. Emphasis will be placed on clear writing, accurate information, and engaging visuals. Presentation: Once completed, students will present their section to the class, highlighting key findings and interesting facts. Conclusion: This activity aims to foster classwork, improve research, writing skills, and enhance students' understanding of Central America.

Lazy Mountain (PE/HEalth)

Hello parents! We are already going into the last quarter of the school year. February blew by during Physical Education. We are all excited about getting more hours of sunlight and spring coming back. During February we had a pickleball unit, football unit, and a soccer unit. We are going to move forward with a volleyball unit. Next week we are having some people from the district coming into our class to lead a Native Youth Olympics unit! Then we are off to spring break. Some housekeeping things are that students still need to show up to gym class, dressed and ready to go. That means athletic shoes and their Hanshew Hawk shirt. Grades are also due for the third quarter next week! Please give your teacher a heads up about any makeup work. Thank you all, we are excited to finish the year on a strong note.

Career Technical Education