March
Bridging Home and School
Many thanks to all parents and students for their participation in parent-teacher conferences this week. It is impossible to overstate the importance of these meetings. The high rate of attendance at Willow Creek shows the value that our parents place on their students' education by taking the time to discuss progress and to set goals for future performance. We hope parents find our discussions productive. The teamwork between teachers, parents, and students is critical for student success.
CMAS Testing Schedule
Please make a note of the following CMAS dates and times for the coming weeks, and ensure that students are present at school - on time, well rested, and energized with healthy meals.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, April 2, 3, 4
English Language Arts, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday through Thursday, April 9, 10, 11
Science, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday through Thursday, April 16, 17, 18
Math, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Testing will take place shortly after specials. If opting out, please make sure you have documented your choice according to the instructions previously shared by the district.
Language Arts
This month, our focus in reading will be poetry - reading, analyzing, understanding, reciting, and writing poetry. In an age of short videos, tweets and hashtags, the brevity of a poem is the perfect art form for students today which is something that students should be able to relate to.
At the heart of poetry is self-expression and structural creativity. It honestly reflects how kids can engage with social media and technology. Poetry has the potential to teach more than a basic understanding of iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets and haikus. It teaches the power of limited words and creative use of language to express emotion and meaning. Poetry allows students to express emotions in a controlled way. It can also help young people truly find their voice. Both of these are essential tools for promoting mental health.
Poetry can help students realize when and how language is used in advertising, the media and politics to manipulate them - an important critical thinking skill. It also helps in understanding different perspectives. Teaching and learning from poetry can help students respect and understand the viewpoints of people across the globe. In an age of increasing divisiveness, this is a hugely important part of education.
We will begin with a selection of poems written by American poets. Students will learn how to read poems properly, identify mood and feelings provoked, recognize figurative language, analyze structure and how all of these contribute to a poem's meaning.
Human Body
Our study of the human body will begin this month.
At the end of the whole unit, we will have established an understanding of a system as a collection of parts working together to perform a function. We previously emphasized this point with our study of plants.
In the next coming weeks, students will concentrate on the circulatory, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, digestive, excretory and nervous systems. For each system, students will need to explain the primary function(s) of the systems and understand all of the organs associated. Special attention will be given to how the systems work together within a whole body system to keep the human body operating at full potential.
Information about our last body system unit, the reproductive system, was emailed on Friday, March 1.
Math
Family letters containing overviews of current math content and objectives can be found here:
Social Emotional Learning
Willow Creek is committed to teaching the whole child and has created a focus this year on teaching Social Emotional Learning lessons in the classroom. The program Second Step was adopted by the district and will be in use to guide instruction and discussions throughout the year. Students will learn to have empathy, manage emotions and solve problems in order to promote positive relationships with their teachers and peers and increase their feelings of school connectedness. Studies have shown that as students feel more connected to their school and peers they have more positive academic self-concepts, more motivation for academic success and more overall engagement for learning. Each month we will highlight for you a brief focus for the month to allow for continued conversations at home. The Home Link pages will be linked to this section to support the discussion at home.
March
From Colonies to Revolution
With an understanding of the government and economies of the colonization, we turn our attention to the rise of conflict with Great Britain with emphasis on the following:
The causes and effects of the French and Indian War
How this war directly contributed to the problems that led to the Revolutionary War
The Stamp and Sugar Acts, Townshend Acts, Quartering Act, and the Intolerable Acts, with a discussion of the notions of "taxation without representation" and self-government
Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre
Negative impacts of continued settlements and establishment of the United States on Indigenous Nations
First and Second Continental Congresses, and the ascendancy of George Washington
Siege of Boston and the Battle of Lexington and Concord
From there, we will proceed with a detailed look at the battles of the Revolutionary War and the major parties involved in the conflict. The study of the revolution will culminate in a Project Based Learning task.
Reading and writing instruction will be integrated with our study of the American Revolution. Students will read a variety of materials, including nonfiction text, short articles, and video narrative of the events of the revolution.
Important Events
Please see the Calendar Page within this website for upcoming important events.
Within the calendar you can find important events, event timeframes, and additional brief notes about many events.
If looking for WC Accountability dates, please see Calendar Page as well.