February Newsletter

Dear Team Keystone Families,

We know you will join us in extending a warm welcome to Mr. Tim Lowell as the social studies long-term substitute while Mrs. Ketterer is out on maternity leave.  Mr. Lowell joined us last month and has already hit the ground running. Feel free to reach out to him at lowellt@franklinps.net if you have any social studies questions or concerns. We are lucky to have him on Team Keystone!

Home-School Connection

Students are working hard in all areas of the curriculum and rising to meet the challenges of increased expectations and academic rigor in Term Two. We have been gradually releasing the expectation of independence to the students in terms of using class resources and advocating for themselves when they need support. We are proud of the growth that we have seen in these areas, and we will continue to provide guidance to help students further develop these important skills. We ask for your support at home to encourage students to use strategies to increase their independence with completing their assignments, such as:

• Using a planner to consistently write down homework assignments and assessments

• Using our online homework grids if they do not have assignments written down

• Utilizing notes, rubrics, and resources provided in class

• Contacting a classmate with questions about an assignment

• Checking Google Classroom or sending a teacher an email if they need clarification or are missing an assignment

• Checking Aspen regularly to help them be more aware of their progress in their classes

We also wanted to add a friendly reminder about student absences and makeup work. When students are absent from class, it is their responsibility to make sure they get the work they missed. Students should plan to check in with their teachers either during class or in Compass Block. Sometimes students think they only need to make up missed homework assignments, but there are often classwork assignments that need to be completed as well. This is why it is important for students to check with their teachers to make sure they understand what assignments they are responsible for completing. Additionally, students are expected to turn in missed work in the timeframe outlined in the student handbook in order to get credit. Students have the same number of days to complete missed assignments as days they were absent.

Helpful Links:

Our weekly Homework Grid

Our team webpage

 Aspen 

Amazon Wishlist

Admirable Attributes

As a part of our Admirable Attributes program, Team Keystone recognizes two students each month who exemplify positive team attributes. The Admirable Attribute for the month of February is Creative. We are seeing many examples of creativity in our classrooms! We want to encourage students to be creative in their work, thinking, and play and to notice peers on the team to demonstrate creativity and innovative thinking.

Current Class Concepts

Applied Literacy

In Applied Literacy, students have been applying what they learned about annotating and summary writing as they worked in Book Groups to read shared independent reading texts during the week. On Fridays, students participated in group discussions to process their reading for the week. They also completed reflections about the topics that came up and the overall takeaways from the group discussion. These will be winding down as Mrs. Allard returns from her leave. Any work for this project that has not been completed will need to be finished on the student’s own time. 

Starting in February, students will be working with non-fiction texts to gain a better understanding of how to use the text features to aid in comprehension. They will also be looking at how to determine text structures in order to take more effective notes. 

We will also be getting back into our vocabulary routines so students can start to expect a few more vocabulary quizzes before the end of the term!

English Language Arts

In ELA, students just finished reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. Throughout their reading, students worked on tracking theme development by analyzing “Big Idea” topics and details in the novel. They are now working on choosing a “Big Idea” focus, writing a theme statement, and creating a project to show how their chosen theme is developed in the story. Be on the lookout for an email from Mrs. McCormick with more specific information regarding the project.

Students are also looking forward to watching The Giver movie. We will be spending some time comparing and contrasting the film and the novel versions and thinking about differences in our experience as readers and viewers. If you have not already, please fill out this permission form indicating whether or not you give permission for your student to participate in watching the movie at school. 

Essential Question: Which matters more: safety or freedom?

Focus Skills:

• Identify main ideas and details and deepen thinking by reading actively

• Analyze how an author develops point of view

• Gather evidence from across a novel to support an idea

Determine how specific details reveal a theme

Math

In MATH, we are working with Ratios.

Essential Question: -How does reasoning with rates impact our lives?

Focus Skills:

• Understand ratio and rate concepts and use ratio and rate reasoning to solve problems.

• Understand the concept of a unit rate and use unit rate language in the context of a ration relationship.

• Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.

*There is a STEM competition on March 28th at Sharon High School. If students are interested, they may put their own teams together and sign up. Members of the Franklin Middle School math department will be there to chaperone this event. Students will need their own transportation. For more information, please visit this site.

Science

We are wrapping up our Forces at a Distance Unit and will soon be starting the first part of our new unit about Earth and Space after February Vacation. Students will be exploring the moon phases, gravity, and our place in the universe. 

 Important Vocab:

-Attractive Forces                - Potential Energy

-Repulsive Forces                - Electromagnetic

-Magnetic Field

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we are continuing a unit on Ancient Egypt.

• Students will be learning about several pharaohs and their major accomplishments. They will also learn about the social structure of Egypt. Students will be using what they learn to create a “virtual museum” of Ancient Egypt.

Essential Question:

Why do people need different jobs in order for a society to function?

Important Dates 

• Thursday, February 5: Half Day; Teacher PDD

• Monday, February 16-Friday, February 20: February Break

We truly believe that the success of our students depends on clear communication between school and home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns.

Best Regards,

The Team Keystone Teachers