4/16/21
TGIF…Twin Groves it’s Friday!
What’s Happening at Twin?
6th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced: We are excited to welcome back lots of new faces this week! It’s perfect timing because we have a lot of new activities planned for this month. In Advanced LA, students have just started reading the classic novel The Outsiders which is sure to engage students and prompt much deep discussion. In LA, students have begun reading Seedfolks which will show us how people of all different backgrounds can come together as one to make a positive change in the community. Students are sure to be inspired to make a difference in their neighborhood!
Science: Scientists are moving to our last and final unit of the year: Energy! We’ll learn about potential and kinetic energy as well as thermal energy. This unit is full of fun activities which will include creating our very own amusement park full of rides and learning how heat moves within objects! Be sure to bring your energy to science class each day too!
SS: In social studies, we will be wrapping up our unit on Rome by focusing on the reasons for the fall of the empire. From there, we will be starting a unit focusing on equity and equality. We will be investigating stories, statistics, and perspectives to see how different people around the world live. Our goal is to give the students a truly global perspective of our world.
Pre Algebra Survey: 6PAS is continuing their unit on Algebraic Equations. We will be solving one-step and two-step equations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The students will be learning about isolating the variable and keeping the equation balanced. The unit will end with an introduction to inequalities. It will be very important for students to check their answers by substituting the solutions back into the original equation, so please encourage that at home. The unit will end with a brief study on independent and dependent variables and solving inequalities. Last month, we talked about modeling with mathematics. This skill will continue to be important this month, because students will be modeling verbal models as Algebraic equations. This month, we’d like to focus on attending to precision. This might mean being careful to define your variables to make your work more understandable, labeling measurements, or making sure your answer is represented in the correct format.
The students have access to these apps that they should be using regularly:
Math Facts Ninja - For students who need extra practice with their math facts.
IXL - This app covers topics in line with the Common Core Curriculum which the students are covering this year. This program is designed to develop critical thinking skills.
Pre Algebra: 6PA will be finishing their second unit on geometry, focused on angle relationships and the Pythagorean theorem. The focus for the third and final unit of geometry is on transformations. Students will be reflecting, translating, rotating and dilating shapes around the coordinate plane. Last month, we talked about modeling with mathematics. This skill will continue to be important this month, because students will be modeling verbal models as Algebraic equations. This month, we’d like to focus on attending to precision. This might mean being careful to define your variables to make your work more understandable, labeling measurements, or making sure your answer is represented in the correct format.
The students have access to these apps that they should be using regularly:
Math Facts Ninja - For students who need extra practice with their math facts.
IXL - This app covers topics in line with the Common Core Curriculum which the students are covering this year. This program is designed to develop critical thinking skills.
7th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced: In Language Arts, we continue to read and write about the class novels your student has been reading since Spring Break (ADV: The Book Thief; LA: The Outsiders). Each night, your student should be reading their novel in preparation for our work the following day. A reading schedule is posted on Schoology, assigning pages or chapters which need to be read overnight. You can check on your student’s progress by talking to him/her about the book and what’s happening to the characters each night. This would be a great way to help your student process what he/she has read and to make sure that progress is being made. Take a look in TeacherEase, too, to make sure your student is completing assignments and working toward mastery on the targets; this is Trimester 3, and each target is being assessed again so that students have opportunities to show growth. Not all assignments are being completed by every student, however, and some are not being completed to the best of each student’s abilities. Spring has sprung! We’ve still got work to do, however, so your support is appreciated.
Science: We started investigating force and motion with the force of gravity. We will continue trimester 3 learning about Newton’s 3 laws of motion. Students are going to be looking at experiments to prove an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object. Along with analyzing experiments and procedures, students will be asked to develop their own procedure and experimental design to investigate Newton’s laws.
SS: We are in the midst of our nation coming out of the Revolutionary War and the implementation of our new government and Constitution as the United States grows and expands westward during the time of our early Presidents, our “Manifest Destiny”. As we grow and expand, the Industrial Revolution is taking shape. So many great innovations… which ones are most influential? However, what “price” or “cost” do certain segments of the population face during these growing and expanding years… Native Americans, slaves, immigrant workers, etc. While America’s population and economy booms, our nation is also being divided between the industrial North and agricultural / plantation South. Balance of power and popular sovereignty will become critical elements as states are added to the nation. Political parties are evolving and changing during these early to middle 1800’s, adding fuel to the fire. We are tackling these issues as always by asking questions, developing inquiries and argumentation, reading and analyzing a variety of primary and secondary sources while at the same time evaluating for reliability and credibility.
Bridge to Algebra 1: Students are in the 7th unit of the year, Radical, Irrational Numbers, and Pythagorean Theorem. We started learning about finding the square root and cube root of perfect squares and perfect cubes. We are then going to apply that knowledge to finding missing lengths of right triangles using the pythagorean theorem. We will then use the knowledge of the pythagorean theorem to apply it to the distance formula.
Algebra 1: Students are in the 8th unit of the year, Laws of Exponents. We started off the unit learning the properties of exponents and how we could use them to help simplify problems. We are now learning how to graph exponential functions using transformations. We will also learn how to solve exponential functions and be able to apply them to real life examples.
8th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced:
Students have begun to analyze how modern works of fiction draw on themes, patterns of events or character types of traditional stories and are describing how those aspects create a new meaning in the modern story. Students also continue to work on their narrative writing skills as well as strengthen their analytical writing techniques.
Science: 8th grade science is still investigating human impact on our planet. Students will be looking at the use of fossil fuels for energy and for making products such as plastic. By the end of April, students will begin to study alternative energy sources.
SS: We have come to the end of our Vietnam War unit. Students had the opportunity to learn about the struggles the United States faced during this time, both with the soldiers in Vietnam and the protests/discontent that surfaced here at home. Students have been working up to their midterm benchmark assessment, asking them to analyze a series of documents, create a claim and write a full argumentative essay. Next, we further delve into this time period within America, as we focus our learning on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s.
Algebra 1: We recently started Unit 8: Laws of Exponents & Exponential Functions. Similar to the previous 2 units, this is also quite a challenging unit and it is important that students are mastering the targets. We will be studying properties of exponents along with graphing exponential equations and interpretation of real life problems. Please remind your student that they should be completing all homework assignments and getting help when needed!
Algebra 2: In Algebra 2, students are finishing Unit 8: Statistics. The students learned different types of sampling and survey methods, calculating z-scores, using the mean and standard deviation to estimate population percentages, and margin of error. Next unit of study will be the Unit Circle and trigonometric functions!
MAP and IAR Assessments
The district has finalized the dates for the MAP and IAR assessments for all students. If you have elected to have your remote learner attend in-person for these assessments, more information about attending on assessment days will be sent to your email and home mailing address prior to the assessment date.
Families of remote learners who wish to change their assessment survey answers should contact Jeanne Spiller, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, at [email protected].
MAP: Dates for In-Person and Remote Students
Monday 5/3: Grades 5 and 6
Tuesday 5/4: Grades 5 and 6
Wednesday 5/5: Kindergarten and Grades 2, 3, and 4
Thursday 5/6: Kindergarten and Grades 2, 3, and 4
Friday 5/7: Grades 1, 7, and 8
Monday 5/10: Grades 1, 7, and 8
In-person students will have the same arrival and dismissal times as they normally would and complete the assessment as a part of the typical school day.
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Remote students coming to test in-person will follow the schedule below and rejoin their classes via Zoom once they return home.
Middle School
-Arrival: 8:00
-Dismissal: 10:45
*Remote students coming to take MAP in-person who have extended time will be contacted by building staff to communicate a dismissal time.
**Remote students coming to take the MAP in-person will also take the FastBridge assessments. FastBridge is a reading fluency assessment, which is typically administered in the same window as MAP.
IAR: Dates for In-Person and Remote Students
Monday 5/24: Grades 3-8
Tuesday 5/25: Grades 3-8
Wednesday 5/26: Grades 3-8
In-person students will have the same arrival and dismissal times as they normally would and will complete the assessment as a part of the typical school day.
___________________________________________________________________
Remote students coming to test in-person will follow the schedule below and rejoin their classes via Zoom once they return home. The dismissal time is different on Wednesday because the third English Language Arts test is shorter.
Middle School
Monday 5/24 and Tuesday 5/25
-Arrival: 8:00
-Dismissal: 11:15
Middle School
Wednesday 5/26
-Arrival: 8:00
-Dismissal: 10:15
*Remote students coming to take IAR in-person who have extended time will be contacted by building staff to communicate a dismissal time.
ACCESS: Dates for In-Person and Remote Students
In-person students who take ACCESS will do so during the course of their school day.
Remote students who are coming in to take ACCESS will be contacted by school personnel to schedule the test. Students in kindergarten will have individual appointments as the test is administered one to one. Students in grade 1-8 will participate in the assessment on Thursday, May 13th and/or Friday, May 14th.
Make Lunch Plans
Parents, please help.... With many more students learning in person in KCSD96 schools, it's essential that parents place their students' free meal preorders by 6 PM on Thursday in the week before. Find preordering instructions HERE. Questions? Contact [email protected].
ALSO, please remind your students of the meal choices you preordered, so the meals they request at lunchtime are the meal options that you preordered for them. Thank you!
Stuff the Squad: Food Drive
Please help out by stuffing our squad with donations! The Buffalo Grove Police Department is hosting a food drive to benefit the food pantries that have served so many of our residents in times of need. Alongside donating food, please feel free to donate cleaning products, hygiene products, diapers, and cooking essentials. Please bring in donations to the Twin Groves Main Office no later than May 6th.
Suggested/Needed Items:
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Cereal
Canned Tomatoes
Canned Fruit
Canned Chilli
Canned Meat/Tuna
Boxed Potatoes
Vegetable Soup/Other types of soup
Pasta/Pasta Sauce
Rice
Beans (not green)
Mac and Cheese
Mayonnaise
Diapers
Hygiene Products
Cleaning Products
Cooking Essentials
REMINDER- DAILY SELF CERTIFICATION is a requirement for in-person attendance
To access the required Daily Self-Certification Form, you need to log into TeacherEase EACH MORNING your student will attend in person to submit self-certification. https://www.teacherease.com/common/login.aspx
This VIDEO gives instructions, including how to access the daily self-certification form using your cell phone (iOS or android).
https://vimeo.com/465127686
*NEW* Attendance Procedures for In-Person Students
With the change to five days of in-person learning for all students beginning April 12th, the expectation is that students will attend in-person unless the student is under quarantine/isolation or is home ill. If for some reason your child needs to attend school remotely instead of in-person on a given day, attendance procedures are changing to state that the child’s parent/guardian will need to contact the school office prior to the start of the school day.
Keeping students (and siblings) home due to symptoms
Per the IDPH COVID-19 School Exclusion Guidance, if any household member is showing any one of the symptoms listed below, all siblings must stay home from school. Please let the school office know when calling for attendance if your child is staying home due to illness, even if the student is participating remotely.
The symptoms in which a student must stay home due to COVID-19 protocols are: fever (100.4°F or higher), new onset of moderate to severe headache, shortness of breath, new cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, new loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue from unknown cause, muscle or body aches from unknown cause.
6th Grade Dental Forms
Attention parents of 6th Graders. Proof of dental exams for all 6th graders are due by May 15th. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Borzych at 847-821-8946.
Daily Announcements
Please see Twin Groves website for up to date school announcements. The announcements let you know what exciting activities and clubs are going on at Twin Groves. Please click HERE to access the Daily Announcements.