April 2, 2008

Greetings Division V Students and Parents,

Awards Assembly

The 3^rd quarter awards assembly will be held from 8:45 to 9:15 on Thursday, April 10^th in the commons. 

Spring Dance

The Renaissance Academy’s annual spring dance will be held on Friday, April 11^th from 6:00 to 10:00PM.  The theme this year is “Pool Party”.  As in past years, all students, parents, and guests are invited from 6:00 to 8:00PM.  At 8 o’clock refreshments will be served and then Division IV and V and their guests are invited to remain and dance until 10 o’clock.  If any parents would like to volunteer to help decorate or bring refreshments, please sign up in the office or let me or Ms. Ring (DIII) know.  Remember, friends from other schools are invited as well!

Betty Field’s Memorial Short Story Contest

The winners of the short story contest have been announced, and, while our students didn’t garner any prizes, all of the participants are being honored on Saturday, April 19^th from 10:00 to 12:00PM in the Carnegie Room at the Penrose library downtown.  The ceremony will include refreshments and a writing workshop with Golden Quill award winner David Mason.

Also, on Thursday, April 3^rd, American poet laureate Billy Collins will read and speak for free at Shove Chapel on the Colorado College campus.  This should be a great experience, and I would definitely award extra credits to anyone who goes and tells us about the experience!

Keepers of the Water

On Tuesday, April 9^th, DV will accompany DIII on an environmental stewardship activity at Biedleman environmental center.  The trip will focus on learning the importance of water conservation and the life cycle of water in our area.  Permission slips for this trip have been sent home and are due, with fees, by Monday, April 8^th.

Kids’ Café

Watch for the scheduling sheet for Kids’ Café volunteers for the month of April to come home today.  Please coordinate with your child when and if it is possible for him or her to participate.  Please respond to this email if you would like to donate an edible/saleable treat to Kids’ Café in the month of April.  As we are currently running Kids’ Café all week long (M,W,F afternoons, T,W,TH mornings), and we need donations for April 7^th through April 30^th.  Breakfast foods are great, but cookies and other treats can be sold in the afternoon as well.

Report Cards and Conferences

Report cards for 3^rd quarter will be handed out at conferences.  If you have not already signed up for a mandatory student/teacher/parent conference, please do so in the office.  These are student conferences, and students will discuss their 3^rd quarter highlights and challenges.  Together, we will also work on setting goals to be achieved by the end of the year and in the future.

2008 Walkabout

Gear lists and forms for the 2008 Walkabout trip, scheduled on May 3^rd through 9^th, will come home on Monday, April 7^th.  Please make sure they find their way out of the backpack!

Academics

Writing

Students are finishing up the rough drafts of their most recent literary analysis essays.  We’ll be revising, editing, and looking at grammar and punctuation during the course fo the next week.  Then we are beginning a poetry unit!  The unit will focus on the use of figurative language, effective word choice, and the purpose of structure.

Reading

Students will begin Greek and Roman myths and a student version of Homer’s The Iliad next week.  Students will again be using this literature as window into the cultures that we are currently studying.  We will also continue our examination of the importance of character creation in the texts we read.

Social Studies

Beginning next week, students will engage an ancient culture studies unit focused on Greece, Rome, Britain, Scandinavia, India, China and Japan, the Maya, and the Aztec.  These units will be focus on the literature and life of each culture, and students will be assigned a specific culture to present for their ancient civilization final.

Science

On April 10^th, Mr. Michael Lowery will begin working with DV on an extended study of the physical properties of energy.  Mr. Lowery will work with on Thursday afternoons for the next 6 weeks.  The unit will be a hands-on curriculum devoted to topics such as light, electricity, magnetism, sound, and particles.  It will be wonderful to have an expert in this area working with us to construct demonstrations and experiments!

Math

New math groups have been assigned for 4^th quarter.  At this point in the year, students gravitate towards others that are naturally progressing at about the same rate that they are.  The groups are not split very evenly, but the progress-level in each group is equitable. Ask your student if they are taking advantage of their opportunity to “PC” their work.

MathPath 2008 is a residential summer camp for middle school-aged students (11-14) showing high promise in mathematics to be held this year at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont June 29- July 27, 2008.  MathPath programs are different from the gifted summer programs run by other universities. Unlike programs that are essentially courses in a subject, a MathPath student will engage in several strands of interactive sessions in mathematics during a four-week period.  The sessions at MathPath are led by professors who are experts in instructing mathematically gifted middle-school age students and emphasize  enrichment - topics that don't often appear in the school mathematics curriculum.  The students at MathPath are mostly "math persons" who need peers and specialized programs to match their talent level.  If you are interested in learning more about the MathPath 2008 program, please let Melinda know before the deadline, May 15, 2008.

Computers

Division I East and West will start using Microsoft Word to type their names and print them.  Division II is beginning a unit on digital photography where we will be taking pictures around the school, importing them into computers, and creating simple slideshows.  Division III is continuing to begin learning about the programming software, Scratch.  Students are broken into teams of two and are beginning to explore the basics of creating sprites and stages, creating movement commands and experimenting with broadcasting and receiving variables.  Division IV is beginning an animated PowerPoint projects based on the book of their choice.  Division V is finishing up their “Doodle for Google” assignment where they created an edited version of the famous Google insignia under the theme “What if?” along with a 50 word essay describing their vision.

Spanish

 Division I Spanish vocabulary will focus on city places and sports.  The students are learning three-tongue twisters. These tongue twisters help students memorize vocabulary while they practice their accent.  Division II students are going to do a show and tell in Spanish that will review the vocabulary they learned such as greetings, adjectives, verbs and question words.  Division III Spanish students will make a menu and then create a play related to a restaurant.  Division IV students will work in pairs to create an exaggerated, crazy session between a psychologist and a patient having some issues. Div V will learn vocabulary words associated with an airport and create a corresponding play.  All the divisions will learn about the mosaics/azulejos throughout the various hispanic countries. The students will learn about mosaic masks made by the Aztecs as well as the mosaics made by Gaudi in his architecture.

Calendar Reminders:

April 3-4 – Parent/Teacher/Student Conference

April 8 – Keepers of the Water filed trip

April 10 – Academic Awards ceremony at 8:45 AM

April 11 – Spring Dance – Pool Party Theme

 

To My Students

As you may already know from the Wednesday Update, I will not be returning to the Renaissance Academy next year.  My decision to move on is based on professional and familial goals.  That being said, I want to stress that my departure is in no way related to my feelings about you, the students.  My time at the Renaissance Academy has been among the most rewarding and influential experiences of my career.  You have all helped me to create memories, skills, and goals that have redefined who I am as a teacher.  If I, as a professional and a caregiver for my family, had no concerns other than working with students, I cannot imagine a group of kids that I would like to work with more than all of you.  I look forward to the possibility of working with some of you in the future as I plan to return to teaching locally at the high school level (read “Palmer” if I get the job!).  Further, I am always available to you for letters of reference, to help edit or even think up papers, and even if you just need a book recommendation or an old teacher’s advice.  Thank you so much for allowing me to work with you, and I truly appreciate all the support and participation from your parents.  You’ve been amazing. 

 

Finally, I look forward to finishing up 4^th quarter with excitement and lots of learning and fun.  We’ve got half of a world of ancient civilizations to explore yet, a beatific poetry unit, Walkabout, and the whole carnival to plan out and enjoy.  I’ll build in some time for discussion of these topics on Monday, and we can certainly talk during the next few days, but I’d really like to keep the focus on students and student success during conferences.  Don’t hesitate to call or email me if you would like.

 

Most sincerely and still yours,

Ron Hamilton