Mrs. Wendt

View these films to boost your math review!
Use windows media to open files, or go to unitedstreaming.com and pick the ones you need to see. You know your username and password. If not, email me.

Proportions

Area

Online test of your math skills

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/online/2003/grade7/math.htm

Environmental Celebration- Projects are Due!
Save the date for our annual Environmental Celebration. Students will be presenting their solutions on conservation and preservation problems to the GCCS community on April 9th from 1-3pm. We welcome your attendance and hope to get 100% family participation. Students will also take part in cleaning up our school grounds in the morning. Student due dates for their environmental projects are April 1st. They will be making posters that go along with their solutions in class, please send in a tri-fold presentation poster board or poster board with your child before the end of March.

 “Kids in the Kitchen”
Ram’s Head Inn will host “Kids in the Kitchen” at 6 p.m. on April 23 to raise awareness and gain community support for Galloway Community Charter School.
Restaurant staff will teach GCCS students how to prepare a three-course meal with style - from napkin folding to menu planning to preparing and serving. Students also will check coats and serve as hosts and hostesses. We are still looking for a few 7th graders to participate in the kitchen, plating the meals. The event begins at 6 p.m., and a donation of $25 per person is requested. Sponsorships in the amounts of $25 and $50 are available. Checks should be made payable to Galloway Community Charter School, 112 S. New York Road, Galloway Township, NJ 08205.

IMPORTANT APRIL DATES
01- Environmental Projects Due!

09 - Environmental Celebration/Clean Up (1-3pm) 

15 - Faculty Meeting 
 21 - Board of Trustees Meeting 7pm 

23 - Early Dismissal / Kids In the Kitchen!

STUDENT 
SPOTLIGHT!
We offer our congratulations to Evangelista Farquaharson; she is leaving today for Princeton, NJ to participate in the Junior National Young Leaders Conference. The Junior National Young Leaders Conference helps scholars develop and sharpen their leadership skills by examining the leaders of the past and empowering them to make a positive social impact in their community and the world. Students work together to develop action plans that affect change within their home and communities. We are so pleased that she was selected for this wonderful opportunity.


Congratulations are also in order for Brian McAlister whom after winning the local tournament, is headed to the State Tournament of the Odyssey of the Mind Competition, which will take place on April 12th. His team is comprised of 6th to 8th grade students and this is his second year competing in the State Tournament. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Kids apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

An Apple for the Teacher
Mrs. Wendt was recently awarded a $2,000.00 grant from Best Buy to purchase podcasting technology for our classroom. Keep looking at our website to see how we use it!Last weekend, Mrs Wendt enjoyed her shopping spree at Best Buy and purchased a Macbook, a Canon digital camera, a 1gb SD card, a Panasonic Digital Video camera and tapes, an Ipod Nano, software, service plans, and Podcasting accessories. Until now, the students have been using Mrs. Wendt’s personal equipment, but thanks to the Teacher Awards Grant from Best Buy, the students have all of their own resources for podcasting and vodcasting. The students just finished creating Poetry multimedia projects using the Dell laptops and Windows Movie Maker, now they will have access to the new Leopard operating system and imovie 08, Garageband, and many other Mac OS applications. You can see their projects online at google video, just type in Mrs. Wendt in the search bar. You can also see some of their work on itunes. This week we are taping their presentations of The Firebug Connection, for a collaborative book talk. They will edit their individual parts in the coming weeks and we will put it all together for itunes.

Wind Power!

This a a webquest you will complete on Wind Power!  Get right to it!

Projects Due!

Environmental

Backyard Conservation

Student will build a scale model (At home) of a conservation project- plans are underway for bird, bat and butterfly houses- as well and composting models and water and waste management models. This is the link to the BACKYARD CONSERVATION website if your lost your book.

They should be no larger than their desks please.  Due Date APRIL 1^st.

Book Report Makeover:

FireBug Connection Book report makeover.  Student can go to my website and look at the possible  book report ideas.  They have already read the book.  Due  March 25^th.

Parent Teacher Conferences are over and I hope you are all pleased with your student‘s progress towards their goals.  I will mail home updated grade averages next week, so keep your eyes peeled for the mail.

Mathematics- We will have a 7A Quiz on Monday, March 10th on scale and proportions.  Students can study from their books or go to united streaming for more practice. 

Username:gccs student

Password: student 

Theme- Students are finished reading our environmental mystery novel, The Firebug Connection.  Now they will come up with book report makeover for this book.  It is due the 25th of March. Language Arts/ Literacy- Persuasive speaking and persuasive writing are occupying our time for the next few weeks. Students are also exploring their creative side with creative writing prompts and story starters.

We have started reading a new novel, Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements.  Andrew Clements is well-known for a series of “school stories,” novels about students and situations in school. In this book, “Things Not Seen,” he takes a departure from that path for a unique and moving story about a boy who wakes up, takes a shower and finds that he’s gone completely invisible.

Science- On Wednesday, March 12^th, we have a Chapter 5 science test on Plant processes.  The study guide is on our class website and students should re-read the chapter a few times. I am providing them with a copy of the test beforehand so that they may study and memorize what they need.

Upcoming Projects

Students will choreograph their own dance number for the Spring Show.

Each student will write 6 persuasive essays to get ready for the NJ ASK testing. There will be one assigned each week on Monday starting February 11^th. It must be completed by each Friday.

Environmental Project-

Student will build a model of a backyard conservation project.  It will be due April 1^st.

Book Report Project-

Student will choose a Book Report Makeover to complete for the novel, The Fire Bug Connection. Due Date- March 25th.

Important February Dates
15 - School Closed / Prof. Development
18 - President’s Day - School Closed
19 - Faculty Meeting
25 - Board of Trustees Meeting 7pm

Thank You Parents!

We had box tops sent in this week, keep them coming!  We also had so many parents contribute to our fabulous Technology Celebration, Thank You for sharing and coming out to see all the hard work the students have completed.

GUIDED READING/ENVIRONMENTAL THEME-

We have just started reading a new novel, The Firebug Connection, by Jean Craighead George, whose main writing genre is Ecological Mysteries.  In The Firebug Connection, Maggie receives a gift of firebugs at her parents’ research center – but they keep dying. She follows every clue to locate the culprit. We are reading this story to discover the effects of global warming, the green house effect, and chemical pollutants on some of the smallest members of our planet, bugs and insects.  We will also be reading and learning about the many forms of backyard conservation we can accomplish ourselves to help conserve and protect our natural resources.

MATHEMATICS-

The next unit in your child’s mathematics class this year is Ratio, Rate, and Proportion, Students look at problems involving many situations and learn to make comparisons using ratios, fractions, percents, and rates.  UNIT GOALS   One goal of this unit is to develop students’ abilities to make useful comparisons of quantitative information using ratios, fractions, decimals, rates, unit rates, and percents. A second goal is to have students learn to use quantitative comparison information to make larger or smaller scale models. Students should also learn different ways to reason in proportional situations and to recognize when such reasoning is appropriate. HELPING WITH HOMEWORK  As your child studies this unit you can help with homework, and at the same time, encourage sound mathematical habits by asking questions such as:

• When quantities have different measurements, how can they be compared?

• When can a comparison be made by subtraction? When can division be used?

• Why is a ratio a good means of comparison? How can it be scaled
up or down?

Why is a ratio a good means of comparison? How can it be scaled up or down?

• Where can ratios be used in daily life to find unknown quantitiesor inaccessible measurements?

• How can we use proportions for solving problems?

In your child’s notebook, you can find worked-out examples from problems done in class, notes on the mathematics of the unit, and descriptions of the vocabulary words.

HAVING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE MATHEMATICS INCOMPARING AND SCALING   You can help your child in several ways:
• Ratios, proportions, and percents are found all around us. When you notice such a use in a newspaper or magazine, point it out to your child and discuss with your child what the numbers are telling them about the situation.

• Have your child share his or her mathematics notebook with you, showing you what has been recorded about ratios. Ask your child to explain why these ideas are important.

• Have your child pick a question that was interesting to him or her and explain it to you.

Important January Dates
# 28 - Board of Trustees                                                                                                             

Meeting 7pm

Important February Dates

05 - Technology Celebration (6-8pm)
15 - School Closed / Professional Development
18 - President’s Day - School Closed
19 - Faculty Meeting
25 - Board of Trustees Meeting 7pm

We are gearing up for the Technology Theme celebration on February 5^th from 6-8pm in the evening. We hope you will be able to attend our celebration and encourage your children who have been working so hard to learn the curriculum.  Each student will have a research report on an infectious disease, a poster and a diorama from the novel they have been reading, Fever, 1793.  We will host the Ogivie Tea party in our room, this is a scene from the novel and we hope that students will contribute tasty treats for this party.  Please save this date or make arrangements for someone else from your family to come that evening so the students can participate fully in the culminating event of technology theme.  You will also have the opportunity to visit Cook’s Coffee house in the other 7^th grade classroom, also a scene from our novel.         

 Other classes will have presentations and displays and they can’t wait to share their knowledge with us.  We are very excited and are hoping for 100% participation from our room.

Curriculum

Health-Students are focusing on how to prevent catching infectious and communicable diseases, especially during flue season.

Music- We will be watching two musicals in the coming weeks, Beauty and the Beast, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic, Cinderella. Students will practice the dances found within these musicals, the Gavotte and Waltz.

Class Wish List

¨    Tissues

¨    Tea cups and saucers (loan)

¨    Tea pots (loan)

¨    Lined notebook paper

¨    Used ink cartridges

¨    Used cell phones

¨    Box tops for education

¨   
Campbell’s labels

Important January Dates

21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - School Closed
22 - Faculty Meeting
28 - Board of Trustees Meeting 7pm

 Book Report Project 2

http://titania.stockton.edu/mrswendt/files/2007/11/book-report-project-2.doc

International Night Script

This link will take you to  the part you must memorize for Tuesday.

For those who did not understand the scientific notation lesson, use your Math on Call Book and view this brief video clip.

If it requires a user name and password our Username: gccsstudent Password: Student.
you won’t have to view the entire video, just the segment on scientific notation.

There is also a link here with a detailed explanation of Scientific Notation  and how it is used. It is in word format.

Scientific Notation

Spirit Day
Please be advised that next Wednesday, Dress as your Favorite Literary Character Spirit Day, is to be celebrated without masks, gore/blood paint, or the representation of any “scary” character. Characters MUST be from a BOOK, not a movie or video game. Thanks in advance.
THEME
Today we began our unit on the Rise of Islam in the ancient world.  The students will be creating extensive powerpoint presentations during their Technology period. We will showcase these presentations on the activboard in our classroom at the International Celebration.

Send In Box Tops!
We need your help, Please start sending in your Box-tops for Education. I have only received a couple from from our students this year and these simple little tabs that you clip from the food you already purchase are  money, so don’t throw them away with the packaging.  We use the money we earn to offset the cost of field trips and assemblies.     

Mathematics
We just began our new unit on  Number Sense, this week we will review place value, working with decimals, and writing in scientific notation. There are a few students who will retest on the last unit.  The retest will be Monday, October 29th. These students will work on the skills they had trouble with during centers and I will provide extra practice sheets for them to work with at home.If you are wondering what YOUR student scored, just login to the online gradebook and check!  I will be sending home another progress report next week, this will need to be signed and turned back in to me.

Book Report Projects
Book report projects are due November 1st.  Some students are making book jackets, others are making life sized posters. The students have chosen many different creative ways to share their reading with the class and I can’t wait until their presentations.  We will be recording their presentations and putting them on itunes for you to view.
Brochures, Posters and Essays
As a wrap up to the Byzantine Empire portion of  Theme, students created beautiful brochures on the Justinian Era and ancient Byzantium.  Each student also wrote a 5  paragraph essay about what it means to be an American. These essays were also sent to the local Elks Lodge and entered into a contest they are sponsoring for local middle schools.   We thank them for the opportunity and the classroom visit. These essays are displayed outside our classroom for you to view when your visit us during the International Celebration on Thursday, November 15th.

SNACK ATTACK!

I spoke with every family at the home visits and not one disagreed with my healthy snacks policy.  Please send in fruit cups, fresh fruits, and crispy vegetables instead of processed chips and snack-cakes.

Here are the attached theme study guides. It will ask you to open the file as it is in Word format.

Byzantine Study Guide

Click here for this week’s newsletter.October 3, 2007 Newsletter

We hope you can Make it for Back to School Night Open House this Thursday from 6-7 pm.  Come see what your child has been working on, meet our specialist teachers and get connected with other parents!

Click on the file to view this weekly Newsletter.

September 21st newsletter

Welcome Back to School

Dear Parents and Guardians,
This first week, your students will be learning how to interact with each other in a new setting, our classroom.  They will be build social and communication skills as we learn about one another. We will begin assessments to insure that they are challenged appropriately throughout the coming year. All teachers ask for your support as our children adjust to a new schedule and altered responsibilities. Please make sure they get plenty of rest, and come to school prepared.  If you have not done so, please be sure to finish shopping for school supplies.
During home visits I mentioned some changes to our lunch program, you must have your child pack a lunch on all early dismissal days, there will not be lunch available for purchase on early dismissal days.  We have Phys. Ed. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday: I expect the students to wear the sneakers they will exercise in, to school.  They will not have an opportunity to change their footwear for Phys. Ed.
There are office forms that I have not yet received from everyone, please make every effort to get all office forms back to me, the safety of our children and the success of our educational programs depend upon your continued cooperation.  I look forward to partnering with you to make this a year full of learning and growth for your child.  Thank You,
Mrs. Wendt

P.S. During this year you may have questions regarding homework, assignments, upcoming events, and ways you can help our class succeed.  I will send home weekly newsletters, be sure to ask your child for any important papers each day. You can contact me through the school number 609-652-7118 ext. 336. You may contact me by email at michellewendt@comcast.net.You may keep up to date by visiting our class website at caxton.stockton.edu/mrswendt

You can also get a look at our progress report format that I send home as often as possible.

# - Posted by Mrs. Wendt - 9/8/07; 2:05:40 PM - Edit

Welcome to the Class of 2009!

Hi there!  This is our site for all important upcoming dates and internet links. It is our class blog.
 Last year our parents had a great time checking up on our progress and looking at pictures of their students as they completed activities and projects.
You will each have your own blogs, but this is our home base.  Our nightly homework assignments will be posted here as well as helpful suppliments to help you succeed.  The latest news will always be on top.

Class List -   Welcome back: Shakira, Daniel, Nicholas, Keano, Louis, Deion, Devon, Evangelista,  Christine, Brian, Maryam, Amanda,  and 4 students new to our school, Kenneth, Tyrique, Amirah, and Rashad.

Mrs. Wendt

School Supply List
If you did not pre-order your kit- please do not wait to get these supplies- we get started on our work right away in the 7th grade- there is no time to waste.
Click HERE for the list.

Snack Policy
All known research suggests we give our children healthy snacks. Students that have junk food in the middle of the day typically experience a sugar or carb rush followed by a crash. During crash time, learning suffers.  Give your kids the best possible chance to succeed- send in a bag of apples  or crunchy carrots for them to munch on. I ask that you please speak with your child about making healthy choices.  I will not allow the students to eat junk food in my class unless we are having a celebration. I am not with them in lunch, majors, or specials, but I hope the good habits carry over.

1. Students are assigned textbooks and are responsible for returning them at the end of the year in good condition.
2. School-owned Calculators do not leave our classroom- they are expensive. Each student is responsible for having their own calculator that can go home with them.
3. All library books must be signed out and in with class librarian.
4. Each day students will either have a opening or closing duty- this way the cleanliness and integrity of the room is maintained.
5. All problems should be reported to me either in person or by writing me a note if you feel uncomfortable. 
6. No Junk food in class- Unless a pre-arrainged celebration is taking place- in that case - one dessert item will be assigned.
7. Please be considerate of our class- shower, wear deoderant and brush your teeth. After Phys. Ed,  I KNOW that half the class smells- please do not embarrass anyone- simply talk to me if you HAVE to change your seat assignment for a bit.
   
8. Parents- The best way to reach me is e-mail  michellewendt@comcast.net ; I check it as often as I can, and at least once a day.

BLOGGING IN EDUCATION

I will oversee all student weblog contributions, and I will exercise administrative access privileges whenever necessary. We will also adhere to the Galloway Community Charter School District Acceptable Use Policies for the Internet. I am excited about using this as an opportunity for students to practice and refine their communication skills.
WISH LIST FOR OUR CLASS
There are a number of items I will be asking for from our students and parents during the school year.  Things like tissues are always important, but if I ask for cooking oil you will know it is for a science experiment.  We try to have a science lab every week - Here is a preliminary list of consumable items we will need for the year.

Paper Towels
Boxes of tissues
white vinegar- we don’t use windex to save the environment.
Healthy Snacks
baby wipes
Paper cups
Paper Plates- we use these for everything
Ziplock bags
Tennis balls
Healthy Snacks
Art supplies (yarn, beads, sequins, paint pens, feathers, buttons, glitter, craft sticks, etc. sewing thread and needles, fabrics, stuffing)
Notebook paper
Band-aids
Hand sanitizer
Healthy Snacks
Colored Printer Paper- for important notices
Books for the classroom library
clipboards
tape of all kinds
pencils pencils pencils

SPIRIT DAYS

September 28 (Friday)  Sports Jerseys (were your own or favorite teams)

October 31 (Wednesday)  Favorite Literary Character (dress as your fav. character)

November 30 (Friday)  Slipper Day (wear your slippers to school)

December 21 (Friday)  Winter Wonderland (special or favorite seasonal garb)

January 31 (Thursday) White Out (wear white)

February 29 (Friday) School Colors/Dolphin Day

March 31 (Monday) Hat Day (fav. hat/cap)

April 30 (Wednesday)  Dress for Success (put your best foot forward)

May 30 (Friday) - Hawaii Day (tropical clothes)

# - Posted by Mrs. Wendt - 8/9/06; 5:50:01 PM - Edit

Online Gradebook

Student Grades are Now Online

Dear Parents,

I have great news to share with you at the start of this exciting school year. The gradebook that I will be using this year, mygradebook.com, will allow you to go online and check your child’s progress in my class.

Mygradebook has several features that puts it at the top of the list of teacher gradebooks. It is a full-featured, completely secure Internet site that allows teachers to create accounts online and store their students scores.

Mygradebook has “the parent/student viewer” that allows you to log in and view only your child’s grade. In order to use this feature, you will need to receive, from me, a password to access only your child’s summary. In addition to viewing your child’s progress, you can also click on links to check attendance, and also see class policies, class announcements, assignment descriptions, and due dates. You can also email me whenever you have a question.

Now, when your child says “all my homework is done, ” you can go online and check. Mygradebook allows all of us ( the teacher, the parent, and the student) to work together to ensure your child’s success in school.

There are two ways to check your child’s grade summary. First, you can go to http://www.mygradebook.com and under Students and Parents select the Login Here link. You will need to enter the password information that I will give you, or you can receive an email from me each time I make modifications. With the email notification, all you have to do is click on the link and it will take you to your child’s summary.

If you have any further questions, please contact me. If you would like email notification each time an assignment or grade is added in mygradebook, please write your email address below. In the next few days I will be explaining the site to my students, and meeting with each student to give his/her personal password information. Students will be asked to share this letter and the password information with you.

Mother’s Email Address: _______________________________________ Father’s Email Address: _______________________________________

# - Posted by Mrs. Wendt - 7/12/06; 10:14:28 PM - Edit

Picking Up Your Students

Picking Up Your Students All Parents must park their cars and walk up to the Building to retrieve their students at the end of the day. We cannot block bus traffic or allow our students to walk out to you at your cars. This is dangerous and the school’s policies are clear. Please inform any relatives or friends that are picking up your student of this procedure as well. Students are dismissed at 3:30, please be on time to pick them up. Most of the teachers have after-school commitments.

Click HERE to adopt our classroom.

# - Posted by Mrs. Wendt - 6/17/06; 11:18:11 PM -

In an effort to remain true to the advancements in technology, I am starting this new class blog. It has better spam protection and that is an important security issue. I will be adding our content gradually, as I get time. Keep checking back for updates and classroom resources.

Here is the blogroll from the last weblog until I make new links for everything.