Discovery Update for Families

Calendar March 19 - Level 4 students attend Dino-Light at NJPAC Chaperones needed March 20 - Discovery will be OPEN* March 25 @ 6:00pm - Musical Theater Workshop presentation - All families welcome March 26 - End of second trimester April 3 - Discovery will be OPEN* April 13-17 - Discovery closed April 27 - Beginning of NJSLA tests (*) parents can request in writing that their children be excused to observe Eid ul-Fitr or Good Friday. We have to open Discovery to compensate for the extra snow days.

 

 

 

 

 

** KEEP THE DATE: students in the Musical Theater Workshop will present their work on Wednesday March 25 at 6:00pm. All are welcome.

 

Last week, students made ELA presentations on the Utopia/Dystopia theme. For example, one group of level 8 students staged a talk show in which two citizens shared their life in a society where everyone has to be equal and people who have a physical or mental advantage have to wear “handicaps” to not be better than others. Our children showed a lot of creativity and enjoyed writing their pieces.

 

Children are finishing their Skill Packets to demonstrate one of the skills we practice this term in Social Studies. They are demonstrating this skill on one of the topics explored in our Utopia / Dystopia unit.

 

In Science, after learning about the inside of the Earth, we are now exploring how the forces of water can reshape the surface of the Earth. There will be experiments with soil trays to model both the physical and chemical effect of water on the land.

 

In math with the level 5 and level 6 students, we pushed hard for better notes. Please ask your child to show you their Math Cookbook to see their notes and reference pages. Make sure to sign their quizzes and notebook when we ask on the assignment sheet.

 

Level 4 students are revisiting multiplication and division with a greater number of digits. 

 

In Level 5 we practice representing and writing decimal numbers in several forms (standard, fractions, expanded form) so that we can compare them and compute them. 

 

What is the meaning of a division when we use whole numbers and fractions? Level 6 students discover that it could be, “What fraction of a group is this?”or, “How many groups are there?” You can watch some videos about this exploration. 

 

In Level 7 the children are solving linear equations by using a representation with Gold coins and pouches (see on Remind)

 

Using transparent patty paper, level 8 students explore special relationships between angles crossed by transversal lines and use these relationships to calculate the measure of unknown angles.

We have started a Chocolate Fundraiser to raise money for our Good Neighbor Festival on May 30. Students who want to help fundraise will ask you to sign a contract in order to receive a box and sell chocolate bars for our fundraiser.

 

8th graders:

Rutgers  University is accepting applications for its Rutgers 4-H STEM Ambassadors program until April 10. Register for their Zoom information meeting on March 18 at 7:00pm.

Applications on Newark Common App for charter high schools will close on March 16.