DC Portfolio Projects

DC Portfolio Projects

Hello everyone,
  We wanted to send out some information about your child's DC Portfolio Projects which they will be working on at times both at school and also at home in the coming week:




DC Portfolios: Their are two main objectives for the DC portfolios. The first is to demonstrate through their learning log and photos with captions what they have learned about justice through the sites visited on the DC trip. The second major objective is to document and reflect on their own personal experience on the trip through poetry written in English classes this week. In TAG this past Wednesday students received a checklist of requirements for creating their DC Projects.


Due Date: The portfolio project is due to their homeroom teacher during homeroom on Monday May 6th.
 

Time: Students will be provided time during next week's TAG on Wednesday 5/1 and also during next week's house block on Friday 5/3 to work on their portfolio project with their homerooms. During this time they will have access to computers and some basic materials for assembling their portfolios. Students will have to spend some time on their own at home working on assembling their DC Projects.
Photos: Part of the portfolio project involves students selecting both learning and social photos from their homeroom's trip and creating captions for each of the photos. If possible students should select the photos they would like to include in their portfolios at home and either color print at home or get them developed into "traditional 3x5 or 4x6 photos" online or in-store at various locations. Students will not be able to color print on the school printer. Homeroom teachers would like students to bring in their photos and project materials both this coming Wednesday 5/1 and also on Friday for the house block on 5/3.

DC Night: We will have much more information early next week regarding DC Night which is Thursday May 9th beginning at 7pm. We have many great things planned for this night and look forward to seeing you there!

Q3 Report Card Slips and Black DC Clipboards

Q3 Report Card Slips and Black DC Clipboards

Hello everyone,
   Welcome back from your April vacation - just a quick note for you.  We will have more information regarding DC Projects and DC Night at the end of the week.

1. Q3 Report Cards - Please sign and return the verification slip stating you have seen your child's 3rd quarter report card. These can be sent along with your child to their homeroom teacher by Wednesday.

2. DC Clipboards - If students have not done so already they should bring their black DC clipboards back to their homeroom teacher by this Wednesday as well.

Thanks .

DC Trip Final Updates

DC Trip Final Updates

Hello everyone,

  Here are some final updates for our DC Trip next week.

1. Packing List and Trip Information Sheet: Please remember that if you no longer have hard copies of either of these forms they can be downloaded off of my website for viewing or printing. Please remember that the trip information sheet has hotel address and phone numbers, information on departure and arrival times on Amtrak.

• Click Here to Access the Electronic Versions of the Packing List and Trip Info Sheet

2. Drop off times Monday April 8th: Please remember for Wayland Resident Students that drop off at 5:45 AM at the University Ave (Route 128) Station at Exit 13 (Westwood) off of Route 128 South. Please carpool if possible. For Boston Resident students only who are boarding at South Station drop off time is at 5:30AM in front of the Au Bon Pain in the middle of the lobby area. We are taking train #95 Northeast Regional to D.C.

3. Return/Pickup Time Thursday April 11th: We are returning on train #176. The scheduled arrival time back is 7:50PM at the University Ave/Route 128 Station and 8:00 PM at South Station. Please make sure your child is picked up on time.

4. Luggage Tags: On Friday your child will be coming home with two luggage tags with their names on them. One luggage tag is for their suitcase and the other luggage tag is for their backpack. Please ensure that your child puts both luggage tags on their two bags so that in the event they are lost they can be returned to them in a timely fashion.

5. Black clipboards and DC trip Learning Logs: Also on Friday your child will be coming home with a black school plastic clipboard. Inside the clipboard is their DC Learning Log, Poetry Notebook and a few other items. Please ensure that your child packs this clipboard in their backpack and brings it with them on the trip. They can also keep their pencils inside the clipboard as well. Each clipboard has been labeled with a sticker with their name on it. They can return these to their homeroom teacher the Friday after the trip.

6. Healthy Snacks and Food allergies: When packing snacks for your child please keep in mind that we have several children with severe food allergies. Common spaces we will be sharing include the train, bus, and also the hotel rooms. As you pack snacks for your child please avoid snacks which contain nuts in them as this is our most common food allergy. Thank you for this in advance. Also please remember students should not be packing with them energy drinks or caffeinated beverages on the trip. 

7. Labeling items: Please make sure all of your child's items are labeled. This includes electronic devices, bags, cameras, etc. In the event something is lost it is much easier to locate a missing item if their is a name on that particular item.

8. Calling your child on the trip: If you would like to call your child while they are in D.C. we ask that you please do this in the morning only and not during the daytime when we are visiting the monuments, memorials, and hearing from speakers. It can be quite distracting to your child and the rest of the group if they receive a call from home while they are working and reflecting at the sites during the day. Homeroom teachers will allow students to call home or receive calls usually at breakfast time in the morning. Our cell phone policy is that students may have their cell phones on them during the day in the event of an emergency, but should not be used for taking/making calls, texts, or any other social media on it.

9. Washington D.C. Podcasts: Podcasts are available for your child to download onto their portable mp3 personal listening devices. The podcasts were created by Ms. Valdes and volunteer students and contain information about each of the monuments/memorials/sites we will be visiting while we are in D.C. These can be downloaded at home at the following site.

  Wayland Middle School Online Site

DC Update:

DC Update:

Below are 2 important pieces of information regarding our trip.  There will be a final blog update on Thursday or Friday with last minute trip instructions.  Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

 

DC Trip Updates - Medical Drop Off Day

Just a quick reminder that any medications which will be administered by Wayland Middle School staff to your child while on the D.C. trip must be dropped off on Friday April 5th, between 7:30 and 2:20. Your child's homeroom teacher will have coordinated with you this information but we wanted to send one more reminder about it on the cluster blog.

 Please remember that all medications should be in their original bottle, just the medication needed for the trip, your child's name on the bottle, and sealed in a ziploc bag. Your child's homeroom teacher will collect these medications at 2:20 and bring them on the DC trip.

 

Meeting with Rep. John Lewis

Dear 8th grade families,

We are excited to share with you an additional special event that will happen next week on our DC trip.

We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with Rep. John Lewis.  As you may know, Rep. Lewis is a true American icon.  He was one of the key leaders of the Civil Rights Movement - a sit-in organizer, a Freedom Rider, and the leader of the Selma-to-Montgomery March in 1965.  Rep. Lewis is the sole surviving speaker from the March on Washington.  In 2011 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rep. Lewis has been in Congress since 1986.  He remains one of our country's most articulate proponents of nonviolence and social justice.

Our grade will have the opportunity to meet with Rep. Lewis Wednesday morning, April 10th.  It is an experience all of us (teachers, staff and students) will surely treasure for years to come.

Rep. Lewis' website is here:  http://johnlewis.house.gov/.  You can read more about his life and work here:  http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/lew0bio-1. 

Just this week, Rep. Lewis was in the news twice.  He was interviewed on the radio show "On Being" [http://www.onbeing.org/program/john-lewis-on-the-art-and-discipline-of-nonviolence/5126] and his forgiveness of one of a Ku Klux Klan member was profiled in a New York Times obituary. [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/us/elwin-wilson-who-apologized-for-racist-acts-dies-at-76.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0]

Thanks for your continued support of your children, this trip, and our school.

Best wishes,

The Martin Luther King House Staff