DEPT. NOTES WEST SPRINGFIELD HIGH SCHOOL / SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

ELA

Math

The students have been busy in ELA! Ninth grade classes have already progressed through two stories in their Elements of Short Fiction unit. Our tenth grade students are about to begin crafting their own autobiographical narratives and every eleventh grade student is learning to apply rhetorical devices such as antithesis, parallelism, and rhetorical questions in their own writing. Our senior classes continue to think critically about various literary movements: the Post Modern American Lit. class is currently reading from Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. Stay tuned to hear more about our other senior electives and our AP Courses!

All of the math classes have moved out of their first unit(s), moving past basics and review to more in depth material in the individual content. As we move into more in depth content, we look for opportunities to engage in deeper conversation and thinking about mathematics at a higher level.

History

PE & Health

The History Dept is working with DOK and learning conversations across the board to increase rigor. We are on task with our curricular coverage and preparing for our first benchmark!

• Child Development:  New E-Books  with Mrs. McDonnell • Health: Using Supertracker for nutrition • PE: Ultimate Frisbee, Soccer, Tennis, Football • International Games: Rugby • Backyard Games: Bocce • Strength and Conditioning: Naval Academy Fitness Pre Test • Lifeguarding:Basic Rescue

BTCE Accounting students are busy getting a handle on debits and credits and wrapping their minds around some basic accounting concepts. We are getting ready to recruit students into teams to compete at the annual Stock Market Challenge to be held at the MassMutual Center in early November.

Science

Art Photo 2 students have been painting with light for the last week. We are excited to see the results! Westside Day, at the Big E, was a g reat opportunity for the Marching Band to demonstrate their hard work. You can catch them at the football games all season.

SPED The special education department has its first department meeting today.  We will be paying special attention to IEP writing and inclusion this year.

Foreign Language

 

Spanish National Honor Society members are collaborating to create a lobby display centered around the theme "Take Ownership for Your Learning." World Language club will be starting next month, including students from all cultures and languages. Ms. Jessica Moore and Mrs. Laurie García will be coadvising. The department is also working on integrating Depth of Knowledge into benchmarks and midterm assessments.

Students use balloons to model the subatomic structure of atoms.

Guidance The Month of September brought many senior meetings. By this week, most seniors have met with their counselors. In addition, we are actively working on re-engaging students who left WSHS, helping our students prepare for MCAS retest, and busy planning for both the college fair (October 27), career seminars, and MCAC (Massachusetts College Acceptance Cellebration-November 15) http://www.mass.edu/gearup/ events/mcac.asp. Guidance also actively collaborates with teachers on a daily basis, calling home when students are absent, checking in when students are struggling, and coordinating parent meetings. We welcome the open lines of communication and are always looking for ways to increase our community engagement.