January 4th

Team Quest Website

Happy New Year Questers!

Important Changes

In an effort to streamline communication about student learning, we piloted Otus as a learning management system.  After presenting Otus to the administration team, it was decided that the district would not be pursuing the use of Otus on a larger scale.  It is with this decision in mind that we have decided to transition away from Otus.  Below are some FAQs that will help you get started with our new system.

Where do I start?

The Quest Website Resources page will be your number one stop for all things Team Quest.  Here the link. 

What should my student be working on at home?

Reading 20 minutes a night.  Also, check the "What's Due This Week" document that is linked on the Quest Website Resources page.  Highlighted assignments are considered 'homework' but can be completed at school.  Writing assignments will be turned into Google Classroom or Newsela.

Where are the grades?

Use the JumpRope link on the Quest Website Resources page to access proficiency scores on all scored assignments.  

Where are the POWs?

There is a Google Classroom set up for POWs.  This is linked to the Quest Website Resources page.  If you don't have access as a guardian and would like to have access, please email Melissa at mwilliams@wwsu.org.  Here you will see what your student submitted as well as any feedback they received.  Please note that comments on writing will be shown either through Google Classroom or through Newsela.  I hope this will be easier for students to find.

What is SeeSaw?

This is a tool students use to collect evidence of their learning and reflect along the way.  It will be used as a blog for students to document learning.  We have just started, so there is not much on this site yet.  Here are the direction

Please Sign Up Now

1. Click on this link: https://app.seesaw.me/s/184-484-897
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once I approve you, you can see content from your child

After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in. You can also access Seesaw from a computer at https://app.seesaw.me.

Thank you for helping us pilot Otus!

Holiday Feast and other notes

Hello Quest Families!

Thank you to all who attended student conferences before Thanksgiving break.  It is always nice to see you all.  In two weeks, we will have the Holiday Feast!

Quest Feast Each year, the Quest Team has a holiday feast to celebrate our community and the winter holidays.  We ask each student on the Quest Team to bring in a sample (4-6 servings) dish that their family enjoys eating – perhaps something traditional – and we have a big potluck lunch.  Students sign up for entertaining with singing, instrumental pieces, or other forms of appropriate entertainment.  The feast is held in the Quest Team's classrooms.  Family members are welcome!  Each student is expected to bring a dish, a drink such as cider or juice, a dessert, or paper products like plates, forks and knives (and napkins).  Please email Melissa Williams with what you can bring.  We ask everyone to bring something to contribute to our community.  

Here is a link for more information.  

Winter Weather Clothing: With winter weather here, please help your student to remember snow boots, snow pants, hats and mittens for their lunch recess.

Assessment Feedback:  If you are interested in seeing the comments on your student's work, you will need to ask them to log into Otus.  They can click on assessments, and then click on the particular assessment you would like to review with them. Then, you would click on the small speech bubble.  We apologize that this is an extra step, but if you are interested, it will allow you to see the results of their assignments more clearly.  Most assignments have written feedback in addition to the score.  Please do not hesitate to email if you have any questions.

October 26

Quest students enjoying the Fall weather.

Student-led Conferences
These conferences are led by students.  They will look different from last year's conferences.  Students will be at the center of the conversation, guiding parents/guardians through an exhibition of their learning.  Students will focus this conference around highlights, successes, and goals.  We find that student-led conferences are a tremendous opportunity for students to be leaders in their education.  If you would like to meet for a traditional parent-teacher conference please email Curtis or Melissa and we can schedule a meeting outside of these conference dates.

Sign up here.

Percentages
Next week, we will begin to learn about percentages.  This type of math is all around us, so feel free to make connections with your students while you are out and about.

Refugee Project
We will be wrapping up the Global Read Aloud book, Refugee by Alan Gratz, this week with a point of view project.  Students will be gathering evidence from the book and creating a visual that shows the point of view of one of the characters in the story.

Quest Talent Show
The Quest students will have an impromptu talent show on Halloween.  We look forward to seeing the different acts :)

Mary's Solo Teaching
Mary Vachon will be solo teaching for the two and a half weeks before vacation.  As we teach in a team model, this means that there will be three team teachers on Quest!  Mary will lead teach more of the lessons for this period.  She will be starting on November 5th.

October 12

Callum learning about the history of the Little River State Park land.

Otus
When viewing Otus from the 'family' perspective, unfortunately, you can only see graded assessments (assignments).  You cannot see what is due.  However, there are two ways around this.  The first way is having your student log in to their Otus account at home.  The second way is to download the Otus app.  Here you can see what assignments are due and scores on completed assignments.

Postcard Exchange
During the month of October, we are connecting with schools around the world who are reading Refugee by Alan Gratz.  We are asking for students to bring in a postcard that they will send to another class around the world.  Thanks for your help with this.

Upcoming Math Topics
Students will be applying their understanding of ratios to explore rates and percentages.  More information about the math in this unit can be found here.

Learning Targets for October
Students are working on Point of View in fiction and non-fiction reading.  Next week, students will have a choice to either write a story from a different point of view, or to analyze their Newsela article and write paragraphs based on the two different points of view represented in the article.