September 28

Glass blowing studio in Waterbury Center.

Finding unit prices at Shaw's.

Phases of matter at Ben & Jerry's.

Thank you again for coming out for Back-to-School Night! Please remember to sign up for Otus.

On Monday, we will be going on a field trip to Little River State Park.

October 1 - Little River State Park

We will join State Park Interpreter, Brian Aust, for a day at Little River State Park.  Brian is preparing a scavenger hunt for us to explore the history of Little River along the history hike.  At one of the stations, Brian will give small groups information regarding the people who moved to and through this part of Vermont.  Chaperones are welcome.

9:30 Leave CBMS for a 9:45/9:50 arrival at the park.

We will eat lunch at Little River.

We plan to return for 1:30 Applied Academics.

To Bring:

• Walking shoes
• Water bottle
• Rain Gear
• Snack
• Brown bag lunch (one can be purchased at school with prior notice)

Postcard Exchange

During the month of October, we will be reading Refugee by Alan Gratz. This is the Global Read Aloud book for middle school, so we will be connecting with classes from around the world about this book. We will be participating in a postcard exchange with schools and are asking for each student to bring in a postcard or a dollar to help with this exchange. Thanks for your help with this!

Otus

Otus
In an effort to minimize the number of websites students and parents need to check, we are piloting an online system called Otus.  Otus is a place where students, teachers, and parents can communicate through announcements, assignments, assessments, reflections (blogs), and lessons.

Parents / Guardians will have their own accounts and will be able to see what is going on in the Quest classrooms.  To create an account, please follow the directions here.

You will need your student to log in first to get their Student Code from their Profile.  These codes were sent home today with students.

Quest Website

September 21

Thea and Zoey finding the best deals at local supermarkets.

Hello Quest Families,

We had another great week on Team Quest!  Students researched an element from the periodic table and created identity masks for their element.  They used their lessons on graphic organizers and note-taking to help them research and write paragraphs as well.

For Math, we extended our learning about ratios by learning about unit prices.  We looked through flyers from the Village Market to see the real world application of unit prices. 

Next Thursday is Back-to-School Night.  We look forward to seeing everyone that evening!  We will also be going on our field trip that day to local Waterbury businesses to see how what we study in the classroom is used in the real world.  Please make sure your student has brought in their permission slip.

Welcome Back

Lincoln, Tanner, and Addy making their first attempt at creating a scientific model of how ice cream is made.

Welcome Back to the Quest Team!

We have had an excellent start to our sixth grade year.  The students have come back with much enthusiasm, and we are excited for the 2018-2019 school year here on Quest!

Curtis's classroom has moved to what was formally known as the "project room."  We are utilizing our movable wall to change the learning environment of our different classes.

Our student teacher, Mary Vachon has started to work in our classrooms.  Welcome Mary! Her student letter can be found here.

Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Williams will be participating in a Learning Lab for Innovation.  Information about that can be found here.


The schedule:  Our day starts at AG, and then moves to "Core 1."  This is an interdisciplinary time of the day.  Students receive whole class, small group, and hands on learning during this time with both Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Williams team teaching the lessons.  These lessons are based on 3 learning targets:  Finding main idea / using graphic organizers, ratios, and creating models to communicate scientific information.  Your student has participated in whole team activities (making ice cream, receiving direct instruction, creating questions for our question board), small group activities (drawing models of matter, hands-on activities), and individual time for reflection.

After Core 1, we move into workshops, which operate in a similar manner to last year.

Although we will refer to these learning targets throughout the year, our focus will shift after the end of September.

Snack - At 10:00, we have a snack break.  Students do not each lunch until 12:15, so this snack break is crucial for helping them get through the morning.  Please send a snack with your student each day.  If you are unable to do this, please notify the Quest teachers.  Then at 10:15, students go to band and chorus.  Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Williams work with small groups of students for additional workshops at this time.

After band / chorus / studyhall, students have reading class.  Students are working on graphic organizers to chart the main ideas of their reading.  They are also recording their books in their planners.

The next hour is dedicated to Core 2.  Students work on projects (an identity box) and material related to our learning targets and curricular themes.  This time of day is more project and problem based.

Students then have lunch and recess block with the rest of the 5th and 6th grade.  They end their day with Applied Academics (World Language, PE, Art, Music, Tech Ed, Sustainability).

POWs:
POWs!  We will be starting our POWs this week.

POWs are a two week process this year.  For the first week, students will be creating graphic organizers about a non-fiction article.  We will begin these during our workshops.  Students have one week from when it is assigned to when it is due.  The due date is in your student's planner.

The next week, students will start their writing in workshop, and will have a week to finish and revise their writing.  They will have some time during workshop block to work on their writing pieces, however, they will most likely still have some to bring home to finish.

The POW assignment can be found on the Quest Website.  Follow this link to see this week's topics.


Math Homework
Students will have a weekly assignment that they will begin during workshops at school.  The assignment will mostly be practicing skills and concepts taught in workshops.  They will have a week to complete the assignment and record the due date in their planners.

Welcome back and feel free to email us with any questions.

End of Year

Emily D, Wyatt, Jake, and Ellie act as the Greek Gods in The Odyssey play.

Summer Math Practice
Students will be coming home with their Math workbook on Thursday, which is a great way to practice 5th grade skills over the summer.  They also still have access to their zearn.org accounts.  A few activities each week will help them retain some of the learning from this past school year.

Students also helped create a Math website called Quest Academy.  They made tutorial videos covering a range of concepts covered during this school year. 

The Odyssey Play
We are so proud of all of the Quest students for their wonderful performance on Tuesday.  Here is the link to watch it.

Reading and Writing
Students should continue reading over the summer and to practice writing they can keep a journal.  Their journal entries can be about what they are reading, what they are doing, or anything they would like to write about.

June 2018

Students cheer for their teammates in the Quest Olympics!  Events included the mile "marathon," javelin (with pool noodles), Frisbee toss, chariot racing, and debates among other events.

Hello Questers!
It has been a busy May.  Students worked hard through their testing, and now we are working on more creative endeavors.   We are working on two projects in particular, our Greek Play and a STEM project which is focused on creating solar collectors.

Next week we will be wrapping up these projects, and the rest of fifth grade.
Here are some of the highlights:

On Monday, we will be running the dress rehearsal of our play and Chromebooks will be collected.

Tuesday is the play!!  We welcome all of you as our audience.  It will be a low key affair.  We are proud of all of our students, as they all have contributed to this performance.  The play runs about an hour, and we plan to start at 9:00.

After the play, we would like to have some snacks for our students.  If you have any time and could send in some drinks, salty snacks, or sweets (without nuts :), they would be appreciated.

During lunch on Tuesday, I (Mrs. Williams) will have a Book Bingo party.  If your student completed the Book Bingo Challenge this year, they are welcome to participate.  A copy of the bingo board can be found here.

The Quest Team will be taking our last field trip of the year on Wednesday, June 13th to the Waterbury Reservoir.  In the morning, we will be taking a bus to the Reservoir and enjoy time
together as a team.  Then, we will eat lunch, and have a relaxing afternoon of swimming and lawn
games. We are hiring a certified lifeguard. We will leave the school at 9:30, and will return by 2:00.
We ask that students bring a lunch that has no soda, energy drinks, candy or glass bottles. You can
purchase a bag lunch from the cafeteria. If you would like one, please email Melissa Williams. We
will also ask for a show of hands to see who would like a lunch. A bag lunch would most likely contain:
bagel w/ cream cheese, bag of Original Sunchips, chocolate or white milk, fruit, and a cheese stick.

In order to make sure your child is comfortable and prepared for the day, please make sure that he/she
brings in the following items:

• Snack
• Backpack
• Sunscreen
• Water bottle
• Bag lunch
• Swimsuit and towel (if he/she would like to swim)
• sweatshirt/ jacket

Optional items:

• Easily transportable lawn game
• Frisbee

Thursday, we will have a locker clean out and then the Eighth Grade Assembly. This assembly will feature awards for the eighth grade students. We will also do team events this day.

On Friday we will be walking to the pool with our AGs. At the pool, we will be swimming and playing different sports. We will walk back to the school for a 12:05 dismissal.

Thank-you for your support this year. We look forward to this last week with our students, and we look forward to another year with these Quest students.

End of the Year Happenings

Students collecting solar energy data in the outdoor classroom.

The Odyssey! Fifth Grade Play
The Quest Team will be preforming The Odyssey! on June 12th from 9:00-10:00.  This month, we have been working on this play during II.  Your student has been focusing on acting, costumes, props, reflection, and group work skills.  If your child has a speaking role, please help your child to memorize lines.  Students should be "off script" by May 18th. 

SBAC Testing
May 21-25 students will be taking the SBAC test in Reading, Writing, and Math.  There will be NO HOMEWORK this week. 

Reservoir Field Trip
We have moved this trip to June 13th from 9:45-2:00.  This will be part of the last week of school.