Top Ten Reasons Why Walton Students Love Winter Break

Greetings and Happy Holidays to Everyone,

As we go forth to this two week break there should be time for reflection and planning. It is a good time to look back on one's school year so far. Consider what has worked for you or your child and what has not and plan accordingly into the new year. It is also a good time to plan for the future. All students and parents (if you have received access codes from the guidance office) have access to signing up for classes for next year. Take a look at the Walton website for registration information. And please contact your guidance counselor if you have any questions about the registration process.

Though all of the above is true, let's be honest: most of us are looking forward to sleeping in, eating good food, seeing family etc. So here is a Top Ten List of reasons that the winter break is good.

Top Ten Reasons Walton Kids Love the Winter Break

10: You'll hear "Deck the Halls" instead of "No running in the halls."
9:   You will have more than 4 minutes to get from one place to another.
8:   Can text at free will (parents permitting of course).
7:   No LBD.
6:   Don't have to wake up to an alarm.
5:   No cheese pizza for lunch (unless of course you like cheese pizza).
4:   2 Weeks of no long, bumpy rides in a big yellow box.
3:   No homework until next year!!!!
2:   You get to wear a Hat!!!! Yea!
1:   Time with family and friends.

Happy Holidays everyone! Have fun and be safe.

Doug Bloor
School Counselor

Smartphones & Math

As a middle school math teacher, I was initially hesitant to incorporate technology into the classroom.  I taught in the Mississippi Delta during my first two years and our school finally received class sets of calculators late into my first year of teaching.  A class set of calculators were an invaluable tool, as students were allowed to use them on the MCT2 (state test).  Before I came to the school they were already on the cusp of being taken over by the state for low test scores so the introduction of calculators was greatly needed.

Fast forward to my first year in Albemarle County Public Schools and I was amazed (and intimidated) by the incredible uses of technology in the classroom to enhance student learning.  One of the more interesting initiatives in the division has been the use of student's handheld devices in the classroom.  Initially I was hesitant to adopt this philosophy although recently my heart has changed.

Earlier this week, my students were working on solving 1 step inequalities and were completing a partner puzzle where they had to match questions with corresponding solutions.  I announced that if they had smartphones or ipods they were allowed to use them as a calculator.  To my surprise the students were excited to use their personal hand held devices as a calculator and even tweeted me pictures of their work.  One of my favorite pictures from Tuesday was a picture of Elijah and Savannah working together and sharing an iPhone as a calculator.  With proper structures and expectations in place, this practice will certainly continue.

Good morning Walton Middle School.  This has been a crazy week of school.   We were delayed for two hours on Monday, missed Tuesday completely and have activity day schedule today. 

Yesterday we asked all students to leave their computers in homeroom for the night.  We are trying to update all programs for SOL testing that will begin when we return from the Winter Holidays.

As we look ahead to next week, we have multiple activities that are occurring.  The  Parent/Student portal is open to register for classes next year.  WMS Guidance Office will be hosting an informational meeting on Thursday at 5:00pm to go over the scheduling process.  The ACPD (SRO Ron Davis) will be directing an Internet Safety meeting to our student body on Thursday.  The Winter Band Concert will be held Thursday night at 6:15pm and then again for the student body on Friday at 9:30am.

We hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend!

Mr. Rick Vrhovac

From a teaching perspective, it isn’t difficult to see the meaning in student work. Writing essays and completing practice problems are clear ways to develop important academic skills, but what if there was something more to it? How can the work of middle school students impact a community? In the 8^th grade language arts class that Teresa Fields and I teach, we are embarking on an adventure to see how middle school work can impact a community. We call this service learning meaning simply that the assignments and student work that typically facilitate student learning are now focused towards a goal of helping. This year, our students selected The Haven which is a non-profit that provides services for people who are homeless. Our work encompasses a wide variety of tasks that range from writing papers raising awareness about the topic of homelessness to writing business letters and collecting donations for a silent auction. It is exciting to watch students realize that their work can have an impact outside of their teacher’s grade book.

Mrs. McElroy

Walton Book Fair 2013
Walton’s book fair will soon be arriving on MONDAY, DECEMBER 16^TH. It will be here until Thursday and will even be open Thursday afternoon before the holiday concert beginning at 4:45. 

Please consider volunteering to help out if you can. Ms. Proffitt still needs nine more people to help. You can sign up to help by going to this link:  www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0B4CA8A92B0-walton

Beginning today, please visit the book fair online at
 http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/waltonmiddleschool and share with friends and family. This is a great way to get some of your shopping done while supporting our school. The online book fair will be available now until Dec. 17th.

For more information, please contact Ms. Proffitt at mproffitt@k12albemarle.org.

Like a few other staff members in our building, I have the privilege of having been a student at Walton Middle School more than a few years ago. I often think about how my experiences at Walton Middle School helped prepare me for high school and beyond. I am grateful for all that my Walton teachers did for me when I was a student.  They taught me, they supported me when I needed help, and always made sure that I knew they expected me to work hard and succeed. Today, I watch Walton teachers work every bit as hard as my teachers did to ensure our students are well prepared for high school and beyond. I see them push students academically and support then simultaneously. The message is clear that success is an expectation. I am proud to be part of a school with such a tradition of supporting students.  It is a terrific alma mater.

Alison Dwier-Seldon
Principal

Pride

First and foremost, welcome back after a long and extended holiday. The “snow” day caught many of us off guard, but the extra day of Thanksgiving break was a wonderful treat. Now that we are settling back into the swing of things, it is time to continue our hard work as we push on to Winter Break. There are a lot of BIG items coming in the next three weeks: Winter MAP tests will take place in all Language Arts classes next week. 8^th grade students will start to talk about the registration process for 9^th grade at Monticello High School. Teachers will send home interims this Friday. All of our students in 6^th and 7^th grade History classes, as well as all 8^th grade students, start the mad dash to their end of course tests in January.

There has been a lot of talk on the local news recently about our School Board and state legislators talking about the SOL tests and their future. While we tend to hear a lot of news about the SOL tests, we often forget that there are other, more traditional indicators of student success that get a lot less press time. On Tuesday, almost 190 students from Walton Middle School were invited to an end-of-the-day ice cream social hosted by the administrative team. These were the students that achieved either A/B Honor Roll or all A Honor Roll for the first quarter. Over half the school accomplished this, which is quite the achievement. So as we look back and take stock of what we are thankful for, our students and all of their many successes, big and small, are at the top of the list.  Walton has a lot to brag about this year, but our major source of pride is our students. Great job, Wildcats!

 

Mr. Guy



Care and Share Drive

We officially kicked off our Care and Share Season this past Friday at our Care and Share Pep Rally during Wrap-Up followed by our after school Care and Share Dance.

For over two decades Walton Middle School has provided food packages to families in need during the December holiday season. Those packages include food we collect from our students and faculty, as well as, other items we buy with money donated or proceeds from the Care and Share dance. Through the years over 700 food packages have been distributed to our Walton families and families in the Walton community. Please help us continue this tradition by encouraging your student to bring in non-perishable food items during the next two weeks. Monetary donations are welcome.

Mike Hansell

7th Grade History Teacher

Baking with Fractions

“When are we ever going to use this?” is a question middle school students frequently ask. To answer this question, I am having my 6^th grade math students bake cookies on Friday. The students are going to apply what they have learned about multiplying and dividing fractions by calculating the amount of each ingredient if they cut a recipe in half. Making and then eating the cookies will help them practice measuring skills, following directions, and will allow the students to evaluate if they did their calculations correct based on how well the cookies turned out. Thanks to all the parents that let their child bring baking supplies to school and to the parents that are coming to help!  If you have any recipes that you need to double or triple for Thanksgiving, have your child do the calculations for you. I hope all students, their families, and staff have a safe and happy Thanksgiving break next week.

~ Mrs. Deering

    6th grade math 

8th Grade Blogs

Think about what you would spend more time crafting: a paragraph for your teacher on a topic she has assigned, or a note to friend about the boy you have a crush on?  Authentic audience and topic choice make a tremendous difference to students when they write.  Because of the motivating effect of finding an authentic audience, 8th grade Language Arts students have been working on building a personal blog.

Topics have run the gamut from Monticello football game recaps to the differences between glitz and natural pageants.  Some of the best entries have been reviews of video games, droll accounts of boring weekends, and recaps and reactions to television shows.  We've even had an entry about the most serious of topics: sushi!  As the year goes on, we hope to find our voice as writers and take care in crafting the best entries we can, both in terms of expression and conventions.

Dear Walton Families,

This has been such a great year in the band room.  From dodging the already arriving yard sale items to walking through the cat’s mouth to enter the doorway to have class on spirit week, the fun just keeps going.

I cannot think of a better place to be than in a band room full of young minds just waiting to learn.  I love it when the students feel so good about what they have accomplished. It is hard work and still it is having fun. I can also promise you that the students that are practicing at home are doing better and having a lot more fun than those that do not…

PRACTICE   PRACTICE  PRACTICE  PRACTICE   PRACTICE

 

If you ask for directions in New York, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”….The answer is practice practice practice

I do not want Carnegie Hall, but a great winter performance would be wonderful.

·      All classes have practice charts now and know how they work

·      All charts are due on  the week they have Friday band

·      6^th grade: start with 10 minutes, 5 to 7 times a week, and work to 15 min. by November 15^th

·      7th grade needs to buckle down pretty quick and give a minimum of 30 minutes, 5 to 7 times a week.  1 hour is ideal.

·      8^th grade should be at 45 minutes to 1 hour, 5 to 7 times a week

Practice is not an option it is an expectation and considered homework.  I have had students tell me they are not allowed to practice because it annoys mom or dad.  If they do not do their math homework, they will fail math. Same goes for band.  Practice is their home work so have your child…

*hold a concert for you after dinner

*play for the grandparents

*have a set practice time each day

*record them and play it back together

         *make it fun!!!!

Come by our band room any time and we will gladly play a tune just for you.  Are door is always open and we love to display are talents.  Hope to see you all soon!

Peggy Haluska

Band Director

7th Grade Word Study

                A big focus for middle school Language Arts classes is giving students the opportunity to study and learn new and advanced vocabulary.  Having a vast knowledge of vocabulary can help make reading more enjoyable and make student’s writing more advanced.  One of the ways that we address this in the classroom is by teaching root word study.  We focus on a root for a week or two at a time and try to develop as many words as possible to go with that root by using numerous prefixes and suffixes.

                At the beginning of the school year, we spend time focusing on the meanings of various prefixes and suffixes.  Then, we take a root word, define what the root means, and then add the prefixes and suffixes we have learned to make new words.  We will complete other activities to practice meaning and usage of these words as well.  As students become comfortable with this process, they start developing words and recognizing meanings of words in their reading quickly.  Since Language Arts is very cyclical, we come back to the same prefixes and suffixes again and again, which makes the learning easier for students that are struggling, while those that get it right away are able to go on their own to create and identify words they previously didn’t know with ease.

                During the last two weeks, 7^th grade students have been working with the root word Phobia, which means abnormal fear of.  We have looked at prefixes we’ve had earlier this year, such as zoo- (animal), hydro-(water), and photo- (light), while adding new prefixes, such as bronto-(thunder), pyro-(fire), and xeno-(alien). 

                To help students work on understanding and expand their knowledge and vocabulary, we’ve completed various activities.  Two of these activities have really been interesting to watch students participate in.  The first activity involves students working with a partner and looking at a compiled list of 1,500 recognized phobias.  After reading through this list, they compiled their own top 20 list of what they would consider to be the worst phobias to live with every day.  After compiling all of the lists, the number one phobia that the students thought would make life most difficult was panophobia, the fear of everything.

                The other activity that has been interesting to watch came from a NPR program that another teacher read about (thank you Rachel McElroy!).  Students have chosen either a phobia they have or one that they find interesting and then they have completed artwork and writing that go with it.  It has been amazing to see what students have created.

Will Matics

7th Grade Language Arts Teacher