Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours!

 

Stewardship & Citizenship Culminating Video Presentation

Check out this great video on our first trimester work put together by the Dynamic Design Video Production Team!

CULMINATING EVENT SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

The week of December 16th is the Culminating Event Week for our first thematic unit, "We the People: Government and Citizenship."

We have a variety of events planned during the week for our students to demonstrate the work they have been doing all trimester long as active and involved citizens within our Dynamic Design Learning Community, the St. Albans City School community, and extending beyond to greater community needs and government.  The schedule is as follows:

Monday, Dec 16	11:30am - 12:00n	Team Job Presentations	Students will present the work they do in Dynamic Design team jobs to demonstrate citizenship (oral group presentations)
Tuesday, Dec 17	8:30am - 9:30am	Guest Speaker: VT Representative Mike McCarthy (Franklin 3-1)	Mike, a state representative for St. Albans and local business owner, will lead a discussion on the importance of young people being involved as active citizens in local government and organizations. (Mike is currently one of only 7 out of 180 members of the state legislature under age 35!)
Tuesday, Dec 17	11:30am - 12:00n	Stewardship Presentations	In a gallery-style display, students will present the work they do on a weekly basis to fill a need and serve the St. Albans City School community, thinking about how to extend that work to the greater community.
Wednesday, Dec 18	11:30am - 12:00n	Socratic Seminar	Each week, students have responded to various text and media in a socratic seminar discussion.  On this day, they will model the seminar, a method for deep questioning and higher-level understanding, in 3 separate groups according to topic choice of interest (Local crime & drugs, Sports Injuries, The desensitizing effect of media on youth)
Thursday, Dec 19	11:30am - 12:00n	Government Video	Students have produced a short video on the Dynamic Design government established for this theme’s project-based learning and on what citizenship means to our students now.

Please feel free to join us for any or all of these events as your schedule allows.  We look forward to seeing you.

Learning Showcases

Thank you to all who participated in our learning showcases last week. We hope everyone received helpful information, and we look forward to our Designers working toward their newly set Trimester 2 Goals. If you weren't able to come in and would still like to set up a Learning Showcase to see your student's work and check-in with the Dynamic Design teachers, please feel free to email or call (527-0565 x2013).

Day of Code

On Monday, December 9th, City School participated in a school-wide "Day of Code" event to celebrate Computer Science Education Week.  Students did coding activities in content area classes, including a writing contest, participated in virtual and interactive presentations with local game programmers and website developers, did both online and unplugged coding activities, and a few girls took part in a roundtable conversation about women in computer science careers.

Big Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put this day together.

Check out the Day of Code Website for more information about our day.

Learning Showcase Conference Sign-Ups

The week of December 2nd is time for Learning Showcases. Your son or daughter will present their e-Portfolio to you, and it is a time to check in with teachers to review PowerSchool grade reports and if you have any questions or concerns.

Please sign up for only one slot. You may see duplicate or overlapping times - this is because we run multiple showcases at a time and the team rotates through.

Follow these links (click on the date) to view available times and sign up for a showcase. Please sign up using both Your Name(s) and (Student's name). Thanks!

Monday, December 2 (afternoon)

Tuesday, December 3 (afternoon)

Wednesday, December 4 (early morning, afternoon, and early evening)

Thursday, December 5 (early morning, afternoon, and evening)


(Remember, there is no school on Friday, December 6th!)

Notice: Picture Retakes

Reminder: Picture Retake day is Wednesday, November 20th

In the library from 8-11am.

New students and students who missed picture day:

Order forms are available at the front desk.

Students wanting picture retakes:

Bring in the original packet of pictures to the photographer on Retake Day

7th Grade Language Arts

Designers just wrapped up a unit exploring Figurative Language.  As a culmination, students rewrote classic fairy tales and fables with figurative language throughout.  Below, Cassie, Jordon, and Justin K. take the time to read and plan their stories.

Every week, all Designers are studying new vocabulary.  These words are challenging and rigorous.  To prepare for the assessment, the class played a game on Thursday.  Below, the team of Morgan, Victoria, Skye, and Andoni literally put their heads together to think collaboratively while trying to earn points.

Government in Action

The Dynamic Design Government is up and running.  Bills are being drafted, presented, and voted on in the Legislative Branch.  The Executive Branch decides whether to sign or veto those bills, and the Judicial Branch rules on the Constitutionality of the bills.  Every community member has a role.

VKAT's Red Ribbon Week

All week, Dynamic Design has been supporting Vermont Kids Against Tobacco's "Red Ribbon Week."  Students got to wear hats on Monday, sports shirts on Tuesday, and Wednesday was Wear Red Day:

Thursday, we'll sport Super Hero clothes, and Friday is Raider Pride Blue & White Day!

What's Happening in Dynamic Design?

From Open House to NECAPs and everything in between, Dynamic Design has been very busy! In addition to all the great learning we're doing, we've been having a lot of fun, too! Here are some highlights and pictures from the last few weeks:

• Dynamic Design continued their annual tradition of decorating the SACS' Cafeteria for the Open House Harvest Dinner; it's always a fun service project!

     

• We also took a field trip to the Shelburne Museum and participated in workshops aligned with our current Government & Citizenship Thematic Unit; we'd like to thank the staff there for a great experience! 

   

 

• This week, to have a break and a special treat during the hard work of NECAP testing, our students worked with Mrs. Smith, our Farm-to-School Coordinator, to make Apple Crisp from some of our healthy snack - YUM! 

• On Thursday, October 10th, a group of Dynamic Design students presented to the St. Albans City School Board about the work we do to facilitate and promote Sustainable Fundraising in our school. The students did a great job, and thank you to the School Board for hosting us! 

• On Friday, October 11th, some Dynamic Design alumni and current BFA students came to talk to our 7th and 8th graders about the transition to high school and how our students can best prepare for it. Their information was very insightful and helpful! 

 

Learning in the Classroom and Beyond!

Dynamic Design is engaging in some deep learning!  In addition to preparing for NECAPs next week, students are learning more about American systems of government in various ways.  This includes the creation and operation of our own branches of government, complete with a Constitution, as well as deep analysis of the current government shutdown and other current events by means of Socratic Seminar discussions.  Through a variety of interactive and cooperative learning, students are learning more and more about government and what it means to be a good citizen.

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This Friday, October 4, we also ventured to the Shelburne Museum to participate in the Passport to Learning, an exciting series that meets the educational standards of Vermont’s Common Core. Students participated in various workshops that relate to the content covered in our current 21st Century theme, Citizenship & Government. Workshops included a traditional town hall meeting, exploring the judicial system, and simulating a barter & trade economic system. It was a great day to explore.

Click here to view an album of fun photos from the field trip!

Team Job Groups

On Thursday, our newly formed Team Job groups presented themselves to the Learning Community.  The purpose of the groups is to help our learning community run safely & efficiently, to help everyone achieve, and for everyone to feel included and cared about.  Each group had to write their Mission Statement and create a list of their Responsibilities.  The groups are:  Clean Team, Snack Team, Compost Team, Bulletin Board Team, Tech Team, Garden Team, Energy Team, Celebration Team, Wellness Team, Team-Building Team, Supply Team, and Team Council.

Click here to see pictures of the Teams!

Chefs-in-Training

A few of our students have recently been assigned a job to be in charge of our team's fresh fruit and vegetable snack and composting.  Then, they got a special opportunity to work with our principal, Ms. Cavallo, and our Farm-to-School Coordinator, Mrs. Smith, to prepare, from scratch, a fresh lemon-blueberry salad dressing for the Open House meal.  This group had a lot of fun and were so proud to show off their finished product - the Dynamic Design teachers even got a special preview tasting!

News from Language Arts

In Language Arts, students are presenting their first major book project, a "Book Trailer" about their independent summer reading book.

Created by Nick

Week 4 Stuff

Last week, our students were introduced to the United States Constitution.  Beginning with the Preamble, they broke it down into parts, translated it for understanding, and then drafted their own lines with similar themes to serve as the Dynamic Design Constitution.  From small groups with many ideas, they all came together to choose the best lines to write one DD Constitution.

Parent/Student Contact Information Sheet

Please take a moment to fill out this brief information sheet regarding your child
Parent/Student Contact Information Sheet

Student Voice & Choice in 21st Century Thematic Learning

Dynamic Design uses a Student-Led process for 21st Century Thematic Unit Planning.  This allows students to have voice and choice in their learning, as well as getting them more involved and invested to take ownership of their learning.  The outcome of this process is a thematic unit plan for each of our three major trimester units in science and social studies.  This week, students developed Essential Questions for deeper understanding and complex thinking and design the culminating events for each theme.  This year's three themes are:

Out of this World (Earth, Space, Technology, and Engineering)

What's the Matter? (Physical Science)

We The People (Government, Citizenship & Economics)

WIN Time

WIN time in September is being used for NECAP preparation.  Here, a group of 8th graders work on Data, Statistics, and Probability with Mr. Laroche.

Energy!

Today was all about energy!  The day featured some cool moments of cool energy!

As part of our 21st Century Thematic Unit Planning, Designers got a preview of solar-powered circuits in action.  We are quickly learning that Mr. Citro is full of energy, and brings some awesome science ideas and demonstrations to life.

Mr. Citro and the students observe two different solar-powered circuits in action.
The fans really turned in the sun, but stopped turning as soon as shade covered the panels!

Our whole community was also full of energy this afternoon, so we played a fun outdoor game - Ball Bobble - to continue building community and getting comfortable with each other.  There was lots of laughter to end our week!

The girls' group playing Ball Bobble (without talking!).

Have a Great Weekend, Designers!  See you Monday to begin Week 3!

Parent Information Night - Tuesday 9/17/2013 at 5:30pm

September 5, 2013

Dear Dynamic Design Parents & Guardians,

We are holding an important informational night for parents on Tuesday, September 17th, 2013 at 5:30 pm in the Dynamic Design classrooms.

In addition to meeting the new Dynamic Design teachers, this information night will cover Dynamic Design procedures and expectations, including behavior expectations, classwork/homework/assessments, communication between home and school, accessing the Dynamic Design website and other school resources, and so forth.

It will be helpful for your son or daughter to attend with you, if possible.  We look forward to meeting you, and we hope this night will set our Dynamic Design students on the path for a successful year.

Please call us at school, 527-0565 (x2011 or x2013) with any questions.

Regards,

The Dynamic Design Team

Nick Citro - 21st Century

Claire Draper - Language Arts

Luke Laroche - Mathematics

Briana Maguire - Special Education

Writing in Dynamic Design

As an introduction to the elements of fictional text, groups of students tried to write the "longest" story on a scroll of paper.  After sharing their stories, students talked about what was necessary for good story-telling such as an introduction "hook", characterization, rising and falling action, conflict, and more.

Raeanna and Skye present their loooooong story!

RACE, NECAP & STEM, Oh My!

Week 2 is under way!  

On Tuesday, students presented their "All About Me" projects, then wrote a constructed response reflection on the prompt, "How does getting to know each other build community and a sense of belonging (use examples from our first days together in your response)?"  This was a nice way to transition into NECAP prep with constructed response writing and the RACE model!

On Wednesday, we began our Student-Directed 21st Century Thematic Unit Planning by brainstorming questions about our first big theme, Government, Citizenship & Economics.  In the afternoon, students were introduced to the idea of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Learning by tackling a design challenge.

A Successful Week 1!

In our first not-quite-full week, Dynamic Design did a lot of good work together!  We have set norms and expectations for our classrooms and community time, began an "All About Me" project, explored individual Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences, and did some fun community building activities.  We're off to a great start and excited for more!

Sage, Xavier, Justin and Eric complete Multiple Intelligence Surveys
to find out more about their own learning styles.

We took a break on Friday Afternoon to play "Ogre", a fun outdoor game.

First Days Team Building

Dynamic Design has been having a great time getting to know each other and doing team-building activities to build a great community!  This morning, we had a fun challenge to stack and build pyramids with cups using only a rubber band and string.  When that got too easy, some group members had to close their eyes.  In the end, the community agreed that clear communication and listening to each other were the most important keys to success.

Sophia, David, and Avery working together to build a pyramid.

Corey, Justin (with eyes closed!), Katelin, Marissa, and Jade (not pictured) building a pyramid.

Mr. Laroche watches as Briana, Stefan, Corey, and Abby work together.

2013-2014!

We are ready and excited to begin a new school year with a new team, new classroom arrangements, and new ideas!  Most importantly, we can't wait to begin working all together as a community.  Welcome back, Designers!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Dynamic Design Website.

Here you will find links to important school and Dynamic Design websites, including individual class pages in Haiku.

Please feel free to contact or visit us at any time.