Sterling Social Studies Update 1/15/18

In Social Studies students are learning about U.S. expansion west in the 1800s and how the expansion affected those peoples who already lived there. As an opening activity, students explored how the U.S. expansion was viewed differently by the Americans moving west and those who were already settled in the western lands. During an activity in class, students acted as 19th-century settlers and migrated into the western territories of an outline of the United States. Students will also be creating an annotated map showing how each territory became part of the United States.

News form Mrs. Conry

It is with bittersweet emotions that I announce my retirement at the end of this school year. I feel blessed to have been a teacher for 30 years, with 24 of those years at Williston Central School. I want to thank you for all your support over the years and let you know that you and your children have helped me become a better teacher and person. I look forward to the remainder of the school year. I will be letting your children know of my retirement tomorrow. 
Thank you all!
Mindy Conry

ELA Update

Welcome UVM Intern Mr. Callison and Narrative Writing Unit Wrap-Up

Hello, Sterling families and students, I am Mr. Callison!

I am an intern with Ms. Peterson in the ELA classroom for the rest of the year! Earlier in the year, I was an intern with Ms. Troxell, so I have been able to get to know the Sterling students and teachers very well already.

A little bit about myself, I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and am now a senior at UVM. I have been a member of the men’s ultimate frisbee team for all four years at UVM, and enjoy being active, playing sports, and being outside! I have worked as a bike technician for a camp program called iCan Bike, which is for individuals with disabilities, and have been lucky enough to be able to travel all over the country through that opportunity as a summer job.

I am looking forward to continuing to learn, and building relationships with all of the students on Sterling!

This week we are wrapping up our Narrative Writing Unit.  Students have worked on the five parts of Narrative Plot, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.  In addition, students have used IXL, a Language Arts (and other curriculum) learning site, to work on comma skills instruction and practice.  The Learning Targets and Activity Checklist for this unit can be found here. Narrative Writing Learning Targets

Next week, we will be starting a three week unit on reading comprehension strategies.  We follow the outline of a program called "Notice and Note," which identifies signposts as strategies for close reading.  Close reading strategies help students identify and strengthen reading habits such as questioning, responding, analyzing, and engaging with text.  Our focus will be on strategies for fiction reading.  Throughout the unit students will be examining short pieces of fiction, and learning the different signposts that alert the reader to stop, ask questions, and better understand what they are reading.

If you haven't ordered your yearbook yet...

February 23rd is the deadline for ordering.    Use the link below.


http://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1120347/Williston-Central-School/

Sterling Science update 1/8/18

Hello Sterling families,

In science class we started the new year with a shift from Earth Science and Engineering to Biology. We are studying cells. Students will learn all the microscopic parts of plant and animal cells and will then explore how specific cells have jobs to keep an organism alive.

Non-science updates:

• We have about 7 more school days left in our temporary space at WCS. We are moving back to our newly renovated space next Friday, January 19th. 
• We are also very sorry the Sterling dance and a snow day happened to collide last Friday night. As of now we are looking into our options but nothing is scheduled. (I was hearing lots of rumors today. One rumor was that the dance was happening tonight...yikes!) 

Thanks for your support,
Amy