Highlights – please make sure you read them!
  • Our Experiential Learning Trip to Family Harvest Farm is on Friday, December 10th from 9~12:45.  If the weather is good, we will plan on eating lunch at the farm, if not we will eat at school.  Thank you for getting your forms back to us.  If you have not returned the form, please do so NOW.  Without the form, your student will not be going, and will be missing out on this important part of their science program.  Also, THANK YOU to all of you who signed up to drive!  We were afraid we would not get any drivers, but you have blown us away with your response!!  We will send an email to the drivers at the end of this week, so be looking for it!
  • On December 21st, we are going to have our biennial Victorian Day.  Attached are pictures from previous Victorian Days, so you can get an idea of how the students are expected to dress.   Also, there is an article below giving guidelines/ideas too.  Please do not go out and spend a lot of money.  Start asking family, friends, and previous students if you can borrow items. Second hand stores are also a great place to look.   All participants are expected to come in some type of Victorian era clothing, so don’t put this off!  For this day, we are having a Victorian Banquet.  Please look for the Signup Genius email, and sign up to send an item or two!
  • The Family Network is hosting a family fun night here on campus December 16th and we need your help in making it more memorable. They have decided to have a raffle with baskets to win from each level. Middle School has chosen Gardening as our theme and we would appreciate your donations to make our basket full and exciting to win! No donation is too small. We also accept monetary donations which can be used to buy a bigger item that fits in the theme. Raffle tickets will be sold at the event and the money raised by raffle ticket sales goes directly back to our school.
     
Weekly Work (additional assignments may be added by teachers)
 
Vocabulary #1: due Wednesday
Current Events #1 : Find an article in Newsela related to our theme or new concept (Industry/Business/Technology/Inventions/Balance). After you read it, write a three-paragraph summary of the article.  Due Thursday
Writing #1: Part 1: Get the A Victorian Celebration background information pages from the teacher(s) or find them in Google Classroom.  Read the Introduction, the Task, the Process, and the Evaluation sections. Write down bullet-pointed notes (what it is you will need to do) and any questions you may have on a Google Doc. Submit that to the Google classroom in this assignment.

Part 2: Group Investigative Roles: Teacher(s) will assign groups in class on Tuesday. Complete the Role Card assignment by Friday.
Index cards with information and pictures will be hung in the classroom. Make SURE they are in your own words, as much as possible. Pictures can help, so attach them

RJW #1:  due Friday
Math:  Daily assignments, including classwork & homework.  Assorted due dates, & assessments are usually on Fridays.
Science (Family Life): Parent Homework due next week
Writer’s Workshop:  Portfolio of writing assignments Due in April
Passion Project:  yearlong project with assorted benchmarks/due dates.  Students are given an hour a week in class to work on this project.  Ask what their focus is on. Ask your student how they are doing on the project!

Following are some descriptions of clothing from the Victorian era to help you in creating your costumes…

For Women:
• Skirts and dresses were long and full skirted. Petticoats with a ruffled hem or a hoop skirt can add fullness. White long sleeved blouses with high collars that button in the front or back. Lace or embroidered blouses are wonderful. Wide belts (2”) were usually worn with blouses and skirts. Ball gowns were low cut to reveal shoulders and often laced tightly in the back with short or three-quarter length sleeves.
• Outerwear included capes, cloaks, and knitted or crocheted shawls. Jackets had pagoda or bell-shaped sleeves. Bonnets that tied under the chin were very fashionable. Lace doilies can also be adapted into a hat by merely adding silk flowers or ribbons.
• Accessories included gloves, muffs, fans, parasols, aprons, brooches, small earrings and pins. Cameos and pearls were also popular. Shoes were either low heeled slippers or laced up boots.
• Fabrics were taffeta, wool, twill, velvet, cotton, and linen.
• Colors were rich – garnet, plum, golds, greens, blues, as well as black, gray, beige, and brown. Patterns included plaids, stripes, paisleys, tweeds and herringbone. Trims, lace, and ribbons were also used as accents.
• Hair was worn tucked underneath the hat or tied back. Mob caps were typically worn by servants or lower class

For Men:
• Shirts – A tuxedo, plain white, or striped shirt can be made period by turning up the collar (often with the tips down) and adding a scarf or fancy cravat knotted in the front. Working men wore collarless shirts or smocks with sleeves rolled up. Vests or waistcoats were colorful and made of satin, brocade, velvet, or wool (usually tweed or plaid). To make modern vests Victorian era, merely fold front points under to make the bottom hem square.
• Pants for gentlemen were black for formal evening wear, with gray, buff or white for day wear. Trouser styles varied from tapered to looser at the thigh, then tapered more through the calf. A working man would wear a baggy pair of pants or knickers in wool or corduroy. Frock coats, day coats, or tail coats can be made from a dark overcoat or raincoat. Trim the collar with brocade, velvet, or silk and remove the top few buttons so that the coat will fall open in a cutaway style. The common man would wear a wool coat with a scarf or muffler tied around the neck.
• Hats were a must! Top hats for gentlemen, tweed caps or derby hats for others.
• Accessories included walking canes, pocket watches with chains, mufflers, gloves, handkerchiefs and umbrellas.

For Children:
• Boys wore knickers, trousers, and shirts under coats or vests with a cap like the men.
• Girls wore frocks fastened behind with cloaks or shawls and bonnets for outside.