Monthly Archives: September 2016

Dear Grade 7 Parents and Guardians,

This message provides information about our upcoming class overnight trip to Quinipet Retreat Center on Shelter Island, NY.

We will leave D-E on coach buses at approximately 8:30 AM on Wednesday, September 28 and return at approximately 3 PM on Friday, September 30. We will travel on the LIE then take a ferry from the north fork of Long Island to Shelter Island. This will be our seventh year taking this very outdoorsy trip, which is immensely enjoyed by our students and chaperone teachers and staff alike!

Our Grade 7 HomeBase teachers, camp facilitators, and local scientists will be working with the students at the camp and on the island. The students will be engaged in activities that include team building, problem solving, scientific study and plain old fun. Students can look forward to:

• team building, problem solving and rock climbing
• learning about the local marine life during a visit to the Cornell Research Center.
• the Quogue Wildlife Preserve bringing birds of prey for us to learn from, and see up close.
• a local deep sea diver showing artifacts from different wrecks in the Long Island Sound and challenge the students to discover the cause of a local wreck.
• kayaking, eating s’mores and singing songs around a campfire.

Sleeping & Eating Arrangements:

We sleep and eat at Camp Quinipet. Our HomeBase teachers will make the room assignments. There are two types of “dorms”. Some of the dorms are larger stand alone houses with several bedrooms, each sleeping three to six students. The two other dorms have three large rooms with ten bunks in each room. The dorms also have common sitting areas/living rooms and shared bathrooms. Our teachers sleep in their own rooms which are located in the same houses as the students.

Food at Quinipet is served cafeteria style and features a hot and cold child-friendly menu.*For students with food concerns please see last paragraph below.

What to Bring:

You can click here to download a Packing List or find this Packing List PDF on www.d-e.org/middle. Basically, students need to dress for the weather, be ready to be outside and active, and wear clothes that can get dirty. It is a good idea to dress in layers.

Students need to bring a sleeping bag, pillow and towels. They also need to bring their own toiletries.

Students should leave all valuables at home, with the exception of a cell phone if they already have one. Jewelry is not allowed to be worn during the activities so all jewelry should be left at home as well.

Please note the following, final important considerations:

• Please contact me if your child has food allergies or dietary restrictions. I already asked the students.
• We will hold the students cell phones during the trip, except during the evening free time around8:30 or 9 each night. At this time, they have an hour in which they can call home, before bedtime.
• You should have already completed and returned the Quinipet liability form. If you have not, I will give a copy to your child this week for you to fill out and return.
• There will be a full time nurse on staff for us at Quinipet. If your child takes medication, please give me the medication in an original bottle that has the name of the medication and the dosage on the bottle. The nurse will distribute the medication as prescribed.

I am really looking forward to this trip. The students and teachers bond as a grade. We integrate new students, learn some science and have fun. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or concerns, 201-227-3236. I will also be available at Back to School night, on Thursday, September 22nd if you want to talk to me about the trip. During a class meeting today, I will be talking to the students about the trip as well.

Sincerely,

Liz Traub
Grade 7 Dean

Dear Grade 7 Parents and Guardians,

We are writing to share with you an exciting group of projects that we will be completing this year in our 7th grade classes. As you may know, the D-E Middle School faculty are using a curricular design called Project Based Learning (PBL) for many of our units. In fact, most of our 7th grade curriculum has many PBL components. PBL puts the problem first and gives students the opportunity to apply the skills they learn in class to personally relevant and real-world situations. The PBL units have, at their core, intellectual and academic vigor – units that will engage your child and stretch his/her intellect and curiosity.

Please find the list of planned PBL units for the year below:

• What’s in Your Water?
• Are We Moving Towards a Better World?
• Power in Poetry
• Conservation Conversation
• DE Green Expo
• Writing Refugees
• Shakespeare Reimagined

In these projects students will develop their creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and research skills. We have designed these units to better reflect the needs of our 7th graders, resulting in a more integrative experience, more student ownership, and a continual cycle of inquiry, reflection, and assessment.

Additional information or invitations for these projects will be distributed at the beginning of each unit. If you could please share any area of expertise that may help with these projects, please contact your teacher.

Sincerely,

Team 7

Gautham Akula, Paul Jung, Maria Kaufman, Courtney Marro, Matt Schade, Bill Stegmayer, Liz Traub, and Giselle Winters