September 2014
Dear Team Quadra Parents,
Welcome to our team! We are very excited about plans we’ve made this year and are looking forward to facilitating your child’s social and academic learning.
Please see attached for our timetable this year. In the morning, students will be in 6/7 or 7/8 groupings for PE, French, and Science. They will also be taking Explorations classes with students from other teams, which will give them excellent opportunities to connect with peers outside of Team Quadra. In the afternoon, we have Social Studies and Language Arts where students will mostly in advisory but may get opportunities to work freely with each other between the two classes. As per Montessori philosophy, we have designed this timetable to allow your child to take advantage of long, uninterrupted learning sessions. Our units will integrate subjects and will range from short one-week inquiries to big in-depth 6 to 8-week Project Based Learning experiences. We will build in independent learning blocks into the schedule to allow time for students to use computers, work on assignments, seek help from teachers and peers, plan, and reflect.
In following the Montessori philosophy and good Middle School philosophy, we strive to provide your child the support needed to learn about topics of interest and to support your child’s individual learning. Hands- on, minds-on, individual and group activities will be designed to help your child develop skills of working in groups, critical thinking, problem solving, self–reflection, self-regulation, self-advocacy. Often your child will have the opportunity to explore a topic or question of choice within our larger framework. Students will often be given choice on how to present out their learning and share their understanding. Throughout units, your child will be supported with mini-lessons, help breaking work into smaller chunks, feedback from teachers and peers, and a variety of learning experiences.
Our program is designed so that your child will not be given nightly homework just for the sake of giving homework. We believe that children should be provided time in class to learn and that if they are working at home it will to study or review, gather materials for an activity, look for news articles, talk with parents about something, spend time learning a concept that needs more repetition,etc. . If your child consistently has lots of homework and /or is consistently frustrated please let us know so that we can work together to find a solution. If your child brings work home or bounces ideas off you, please resist the urge to jump in and do it for him/her. Having the child seek help the next day and a note in the planner or e-mail stating that the child needs help is appreciated.
We appreciate parent help on field trips, as guest speakers/ helpers to learn concepts, to help us find contacts or ideas to support our learning, to show up to learning celebrations and open houses to encourage your child, and by communicating with us as needed. Please complete your driver’s abstract, criminal record check, and e-forms as soon as possible when they become available so that we can welcome your help as needed. If you have a special talent, hobby, contact, or field trip idea that connects with our learning please let us know!
Parent Homework: Our team website will be at we get them up and running. This is where we will update homework and reminders. It also has links to our e-mails. Please e-mail to your child’s advisory teacher once you have read this letter and visited our site. In your e-mail let us know the best way to contact you and any information we need to know about your child. If you do not use e-mail please write a note in your child’s planner so that we know you’ve read this letter.
Teacher contact info:
Advisory 11: Mr. Simon Kwok; ; room 126
Advisory 12: Ms. Sanaz Jianfar; ; room 122
We look forward to an exciting year on Team Quadra! Please feel free to contact us if you have concerns, questions, or ideas! Also, stay tuned for the date of our school’s Open House event!
Sincerely,
Team Quadra teachers