9th Grade Level Parent Communication
Hello there 9th grade parents! I hope things are moving along nicely for your freshman and that they’re adjusting to high school as smoothly as possible so far! It can definitely be an overwhelming time, but I believe Animas offers such a warm, relaxed atmosphere, which helps so much with kind of finding your rhythm.
SLC’s are also such a great opportunity to have a designated time to sit with your student and go over all aspects of their education in a quick, organized way. I know I felt really informed and involved after having the opportunity at the recent SLC to chat with my son’s teachers about specific issues affecting his quality of class time. We all felt so much more on the same page and were confident moving forward.  It’s a worthwhile 20 minutes!
The teachers have provided their synopsis for ‘what‘s up’ in their classrooms, below. Read up on what they are working on. There are some interesting projects in progress! A trebuchet?? Fun stuff!  I’m also including the link to each teachers DP where you can access detailed info on your student’s classroom happenings.
Also:
***Be sure to check out the sign up sheet for the upcoming 9th grade field trip to see if you can help!
***There’s an Osprey Parent Coffee coming up! See below!
HUMANITIES-Stephen Sellers and Jessica McCallum
http://stephensheasellers.weebly.com/
https://jessicahumanities9.blogspot.com/
In Humanities, expect students to continue exploring notions of self, identity, and socialization through rigorous college level texts and probing research into the realms of Media Literacy, Gender Studies, Anthropology, and many more sub disciplines of the Humanities. Students will continue refining masks that they’ve painstakingly crafted from scratch in order to represent the myriad ways they’ve been socialized. They will also be creating a highly-refined and polished piece of writing. Ultimately, students will be working together to create a book that contains pictures of their masks and thoughtful ideas and stories about the power of socialization. To celebrate their work, the students will be hosting a book launch party on Tuesday, December 4th at a location and time to be announced. Stay tuned!
MATH 1-Torrey Baldwin
https://torreybaldwin.weebly.com/
Students have started the 2nd unit, “Solve it.” They are gaining experience and skill with three tasks: translating real-world situations into algebraic expressions and equations, simplifying expressions, and solving equations. All students are engaging in various levels of practice, based on their previous experience and skill. Students are also regularly practicing the skills of identifying errors and asking “good” (specific, meaningful, and answerable) questions.
DIGITAL ARTS-Roxy McKnight
https://ahsinternships.weebly.com/
Digital Art Students will begin the creation of their Academic Digital Portfolios through various online programs. As always if you would like to know more about this process, please feel free to check out Week 11 on my Digital Art page of my DP, or ask your teenager what we’ve been up to.
PHYSICS-Tina Hott
http://tinahott.weebly.com/
9th grade Physics is exploring what key features of a trebuchet impact the range of a projectile motion. We are building and refining trebuchets to deepen our understandings of Work, Energy, Mechanics, Force and Motion. We are planning to showcase our learning with a Trebuchet Tournament from 4:00-5:00, Thursday, Nov. 15th, at Twin Buttes.
CAREER/COLLEGE PREP-Jess Adams and Janae Hunderman
https://collegepreparationanimashighschool.weebly.com/
https://ahsinternships.weebly.com/
Freshman took the Strengths Explorer survey through their Humanities classes and shared the results with parents during SLCs. Freshman had their first Career Exploration Day with Jess and Janae on October 31st, attending four workshops on campus preparing them to start exploring the career clusters through their first field trip on November 28.
October sessions included:
1. The GPA Game which helps students understand that they are more than just a grade and their other contributions in high school matter to colleges as well
2. The Advanced Strengths Explorer which continues to explore strengths and how they correlate to types of careers
3. How to “Osprey” off-site where they practice how to engage with the community appropriately
4. Career Clusters and Field Trip Preparation which focuses on the 17 different career clusters the students learn about throughout the year and understanding field trip logistics
We need your HELP to make the field trips a possibility! In order to get the entire class off campus in one Wednesday morning to explore six different examples of careers, we rely on parent drivers. Each group will have on AHS staff chaperone as well as one or two parents to support. Last year’s freshman parents had a lot of fun! Please sign up to help if you can, here: Parent Drivers: Freshman Career Exploration
Link for parent sign up here
ADVISORY-Lori Fisher
In advisory, students have been digging into the concept of personal responsibility, and discussing different mindsets and frameworks: blamer vs. creator mindset, and inner voices (critic, defender, and guide) are the two key concepts we have been applying.  In addition to these tools, students have been engaging in continued community building. Moving forward through the end of this semester, we will continue to build on these concepts.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Please join us for the next Osprey Parent Coffee on Friday, 11/30, 8:30 in Ashley Carruth’s classroom. This is an opportunity to meet other AHS parents, check in with Sean and Libby and hear what’s happening at school. Bring your mug, feedback and questions!