We are looking forward to the many families that will visit us tomorrow for Parent-Teacher Conference Day (#2) at Deal. Please be sure that you have an appointment for our team teachers before you brave the roads; our slots have filled up and we need to meet with those families who are on our lists. A number of families were contacted directly, so even those without consistent access to email have been able to make appointments. Our schedule for tomorrow is indeed tight, and we ask that you come to school with some lead time so that we can respect those who are on the list after you. For those families that are not able to meet with a team teacher tomorrow, I hope you will contact your team to discuss options for further conversations. With our 5-minute scheduled times, our individual teachers are able to meet approximately 65 parents during the day; we know that 5 minutes isn't sufficient for a deep conversation, but we feel that to lengthen this would deprive many families of a chance to speak to teachers about their concerns.

This week our 8th grade National History Day projects are being submitted in anticipation of the judging in a couple of weeks. Your students have worked very hard on this project - and Deal teachers (yeah Ms. Trenkle, Ms. Simpson-Wayne, Ms. Huber, and Ms. Daniels!) have done their best to provide support where possible. Last weekend, for example, students were given the opportunity to meet at Deal to put together their work for display; this follows a number of sessions where students were advised on the different expectations of the media which are used for displaying their research. Our students have always responded very well to the challenge of this national competition. The NHD project is an example of differentiated work at a high level - students are required to do the work, of course, but the form it takes, the response to the topic question, and their eventual performance reflects each student's individual effort, focus, and ability. Historians conduct research in response to posed problems - NHD gives all 8th graders a chance to be those historians.

As requested by those students who are going on the ski trips this weekend, the snow to our north was plentiful, soft, and will stay unmelted through the week. A number of our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are traveling to nearby slopes to enjoy what can only be the very last bitterly cold and snowy week of the year. March is actually just a week or so away, days are getting longer, and the average temperature increases incrementally each day - so Spring is clearly on the horizon. Our popular ski trips have been a wonderful way for our students to get out and stretch their muscles - and we have also found a few students who didn't think they could ski or go on this trip, and they are going to hit the hills with their peers! 

There are other wonderful things happening this week beyond classroom instruction and I would be remiss if I didn't mention them. The families of students traveling on our Costa Rica, France, and China trips are meeting on Thursday at 6:30 to discuss the next stage of planning. These trips are less than two months away and well-enrolled. We will be opening up the trips for the following year very shortly - but these meetings are for those 8th graders going this year! Our students who are currently on our international exchange trip to Pereira, Colombia, will be returning to the area on Saturday, well-versed in a different culture. You can follow their activities on the blog at http://dealpinoverdeexchange.blogspot.com/ (cut and paste this line into your browser). In addition, a local newspaper in Pereira published an article on the visit. You can see it here: Cronica Del Quindio. There are a number of interesting ideas for shared instruction that have arisen from this partnership; it can only grow better! 

And finally, StepAfrika comes to visit Deal this Friday. We have a special relationship with this excellent troupe - they have provided us dance teachers for our students interested in stepping, have shared their love of dance during other performances and, for Black History Month, will be providing two performances during the day on Friday. We are looking forward to this dynamic performance.