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3/6 - 7th Updates (by CLT)
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CORE CLASSES

Language Arts

  • Students have wrapped up their book clubs and begun reading We Will Not Be Silent. We are so excited to be partnering with History in talking about WWII and seeing students bring in their background knowledge from book clubs and furthering their learning with our shared text.
  • Students will be participating in Socratic Seminar in class to discuss what they are learning. Their first Socratic Seminar is on 3/11 (A) or 3/14(B).
  • Students will also be learning about Author’s Purpose and the power of language and vocabulary choice to achieve their intended purpose.
  • As always, students should be reading at least 20 minutes a day 5 days a week  - the more the better!

Math

Foundations of Algebra

  • We are continuing our Proportional Reasoning Unit by focusing on comparing and contrasting additive and proportional relationships using graphs, tables, points and word problems.  The summative for this unit will take place on Thursday, March 10th for A day classes and Friday, March 11th for B Day classes.
  • Students should be accessing the Assignment Sheet/Schoology frequently for updates, copies of completed notes and additional resources to support learning.
  • ALEKS topics for the 3rd quarter have started, be sure students are completing a minimum of 5 topics a week.  All topics for the 3rd quarter will need to be completed on or before Friday, April 8th.

Pre Algebra

  • We will be starting Unit 11:  Area and Perimeter of Composite Shapes on Tuesday,3/8.  Study Guides have been provided in Schoology, along with an answer key.  The summative for this unit (our 4th for this quarter) will take place on Tuesday, 3/22 for A-day classes and Wednesday, 3/23 for B-Day classes.
  • Students should be accessing the Assignment Sheet/Schoology frequently for updates, copies of completed notes and additional resources to support learning.
  • ALEKS topics for the 3rd quarter have started, be sure students are completing a minimum of 5 topics a week.  All topics for the 3rd quarter will need to be completed on or before Friday, April 8th.

Algebra

  • Students are working in unit 10, graphing linear inequalities and systems of inequalities. Check Schoology for the date of your summative.  
  • Unit 11 will cover exponents.
  • Students should be working on their study guide for spiral review # 7 on Functions.  Check Schoology for the date of your mini-quiz.  
  • Students should be completing a minimum of 5 topics in ALEKS per week.  All topics for the 3rd quarter will need to be completed on or before Friday, April 8th.

Geometry

  • Our current Unit 11 focuses on the properties of quadrilaterals and calculating missing segments and angles of quadrilaterals.  The Summative Assessment is scheduled for 03/16 (A day) and 03/17 (B day).
  • Refer to the Unit Schedule posted in Schoology for notes, answer keys, study guides, and videos.
  • Reminder: Students are expected to complete a minimum of 5 topics in ALEKS each week.

Science

Students should have submitted their “Genetics Research Paper” for a summative grade. Once grades are finalized by their science teacher they will be posted in StudentVue.

We are beginning “March Mammal Madness” in class. Ask your child what this competition is all about which will continue through the beginning of April.

Students will begin the Classification Unit next week.

Social Sciences

  • Students recently completed their World War I Performance assessments and spent time in the library learning about the Roaring Twenties with the help of our school librarians.
  • This week we began learning about the causes of the Great Depression and will explore the impact it made on the development of our country as well as the solutions which ultimately helped it come to an end.
  • Students can expect their final summative of the quarter to take place 3/14 (A) and 3/15 (B)
  • On March 16 students will begin learning about the Holocaust in history class and look forward to collaborating with the English Department for Socratic seminars before spring break..

ENCORE CLASSES

Art

7th graders are finalizing their Fauvist paintings and they are awesome!  Check them out with their reflections in their digital portfolios. Next week, we will be learning the coil and slab method and designing a custom teapot in clay.  They are looking forward to starting this clay piece.

Band

Chorus

  • We are learning to read and perform 8th notes with in rhythms in 4/4 and ¾ time
  • We are starting to work on our Spring Concert program with Kuwa Furaha and The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Computer Science Foundation

Students use their knowledge of functions to create scenes in a story by calling a different function.  Next they will create functions to create a dance routine in both Python and Scratch.  Finally, students will use parameters to start customizing their function output based on an input or set of input values.

Drama

The drama students did an amazing job performing their first monologues! I was so impressed! We just finished up a unit on stage blocking and will touch on other parts of the theater such as stage lighting. The students will continue exploring monologues by focusing on character development and writing and performing a monologue for the class.

FACS

Weitzner

  • Students are finishing up the hand sewing unit and demonstrating their skills as they complete their “felt friends.”
  • Students will then move on to the kitchen as we explore food safety, kitchen basics (i.e. tools/equipment, measuring, etc.), and kitchen safety prior to the much anticipated food labs.
  • March will end with laundry basics as students demonstrate their mastery by documenting themselves completing a load of laundry at home.

BARON

  • FACS 7 students kicked off their first cooking rotation with 3 food labs:  Cinnamon Sugar Bow Knots, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Homemade Pizzas!
  • Students will transition to the sewing room next for our hand sewing unit. They will learn basic hand sewing stitches and techniques while creating a Felt Friend Project.

Guitar

Health/PE

  • Students are completing yoga/stepbox routines in the Aux gym and then begin new circuit workouts. Badminton will continue to be played in the main gym through the next week and will be followed by basketball. In Health, students are continuing to work through the Nutrition unit.

Intro to Computer Science

Students will implement a program that accepts input values, stores them in named variables and produces expected outputs using Scratch.  Next, they will learn to build functions with parameters to organize code in Scratch and Python, making it easier to reuse.  Finally, students will learn to Pseudocode their projects prior to coding by deconstructing Capstone project #1 to use as an example.  

Orchestra

  • Students are learning the F major and Bb major scales (with some work on the relative minors)
  • Students have selected pieces to perform in their small groups (will be a later summative)
  • Please be sure your student is continuing to practice 15-20 minutes daily

Spectrum

Spectrum 7th graders are developing their ASL project.  They are working in teams of 2-3 and chose a written piece to translate to ASL. They completed their proposal for the project and received teacher feedback.  Currently, they are researching the ASL signs for their piece which will be performed around March 23rd.

Your child should be practicing ASL for 10 minutes a night:) Weekly updates are posted in Schoology, at the end of the week, so students know where they should be throughout the project.  

Tech Ed

  • Santos Class: Students are finishing up building Balsa Wood Towers.  After we have tested our towers to make sure they hold over 100 pounds, we will be moving on to 3D printing and Infomercials.

Video Productions

  • Students are hard at work creating a classroom Newspaper.  We can’t wait to share it with you!
  • Students are also writing, producing and recording a weekly morning show.

WORLD LANGUAGES

French 1

  • We are working on identifying how to conjugate a new irregular verb to have, avoir, and we are reviewing and practicing the irregular verb to be, être,  learned previously.
  • We will learn and practice how to describe family members and friends.
  • Soon I will introduce Project # 4: La famille, the directions will be posted on Schoology.
  • Please make sure they don’t wait for the last minute to complete it.
  •  Merci for your trust and support!

German 1

Students have been discussing and sharing their hobbies and interests. Next week and beyond we'll be discussing the importance of some of these hobbies in German culture.

Our next Major Summative, a Show and Tell Presentation, will be on Tuesday Feb. 22. Students will need to present about their hobbies without reading off of notes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Latin 1

CURRENT CHAPTER: Stage 7

  • Perfect verbs with x, ē, s, and u tense indicators.
  • Implied subjects

Since the start of the quarter, we have…

  • Wrapped up Stage 6, which introduced the imperfect and perfect tenses.
  • Been introduced to the Stage 7 vocabulary. Verb forms on our vocabulary lists now include present and perfect forms.
  • Started reading our Stage 7 stories.

New to the Grade Book:

  • Translation Summative #1
  • End-of-Stage 6 Summative
  • Quarter 2 PALS
  • Stage 7 Vocabulary Flashcards

Upcoming Assessments…

  • Stage 7 Vocabulary Summative: Friday, February 18th
  • Mini End-of-Stage 7 Summative: Wednesday, February 23rd

Please note…

  • Students should regularly check their school emails.
  • All Latin formatives and summatives are put into our course’s calendar in Schoology.

Spanish 1

Students have just completed the unit on the theme of school and the classroom. We are starting a new unit on food: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Please check the homework schedule with your child for assignments and upcoming summatives. Extra credit has been uploaded in Schoology. Due date is March 18th.

Spanish for Fluent Speakers