classroom happenings

Math

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are finishing their study of scatter plots, lines of good fit, finding the equation of the line of good fit, two-way frequency tables and two-way relative frequency tables with the Unit assessment on Friday, May 29th. I do recommend the Summer Skills PreAlgebra workbook to complete over the summer in order to keep concepts fresh in their memories. This link will take you to the workbook to order and I will also be sending an email with this information. It has been a pleasure to have students in class this year and I know they are ready for Algebra 1 next year at Highlands! 

Mrs. Curran’s math classes are finishing their study of angle relationships. Students have been working on finding missing angle measures using supplementary, complementary, and vertical angle relationships. To wrap up the school year, students will begin learning about simple probability, which focuses on predicting what should happen, and experimental probability, which compares those predictions to what actually happens.

Khan Academy is a great resource for practicing math skills over the summer. The site includes instructional videos and practice activities to help students strengthen and review important concepts. It has been a pleasure working with the students this year, and I wish them all the best in 8th grade math!

Science -  Our scientists have been hard at work wrapping up their units on buoyancy and pressure.  Students created and evaluated various shapes and sizes of boats to see who can create the best cargo ship! See some of the pictures below. Our final week of science will be focused on aeronautics,  aviation, flight, and careers.  Students will analyze the effects of pressure to allow objects to take flight and explore how mankind advanced the aviation industry over the past 100 years. Reminder - Save those 2 liter pop bottles! We hope to construct and launch our water rockets Monday, June 1st by the softball fields.  Have a great summer!

Language Arts – Module 3 is complete! Students are putting the finishing touches on their end-of-module argumentative writing task. Ask your child how they demonstrated the power of language in Animal Farm. We wish all of our students a wonderful summer filled with relaxation, fun, and plenty of reading! 🙂

Advanced Language Arts – The End-of-Year Utopia Project has arrived! Advanced LA students will draw on everything we have read and discussed this year to thoughtfully design their own ideal utopian society. Students will identify priority values for their communities, establish a leadership structure, and create laws with logical consequences. Each Utopia will be presented to the class, and students should be prepared to explain and defend their community choices during a Q&A session with classmates. Ask your child about their creative and thoughtful design process! Happy Summer! 

Social Studies- We have had so much fun wrapping up our Civil War unit with our genius hour projects! I’ve seen menus of Civil War food to paper mache hot air balloons to dioramas of cotton fields. It’s been so enjoyable watching their creativity come to life and to see where their interests were for this unit. We will have our final gallery walk through this Friday to celebrate our learning and understanding of our unit. 

Classroom happenings

Math

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are continuing their study of scatter plots, lines of best fit, finding the equation of the line of best fit, two-way frequency tables and two-way relative frequency tables. Students will complete a quiz on scatter plots, lines of best fit, finding the equation of the line of best fit on May 14th, a quiz on two-way frequency tables and two-way relative frequency tables on May 19th, and a test on all concepts on May 28th and May 29th.  Along with these assessments, students also have a My Path weekly assignment due on May 15th and one due on May 29th. The spring iReady diagnostic test will be completed in class from May 20th and May 21st and I am excited to see all of the growth made!

Mrs. Curran’s math classes will complete their unit on Volume on Monday, May 18, with a short three-problem assessment. Throughout the unit, students have practiced finding the volume of rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, trapezoidal prisms, and composite prisms. The final lessons of the school year will focus on angle and triangle relationships. Students will also complete the spring i-Ready Diagnostic assessment in class on May 19 and May 20. They have worked very hard on these concepts, and I am excited to see the growth they have made throughout the year.

Science - Our young scientists have been studying the effects of pressure in many different applications.  Students created homemade sprinklers using pop cans and water pressure, studied how hydraulics work and used in lifts and elevators, and analyzed the effects of pressure in fluids used in suspension systems and hydraulic lifts.

Social Studies: We wrapped up our final Socratic Seminar of the year and focused on analyzing “Was Sherman’s March to the Sea Justified?” We completed several primary source documents overviewing survivors of the March, we viewed scenes from Gone with the Wind, and watched a documentary episode overviewing total war. Students used their analysis skills to build an argument of whether the use of total war in the Civil War was justified. Students brought up compelling points! What side would you be on? 

Language Arts - Students have just finished reading and analyzing Animal Farm, and will now take a critical look at the film version of the text. Next up is the EOM writing task (end of module) where students will answer the question, “How does George Orwell use language to inspire, persuade, manipulate or control others?”

Advanced Language Arts - These past two weeks saw the conclusion of our poetry unit, as well as the return of Caesar’s English as part of our ongoing vocabulary study. Students have also completed their reading and analysis of The Giver and will now take a critical look at the film adaptation, comparing how the story is presented in each medium. Next week, students will be introduced to their end-of-year project and will begin brainstorming for this culminating exploration of the concept of utopia. This final project will provide an opportunity for students to synthesize the themes and ideas we have examined throughout the year.

classroom happenings

Math

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are finishing their study of applying the algebra process to solving equations with a variable squared, solving for a missing side of a right triangle using the Pythagorean Theorem, creating right triangles from a word problem to find missing lengths in both two and three dimensional figures, finding the distance between two points on a coordinate plane using the Pythagorean Theorem and finding the volume of cylinders, cones and spheres.  The summative assessment for this unit will be taken during the first full week of May. A study guide for this assessment has been posted on Schoology. The last unit of the year will cover statistics and two-way frequency tables.

Mrs. Curran’s math classes just finished their unit on percentages and percent of change.  Students were introduced to tips, taxes, simple interest, and markups/markdowns.  This week, your student is learning how to use area and surface area, in composite figures, to solve a variety of problems. These problems will include the use of variables, expressions, and equations.  Some of the problems will be challenging so I encourage students to use the examples we work on in the book and ask for help as needed.

Science - As we end April, students have been hard at work exploring Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion by creating balloon racecars. Students designed, measured, calculated and engineered cars powered by air to measure speed, distance, and time. Data tables were created and students analyzed the information to figure out what factors affected their cars ability to roll freely.  The designs were incredible and lots of great races!  Check out some of the results below.

Social Studies -  Students analyzed the significance of Civil War Battles they chose to research and present on. We focused on the “costs” of the Civil War through each of these battles to determine long-term problems of fighting in a civil war. Next week we’re going to dive into music used during wartime and how it shaped the morale of troops, the homefront, and songs we still hear to this day!  

Language Arts - Our 7th grade vocabulary study has officially come to a close. Students recently completed the end-of-year summative assessment, and it was exciting to see strong growth in both word knowledge and decoding skills across the board. In our current unit, we are continuing to explore the power of persuasive language through Animal Farm. Students will soon begin applying these concepts to their own writing as we introduce the CREEAC argument model, helping them build clear, well-supported arguments.

Advanced Language Arts - Over the past two weeks, we have continued our poetry unit with engaging presentations that highlight the life stories of influential poets. We will wrap up the unit next week with studies of Robert Frost, Rudyard Kipling, Sandra Cisneros, and Carl Sandburg. Students will then complete a summative assessment to demonstrate their understanding of the unit’s key concepts. Our novel study of The Giver is also ongoing. Students have been participating in thoughtful discussions around themes such as conformity versus individuality and ignorance versus enlightenment. Looking ahead, we’re excited to welcome back Caesar’s English as part of our continued vocabulary work.

classroom happenings

Science - This month we are continuing to learn about Newton’s First and Second Laws of Motion.  Students explored how these concepts are used in daily life including sports, transportation, and career exploration.  Some of the labs we completed were a crash test dummy simulation and bumper cars, where students analyzed the impact two objects have on each other in a collision. During IAR testing, we explored engineering structures, mass, and gravity by constructing some towers to see who can build the tallest tower without falling over.

Math

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are beginning their study of the Pythagorean Theorem. First we will develop an understanding of the parts of a right triangle and how Pythagoras discovered the well-known formula a2 + b2 = c2.  Second we will use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for unknown leg or hypotenuse lengths in a given right triangle. Third we will create right triangles from a word problem to find missing lengths in both two and three dimensional figures. Lastly, we will apply   the Pythagorean Theorem to finding the distance between two points on a coordinate plane and how the converse of the Pythagorean Theorem can be used to determine given segment lengths will create a right triangle. All of our algebra skills and knowledge of rational and irrational numbers will be used when solving these problems.

Mrs. Curran’s math classes have been learning about simple interest, tip, tax, markups, markdowns, and commission.  This unit has created many interesting conversations about real world problems.  I have encouraged your child to talk to you about these concepts to hear your thoughts on the subject since we only focus on the basics.  The next lesson will incorporate percent of change and percent of error.  

Language Arts - Module 3 continues to explore the power of language. In preparation for our final novel, Animal Farm, students have completed a brief research activity to build background knowledge about Russia and its role in World War II. As we approach the end of our year-long vocabulary study, students will demonstrate their growth and understanding through a final summative assessment on May 1.

Advanced Language Arts - Over the past week, Advanced Language Arts students have delivered some outstanding poet presentations. We’ve explored the works and lives of Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Dylan Thomas, with Edgar Guest, ee cummings, and Edgar Allan Poe coming up next. Learning about each writer’s life and experiences has helped students form deeper connections with the poetry they read. We have also begun our final novel study of the year with The Giver by Lois Lowry. As we dive into the text, students are already considering an essential question: Does this society truly reflect the characteristics of a utopia, or will it ultimately reveal itself to be dystopian?

Social Studies - We are thick of our Civil War unit and focusing on events that led us towards this war. We analyzed weaknesses and shortcomings of pre-Civil War compromises, we have role played perspectives of voters during the 1860 election, and we are tying the institution of slavery building the entire livelihood of North vs. South. These pivotal moments will allow us to explore the depth of this war and how it truly tore a nation apart from ideology.  Next up we will research main battles during the war and how the evolution of war tactics made this the deadliest conflict the U.S. has ever been involved with, and how it shaped our nation to this day. 

Classroom happenings

Science - Our 7th grade physicists have been hard at work studying speed, acceleration, and graphs.  Students studied how aspects of motion, such as position, distance, and speed relate with acceleration in many different applications.  We also did a little research on the history of transportation and safety by conducting experiments using mini crash test dummies with simulations and models.  Check out some of the results below.

Math - 

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are beginning the study of comparing rational and irrational numbers. Before spring break students learned how to convert a repeating decimal to a fraction to prove it was a rational number.  After returning from spring break, students will be estimating the value of irrational numbers as well as approximating the location on a number line using knowledge of perfect squares. This will be applied to the Pythagorean Theorem which will include the use of rational and irrational numbers, solving for leg or hypotenuse lengths, using the converse of the Pythagorean Theorem, finding the unknown diagonal in a rectangular prism and the distance between two points on a coordinate plane.

Mrs Curran’s Math class has finished their unit on writing, solving, and graphing inequalities. When we return from spring break, students will begin their next unit on solving problems involving percents, including tip, tax, simple interest, markups, and markdowns.

Also, your child may need pencils—please check with them to see if they need more. Thank you.

Language Arts - Module 3 continues to look at the power of language. After Spring Break we will move on from poetry to analyzing word choice and speaking techniques in famous speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malala Yousafzai, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our final novel study of the year, Animal Farm, will start as well. 

Advanced LA - After Spring Break, our poetry unit will continue with student presentations about famous poets, and how their lives influenced their writing styles and topics. Our classmates will sharpen their analytical skills by digging into and thinking critically about a famous piece by each poet. Finally, Adv LA students will write… you guessed it - poetry! 

Social Studies: We officially started our Civil War unit by understanding the differences between the North and South with their economic and social systems. We are analyzing Census data from 1830 and 1860 to map the rise of cotton production to the rise of slavery. By understanding this foundation, we can begin to learn the distance that grew in this country from morals, economics, geography, and more. 

classroom happenings

Science - Our young scientists are moving on from electricity and magnetism to physics - motion and forces.  This month we will be learning about speed, friction, velocity and their impact in sports and the transportation industry.  In addition, students learned how to use a spreadsheet to create data table and graphs to help measure speed, distance, and time.  This software was incorporated in our latest lab using “Hot Wheels” and ramps to analyze various factors that affect the speed of various model cars.

Math - 

Mrs. Funk’s math classes are completing their study of scientific notation. This part of the unit focused on estimating and comparing powers of 10 as well as reading, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers in scientific notation. The summative assessment covering the exponent properties and scientific notation will be taken in the later half of the week of March 16th. The next unit of study will be applying the algebra process to finding the volume of cylinders, cones and spheres as well as the Pythagorean Theorem. The My Path requirements for the third trimester continues to be completing 45 minutes and passing at least one lesson between Monday and Friday by 8:00pm each week.

Mrs. Curran’s math classes are completing their study on expressions and equations…BUT they will still be required to use the algebra process to find solutions to inequalities in Lesson 19.  They will have their Unit 4 Assessment (only on Lessons 15-18) which include expressions and equations.  I have posted information about the assessment on Schoology.  Students will be preparing for the assessment in class starting on March 12th.  Please continue to encourage your child to complete the required minutes on My Path AND pass at least one lesson each week.  

Language Arts - Module 3 is underway! Over the next few weeks, our focus will be on poetry. Students have been introduced to key poetry terminology and have learned about the lives and influences of both modern and traditional poets. We have also begun analyzing different poetic structures and how they shape meaning and tone. As part of this work, students are writing their own poem that imitates the style and techniques of a well-known work. Be sure to ask your student which poem has been their favorite so far! ✨📚

Advanced Language Arts - Guilty or innocent? Adv. LA students are wrapping up our study of The House of the Scorpion with a culminating classroom courtroom event. Students will evaluate the evidence and make their case as we put a main character on trial. Ask your student which side they believe will prevail in The People vs. El Patrón! Looking ahead, our new poetry unit will begin with a review of key poetry terminology, research into the lives and influences of notable poets, and a read-aloud of modern poetry featured in the novel Bronx Masquerade. 📚✨

Social Studies- We have been working hard on our mock trial roles to determine if the U.S. is justified during westward expansion. Our prosecution is focused on finding the U.S. unjust, due to the actions taken to forcibly remove groups of individuals to claim land, while the defense is focused on outlining all of the fair treaties, purchased land agreements, and advancements we made during this time period. Who will win their case? Only the jury can decide in this case. Send me an email if you want to join us! 

classroom happenings

Science - We are wrapping up 7th grade Science and Trimester 2 with an overview of communication systems, the Internet, computer careers, and a bit of programming.  All students took their Trimester 2 Final Exam on Tuesday with great pride and preparation.  We will begin Trimester 3 with an overview of Physics - Energy, Motion, and Forces!

Math - 

Mrs. Funk’s math classes have completed their study of the properties of exponents. Students did an excellent job of focusing in class, taking good notes, completing the practice problems on time and checking over their work on assessments. These habits will be helpful in the next section of the unit with a focus on operations with scientific notation. This section will begin with estimating and comparing powers of 10 and then move to reading, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers in scientific notation. If students are absent from class, it is their responsibility to copy the notes missed from the posted keys on their Schoology math page.

Mrs. Curran’s math classes have been exploring how rewriting an expression in equivalent forms can help them look at situations in different ways. The expression they write depends on how they interpret the situation.  Students need to continue to practice what they have learned about expressions which includes adding terms, expanding, and factoring.  Next week, students will work on using variables to represent unknown quantities and write equations to represent the situation. Please remind your child to complete the required minutes and pass at least one lesson on iReady My Path each week.  I have informed students that they are welcome to see me if they feel the paths need to be adjusted.

Social Studies - We are in the thick of Westward Expansion and studying why the Cherokee Tribe was removed from Georgia to Oklahoma. Students read several primary source documents that provided various perspectives on why the tribe was forcibly removed during the Trail of Tears. Students created visual markers on their maps to answer our DBQ question based on the primary source document they studied. 

Language Arts – Students are wrapping up the final stages of Module 2, culminating in a writing task that explores the question, “How did World War II affect individuals?” Please ask your student which group they selected to research and write about. Looking ahead, Module 3 will focus on the power of language. We will begin by studying how poetic language shapes meaning and inspires readers.

Advanced Language Arts – Students have completed and published the final drafts of their informative research essays and are finishing the closing chapters of our class novel, The House of the Scorpion. As a culminating activity, students will participate in a classroom courtroom experience, putting the antagonist, El Patrón, on trial for his various crimes. Up next… poetry!

classroom happenings

Math

Mrs. Funk’s math classes have started Unit 5 in the second volume of the workbook! This unit will focus on the properties of exponents and operations with scientific notation. Understanding of the properties of exponents will be the main focus instead of simply memorizing rules. The unit will start with positive integer exponents and then move to zero and negative integer exponents. It is important students slow down and think through an exponential expression as there are many places for a computational error to occur. The second half of Unit 5 will be working with reading and writing numbers in scientific notation and move into adding, subtracting and multiplying these expressions without changing to standard form and then back into scientific notation. The secret for success in this unit is for students to focus in class, take good notes, complete the practice problems on time and see me for extra help before or after school when a topic is still unclear.

Mrs. Curran’s math classes have started Unit 4: Algebra Thinking.  Students will build on prior knowledge of expressions, equations, and inequalities.  Students have been working on combining like terms, factoring and expanding expressions in Lesson 15.  In addition to the notes in the book, students have taken extra notes and completed practice problems in their spiral notebooks. I highly encourage your child to refer to these notes when completing assignments.  

Science - Our young electrical engineers were hard at work designing and testing their electromagnets.  Lots of great designs, grit, determination and electrical skills were utilized as our Hornets rose to the challenge of seeing who could collect the most scrap.  A new record was set with Revere and Maddox setting an all time record of 840 grams!

Language Arts - We have completed the first novel of our module and are now shifting our focus from the Pacific theater of World War II to the Japanese American experience on the home front. Students will begin this portion of the unit by building background knowledge through a nonfiction article that shares a family’s firsthand experience at the Heart Mountain internment camp. We will also continue our weekly vocabulary study, with an ongoing emphasis on Greek and Latin roots and base words.

Advanced Language Arts - With research and drafting complete, Advanced Language Arts students are now moving into the revision, editing, and publishing stages of the writing process for their informative research essays. In addition, we are entering the final section of our novel, intriguingly titled “La Vida Nueva.” Finally, our good vocabulary friend, Caesar, has returned and bi-weekly word study assessments are back! 

Social Studies- Students just wrapped up their research on how we gained each of our land territories during westward expansion- all from Florida all the way to Hawaii. Students used our three supporting questions to guide their research, which focused on motivations, sacrifices, and how we legally gained our territory. Students will begin forming their argument over whether or not they believed the U.S. was justified with their actions during westward expansion. Below is a map of each of the land territories we acquired. Have your child explain the one they researched to you!