Grade 7
Unfortunately, in science class, no “body parts” have come our way yet, but we are optimistic that some will “appear” before the year is over! In the meantime, we have been keeping busy with our study of body systems. Did you know that you are a monogastric animal? Or that the white-tailed deer you see in your backyard is a ruminant animal? Do you know that both you and the white-tailed deer have appendicular and axial skeletons?
In social studies, having finished studying the division of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire and the naming of Constantinople as the new Roman capital, we will be learning about the Germanic invasion of the West. With the barbarian invasion comes the development of castles and new warfare to attack the castles. We will be making our own castle defenses and will be building catapults for shooting marshmallows at a toy castle in the hallway.
In the pre-algebra classes, students wrapped up a unit on integers before the holiday break. The focus was on the four operations with integers and how they are used to describe situations in the real world. Currently, students are studying rational numbers (positive and negative fractions). They have been completing several number sense exercises, such as using the number line and estimating to zero, one-half or one, to better understand their values and how they work.
In the advanced pre-algebra classes, students completed a unit on equations. It was nice to see several students modeling problem situations with the use of equations to solve. Students then combined their creativity and mathematics to make up fun and challenging ways to solve Algebra Stories. They will be displayed soon on the 7th grade hallway bulletin board, if you would like to check them out. At the present time, students are working on algebraic fractions. They’ll be studying the laws of exponents and how they can be used to simplify algebraic fractions. Cool stuff!
All classes are making progress with their problem-solving skills. In fact, the class averages on the last Continental Math League competition all increased. It’s nice to hear the students share and discuss problem-solving strategies and the many different ways to solve a problem. In addition, with the new year, all classes are receiving 20 Q’s rather than 10 Q’s to keep concepts current and help students retain what they’ve been studying throughout the year. Mrs. Proulx would certainly appreciate any encouragement provided at home to get students to include the question and problem solving strategies on their PS problems and to use their resources and review their work on their 20 Q’s.
Mrs. McMillen’s reading classes have just completed one of two class novels, The Midwife’s Apprentice or The Tiger Rising. Students have completed projects that will be displayed at the Education Fair in April. As students were working on these novels, they learned various literary elements such as point of view, conflict, characterization, setting, and theme. We will be starting a new unit called Information Reading (writing). Students will be learning about different types of informational reading and how to read and interpret the information given. We will continue stressing following directions and work completion. Students will start writing reading responses for the novels they have chosen to read. Reading responses are done weekly with a book review due on the sixth week. We will be attending a one-woman production of Warrior’s Don’t Cry at the Capitol Center for the Arts on February 15, 2012.
The language arts class taught by Mrs. McMillen is working on figurative language packets and will be completing a booklet of alliterations, personification, hyperbole, similes, metaphors, and idioms. We will continue working on spelling packets with synonyms and word definitions. Students have been learning the strategies for answering closed responses. We will be starting our children’s books at the end of January.
In Mrs. Bailey’s reading class, students are beginning a new class novel, Z for Zachariah. This novel portrays a young female protagonist who has survived the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and now must decide how to handle a stranger who has wandered into her valley. Students will work independently on weekly activities such as vocabulary, journal responses, and comprehension questions that support the novel. This novel is sure to elicit lots of debate as to what is the best way to handle life-changing developments.
Mrs. Bailey’s language arts classes just finished writing, designing, and illustrating children books that will be on display this spring at the Education Fair. Academic writing is next with students writing a research paper complete with citing work properly. They will be learning how to answer an essay question, setting up an expository essay, and learning how to research in the library on a topic of their choice. We will discuss plagiarism, taking note facts, organizing information, and setting up the research paper using MLA format.