7th Grade Newsletter
Week of September 14th - 18th
Speech and Debate - Students took last week to practice getting rid of some bad public speaking habits. We will now begin preparing our next speech. Hopefully there will be some marked improvements as the difficulty level of speeches continues to go up.
English - We'll be putting our comma knowledge to the test this week, as we create our first batch of letters for students attending our sister school, St. Mary's in Uganda. Our goal is to foster relationships and learn as much as we can about their culture. We will also continue preparing for our first, independent Diagram Challenge this Friday. Students have been great about participating and taking notes, but some need to make sure that the amount of and type of effort exerted outside of class matches that which we do during class. We recommend quiz prep of 5-10 minutes daily and are trying to discourage our students from "winging" it or cramming materials at the last minute. Our goal is mastery learning. Please be sure to check a binder near you to see how your student is progressing in English.
Math – What's the mean, median, mode, and range of our class shoe sizes? We'll be looking at measures of central tendency at the beginning of this week. Then we will become powerful math students by learning about powers and exponents. Remember to check the math binders frequently, Every assignment/test/quiz handed back is to be kept in the binder. There should be almost one per day. Checking the binder will give you a good idea where your student is in Math. Also be sure that your child is utilizing the companion websites for extra help outside of class.
Science – We will be diving head first into rocks. That sounds weird, but we will be getting into the information about rocks this week. After covering rocks, we will move into our debate over rocks and minerals. I feel a debate coming. What is more important, the rock or the mineral?
Science Exploratory – In our two sessions this week, we will be continueing our responsibilities with the plants and animals. The kids are really having a good time helping out both categories and we will continue to do so this week.
Religion- A little bit of trickery and a great nation emerges this week as we take a look at Jacob, the man who became Israel.
8th Grade Newsletter
Week of September 14th - 18th
Reading – This week students will continue an intense six week study of the Six Traits of Reading. They will spend this week reviewing their skills on Developing Interpretations. Students will do a variety of leveled activities in order to recognize the importance of these skills. On Wednesday, students will be taking their second vocabulary quiz and will then begin unit 3. I would expect students to be completed with the 6-traits unit in about 2 weeks.
English – Now that we are aware that the usage of commas is dictated by a series of rules, we'll be applying that information into our own writing. We are going to create pen pal letters to learn more about our sister school's cultural experiences while teaching them about ours and connecting more deeply with those we pray for daily. We will also prepare for our first, independent diagramming challenge, scheduled for this Friday. A commitment of 5-10 minutes of daily preparation outside of class is strongly suggested for students. This eliminates cramming and fosters long-term learning. Be sure to check a binder near you to see how your student is progressing in religion and English. There should be no surprises once Edline is fully functional, as all papers are returned in a timely fashion, and our students are aware of how well they have performed (or how much they need to improve their note-taking and study skills).
Math - It's getting close. Our first chapter test over chapter 1 will be this Friday. Remember to check the math binders frequently, Every assignment/test/quiz handed back is to be kept in the binder. There should be almost one per day. Checking the binder will give you a good idea where your student is in Math. Also be sure that your child is utilizing the companion websites for extra help outside of class.
Math (Geometry) – It's time for some radical review. We'll start off the week with a pretty "radical" lesson before we move into Chapter 2. Remember to check the math binders frequently, Every assignment/test/quiz handed back is to be kept in the binder. There should be almost one per day. Checking the binder will give you a good idea where your student is in Math. Also be sure that your child is utilizing the companion websites for extra help outside of class.
MATHCOUNTS Exploratory – It's time to design! Tuesday the students will be assigned their design project and begin work!
Science – We will finish the chapter that covers the states of matter by doing some experimenting with them. A little reading and some prep for the test and before we know it we will be time for the test over another chapter already. Man, time is flying already!!!
Social Studies - Students have completed their first test and will begin going through the material in chapters 3 and 4. These two chapters are very closely related and will be combined and discussed in about a week and a half. Once this is through, students will test and move into the bulk of their content in American History.
Notes - We encourage the celebration of birthdays but would ask that you consider a book donation rather than sending in homemade treats, due to allergies students at school suffer from. In the event that treats are sent, they will need to be individually wrapped and will be handed out at the end of the day. Thank you for your cooperation with this.