Winter Showcase

Our Seventh Grade class did an outstanding job for their Winter Showcase performance.  After our performance in class, the students watched the video and critiqued what went well and what were some areas for improvement.  Overall, the students had a very positive experience.  Do you want to see their performance again?  Click on the video below!  The first video is the class performance; the second is Symphonic Band.

If you are reading this via email, the videos do not show up.  You'll have to go to our actual blog in order to see the performances.  Thanks!

Seventh Grade L.A. Blog-Almost Winter Break!

We're almost there, guys!
There's an energy in the air, an excitement that says Winter Break is coming; but, that hasn't stopped the students from putting their best work forth. As I go through these book reviews, I'm thoroughly impressed with the complexity and honesty of their writing. Way to go!
The group presentations are going amazingly well so far. I've loved watching the students present for their peers, and it's great to be a part of that audience.
Tomorrow, we will wrap up our group presentations and play some winter-related word games and puzzles. We will also watch a holiday movie/some holiday TV shows! I may even bring a treat for the kids. :)

Happy Winter Break to everyone! See you all in the New Year!

Week 17: Seventh Grade Science

Week: 17

Topic: Project Fair

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed Project Fair as much as I did this year.  I always enjoy all the different ideas the kids come up with and through all their hard work they really become an expert in their field.  Thank you also for all your support and patience during this long process.  

Next , the seventh graders will begin to look at the circulatory system and how it is our bodies transportation system.  

Hope you all have a happy and healthy holiday.  

Sincerely,

Mr. T

The Columbian Exchange

Earlier this week, the students learned about the age of exploration.  Today, students learned about the impact of the Columbian Exchange, which was the trading of plants and animals between the Old and New worlds.  Students guessed where plants and animals originally came from based on their prior knowledge of history and famous ethnic cuisines.  They were surprised to learn where many foods actually came from.  For example, when many students thought of tomatoes, they thought they might have originally come from Italy, because of pizza and pasta sauce.  However, tomatoes are originally from the Americas.  Then, they looked at local restaurant menus and found that almost every ethnic cuisine features foods from both the Old and New worlds.

Questions for your 7th grader:

What foods surprised you the most from the Columbian Exchange activity?

What menu did you look at and what did it show you about the Columbian Exchange?

Finishing our unit on fractions and exponents

This week the 7th graders are finishing their unit on fractions and exponents.  We have a review session during lunch/recess today for our test tomorrow.  When we return from the holiday break we will begin our new unit on fraction operations and algebra.

Alternative Assessment due tomorrow Dec. 17
Test tomorrow Dec. 17
Ruler Project due Dec. 19

Have a great Holiday Break and enjoy the time off.

Renaissance re-cap and clay Picasso faces to come.

We finished our Renaissance unit with some profile self-portraits using the egg temperas we made in class. This proved to be more difficult for many of the students than painting a portrait from the front. I encouraged them to all start with kind of a tilted egg shape and then add the details of their faces and hair. I think it will take some practice and perhaps they are happy to leave this style of portraiture in the Renaissance. I did allow some liberties with the choice of color. Maybe you can tell who these are??

Finally we bid farewell to the Renaissance with a really fun I-Pad project. The students learn about what a parody is and then have to create their own Mona Lisa parody using "PS Touch". It is a very user friendly app on their I-pads that allows them to create layers and manipulate images just like Photoshop. Enjoy!

This week we move on to clay Picasso faces for a change of pace. Happy Holidays!

7th Grade L.A. Blog-better late than never!

Good morning! I apologize for not getting this up on Tuesday!
The class has been busy working on their group projects (for 7th grade, this is the book tour) and constructing their book reviews. They've seen examples of both positive and negative book reviews that are still well written. I think many of the students were excited to learn that they didn't have to write a positive book review; if they didn't like their book, they just need to articulate why!
Next week, the students will be presenting a brief summary of their book review and then give their group presentations! I am very excited to see them!

Due dates:
Tuesday, December 16th: Final Draft due of the book review, PRINTED (Turn in your books too!)
Wednesday, December 17th: Group Project Presentation

Almost time for Winter Break! Don't burn out just yet! :)

Ms. Daly

Week 16: 7th Grade Science

Week: 16

Topic: Project Fair

Dear Parents,

 This week is the final week for Project Fair.  Their poster boards should be completed by tomorrow (12/10) and they should be preparing their oral presentation. 

The kids have worked hard on their project’s and I am excited to see their final results.  There is a wide range of physical science projects from “How does temperature effect the brain? to How buoyant is water?”  I hope you enjoy the 7th grade projects as well as the rest of the middle school projects.  See you Friday night.

Please continue to monitor your child ’s project progress.  A useful source is Science Buddies which is an on-line project guide.

Sincerely,

Mr. T

Advisory Lil' Buddies - Making Cards for Common Pantry

Next week, middle school advisory groups will pack lunches to be delivered to the less fortunate through Common Pantry. Today, with their Lil' Buddies, advisory groups made holiday cards to send well wishes to the lunch recipients. It's always so fun to see the big kids with the little ones, but it is extra special to see all the kids working together in 
service of others.

There are still plenty of options for donating food to this project. If you would like to donate, please see the attached link.

English Monarchy, Science, and Exploration

The 7th graders finished up their unit about the Renaissance and Reformation last week.  On Monday, Mrs. Brissman came to our class to help me teach the students about the Tudor dynasty in the English monarchy.  The students acted out the succession of the English throne (and the six wives of Henry VIII) as Mrs. Brissman and I narrated the story.  Over the next two weeks before break, we will have a short unit about science and exploration.  Students will learn about how new inventions and discoveries changed the world forever.

Questions for your 7th grader:
What part did you play in the English monarchy simulation?
How did the scientific revolution change the world?


Heath played King Henry VIII.  Notice that his "wife" keeps changing.

Fractions and exponents

This week in math the 7th graders are continuing to work on our unit on fractions and exponents.  This week we will be going over the exponents rules for multiplication and division.  We are also spending about half of each class for the next week designing and creating our own rulers.

Upcoming assignments

Wednesday Dec. 10 alternative assessment assigned
Friday Dec. 12 Quiz on sections 4.4-4.8
Wednesday Dec. 17 Alternative assessment due
Wednesday Dec. 17 Unit 4 test
Friday Dec. 19 Ruler project due

Week 15: Seventh Grade Science

Week: 15

Topic: Project Fair

Dear Parents,

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  By now the kids should have completed their experiment, data, graphs, data analysis, conclusion, and their two page paper.   

Next, they should have received their poster boards and instructions on how to complete their presentation.  Ideally their boards should be completed by this weekend.

Please continue to monitor your child ’s project progress.  A useful source is Science Buddies which is an on-line project guide.

Sincerely,

Mr. T

Seventh Grade L.A. Blog-Hello!

Good afternoon, parents!
My name is Ms. Kate Daly, and I will be your child's Language Arts teacher for the next three months while Ms. Payne is on maternity leave. I am very excited to be working here at North Park and have already gotten to know the students pretty well.

Here's a quick preview of what we'll be working on this month before Winter Break.

The students have finished reading their Book Club books and are now constructing two unique projects. First, they will be creating a book review that incorporates their opinion of the book, the book's setting, theme, and characters, as well as quotes and examples from the text. Second, they will use the classroom as the setting for a book tour! Both of these projects give the students creative liberty to interpret and discuss the text, while still diving into critical analysis and synthesis of the novel.

Here are the due dates:
Book review rough draft: Due Thursday, December 11th
Book review final draft: Due Tuesday, December 16th
Book Tour presentation: Presented on Wednesday, December 17th

I look forward to working with your children, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!


P.S. Here's a little bit about me as well:
I graduated from DePaul University in 2010 with my Bachelors in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies. I decided to go back to school in 2011 and graduated from DePaul with my Masters in Secondary Education-English. I've lived in the city for over five years, and I got married six months ago. My husband and I went on our honeymoon over Thanksgiving break to Toronto! We live in Roscoe Village with our bunny, Trouble.

Ms. Kate Daly

Divisibility/Prime Numbers/Fractions

This week in math the 7th graders are starting their new unit on Factors, Fractions, and Exponents.  We started the week off reviewing divisibility rules and how to simplify expressions using exponents.  For the rest of the week we will be reviewing how to find the Greatest Common Factor and how to simplify fractions, but we will be doing this with variables instead of just numbers.  This will require the class to learn how to do those types of problems using different skills then they are used to.  We will also begin working on our ruler project this week

Quiz on lessons 4.1-4.4 on Friday