Field Trip to the Chicago Symphony!

Today, the middle school classes traveled downtown to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform.  The orchestra performed music that featured different French composers and styles.  

At home questions (that should get more than "it was good" answers):
1. What does the term "avant garde" mean?
2. Why were there two styles of French music, elegant and revolutionary, during the French Revolution?  
3.  Of the two styles, what was Berlioz?
4.  What impressed you the most about the high school soloist?
5.  How was Alex Tran showing an avant garde performance?  

Industrial Revolution

This week, the 7th graders are finishing their Industrial Revolution unit in Social Studies.  They will take their test this Friday.  Next week, they will begin projects about how immigration affected the economy and culture of the United States.

Question for your 7th grader:

Did the benefits of rapid industrialization outweigh the costs?

Linear Equations

This week in 7th grade we are finishing up our unit on linear equations and then starting our next unit on Geometry.  This week we have learned how to create trend lines (lines of best fit) for a scatter plot and then write an equation for the line and then make predictions based on the line.  Next week we will start our unit on Geometry and begin to work on the water bottle project.

Test tomorrow April 29th
Alternative Assessment due tomorrow April 29th

CSO Next Week

On April 30, the NPES Middle School will be heading downtown to enjoy a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The themes is "A Revolution in French Music". The middle school students will be hearing excerpts from Bizet, Berlioz, Ravel, Debussy, and many more.  We will be back to NPES before recess and lunch.

Since we are going to a formal venue, I ask that the students dress up for this field trip.  Please no jeans, shorts, or tshirts.  Due to the NFL draft, we may have to walk a few blocks in order to get to CSO venue, so female students need to wear appropriate shoes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. LaGorio at lagorio@npeschool.org

Looking forward to a wonderful musical experience!

Political Cartoons

This week, the students have been learning about businesses during the Industrial Revolution.  We looked at political cartoons about big business and analyzed the point of view of the authors.  Then, students got a taste of what life might be like as an industrial worker during our assembly line simulation.  Today, students learned about workers fighting against unfair pay and treatment through labor unions and strikes.

Questions for your 7th Grader:

• Tell me about the assembly line simulation.
• Show me some of the political cartoons that you have been looking at in class.  Here is one example:

Linear equations

This week in 7th grade math we are continuing to learn about linear equations.  We have done several activities/labs that have started to build an understanding of slope and constant rate of change.  Today we introduced the concept of a y-intercept.  Tomorrow we will work on graphing linear equations in slope intercept form (y=mx+b) and how to write function rules from function tables.  The class will then take their MAP test on Thursday.  Next week we will continue working with linear equations and apply the skill to scatter plots and creating a line of best fit.

Unit 8 test next Wednesday April 29th
Alternative Assessment due April 29th (being handed out tomorrow)

Questions to ask your student

What is a linear equation?

What makes an equation linear?

Which linear equation is not a function?

7th Grade Language Arts: To Kill a Mockingbird Unit

The seventh grade students started reading To Kill a Mockingbird last week.  Students are actively participating during class discussions and thinking critically about the characters and events in the novel.  Last week students presented their Introductory Projects.  They created posters for some of the themes in the novel and gave speeches about what the themes mean to them.  Some of the themes included honor, bravery, pride, human kindness, innocence, and isolation.  Students are currently preparing their Word Expert Presentation to present Wednesday.  Each student has a vocabulary word from To Kill a Mockingbird that they will be presenting to the class in an interesting and memorable way.  Be sure to ask your child what they plan to do for their presentation.

Upcoming Due Dates:

Word Expert Presentation on Wednesday, April 22nd

Persuasive Essay First Draft due Monday, April 27th

Pointillism and Tesselations

The 7th graders finished their pointillism compositions just before spring break and they did an amazing job. We took the time to look at Sunday in the Park at the Art Institute while we were touring the Renaissance collection, and I think it really inspired them. They caught on to blending different color dots to create shapes and add volume and the colors and textures they created are really very sophisticated for 7th graders.

You can see all of them hanging in the front hall of school.

We moved on to creating Tesselations this week after looking at the work of M.C. Escher. They drew some interesting tile shapes and next week will start to add colors. Ask them to tell you how they made these outlines. 

Week 31: 7th Grade Science

Week: 31

Topic:  Inside Earth

Objectives: 

Identify the characteristics of Earth’s crust, mantle, and core.

Identify what causes convection currents.

Describe convection currents in Earth’s mantle

Essential Question:

How do massive plates move? 

Key Terms:

pressure

crust 

mantle

lithosphere

asthenosphere

outer & inner core

convection

density

This week: The past three weeks have flown by.  The kids have done a great job on creating a model of the geological features of our planet Earth.  This week they are preparing their class presentation. 

Differentiation:

using proportions

model making 

researching

art integration

Upcoming:  Creating a geology field guide

7th Grade Language Arts: Persuasive Essay

The seventh grade students have started a persuasive writing unit.  They picked an environmental issue that they feel passionately about as the topic for their essays.  Today students used the research they collected to start building their outlines.  Be sure to ask your child about their persuasive topic and research.

Language Arts MAP Testing:

Students will take the reading and language sections of the MAP during their regularly scheduled Language Arts classes.  The reading test will be given on Tuesday, April 21, at 1:50 p.m. and the language test will be given on Monday, April 20 at 8:30 a.m.

Graphs

This week in 7th grade math we are starting a unit on linear equations.  We have started the week off by filling up different shaped glass containers with water and measuring how the height of the water increased over time and then graphing the results.  For the rest of the week we will be doing activities to start learning about slope and y intercepts.  This will be a relatively short unit and then we will move onto a geometry unit.

Big Business

Before spring break, the 7th graders began their Industrial Revolution unit.  During this unit, students have been creating several menu projects to demonstrate their knowledge about the topics.  The week before break, they created projects about the impact of the railroad on the economy and culture of America.  This week, they are creating projects that show how entrepreneurs like John D. Rockefeller created big businesses that turned into monopolies.

Questions for your 7th grader:

-Show me your railroads menu item.
-What are you working on for your Big Business menu item?