Week 5: 7th Grade Science

Week: 5

Topic:  Design and Build a Roller Coaster

Objectives: 

The objective for the students is to design and construct a roller coaster that uses kinetic and potential energy to move an object along the entire track without stopping.

Essential Question:

What is energy and how can it be transformed?  

Key Terms:

energy transformation

law of conservation of energy

matter

friction

This week the kids will plan, build, and analyze a roller coaster made from 12 feet of tubing that includes 3 hills.   

Differentiated Instruction:

creating plans

making modifications

data collection

data interpretation

Battles of the American Revolution

This week, the 7th grade students have been experiencing the American Revolution.  For each battle, students have been acting out the different roles as I have narrated the story.  Students really enjoy moving around the room and acting like the different characters and moving from place to place has helped them remember the details and outcomes of the long list of battles during the war.  Next week, students will finish learning about the American Revolution and will have a quiz on chapter 4 on Thursday.

Questions for your 7th grader:

• What was the turning point of the American Revolution?
• How were the battle strategies different for the British and the Patriots?

Starting Unit 2 on Algebra

This week in 7th grade math we are starting our second unit on Algebra.  This is a longer unit and will have three quizzes instead of the usual two.  This unit will be encompassing unit 2 and parts of unit 7.  So far this week we reviewed the test that was taken last Friday (which needs to be signed for tomorrow) and learned about the commutative property, associative property, and we have begun reviewing the distributive property.   Next week we will continue to work with the distributive property, combining like terms, and solving simple algebra equations.

Upcoming assignments:
POW Movie seating due on Monday October 5th
MAP Testing 9:50 on Monday October 5th
Quiz 2.1 on sections 2.1-2.3 on Wednesday October 7th

Pictures below are from last Friday after the test.  The class was asked to use pentominoes to try and create a 6 by 10 rectangle.

Right at the end of class someone finally was able to make the rectangle.

Well done Linnea!! Not as easy as you think.

7th Grade Language Arts: Steppenwolf for Young Adults Opportunity

Steppenwolf for Young Adults is featuring a stage adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984.  The production runs from October 21, through November 20, 2015.  Although we will not be attending this play as a class (since it is not part of the Language Arts curriculum), I wanted to post information about the play for families interested in attending the play on their own.

Here is the play summary:

“Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth located in the nation of Oceania, part of a vast empire in a constant, shifting war against other superstates. Dissent is not tolerated (not even in thought), and Winston and his fellow citizens are under perpetual electronic surveillance by their ever-watchful ruler Big Brother. When Winston falls in love with a co-worker, their illegal affair pushes them to rebel and face the darkest and most dangerous corners of the regime. On the heels of last year’s gripping Animal Farm, Steppenwolf for Young Adults presents Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece in a multi-media production that is a haunting, shockingly timely look at a future that seems disturbingly present.”

http://www.steppenwolf.org/Plays-Events/productions/index.aspx?id=645

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

Literary Elements and Techniques Quiz: Wednesday, September 30, 2015

MAP Reading Test: Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Literary Elements and Techniques Final Test: Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Short Story 1st Draft Due: Thursday, October 8, 2015

Short Story 2nd Draft Due: Tuesday, October 13, 205

Short Story Final Draft Due: Friday, October 16, 2015

¡La clase de español!

The 7th grade is off to great start in Spanish!  Our unit for 1st quarter is called Mi comida favorita, My Favorite Food. (The class continually leaves Spanish class hungry) In this unit they will practice how to talk about food and beverages, say what foods they like and don't like to eat, and ask questions. We will also focus on Puerto Rico and explore typical Puerto Rican foods.

Here are photos from some of our activities from last week.

Below is a picture of our horrible food contest. We had a contest to see what student could come up with the worst food combination and the class voted on a winner.  The winner went to Elena, la sopa de queso azul y las uvas, blue cheese and grapes soup!

We also used fake food to play a classic game of hot potato. In small groups, the class passed around a food. When the music stopped, the person with the food was responsible for telling the class the Spanish word. The class had a blast passing around the food as quickly as possible.

This week our focus is asking questions using interrogatives and saying what they like and don't like to eat. We will personalize our conversations to discuss favorite foods, restaurants, and food they like to eat for different meals of the day.

At home, you can practice asking your child what they like to eat or you can hold a horrible food contest of your own. See what horrible combinations you and your child can come up with!

The American Revolution

After learning about the causes of the American Revolution last week, the 7th graders are now learning about the actual events of the war.  On Monday, they looked at primary sources to see if they could find out who fired the famous "shot heard 'round the world" and learned about Paul Revere and the minutemen of Massachusetts.  Now, they are working on a menu projects about the meetings of the Continental Congress, a group of colonial delegates who tried to peacefully avoid war.  Later in the week, they will participate in a simulation that will walk students through several of the battles of the war.

Questions for your 7th grader:

• Who do you think fired the first shot of the American Revolution?
• Show me some of the menu items that you have created this year. 

Finishing Unit 1

This week in 7th grade math we are finishing our first unit on Algebraic Expressions and Integers.  Yesterday we went over our final section in the unit on probability and odds.  On Thursday we will have a review day and continue to work on our unit project on codes.  We will then have our unit test on Friday.

Upcoming assignments:
Problem of the Week Sketchley Names That Number due Thursday September 24th
Alternative Assessment due Friday September 25th
Unit 1 test Friday September 25th

Question to ask you child:
What is the difference between probability and odds?

Week 4: 7th Grade Science

Week: 4

Topic:  What is Energy?

Objectives: 

Identify when work is done on a object.

What is power?

Calculate work and power.

Essential Question:

What is the difference between work and power?

Key Terms:

work

power

joules

This week’s labs will allow the kids to build on their knowledge of potential and kinetic energy and discover what work and power are and how they are calculated. 

Differentiated Instruction:

Developing hypotheses

Kinesthetic

Logic/Math

Data Interpretation

Graphing

Upcoming:

Next week we will revisit and explore potential and kinetic energy to build a roller coaster. 

***This week kids will begin to prepare for their  Science Fair project research.

7th Grade Language Arts: Short Stories

Students are studying the literary elements and techniques during our first quarter Language Arts unit.  The 7th grade unit will focus on strange and mysterious short stories.  We will be reading some classic short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Ray Bradbury, W.W. Jacobs, and Roald Dahl. 

Seventh graders will start writing this week.  They are using their knowledge of the literary elements and techniques to craft their own original strange and mysterious stories. 

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

Literary Elements and Techniques Quiz: Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Literary Elements and Techniques Final Test: Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Short Story 1st Draft Due: Thursday, October 8, 2015

Short Story 2nd Draft Due: Tuesday, October 13, 205

Short Story Final Draft Due: Friday, October 16, 2015

Upcoming MAP Testing

7th grade will be taking the NWEA MAP reading and math tests soon. The math test will be given on 10/5/15 and the reading will be given on 10/6/15.

Students are told that these are simply tests that help us to know how much they know and how best to teach them, and we place absolutely no stress on the students regarding testing. We do encourage students to take their time and to read and answer the questions carefully. We also discuss the fact that frustration with these test questions is normal. The adaptability aspect of MAP can be very frustrating for some students as it is meant to get at how much a student knows.
At home, we ask that you do the same. Discuss the frustration that may occur and reiterate that it is not meant to overwhelm your child but simply to showcase the depth of his/her knowledge. Help your child to get a good night's sleep the night before each test and to have a healthy breakfast the morning of the test. Encourage your child to do his/her best and to take his/her time while testing.

***At this time, we do not have any firm answers as to what the plan will be for your children and the CPS high school process. It is my understanding that it is not likely that CPS will renew the purchase of the NWEA MAP test after this year because CPS students are taking the PARCC test (which requires at least 9 hours of testing time). What this means for our kids is that it is not likely our students (called non-attending students) will have to take MAP for/at CPS. There is a strong chance that this means the current 7th graders will only submit grades from 7th grade and take the Selective Enrollment Exam. As always, expect change and indecision from CPS, but know that I will keep you up to date as much as possible.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mrs. Smith at smith@npeschool.org. If you would like further information about the NWEA MAP tests, take time to look through the Parent Toolkit created by NWEA.

Causes of the American Revolution

During the past several classes, the 7th graders have been analyzing all sorts of primary sources and propaganda from events like the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party.  They are using these sources to gather information about the events and to try to find if the information tells a biased story.  They have their first quiz about the causes of the American Revolution this Friday.  They are also creating menu projects on this topic.  Next week, we will start learning about the Revolutionary War.

Questions for your 7th grader:

• Who is to blame for the Boston Massacre? 
• Show me some of the images from the Boston Massacre and explain how they tell different stories.
• Do you think the colonists had a good reason to fight against the British?

Strange Characters!

The 7th graders made some pretty cool "humans" in art.  We talked about what makes a human and then they created these interesting and strange collages.

We will start to do some figure drawing next and have been practicing with proportions using 

these little wooden architectural mannequins.

Here is a sample of the final result that combines image and text. 

Codes and Patterns

This week in 7th grade math we are continuing to work on some review material in unit 1.  We will be modeling subtraction of integers using number lines, chips, and rules.  We will also be looking at patterns and learning how to write about them.  The students will end the week reviewing multiplication and division of negative and positive numbers by making videos.

Upcoming assignments:
Mod Art due Thursday September 17th
POW Ahn's Code due Friday September 18th
Quiz 1.2 covering sections 1.5-1.9 in the textbook on Monday September 21st
POW Sketchley Names that Negative due Thursday September 24th
Alternative Assessment due Friday September 25th
Unit 1 test Friday September 25th

Remember that conferences and the book fair are on October 1st and October 2nd.

Question to ask at home over the weekend:  Why does a negative times a negative equal a positive?

Week 3: 7th Grade Science

Week: 3

Topic:  What is Energy?

Objectives: 

Describe how energy, work, and power are related.

Name and describe the two basic kinds of energy.

Essential Question:

What does it mean when you say someone has “a lot of energy”?

This week the kids will create their own lab using the Scientific Method to discover how potential and kinetic energy work.  

Differentiated Instruction:

Observing

Kinesthetic

Data Interpretation

Graphing

Upcoming:

Next week we will explore what the words energy, work, and power mean scientifically.

*** Don’t forget to sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/Teacher Conferences 10/1 and 10/2

Parent/Teacher Conference Sign Up for 7th Grade

You may have noticed that fall conferences will be held in early October this year. The teachers would like to utilize this early time to get to know you and your child and to review and discuss the goals that your child worked to set with his/her teachers for the 2015/2016 school year. This conference will be more a time of collaboration with you and your child and less about giving you an academic picture of your child, as conferences have been in the past. Consider this a time to start conversations that can be continued throughout the year by email, in-person, and at spring parent/teacher conferences. As always, outside of conference times, you are welcome to contact your child’s teacher by email, phone, or to schedule a time to meet together.

Visit the link below to sign up for a conference with your child's teacher. Through this link, you should be able to see schedules for all of your necessary classes (if you have more than 1 child or a middle school student) side-by-side. If you are having trouble signing up, please visit this page for more detailed instructions.

When scheduling, especially for multiple teachers, please keep in mind how long you have for the conference itself and how long it will take you to move to other locations in the school. The time allotted for each conference is as follows:

MS - 10 minute student led conferences for each content teacher (sign up for all 4 teachers);

3-5 - 10 minute student led conferences with 5 minutes for parent only interaction (if needed); and

K-2 - 10 minute conferences.

Contact your child's teacher if you are unable to make any of these scheduled times. Contact Kim Smith with questions pertaining to the sign up system. If you would like to schedule a time with one of the co-curricular teachers, please contact that teacher directly by email.

In addition to the conference sign-up procedures described above, we would also like to share our plans to communicate with NPES K-5 parents on a trimester basis during the school year. This was the reporting system in place three years ago at NPES and feels most appropriate as a complement to our fall and spring student goal setting processes. Middle school reporting systems will remain on a quarterly basis. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher with any questions related to our reporting systems and as always, should you have a question or concern pertaining to your child's learning in school at any point in the year, NPES faculty and staff are always available for further discussion.

Thank you,

Kim Smith

7th Grade Language Arts: Descriptive Food Project

The final Descriptive Food Projects were presented and turned in on Thursday.  The 7th grade did an amazing job challenging their descriptive writing skills during this project.  The food descriptions included: a blueberry pie, a peach, waffles, a chocolate chip cookie, tiramisu, doughnuts, an elk burger, a cupcake, banana bread, brownies, and unagi. Students were left feeling super hungry after hearing descriptions of all of the delicious foods.  Some students even shared samples of their food items with the class.  

Here are the 7th graders with their Descriptive Food Projects:

Welcome to PE!

Welcome back to school and to Mr. Hirsch's PE class everyone! This year I will try to have the kids write down blog entries.    - Mr. Hirsch

"This week we started playing real soccer. We also played my favorite warm up game Gaga. Last we we were doing soccer drills."   - Taylor

7th Grade Language Arts: Vocabulary Root Words

We will be studying common Greek and Latin root words throughout the school year in Language Arts class.  Students will learn to use clues from those roots when they encounter unfamiliar words.  They will complete creative and challenging vocabulary building activities to reinforce the root words.  Each of the twelve units introduces ten vocabulary words and traces their definitions back to a common meaning.  Students will examine the words in context to understand correct usage and complete hands-on activities to build their vocabulary skills.

Be sure to check with your child and hear the new words they are learning this year!

The roots we will study this year in seventh grade include:

mater, pater (mother, father), bene, bon (good), ject, jet (throw), flam, pyro (fire), prim, prin, proto, (first), rota, volv, (turn), cor (heart), rect, reg (king), uni, mono (one), bi, du (two), tri, quad, quint, pent, dec, cent (3, 4, 5, 10, 100), spec, spic (look)

Variable, simplifying, evaluating, and review

First of all, sorry for the second blog post, I made a mistake and posted the 6th grade blog to 7th grade.  We had a great first week in 7th grade math.  This week we will be working on how to evaluate an algebraic expression, absolute value, and how to add and subtract positive and negative numbers.  We will do our first of many lessons that use videos to bring concepts we are learning about in class to real life situations.  We will also begin to work a little with our unit project on codes.

We will have a quiz on Friday Sept. 11 on sections 1.1-1.4 in the textbook.

Question to ask at home:  How do you evaluate a variable expression?

The French and Indian War

This week, the 7th graders started their war unit in social studies.  Students started the unit by brainstorming what they already knew about war with an activity called a graffiti wall.  Students moved around the classroom and observed pictures, maps, and questions that had to do with different wars in early American history.  They used these images to ask question that will guide our unit.  Then, students acted out the French and Indian War.  We turned the classroom into the Ohio River Valley and students walked through the events of the war.  Now, students are working on their first menu item about the war.  Later this week, students will learn about the causes of the American Revolution.  They will examine primary sources from the Stamp Act, Boston Tea Party, and Boston Massacre.

Questions for your 7th grader:

• What is worth fighting for?
• During the French and Indian War, did either side have a good reason for fighting

                        

 

Week 2: Energy

Week 2:

Hopefully the kids have recovered from their sleep deprivation of week 1.  We reviewed our lab protocols, enjoyed each others summer vacations, and reviewed this years curriculum.  Our main focus this quarter will be Energy.  They completed their first lab called “Bounce” where they will begin to discover Potential and Kinetic Energy.  

It's a pleasure meeting you.

I’m excited to introduce myself as the new music teacher at North Park Elementary School.  I’d been a music teacher in the Chicago Public Schools since 2004 where I had developed my curriculum to include a variety of folk instruments including recorders, ukuleles and guitars, as well as an extra curricular band program.  I look forward to bringing some of the experiences I’ve gained in my former school as well as taking advantage of the many resources available at NPES.  

This year we will put extra emphasis on the music of Chicago. In addition to developing the basic concepts such as rhythm, pitch, dynamics, and notation covered in the general music classroom, we will be looking at the musicians and the rich musical history and influence of one of the world’s greatest cities, Chicago.  

I really look forward to getting to know and making some great music with your children throughout the year.

-Ben Saltz

7th Grade Math

Hello 7th Grade Math Families,

We are off to a great start in 7th grade math.  Yesterday in class, we worked on setting up and getting all of our technology organized for the start of the year.  We also looked at the Chinese Abacus and discovered how to use it and what numbers looked like on it.

Today we continued to learn about the Abacus and we watched videos on how to multiply using the abacus and how to multiply using sticks.  We then walked around the school and outside and took notes on where we saw math, called a Math Walk.  Lastly we did some multi-step problem solving activities.

We are going to use the problem solving activities to review how to use the "Explain Everything" app to be able to explain how to solve a problem.  This will be useful when we start doing Problem of the Weeks because they will be able to type an explanation for the problem or use technology to explain the problem.

We will then go over the first couple sections in the textbook and discuss how I would like them to take notes in class as this is the first year they will not be using Everyday Math.

7th Grade Language Arts Week 1: Descriptive Food Project

This week students will be given the following creative writing task:
“You will choose a food item that you really enjoy.  This could be something that is very common (pizza, burgers, candy) or something unique (perhaps an item from your culture).  After you’ve chosen your food item, you will write a descriptive paragraph about the item and the overall food experience.  Your goal is to make your audience drool when they hear your description.  Appeal to all their senses: touch, taste, see, feel, and hear.  You will also create a visual representation of the food item to show during your presentation.”

The goal of this writing assignment is to enhance our writing with the best possible word choice, sensory language, and figurative language.  Students may also bring in a sample of their food item to share during the presentation.

Check back to see how these projects are developing!

-Mrs. Payne

NPES Art 2015-2016, Welcome to the Year of the Human and "Humans of Chicago"

This year I am excited to focus on all aspects of humans and the human body as it pertains to art. We will be looking at art that explores the human form and learning what it means to be a human, especially a "human of Chicago". Along with a wide variety of new lessons and old favorites, we will take time this year to do more figure drawing and portraiture, in an effort to learn how to draw human proportions and faces.

One or more elements and principles of art are addressed with each project. They include:

Balance, emphasis, contrast, unity/harmony, movement,/rhythm, proportion, line, shape, form, value, texture, space, and color. 

Students practice:

Looking at and talking about art

Following directions and sequential steps in a process

Creative problem solving

Craftsmanship and technique with new and familiar mediums

Philosophy and Objectives

Art students learn how to be engaged fully in the artistic process and gain skill and confidence by learning to work in the following two and three dimensional mediums: drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, print-making, collage, fiber, and computer arts. Drawing receives the greatest emphasis because it provides the basis for all other creative activities. Drawing is the single most accessible form of art available and provides a direct link between reading, writing, and math.

  The art program is integrated with the core curriculum in order to establish historic relevance and offer students the opportunity to create and do in all subject areas. The program nurtures inventiveness as it engages students in a process that aids in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation. The program is spiraled to allow for building on and practicing prior knowledge and skills at every grade level, while adding more complex techniques, critical thinking opportunities and higher expectations of craft as the student matures.

The goals of the visual art program at NPES are to provide students with the tools to understand human experience; to learn to adapt to and respect others way of thinking; to learn creative methods of problem solving; understand the historical and cultural influences of art; to make decisions in situations where there are no standard answers; to analyze non-verbal communication; and to communicate thoughts and feelings using a practiced and highly developed visual vocabulary.

Student Assessment

Effort 

Participation (including clean-up) 

Creativity and meeting project criteria 

Following directions 

Office Hours

Tuesdays 3:30 - 4:30