Finishing unit 2 on algebra

This week in 7th grade math we are finishing up our second unit of the year on solving algebra equations.  We have been slowly building the algebra problems during the course of the unit.  We started with simple one step equations and inequalities, then moved onto two step equations, then to multi-step equations that require combining like terms and distributing.   Today we added the last piece which was solving equations that had variables on both sides of the equation.  The class is now able to solve pretty complex algebra equations and inequalities.

Upcoming assignments:
Quiz tomorrow October 28th on sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6
POW Kaytee's Contest due on Thursday Oct. 29th
Alternative Assessment due Monday Nov. 2nd
Test on Monday Nov. 2nd

Questions to ask at home:
Ask your child to show you their POW Kaytee's Contest
Ask your child to write an equation to find three consecutive numbers that add up to 84 and then explain what they are doing.

Government Unit

This week, the 7th graders are beginning their government unit.  Today, they learned about the purpose of the Declaration of Independence.  Later in the week, they will discuss the Articles of Confederation and the challenges that they created for the new nation.  By next week, we will begin our study of the United States Constitution with an inquiry project about the three branches of government.

Questions for you 7th Grader:

• How is the Declaration of Independence influenced by the Enlightenment?
• Did the Founding Fathers write the Declaration of Independence for selfish or ideological reasons?

Checking out the Declaration of Independence.

7th Grade Language Arts: New Book Clubs

This week 7th graders started their new book club groups.  This quarter the genre is science fiction books.  The books being read this quarter include Ender’s Game, The Ear, the Eye, & the Arm, and Life As We Knew It.  Students received their books today and met with their group members to develop the reading schedule and set goals and ground rules for the meetings.  Each book club group will meet for eight discussion sessions throughout the month of November.  During each meeting, students discuss reading log reflections, literary elements, opinions, frustrations, interesting quotes, predictions, etc.  The concluding assessment projects will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop a tour presentation of the events and settings in their books.

Upcoming Due Dates:

Personal Narrative Paper:

1st Draft due: Tuesday, November 10, 2015

2nd Draft due: Monday, November 16, 2015

Final Draft due: Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Week 9: 7th Grade Science

Week: 9

Topic: Project Fair

Dear Parents,

By this time your son or daughter has identified their variables, completed their hypothesis, project title, question, and problem question.  This week they are working on their rough drafts for their material list, procedure, tables, and graphs.  By this weekend (10/31) they should have purchased their materials and begun doing their pre-experiment.  I will keep you posted each week of their progress.  My goal is to have the experiments completed by Thanksgiving, enjoy the holiday, use the remainder of the time to create the project board, and their presentation.

Sincerely,

Mr. Tortorici

Multi-step algebra problems

This week in 7th grade we are continuing to work on our second unit on solving algebra equations.  During this unit we started in unit two with the distributive property and then solving simple one step algebra equations.  The second part of this unit, which is part of unit 7 in the textbook, is to apply these skills to more complex algebra problems that require multiple steps.  We started this today, after our quiz, and went over how to solve two step equations and discussed how it was like the reverse order of operations and that they have to add or subtract before they multiply or divide.  For the rest of the week we will add more steps in the algebra order of operations process.  Tomorrow we will add distributing and combining like terms to solve algebra problems.  Lastly, we have spent a lot of time in each lesson talking about how to write an algebra equation for a word problem.  On Thursday we will continue to work on this skill and work on writing some pretty challenging equations.

Upcoming assignments:
Quiz next Wednesday October 28th on sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6 in the textbook
POW Kaytee's contest due Thursday October 29th
Test Monday November 2nd
Alternative Assessment due Monday November 2nd

War Unit Conclusion

Last week, students talked about how Native Americans and the United States government often came into conflict with one another.  Students analyzed primary sources and come together to discuss the idea of land ownership in a socratic seminar.  This week, the 7th graders are finishing up their unit about wars in early America.  They have a quiz about Native American conflicts and the War of 1812 on Thursday.  They will write their evidence essay in class on Friday.  Students will be writing about whether or not war ever has a positive outcome using three of the wars from this unit as evidence to support their opinion.  Next week, students will begin their unit about the American government.  We will start by discussing the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.  Then, they will work on a group project about the three branches of government.

Question for your 7th grader:

• Does war ever have a positive outcome?

Native American Conflicts Socratic Seminar

7th Grade Language Arts: Personal Narrative Writing Project

Dear 7th Grade Families:

Your student is about to embark on a Narrative Writing Project, during which he or she will write a personal narrative based on a family member’s life experiences.

Your student will create a series of questions and then use those questions to interview an older relative. Once the interview is complete, the student will create a personal narrative essay to help tell the relative’s story. 

In class, students will develop questions for the interview, review each other’s work, and share what they have learned.  

I am asking you to help your student select a family member for this project and provide assistance in arranging the meeting. This meeting can take place in person, over the phone, on FaceTime, or through email. While it is not your responsibility to conduct the interview, you may assist by video recording the interview.

When students learn about the memories of other people, it can help them become more thoughtful readers and writers in other contexts. With this activity, students will also gain a better appreciation of how daily life has changed over the years.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Payne

Week: 8

***This Saturday 10/24/15 please sit down with your son or daughter and discuss their experiment with them.  Things to discuss are materials, timing, a pre-experiment, and the experiment itself.  I will be giving the students a detailed calendar of assignment due dates.  My goal is to have the project done before Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks 

Mr. T

Topic:  Energy Transformation and Conservation

Objectives: 

Describe the transformation of energy between potential and kinetic energy.

State the law of conservation of energy.

Essential Question:

If energy isn’t created or destroyed, then where does it go?

Key Terms:

energy transformation

law of conservation of energy

matter

friction

This week the kids will use the motion of a pendulum to reinforce their knowledge of mechanical energy and how it related to their roller coaster project.  

Differentiated Instruction:

visual

Upcoming:

***Project Night***

Completed 

Project Selection

Journal Materials

Key Terms

Observation, Problem & Problem Question

This Week

Note Cards

Bibliography

Title Page

Table of Contents

For Next Week

Hypothesis

Materials and Procedure

MAP Scores Coming Home Today

MAP scores are coming home today via kidmail. If you have more than one child in grades 3-7, all scores will come home with the youngest child. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email Mrs. Smith.

Week 7: 7th Grade Science

Week: 7

Topic:  Energy Transformation and Conservation

Objectives: 

Describe the transformation of energy between potential and kinetic energy.

State the law of conservation of energy.

Essential Question:

If energy isn’t created or destroyed, then where does it go?

Key Terms:

energy transformation

law of conservation of energy

matter

friction

This week the kids will use the motion of a pendulum to reinforce their knowledge of mechanical energy and how it related to their roller coaster project.  

Differentiated Instruction:

visual

Upcoming:

***Project Night***

Completed 

Project Selection

Journal Materials

Key Terms

Observation, Problem & Problem Question

This Week

Note Cards

Bibliography

Title Page

Table of Contents

For Next Week

Hypothesis

Materials and Procedure

Native American Conflicts

This week in social studies, the 7th graders are finishing up their unit about war with lessons about Native American conflicts and the War of 1812.  Students spent today reading several primary sources about how the United States government and Native American tribes disagreed about the idea of land ownership.  Tomorrow, they will participate in a socratic seminar where they will discuss the idea of who should own land and if the government was justified in their actions.  Later in the week, they will participate in a simulation about the War of 1812.  Students will take their quiz on these topics next Thursday and will write their in class essay about our war essential question next Friday.

Questions for your 7th grader:

• Who has the right to own land?
• Do you think the United States should have fought with Native American tribes over land?

Links to the primary sources:

• Treaty of Greenville
• Tecumseh's Speech

Upcoming Dates

• Thursday, October 22  Native American Conflicts and War of 1812 Quiz
• Friday, October 23       In class essay: "Does war ever have a positive outcome?"

Basic Algebra equations, guess check and revise, and inequalities

This week in 7th grade math we continue to work on our second unit on solving algebra equations.  Today we worked on solving one step algebra equations that had addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in them.  Tomorrow we will move onto the guess, check, and revise method for problem solving.  We will spend most of the day learning about this strategy of problem solving and then do other problem solving activities.  We will then finish the week with learning about inequalities and how to solve one step inequality equations.

Upcoming assignments:
Problem of the Week Ostrich Llama count due next Tuesday Oct. 20th
Quiz on sections 2.4-2.9 on Tuesday Oct 20th

7th Grade Language Arts: Scholastic Story Starter

VIP Day was a great opportunity for students to share what they have been working on in Language Arts class with their visitors.  Students also got a chance to play a verbal storytelling game using the Scholastic Story Starter on the Promethean Board.  The Story Starter looks like a slot machine filled with silly story ideas.  Students spun the wheel for the initial idea and then added more details to create a story with their visitors.  The story starter can be used for verbal or written storytelling.  Just type in a name and click on the grades 4-6 button (the prompts can be enjoyed by all middle school grades even though they are labeled as grades 4-6).  

Here is the link if you are interested using the Scholastic Story Starter with your child at home:

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

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

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

Football in PE!

"From juggling to fainting goats tag, we are always doing fun things in PE. Football has been a good challenge. We have been practicing throwing through hula hoops and throwing long passes to partners who are running."
- Aidan

American Revolution Simulations

Over the past few weeks, the 7th graders have been acting out the battles of the American Revolution.  On Monday, students created their own simulations and skits about battles that they had read and then used them to teach their classmates.  Today, students will be reviewing some social studies study skills to prepare for their American Revolution quiz, which is on Thursday.  Next week, the 7th graders will be learning about Native American wars during colonial times and the War of 1812.

Questions for your 7th Grader:

• Why did the Patriots win the American Revolution?
• Who are the "heroes" of the American Revolution?

Human contour drawings, image and text compositions.

The 7th graders are almost done with the powerful text and image compositions. They did big contour drawings of wooden architecture mannequins and worked on getting the proportions right.  They are a simple representation of the human body and allowed for each students individual style to come through. They were then required to trace their best drawing at least three times to create an interesting composition. They had to use different techniques to fill in the body shapes, like warm colors, cool colors, patterns etc. One of the figures had to be shaded to show volume. Finally they were asked to think about what being human means to them and to fill their backgrounds with text that communicated this idea. I think they did a great job!

Distributive property and solving equations

This week in 7th grade we are continuing our unit on algebra.  Last week we started to review the distributive property and this week we have expanded on the concept with longer and more complex situations.  We will continue to work with the distributive property tomorrow with even more complex situations.  We will the learn about what an equation is and how to tell if it is true or false.  Then we will start reviewing how to solve one step algebra equations.

Upcoming assignments:
Quiz tomorrow Oct. 7th on sections 2.1-2.3

7th Grade Language Arts: Elements of Stories Unit

The 7th grade strange and mysterious short stories are really coming together.  Students have been enjoying the opportunity to create creepy stories just in time for Halloween!  Students will participate in a revision and editing writing workshop on Thursday to improve their stories.  Be sure to ask your child to share his or her short story with you.  This unit will come to a close next week with the final draft submission and the final test.

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

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

Short Story 2nd Draft Due: Tuesday, October 13, 2015

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

Week 6: 7th Grade Science

Week 6

Topic: Project Fair

Dear Parents,

For the next four weeks the 7th graders will concentrate on their Project Fair experiments.  I will keep you posted each week of their progress.  My goal is to have the experiments completed by Thanksgiving, enjoy the holiday, use the remainder of the time to create the project board, and their presentation.  Project Fair is scheduled for December 3rd, 2016 (a Thursday night.)

Sincerely,

Mr. T

This Week:

Topic Selection

What materials do I need?

Observations

Problem Question

Research

For Next Week

Begin planning the experiment

Might be of interest. . .

#BeingThirteen - Inside the Secret World of Teens airs October 5th at 9 p.m. This Anderson Cooper special has been in the works for 2 years and promises to be thought provoking.