Dear Parents,
We hope that you and your families enjoyed a restful and joyous break. As we begin a new year, we would like to take a moment to thank you for all of your support throughout the school year, and especially for the generous holiday monetary gifts. We genuinely enjoy working with your children each day, and we believe that they are a reflection of the values you have instilled in them at home. Thank you for entrusting us with their education and giving us the opportunity to learn and grow together daily.
Best wishes for a wonderful new year!
Sincerely,
The Middle School Team
6TH GRADE NEWS
6th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. Guggenheim
Writing: In class, students will write original short stories that they brainstormed/outlined during our short story unit. They are due Wednesday, January 13. The students will be working on these on their own in class. They will receive a rubric.
Grammar: In conjunction with short story writing, students will be expected to focus on writing and correctly punctuating complete sentences, punctuating dialogue correctly, and incorporating the grammar skills we have covered in class up to this point.
Vocabulary: The vocabulary lists for our next novel The Giver will be distributed on Tuesday, January 5th. The quiz over List 1 is 1/12.
Literature: We will begin reading The Giver next week.
6th Math with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in math, we will continue in chapter 6 by multiplying and dividing integers. On Wednesday, we will review for the quiz that we will take on Thursday over sections 6.2-6.5. On Friday, we will continue to master adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers by playing INTEGER BINGO!
6th-7th Pre-Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra we will finish Chapter 5 by learning about solving equations involving rational numbers (5.7). There will be a day of review on Thursday and the Chapter 5 Test on Friday,
6th Earth Science with Mrs. Reardon
Next week we will begin a new chapter on volcanoes! We will discuss how volcanoes affect people, talk about conditions that cause volcanoes to form, and identify relationships between volcanoes and Earth’s moving plates. Students should expect a quiz over section 1 on Thursday and a lab on Friday.
6th Earth Science with Mrs. Huennekens
Volcanoes tend to bring out so much excitement in the students! On Thursday, we experimented with regular household products to simulate how lava flows. The students learned the new term viscosity and how that applies to the flow of different materials and substances. For the week of January 11th, the students will have a short quiz over Section 1 on Wednesday and then we will begin Section 2. Section 2 is all about the different types of volcanoes.
6th Spanish with Ms. Sotomayor
We had a very productive week. We have learned how to describe what people wear with our new vocabulary and verbs “Llevar” and “Tener”. I’ve also enjoyed seeing the artistic abilities as they designed their own outfits and labeled them. Next week we will focus heavily on conversation and using the verbs we’ve learned to conjugate. Next test to be announced.
6th Ancient Civilizations with Mrs. Hannah
We have begun our study of Ancient China by analyzing the geography of China and how that contributed to its isolation. We will study five different dynasties, and learn how each dynasty influenced the growth of China. Next week we will have a quiz on Wednesday over the geography of China and the Xia and Shang dynasties. The quiz will include the map of China, which students have already completed and will receive on Monday. Please make sure to look in the “About” section of Google Classroom for the PowerPoint presentation, notes packet, and map that students can use to study and reinforce what we have learned in class so far.
7TH GRADE NEWS
7th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. Hannah
We have begun our second novel, Animal Farm! Students are analyzing the positive and negative effects of rhetoric and propaganda as we study this novel, Each student has a reading calendar and novel analysis packet, and should complete the analysis chapter by chapter, according to the calendar. These resources are also available in Google Classroom for reference! We will have a quiz over chapters 1-3 on Tuesday.
Students will also write a speech that uses rhetoric and propaganda to persuade their teachers and peers, and create an accompanying “commercial” to support their argument. We have six days in class to work on these creations, but individual work at home can be completed as well. The speech and video will be due the week of 25-29 January. I look forward to viewing passionate, well-planned speeches from the seventh grade!
7th-8th Algebra I with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will review on both Monday and Tuesday for the Chapter 6 Test that will take place on Wednesday. This chapter is very content heavy, so it is important that students begin to review this weekend. The end of the week students will be working on an in class real-world activity with partners.
6th-7th Grade Pre-Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra we will finish Chapter 5 by learning about solving equations involving rational numbers (5.7). There will be a day of review on Thursday and the Chapter 5 Test on Friday,
7th Grade Life Science with Mrs. Huennekens
The dragons were a lot of fun to make as we worked more with chromosomes and inheritance! We are now looking at animals and have spent time this week talking about adaptations and symmetry. Next week, we will move on to Sponges and Cnidarians. There will be a short quiz on Section 1 on Wednesday, January 13th.
7th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish class, the 7th grade will continue to work with the preterite tense and direct object pronouns. Students will also read about the difference between consumers in Hispanic communities and the United States. The vocabulary quiz will be on Tuesday, January 12th and the grammar quiz will be Friday, January 15th.
7th American History Part I with Mrs. English
This week in American History and Gov’t Part 1, we continue studying Chapter 6.3--The War Widens. Students are also brushing up on the 50 states geography. We will have a 50 states geography quiz on Friday, January 15th. Students should use the geography link in Google Classroom to prepare for the quiz.
8TH GRADE NEWS
8th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
This week students explored poetry as we read and analyzed several poems together in the textbook. We also examined vocabulary as we studied unit 13 in the Vocabulary from Latin and Greek Roots book. Students did not have any tests or quizzes this week, but they can look forward to a vocabulary quiz on January 12th and a test over poetry unit on January 14th. After we wrap up our study of poetry we will begin to read Night by Elie Wiesel.
7th-8th Algebra I with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will review on both Monday and Tuesday for the Chapter 6 Test that will take place on Wednesday. This chapter is very content heavy, so it is important that students begin to review this weekend. The end of the week students will be working on an in class real-world activity with partners.
8th Advanced Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will continue exploring properties of triangles. We will learn about the Base Angles Theorem in isosceles triangles (4.3), review the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse (4.4 - 4.5), discover some fascinating properties of medians and the centroid (4.6), and explore the triangle inequality (4.7).
8th Geometry with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Geometry we will have a review day on Monday and take the Chapter 6 Test on Tuesday. We will then begin Chapter 7, which explores the fascinating right triangles. We will review the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse (7.1 - 7.2), explore using similar right triangles (7.3), and learn about special right triangles (7.4).
8th Grade Physical Science with Mrs. Huennekens
The candy compound lab was successful except the majority of the students did not like the spice gumdrops that we used for our lab. They were allowed to eat them at the end of lab. We also investigated the particle size and dissolving rate. We’ve discussed different types of solutions in Section 1. We will have a brief quiz on Section 1 on Wednesday.
8th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish class, the 8th grade will continue to work with the imperfect tense and preterite tense. Students will also begin writing a biography about a classmate’s childhood using the two tenses. The vocabulary quiz will be Tuesday, January 12th and the grammar will be Friday, January 15th.
8th American History Part II with Mrs. English
This week we will continue to study The Roaring Twenties by diving into women’s rights. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 19.3. Come ready to discuss women’s roles in society. We might even get to have a friendly little debate! Don’t forget you have your European and Middle East geography quiz on Friday. Use the links in Google Classroom to study!
Mrs. Reardon's 6th Grade Math class modeled adding and subtracting integers during class this week.
