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7th Grade News - April, 2013

Math



In 7th grade Math, students have been focusing on operations with rational numbers

as it applies to meeting the 7.NS.A.2c Common Core Standard. A Brain Pop video

introduced students to the terminology needed to discuss whether a number is

rational or not. They are responsible for the following “I can” statements as part

of this unit. “I can convert fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions.” “I can

multiply and divide multi-digit numbers that have decimals.” “I can estimate the

answers of such problems using powers of 10.” They practiced a written response

using a standards based rubric. A STEM career video was presented to give

them insight into why learning mathematics is important and what careers are in

high demand due to the explosion of technology. Homework groups have been

implemented as a means of encouraging students to work collaboratively.



Social Studies



Social Studies classes are almost finished up their unit on the Middle Ages. When

we return from April vacation we will be kicking off a major project about the

European Renaissance. In the project, students will research a famous person and

then participate in a mock TV show; where they will become that person. Each show

begins with the students giving a short biography of their person’s life. The 2nd half

of the show involves them answering questions about the major ideas, events, and

inventions of the Renaissance and how they might have affected the person they are

portraying. This year Ms. Gilbert (LA) will be helping the student’s to prepare their

opening monologues and Eric Lawson (Tech Guru) will be helping to improve the

technical side of filming the TV show.



Science



We concluded our Severe Weather Unit with a graded discussion. This was a new

experience for the students which addressed speaking and listening standards

from the Common Core State Standards. Small groups of students prepared notes

individually about a severe weather element and gathered to discuss them as the

rest of the class listened. We highlighted the dangers and safety procedures. Does

your family have an emergency plan in place?



We are currently working with chemistry concepts. The students created a unique

book about matter that has pages that open up, rather than turn. We are using

indicators to determine acids, bases and neutral liquids all the while learning safe

practices in the science room. The students will have a lab packet and a unique

piece of artwork to conclude the unit.



We are still counting roadkill in Rye and New Castle! In May, we will begin to

interpret the data. High roadkill numbers of an animal indicate a high population and

vice versa. Our data is also used by other organizations. We have been doing this

project over 20 years. We have lots of data!



***Earth Day is April 22th! Unfortunately, we will be on vacation, therefore, we will

recognize the day on Friday, April 19th. We are planning to webcast throughout the



day. Each class will be ‘on air’ during the morning beginning at 8:15 am EDT. We

will share live and recorded content from our school and guests. You can join us

by going to http://earthbridges.net/live. There will also be a chat room available to

say hi, add a comment or ask a question. I’m sure the students would love to have

an authentic audience from the seacoast! Please foward the URL to relatives and

friends.



Language Arts



Students are finishing up their novels set in the Middle Ages, and have been working

diligently on the various book projects they have created to outline connections

from their novel to the instruction in social studies. Projects are varied to appeal

to different learning styles, and students had the opportunity to create their own

project. Lastly, students posted to Edmodo, a web based sharing tool where we

compared characters, setting and themes of our novel. Students were motivated to

read others posts, and made thoughtful, insightful connections through comments on

others’ posts.



Narrative writing will be the focus of the third trimester, and currently students are

enthusiastically writing a memoir. Dialogue and figurative language will be used

to enhance the description and development of the plot of the memoir. Looking

forward, students will become amatuer bards as they delve into a unit on

poetry. Students will be exposed to talent from Shakespeare to our current national

poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey. Later on, skills learned to develop character and

enhance writing will be used to craft a monologue on a Renaissance personality.

In math, students have just completed Module 3. They are now learning about the Metric System. The will learn how to convert within the Metric System and use benchmarks to estimate lengths. They continue to follow the Stock Market and watched the market reach it all time and continue to rise. Each student has created a spreadsheet to calculate the gains and losses in their own electronic portfolio.

Social Studies classes are currently wrapping up their Roman unit.  The final project will be to research Gladiatorial combat and to create a fictionalized journal to show what they have learned about the topic. In addition, students have begun taking a series of quizzes on the physical geography of the Europe.  Using student created maps, they are responsible for knowing the names and locations of the important physical features of the continent.  The students will next be looking at the effects of the Fall of Rome and the period known as the “Dark Ages.”  Topics will include Feudalism, the Reformation & Counter Reformation, the Crusades and the Black Death. 

In science, the students have learned to predict nor’easters by examining the path of the low pressure system on a map!  The weather has been cooperating with us this year with storm after storm! We are beginning to research various elements of severe weather and will conclude with a graded discussion next week. This will be a first for most students. I hope to record the discussions and play them for our Earth Day webcast next month.

The science and language arts classes have teamed up. We are currently reading about the flash flood around Johnstown, PA in the late 1800’s. The students are learning that the waters are filled with debris that makes survival difficult during and after the event. They are also analyzing primary source documents (survivor accounts and photographs) about the flood.

In LA, students have finished their "book clubs" and will be presenting commercials to advertise their books next week. Their thoughtful discussions and insight into the themes of the novels were impressive.   We will be working on memoirs next, and adding figurative language to our writing in order to add detail.  Also, in order to connect to the social studies curriculum, students will be reading a novel that takes place during the Middle Ages.  Parents, please look for a reading calendar that will outline assigned reading.  Also, my website is up and running, please check for useful links and weekly homework.  

The 7^th grade recently traveled to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. We had a special showing in the planetarium that related to our science curriculum.  Afterwards, we toured the rest of the exhibits.

In 7th grade math, students have started Module 3 in their textbook. The

theme of the module is Math, a universal language. Students  will review

number theory topics, addition and subtraction with fractions and decimals, and

scientific notation. Student continue to follow the stock market and are using the

spreadsheets that they created to keep track of gains and losses.



This month in Language Arts, seventh grade students chose one of four novels

for our study of literary techniques.  Classes have grouped into four book

clubs, and will complete a series of tasks based around their novel.  Each

novel is centered around the theme of empathy, and book clubs will be

exploring that theme as they work with literary techniques such as character

development through actions and dialogue, author's purpose and use of

figurative language.  Each novel draws the reader in with a conflict that seems

insurmountable, but the character's determination and inner fortitude pushes

them to persevere.  Discussions in book clubs thus far have been lively and

purposeful.  Writing tasks will also be based on the novel, as we continue to work

on organization in writing, and varying sentence length through construction of

compound and complex sentences.



Seventh grade science classes are learning how high and low pressure areas

create our global winds and affect our weather. Perfect timing with this past

blizzard! We are also gathering photos of the snowy event to send to students in

Belize. Students have also created Science Valentines. This activity combines

science, art, language arts and critical thinking. Valentines incorporate the

science content from this year into those "corny" sayings. The students had to

be able to explain the science in terms of "love" by analyzing the concept and

interpreting it for a new context. I also limited the color choices to red, white and

black to challenge more creativity into their design.



7th Grade Field Trip – McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center on February 15, 2013!

      In 7th grade science, we have been studying the atmosphere and the properties of air. We began with open inquiry investigations to discover air takes up space and presses in all directions. We’ve also experimented with a vacuum pump and bell jar, placing several objects in a vacuum to witness the power of air pressure or lack thereof! Students are creating their own review poster on the web using Glogster. The poster can be printed and posted to their blog.

     The tech club has created videos using the vacuum pump. The videos are posted on my new web page. These have been helpful if a student has been absent.

     Don’t forget to follow along with our twitter account at @7thscience or from the web page at http://twitter.com/7thscience.

     This month in seventh grade Language Arts, we are wrapping up an integrated unit on mythology. Students learned the purpose of mythology for the ancient Greeks and were exposed to a variety of myths. They were quite surprised at some of the behavior the gods displayed, and we had many discussions to explain that the gods were above the rules for mere mortals. We also read and watched a short film version of the same myth, and students learned how to organize comparison and contrast paragraphs. Included in that writing piece, students learned about transition phrases and varied vocabulary usage.

     Students are exploring Google Sites to create a web page based on the nonfiction book they read. It is a learning curve for everyone, but there are many valuable skills about appropriate technology usage that can be learned while creating a web page. Students are learning how to cite sources for pictures, video and audio content. Along with the web page, students will be reading book reviews for the book they read. Students will also be writing their own review by learning how to summarize information without giving away too much information, giving a clear, concise opinion about the information, and recommending the book to a specific audience.

     Social Studies classes have just finished looking at the lasting contributions made to world civilization by the Greeks. They saw how Alexander the Great took these advances in things like art, architecture, science, technology, mathematics and philosophy and spread them around the Mediterranean world. Our next topic will be Rome. While studying Rome, students will follow its rise as a democratic republic and see how the Romans transform their city-state into a massive empire. Finally we’ll trace the reasons for Rome’s downfall. During the unit, the student’s will be doing several projects including creating a large physical map of Europe and researching and writing a fictionalized Roman gladiator journal.

     In 7th grade math, students have completed Module 2. In this Module students investigated the mathematics related to search and rescue operations. They saw how angles, integers, graphing and functions were used to develop search strategies. Next, students will be learning how to use spreadsheets to calculate and analyze data. They will create a spreadsheet to calculate the gains/losses for their stock portfolio.

7th Grade students were in for a treat before the Thanksgiving holiday. A local chef, Peter Aikens, came in to work with every 7th grader to create a Thanksgiving feast. He has done this for several years and we so appreciate it!

All the students ended the meal, sharing what they were thankful for this season. They wrote it on a leaf and added it to the bare tree in our stairwell.

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The 7th grade was able to investigate lunar samples from NASA. We also received 2 meteorites. The "Moon rocks" were encased in lucite to avoid the effects of our atmosphere and many hands!

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