Weekly Update #30

Team Updates

ENJOY VACATION!

When we come back be ready to work hard through the rest of the year! There is a lot more learning to do in order to be prepared for 8th grade! You still have The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, percents, world religions, evolution, the Omnictionary project and the Endangered Species project!  There might even be some mastery projects and tests!  The sun is shinning and the great outdoors is calling, but the work isn't done just yet! Finish strong my friends.

SBAC Testing:  SBAC testing is officially over! Students who haven't finished will have time to to so when we return. The rest of you are free until next year.

Earth Day Celebration! Here are some great photos of our Earth Day Activities.

As part of our planting extravaganza, we also made Earth Day themed bumper stickers to put on our Badger Team mobile. Here is the start of our hallway display, we still have many more stickers to stick.

ATTENTION:

OUR GARDEN NEEDS YOU!! 

Badger team is revamping the garden here at Pennichuck.  As you prepare to do your own spring clean up work at your homes, consider making a donation to our team!  We are looking for the following items in good working condition:

• bow rakes 
• metal shovels 
• a wheel barrow
• cultivators and/or hoes (hand or standing)
• trowels

Please no: pitchforks or sickles!

Many hands make light work, so the goal is to have lots of tools to be used by lots of young, energized students!

Weekly Update #29

Team Updates

SBAC Testing:  SBAC testing resumes on Tuesday, 4/18/17 with the math assessment. Be sure to get a good night's rest and eat breakfast each day.  It helps keep you focused!

Cell Phones: Just a friendly reminder that cell phones need to be turned off AND put away during the school day.  Students should not be using their phones during classes, in the lunch room, bathroom, hallways, or any other place during the school day!

Gum: Another friendly reminder that gum chewing is prohibited at school.  We are seeing more and more students chewing gum throughout the day.  Please keep the gum at home!

Reading Challenge: Thank you to the students who have submitted their reading challenges to Mrs. McGuire.  Just a friendly reminder all 500 minutes are due by May 31st.  Don't forget to get your signatures!  Happy reading!

Celebrate Earth Day! As is our tradition, Badger students will celebrate Earth Day on Friday, April 21st!  We'll learn about it's origin, repot the spider plants we've nurtured, do some math in the Badger Garden and create some gorgeous graffiti outside!  We will end the day by presenting our Trimester 2 awards!  It's going to be a fantastic day!

Garden Needs: Every Badger student planted a spider baby plant as part of the science unit on reproduction.  The culminating activity with this process will be to repot the babies into larger planters.  We need more potting soil, and would be most appreciative of some help.

Additionally, our team will be revamping the garden here at Pennichuck this spring.  As you prepare to do your own spring clean up work at your homes, consider helping our effort by making a donation to our team!  If you plan to purchase a new loam rake, consider sending us your gently used rake, or shovel.  We could use a wheel barrow too!  Many hands make light work, so the goal is to have lots of tools to be used by lots of young, energized students!

Class Updates

Social Studies: Badger students spent time reviewing and ultimately preparing for their mastery assessment on European Kingdoms, the Crusades, and Medieval Culture. Students either took this test on Friday or will take it on Monday. This upcoming week, we will do some research on coat of arms and family crests. Maybe your family has a family crest that you don't know about!

Science:  Next week in science we will learn about life's history on Earth.  Students have an online assignment to work on their Favorite Animal Slides.  These should be completed soon.  Here is a look at our spider plant "babies".  As part of our reproduction unit, students rooted the clippings and planted them.  On Friday we will repot them in their recycled pots to bring home!

Literacy: Badger students have been busy all week with SBAC testing, so I have not given typical homework.  Perhaps your student has told you about the plant pot that needs to be "made" from a recycled container and decorated with recycled materials?  Or maybe not - but the instructions for this project are attached in this post. Click here! The pots should come to school by Thursday, April 20th. Additionally, students should be working on their posters.  They were given a direction sheet on pink paper.  The poster should be an example of their finest, most creative work.  It should be accurate as well as beautiful.  Posters should be handed in before vacation.

English: Nice work on the ELA SBAC assessment this week!  It was great hearing students say things like, "I felt prepared for that!  It didn't seem that difficult!"  Great job staying focused and attentive all week!  In English, we started introductory activities on our next classic text: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Students discussed differences between the 1800s and today, and we also had a few social studies connections with the geographical location of the book's setting!  Next week, we begin reading!  Each student will receive their own copy of the book so they can read at home.  Please remember to keep them in their baggies when they are not in use, so they don't get ruined!

Math: We finished up volume and will be testing next week on the geometry unit.  Students were given a note card to write down formulas and visuals to use on the test.  Below are a couple students who have taken their Go Figures to the next level. Our last one is coming in May, don't be scared to get creative!

Pizzeria Profits by Rachel B.

Solar Cars by Jona V.

School Updates

Early Release: Wednesday, April 19th

Food Pantry: The school is collecting the following items: pasta, canned sauces, peanut butter, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables (or any other non-perishable items). Donation bins are located in the main office and guidance. Please consider making a regular donation to support our community

Weekly Update #28

Team Updates

SBAC Testing:  SBAC testing starts on Tuesday, 4/11/17. We will be completing the English/Language Arts test first, and the Math test will take place next week.  Be sure to get a good night's rest and eat breakfast each day.  It helps keep you focused!

Cell Phones: Just a friendly reminder that cell phones need to be turned off AND put away during the school day.  Students should not be using their phones during classes, in the lunch room, bathroom, or any other place during the school day!

Gum: Another friendly reminder that gum chewing is prohibited at school.  We are seeing more and more students chewing gum throughout the day.  Please keep the gum at home!

Reading Challenge: Thank you to the students who have submitted their reading challenges to Mrs. McGuire.  Just a friendly reminder all 500 minutes are due by May 31st.  Don't forget to get your signatures!  Happy reading!

Class Updates

Social Studies: Students continued their research and discussions on the Crusades as we continued to relate what is going on in the world to what we're talking about in class. On Thursday, the students wrote an in-class essay on the historical impact of the Crusades and did a terrific job! This upcoming week we will discuss Medieval culture and prepare for our next mastery assessment. Have a nice weekend!

Science:  In Science this week we learned about the six different types of fossils.  Student did a great job of making their own fossils.  Ask your students to share their fossils with you.  Ask them how to explain each type.  They should also be able to explain how the way that they made them is similar to how they are actually created in nature.  Next week we continue looking at the fossilization process.

Literacy:  Don't forget to study for the mastery test on Latin unit 11 on Monday!  This week students will work on a creative project as the culminating activity of our study of nonviolent civil disobedience!  Continue working on your Omnictionary projects, as they'll be due in the middle of May.  Computers are available after school each day.   Badgers - best of luck on SBAC!

English: Students have officially finished their supplemental reading unit on The Giver!  We watched the movie this week in English.  Together, we discussed and determined similarities and differences between the novel and film adaptation.  Students also completed their last contextual vocabulary quiz, as well as their final skills quiz.  Next week, we'll begin a new unit in English including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer!  Rest up for SBAC!

Math: We did a great job working through surface area this week.  Prisms, pyramids, and cylinders are all done.  We will continue next week with volume.  Great news for this month NO Go Figure.  Time to sit back relax and do a great job on SBAC!

School Updates

Report Cards: Students, don't forget to return your SIGNED report card envelopes and goal sheets to your advisor!

Food Pantry: The school is collecting the following items: pasta, canned sauces, peanut butter, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables (or any other non-perishable items). Donation bins are located in the main office and guidance. Please consider making a regular donation to support our community

Weekly Update #27

Team Updates

Wingmaster Presentation:  Mr. Parks presented his Birds of Prey program to the seventh graders on Wednesday.  He brought in a red tailed hawk and some owls for us to see.  Everyone learned so much about raptors.  Badger students did such a great job showing off what they already know about ecology.  Thank you for sponsoring the presentation for us PTO!

March Reading Madness: This past Friday we participated in our fourth and final school-wide "DEAR" event.  Students dressed up for a day at the beach -- coincidentally on the same day as another snow storm!  In literacy class, students created "word art" using contextual vocabulary words.  Once finished, they will be displayed around the school.  Be sure to check them out!

Reading Challenge: Thank you to the students who have submitted their reading challenges to Mrs. McGuire.  Just a friendly reminder all 500 minutes are due by May 31st.  Don't forget to get your signatures!  Happy reading!

The Giver Movie Release: Students will be watching a movie adaptation of The Giver now that we have finished reading the book.  Students, please make sure you have your permission slips SIGNED by a parent or guardian, since the rating is PG-13.  You will NOT be able to watch the movie unless you return a signed permission slip to Mrs. McGuire.

Class Updates

Social Studies: The students covered a wide range of topics this week in Social Studies. We learned about the development of kingdoms in Europe, the Magna Carta, and the Crusades. This upcoming week, we will learn more about the impacts that the Magna Carta and the Crusades had on our world and their impacts on the modern world. Have a great weekend!

Science:  Next week we'll start learning about fossils and the fossil record.  Students will make their own fossils.  When they bring them home, ask them how each one was made, it will help them to study!

Literacy: We'll focus on the final installment of the Teaching Tolerance videos this week - the story of Caesar Chavez, and we'll do a close reading about Gandhi! Students will continue their practice work for Latin unit 11, and prepare for the test on Monday the 10th!

English: We finished reading The Giver!  What a suspenseful, ambiguous ending!  Students will have their final vocabulary quiz for this novel on Monday, April 3rd.  Students will have their final skills test on Friday, April 7th.  They have all materials to prepare for these two mastery assessments, and they are encouraged to study throughout the weekend and coming week.  Students, don't forget to get your permission slips signed in order to watch the movie!

Math: Go Figures have been passed in.  Many students "forgot" their folders at home this go around, be sure the project is handed in on Monday!  The surface area quiz was moved to Wednesday, be ready with your knowledge of surface area of prisms and pyramids!

School Updates

Report Cards: Coming home this week -- be on the lookout!

Food Pantry: The school is collecting the following items: pasta, canned sauces, peanut butter, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables (or any other non-perishable items). Donation bins are located in the main office and guidance. Please consider making a regular donation to support our community