Team Update: Week of March 26th

                     Grades closed today!  Next week....

Trimester 3 Unified Arts classes start on Monday!

Class Updates:

Social Studies: On Friday we wrapped up our mini unit on the Early Middle Ages with an assessment. Make sure you ask your child how they did! This upcoming week we will begin to discover more ways that Medieval Europe has shaped our world today.

Science:  This week we have been working on the question, Can the sea lamprey have a major impact as a predator?  We watched virtual dissections to answer our questions.  Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will conclude our investigations of interactions with an assessment on Tuesday.  Students have been preparing as part of their homework for weeks now.  Their test is on everything that we have figured out about interactions.  They have a review handout.

Literacy:  Trimester 2 is in the books!  Literacy students spent Monday in the computer lab working on a practice writing module for the SAS test - the new state standardized test that Badgers will take in April. They read two articles and had to write an essay!  I was incredibly proud of their diligence and work ethic!  The only sound to be heard in the computer lab was the whir of fingertips on keyboards!  We'll look at their results next week.  We attacked Latin Unit 10, and scheduled the Mastery test for next Friday, March 30th.  Encourage them to study their materials each night! 

English:  Students spent the early part of the week wrapping up with the background information on The Giver and really drilling in to sentence fragments and run-ons. We began reading The Giver mid-week and the students are asking lots of great questions about the strange utopian world they are discovering in this story. On Thursday the students took a quiz on sentence fragments and run-ons and on Friday continued with reading and discussing The Giver. Next week students will  continue working through The Giver and explore the genre of dystopian literature with an escape room-style activity! Students should be working on their independent reading projects at home. Just one week left! Independent reading projects are due on Monday, April 2nd.

Math: We spent last week learning about nets, and surface areas of rectangular and triangular prisms.  Next week we will move on to finding the net and surface area of pyramids.  There will be a quiz on Thursday, March 29 on both composite figures and surface area.  The March Go Figure is due Friday, the 30th. These will be the first two grades of T3, start off strong!

Team Update: Week of March 19

Spring is coming!  Spring IS coming!

Class Updates:

Social Studies: This week we spent a lot of time investigating the early Middle Ages and Charlemagne and the impact that he had on the Medieval World. This upcoming week we will learn a little bit about the Vikings and their role in the Middle Ages and learn about the social class system known as feudalism. 

Science:  This week we have answered the question, why should we care about an invader and asked a lot of questions about the trout and sea lamprey interaction.  Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will investigate the anatomy of the trout and sea lamprey to try to answer our questions.  Homework is to study as we have a test coming soon!

Literacy:  Can you believe it?  Another snow day! The majority of our week was spent learning from the Historical Fiction presentations!  Students are becoming great public speakers, and we have all enjoyed learning from the research done by classmates!  Monday we will be in the computer lab to do a writing module to practice for the statewide assessment that students will take in April. We'll also dive right into Latin Unit 10!  Expect another Omnictionary Benchmark, and keep an eye out for some really creative Word Art!    

English:  Students began the week with poetry pages, which is a part of March Reading Madness. They had a lot of fun designing their poems and came up with some really creative ideas! We started our new unit this week as well, which will focus on the novel, The Giver. Students spent this week learning about some background and vocabulary, and next week we will begin reading and discussing the text. There will be a quiz on sentence fragments and run-ons next week. We will be reviewing this material in class and students will be receiving homework assignments as additional practice. March independent reading projects are due in just about 2 weeks! Students should be working diligently on this project and finishing up their books within the next week so that they have time to write about their found objects.

Math: We spent more time going over composite figures.  I was out sick last Thursday and Friday so we didn't get as far into the curriculum as I had hopped. I will be staying after Monday if anyone is struggling or missing quizzes/tests, because the last two Thursdays have been cancelled. Next week we will be moving onto Surface Areas of Prisms.  Just a reminder, the Go Figure is due Friday, March 31st. 

Team Update: Week of March 12th

Team Update: 

Jim Parks came to introduce us to his birds!  

Class Updates:

Social Studies: We kicked off our next major unit this last week covering Medieval Times. Students did a great job formulating questions regarding the Middle Ages to help spark their curiosity and ultimately guide their upcoming learning. We will continue this process this week and take a mapping assessment Tuesday. 

Science:  This week we looked more closely at symbiotic interactions.  Students presented examples of different symbiotic relationships that they researched to the class.  Ask your students about the ones that were difficult to look at!  Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will apply what we have been investigation to our anchoring phenomenon:  What happened to the trout.  Homework this week will be to study as we have a test coming soon!

Literacy:  One of the important aspects of our class is to learn to speak fluently in front of a group of people.  Many were hesitant at the beginning of the year, but as we began the Historical Fiction presentations last week, students have shown amazing growth.  Far too many students were not prepared for the test last week, which was disappointing!  Presentations continue this week, as well as introducing Word Art for our March Reading Madness!  

English:  The students finished up their persuasive essays this week. It was a long and arduous journey, but there was a lot of growth in navigating the writing process. The March Independent Reading Project has officially been assigned! This month students will be creating a "book in a bag" and presenting their work in front of the class. This project is due on Monday, April 3rd. This project is more demanding than previous projects, so it is important that students get started reading right away. We will begin a unit on The Giver this week that will challenge the students to think critically about their world in comparison to the world that Lowry has created in this famous young adult novel. We will also be doing some fun activities like Poetry Pages and Spooky Stories as a part of March Reading Madness.

Math: We are continuing to work through our geometry unit.  Last week students learned about complex figures, which we will extended this week into surface areas of prisms. March's Go Figure went out last Monday.  This month has many different parts, so be sure not to wait until the last minute! It's due Friday, March 30th! This past week we have also started our SAS practice students will compete against the other classes, the class with the most points will not have to do the April Go Figure.