Team Update: Week of April 2nd

Students had a blast dressing up for advisory wars as a part of March Reading Madness!

Class Updates:

Social Studies: Last week students researched the Magna Carta and how it has greatly impacts our world today in regards to human rights. This upcoming week, we will move away from the Magna Carta and begin our journey learning about the Crusades.

Science:  This week we have been working on figuring out where we are going next.  Students have been analyzing graphs of the sea lamprey, trout and chub.  Although we know that the sea lamprey has played a major role in the decline of the trout population, we now know that there must be something else too.  Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will continue to investigate abiotic factors to help us solve the trout mystery.

Literacy:  We continued our exploration into the art of civil disobedience and peaceful protest by reading some wonderful articles about Mahatma Gandhi originally published by Caliope Magazine for Middle School.  The articles provided a needed frame of reference for the protests made famous during the Civil Rights Era of the 1960's and those occurring around the country now, in response to the tragedy in Florida.  We will complete the trilogy by viewing Viva La Causa next week, a documentary about Cesar Chavez's work to bring about change for migrant workers.  Omnictionary Benchmark due on April 5!  Instructions on Google Classroom!

English:  We continued reading The Giver and exploring the themes and techniques that Lowry used to craft this classic story. We delved into techniques like allusion and point of view, and the students even had their own Ceremony of Twelve, just like in the book! We rounded out the week with a highly engaging Break Out Box activity in the library about dystopian literature. The students completed an escape-room like activity and solved the puzzles to break into the box. They showed a tremendous ability to work together to solve a problem! Check out the pictures of students celebrating below! The March IRP is due Monday, so students should be finishing that up over the weekend. Next week we will continue to read The Giver and students will be presenting their March IRPs to the class.

 Math:  Last week we had great success with our surface area quiz!  I gave out way too many A's to start the trimester, nice job everyone.  Congrats to Theta who won the March Madness Challenge and will not have a Go Figure for April. As for anyone who hasn't passed in their March Go Figure please do that as soon as possible. April's Go Figure will go out later this week.  We also have a Geometry test on Wednesday, the study guide will go home on Tuesday.  

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.  

Team Update: Week of February 19th

Team Update: 

No School Monday, February 19th!

Class Updates:

Social Studies: Students worked incredibly hard this week! This was the final week in which we spend time on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Students started their final performance task on Thursday and will wrap it up Tuesday when they come back. This performance task will demonstrate their mastery of the lasting legacies of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

Science:  This week we looked more closely at predator and prey interactions.  We started to investigate competition.  Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will continue looking at different interactions.  On Tuesday, we will have a Guidance Presentation during science class.

Literacy:  What a week! We were fortunate to have the chrome books in Literacy class this week to begin the work on their Historical Fiction projects!  I collaborated with Ms. Scotti to have the kids select historical fiction books for the February IRP for English, so that I could have the kids research an actual historical event that took place during the same time period!  They're all working very hard, and should try to complete their reading this long weekend!  We'll be in the Library on Tuesday, and if we're very, very efficient, schedule the Latin 9 test for Friday.  Happy long weekend!

English:  We continued working on the persuasive essays this week. The students are working hard and are really challenging themselves to become better writers! It has been slow going on this essay, but we should finish up very soon. Next week we will be taking a break from the essay and doing some work with word choice, peer editing, and conclusions. Don't forget that February Independent Reading Projects are due on Friday, February 23rd!

Math: Last Wednesday we quizzed on inequalities to finish up our equations unit.  The students did very well overall.  We then started our geometry unit by learning about circles.  We talked about circumference, radius and diameter at the end of last week.  This week we are going to learn about area of circles.  The Go Figure is on Friday, February 23rd!  Time management is key, don't wait until the last minute. It's exciting to see that many students have already turned in their projects. I have started to stamp kids agenda's daily to ensure they have written down the homework.  We do have homework most days and they can always be working on their long term projects. 

Team Update: Week of February 12th

Team Update: 

Please return your progress report envelopes to your advisor.

Class Updates:

Social Studies: This week we wrapped up our unit on Classical Civilizations. Students investigated what caused the Roman Empire to collapse and what caused the Byzantine Empire to succeed and live on. Students will be assessed on this material Tuesday following a major review on Monday.

Science:  This week we figured out five different interactions that organisms have with other populations.  We watched video clips to observe these interactions.  On Friday we started looking more closely at the predator and prey interaction.    Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will continue looking at different interactions.

Literacy:  Students took a serious look at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech in an effort to unlock the rhetorical devices used by each of the orators, and to learn to analyze the more complex passages to understand the messages delivered.   We ended the week with a mastery test on Latin Unit 8.  In the week ahead students will be introduced to the research and presentation project based upon the historical fiction book they are reading for the February IRP in English class!  We're lucky to have the chrome books in class for most of the week! 

English:  This week in English we continued working on our persuasive essays. The students finished up their outlines and ended the week by beginning to write their essays. Next week we will continue to work on the essays and workshop them in class. Students should be working on their independent reading projects that are due next week!

Math: Last week we learned how to solve one-step and two-step inequalities. February's Go Figure was handed out and January's was graded and returned.  For the upcoming week, we are going to learn how to graph inequalities to wrap up the topic.  There will be a quiz on Wednesday, February 14 on inequalities.  To end the the week we are going to start our Geometry unit. 

Team Update: Week of February 5th

Team Update: 

Progress reports will go home on Tuesday!

Class Updates:

Social Studies: Students completed their Roman research projects this week. Be sure to check the gradebook to see how you scored! This upcoming week will be the final week that we cover the Roman Empire. We will learn how the Roman Empire collapse and will start preparing for upcoming assessments.

Science:  This week we figured out that resource availability affects populations.  On Monday we pretended that we were deer looking for food, water and cover.  We studied the populations of June suckers, Mountain Plovers and Hummingbirds.    Click HERE to see more about what we are doing in class.  Next week we will start answering our questions about interactions between organisms.  We will start of the week with a quick assessment on how resource availability affects populations.

Literacy:  Students learned about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation when we looked at Omnictionary slides on Monday!  Those who understand intrinsic motivation will take the constructive comments offered by classmates to improve their slide shows!  We saw some great ideas!  We also discussed rhetoric - and the devices that are used in famous, powerful speeches.  We viewed a couple of very interesting performances of Rap - including the oldest one on record, Ya Got Trouble from The Music Man, set in 1912.  Students later analyzed Lincoln's Gettysburg Address!  Next week we'll tackle MLK's dream speech and get ready for Latin 8 test on Friday!

English:  This week in English class the students continued working on their argument essays. Thesis statements were finalized early in the week, and then the students worked on their outlines to plan out their essays. The students also did some work with counter argument to learn how to strengthen their arguments by refuting the other side. The February independent reading project was assigned; this month we are focusing on historical fiction! Students should begin reading their historical fiction books over the weekend to get a jump on this project!

Math: Friday we wrapped up our equations unit.  Anyone who didn't turn in their January Go Figures needs to do so quickly! Next week we are going to learn about inequalities! It's similar to equations but a little different.  We will also be handing out February's Go Figure on Monday.  It will be due Friday, February 23rd.