Week of January 26th

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra I with MaryAnn:

In Pre-Algebra I with MaryAnn, we completed Unit 7 and had our unit assessment today. Those tests will be returned on Monday. Next week we move on to Unit 8 which is geometry

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:
In Pre-Algebra II, we finished up our unit on percents, by investigating percent change (markups, discounts, etc.) and by using equations to solve word problems involving percents. We then took our chapter test over two days, since it ran long. On Friday we began our new unit, which introduced many Geometry concepts. We used an online game to identify a variety of concepts including supplementary & complementary angles, types of triangles, and types of polygons.

Pre-Algebra III with Emily:
Students worked together on writing equations for several different word problems, did a bit of review and took a quiz on Tuesday. Then, I taught the class about calculating simple interest and compound interest and they practiced a variety of interest problems. We ended this chapter Applications of Percents by finding the probability of an event by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. Students made tables and tree diagrams to find the sample space for a given experiment and then found the probability of a certain event. The class took the chapter test on Friday.

Algebra I with Molly:

This week students created scatter plots from data, looked for trend lines, wrote equations for the trend line, and were then able to predict further data. They also learned about graphing and translating the function y= the absolute value of x, which was quite fun! We finished the chapter, reviewed and took the chapter 6 test on Friday.

Geometry with Holly:

 This week we finished chapter 7 by reviewing for and taking the chapter test.  This has been a challenging chapter for the students because it has been very algebra intensive.  The students are having a pleasant reprieve as we start chapter 8 because it is more familiar: Pythagorean Theorem. Beginning on Wednesday, we have reviewed the basic theorem and its converse and discussed special right triangles, and finished the week with a quiz over this basic material.

Language Arts with Jared:

In Language Arts students reached the end of their verbs tense unit (with sixth graders covering indirect objects, seventh graders covering active/passive tense, and eighth graders covering modal auxiliaries). All three grades will have a grammar test next week. In our literature unit, students took a reading comprehension quiz. Students also began learning their new vocabulary words.

World Studies with Emily:

On Monday, in US History, 6^th and 7^th graders finished taking notes on the World War I power point presentation. On Tuesday, all Purple grades practiced two rounds of peer editing each other’s NHD essay rough drafts and briefly discussed feedback. I reminded classes to look over the essay rubric before turning it on Thursday. Then I gave students a pop-quiz on WWI from the textbook. On Wednesday and Friday’s sessions of World Studies, students chose one or two global landmarks from the class’s brainstorm list to research and write facts about. They then presented the landmark and facts about it to the class; each student voted for their top three choices for the global challenge in which we will be participating. Next week, each class will find out the class’s landmark and we will compose clues as a class. On Thursday, we read aloud the first couple chapters from Joy Hakim's A History of US: War, Peace, and All that Jazz 1918-1945, reviewing the end of the Great War and learning about the transition into the roaring twenties. Students did some partner textbook reading and note taking on a guided themes sheet for the chapter: The Roaring Twenties.

Earth Science with Molly:

This week students took a test on the universe. For this test, they learned to fill out scantron answer sheets. They learned to carefully fill in the date, their name, and the answers. Although we don’t have a scantron answer reader, this is one of the ways we try to prepare them for high school and college assessments, so they are not stressed about the format. After their test, we began our new unit on the atmosphere. Their final adapted alien species model and essay are due February 5th.

Spanish A with Rebecca:

The students reviewed the vocabulary and concepts of Chapter 2B on Monday and took the chapter test on Wednesday. On Friday, they started Chapter 3A, which focuses on beverages and foods eaten for breakfast and lunch, expressing likes and dislikes, and the frequency with which things happen.

Spanish with Olga:

Spanish B

We reviewed the past tense of regular and some irregular verbs and practiced using indirect object pronouns. We watched another episode of "¿Eres tú, María?" and the students are very excited to be nearing the end of this exciting miniseries. We had a test on Friday.

Spanish C

We continued reviewing the formation of the imperfect tense in Spanish. We played a game of Pictionary to help us study the vocabulary for the test. We had a test on Wednesday and watched another episode of the miniseries "En busca de la verdad". We started talking about what is considered good manners when greeting someone in Latin culture. We also talked about El País Vasco, a region of Spain.

Spanish D

We are studying compound tenses: present perfect in the indicative and subjunctive, and how to use them. The students completed their oral presentation on Friday and we played a card game to review irregular verbs in the past tense.

Spanish D+

The students continue working on the grammar and readings. On Friday, they joined the students in Spanish D for a game to review the past tense of irregular verbs.

Art with Patti:

We are continuing to work on perspective. Students have started their projects, coming up with their own unique theme, and are drafting an environment of their choice using two-point perspective. 

Computer Lab with Holly:

 This week the students continued working on writing their restaurant reviews.

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

This week (Friday and next Monday’s classes) students finished writing encouraging (anonymous) letters to elementary students and families who are dealing with lice. They also worked on their My Dream Of The Future story boards. They watched part of a documentary One Dollar a Day about living in Guatemala. The following week we will continue to focus on puberty growth spurts for the 6th grade students. 7th and 8th grade students will focus on puberty changes, then move on to female and male anatomy (girls will study girls first, then move on to boys, while boys will study boys first, then move on to girls).

Thank you from, The Purple Team