Friday, January 12, 2018

Week of January 8, 2018

Purple Curriculum Updates
Pre-Algebra I with Seema:

We continued with chapter 7 and learned how to solve proportions, understood scales, studied percentages and figured out how to calculate the percentage of a given number. The students need to pay attention to units nd setting up of proportion equations. We will wrap up chapter 7 by Tuesday and the chapter 7 test will be on Friday Jan 19th after two in class review days.

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:
We spent this week going over the first five chapters of our text book, as review for the mid-term assessment. On Thursday, we wrapped up this intensive review session, and then played a game of order-of-operations bingo. We ended the week with our mid-term assessment. Next week we will pick up where we left off in Chapter 6.

Pre-Algebra III with Ann:
We continued our work in Chapter 6 focusing on using percents to figure out markup and discount as well as simple and compound interest. Students will take the Chapter 6 test next Thursday (1/18). The midterm assessment will be Tuesday the 23rd.  Students should continue to work on the review packets they received before winter break.

Algebra I with Molly:

Students spent the first two days of the New Year reviewing chapters 1-5. They took a multiple choice style mid-year assessment over the last two days, on which they were permitted to use calculators. The mid-year assessment will count as a single test grade. Students who took the mid-year assessment prior to the break worked on a graphing project. Next week we will continue working with linear equations.

Language Arts with Jared:
Students made flash cards for our new vocabulary words, and continued in their grammar unit, focusing on a few difficult pairings of verbs. We also began our new novel units. Sixth and seventh graders are reading Kira-Kira (by  Cynthia Kadohata) and eighth graders are reading the Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter (we plan to end our novel unit on Little Tree by discussing the role of authors)

World Studies & U.S. History with Ann:
This week we spent time working on strong introductions for our NHD essays. Students analyzed introductions from several movies and TV shows and translated their knowledge into written essay introductions. All students turned in rough draft introduction paragraphs and received feedback. NHD essay rough drafts are due January 17th. 

We also explored US involvement in Latin America at the turn of the 20th century including the building of the Panama Canal. Students were challenged to defend their opinions with regards to whether or not the United States had the right to intervene/interfere with the events taking place in Latin American nations.

Earth Science with Molly:

This week students learned more about the planets in our solar system and began learning about the comets, asteroids, and meteors. They used their knowledge of our solar system and the universe to interpret an alleged message received from a distant star system.
Spanish with Corinne:
Sunshine Spanish
Sunshine A
This week we began Chapter 3A, talking about food. On Friday students learned about the history of Puerto Rico and what happened to the island during Hurricane Maria as part of our ongoing service day project.

Sunshine B
This week we started Chapter 7B, talking about shopping and different stores. On Friday students learned about the history of Puerto Rico and what happened to the island during Hurricane Maria as part of our ongoing service day project.

HS Spanish I, part II

This week we began Chapter 7A, talking about shopping and the cost of items. We reviewed numbers 1-1,000 and will continue working with numbers to build confidence around reading and writing them in Spanish. On Friday students learned about the history of Puerto Rico and what happened to the island during Hurricane Maria as part of our ongoing service day project.

HS Spanish II, part I

This week we started Chapter 3A, stores and vocabulary to talk about shopping and errands. On Friday students learned about the history of Puerto Rico and what happened to the island during Hurricane Maria as part of our ongoing service day project.

HS Spanish II, part II

This week we started Chapter 6A, talking about games and contests on TV. On Friday students learned about the history of Puerto Rico and what happened to the island during Hurricane Maria as part of our ongoing service day project.

Art with Patti:
Students are given engagement grades for each class. As a reminder, students are informed about their work in different ways. They submit work/create an online portfolio, assignments and grades are sent home weekly through Google Classroom, they reflect on their art in both Artsonia and with Google Classroom. This is a great way to check in with students about grades and assignments.

Sixth - Self Guided Clay Project Students are using the skills and inspiration from the clay warm up trinket box they have completed. They are exploring other ways to use pinch, slab, coil, sculpting and joining clay pieces of their own design. Throwing on the wheel Students are rotating in pairs each art class to practice throwing on the wheel. They are exploring how to center the clay, open it up, and pull to create a cylinder. They also will use sculpting tools to finish the piece.

1/9 and 1/10 - Some students have returned to this journal page to trace patterns, and add weight by filling in spaces to certain shapes in the patterns. 
11/14 - Students traced their symmetrical shape on the chalk pastel background, then divided up the negative space into sections, and chose sections to add patterns to. 11/8 - Students drew a symmetrical object on a 5 x 5" paper, and cut it out to create a stencil. 11/7 - Students created background by filling their page with chalk pastels, then brushing on water for a blended technique.
Throwing on the wheel Students are rotating in pairs each art class to practice throwing on the wheel. They are exploring how to center the clay, open it up, and pull to create a cylinder. They also will use sculpting tools to finish the piece. Self Guided Clay Project Students are using the skills and inspiration from the clay warm up trinket box they have completed. They are exploring other ways to use pinch, slab, coil, sculpting and joining clay pieces of their own design.


Eighth - Self Guided Clay Project Students are using the skills and inspiration from the clay warm up trinket box they have completed. They are exploring other ways to use pinch, slab, coil, sculpting and joining clay pieces of their own design. Throwing on the wheel Students are rotating in pairs each art class to practice throwing on the wheel. They are exploring how to center the clay, open it up, and pull to create a cylinder. They also will use sculpting tools to finish the piece. Project: Charcoal Drawing First PROJECT assignment. You will create a drawing using charcoal on white or neutral paper. LIGHTLY draw a 2" grid on your 12 X 18" project paper. Choose an image to print out in black and white that has a range of values and shows contrast. Draw a 1" grid (or adjust if necessary) on top of your image. Using pencil, LIGHTLY draw major shapes you see in each square from your image onto your black paper. Move square by square, checking where the shapes meet the edges of the squares to scale correctly. Using vine charcoal,, start filling in shapes you see in each square. Use charcoal pencils and compressed charcoal to build a range of values in each square. Reference the value sphere you created in your art journal. Use a view finder (a card cut with a hole that matches your image grid square) to help you focus on small pieces of information.

For general art information, check out the art blog at http://bnsartstudio.weebly.com/

Computer Lab with Lorraine:

Today, was Service Day and class time for Computer Lab was shorten to allow  time to do a variety of activities surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr and Puerto Rico.  The activity in the Computer Lab was  to use Google Drawings to create a jpeg file (image of their colorful "puzzle" and then upload it to a website called JigSawPuzzlePlanet.  Students were to use a variety of images of Puerto Rico's famous historical places , people, and its motto.  Next students were to use a positive statement to encourage the people of Puerto Rico and an Inspirational  Quote from Martin Luther King, Jr to this Drawing.  After completing this puzzle, students will work each other's puzzles at our next class meeting. 
http://bnscomputerchronicles.weebly.com/

P.E. and Health with Matt: 

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

There were no Life Skills classes this week due to the ice day on Monday and the service day on Friday. We will continue with Life Skills classes topics soon (again next week, no Monday classes).
Thank you from, 
The Purple Team