Week of September 21, 2015

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:

We spent this week with variables, and introduced the unit with an activity using m&ms as variables. We then plugged in various numbers into expressions, to see what it final value we would have. Later in the week we moved into solving one-step equations by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. We took a short quiz on this, before introducing two-step equations on Thursday.

Pre-Algebra III with Emily:

Students practiced solving multi-step equations, writing equations and drawing diagrams to solve word problems, and started working on solving inequalities. They also took a quiz, worked on quiz revisions, and did a bit of review from the first section of this chapter – simplifying algebraic expressions. I know that Alex will do an excellent job teaching pre-algebra.

Algebra I with Molly:

This week in Algebra, we learned to apply the distance formula in a variety of ways, including one way travel, round trip travel, and two vehicles traveling away from one another. They now seem to have a good grasp of how to write and solve equations for a variety of situations. At the end of the week, students learned to solve for a single variable in formulas with multiple variables. 

Geometry with Holly:

After learning about the rules for logic and reasoning last week, we finished Chapter 2 by learning how to apply these skills to solving Geometry based Algebra problems on Monday.  On Tuesday, the students were also introduced to their first Theorems and proofs by learning how to prove angles congruent. We reviewed on Wednesday, and then took the chapter test on Thursday.

Language Arts with Jared:

This week students discussed their final short stories in our short story unit, and began work on planning a compare/contrast essay. Sixth graders read "A Sound of Thunder" and will be comparing it to the EC Comics adaption of it. Seventh graders read "There Will Come Soft Rains" and will be comparing it to the EC Comics adaption of it. Eighth graders read "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and are comparing it to the French short film (aired as an episode of the Twilight Zone). We discussed a lot about the requirements of compare/contrast essays (using a keyhole essay format), and students made general outlines of their essay.  We also continued working on wrapping up their grammar unit on prepositions, and on learning their new vocabulary words.

World Studies with Emily:

This week was a combination of Alex and I both teaching – me teaching and Alex observing, Alex teaching, and some team teaching too. We both feel confident with the transition. I think the students are excited about a new and different energy and voice! Thank you all so much for your kindness and support thus far this year; I will miss your children and you all too! In World Studies this week, we began with an archaeological dig outside in the sandbox where classes were pretending to be a team of archaeologists from 3015 studying the 21^st  century American civilization. Classes will finish up this activity with Alex next week with some discussion. We finished covering the material from our Early Humans unit on Wednesday and reviewed for the test, which all classes took on Thursday. Students gave brief summaries of the current events they read and wrote about, and 6^th and 7^th graders played the first round of our geography game, focusing on the continent of Africa (to correlate with our Early Humans unit – Africa being the cradle of mankind). Everyone enjoyed themselves! Students have another week or so before they need to choose an NHD topic. All of Purple will be going to the VA Tech library to check out books the week of October 5th - 9th.

Life Science with Molly:

This week students focused on the life cycle and anatomy of the butterfly, learning about the details of how these amazing animals mature through metamorphosis. They also measured and drew one of the monarch chrysalides we have in our classroom for their phenology notebooks. 7^th grade students continue to collect data on their mummified meat. Soon we will take a look at the data and draw some conclusions from our observations. Students read about and answered questions about insects. They will take a quiz on insects by the end of the coming week. They continue to practice scientific inquiry skills in preparation for science fair projects.

Spanish with Olga & Corinne:

Morning Spanish

We are still working on verb conjugations. We will have a quiz next Thursday.

Spanish B

This week we learned words to describe what we look like (hair color, height, age).  We are also studying vocabulary that we use in restaurants, other than food (plates, napkins, asking for food, etc). We revisited the verb "SER".

Spanish C

We continue talking about words to describe extracurricular activities and things we enjoy doing on our spare time.  We revisited the sentence structure for making comparisons of inequality, and learned to make sentences to compare similar things (as__ as....)

Spanish D

We are learning about more traditional Hispanic dishes.  We revisited command forms, and learned a new one: the plural commands.  Today I assigned a project that is due on October 23. A part of the project involves cooking a dish.  Please talk to your Purple Roomer about the project.  I will post all the documents on Edmodo, but the students have hard copies. Let me know of any questions or concerns.  This week we also returned to reading a few pages of Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal.

Spanish D+

We have been looking at the past tense and practicing grammar.  We joined the group reading Harry Potter.  Today I assigned a project that is due on October 23. A part of the project involves cooking a dish.  This project i s OPTIONAL for Spanish K.  Please talk to your Purple Roomer about the project.  Let me know of any questions or concerns. 

Art with Patti:

This week in art Purple Room students started a new project. They are to incorporate something that is realistically represented, and have an element that is non-representational as well. 

Computer Lab with Holly:

We continued learning about Cyber Security this week.  The students enjoyed learning about how to protect their passwords by studying some of the ways hackers try to steal passwords, such as through email scams and by convincing us to just give up the information.  We also learned about what makes passwords weak and how to create strong passwords.

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

This week all groups discussed puberty (6^th together) or sex ed. (7^th & 8^th split into gender groups) topics, as follows:

6^th: Watched and discussed a video about the science of the endocrine system, those hard working hormone messengers, in the human body. This will lead us to our next sex ed topic looking at how hormones initiate puberty, during which the students will be broken into gender groups.

7^th: Read about and discussed how we develop new kinds of sweat glands during puberty. We discussed where these sweat glands are, body odor resulting from these new glands, and how to manage the body odor. Our next sex ed. topic will be to discuss acne.

8^th: Discussed the video we watched last time on the reproductive system, while labeling male and female sexual organ diagrams. Our next sex ed. topic will be to learn the function of each organ.

Thank you from, The Purple Team