Week of February 1, 2016

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra I with Bina:

The students have completed chapter 8 on geometric naming. Next week we will begin chapter 9 on the metric system, area, and volume. The students will need to apply what they’ve learn thus far. Monday will be a math game day because they had their chapter 8 assessment on Friday, February 5^th.

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:

This week we wrapped up Chapter 7, by discussing parts of circles. Our unit culminated with the combination of all of the chapter's skills with the creation of circle graphs. I think students learned to appreciate how easily they can make pie charts on the computer after having to create one by hand. Next week we'll wrap up the unit by looking at word problems, before our test on Wednesday.

Pre-Algebra III with Emily:

We almost finished Chapter 6: Applications of Percent this week in Pre-Algebra 3. Students solved problems involving markup and discount, wrote equations to solve a range of different word problems, wrote their own word problem for a classmate to solve, took a quiz, and found simple interest and compound interest for a variety of problems involving banking, saving, investing, borrowing, and consuming. We will finish the chapter with a section about probability and take a test early next week.

Algebra I with Molly:

This week students learned two additional methods of solving systems of linear equations. They learned substitution and elimination methods, both of which require careful manipulation of the equation and calculations. They applied these to word problems and are now able to choose the best method to use for a given situation.

Geometry with Holly:

This week the students discussed the relationships between the legs of 45-45-90 and 30-60-90 right triangles in preparation for learning about the basic trigonometric functions of Sine, Cosine, and Tangent.  On Wednesday, the students took a quiz over the material we had covered on the Pythagorean Theorem and special right triangles.

Language Arts with Jared:

In grammar students continued working on learning how to conjugate various verb tenses, and students also took a quiz on their vocabulary words. In literature, 8th graders finished reading Runemarks and 7th graders finally reached Ragnarok in their novel The Gospel of Loki. 6th and 8th graders took a test on their readings, and 7th graders will take theirs next week. Students will also turn in the rough drafts of their original Loki short stories next week, and then wrap up our unit on Norse mythology with the movie "Thor."

World Studies with Emily:

This week students turned in their NHD essays! J I am trying to read them and make comments as fast as I can; I’m almost done with the eighth grade. Students colored and labeled a map of ancient Greece, took notes (6^th grade collectively, 7^th and 8^th grade independently) from a BBC site for kids, called “Who were the Greeks?”, listened while I read aloud a short piece and explained some PowerPoint slides, discussed current events, played a geography game, and watched a Discovery Education production called “What the Ancients Knew: Greeks”. Students will be working on a poster project about a topic of their choice from ancient Greek art, science, math, philosophy, or architecture next week during class.

Life Science with Molly:

This week we labeled a diagram of an animal cell comparing it to the plant cell we previously drew. I helped students complete a venn diagram comparing plant, animal, and bacterial cells. This highlighted the organelles found in one, but not the other. We continued to learn about osmosis and diffusion. On the microscopes, we looked for changes from osmosis of water with no salt and salt-water samples of elodia, onion skin, and potato cells. We continued to study earth worms this week. Each class cut a single worm in half and replaced the halves in an isolated container. We will observe the specimen once a week checking for changes and regrowth. 

Spanish with Olga & Corinne:

Morning Spanish
This week we reviewed for a test on Wednesday about affirmative commands and the present progressive tense. Students have a final draft of their food project due on Thursday.

Spanish B

We continue learning and practicing the past tense of -ar verbs, including some verbs with irregular spellings.  This week, we also talked about direct objects, direct object pronouns, and how to use them in Spanish. 

Spanish C

We continued learning the imperfect (past) tense.  For now, we are learning the form and using it to describe things we used to enjoy doing when we were younger. More uses will be introduced soon. I have assigned a project that involves a poster and an oral presentation. The students have the information on a handout, and I've also placed it on Edmodo. It is due on February 19. Finally, we have been revisiting indirect object pronouns and learning how to use two object pronouns with a verb.  We will have a chapter test next Wednesday, February 10.

Spanish D

We finished talking about the future: natural resources, nature, energy and future careers we might enjoy.  We reviewed the future tense of regular and irregular verbs. We had an assessment on this material on Friday.
Spanish D+

We are identifying areas where we might need more practice/exposure.  We joined the Spanish D students for singing and future tense practice.

Art with Patti:

This week students put finishing touches on their auction class collaboration artworks. They turned out really beautifully. I hope you had a chance to check them out at the Chocolate Party. Some students picked up where they left off with deciding on an artist to focus on for an artist inspired artwork. 

Computer Lab with Holly:

This week the students began a new project: The Landmark Game.  This is a competition between teams of students from all around the world where they try to guess landmarks given a series of clues.  This game develops the student's research skills and introduces them to proper email skills.  Each of our middle school classes is a separate team.  This week the students selected the landmark they wish to submit to the game.

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

We spent our Life Skills time discussing Nicole Lovell this week. Students questioned how she ended up in the situation she did and how anyone could murder another person. We talked about how putting yourself in a risky situation does not mean fault. We talked about keeping yourself safe online, in person, as well as communicating with and trusting your parents. We talked about a teenager’s desire for independence and their lack of brain maturity to make the best possible decisions. They were very healthy discussions and I hope they will continue these conversations with you at home. We will continue our focus on body image in the media in future classes.

Thank you from, The Purple Team