Week of October 3, 2016

Elective Updates

Book Club:

In book club, students are working on reading and discussing Carrie Ryan's trilogy of books set in a dystopian future where zombies have confined humanity to isolated villages. They read book 1, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and have almost finished book 2, The Dead-Tossed Waves. We're definitely getting in the mood for Halloween!

Cooking:

We have had a good time in cooking. Together we have made cookies and cupcakes for birthday treats, apple crepes, scones, Indian chick peas, potato fries, muffins, quesadillas with guacamole and salsa. I have found the group as a whole to be engaged, cooperative and enthusiastic learners and adventurous eaters. They have also participated in a class on knife skills.

Music in Film:

The Music in Film students have been busy composing and recording. As a group they have recorded videos, analyzed the music from many short video/film clips, and discovered about the famous film composer John Williams. The students have been working independently on composing music to accompany their recorded videos. They are so creative! Soon we will Skype with a professional film composer, and the students will begin working on their final project.

Children's Garden:

The students have been involved with lots of running and outdoor games. There has been a lot of one on one interaction with the younger kids, involving finger plays and reading.

Red Room Learning Buddies:

Red Room learning buddies have helped the kindergartners with small projects such as making rainbow necklaces. They provided school tours and will soon take us on a nature walk to the Y Gardens. The favorite activity for the Red Roomers, though, is for these middle schoolers to simply play with them at centers. They love showing them the various activities in the room. Throughout the days I hear the red roomers talk among themselves when they see one of "our" purple roomers out on the playground, etc.

Yellow Room Pals:

Nate and Carson have assisted the Yellow Roomers with several science experiments, with reading to define weather vocabulary, and with determining various temperatures in both degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit.  I love having the boys' help with facilitating activities that are difficult to conduct with only me facilitating. The Yellow Roomers love working with their Purple Room Pals!

Japanese Ink Painting:

We have drawn snails, snakes, rabbits, salamanders , landscapes on crinkled paper, and bamboo. They can use their learned skills to decorate cards and pottery as well as create pictures to frame.


Landscaping:

We have been clearing briers around the playground, trimming trees, and moving mulch. These students are enthusiastic and hard working!

Geocaching:

Our adventures have taken us within a mile of BNS, so far. We've weed-whacked through thorns and poison ivy in search of elusive geocaches. Some have taken two looks, while others are easy to find. It's been fun to see the different styles of caches that are hidden so nearby. We'll soon be venturing as far as the Huckleberry Trail downtown.

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra I with MaryAnn:

The students were given back their Unit 2 assessments and asked to make corrections. If your child is in the Purple Room you can find past quizzes and assessments in their portfolios. We continue to work on solving equations algebraically. The students will have a Unit 3 assessment and notebook check on Wednesday, October 12.

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:

In Pre-Algebra II we began out new unit by looking at exponents, and then did a craft activity converting very large numbers into scientific notation. We then explored divisibility rules, before taking a quiz on these topics on Thursday. At the end of Thursday we looked at GCF and LCM, and pointed out the importance of not confusing the two.

Pre-Algebra III with Andrew:

This week in Pre-Algebra III, students reviewed the process for solving multi-step algebraic equations and inequalities.  On Tuesday, we had our Unit 2 assessment, which the students received back for review and revisions.  We began Unit 3 with an introduction to the Cartesian coordinate plane system, and began looking at how to graph points and lines from data sets.

Algebra I with Molly:

This week in Algebra, students used geometry formulas to solve for different variables and answer questions. We finished the chapter with a focus on using data to find the mean, median, mode, and range. They also learned to create and read stem and leaf plots. We spent time reviewing the chapter and completed the Chapter 2 test.

Geometry with Clare:

This past week we have been working through the first two lessons of Chapter 3, looking at different ways to write proofs, practicing them (mostly the two-column proof), and discovering that the textbook is not really serving our needs terribly well at present. We have also been re-examining the meanings of postulates and theorems in this context. The mini-project on using deductive reasoning to examine recent political statements was both illuminating and useful.

Language Arts with Jared:

In Language Arts we continued analyzing short stories. Sixth graders read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, seventh graders read "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" by Neal Gaiman, and 8th graders read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. We then continued brainstorming plots for our own short stories, as well as working on writing vocab sentences in preparation for Wednesday's vocabulary quiz.

World Studies & Civics with Andrew:

This week in class, students learned about the social institution of the government.  We discussed the government's roles in society, and different systems of government around the world.  We learned about the political left-right spectrum in terms of political systems, and 7th and 8th grade students watched a video that explained in depth how the founding fathers decided on the political system in the United States.  We also did some preliminary topic-selection exercises for National History Day, in preparation for doing research at the Virginia Tech library in the next coming weeks.

Physical Science with Molly:

This week in our study of matter, students completed a density investigation using two different liquids. From their results, the class discussed and predicted the results of a larger density column, which was then tested. We also began reading about the differences between chemical and physical change. 8^th grade students continued their snack food packaging engineering design project. They learned the format of the engineering design report and began typing a report for their snack packaging project. 7^th grade students are continuing to think about their science fair project ideas.

Spanish with Corinne:

Morning Spanish
Sunshine A

This week we worked more with the vocabulary in Chapter 1A, talking about likes ad dislikes. We began studying the grammatical concepts: infinitive verbs and negatives. We will continue working with the material in this chapter next week. We did not have Sunshine Spanish on Friday because of the fieldtrip.

Sunshine B

This week in Spanish we began Chapter 5B, talking about vocabulary in a restaurant and how to describe people. We watched the videohistoria and did several activities on the vocabulary. We did not have Spanish on Friday because of the field trip.

Spanish B

This week in Spanish we finished Chapter 5B, going to a restaurant. We did extra practice worksheets on Ser vs. Estar, watched the second episode of “Eres tu, María?” and read several chapters from Alejandro. The test on Chapter 5B will be on Thursday October 13. 

Spanish C

This week in Spanish we continued working with the vocabulary in Chapter 1A. We also learned how to make comparisons using the forms:

tan + adjective + como                     As +adjective + as

tanto (a, os, as) + noun + como                   As many/as much as…

We will have a quiz on these concepts on Thursday October 13 before we begin learning the next grammar concepts in the chapter. 

Spanish D

This week in Spanish we finished Chapter 6B, talking about the movies. We worked more with the present perfect tense and finished all of the activities and pages in the book. Instead of having a test on this chapter the students are working in groups to make short movies (3 minute minimums) that use the vocabulary and grammar in the chapter. We will work together to set due dates and to finish the rubric next week.

Art with Patti:

This week middle school artists thought about and practiced how to layer with watercolor, as well as use overlapping in their art warm up. Most artists are finishing up projects, reflecting on their art, or beginning a new project by brainstorming and doing compositional sketches.

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

This week we continued our focus on emotions with a video called Understanding, Controlling, and Preventing Anger. We had some good discussion about the video after. We will do one final focus on emotions before moving on to sex ed. topics for a while.

Thank you from, 
The Purple Team