Week of January 3, 2017

Winter Elective Updates

Inclusive Society:

We've had many interesting discussions about different groups that can be marginalized in our society. Here are some of things we've read, listened to, viewed and talked about: We listened oral histories in a program called "Unheard Voices" by people who had played some role in LGBTQ history. We read part of The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and talked about what he may have meant about being invisible as a Black man in white society, and we also wrote in journals about times we've felt invisible.

We looked at different responses to the U.S. Presidential election results. We've also listened to a few TedTalks on why we think the way we do, passages from authors like Wiesel about the importance of taking action, and interviews with people who are finding safe and conscientious ways to be active in an inclusive society. Now, we're turning to look at poverty in the United States, which will involve a grocery shopping field trip to make a food budget for a family living on minimum wage.

Children's Garden:

The kids eagerly await their arrival each Monday and Friday. The boys play soccer and tag with the kids outside and inside they have read to the students and played body movement games.

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.

Tech Exploration:

We have split the time in half, doing Minecraft Mondays and New Tech Fridays. On Mondays, we are using Minecraft to explore concepts like logic gates and critical thinking, and using redstone to automate different things in the game. On Fridays, we are watching and discussing keynote announcements from the major tech companies. We are also learning about different new technologies hitting the market (USB type-C, VR, etc).

Graphic Novels:

In our Graphic Novels class, we have been looking at the graphic novel form, and we have seen how illustrations and visual cues make graphic novels different than regular text novels.  We read Bone by Jeff Smith, which gave us a good introduction to character creation and storytelling through pictures.  We also read a sample from Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai.  In this selection, we looked at some different explorations of using the graphic medium to tell stories.  We also learned some interesting aspects of Japanese culture and how it is often different than Western culture.

Cooking:

We have been working on refining basic kitchen skills like measuring (doubling and halving), knife skills, and planning out recipes from start to finish. We have made a mix of sweet and savory items, even learning an invaluable lesson of recovery—turning a hard-as-rock cookies into a delicious crust for cookie bars.  Everyone has been enthusiastic and fun to work with.

Red Room Learning Buddies:

Red Room Learning Buddies have been helping the kindergartners with concept puzzles and other learning skills. The kids really love for them to join in their end-of-day play in centers. They join in building, drawing, play dough playing, and more. And...they set a fine example for the kindergartners.

Korean:

This semester we have briefly gone over the Korean alphabet, learned a couple Korean words, and several similarly sounding English words in Korean. We have studied the modern economy of Korea, the tourist industry, as well as some traditional culture and superstitions. We have also watched a Korean music video, and blogs of English teachers in Korea.

Board Games:

In our board game elective, we've been looking at European style board games. Students have played Tokaido, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Kingdom Builder, and 1775: The American Revolution.  

Greenhouse:

Students have had a great time planning the plots and planting seeds in the greenhouse. We can't wait for things to really begin to grow!

Art Extension:

Students have been exploring a variety of projects that include digital art, fiber arts, paper mache, and video making. 

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra I with MaryAnn:
It is good to be back with the students. We began Unit 7 this week on ratios, rates, and proportions. The students have been doing well. We have several quizzes a week in this class. I have started incorporating previously learned concepts and skills into these quizzes to help prepare the students for the end of year assessment.

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:

We spent this week in a fast-paced review of the first five chapters of the book. On Friday students took a mid-term assessment on the first half of the year. Next week we'll continue on in Chapter 6 by looking some more at decimals and percents.

Pre-Algebra III with Andrew:

This week in Pre-Algebra, we began reviewing the first 5 chapters of our course.  We took some practice assessments, and looked over some information and methods that we needed to refresh ourselves about.  We will take our mid-year assessment next week, and we will then begin looking at Chapter 6 to learn about fractions, percents, and decimals.

Algebra I with Molly:

Students spend 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.

Geometry with Clare:

It was really nice to see my Geometry guys again! This week, we reviewed the lessons covered so far in Ch. 6 and then the students took a quiz Thursday. We started the Bridge Project with models and discussions; this is due 20th Jan. Directions will also be on Google Classroom, in case the paper copy goes missing! We have practiced writing theorems and are proceeding with the rest of Ch. 6.

Language Arts with Jared:

Students worked on their new vocabulary units and continued work in their grammar units, focusing on troublesome verb pairs (sit/set, raise/rise, lie/lay). Students also learned about literary circles, and broke into small groups to discuss their new novels. Sixth and seventh graders are reading Red Scarf Girl, by Ji Li Jiang, and eighth graders are reading Snow Falling in Spring, by Moying Li. Both of these books are autobiographies about growing up in 1950's & 1960's China, and experiencing the Cultural Revolution.

World Studies & Civics with Andrew:

This week in Civics was spent working on our NHD projects.  We started to hammer out our thesis statements, while looking at examples of good and bad thesis statements and what makes them work for NHD.  Students came up with rough drafts of their working theses, which they then had peers review for them.  Finally, we took a look at the Library of Congress website, in the search of finding some good primary sources for our essays and projects.  The NHD essay will be due at the end of January.

Physical Science with Molly:

This week we celebrated the scientific advances of 2016. Students began a current event skit project. They read articles from Science News looking for one they’d like to learn more about. They will work on this project once a week for the month. We also began a focus on atoms and smaller atomic particles. We learned about and watched videos created with the scanning tunnel electron microscopes.

Spanish with Corinne:

Morning Spanish

Sunshine A
This week we reviewed all of the material that we have covered. This includes the date, colors, numbers, weather, and parts of the body. We began reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Spanish on Friday.

Sunshine B

This week we reviewed the material from Chapter 6A, things in a bedroom. We reviewed comparisons and stem changing verbs. We will have a test on Chapter 6A next Thursday, January 12. We began reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Spanish on Friday.

Spanish B

This week we began Chapter 7A, talking about clothing stores and how much something costs. We practiced numbers and describing words for how clothes fit.

Spanish C

This week we began by reading the first chapter of Harry Potter in Spanish. Then we started Chapter 2B, talking about what clothes you bought. This chapter reviews vocabulary from last year and adds new words about sales, discounts, and bargains.

Spanish D

This week we began by reading the first chapter of Harry Potter in Spanish. The students took turns reading the book out loud to practice pronunciation. Then we started Chapter 8A, taking a vacation by plane.

Art with Patti:

Still more clay! All middle school artists have had the opportunity to work on the wheel and practice throwing. Most are still working on hand building clay “pairs”. This can include pinch, slab, coil, or a combination. As students finish up clay, they will revisit a two-dimensional artwork they were previously working on. Parents, as always, are invited to check out their child’s art and sketchbook, which also includes some dialogue about grades and progress.

Computer Lab with Lauren:

7th and 8th grade learned about the responsibilities internet content creators have when submitting original content online.
6th grade learned about online personas and the positives and negatives to how you portray yourself to others online

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

No Monday classes (no 6^th & 8^th).

7^th Grade students focused on the puberty growth spurt, while split into gender groups. Boys learned about the weight and strength spurts. The girls focused on their changing body shape. Both watched interesting time-lapsed x-ray/photography showing changes in bone structure over the first 22 years of life.

Thank you from, 
The Purple Team