Monday, April 23, 2018

Week of March 26, 2018

Purple Curriculum Updates
Pre-Algebra I with Seema:
Today we finished chapter 12. Chapter 12 test will be on Thursday April 5th. The students have learned about inequalities, solving two step equations, square roots, rational numbers and Pythagoras' Theorem. Concepts that they need to solidify are setting up equations for inequalities, making sure they understand that square roots and squares are "opposite" operations, and learning how to identify if a number is rational or irrational. Starting next week, we will launch into a comprehensive (approximately) two week review period for the end of school year test. I would tentatively like to schedule that for the week of 4/23 and will give you ample notice before administering the test. After all testing is completed, we will revisit chapter 8 and the second half of chapter 9 (material from these chapters is not on the end of year test). 

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:
We began the week with some complicated math problems, learning how to use formulas to calculate simple and compound interest. We also looked at how in general we can manipulate a formula, moving parts of it around.
We continued working on perfecting our coordinate plane graphing by doing a few more dot-to-dots. On Thursday we reviewed what was going to be on the test, and then took our Chapter test on Friday.

Pre-Algebra III with Ann:
We continued our study of Solids by learning the formulas for Volume. Students completed several hands on labs to help them understand how to find the volume of various solids. They were all excited to create cylinders out of PlayDoh! We also had a quiz on the first half of the chapter so the students could see their strengths as we get closer to the test.


Algebra I with Molly:
Our new chapter has us reviewing polynomial expressions. They practiced adding and subtracting polynomials, then finding the greatest common factor for each term of the polynomial. We learned to factor out a greatest common factor (GCF) from a trinomial. We then moved on to multiplying two binomials using two different methods and to factor simple trinomials into two binomials. We practiced this at the end of the week.

Language Arts with Jared:
Students worked this week on their Authors' Tea projects, getting close to finishing their rough drafts. They also reviewed for and took a vocabulary quiz on Thursday. We continued making progress in our class novels, discussing the events and characters as we came across them. On Friday we watched a powerpoint presentation on the plot of "The Taming of the Shrew," which many in the class will see performed on Friday night at the Lyric Theatre.


World Studies & U.S. History with Ann:
After a successful NHD Regional competition, we were all happy to be able to focus more on the 1920s. This week, students were assigned an influential individual that made the 1920s "ROAR!" They were tasked with creating a FakeBook page and presenting their person to the class. We also discussed the Harlem Renaissance.

Earth Science with Molly:
This week classes went on a tour of the NOAA Weather Station in Blacksburg. An alumni parent arranged this for us and gave us our tour. Students took a quiz on heat transfer this week, using definitions and diagrams to explain the concepts of convection, radiation, and conduction. Students also began a focus on the water cycle.

Spanish with Corinne:
Sunshine Spanish
Sunshine A
We did not have Sunshine Spanish this week.

Sunshine B
We did not have Sunshine Spanish this week.

HS Spanish I, part II

This week students had a substitute teacher and continued to work with the new vocabulary in Chapter 8A.

HS Spanish II, part I

This week students had a substitute teacher and continued to work with the new vocabulary in Chapter 4A.

HS Spanish II, part II

This week students had a substitute teacher and continued to work with the new vocabulary in Chapter 7A.

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 - Weaving - Small Woven Tote: Students explore fiber arts 3/27 - Students set up a cardboard loom Foreground, Middleground, Background Students will complete a project that includes foreground, middleground, background, overlapping elements, and diminishing size. Students are encouraged to BE CREATIVE with theme choice, thinking beyond typical landscape. 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. Solana worked on the wheel. Art Project: "Fun" Reflection For this project, students create an artwork based on the theme "fun". They are to use any medium that best fits the project, thinking about composition and creating a focal point. Art Project: Symbolic Portrait Think about portraiture in an abstract way. What are likes, how time is spent, favorite foods, hobbies, family representation, favorite places to visit, personal beliefs, how you define yourself. Create an artwork that is a representation of yourself, combine several visual illustrations to convey a composition of imagery representing self without the focal point being a self-portrait. Paint, collage, draw, text and lettering can be used to create this work.

Seventh - Surrealism: Students learn about Salvador Dali and the surrealistic art style 3/28 - Students chose an object from around the art room to draw from. They concentrated on contour line only. 3/27 - Students learned about Salvador Dali and his surrealistic style watching the video Dali on the Fly Self Guided Clay Project Students are using the skills and inspiration from the clay trinket box they have completed. They are exploring other ways to use pinch, slab, coil, sculpting and joining clay pieces of their own design. Art Project: Using "Space" Students completed an art journal warm-up, which features positive and negative space. For this projects students will expand on the idea of using the element of art, space. How do artists create the look of depth, and add dimension on a two-dimensional surface? Students need to think about foreground/background, how to use value, how to use size, how does color change to show depth? Art Project: "Fun" Reflection For this project, students created an artwork based on the theme "fun". They are to use any medium that best fits the project, thinking about composition and creating a focal point.


Eighth - Romare Bearden: Collage 3/29 - Students began to choose images to print out and use
3/28 - Students painted two papers, exploring color mixing and patterns. They painted one in neutral colors and one using colors from the spectrum.
Art Project: "My World" For this project students created an artwork based on the theme "My World". They are to use any medium that best fits the project, thinking about composition and creating a focal point. Art Project: All About Color To further explore color (one of the elements of art) students will create a representational project where the composition includes all of the hues in the color wheel, plus neutrals, and black and white.

Check out the art blog at http://bnsartstudio.weebly.com/

Computer Lab with Lorraine:
This week the 6th grade students practiced their typing skills and submited their 2nd typing skills results for a grade. Following the typing drill, students begin to work on their Thinglink project for English.
The 7th and 8th graders too worked on their Thinglink project. Most are finished the Google Slides (Tags) and will begin working on other parts of the project.



P.E. and Health with Matt: 

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:
6th grade boys learned about and focused on the weight and strength spurt that happens during puberty, while the girls read together from a section in a Jane Fonda book Becoming a Teen about “ýour relationship with yourself.” This was a good introduction, focused on thoughts and feelings, thinking in new ways, and self-esteem.
7th grade students watched a video showing three different forms of bullying depicted in a high school setting. Each was presented, addressed, and then discussed. Next time, 7th grade students will focus on gender, attraction, and romantic feelings.
8th grade students continued their focus on teens and the effects of social media. We discussed the ways person-to-person interaction is different from online interactions. Next time, the boys will learn about the reproductive parts of girls, while girls learn about the reproductive parts of boys.

Thank you from, 
The Purple Team

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