September Newsletter
Next week, we will be running a fall food drive for our backpack program in conjunction with a spirit week! This year, the MS will be competing with ARS for the food drive! Please see information below and help show your MS spirit!!!
5th Grade
ELA: Our first unit in ELA is building their knowledge of descriptive writing. We will do this by exploring fun and creative ways of personal writing in a supportive learning environment. We will end the unit by zoning in on one specific event of their life and composing their own personal narrative.
Math: Students will learn about place values and determining the values of digits in each place value. This will include comparing digits in place values and rounding decimals to place values.
Science: Students will represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
SS: Students will start the month learning about timelines, directions, and maps. This will serve as a review before starting our Native American unit.
STEM: Students will be learning about robots and how they can be used to help solve natural disaster problems. They will then be building robots with a set of instructions that they will code to complete various tasks.
Art: We will be jumping into art making and exploring art cultures and styles from around the world. We will start with a graffiti name drawing inspired by the 60’s graffiti movement and discuss artistic freedom and expression as well as the different styles of graffiti.
Music: Students will learn the definitions of music terminology. They will practice using those words in sentences when talking about music. They will also start learning how to read rhythms.
6th Grade
ELA: In ELA we will start with narrative writing followed by learning how to work with textual evidence. We will use one of Roald Dahl’s, Boy: Tales of Childhood, to engage students in this process and consistently use these skills to develop strong habits to help students cross-curricular.
Math 6: Students will be finding the GCF and LCM of sets of numbers. Students will be performing operations with rational numbers.
Math 7 / 6 Accelerated: Students will add and subtract integers and rational numbers using number lines, integer chips, and absolute values of numbers.
Science: Students will develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
SS: Students will start the year by learning about how historians think. This will be followed by learning about the rights, duties, and responsibilities we all have as U.S. citizens.
STEM:Students will explore algorithms and how we use coding programs. Students will code Spheros to complete various tasks, and learn how to debug coding.
Art: We will start the year by discussing the elements of art. Each project we complete will be focused on one or more of the elements. We will begin with shape, creating a name drawing using objects to the letters.
Music:Students will be learning to use music vocabulary in context. They will also continue to learn how to read standard music notation and start writing their own compositions.
7th Grade
ELA: We began our school year with a few get-to-know-you activities followed by a review of figurative language techniques. Students are now in our new curriculum, Amplify, which will make up the ELA curriculum. Our first unit is Red Scarf Girl and Narrative. The unit will look at the impact of social and political forces on individuals and will examine the differences between a character’s thoughts and actions. The writing lessons build skills to create a well-written narrative piece.
Math: Students are working on rational numbers, learning to add and subtract them using number lines. Student also learn about absolute value as a distance measurement to 0.
Science: Students will be learning how to interact with science, such as creating graphs, recording data, and evaluating the results. Students will also practice writing CERs. Afterwards, students will begin the unit on cells, organelles, and the similarity and differences between animal and plant cells.
SS: Students will be studying the 13 English Colonies. We will be looking at the important people and events that helped form them and shaped America's identity.
STEM:Students will explore algorithms and how we use coding programs. Students will code Spheros to complete various tasks, and learn how to debug coding.
Art: We will kick off the year by discussing the Principles of Design. We will start with the principle of balance and create a silhouette collage using magazine clippings to describe themselves.
Spanish: We started off the Trimester discussing “Why learn Spanish?” We then moved into Unit 1, which includes Greetings (formal and informal), Calendar (days, months, and weather), Phonics of the Spanish alphabet, and Identifying Numbers up to 100. Students are enjoying “Kahoot Friday”, which includes playing Trivia games to review the Spanish skills they learned that week.
8th Grade
ELA: After getting to know one another better with our Personal Resumes, the 8th graders will begin delving into our new Amplify Program. Our first unit is studying the importance of perspective in writing. How does paying attention to details help a good writer shape the way we see a scene or feel about a character? The unit culminates in writing a small personal narrative about a moment in the student’s childhood.
Math: Students are working on solving simple equations and are moving into multi-step equations, using a variety of math operations to isolate the variable. Students will be asked to use equations to solve real-life situations.
Science: Students will be learning how to interact with science, such as creating graphs, recording data, and evaluating the results. Students will also practice writing CERs. Afterwards, students will begin the unit on astronomy, the Earth-Moon-Sun System, and the formation and motion of galaxies.
SS: 8th grade Social Studies students are learning about the 5 themes of Geography. Students will create a mosaic that demonstrates their knowledge of the Key ideas in this unit of study.
Art: We will be starting out the year looking at Vincent van Gogh’s various room drawings and learning how to use one-point perspective to create a “Dream Room-scape”.
STEM: Students will begin PLTW Robotics, where they will take on various roles within a coalition group to learn how to build mechanisms used in a robot. Students will follow various constraints and meet the needs of clients.
Spanish: As most 8th grade students have previously taken a Trimester of Spanish in 7th Grade, we are starting off with a brief review of the basics: Unit 1 includes Greetings (formal and informal), Calendar (days, months, and weather), Phonics of the Spanish alphabet, and Identifying Numbers up to 100. We will then move on to Grammar, which includes verb tenses, adjectives, articles and more. Students are enjoying “Kahoot Friday”, which includes playing Trivia games to review the Spanish skills they learned that week