Plato Academy Pinellas Park Update

All of our due dates will be updated as we learn more about the path of Hurricane Dorian. Any work expected originally during our hiatus will be received without penalty afterwards.

Stay safe!

See our excellent and most wonderful hockey team above! From left to right, Ashlynn, Dylan, Mr. Vineyard, Andrew, Adam, Riley, Sophia, Ivy, Avery, Vince, Dylan, Kiley, and Ryan.

8th graders will be looking at two works of fiction in addition to non-fiction pieces in the next two weeks while we continue on with our focus standards. The two will be Nathanial Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est.

7th Grade - We'll be covering the 1908 version of the Jack London story, To Build A Fire and a yet to be determined companion piece the following week, pending our schedule.

6th Graders will be reading works by Ray Bradbury including All Summer in a Day, A Sound of Thunder, There Will Come Soft Rains.

All classes will also be reading non-fiction informational texts as we work on pulling information and inferences towards our writing standard. We'll be trying to work in as much creative writing from both Western canon authors and beyond as we can while we master our skills and expand our vocabularies. There's so much to read, so much to appreciate, and never enough time.

6th grade Advanced Reading:

We will continue our Pre-Reading Activities before reading our first novel, A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park. We are researching the country of Sudan, where the story is located, to better understand what the characters will face in the story. Hopefully this hurricane will pass us so we can begin reading the first chapter of the novel this week!

6th Grade ELA:

We will continue adding to our vocabulary words by creating more flashcards for this week. We will continue to review our first LAFS book lesson on central idea and supporting details that we began last week. Please make sure you are quizzing your students with their vocabulary flashcards!

6th Grade/7th Grade Intensive Reading:

This week, we will finish up our Istation assignments on comprehension and word work skills. Hopefully this hurricane will miss us so we can begin small group lessons on more reading comprehension skills.

This week we will be starting Chapter 2 which covers the establishment of the thirteen English colonies in America. We will be learning about the colonies by region and students will work to understand how and why these settlers came to America and trying to understand what makes each colonial grouping unique.

We are beginning our transition over to computers and Google Classroom this week. All of the classroom lessons on Google Slides will be done through computers and available for them through Google Classroom at home for reference. Homework will also be assigned and completed through Google Classroom. This requires each student to have access to the internet. This can be through a laptop, desktop, a tablet, or smart phone. If there is any issue for concern about your child’s ability to complete their homework, please let me know.

With next week’s schedule uncertain due to Hurricane Dorian, the due date for their Chapter 2 Vocabulary homework this weekend might be extended if there is significant power outages or wind damage.

As always, if you or your child have any questions or concerns please email me at tribblec@platoacademy.net.

Civics:

Due to the shortened week we will using this time to take our first Civics pretest/practice exam. Then we will finish our review of important documents from history.

World History:

Due to the shortened week we will take our first pretest for world history. Then we will continue on with the Paleolithic Age by talking about cave paintings and creating our own works of prehistoric art.

8th Grade Career Planning:

We will begin our work on critical thinking skill that will help in the future. We will be using a program called Habits of the Mind to explore ideas like persistence, cooperation, and determination.

7th Grade Math

Students in 7th Grade Math took a quiz on Thursday on Integer Operations. Next week we will continue with rational operations and take a quiz on Friday. All grades are up to date in portal. Missing assignments are attached on portal and can be turned in for partial credit. Lesson videos and notes are uploaded onto google classroom.

Pre-Algebra

Students will continue learning about exponents and law of exponents. They will learn about perfect squares, square roots, perfect cubes and cube roots. Students will also go over scientific notation and comparing and ordering values. There will be a quiz on this on Thursday. Check portal for grades and google classroom for any lesson videos and notes

7th Grade:

Students have been working this week on Earth's interior. They have been studying the different layers, their compositions, and the process of convection currents. Next week we will begin working on minerals and rocks. Students will be identifying the five characteristics of minerals and how they are formed along with classifying rocks according to the three major types.

8th Grade:

Students have been working on the planets size with comparisons to the sun. Characteristics of the planets and Earth's rotation, tilt, and revolution as it relates to our seasons. Next week we will begin working on the phases of the moon and Earth's tides.