Important May and June Dates/Announcements
Monday 5/27: NO SCHOOL Memorial Day
Friday 6/14: HALF DAY- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
June Activities (dates TBA):
- Field Day last week of school
- Superlative awards last week of school
- Frog dissection in science
- Watching the movie "The Giver"
- Last day of school fun
Cluster 3 Math with Mr. Casciano - End of May Update
Hello Cluster 3 Families!
Hello Cluster 4!
We're nearing the end of our 7th-grade math curriculum, having just completed a unit on data, statistics, and probability. Next, we'll delve into 3-dimensional solids, focusing on surface area and volume.
Student Goals for Probability
-Use a sample space to determine the probability of an event as a number between `0` and `1`. (Lesson 2)
-Use the results from a repeated experiment to make predictions about the sample space. (Lesson 3)
-Recognize that the results of a repeated experiment approach the probability of the event. (Lesson 4)
-Compare probabilities from a model to the results of a repeated experiment to decide whether or not something is fair. (Lesson 5)
-Use the results from a repeated experiment to approximate the probability of an event. (Lesson 5)
-Calculate the probability of a multistep event. (Lesson 6)
-Make connections between real-world situations and probability tools that could be used to simulate those situations. (Lesson 7)
Student Goals for 3-Dimensional Solids
-Determine the volume of right rectangular prisms and right triangular prisms. (Lesson 10)
-Calculate the volume of a prism with a complicated base using a variety of strategies, including decomposing into more familiar shapes or surrounding and subtracting. (Lesson 11)
-Calculate the surface area of a prism. (Lesson 12)
-Explain whether to calculate the surface area or volume of a prism to solve a problem in a real-world situation. (Lesson 13)
-Apply surface area and volume to answer questions about a real-world situation. (Lesson 13)
I can...
- describe the development of democracy in Ancient Athens
- compare and contrast the government, society, and economy of ancient Athens and Sparta
- participate in a simulation of a direct democracy like that used in ancient Athens
We've turned our attention to Europe and, in particular, Greece and Rome as we finish up the year. In both of these ancient civilizations, we focus on government mostly to give students some historical context for 8th-grade Civics. We learned about the development of democracy in ancient Athens and the differences between Athens and Sparta and participated in a simulation of a direct democracy. In Rome, we'll focus on the idea of a republic and separation of powers, which we will compare and contrast to the government of the U.S. today.
English classes are in the middle of reading The Giver. Students have assigned reading most nights as we work our way through the novel. We are looking at elements of the genre (still a secret) and will be analyzing the changes we see in the protagonist as we uncover the true conflicts he is facing. After this final full class novel, we will be working on projects connected to the novel for the last two weeks of school. Make-up and missing work should be completed before the end of the month to allow me time to review and revise term grades.
Standards:
RL 7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.
RL 7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
RL 7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning, tone, or mood, including the impact of repeated use of particular images.
SCIENCE with Ms. Smith
May 2024
As we near the end of 7th grade, students will be putting together much of what they have been learning in science this year. We end our energy unit by comparing both renewable and nonrenewable natural resources used to generate electricity. Students are diving into these topics to understand the scientific, ecological, and political issues around energy, its sources, and uses. This year, we have examined how energy is used and transformed by living things, how energy cycles through living and nonliving matter, and how it is manipulated by humans to serve our energy needs.
It has been a wonderful experience working with your students this year. They are curious, cooperative, funny, insightful and most importantly, kind and hopeful.
7.MS-ESS2-4. Develop a model to explain how the energy of the sun and Earth’s gravity drive the cycling of water, including changes of state, as it moves through multiple pathways in Earth’s hydrosphere.
Clarification Statement:
Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.
7.MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence that human activities and technologies can to mitigate the impact of increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources on the environment.
