The Spillway

Please click on the following link to register to attend Thanksgiving Lunch at Norris Middle School. All attendees will be required to enter through the office and will be released to go to the cafeteria following sign in. The cafeteria only accepts cash for purchases.

https://forms.gle/yuc5Uex9abXVsDg47

ELA:

This week, we learned about the 5 types of text structures and how different parts of a text can impact the overall structure of it. We also sent home a data paper with each student that shows their score from the fall benchmark and some goals that we set together. Ask your child about their goals and some steps they are going to take to work towards them! If they bring these data papers back signed, they will receive extra credit!

Next Monday and Tuesday, we will finish talking about analyzing text structures and they will be taking a Mastery Connect to check their understanding. The 6th grade Tremont trip is Wednesday-Friday, so students who are not going on the trip will be working on some review skills and activities!

Important dates:

Tuesday, 11/12 - Text Structure Edpuzzle due & Word Choice Quiz Correction I-Ready due

Math:

Next week we will continue working to find equivalent ratios using ratio tables, double number lines, and other strategies. Next Wednesday through Friday we will be reviewing previously covered standards while some students are participating in the Tremont trip.

Important dates:

Social Studies: This week, we have continued learning more about the history of Ancient Israel. Students took a deeper dive into studying about the kings of Ancient Israel and can now identify the importance of Saul, David, and Solomon. Students also assessed their map skills by identifying and locating geographical features of Ancient Israel. Another component we learned about this week in relation to Ancient Israel included the basic beliefs such as the origin and features of Judaism.

Important SS Dates:

November 12: Ancient Mesopotamia/Ancient Egypt Unit Recheck: review games in Google Stream

November 21: Unit 4 Test (Ancient Israel)

Science: On Monday, we wrapped up last week’s lesson and answered our focus question in relation to what causes ocean currents. We also reviewed the most missed questions from last week’s quiz. This week, our new focus is on students being able to differentiate between weather and climate so students have been working diligently on their interactive notetaking. Students’ goal this week was to construct an explanation of how atmospheric flow, geographic features, and ocean currents affect the climate of a region through heat transfer. We have also been working on analyzing charts/graphs by presenting a new graph each week. Last week, we analyzed the sales trends of Halloween candy! This week, we analyzed YouTube and TikTok user data. Deciphering charts/graphs is a much needed skill in Science class so we are excited to present and practice these skills weekly using student interest topics!

Important Science Dates:

Tremont Trip: November 13th-15th

Next Science quiz: Friday, November 22

ELA:

This week, students reviewed most missed questions from the Q1B. Students also learned new testing strategies. Next week we will continue our unit on Social Media. Students will read several articles on the benefits and risks of social media. We will also be reviewing grammar rules. Teachers will also be working with small groups to help students strengthen their reading and comprehension skills.

Social Studies:

This week we finished up preparing for our China unit test by reviewing the study guide and playing a few rounds of Quizizz Live! Overall our students did very well on the assessment and are making great progress toward our goals. At the end of the week we analyzed the most missed questions from the unit test in order to clear up major misconceptions, and then we began our unit on feudal Japan. We started by looking at how Japanese culture changed because of Chinese and Korean influences (particularly Buddhism, Confucianism, and Chinese writing), and then we examined these changes as shown in the primary source document of The Constitution of Prince Shotoku. Next week we will learn about the religion of Shintoism, the Heian aristocracy, and the rise of the military society (shogun and samurai!).

Science:

Students wrapped up learning about how cells differ across the 6 kingdoms of life. Encourage students to complete and quiz corrections as needed throughout the quarter. We have started a lab that will reveal to students the effect salt has on a cell membrane. Ask your student about the setup and their predictions. We will see what happens on Monday!

2) Conduct an investigation to demonstrate how the cell membrane maintains homeostasis through the process of passive transport.

Math: 7th grade math students are learning how to simplify algebraic expressions. Students are learning about terms, coefficients, variables and the order of operations. Later during the week we will shift our focus to solving equations. We will incorporate real world applications and tie the problems into various ways of solving the same problem without algebraic equations.

ELA is starting to ramp up our debate on our unit, "Contact Sports: Worth the Risk?" Students will focus on the power of persuasion and the importance of knowing their audience. Next week, students will create advertisements arguing for or against contact sports using research collected throughout the unit. Check Google Classroom for specific assignment requirements.

Math students are working on a new unit of study about Functions. We will continue to practice solving multi-step equations each day, as well, and will be be preparing for a unit test on Slope-Intercept Form. Please check Skyward for missing assignments, and continue to encourage your child to stay current with their iReady My Path lesson each week.

In science this week we wrapped up our plate tectonics unit with an exam. As always, quiz corrections are available and are due on Wednesday 11/13. In class we have started to investigate our next topic, the rock cycle. We will continue our investigation on the rock cycle next week. We will be using a series of tools including: hands-on labs, video responses, and handouts in class to make new connections!

Social Studies this week is looking at the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson through an online Scavenger Hunt as kids read about our 3rd President of the United States through Prezi. Next, we took a simulated adventure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition where students are forced to make decisions that Meriweather Lewis and William Clark had to make during their expedition.

We are so excited for our band concert on Thursday, November 21st at 6:30 PM in the Norris Gym. The students have been working hard all semester and are very excited to show you what we have been working on together!