October Weekly Update

I want to give the school community a huge thank you for all the support during our food drive! The backpack program closet is full!

October 3 - Cross Country MNC Championships

October 7-10 - Soccer Tournament

October 12 - GVB Tournament

October 14 - No School

October 21-23: BBB and Cheer Tryouts

October 28-November 1: Spirit Week

CLC visits are very different from what they were in the past. Students visit during flex periods instead of with their ELA classes. FRGMS students no longer participate in Accelerated Reader because of the reading expectations outlined in D3’s new ELA curriculum, Amplify. Mrs. Piecuch remains dedicated to providing new titles and flexible by offering alternative times for students to visit. All MS students have access to grade-level CLC Google Classrooms where they can access all the information they need- Form for Read and Ride, Form for visiting during a different time, FRGML events, and monthly themes and special displays.

As students move into middle school, they have many more demands on their time. They find themselves busy with sports, clubs, or socializing with friends, and reading for fun is often one of the first leisure activities to go. However, reading outside of school continues to contribute to students' academic success and is therefore a worthwhile investment. Please click here for some great suggestions for motivating your middle schooler to continue to read outside of school and to build a lifelong love of literacy.

Don't forget to check the virtual backpack for district fliers!

Students will be allowed to wear costumes to school this year on Halloween. Here are the guidelines:

• Students should come to school in their costumes.

• Student costumes must be school appropriate and follow these dress code guidelines "Clothing shall be of an appropriate length at all times. Note: Undergarments shall not be purposefully visible (example: boxers, bras, etc.). Torsos and backs must be adequately covered, and shoulder straps must be a minimum of two inches wide." Students whose costumes do not meet these guidelines will be asked to change.

• We ask that accessories are appropriate. NO weapons of any sort are allowed. Administration has the final say on the appropriateness of accessories. If you have questions, reach out to Mrs. McKenzie directly.

• Blood and gore are discouraged.

• Masks will only be allowed to be worn during the assembly, however, students can apply face paint prior to coming to school.

• If you have any questions, please call or email Mrs. McKenzie

8th Grade Leadership is planning a fall hallway decoration contest by grade! More information will be announced soon!

Our soccer unit was a success. Students had fantastic enthusiasm and skill development. We are continuing to work on teamwork and sportsmanship. Our football unit is underway and has been great so far.

ELA: Students are still progressing in their Personal Narratives unit with the Amplify curriculum. We are practicing reading, writing, and collaboration on a daily basis while deepening our understanding of first person writing.

Math: Students are using number properties to solve numerical expressions. Students will also be performing numerical operations with decimals.

Science: We explored how to represent data in graphical displays to uncover patterns in the daily changes of shadows, the cycle of day and night, and the seasonal appearances of stars in the night sky.

We are now engaging in discussions and activities that support the argument that the differences in apparent brightness between the sun and other stars is primarily due to their varying distances from Earth. Through hands-on experiments and data analysis, students will develop a deeper understanding of these concepts and enhance their scientific reasoning skills. Get ready for some stellar discoveries!

SS: Students will continue to explore different Native American regions and cultures, with a focus on how Natives utilized natural resources in their environment. After the Desert Southwest region we will move on to the Pacific Coast, and then the Great Plains.

STEM: Students will be continuing to explore robots and finally build a robot which they can control with a robot. We will focus on the various sensors that the robot can be used to solve problems within the world and our communities.

Art: Students finished their Graffiti artworks and will be continuing our traveling around the world. We will be heading to Japan next. We will be looking at the influence of Japanese animation in the art world and how it has been an inspiration for many current animated shows and movies. Students will be creating a self portrait in an animation style of their choice.

Music: Students are learning about melody and rhythm. They are exploring what a good melody looks like, and how to write their own. They just finished their first composition projects and are starting to look at how rhythm fits into a song.

ELA: In ELA we are working through the Dahl & Narrative unit in our new curriculum, Amplify. We have been concentrating on writing foundationals along with learning to focus on becoming more comfortable with our classroom habits and routines when developing a deeper understanding of our writing and listening skills.

Math: Students are solving multiplication and division expressions with decimals and fractions, which will transition into working with rates and ratios.

Science: Get ready for an exciting journey as we dive into NGSS standards MS.PS.1-1 and MS.PS.1-2! In this unit, we are exploring the incredible world of atoms and the forces that hold them together. Students will conduct experiments that showcase explosive chemical reactions and surprising physical changes. Get ready for hands-on experiments and exciting demonstrations that reveal the mysteries of the material world!

SS: After finishing the Early Humans unit, we are on to our first major ancient civilization - Mesopotamia. In this unit we will explore the geography, religion, art/achievements, politics, economy, and social classes of Ancient Mesopotamia.

STEM: Students will dive into the career opportunities found in STEM and will be asked to create a digital flier. The flier will be a HELP WANTED ad looking to hire someone for a particular STEM related job. This will require research and digital design skills. Students will also learn about drones, their uses within our world. and practice flying them.

Art: Students will be creating clay monsters. They will be focusing on the element of texture and incorporating various textures on their monsters using various clay techniques.

Music: Students are learning about melody and rhythm. They are exploring what a good melody looks like, and how to write their own. They just finished their first composition projects and are starting to look at how rhythm fits into a song. They begin bucket drumming and eventually creating their own sound loops.

ELA: In 7th ELA, students are progressing through our first Amplify Core Unit: Red Scarf Girl. We started the unit with writing and how to best show, not tell, in narratives using strong verbs, vivid adjectives, figurative language, and imagery. Next, we move into reading passages and excerpts from Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. It is her personal memoir of growing up in China’s Cultural Revolution. Students will study and analyze her writing as they prepare to write a narrative of their own in the culminating project. SEL lessons will be presented and discussed throughout ELA classes,

Math: Students in 7th grade math are learning how multiply and divide integers as well as rational numbers. In 7th Grade Accelerated, students are learning how to multiply and divide rational numbers.

Science: We are continuing our unit on Cells! Over the next few weeks, students will learn about systems and functions of certain organs/organelles, as well as organ systems and their importance for a living organism. Once students have mastered the cells content, students will move on to learning about plants!

SS: Students will be learning about the American Revolution. This exciting era in history will help students understand how our founding Fathers worked together to achieve independence from England.

STEM: Students will dive into the career opportunities found in STEM and will be asked to create a digital flier. The flier will be a HELP WANTED ad looking to hire someone for a particular STEM related job. This will require research and digital design skills. Students will also learn about computer systems, how the input and output devices work, and how to program a small micro bit using Microsoft:microbit.

Art: Students will be starting on creating a lino block print. Their project will focus on contrast and balance as they will be creating a Yin Yang inspired art work.They will learn about the history and philosophy of the Yin Yang symbol and create a unique artwork that follows the same principles. They will also lean the linocut and printmaking techniques.

Spanish: We completed our Greetings and Phonics Units and are wrapping up our Calendar Unit. We will then move into Spanish Articles and Grammar, followed by our Family and Clothing Units.

ELA: In 8th grade, students are continuing to work with the new Amplify program to strengthen their writing skills. Emphasis is placed on dialogue, showing vs telling, and strong verbs. The unit will culminate with an essay combining what we have learned in ELA with what we have been discussing in our SEL program.

Math: Students are learning how to graph linear equations. In this unit, students explore how to graph with tables, find slope, identify and graph horizontal and vertical lines, and utilize standard form, point-slope form, and slope-intercept form.

Science: Students are currently learning about the Solar System, with content moving towards the formation of galaxies. This includes learning about our Milky Way galaxy, nebulas, and the beginnings of our universe.

SS: Students will be finishing up the industrial age era and moving onto the urbanization & immigration era in our country's history.

Art: In 8th grade we are wrapping up our one-point perspective surrealism drawing. Next we will be moving on to the Sustainable Sculpture unit in which they will collect and find recycled or unused objects and materials in order to create a sculpture.

STEM: Students will begin to learn about a few new electrical devices that can be used on robots, such as sensors, to create prototypes that will meet the needs of community clients. They will then use the knowledge obtained from the building lessons to design a robot of their own, meeting a set of criteria and helping fill a need

Spanish: We completed our Greetings, Phonics and Calendar Review Unit. We are now reviewing Grammar (learned in 7th grade). After that, we will review Family, Clothing and Ser/Estar. We will end with Verb Conjugation.