7th Grade Team April Newsletter

Staying connected to our families is important to our teachers. In addition to the front page of our Canvas courses, we are excited to share this monthly newsletter with our families to keep you aware of upcoming events, activities, lessons, units, and materials from our classes! The 7th Grade Team has compiled this newsletter to share some of the upcoming experiences your student will be having with us. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teachers!

3rd Quarter Report Cards were sent home with students today, Friday, March 31st. As a reminder, grades can always be accessed via Canvas using the instructions at the bottom of this newsletter.

This month, our band students are the pros of multitasking. Not only are we counting down the days to our concert, but we are working in small ensemble groups as well! April marks less than 30 rehearsals until the concert. As we fine-tune 3 pieces with each band, we are also adding a new piece to our concert program for each group! Be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, May 11th at 7pm in the JAHS Auditeria!

7th Grade Choir is working on music for their final concert of the year. They are working on American folk songs and also learning a song in Spanish. They are also working on their final piece of music, “Go the Distance” from Hercules which is a combined number with the 8th grade Choir. The students are also beginning 3-part music, which is one extra part from the last concert.

7th grade engineering students have started our SolidWorks unit! This is an industry-standard 3-d modeling software that is used by both local businesses and universities. We are finishing our first tutorial today, with four more on the horizon. After we finish the five tutorials, students will be undertaking a multi-week project where they can create whatever they want using SolidWorks (following an academic rubric of expectations).

This month In PE, we will be creating our own game and then presenting them to the class. We will also be trying to go outside for some fresh air and playing combinations of new and old games previously learned. Later in the month, we will be playing badminton. In wellness, we will be learning about sleep and how it can affect our daily lives.

Over the next month, students will be engaging with a variety of projects. Primarily, they’ll be working with an image modification program, in order to create novel pictures starring themselves and their friends. Afterward, they’ll be working with Mixcraft to create music in class!

Mrs. Danner's and Mrs. Kline's Classes:

We are rounding third base in our Historical Fiction unit. We are thrilled with the amount of reading students are completing. So many students have already finished their book club novels and jumped into new books influenced by their enjoyment of their book club reading. In ELA, we consider happy readers to be a huge success! Our lessons and activities have already started reviewing skills the students will need to be fresh for state testing. Luckily, we’ve been able to fold these activities naturally into our plans. (BTW-The first 10 students who can identify the figurative language we snuck into this newsletter blurb will receive a reward!)

Mrs. Heinig's Classes

We have spent the last two units learning to read nonfiction, research, report, and take a stand. It’s time for us to head back into fiction. It is Spring, and that means it is almost time for our beach towels and some outdoor reading. Reading Historical Fiction is a terrific pursuit. It is a time machine that helps us as people and readers in several ways: HF helps us learn the truth about real-life past events in age-appropriate ways. HF introduces us to differing perspectives and actions surrounding the same event (The Holocaust, for example) and the consequences of our actions. HF reveals the complexity of life and develops an appreciation for people of all backgrounds and cultures. HF encourages empathy and wise future perspectives, in addition to sparking an interest in learning from the past. In addition, we will be participating in The Great Baby Food Challenge as teams compete for correct answers during OST prep weeks.

7th grade math classes are working on their final module before we begin reviewing for state testing. This module covers analyzing and comparing different types of data. Using multiple methods we will dive into the data and make comparisons and inferences from the data. Our Module 11 Assessment will be April 6th. After our assessment, we are hoping to encourage student engagement by doing our second annual OST Olympic Review. We are requesting your partnership in donating prize items as listed in the sign up link attached HERE. The teachers are providing donuts as one prize option but the others will be listed on the sign up.

Accelerated Math

Mrs. Garner’s Math 7 Accelerated is finishing our unit on geometric figures. This included all of the 7th grade geometry standards for angle and triangle relationships as well as cross sections but also included some 8th grade standards of parallel line relationships when cut by a transversal line! Our next module will be on finding the surface area and volume of traditional and composite 3-dimensional shapes.

The 7th grade math teachers have planned our SECOND ANNUAL Ohio State Testing Olympic Review. We do not want the students stressed about testing, but we do want to spend a week reviewing for our assessment for math which takes place on May 2. We are planning an Olympic Games activity the weeks prior to the assessment to try and make our review fun and exciting! Students will earn points for their team based on effort, accuracy, and being a kind and helpful teammate. We are requesting your partnership in donating prize items as listed in the sign up link attached HERE. The teachers are providing donuts as one prize option but the others will be listed on the sign up.

Students finished our study of the atmosphere and are now beginning a chapter on the weather. Over the next month, seventh graders will be keeping a “Cloud Notebook,” tracking a hurricane, and learning to read weather maps and predict the weather. Traditionally, this is one of the student’s favorite topics. At least one former student is currently studying meteorology because her interest in weather was sparked by this chapter.

This week in 7th grade social studies, students have begun their short unit on Medieval Japan. The goal of this unit is to study the feudal system that emerged in Japan. Throughout this unit students will take part in a classroom simulation of Japanese feudalism and create a life-sized Samurai Warrior. Next, we will be moving on to our brief unit on African Kingdoms and the spread of Islam!

Common Sense Media is an online tool that can help parents and students make informed decisions regarding media use. This tool can be used for many types of media, including books, movies, video games, and apps. Additionally, the “Parent Tips and FAQ” section can provide families with valuable support on facilitating social media, cell phone, and screen time use with their child.