Art:
Welcome to art class, with Mrs. Knoop. I look forward to a creative year ahead. The students have started their folders and will be working on them the next few weeks. The students are drawing their names inside a diamond and then coloring the letters in with patterns and designs. Color unity is an important concept being developed.English:
Hello! Welcome to Team 7-2! It has been a pleasure meeting your children, and I am sure we are going to have an enriching,productive year! In English, the students have already been introduced to our Expert 21 book, one of our primary sources for literature, skills, and writing. It is broken up into four workshops, each with its own themes, or essential questions. Students will bring the book home with them when they have work in it; as it is a workbook in nature, they may write directly in the book and mark up text, a skill that helps them directly in reading text for information and analysis. I previously sent home a letter of introduction outlining supplies and expectations for class this year. parental signatures were necessary, and I have received most of those. Next week, the students will be introduced to their first independent reading assignment as well as continue working in our Expert 21 book. More English class information will be forthcoming as we proceed throughout the school year.
One particular activity that we are engaging in this week, Friday the 13th, is a whole Team 7-2 Tile Mosaic. Students have been asked to ponder the question: "Where Will Your Road Lead?" Each student will complete a creative, visual portrayal of his/her own answer to that question directly on a ceramic tile. These designs will then be glazed, with the help of Earth Arts, one of our local businesses, and combined with the other students' tiles in the team in order to create a large mosaic. It is a first unifying activity to help the children identify with Team 7-2.
Mathematics:
Welcome to 7th grade math. I am very excited to get to know and teach your children this year. I handed out textbooks this week that should be left at home. I gave workbook to the 7R classes. This workbook should be brought to class everyday. The accelerated workbook is on back order. This workbook willbe handed out as soon as it comes in. We started Chapter 1 this week. There will be a spiral review quiz on Monday. This can test basic skills along with anything we did this week in class. This new textbook has a website www.bigideasmath.com. There are tabs for parents and students to explore this online resource. Each student will be given a user id and password shortly. However you can use the website right now without that information. I hope to meet each and every one of you soon. I look forward to a successful year in math for every student.
Science:
Welcome back to the 2013-2014 school year. I am very excited to start this new school
year with your children. Everyone seems to have settled into their new
schedules and team very nicely. This
week in science, students completed the first lab activity, “Saving Sam”. Students were broken up into groups of three
or four and given a challenge that required every member of the group to:
communicate, collaborate, plan, and work together as a team to achieve the
common goal to “Save Sam”. They used problem solving skills and had to think
“outside of the box” to be successful. After writing a reflective piece, most
students were able to explain the importance of the skills they utilized in
this activity. The first lab report is due, Monday September 16. Requirements
of a lab report were covered in detail. This format will be followed for every
lab report completed this year. Next
week, we will begin the study of, the characteristics of life.
Social Studies:
Welcome to social studies! My name is Dr. Marr and I look forward to an exciting, interactive year. Together, your children and I will be learning about the social sciences: history, anthropology, archaeology, political science, and economics to name but a few! As social scientists, your children will examine bias and seek to uncover the "truths" in our society. Focusing on nine essential questions, we will learn to tell the story of American History in a personal way. I maintain a team website at http://www.team72.co which holds links to homework, PTA updates, and all of my handout which are updated weekly. I also maintain the team communication list on remind101.com. This site will allow you to keep up-to-date with team activities through text and email messages. Visit my website and click on the remind101 tab to learn how to to join, or look at the information sheet sent home with your child on the second day of school.
Next week we will continue our introduction to social studies. After working on group norms and completing a biography pamphlet to explain the history without themselves, your child will bring home an interview sheet and ask you a few questions about an important event in their life. We will then look at how to complete current event assignments. We then work on a series of bias lessons where we will examine certain assumptions helped by individuals which as a social scientist we need to be aware of (in this case, concerning pre-historic man.)Finally, we will be working on make sense of the nine essential questions before moving on to the last Ice Age.
