What a fantastic first week in seventh grade! I can’t believe how much I missed these people, nor how happy I am to have them back. I am proud of this group of kiddos having no problem getting back in the groove.
I also want to thank all of our parents for taking the time out of their evening to join us for the back to school night! It was awesome to see everyone again. My class and I are so fortunate to have such amazing support at home. You guys rock!
During Projects this first semester, we will be studying Science. Starting with the structure and processes of cells and ecosystems in the first quarter, then moving to heredity and biological evolution during the second quarter. Week one had the class working on and introduction to our first project with bottles representing cells and the organelles that make them work. It was so cool to listen to the kids quiz each other using their models. Now we will begin the larger portion of this project with groups building a 3D model of a replica of something in their lives connecting it to the functions and processes of a cell.
7th grade reading didn’t waste anytime getting right to work with our Daily 3 and CAFE strategies. The kids were also stoked to see that Flocabulary is back on the game plan for Mondays. I was quite impressed with how up to date they were with current events happening around our world. During these first weeks we will be reading about the Antebellum Era. On Tuesday and Thursday we will focus on the North and the South in Pre Civil War being a divided nation and how the economic developments affected the new country. Wednesdays will be our poetry day of the week were the class will practice annotating poems, looking for rhyme scheme, figurative language, mood, and tone.
7th grade writing- During the first week the kids wrote about themselves with their “mini me” writing assignment. Each student created a little paper person that represented who they are using pictures, words, and colors. Then they wrote a paragraph explaining why they chose what they did. If you haven’t checked them out yet, please do! They are in the hall, above our class hooks, outside of our classroom. This week we will continue with an overall review of our 6 traits and hone in on the parts of speech.
8th grade reading- This quarter, Tuesdays and Thursdays will be dedicated to readings about hunters and gatherers, early civilizations, and world religions. On Mondays we will check in on current events with Flocabulary while focusing on our CAFE strategies. Then Wednesdays will be full of poetry! The class has shown really great insight with their poetry annotations so far.
Homework:
7th and 8th Grade Reading-->20 minutes of reading every night. Students will have a home reading log that they will fill out each night to be checked the next day. Parents will only need to sign the log at the end of the week, to be returned the following Monday. (This will not be their homework every night. There will be many times that students come home with Flocabulary homework or have IXL practice in lieu of reading.)
