Progress Reports and Homecoming Dance

Parents, progress reports come out on Tuesday November 30th. Please return progress reports at the latest December 2nd. Grade 5-7 will have two chips taken off per day after December 2nd if they do not bring in their progress report, unless this is accompanied by a note.

The Homecoming Dance is Friday, December 3rd from 8pm to 10pm. It will be a lot of fun!!! Please remember that tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door. All middle school teachers will be chaperoning - see you there!

Grade 5: November 29th - December 3rd

We have had great fun modeling Newton's Second Law with toy cars! Our first experiment involved creating a catapult with rubber bands and letting loose a toy car. We increased the number of rubber bands to see how far our toy car would go and learned that increasing the force also increased the distance and the speed. We graphed this result and drew conclusions. Our second experiment involved increasing the mass of the toy car by adding other toy cars while keeping the force (number of rubber bands) the same. We learned that increasing the mass decreased the distance and speed that a toy car could travel. Thank you to all students who brought in their toy cars for this experiment:)

Students will receive a review sheet on Tuesday and will have Newton's Second Law test either on Thursday or Friday (depending on the class). Please check the agenda for details.

Grade 6: November 29- December 3rd

We have now moved on to sedimentary rocks! We have examined and modeled how sedimentary rocks form from weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction and cementation. We will learn how various sedimentary rocks formed such as shale, conglomerate, and sandstone, and then write a picture book on one of these rocks. Students will have an oppportunity to do a "rock inquiry" with real sedimentary rocks and examine their characteristics. Finally, we will watch a movie about sedimentary rocks. Next week we will learn about metamorphic rocks and then wrap up the rock cycle.

Grade 7: November 29th to December 3rd

Grade 7s are studying the circulatory system and all of its components. We will see various video clips related to the circulatory system, google images of the heart and its blood vessels, and run around the school to test our resting and maximum heart rate. We will focus on how to keep our heart healthy and what could make our heart unhealthy (smoking, fast food, lack of exercise). Our culminating activity will be to dissect a sheep's heart! This is always an activity that fascinates students.

Grade 8: November 29 - December 3

This week grade 8s will learn how humans affect the hydrosphere both negatively and positively. We began our unit with "the river that caught on fire" and are examining factors that affect water's health: turbidity, biological indicators, nitrates, phosphorus, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. We will examine and model how water is cleaned. We will examine different types of pollution (point and non-point pollution), and various case studies from USA to China. This is our last unit studying the hydrosphere. In total, the hydrosphere counts for 30% of all EOG questions. Please see your child's test included with the progress report Tuesday November 30th.

Homecoming Week: November 29th - December 3rd

Grade 6 through 9 is participating in Homecoming Week and will decorate their homeroom on the theme "Winter Wonderland." Judges will be looking for the best decorated homeroom! Every day students will come to school dressed for a different theme - from twin day to college day. Please note Grades 6-9 will have a dance on Friday December 3rd. Tickets will be on sale during homecoming week and will cost more at the door.

Progress reports will go out November 30th. Please sign the progress reports and return to each subject teacher no later than December 2nd. Thank you.

Grade 5: Week of November 22-23th

This nine weeks we will focus on Newton's Laws of Motion. Students have learned about Sir Isaac Newton and Newton's First Law of Motion: the Law of Inertia. Students made a poster showing different elements of Newton's First Law of Motion: Inertia, force, friction, and mass. We did force and friction experiments to further examine this law, created a concept map of inertia, created aerodynamic airplanes, and finally dropped various objects to show gravitational pull and drag. Students wrote a test on either Thursday or Friday on Newton's First Law and will receive their test on Monday.

We are moving on to Newton's Second Law of Motion and will examine how force and mass act on an object's acceleration. We will need temporary donations of toy cars after Thanksgiving to show how adding two times the mass reduces acceleration to half - a very fun experiment indeed!

Grade 6: Week of November 22-23th

We are continuing to learn about the Rock Cycle this week - this time focusing on sedimentary Rocks! We will model the process of creating sedimentary rocks by showing weathering, erosion, cementation, and compaction. Your child will have various opportunities to examine different kinds of sedimentary rocks both this week and after Thanksgiving. Students may feel free to bring in rocks they believe are sedimentary. In fact, 75% of all rocks ARE sedimentary!

Students finished writing a test on igneous (volcanic) rocks on Friday and will receive their test on Monday. We have had fun examining the characteristics of igneous rocks and have put them into categories of intrusive - forming in the volcano - or extrusive - forming outside of the volcano. Students also had the opportunity to identify rocks' mineral properties using seven different tests.

Grade 7: Week of November 22-23th

Grade 7 has just finished a unit on the digestive system and healthy eating. You can expect a test to go home with your child on Monday. Grade 7s will write out a healthy menu with partners this week and we will vote on the best menu.

My grade 7 homeroom will also be decorating on Tuesday to prepare for homecoming week (November 29th to December 3rd). The theme is Winter Wonderland and we would appreciate donations of decorations. Thank you!

Grade 8: Week of November 22-23th

Grade 8s have put forth a wonderful effort on their ocean models and paragraphs! We will be ending the ocean unit and will have a test on Tuesday November 25th. After Thanksgiving we will begin a unit on "Resources and Pollution in the Hydrosphere".