It’s Friday, and we ended the week with the Math Carnival! Students and teachers had fun playing these creative games and can’t wait to do it again next year. Great work, Middle School math students!
Math
In Transition class, students concluded their learning of Chapter 7 and reviewed key concepts such as finding the area of a triangle, trapezoid, and rectangle. This class can successfully multiply fractions, calculate the perimeter of a circle, and use the distributive property to simplify number sentences. The class will begin their learning of Chapter 6 next week and cover topics like supplementary and complementary angles.
In Algebra class, students are excited to be learning about the slope of a line and can successfully calculate the rate of change when given a set of data. This class can find the slope of a line given two coordinate points, they can graph the line of an equation, and they can determine if the slope has a negative or positive trend. Next week, students will continue to practice writing equations in slope-point form and slope-intercept form.
In Geometry class, students began learning Chapter 6 in the UCSMP textbook this week. This class is able to describe the reflection and rotation symmetry of a figure, write proofs using properties of triangles and quadrilaterals, as well as, calculate the measure of inscribed angles within a circle. This class will continue to study the properties of a kite, parallelogram and trapezoid next week.
In addition to this work, the Middle School students presented their probability carnival games on Friday, January 14th. This was a fun morning where students got to explain the inspiration behind their game and play together with the hopes of winning prizes. All students collected the experimental data from their carnival games and are responsible to analyze their findings. This final write up is due on Tuesday, January 18th.
Math Joke: Did you hear the one about the statistician?………..Probably
Humanities
The Humanities 6 class is immersed in their research projects. They have chosen topics under the theme of Overcoming Obstacles and written their thesis statements to focus their research. 6th grade students also created questions that will guide their research. Before the class began to do research they learned about finding reliable resources and how to keep their paraphrased notes organized by topic and source. Additionally, students began their study of Ancient Civilizations with a written discussion and map work.
Humanities 7 also began their research project and selected their topic under the theme, Overcoming Obstacles. Each member of the class wrote their thesis statements, guiding questions for their research, and a review of using reliable resources. Also, 7th year Humanities students began the novel, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. This memoir follows the trek of Salva Dut, a Lost Boy, who travels from Sudan to escape rebel militant groups. The history of Sudan and South Sudan as well as current events will also be topics in the coming week.
Humanities 8 students have just about finalized their Expert Project Topics! They are about to begin their final research project, which will be presented in May. Additionally, students continued their American history lessons with learning about the lost colony of Roanoke, the Virginia Company and the settlement of the Virginia Colony, and the effects of the settlement on the local Powhatan tribal nation. They are also continuing to read the novel, If I Ever Get Out of Here, which follows a teen living on the Tuscarora Reservation in the 1970s. Finally, 8th grade students completed a unit of vocabulary.
**The Makerspace is in need of empty 2-liter bottles and gallon milk containers. If you have any, please send in ASAP.**
