It’s been a beautiful week in Middle School. The students are settling more into their routines and getting used to the schedule. After school sports have started as well, and the foliage around the field is starting to turn. The students also participated in their first Community Service period of the year and spent time in the classrooms of their younger peers. We are looking forward to a few events next week (see below).
Here are a few reminders:
- Drop off for Middle School students begins at 8 am.
- 9/24: RESCHEDULED High School Placement Meeting for 8th grade families at 8:15am
- 9/26: Curriculum Night at 5:30 pm
- 9/27: Field Trip to the Adventure Park at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport. Full school day. Bus transportation to and from the Adventure Park. Please complete a required waiver form for your child/children.
Humanities
6th-grade Humanities classes are easing into the year. Students have just completed their summer reading presentations to the class. They have learned how to load their work into Google Classroom; some utilized the Chromecast, and they were excited to use the remote clicker (and learning to resist the urge to shine the laser pointer in the classroom). The 6th grade has also begun their identity maps that all middle school students complete at the start of the year, visualizing what it is about themselves that they want their school community to know about them in the 24-25 school year. Finally, the class is learning how to listen and speak to each other respectfully, which is the first step in forming a safe space for communication in the classroom.
7th-grade Humanities classes are moving quickly through the material! They began the year by giving their summer reading presentations to the class and selecting articles for their first current events presentations. Additionally, they began their unit about China. First, the class completed a map of China’s provinces and major rivers. Then, they watched a Geography Now! video about China, which provided more information about the landscape, political geography, and the variety of diverse people within China. The class began their first novel, Ties That Bind, Ties That Break, by Lensey Namioka, which follows a young Chinese girl through the fall of the last dynasty and cultural revolution. Finally, they are working on their 2024-25 identity maps.
The 8th-grade Humanities classes began the year by delivering their fiction and nonfiction summer reading presentations. Next, they began their exploration into multicultural American history with a discussion about American identity. They began reading Ronald Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Next, they talked about the importance of the land, imagining what the country looked like both before European Colonization and at the time of its independence. Many preconceived ideas of the landscape and borders were brought to light. Finally, the students completed research and presentations about Pre-Contact American Civilizations. In addition, 8th-grade students are working on their 2024-25 identity maps.
Science
It has been a great start to the year in Science classes. Ms. Pickard has enjoyed getting to know the MS students and learning about their interests in class. This week, all Middle School students completed a lab safety worksheet to prepare for other experiments. In addition, students asked the question, “Is listening to music beneficial to test scores?” and came up with hypotheses as a group. The students also completed work about the fundamentals of a proper lab report and how to format their writing.
Math
Pre-Transition This week students started to work with the UCSMP textbook and are learning how to use this new resource. They started our learning with Chapter 1 and managed to go through the first three lessons all together. Students discovered how to write word names for decimals, classify values in the number system, use fractions to divide line segments and use different measuring tools to find the exact length of objects in our classroom.
