Happy Friday!
Here some upcoming announcements:
- Wednesday, 9/24 @ 8:15: HS Placement Meeting for 8th grade Parents
- Wednesday, 9/24@ 11am: Visit from Westover School for MS girls
- Thursday, 9/25 @ 5:30: Curriculum Night (adult-only event)
- SAVE THE DATE: Friday, 10/24 @ 6:30 pm: Middle School Halloween Movie Night
It was a great week, and we enjoyed being outdoors for a half-day trip to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Sanctuary and neighboring stream for a stream study.
At CVH, half of the Middle School took a tour of the property including the garden, pollinator meadows, apiary, and learning barn. Then, Mr. Frisk taught students how to identify four types of native CT pollinator plants that are part of the CT NOFA Ecotype Project. They harvested seed from these plants, labeled them, and brought them back to school where they will be further shelled for making seed packets.
The other half of the MS participated in a riffle bioassessment study. This hands-on experience gave them the chance to become scientists for the day and learn more about the health of our local waterways.
Students collected kicks from the Benthic Zone of the Pootatuck River, transferring what they gathered into trays for closer observation. From there, they searched for different macroinvertebrate larvae, spotting creatures such as dobsonflies, dragonflies, mayflies, and caddisflies. After sorting the larvae into compartments, students used an identification chart to determine which species they had found.
One of the most fascinating parts of the study was learning about which species are most “wanted,” since their presence indicates clean, healthy waters. Finally, students selected a few samples of each species and prepared them to be shipped off to the State of Connecticut for further study.
The trip ended with a guided hike for the full Middle School with Laura King from CVH. She spoke about host plants, invasive species, and the disruption they can cause in an ecosystem.
This trip was not only fun, but also a meaningful way to see how scientists monitor the environment and why protecting our rivers matters.
Classes this week:
Humanities
The 6th and 7th grade classes took a tour of many of the provinces and Administrative Regions of the Republic of China. By using Google Earth, the classes could focus on a few each day and “visit” cities, rural towns, and beautiful terrain. They observed geographical features that affect population, discussed placements of towns and cities, and made observations about architecture. An additional item students brought up is the potential cultural differences that can exist in one country, depending on where individuals live. On Poetry Tuesday, the classes read and analyzed “Shoulders” by Naomi Shihab Nye, developing individual meaning, identifying important verses, and choosing lines that spoke to them. Finally, in preparation for students beginning their first novel, <em> Ties That Bind, Ties That Break</em> on Monday, the class went over some of the important terms and ideas that will come up in their study of China.
The 8th-grade class completed their research and presented their work to each other about the following pre-contact civilizations of the Americas: Olmec, Maya, Inca, Aztec, Mississippian, and Ancestral Puebloan. While these are not the only civilizations in existence before European contact in the Americas, it is important to note the advancements, including mathematical, astrological, agricultural, governmental, societal, and the established infrastructure of the land. To that extent, students read and annotated an excerpt titled, “Follow the Corn” from <em>An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People</em> by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz that speaks about the importance of land and corn to the area that is now the United States. They then wrote about how the landscape of what is now the US does not match the settler-colonial narrative of a “vast and empty landscape” that is sometimes portrayed by European explorers. Finally, on Poetry Tuesday, the class read Joy Harjo’s “Perhaps The World Ends Here”. Students discussed the symbolism of the kitchen table and identified the “kitchen table” in their homes.
Math
Pre-Transition: This week, the class completed the Chapter 1 quiz and kept moving forward with new fraction skills! They worked on writing equivalent fractions, explored how fractions represent division, and practiced rewriting improper fractions as mixed numbers. Everyone did a great job building on what they’ve already learned and connecting new ideas together.
Transition: This week in Transition Math, students completed their Chapter 1 quiz on Tuesday before moving on to new concepts. They worked on understanding powers of 10, including converting between powers, word names for numbers, and decimals. Students also practiced multiplying by powers of 10 and began learning about the order of operations, setting the stage for more complex problem-solving ahead.
Algebra: This week in Algebra, students completed their Chapter 1 quiz and then continued with their learning of Chapter 1 concepts. They explored how to use graphs to determine if two expressions appear to be equivalent and practiced plotting ordered pairs on a coordinate grid. Students also worked with absolute value and distance, developing their ability to evaluate expressions that involve absolute value.
Geometry: This week in Geometry, students completed their Chapter 1 quiz and then began working with foundational ideas in geometry. They learned about the meaning of postulates and theorems, practiced using geometric notation, and examined the role of undefined terms. Students also found the point of intersection of two lines and applied the properties of betweenness and the triangle inequality postulate to strengthen their understanding of geometric relationships.
Algebra II: This week in Algebra II, students completed the Chapter 1 quiz and continued building on key algebraic ideas. They learned how to determine whether a given relation is a function, identify the domain and range of a function, and create graphs and tables using the Desmos online graphing calculator. Students practiced reading tables and explored the meaning of discrete versus continuous data. In addition, they worked on solving and checking linear equations to reinforce their problem-solving skills.
Science
This week, middle school students learned more in detail about the scientific method steps, such as observation, research, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion, and sharing results. With these fundamental concepts, students are getting ready to use them in their own experiments for the Science Fair (November 5th). In addition, 6th and 7th graders were introduced to some common laboratory materials used in general, chemical, and physical laboratories. Likewise, 8th graders also learned the proper names of the laboratory equipment in general, physical, chemical and biology laboratory equipment. All levels are now being introduced into basic math use in science. Lastly, middle school students really enjoyed the videos used in class because they helped them to understand the main concepts better.
