ELA: Ms. Amy Gonzalez
7th grade readers have just finished the challenging text Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The reading was accompanied regularly by audio, video, and Reader’s Theatre that allowed readers to hear and/or view the play in the way the author intended. Along the way, we also tracked how the main character, Eliza Doolittle, changed externally and internally. In the next two weeks, we will review our evidence and craft an argument in response to the prompt: Has Eliza Doolittle changed internally as well as externally?
Writers will review the evidence they gathered and take a stand on how Eliza Doolittle has changed. The learning goals for the argument essay are:
- To make a claim in response to the prompt
- Describe an opposite viewpoint
- Write a counterpoint paragraph
Ask your writer about how they are doing on their essay. There may be times where instead of the nightly reading homework, they will be continuing work on their essay.
Science: Mr. Jay Mahoney
Students in seventh grade science are now well into their own scientific investigation as the NetPals Science Fair project continues. Students have designed their investigations and will spend time collecting data. In the classroom students continue the life science unit, What’s Going On Inside Me? This unit helps us progress to our second set of learning goals. After studying the digestive system in our last learning set, students investigate the role of the circulatory system in moving food molecules around the body. Data of glucose levels in the blood are used to make the connection between taking in food and an increase of food molecules in the blood. Students then investigate how the blood might be able to get food to the cells in the body through a modeling activity. Students observe how water can enter and leave cells in experiments involving onion cells. They then use a physical model to investigate how sugar molecules might enter cells. As we continue, students experiment to see what happens with yeast in the presence of either plain water or a sugar solution and notice that the yeast increase in number in the presence of sugar and that they have released a gas as waste. Students continue to work on lab skills and proper microscope technique. Ask your student to explain digestion to you!
Social Studies: Mr. Tom Trainor
In 7th grade social studies, we are continuing our journey through the world’s great religions by learning about the life and moral teachings of the Buddha. Students will be able to describe Buddhism’s teachings and messages through many different activities. We will engage in a Socratic Circle, in which students will question and explore together, and also find ways Buddhism can be applied to our life even if we belong to a different religion through creating our version of the Eightfold Path. Ask your student to tell you what the key teachings of Buddhism are and which ideas they find interesting. Next, we will wrap up our unit on India by analyzing primary and secondary source documents on the Mauryan Empire and achievements of King Asoka. Students will use the sources to tackle the question, was King Asoka an enlightened ruler or a ruthless tyrant? The two big essential questions guiding this portion of the year are: Why should we learn people’s stories? What do we believe and why?
7th Grade Math: Mr. Chris Devlin
Unit 5: In these chapters, your student will learn about direct and inverse proportions. Some of the skills your student will practice are:
- Identifying direct and inverse proportion from a table, equation, or graph
- Solving real-world direct and inverse proportion problems
- Using graphs to interpret direct and inverse proportion
7th Grade Accelerated Pathways Math: Mr. Chris Devlin
Unit 6: In these chapters, your student will learn how to find the area, surface area, and volume of 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional solids. Some of the skills your student will practice are:
- Identifying cylinders, cones, and spheres and their cross-sections
- Finding the area of 2-Dimensional polygons
- Finding the volume and surface area of cylinders, cones, and spheres
- Solving real-world problems involving cylinders, pyramids, cones, spheres, and composite solids