Learning Previews - Grade 7 - April 2018

Learning Previews - Grade 7 - April 2018
Posted on 04/10/2018
7th Grade Math (On Grade Level & Accelerated Math Pathways): 
Mr. Devlin, [email protected]

In this unit, students understand and use the terms “event,” “sample space,” “outcome,” “chance experiment,” “probability,” “simulation,” “random,” “sample,” “random sample,” “representative sample,” “overrepresented,” “underrepresented,” “population,” and “proportion.” They design and use simulations to estimate probabilities of outcomes of chance experiments and understand the probability of an outcome as its long-run relative frequency. They represent sample spaces (that is, all possible outcomes of a chance experiment) in tables and tree diagrams and as lists. They calculate the number of outcomes in a given sample space to find the probability of a given event. They consider the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for obtaining a representative sample from a given population. They generate samples from a given population, e.g., by drawing numbered papers from a bag and recording the numbers, and examine the distributions of the samples, comparing these to the distribution of the population. They compare two populations by comparing samples from each population.

7th Grade Science: Jay Mahoney, [email protected]

As we return from our April break seventh grade students will begin the final unit of the year which is entitled, What Makes The Weather Change. The unit connects what students have learned about energy and matter earlier in the year with how weather occurs in the atmosphere. Students begin by drawing on their everyday experiences with weather to identify the conditions they need to investigate that contribute to weather events like a sunny day or a storm. Students first consider how air at the surface of Earth is heated. Students will then create a model that explains how the air at the surface is heated through a sequence of energy transfers from the sun to the Earth’s surface, energy conversion from solar to thermal energy, and energy transfer, topics that are connected to previous units this year. It hopes to be another unit that students have a personal connection to since students experience weather phenomena daily.

7th Grade Social Studies: 
Ms. Motto, [email protected]

Students in 7th Grade Social Studies will be exploring the amazing history, culture, and philosophies of Ancient China. Students will apply the ideas of different belief systems to understand historical issues and current events and develop greater perspective and empathy for people from different religions and cultures. Students will grapple with these big questions: What historical factors influence the development of a belief system? How do the ideas and values of ancient civilizations affect today’s world? Additionally, we will engage in our second Document Based Question (DBQ) of the year. 7th Graders will research and answer the question: the Great Wall of China, did the benefits outweigh the costs? As part of this unit, students will analyze, interpret, and synthesize relevant evidence from primary sources, secondary sources, maps, and personal narratives to best answer the question. Then, students will use the evidence gathered to produce an original thesis statement answering the question through an analytical essay. Ask your student what they are learning about China that is most interesting to them and, in a few weeks, whether they think the building of the Great Wall was worth the costs!

7th Grade ELA: Ms. Gonzalez, [email protected]

7th grade readers and writers were paused on the current unit, A Raisin In the Sun, to do some ELA MCAS prep and then did the tests online for the first time. Now they will continue reading the play, A Raisin In the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry and explore how class, race, gender, and occupation can shape an individual’s identity. Readers will continue to conduct several close reads of the text through whole class and small group readings. The study of A Raisin In the Sun will be accompanied regularly by informational texts and videos to allow readers to understand the author’s intent in addressing the dreams of the African-American community in the 1950s and the social injustices that got in the way. Readers will be taking notes along the way to write an argumentative essay around character change. Two essential questions we are exploring are: How can individuals redefine themselves? How does setting affect an individual’s sense of identity? For homework, readers are expected to be independently reading a book of their choice for 30 minutes and to write a weekly response usually due on Fridays. The 20th Annual Poetry Contest by Cambridge Public Library and the Cambridge Tree Project is also happening! Original poems must be submitted by Monday April 30th. I will take poetry submissions instead of a reading response any week in April!
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