Specials Learning Previews - October 2019

Specials Learning Previews - October 2019
Posted on 10/22/2019
LIBRARY/TECHNOLOGY: Ms. Musher, [email protected]

Grade 6: In Social Studies, students are studying border conflicts around the world. Their goal is to take the role of a UN Ambassador who is presenting the conflict, and possible solutions, to the UN. Students are practicing research skills with a variety of sources, including videos, books, and news articles. They are learning to paraphrase notes clearly in their own words. To aid their presentations, they will create Google Maps with important sites marked, and record tours of their countries using Google Earth and Screencastify. Ask your student to teach you about the border conflict they’ve studied!


Grades 6-8: As always, my priority on Fridays is to make sure every student is reading a book they enjoy, at an appropriately challenging level for them. Most Fridays are independent reading days in all three grades’ ELA classes, so I rotate through one grade a week. If you want to read a book that’s popular in the middle school right now, I recommend Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes.


WORLD LANGUAGES:
Spanish Mr. Paras spanish, [email protected]

Grade 6: Students will continue to work on the Spanish alphabet. Once completed, we will be working on weather. We will work on saying what the weather is in each season and what the weather is like around the world. At the end of this, students will have the option of creating a seven day weather forcast for a part of the world or they can create a 4 day video of themselves describing the weather. Lastly, we will be creating a weather poster in groups. Each group will choose a season and a place in the world that they will describe the weather for. Each poster will include a picture as well as the weather terms and temperature. Students will then be introduced to placemats that they will use for each chapter. We will talk about what they include and how each section should be used. Lastly, we will introduce the preliminary chapter. Here we will start with a placemat and also introduce choice boards for this chapter. Some things we will cover are classroom commands, how to ask questions, days, months, numbers up to 31 and for our cultural aspect, we will talk about Spain and some of the festivals celebrated there. 


Grade 7: Students will continue to work on aspects of a school. We will finish talking about our schedules and schools in other countries. We will interview a classmate and present our interview to small groups. Choice boards will be introduced to the class. We will talk about what they are, how they are used and what students will have to do on them. As a whole class, we will do one or two of the activities in the choice board and then give some choices to the students on which ones they want to choose and which one will be assigned to them. Students will then be introduced to AR verbs. What are they and how are they conjugated. In class we will practice conjugation and also how to conjugate verbs in sentences. We will have to look at the subject pronouns and see which verb ending go along with them. Students will then use a prezi presentation to practice verb conjugations. In class, we will go over the tú vs. Usted forms of verbs. Students will be creating a project by creating sentences using AR verbs.


Grade 8: Students will be introduced to choice boards and how they are used. We will do a practice activity from the choice boards and then they will have to choose other activities that they will want to complete. In class, Tener+Que+infinitive will be introduced and then students will talk about 3 things that they have to do. There will then be an introduction to vocabulary on what is needed in a restaurant. They will talk about a table setting and how to ask for things that are missing from the table setting using their placemats. We will introduce the verb venir. We will talk about how the verb is used and also create questions and sentences using the verb. Finally, we will start talking about the differences of the verbs ser and estar. They both mean “to be,” but how is each verb used.



French: Neil Pischner, [email protected]

Grade 6: I’m very proud of the 6th-graders for their positive attitudes and growth mindsets this past month. It can be intimidating to be asked to navigate an entire class period in another language, but the students have reported on a questionnaire that they are ready to make many mistakes in the learning process and are using diverse strategies to follow along. This coming month, students will continue to practice and grow our routines, which include a puppet show with daily greetings, rotating class jobs, five-finger breathing mindfulness (in French, of course), and call-response rituals to quiet down and engage the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which primes the students for taking in information. Also, we will extend the dialogue that we have been practicing to introduce ourselves and add new expressions for saying how we are doing and saying goodbye.


Grade 7: Students will finish our unit on “family” guided by the essential question “What does family mean for me?” We are having fun learning family vocabulaire using examples of the families of famous people like Beyoncé, and students are also practicing interviewing each other about their families during activities that incorporate movement in the classroom and interacting with multiple students.


Grade 8: Students will be starting a new unit on ordering food at a café, guided by the essential question “How can I politely fulfill my needs in a francophone society?” Students will expand their food vocabulary, practice expressions of politeness that we have already emphasized in daily classroom interactions, learn how to tell where you and others go (with the verb “aller’), learn how to order food or a beverage (using the verb “prendre”), and learn how to give locations. 


ART: Ms. Lee, [email protected]

6th graders have started the first draft of their tissue paper “stained-glass” project--depicting either a representational or non-objective image. This project is a practice in patience as well as a focus on planning, problem-solving and paper cutting techniques. They have sketched the sections for the “glass” (color) and planned out where the borders will go. The borders serve structural support and hold the entire image together. Students have spent a few classes cutting out the areas on which the color tissue paper will be glued. They will begin the final draft next week.


7th graders sketched, transferred and carved out their designs onto their rubber blocks. They tested out various color combinations and experimented with ways to use colors as a form of pattern in the final draft. They are now continuing and wrapping up their block pattern printing project. Most of them discover that as they print using repetition and rotation, their simple design turns into a more complex and interesting image.


8th graders have finished their Klimt-style portraits in which they experiment with basic scratchboard tools and use those skills to etch and develop a visually-interesting portrait and scenery. In their upcoming assignment, 8th graders will use the grid method and various drawing techniques to accurately enlarge a 4x6 image of their choice onto a 12x18 paper. This project is designed to help students build confidence in their drawing abilities by visually and physically breaking down a complex image into smaller parts. Students relearn how to draw what they actually see, not what they think they know.


MUSIC:

Band: Patrick Wroge [email protected]

6th Grade: 6th grade is a very enthusiastic group of instrumentalists! We have begun working on our concert music “Rock This Band” and “Eye of The Tiger”. We have recently begun studying improvisation using the Bb Blues as a tool for creativity. Soon we will begin rehearsing our combined Band, Orchestra, and Chorus piece “Where Is The Love”. We will continue to review basic musical concepts such as literacy, ensemble playing, rest/play position, posture, and breath support.

7th Grade: 7th grade has begun rehearsing our concert music “Eye of the Tiger”, “Havana”, “And All That Jazz”, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, and “Shipping Up To Boston”. Soon we will begin rehearsing our combined Band, Orchestra, and Chorus piece “Where Is The Love”. In addition, we will continue our study of the blues progression and improvisation as a tool for creativity.


8th Grade: 8th grade has begun rehearsing our concert music “Eye of the Tiger”, “Havana”, “And All That Jazz”, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, and “Shipping Up To Boston”. Soon we will begin rehearsing our combined Band, Orchestra, and Chorus piece “Where Is The Love”. In addition, we will continue our study of the blues progression and improvisation as a tool for creativity. 


String Orchestra: Brittany Phillips [email protected]

The 6th grade orchestra is off and running! Students are growing in confidence in their music reading skills, and are being challenged in our first 2-part piece, “Can Can” by J. Offenbach. Students are learning different bow stroke articulation such as staccato vs. detache and are fluent in their D major playing skills. Students will apply these skills to our performance selections for the Unity Concert in January!


The 7th grade orchestra continue to work hard on their pitch and rhythmic sight reading skills. We are wrapping up two short ensemble pieces, “Double Trouble” and “The Haunted Pirate Ship” which teach us important skills including balance in dynamics, matching bow strokes and carefully listening for accurate intonation. In coming weeks, students will begin a unit studying protest music from the civil rights movement. We will spend time learning about the Freedom Riders and the role that music played in their journey. Our new piece will introduce students to a 6/8 time signature and encourage them to use their voices in addition to their instruments. 


The 8th grade orchestra has made great strides with their first song selection this year. “Rhythms of Africa” is based off of rhythmic patterns from Central Africa, and emphasizes challenging bowing patterns. In coming weeks, students will begin a unit studying protest music from the civil rights movement. We will spend time learning about the Freedom Riders and the role that music played in their journey. Our new piece will introduce students to a 6/8 time signature and encourage them to use their voices in addition to their instruments.


Music Studio: Jamal Fairbanks, [email protected]

Grade 6th/7th/8th: We are well into our bucket drumming project, where we have spent the last few weeks developing our ability to read and play a variety of rhythms in preparation of learning and creating bucket drumming music! We’ve looked into how songs are broken into sections and what makes those sections different from one another. Students were given a choice between learning “That Guy Next to Me,” a piece that requires the drummer to play on their neighbor’s drums, or create their own drum song and will be presenting their project to each other in the upcoming weeks. 


Ukulele

Grade 7th/8th: Students are continuing developing their library of ukulele chords and technique, the building blocks of learning and creating ukulele music. We’ve added several chords to our arsenal, along with adding a percussive element to our playing. We are exploring different strumming patterns and learning how to accompany one another in our duet playing.



THEATER ARTS: Summar Elguindy, [email protected]

6th graders have completed their first unit on ensemble building They are now midway through unit two which focuses on building basic actor skills such as facial expression, body language and ensemble strategies. They are beginning to learn how to use a healthy voice when on stage in order to be heard and help show emotion and character. They will begin short scenes focusing on showing strong character traits through the use of body language, facial expression and vocal choices. 


8th graders have finally selected the play they are going to prepare for festival in the Spring. Students will be preparing monologues for auditions and the class will take part in the casting process. Students have also been working on building a strong ensemble in the cast and getting more comfortable taking creative risks with their facial expressions, body language and vocal choices. 


P.E: 
Chris Moore, [email protected]



Grade 6: Students are beginning their Invasion Games Unit. This unit is designed for students to develop and demonstrate competency in a variety of movement patterns as well as apply knowledge of concepts, principles, tactics, and strategies common to invasion games and invasion sports. Specifically, 6th grade has started with collection games, capture the flag, and will be moving into ultimate ball. 


Grade 7: Students are beginning their Invasion Games Unit. This unit is designed for students to develop and demonstrate competency in a variety of movement patterns as well as apply knowledge of concepts, principles, tactics, and strategies related to the sport of ultimate, flicker, and Team Handball.


Grade 8: Students are beginning their Invasion Games Unit. This unit is designed for students to: 1) demonstrate competency in a variety of movement patterns; 2) apply knowledge of tactics related to the sport of ultimate; and, 3) apply knowledge of rules and etiquette by acting as an official during ultimate game-play. Specifically, students have anonymously nominated and elected captains, the captains then privately drafted teams, and tournament play has begun. Students are responsible for officiating, keeping score, and also following the rules and expectations.   

Health & Wellness: Mr. McNulty, [email protected]

Grade 6: Students will be learning how to develop a growth mindset and apply it to their social and academic lives. They also learn about IF–THEN PLANS, a research-based strategy for achieving goals.


Grade 7: Students will be learning how to use their personal values to help them make good decisions and how values can help them build strong friendships.


Grade 8: Students will be finishing up their Media Literacy Unit next week. Their next unit, “Safe Dates” will explore the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, power and equality and what to do if they find themselves or someone they know in an abusive relationship. 


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