7th Grade ELA: Ms. Amy Gonzalez
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Our 7th grade readers and writers are beginning a new unit this week,
Identity and Transformation: Then and Now. We will explore the concept of personal identity formation and transformation in both historical and modern-day societies. It begins with an overview of what “identity” means and how it can mean different things to different people. Readers and writers did some of this work early in the year in Social Studies, and they will be building on that work by reflecting back on what they learned. They will continue to deepen their understanding of identity through talking about
internal and external characteristics. For at least two weeks, readers will read first-person narratives that focus on various social identifiers—from race to gender to socioeconomic status. We will work on
identifying central ideas in these texts, analyzing how an author develops his or her claims, and identifying how the sections of the text interact to form those ideas. This builds our background knowledge in preparation for reading
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, in which we will explore the identity transformation of the play’s main character, Eliza Doolittle. Two essential questions that frame this unit are: • How do individuals define themselves? • When people change their external appearance, do they necessarily change on the inside, too?
For homework, students are still expected to be independently reading a book of their choice for 30 minutes. Readers created reading goals for January such as, “finish two books by the end of the month” and “read over the weekend”. Ask your reader how much work they put into accomplishing their goal(s). Make a reading goal for the month yourself and share it with them for extra motivation!
7th Grade Science: Mr. Jay Mahoney
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This month in science we continue to work on our Physics unit. The driving question of the unit Why do some things stop while other things keep going? We are finishing our first learning set which focused on what determines how fast or high an object will go. Students experience thermal and sound energy as they address the idea that energy can be transferred between systems. Students develop Energy Transfer Diagrams as models to represent and explain energy gained or “lost” in a system. Students conduct experiments that explore swinging pendulums and how different types of balls behave when they are dropped from height. Students will carry out an investigations of energy conversions/transformations between gravitational, kinetic, elastic, and thermal energy of bouncing and colliding balls. They will analyze the relationship between temperature, thermal energy, and the kinetic energy of molecules in solids, liquids, and gases, identifying temperature and mass as the factors that determine the amount of thermal energy an object has. We are working toward an understanding as to why things eventually stop moving, which is part of the driving question for the unit. Ask your student to explain it to you!
7th Grade Social Studies: Mr. Tom Trainor
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This month students will be engaging in the amazing world of ancient West Africa! We will explore the many relevant cultural values through class lessons and reading and discussing folk tales from a compilation of short stories called “The Cow Tail Switch.” Throughout this process students will be grappling with the essential question:
what do we believe and why?
Additionally, we will investigate the concept of supply and demand through participating in a trading game based on the salt and gold trade of Ancient Ghana. Lastly, students will create a pitch project directed at the Epcot Center in Disney World. Students will be tasked with convincing Epcot to add another exhibit in their park about an African country of the student’s choice. As the month progresses, ask your student what country they are focusing on and how their exhibit ideas are coming.
7th Grade Math: Mr. Chris Devlin
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Chapter 4: In this chapter, your student will learn how to solve algebraic equations and inequalities. Some of the skills your student will practice are:
–Identifying equivalent equations
–Solving algebraic equations and inequalities
–Solving real-world problems using equations and inequalities
7th Grade Accelerated Math Pathways:
Mr. Chris Devlin
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Chapter 5: In this chapter, 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