Learning Previews – Grade 7 – February 7, 2017

Learning Previews – Grade 7 – February 7, 2017
Posted on 02/07/2017
7th Grade ELA: Ms. Amy Gonzalez 

[email protected]

7th grade readers and writers have been building their background knowledge around various aspects of identity through reading and writing about first person narratives. Now they will read the play, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw and explore aspects of identity in connection to the main character, Eliza Doolittle. Readers will conduct several close reads of the text, including decoding dialect as they work to identify the ways in which Eliza is transforming her identity, from a flower girl to a “duchess.” Pygmalion is a more complex text than A Long Walk to Water. We will be reading it primarily in class. The study of Pygmalion will be accompanied regularly by audio, video, or other means that allows readers to hear and/or view the play in the way the author intended. This is even more critical when working with this specific play, since it is so centrally focused on speech and language.

If you want to help your reader with working through this play at home, there are several means of accomplishing this goal. Pygmalion is in the public domain, so there are several free audiobook versions available on line. The following, from Librivox, uses multiple narrators and does a good job of differentiating characters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYIubp-PT8I. Also there are videos of the play available on Youtube. Please note that while the musical, My Fair Lady, is based on this play, it has a different ending. If time allows, we will watch the ending to compare.

The unit ends with writers writing an argument essay, making a claim about whether Eliza changes on the inside and the outside, and supporting their claim with evidence they have gathered throughout the reading of the play.

For homework, readers are expected to review notes and readings from Pygmalion that they did in class and be independently reading a book of their choice for 20 minutes. Ask your child about what they noticed and discussed during our class readings.

7th Grade Science: Mr. Jay Mahoney
[email protected]

Seventh graders will be embarking on a new unit of study in February, a life science unit called What’s Going On Inside Me? The unit looks at the biology of human body systems, and focuses on what happens to food and oxygen to enable the body to meet our energy needs. Students track what happens to food as it goes through the digestive system to the circulatory system and is delivered to the cells all over the body. Tracing the transformation of food to energy raises questions about how this happens, leading to the coordination of systems. In the first learning set students use pictures and discussion of everyday physical activities and the body’s responses, such as breathing hard or sweating, to spark questions about what could be happening inside our body to enable us to do these things. The goal of looking inside the body leads to the observation that our bodies contain cells. The first lessons will focus on cells and students will learn proper microscope technique so as to examine these tiny structures of life. Students have also started to research their topic of choice for the NetPal Science Fair project and will work with the steps of the scientific method to design and conduct an experiment to answer a question of their choosing. Ask your student what their focus is!

7th Grade Social Studies: Mr. Tom Trainor
[email protected]

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. Ask your student how their project is going. In particular, ask them what important information about their country are they including in the exhibit and why!

7th Grade Math: Mr. Chris Devlin 

[email protected] 

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 

[email protected]

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
Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2024 SchoolMessenger Corporation. All rights reserved.