Learning Previews - Grade 7 - April 11, 2017

Learning Previews - Grade 7 - April 11, 2017
Posted on 04/11/2017

7th Grade ELA: Ms. Amy Gonzalez
As we begin the second half of the third term, we will reflect on our growth as readers. Readers will revisit their Reading Ladders from the first half of the year and think about what books they have finished since then. In groups, they will discuss what makes a book complex. They will reorder all the books they have read in order of complexity, reflect on their reading, and set goals for the rest of the year. Ask you reader: What have you read that has challenged you this term? How have you improved as a reader? What reading goals will you reach for next?

Then we will engage in a personal storytelling mini-project, called the “Six-Word Memoir.” We will use our stories to connect with each other. The six-word memoirs will have a visual component to them as well. From there, we will begin discussing the role of relationships in our lives. We will also talk about about factors that contribute to resiliency. Poetry, short articles, and our memoirs will be used to anchor our discussions and written reflections. This will help launch our last whole class novel of the year, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton! The essential questions we will begin exploring are: 1. What are the costs and benefits of conformity? Nonconformity? 2. How do the groups to which I belong shape me? 3. How do people remain resilient in the face of uncertainty?

Try out a six-word memoir yourself and share it with your young writer! Check out this New Yorker article for inspiration.

7th Grade Math: Mr. Chris Devlin
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 similarities between prisms, cylinders, and pyramids
  • Finding the area of 2-Dimensional polygons
  • Finding the volume and surface area of prisms, cylinders, pyramids, cones, and spheres
  • Solving real-world problems involving prisms, cylinders, and pyramids, cones, spheres, and composite solids

7th Grade Accelerated Math Pathways: Mr. Chris Devlin
Unit 7: As part of the AMP track, your student will begin to wrap up the 7th grade curriculum and begin their journey into the first part of 8th grade math.

Grade 7 Unit Notes

  • Grade 7 focuses on variability as well as central tendency to describe and compare data sets. This is a critical topic.
  • Students should not only calculate the mean, median, and mode, but also use the calculations to solve problems and make inferences based on variability (mean absolute deviation).

Grade 8 Unit Notes

  • Students will construct and interpret scatter plots to investigate patterns of association between two quantities. This includes interpreting whether the association is strong or weak, and positive or negative.
  • Students also work with two­ way tables to explore categorical data 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 their opinion is, and what evidence led them to that stance.

Social Studies: Mr. Tom Trainor
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 analytical essay unit 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 their opinion is, and what evidence led them to that stance.

7th Grade Science: Mr. Jay Mahoney
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.


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