SPX Middle School News:
*Your middle school
student will be coming home with their First Trimester Grade Report which
includes their GPA. Please look these scores over with your child(ren). The
Middle School Team has been impressed by the effort, work, and determination of
our students! Keep up the good work! You’re teachers are proud of you and love having
you here with us at SPX School!
*Middle School Musical
Tryouts: Middle School Musical Auditions will be hosted on January 7th, 8th and
10th (Tues. Wed. Fri.) after school in Mrs. Battani’s classroom from 3:15 -
4:30pm!
*DCHS Incoming Freshman
Placement Test: Saturday January, 11th from 7:45am-12pm. More
information please check out the following link:
https://bngn.smarttuition.com/?id=3t4a45arrd3
*Pope Francis' Birthday: The middle School students will
celebrate Pope Francis' birthday during WIN Time on Monday, December 16th.
Thank you to all those who have volunteered to donate cake, ice cream, and
water for our celebration!
*Thank you to everyone for your amazing generosity over the
past few weeks! Our school raised nearly $2,000 for our Advent Mission Project
- supporting five refugee families here in the Metro! And the middle school
students collected nearly 500 personal hygiene items for Catholic Charities
during our Saint Nicholas Feast Day celebration! Well done middle school!
*Christmas Break begins with our Noon dismissal on Friday,
December 20th. On behalf of the Middle School Team, please have a blessed
Christmas and a Happy New Year with your family!
Mrs. Erickson – Middle School Science
As always, be sure to check the homework page for updated
test, project, and due dates: https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
6th Grade: We just finished Earth’s Interior with a test
before leaving for Thanksgiving. We are now building on that information to
talk about Continental Drift, Seafloor Spreading, and Plate Tectonics.
Currently the test will be around Dec. 18th, but may move based on student
understanding. Students always have access to any/all materials handed out in
class and additional study materials through Google Classroom and my science
website found at the link above in the teacher website tab.
7th Grade: We are moving from DNA and Genetics to
discussing Evolution and Diversity. We will look at how organisms have changed
over time including fossil evidence, how change happens, what causes change to
happen, and how diversity arises from that change. Tentative test date for this
unit will be around Dec. 19th. Students always have access to any/all materials
handed out in class and additional study materials through Google Classroom and
my science website found at the link above in the teacher website tab.
8th Grade: We have finished working on our Mystery Powder
Lab and working with physical and chemical reactions. We are now starting our
Atoms and Ions unit. This unit will last through approximately Dec. 19th. We
will learn how the Periodic Table was developed, how to use it, how atoms are
structured, and how and why atoms bond to make molecules. We will be drawing
lots of models to help us understand this abstract concept. Students always
have access to any/all materials handed out in class and additional study
materials through Google Classroom and my science website found at the link
above in the teacher website tab.
Ms. Fannon – 6th grade & 7F Language Arts
6E & 6K - In writing, students are still learning the
parts of speech. It is really helping them understand how sentences work.
Currently, they are learning about adjectives and will be learning about
adverbs soon. In reading, students just read the story “Thank You M’am” by
Langston Hughes and completed a story packet over it. In the story packet they
had to analyze conflict and characterization. They are also doing Christmas
themed journal prompts on Fridays to get them in the holiday spirit and they
really enjoy it! Lastly, they will begin learning about prefixes, root words,
and suffixes to help understand the meaning of words. We will begin our first
novel unit over “Where the Red Fern Grows” in January.
7F - In writing, students are in the middle of a poetry
unit. They wrote concrete poems and haikus (which they love). They also learned
about poetic sound devices and used three in a six line poem about an animal of
their choice. Currently, they are making a poetry book for a poem titled “If I
were in Charge of the World”. In reading, they are learning about prefixes,
root words, and suffixes to help understand the meaning of words. We will begin
our first novel unit over “The Outsiders” in January.
Mrs. Gipple – Middle School Math
6th Grade Math
We have been working on changing fractions to decimals
and back again, plus how to order and compare fractions and decimals. We
will also be working with mixed numbers and improper fractions and we will have
a quiz over these concepts next Thursday, Dec. 19th. Please check with
your child to make sure they are keeping up on their Accelerated Math
objectives, they should be finishing up chapter 4.
7th Grade Math
We have finished our work with rates, ratios, proportions
and similarity. This class will have the Chapter 4 Posttest Mon, Dec.
16th. Accelerated Math for chapter 4 should also be finished by
Monday as well. The next area that we will be covering will be different
data displays and graphs.
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
This class has finished working with factors, fractions
and exponents and will take a quiz today over the 2nd half of the chapter.
We will review the whole chapter next week and then take the Ch. 4
Posttest either Tues or Wed. Accelerated Math for Ch. 4 should be
completed by the end of the chapter as well. After break we will be
working with rational number operations.
8th Grade Pre-Algebra
This class has begun working with ratios, proportions and
similar figures created by dilations. We will have a quiz over the 1st
half of the chapter next Wed, Dec. 18th. Please check with your student
to make sure they are keeping up on their Accelerated Math objectives.
8th Grade Algebra
This class has begun reviewing for their mid-year final
which will be over all concepts we have covered so far this year. We will
take a practice test next Tuesday, and the final will be taken Wed, Dec 18th
and Thurs, Dec. 19th.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Years!!!
Mrs. Gipple
Mr. Klein – Middle School Social Studies
8th Grade:
We will be taking a test on the Articles of Confederation
and Constitution on Thursday, December 19th. When we get back from break, we
will begin reading primary documents on the Constitution, while we write an
essay on how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to the
creation of the Constitution. We will then spend some time learning about our
Government today.
7th Grade:
In 7th grade, we began our next unit of study on
Scarcity. We will be spending the next several weeks learning about resource
scarcity and how it affects the world.
6th Grade:
In 6th grade, we will be finishing up our history mini-unit and begin learning about Central and South America.
In 6th grade, we will be finishing up our history mini-unit and begin learning about Central and South America.
Mrs. Pedersen – 7T & 8th grade Language Arts
In Spanish, 8th graders
are learning all about the house including their household chores.
Students have designed two floors of a house complete with furniture and
sentences describing their house. We have just introduced saying commands
in Spanish, so I hope they use some of these commands at home, followed by a
"por favor" of course! We will have a test next Thursday, but I
might schedule it later if I feel like we need more time and practice. I've
been very impressed with the 8th graders this year and their effort in
Spanish!
Seventh grade has been studying about school, time and
what we have to do to get good grades. We will also learn about our
emotions and prepositions used with the verb estar; the verb ir (to go); and
the phrase "tener que + infinitive verb." There will be a
quiz this Friday. The students will write a dialogue with another partner
or two and will put on a skit for us next week. We are very excited about that!
I'm always impressed with these students and their determination to finish
their work on time and diligently. What a great group of students we
have!
Sixth graders are also learning about how to tell time,
school supplies, colors and possessive adjectives. They should be able to
tell you the things that are in their backpack, including its color. We
are moving right along with vocabulary and songs to help us remember.
Mr. Tallman – Middle
School Religion
6th grade: This week the Sixth grade began making
their fleece blankets for the fleece blanket service project. It’s been fun
watching those who have made blankets before helping those who are new at it!
20 of our fleece blankets will be donated to our School’s
Advent Mission Project and the remaining 40 will be donated to the Ucan
nonprofit organization that serves a variety of needs here in Urbandale, Iowa.
7th grade: The Seventh grade has completed their
Vocation Unit and will have an assessment over this unit on Thursday, Dec. 19th.
A study guide for this assessment was distributed and reviewed this week in
class!
8th grade: The Eighth grade has done an amazing
job
Sra. Schoesller –
Middle School Spanish
In Spanish, 8th graders
are learning all about the house including their household chores.
Students have designed two floors of a house complete with furniture and
sentences describing their house. We have just introduced saying commands
in Spanish, so I hope they use some of these commands at home, followed by a
"por favor" of course! We will have a test next Thursday, but I
might schedule it later if I feel like we need more time and practice. I've
been very impressed with the 8th graders this year and their effort in
Spanish!
Seventh grade has been studying about school, time and
what we have to do to get good grades. We will also learn about our
emotions and prepositions used with the verb estar; the verb ir (to go); and
the phrase "tener que + infinitive verb." There will be a
quiz this Friday. The students will write a dialogue with another partner
or two and will put on a skit for us next week. We are very excited about that!
I'm always impressed with these students and their determination to finish
their work on time and diligently. What a great group of students we
have!
Sixth graders are also learning about how to tell time,
school supplies, colors and possessive adjectives. They should be able to
tell you the things that are in their backpack, including its color. We
are moving right along with vocabulary and songs to help us remember.
