SPX Middle School Blog #1 - Friday, September 7th, 2018
Welcome to the Middle School Blog! Every other week the Middle School Team will post a classroom update in this space to help parents stay connected to the ongoing learning happening in the middle school hallway.
We’re excited for the new year to have begun, we appreciated seeing so many parents at our Information Night, and we look forward to sharing with you the variety of lessons, activities, and presentations that await your children this year!
God Bless,
The Middle School Team
General Updates
1. Remember to check the Middle School Homework Site @ https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
Daily assignments will be update by teachers each afternoon by 4pm!
2. The SPX Middle School is excited to announce that the highly successful Pius Academy program will begin Tuesday, September 12th, 2017! Pius Academy is an after school program where students can get one-on-one help from teachers and Dowling Catholic High School peer helpers in any subject area! It’s open to all students as their schedule allows throughout the course of the year. Pius Academy is offered on Tuesday afternoons from 3:00-3:45pm. Pick up takes place outside the main doors of the school (west doors).
Pius Academy is a wonderful resource and we hope you can take advantage of this beneficial program!
We look forward to working with your kids during Pius Academy!
3. The Middle School students had their first Pius Pride ticket Turn-In Day today! Students had the opportunity to use their Pius Pride tickets to purchase various reward passes that can be used each month. The Middle School Team continues to be very impressed by the way the middle school students have embraced our school-wide Pius Pride expectations!
Great job Middle School!
Teacher Updates
6th grade & 7B Language Arts with Mrs. Bartscher
It has been such a pleasure getting to know those students that are new to my classroom and welcoming back the seventh graders that I had the privilege of teaching last year. I am excited for another wonderful school year at St. Pius X School, and I feel very blessed to be part of the St. Pius X community. If you have any questions or concerns throughout the school year, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call.
6th Grade- The sixth grade students have just completed their first punctuation quiz over end punctuation and commas in compound sentences, and we will continue a study of comma rules and usage over the next two weeks. In addition, we have begun a short stories unit that we will be working on over the next several weeks. Through this unit, the students will have the opportunity to read and study a wide variety of short stories. We are currently finishing up the short story “Dragon, Dragon,” and will be taking a selection quiz over it on Friday, September 14th.
7th Grade- The seventh grade students have been studying and practicing the comma rules and their usage over the past two weeks. We will be continuing with this study, and they will have a quiz over this the week of September 17th. They have also been working on a legends, folktales, and myths unit with the current focus being on mythology. Through this unit, we will be learning and using a variety of reading strategies to aid their comprehension skills. In addition to learning comprehension strategies, they will also be studying literary elements that are present in the literature. Late next week, they will have both a vocabulary quiz and an open book quiz over the current selection, “Hunting a Snake-Headed Monster.”
Mrs. Bartscher
6-8 Math with Mrs. Gipple
6th Math
We are finishing up our introductory chapter on number properties and operations. 6th graders will have a quiz next Tuesday, Sept. 11th over lessons 1.4-1.5. Then they will take the ch. 1 posttest next Friday, Sept. 14th.
7th Math
This class will take a quiz next Tuesday, Sept 11th over variables & algebraic expressions, translating words and phrases into math expressions, and simplifying algebraic expression. The posttest test over all concepts from ch. 1 will be next Friday, Sept. 14th.
7th Pre-Algebra
Today we finished up ch. 1 by working with different problem solving strategies. There will be a quiz next Tuesday, Sept. 11th over the 2nd half of the chapter and the ch. posttest will be next Friday, Sept. 14th
8th Pre-Algebra
This class has been working this week on one and two step equations. They will have a quiz over these equations on Tuesday, Sept 11th and then take the ch. 1 posttest next Friday, Sept 14th.
8th Algebra
This class has completed our review chapter over variable, expressions, order of operations, operations with real numbers, number properties, and equations, tables, and graphs. They will have a quiz Monday over the 2nd half of the chapter, then we will review the whole chapter and take the posttest next Wednesday, Sept. 12th.
Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions. We are off to a great start in the middle school!
Have a wonderful weekend and GO HAWKS!
Mrs. Gipple
6-8 Religion with Mr. Tallman
Thank you again to all the parents who were able to attend our Parent information night on September 4th! You’ll here me repeat this to you all often, but it is truly a gift to partner with you as we guide these young people in their faith journey! It’s a blessing to get to support the good work that you are all doing with your children at home! Thank you for sharing them with us here at SPX!
Each class has selected a Patron Saint to assist them throughout the school year. We ask for these saints’ intercession in prayer each day:
6K- St. Michael the Archangel
6E- St. Nicholas
7PreAlgebra- St. Joseph
7Math- St. Michael the Archangel
8P-St. Padre Pio
8G- St. Margaret
Please join us in asking these saints to watch over our students this year!
6th grade: This group has had a wonderful start to the school year! It’s awfully fun to hear their religion questions each day – they are very interested in talking about their faith! This week we I started to introduce them to the 32 vocabulary words I want all of my students to know and understand. Each day we cover a handful of the vocabulary and them for homework the students fill out “Vocab Sheets” for these words. We’ll do a variety of activities in class to help us learn these words, but I encourage my students to study them at home each night too! The 6th grade will have a test over these vocabulary words in a few weeks – watch the next blog for a official Test Date.
7th grade: It’s been a fun beginning of the school year with this group of students! I’m enjoying my time with them!
This week we started our lessons on the Catholic Creeds, focusing specifically on the Nicene Creed. The 7th grade will have to be able to write out the Nicene Creed for their assessment at the end of the month. Please encourage them to practice this daily! Soon we’ll turn our focus to the four marks of the church (one, holy, catholic, apostolic) and the annual Faith Crest project! Look for information on this before the next blog!
8th grade: This is such and engaged group! They are never short on chiming in on our discussion – and I love this!
This week we’ve spent our time reflecting on those special individuals who have introduced us to Jesus and His Church. We’ve had a lot of fun sharing stories about these Faith Heroes who we are so blessed to know and love. These individuals will be acknowledged on each student’s Faith Hero Poster which is due Monday, September 10th. This always ends up being one of their favorite projects!
Later next week the 8thgrade will begin learning about the Papal Reflection Paper that we’ll do each trimester. The first one is on the topic of teamwork and sports and will be done in class so that I can model the process for the class.
Have a blessed weekend with your families!
Peace… & Go Hawks!
Mr. Tallman
6-8 Science with Mrs. Erickson
I am excited for the new year and can’t wait to see where it will take us!
If you are curious about me or what we are doing in science feel free to check out my website: https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/home I plan to keep this up-to-date with notes, handouts, study guides, etc. as we move through the year. I have also added course information for each grade level, safety contracts that I will have students complete and sign, an outline of their science binder expectations, and request to retest form. If you have trouble accessing something, please let me know!
6th Grade- I am loving the great things I am seeing so far in science! In the next two weeks we will continue learning about… Science!... Seriously, though, we’ve been discussing the “Who” of science and will be doing short research posters focusing on a career in science that each student is draw towards. My hope is that through researching and sharing what they learned about the careers is they will see scientists can do almost ANYTHING! We will also be working through each “part” of the scientific process from observations, questions, and hypotheses to results, conclusions, and communications. Each part will have a focused mini-unit and will culminate with a lab bringing all their knowledge together. So far our classes have been very discussion based, but we will be moving into some skills necessary for science. As we do this there will be various opportunities to formally show their knowledge. The wonder I have already seen has me so excited for the year ahead. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
7th Grade- We are working through a review of basic science skills from last year, with a few new for the year ahead. Students be creating safety posters to show their understanding of various aspects of these skills that I hope to display around the room! We will start the year off looking at various living and nonliving objects to determine what makes something alive! I hope to assess their understanding with the creation of their own living organism that meets the requirements of life we discussed in class. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
8th Grade- We are working through a review of basic science skills from last year, with a few new for the year ahead. Students be creating safety posters to show their understanding of various aspects of these skills that I hope to display around the room! As 8th graders, I hope to have students become more autonomous in the planning and conducting of various labs and activities. Our first unit will be covering density. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
Thank you!
Mrs. Jaci Erickson
6-8 Social Studies with Mr. Klein
The year is off to a great start in social studies, I am excited for the new things I have planned for the year, and your students all are incredibly eager to learn!
6th grade:
We have been looking at what a geographer does the last few days, as well as looking at how to read a map. The next two weeks we will be focusing on a Five Themes of Geography project that the 6th graders will be working on in class and at home.
7th grade:
We are going to spend the next two weeks of class time looking at the Fertile Crescent and the beginning of civilization. The past two weeks, the 7th grade have been doing an awesome job at researching their family story and sharing with the class.
8th grade:
We will be working on a project the next week where the students will be grouped up and they have to create a new colony for England in the "New World." For this colony, they will have to provide information on how many people will be coming over on the voyage, where it will be located, what they will do for food and water, and what their economy will look like. I am excited to see what the 8th graders can come up with!
Mr. Klein
7T & 8th grade Language Arts with Mrs. Pedersen
Welcome to a new school year! I am looking forward to working with your children. If you have any questions or concerns throughout the year, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call. Here is how we are starting out in each grade.
7 Tallman - We have started the year with a myth unit. We read a play in Scope magazine about Perseus, King Polydectes, and Medusa. There will be a vocabulary quiz and open book quiz on Thursday, September 13. We will continue reading myths in our Literature book focusing on the characteristics of a myth and finding the natural occurrences and lessons taught through myths.
Every day to start class, students complete DOL (daily oral language) prompts. We have worked on a variety of different skills over the two weeks. Students received a study guide today to help review the skills. There will be a quiz on Friday, September 14. In grammar, we are reviewing comma rules. That will continue through next week. There will be a quiz the week of September 17.
8th Grade - Students are working on an Edgar Allan Poe unit. Students will learn how life experiences influenced his writing. The first story we read is called "The Tell-Tale Heart." The skills we focused on are plot, symbol, and making predictions. We will read a few more pieces before we take a test.
Students will be required to present one Book Talk first and second trimester. Last week students received the rubric and an example. Book Talks are given each Friday. There is a schedule and two students will present each Friday.
Every day to start class, students complete DOL (daily oral language) prompts. We have worked on a variety of different skills over the two weeks. Students received a study guide today to help review the skills. There will be a quiz on Friday, September 14. In grammar, we are reviewing comma rules. That will continue through next week. There will be a quiz at the end of next week or early the following week.
I hope your family is having a great start to the school year.
Go Hawks!
Mrs. Pedersen
Mrs. Pedersen
Middle School Spanish with Senora Schoessler
The Spanish classes 1A and 1B are reviewing the ways to meet and greet people. We are also reviewing the weather, days and numbers and verb conjusgations. We will soon be presenting dialogues in front of class using this vocabulary.
Sixth grade is coming right along and are pros at introducing themselves. They are showing excitement about learning new vocab on their most favorite topics... food, sports and animals!
Senora Schoessler
Thank You for reading the SPX Middle School Blog!
Our next blog post is scheduled for Friday, September 21st, 2018
