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.
God Bless,
The Middle School Team
General Updates
1.The First Trimester of school ends today, Friday, November 16th. Grades will be finalized by 3pm on Tuesday, November 20th.
Students and Parents, Thank you for a wonderful First Trimester of the School Year! We enjoy partnering with you here at SPX School!
2. Make sure to set aside Tuesday, November 20th– We’ll start the day with our 1stgrade class hosting our All School Mass and the School Lunch Program will host it’s Annual Thanksgiving Feast over lunchtime!
We hope you can join us for both!!!
3. 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!
4. We continue to have great participation in the Pius Academy program so far this year! Thank you to those who have been taking advantage of this great program!
For those interested in attending Pius Academy in the future, it’s offered on Tuesday afternoons from 3:00-3:45pm. Pick up takes place outside the main doors of the school (west doors).
Please note, there will be not Pius Academy on Tuesday, November 20th due to the start of Thanksgiving Break!
Teacher Updates
6thgrade & 7B Language Arts with Mrs. Bartscher
6th Grade- The sixth grade is taking a quiz today over quotation marks and apostrophes. In addition, we have begun a study of constructed response writing and will continue working on this over the next several weeks. We will be using what we are learning about writing constructed responses as we finish up our study and analysis of the short story “Eleven.”
7th Grade- The seventh grade students are continuing their study and analysis of the play “A Monkey’s Paw” out of the Scope Magazine with a focus on mood, theme, character analysis, and inferencing.We will also continue learning and practicing strategies for “constructed response” writing over the next several weeks.
Mrs. Bartscher
6-8 Math with Mrs. Gipple
6th Grade Math
This class finished up their work with decimals by taking the Ch. 3 Posttest this week, those scores can be viewed on PowerSchool. These scores, along with their Accelerated Math Ch. 3 scores will be the last few grades of the trimester. If your child's Accel Math score is low, it is because they did not finish. If that is the case, they will need to spend more time on Accelerated Math in the upcoming trimester in order to finish on time.
Next up is fractions! We will spend several weeks exploring many interesting relationships between numbers and incorporate these ideas into our work with fractions.
7th Grade Math
The ch. 3 posttest scores were entered this week as well as ch. 3 Accelerated Math scores. These are the last scores of the trimester. If your child's Accel Math score is low, it is because they did not finish. If that is the case, they will need to spend more time on Accelerated Math in the upcoming trimester in order to finish on time.
We are now working on proportional relationships and then we will use these relationships as we work with scale models and scale drawings.
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
This week this class took their posttest on equations and inequalities so those scores as well as Ch. 3 Accelerated math are the last grades for the trimester.
Our next unit we focus on fractions, rules of exponents and scientific notation.
8th Grade Pre-Algebra
This class is towards the end of a very long chapter that covers many concepts: properties of exponents, operations with scientific notation, square roots, categorizing numbers, and the Pythagorean Theorem. The majority of this chapter will be entered in their first trimester grades, but the 2nd quiz, accelerated math scores, and final posttest will start off their 2nd trimester grades. The 2nd ch. quiz will be next Tuesday, Nov. 20th.
8th Grade Algebra
We are currently halfway through our work with rate of change and slope. Students have been introduced to 3 ways of grade linear equations: using t-tables, using the X & Y intercepts, and using slope-intercept form of an equation. The quiz over these concepts will be next Tuesday, Nov. 20th
Have wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!!!
Mrs. Gipple
6-8 Religion with Mr. Tallman
6th grade: As we begin the Second Trimester, the 6thgrade will be learning about the Holy Saints of the Church, looking at the “Cool” things they can do – like Bilocation, Levitation, and the Stigmata.
As we conclude our studies about the Saints, the students will be creating a series of Saint Trading Cards to honor the Saints we’ve learned about!
7th grade: The seventh grade class has been learning about Vocations – that God calls each of us to, first, be holy, and then second, to live our holiness through the invitation to the married life, religious life, or single life. We’ll begin looking at discerning God’s plan for us as we watch the video docudrama “God or the Girl” after Thanksgiving Break!
8th grade: The eighth grade class has been taking a refresher course on Saints, in preparation to learning about Saint Relics as we look to write letters to various religious communities, requesting third class relics of our favorite saints, blessed, venerables, and Servants of God to add to our classroom reliquary box!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving – we have so much to be thankful for!
Peace,
Mr. Tallman
6-8 Science with Mrs. Erickson
6th Grade: We have been discussing states of matter and physical and chemical changes. We have worked through several simulations with how molecules move and have practiced balancing chemical equations. To see how chemical changes and states of matter impact the world, we will be designing an egg incubation device to transport reptile eggs in danger of being killed by a fictitious construction company. Students will use their knowledge of how chemical reactions work to create a device to safely transport the eggs to a conservation center. Read more here: https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/6th-grade-science/conservation-of-mass. Once we have had a chance to put our knowledge into action with our incubation devices we will have a short assessment (11/26-11/30) to show what we have learned.
7th Grade: We have just finished up heredity which will lead us into our next unit on DNA. Our discussion of DNA, Genes, and Proteins will include a paper model of DNA, DNA replication, and the transcription and translation of genes into proteins. We will also be discussing how DNA and genes get transferred from one cell to another during cell reproduction.
8th Grade: We have just started our chemistry unit. We have learned what atoms look like, how to draw them, and how to create Lewis Dot Structures. We will use these Lewis Dot Structures to help us draw atoms bonding, writing chemical formulas for molecules, and a simplified naming system for molecules. Our test for this unit will be towards the end of the week 11/26-11/30.
Mrs. Erickson
6-8 Social Studies with Mr. Klein
6th Grade:
We will be finishing up our Canada unit with a debate next week. After that, we are going to do research on timelines while also looking at primary and secondary sources before we begin learning about the history of Latin America.
7th Grade:
The 7th grade students have been presenting their Trimester projects this week. Next week, we are going to begin learning about the ancient civilizations of India.
8th Grade:
Starting next week, we will begin to learn about the early years of the United States of America. We will spend some time learning about the Articles of Confederation, and how the Articles ultimately failed.
Mr. Klein
7T & 8th grade Language Arts with Mrs. Pedersen
7 Tallman - Students are still analyzing the play "The Monkey's Paw," and they also read a nonfiction article about making wishes that pairs with the play. We have been working on the skills of inferencing, theme, using text evidence, genre, and vocabulary. There will be quiz the week after Thanksgiving over this information. We have been working on journal writing and writing stories for fun. The students are very creative and enjoy sharing their stories with each other. We will be working on strategies for "constructed response" writing after Thanksgiving. There will be a DOL quiz on Monday.
Today is the due date for Accelerated Reader. Next week students will be conferencing with me to set their goal for second trimester.
8th Grade - Students are continuing with the poetry unit. We are reading poems with the figurative language of simile, metaphor, and personification. Students will also be reading a narrative poem focusing on the structure and the punctuation in the poem. We are working on the principle parts of verbs and will be learning verb tenses and how to conjugate verbs. There will be a DOL quiz on Monday.
Today is the due date for Accelerated Reader. Next week students will be conferencing with me to set their goal for second trimester.
Have a great weekend!
I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Pedersen
6-8 Band with Mr. Walter
6th-8th grade band is rocking it lately! SCIBA Honor Band was last week and we had three students representing SPX: Abbie Holmes, Kaitlyn Weibel, and Kyden O'Neill. They played wonderfully at the honor band, and did a great job of representing our school to everyone! The entire band has been practicing hard for our winter concert, and are just starting to look at music for our next All-City concert. These two concerts are coming up fast--the SPX Winter Concert will be 7 pm on December 11th, and the All City Winter Concert will be on January 7th, just after we get back to school from break! After playing some of these songs for the past few months, I think we're all looking forward to the Advent season to actually get into the Christmas spirit!
Wishing you all (an early) Happy Thanksgiving!
Ms. Walter
Thank You for reading the SPX Middle School Blog!
Our next blog post is scheduled for Friday, November 30th, 2018
