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 Middle School Team would like to extend our thanks to all the parents who attended Parent-Teacher Conferences last week! We truly appreciate our partnership as we together work to develop true disciples of Jesus and His Church!
Thank you!
2. 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!
3. 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).
4. Congratulations to the DCHS Girls Basketball Team on making the Girl’s State Basketball Tournament! Four young ladies on the team are SPX Alumni! Please join us as we cheer on these girls and their teammates next Monday afternoon!
Parents: If your student plans to attend the game, please send a note to the school office so we are aware of the absence. Thank you!
Teacher Updates
6thgrade & 7B Language Arts with Mrs. Bartscher
6th Grade- The sixth graders have just finished chapter 15 in Where the Red Fern Grows, and we will have a quiz over chapters 13-15 early next week. Following the quiz, they will begin reading chapter 16. We are also continuing our study of persuasive writing through the next two weeks.
The last day to take an AR test for second trimester is Friday, March 1.
7th Grade- The seventh graders finished reading The Outsidersthis week. There will be a quiz over chapters 10-12 on Tuesday, February 26. The students will complete an end of the novel project instead of an exam. This week students worked on writing a good hook and outlining their information for their five paragraph essay. Next week students will work on the rough draft of their paper.
The last day to take an AR test for second trimester is Friday, March 1.
Mrs. Bartscher
6-8 Math with Mrs. Gipple
6th Grade Math
This week we finished up our works with analyzing and displaying data by working with line plots, frequency tables, and histograms as well as describing different types of distributions.
Next week will be a week of testing in 6th grade math as we finish up the 2nd trimester. We will have a chapter test, as well as the CRS test that all 6th graders in the diocese takes, and we will also take the math part of the MAP test for the 2nd time this year.
Please help you child remember to work on their Accelerated Math practices if they are behind, these are due by next Friday, Mar. 1st, which is the end of the trimester.
7th Grade Math
This week we began our Geometry Unit. We began with the "building blocks" of Geometry: points, lines, planes, rays, and line segments. Then we worked with angles and angle pairs, as well as parallel and perpendicular lines. The 1st quiz for this chapter will be next Wednesday, Feb 27th.
Please be sure to help your child finish up any incomplete Accelerated Math as the trimester is over next Friday, Mar. 1st.
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
This week we finished our work with multi-step algebraic equations and inequalities. This was a very tough chapter, but we will continue to work on these types of equations next year in Algebra. The quiz over inequalities is Monday, Feb 25th and the chapter posttest will be Friday, Mar 1st. All Accelerated Math practices and test must be completed by Mar 1st as it is the end of the trimester.
8th Grade Pre-Algebra
We are continuing on in our Geometry unit as we work with area and circumference of circles, volume of prisms, pyramids, cones, cylinders and spheres. The test over these concepts will be Wednesday, Mar 6th.
Students need to have all Accelerated Math practices and test completed by next Friday, Mar 1st.
8th Grade Algebra
This week we started working with polynomials by defining and classifying them. Then we worked on adding and subtracting polynomials, as well as multiplying and factoring them. The 1st quiz for this chapter will be Monday, Mar 4th.
It was a pleasure to visit with all who attended conferences! Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions as we come to an end of the 2nd trimester.
God bless,
Mrs. Gipple
6-8 Religion with Mr. Tallman
Did you know that Mr. Tallman’s Twitter account in up to 68 followers ;) Join in on the fun by following our religion class tweets @MrTallmansClass it’s free and worth the effort…you’ll get daily tweets from all middle school religion classes, plus the very popular Religion Question of the Day (RQD) – You don’t want to miss this!
6th, 7th, & 8thgrade:
All middle school classes continue to make progress through Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body program by Ascension Press! Watch for regular emails about our progress work through these important discussions!
Have a blessed weekend!
Peace,
Mr. Tallman
6-8 Science with Mrs. Erickson
6th Grade: We have started our unit on volcanoes. This unit pulls together many of the concepts we’ve been talking about during second trimester; plate tectonics, Earth’s interior, rock cycle, and earthquakes. Our test for this unit will be during the week of March 4 and will be our first grade of the new trimester.
Remember that information can always be found at https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/home
7th Grade: We are finishing up our unit on plant processes with a test Monday, February 25. We will then be moving onto the human body and different organ systems. We’ll start with how the body is organized and bones.
Remember that information can always be found at https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/home
8th Grade: We are finishing up our unit on work, power, and machines. We will have our test on Wednesday, February, 17. Our next unit will be discussing energy and energy resources.
Remember that information can always be found at https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/home
Mrs. Jaci Erickson
6-8 Social Studies with Mr. Klein
6th Grade:
We will be finishing up Ancient Egypt this next week and begin looking at other ancient civilizations that began in Africa.
7th Grade:
We will be moving from China and start learning about Japan and Korea in the coming weeks.
8th Grade:
In 8th grade, we will start learning about Andrew Jackson and the role he had in the Indian Removal.
Mr. Klein
7T & 8th grade Language Arts with Mrs. Pedersen
7 Tallman - Students finished reading The Outsiders this week. There will be a quiz over chapters 10-12 on Tuesday, February 26. The students will complete an end of the novel project instead of an exam. This week students worked on writing a good hook and outlining their information for their five paragraph essay. Next week students will work on the rough draft of their paper.
The last day to take an AR test for second trimester is Friday, March 1.
8th Grade - Students continue to read To Kill A Mockingbird. There will be a quiz on Monday, February 25 over chapters 4-7. This week students learned skills about research. We talked about primary and secondary sources and how to avoid plagiarism. Next week students will practice paraphrasing and summarizing information. Then they will choose their topics and begin doing research.
The last day to take an AR test for second trimester is Friday, March 1. Students must also hand in their nonfiction response form by March 1.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Pedersen
Thank You for reading the SPX Middle School Blog!
Our next blog post is scheduled for Friday, March 8th, 2019
