MYP Newsletter 1/30/2015

Language and Literature- Mr. Schaefer

6th grade: We have started Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Even before beginning the novel, we’ve had some fantastic discussion and I look forward to our future talks. There will be a vocabulary test on unit 10 on Feb. 6.

7th grade: The students wrote some very interesting versions of journal entries through the perspective of another of the members of the Secret Annexe. We will continue with our study of Anne Frank for quite a few more weeks. There will be a vocabulary test on unit 10 on Feb. 6.

8th Grade: We are moving on to the exciting world of pronouns. This is something that will help in their studies of foreign language, so we will definitely at this. There will be a vocabulary test on unit 10 on Feb. 6.

Language and Literature- Mr. Maddock

6th Grade Grammar and Writing– The 6th grade will continue its work with verbs, and may have a quiz mid-week to probe for weaknesses in understanding the perfect tenses and irregular verbs. They should get close to finishing the long Verb Unit next week, and we all know what that means. The unit test will likely be given the second week of February.

7th Grade Grammar and Writing– The first week of February will find the 7th grade working on Pronouns, which seem harmless enough but result in more middle school grammatical accidents than any other part of speech. Though none of these accidents is life-threatening, the social implications are real, so we’ll do our best to immunize them all!

8th Grade Literature and Writing– Back aboard the Hispaniola, our guys will land at Treasure Island where the action gets a bit more bloody and, well, piratical. We’ll be discussing character development, and the way it drives our expectations for the novel’s plot points.

Science- Mr. Short

No updates this week.

Language Acquisition- Madame Rooks

Attention a tous! World Nutella Day is February 5^th. Enjoy some Nutella with your family!

French 6th grade : We are finishing up our unit on Community this week and beginning a unit on Food and Culture. How fun is that?! We enjoyed our study of animals. Ask your students what the cow, pig, duck, etc. say in French!

French 7^th grade: We continue to practice a French only atmosphere, with some explanations in English, while diving into more new verbs as we discuss and learn about French families and our own. We’ll be talking about where we live and how that affects who we are. This is an extremely important unit in our French careers, a real transition to some higher level thinking and commitment to being students in a high school level class.

French 8^th grade: Bon Voyage! We are learning how to navigate around airports and train stations. Students will learn how to travel in a French speaking country. Many students who travel over the summer return to tell me how useful this unit, and their ability to speak French has been in their lives, and how they were able to help their families get around France.

Language Acquisition- Senora Thompson

Spanish:

6th grade-We have completed Three Units in Exploring and are getting ready to move on to High School Spanish level I. We are currently finishing up on our “Cognate Posters”. After the students have completed the posters we will begin by learning the

7th grade- We have completed Unit 4 and we will be begin our Food Unit next. Yum! This unit has quite a bit of vocabulary so we will split the vocabulary into four sections.

8th grade- We are finishing up Unit 9 and will have a test this week. As I am writing this on Wednesday, we are looking forward to our trip to Maya’s Grill on Friday.

Math- Mrs. Koehler

NOTICE: Math Lab will be held next week on Monday and Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 in the MS math room.

6^th Grade: I had hoped for a chapter test this week, but the snow day was more fun! We will not have a separate vocabulary test on this chapter since there are only 3 words. These words will be added to the Chapter 7 test which will be on Tuesday, 2/3. Please remind your child to study the words!

7^th Grade: There will be a Chapter 6 test on Monday, 2/2 and a Chapter 6 vocabulary quiz on Tuesday, 2/3. Please remind your student to STUDY OVER THE WEEKEND!!! Sorry for the Monday test but we did get a snow day!

8^th Grade:

Advanced Algebra (HS) – We had the Chapter 6 vocabulary quiz this week and the Chapter 6 test will be Monday, 2/2. Please remind your student to STUDY OVER THE WEEKEND!!! Sorry for the Monday test but we did get a snow day!

Algebra (HS) – We have moved into unchartered territory in Chapter 6. I gave a small quiz on the first two lessons in the chapter and the results were not pleasing to me or the students (not to worry — I didn’t record the grade!). So, I decided to test the students in a 2-part test on this chapter. Instead of having a mid-chapter quiz, there will be a Chapter 6 (Part 1) test on Monday, 2/2. Please remind your student to STUDY OVER THE WEEKEND!!! Sorry for the Monday test but we did get a snow day!

Ms. Koehler

Math- Mrs. Schiavo

Sixth Grade Pre-Algebra

Wednesday we started our study of Algebra. No more PRE-Algebra. I think of Algebra as a “gatekeeper” subject. Once you master Algebra, the higher-level mathematics subjects become accessible to students. We are studying linear equations with a variable on both sides of the equals sign. The students were excited to start this unit and there was lots of participation by all.

Individuals in Societies- Mrs. Tuskey

6th Grade US History

This week the students have learned about the many problems faced by the Washington Administration, including dealing with the national debt. We then spent some time discussing our current national debt. The students will have a quiz on the Washington Administration early next week.

7th Grade US History

The 7th graders are becoming experts on American Imperialism. Ask your child about the annexation of Hawaii or the Spanish-American War and get ready to be impressed with their answers. I anticipate a test on the topic by midweek next week.

8th Grade World Civilizations

After starting off the week with a test on ancient Greece, the 8th graders dove into the study of ancient Rome. They enjoyed learning about some of the achievements of this civilization, and several were ready to build a to-scale model of a ballista! I anticipate some sort of an evaluation by the end of next week.

Religion- Mrs. Slifka

My email is jslifka@saintmary.org if you need to contact me. (I understand it is not on the website.)

No updates this week.

The Diocesan Youth Conference is Friday, February 27 through Sunday, March 1, – info on this will come out closer to the date. We are asking that all students bring a Saint Mary’s Sweatshirt so that Father Mike can find us easily on Saturday- plus, we have quite a crowd!!

Design- Mrs. Clopton

6^th Students will work in groups on their iMovie trailer book reviews.

7^th Students will be finishing up the movie Meet the Robinsons and answering comprehension questions about the movie.

8^th Students should be finishing up their research paper. Their unit on technology development and impact on society will begin shortly.

PE- Coach Spicer

No updates this week.

Music- Mrs. Taylor

Composer of the Month: January – Frederic Chopin

A great piece for the type of weather we have been experiencing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OFHXmiZP38

6^th grade-The majority of students have brought their Music Process Journals (1 in. binder) down to the music room. We began a piece of music that the students will be performing for the Spring Sing which will take place during school on Fri. May 1^st. We also had our first Musical Inspiration presentations of the semester and we are off to a great start!

8^th grade-Music: We are underway in our preparation for the 8^th grade Dinner Theater production, a date will be released shortly. Students have also begun the World Music Report. Each student is assigned a category i.e. music history, instrument, songs as well as a continent to report on. Each continent is represented with the exception of Antarctica, not a lot of music coming out of that region, however there is a bit—

check out Antarctica: Music from the Ice http://www.allwaysnorth.com/antarctica.html

Art- Mrs. Dunham

No updates this week.