Classroom Happenings

It was another busy week at Red Lion Area Junior High School!  The week started off with a special Monday dismissal--students got to see the musical side of Mr. Peters:

The week ended with 6 more students getting selected as weekly PRIDE winners!  Congratulations to all students who earned PRIDE tickets this week--we had 270 PRIDE tickets submitted--WAY TO GO!

I continue to see great things as I visit our classrooms!  Here is a sample of what I saw last week:

Science

It is not very often that I see students who appear to be excited about taking an assessment, but this was the case for the students in Mr. Schreckengast's 7th grade science class.  The students were completing an assessment by demonstrating their proficiency with measuring.  

Students in Mrs. Hom's 8th Grade Science class were completing a mining simulation while they were studying minerals.  Each group of students were tasked with figuring out the best way to mine for the precious "Chocolate Chip".  Students had to "pay" for land, tools and even the type of land (the cookie) they would be working with. 

Math

Liters, Gallons, Milliliters--how do they all fit together?  Students in Ms. Carr's math class were learning how to convert different types of measurement!

Physical Education

Mr. Gordon's classes were finishing their unit on soccer!  Check out some of these soccer moves...but remember, always tie your shoes (can you spot the flying shoe?)

GPAC

Ms. Bensinger's GPAC class spent time discussing the characteristics of team relationships.  Once they developed a list of characteristics, they had to demonstrate their ability to work as a group by completing an outdoor activity!

News from 7 N

BLOG UPDATE TEAM 7N

Math with Mr. Josuweit

In Mr. Josuweit's Math class, the students and Mr. Josuweit are working on transitioning into the Junior High. While Mr. Josuweit is learning the Red Lion Junior High way, the students are learning about what is expected of them. We have reviewed a lot of the basic skills that students will need to be successful and will be moving on to learning new and exciting concepts like expressions, variables, and order of operations.

Math with Mr. Dansberry

We are wrapping up our review lessons and are getting ready to start discussing the initial frameworks of our Pre-Algebra course.  In the near future, your child should be able to explain to you why all of us should "Please Excuse Mr. Dansberry's Awful Stench."  Other topics we will be exploring will be graphing, properties, and mathematical relationships.  You should expect your child to have homework on a nightly basis from this point on, so don't be afraid to ask them about it!

Social Studies with Mr. Whiteford

In Social Studies, we will soon be finishing our first unit of the year, The 5 Themes of Geography.  We have already talked about Location, Place and Region, with Human-Environment Interaction and Movement finishing up our unit.  With Human-Environment Interaction, we are discussing how people and the environment impact each other.  Students are working with a partner to find visual examples online of different ways that people help or hurt the environment as well as ways the environment helps or hurts people.  They are using these pictures to create a Google presentation.  We will finish our 5 Themes unit with a writing piece.  For this activity, students will choose a any destination in the world and pretend they are vacationing there.  They will write a postcard, describing what it is like at their destination.  In this description, students will provide examples of each of the 5 Themes of Geography.

In addition to geography, we have talked about several very important events in Social Studies this year.  We spent the day talking about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech on the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington.  We also spent some time discussing the events of September 11, 2001, as well as learning about the United States Constitution on Constitution Day (September 17).

English with Ms. Wachter and Mrs. Dansberry

(Students practiced their new knowledge of the scoring domains by answering questions using their personal devices on PollEverywhere.com.)

In English class we are working towards the first five paragraph essay of the year. We just finished a review of the parts of speech to prepare for our upcoming grammar concepts. Students will be learning about simple, compound, and complex sentences. Using this new knowledge, students will write a five paragraph essay of their choice using the informative essay writing guidelines. We also have a book assignment for a novel of their choosing due October 18th. We are loving using the personal devices and interactive student notebooks to keep track of notes!

HEALTH 

In Health class, Mrs. Gillis and her students are off to a great start this year!  We have talked about what it means to have a “balanced” health triangle and analyzed our own to see just how healthy we are.  Students created a health pamphlet to illustrate either the things they already do, or want to start doing to be physically, mentally/emotionally and socially healthy.  

 

Academic Lit with Mrs. Mahan

Mrs. Mahan’s Academic Literacy class is working on identification of main idea in reading passages. We’re reading various passages and looking for clues about what the real point or purpose of the passage is.

        

            Supporting Detail

                 + Supporting Detail

                 + Supporting Detail

                   _______________

                  Main Idea

Science with Miss Taylor

Miss Taylor's classes are working hard on the first unit, Nature of Science.  After finishing the scientific method and completing an exciting bubbleology lab, students have been working hard learning about the system of measurement used in science.  Their measurement quiz will be coming up in the next week, and we will be finishing this unit with a short section on graphing.  Thus far, the students as a whole are doing awesome!  We had a record 95% of students get A's and B's on their first quiz!

News from 8N

Team 8N Update

MATH (Mr. Mikula and Ms. Behounek)

Team 8N's Study Island Assignments:  Our students will have Study Island assignments each month, which will be due on the last school day of the month.  However, we will have time to complete the majority of these assignment in class, so students should hold off on completing the assignments at home until closer to the end of the month. 

The grading of these assignments will be different than what most students are used to from last year.  Students may complete as many 10 question tests in each topic.  I will only score the highest test grade in each topic, and will not look at the overall averages.  So, once a student scores a desired grade for a single test in a topic, they can move on to a different topic.  This will eliminate the need to retake tests many times after mastery simply to boost the average score.

The login information is.... Last name first initial 18 .jh    

For example, Kevin Mikula would be MIKULAK18.jh

The password is the student’s lunch code number.

ENGLISH (Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Dinsmore)

Students are now in the middle of the informative essay unit.  They are in the process of outlining their essays and writing their first drafts.  Students are required to use their Google accounts for this assignment.  While they will have plenty of time in class to work on their essays, by using their Google accounts, they can also continue to type and revise their essays outside of school.  The outline and rubric for this assignment are available on Edline.  Once students have completed their essays, they will then create Animoto videos on their essay topics.

Additionally, students completed their first book report of the year, and they are now moving on to reading non-fiction books.  All students will be going to the library on September 30 to have the opportunity to select a non-fiction book.  Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Dinsmore also have non-fiction books in their classroom, and students are also permitted to bring in non-fiction books from home.  The assessment for the non-fiction book is also available on Edline.

HEALTH (Mrs. Couch)

Students will be practicing vocabulary who with an  'I have...  Who has .... activity' in Health.  The pictures show 8N students completing this activity.

SCIENCE  (Mr. Resh and Mrs. Dinsmore)

Students have successfully used the Scientific Method and Experimentation to solve problems big & small!  Now we are mastering the metric system to measure things in our world accurately.  I wonder if King Henry really did Die By Drinking Chocolate Milk???

SOCIAL STUDIES (Mrs. Heishman and Ms. Behounek)

In social studies we have been reviewing the thirteen English colonies in the new world.  We will soon be learning about the causes leading to the French and Indian War.  Your child will be participating in maps, graphic organizers, and a variety of assessments.  I encourage you to ask your child what he/she is learning in school.  Just a reminder that students are to have their textbook covered at all times!  We are off to a great start this school year!

ACADEMIC LITERACY (Miss Smith)

In Miss Smith’s Academic Literacy class, students are reading non-fiction, informational texts and learning how to identify the main idea and supporting details, and they will soon learn how to efficiently summarize a text.  Just this week students began writing their own memoirs.  After completing the first draft, students will choose one category on the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide (focus, content, organization, style, conventions) to be the focus of their revision.  Students will select a revision goal that they wish to achieve within this category, and they will reflect on how well they believe they accomplished this goal.  Once their memoirs are completed, students will analyze their own writing to identify the main idea, supporting details, and write a brief summary of their memoir.  The picture shows 8N students working on their memoirs.

Classroom Happenings...

It was another great week at Red Lion Area Junior High School!  Now that school has been in session for a month, classes are in full swing and some students have already had a couple of quizzes and tests! Here is a sampling of what I saw in classes last week:

GPAC

7th grade students will all have the opportunity to participate in an elective course taught by one of our school counselors.  GPAC stands for Guidance: Personal, Academic and Career and each class focuses on one of these aspects of the guidance curriculum.  On this visit, Ms. Bensinger was teaching class and she had a quote on the board that really stuck with me...
"Assumptions are the termites of relationships"--think about it--can you relate to this quote?

Technology Education

7th Grade students in Mr. Durchin's class were watching demonstrations on how to complete the sheet metal project they will be completing in class.  For some students watching the demonstration is a great way to build an understanding of what they will need to do...

For other students, turning the directions into song will really help them remember the necessary steps...

Health

Mr. Martin's health students were working on how to handle challenging situations that they might encounter.  After the students learned the steps of dealing with situations, students got in groups and were given different scenarios to work through to test their new skills!

Science

There is nothing quite like studying for a test--especially when you can make it fun.  Student's in Ms. Kelly's class had a great time preparing for a test by playing a game.

Social Studies

Mr. Strayer's students were completing a word splash activity that would help them build a better understanding of the US Constitution.

Family and Consumer Science

There were a variety of things going on in Ms. Kinney's 8th Grade Family and Consumer Science class.  Some students were using their graphic organizer to make sure they were sewing their buttons correctly, some students were self-assessing their project and some students were making knit hats!

While the students had the day off...

On Friday, while students were enjoying the first day of a long weekend, our staff spent the day participating in professional development activities.  During the first half of the day, junior high teachers (along with senior high teachers) continued their training on Mandated Reporting and they also heard a PRIDE update along with an update on the partnership between the Red Lion Area School District and Habitat for Humanity!  During the second half of the day, the junior high staff participated in more professional development on RESILIENCY, facilitated by our very own Ms. Bensinger, Mr. Dansberry, Ms. Houck, Ms. Jackson, Ms. Kinney, Ms. Mason, Ms. Sload-Diehl, Ms. Smith, and Ms. Stauffer.  

Ms. Bensinger opened up the afternoon session with the JH Staff

Teachers broke up into teams to discuss team "Grows" and "Glows"

Teachers actively engaged in the professional development session

Dance Time!

On Thursday, we had our first dance of the year--and it was a great success!  Congratulations to the Student Council for pulling off a fun event for everyone involved.  Thanks to all of the teachers and volunteers who stayed and helped out.  Students enjoyed dancing, hanging out and even playing basketball!  Check out some pictures from the dance...

News from 8-O

8O BLOG

Social Studies

In Mr. Jefferis’ class, we are reviewing the thirteen colonies using maps, videos, and primary sources.  We have started our current events lessons using political cartoons to discuss current events.

Science

In Miss Sheckard’s science class, we started off the year by learning about lab equipment and the scientific method. Students have conducted experiments comparing salt water to fresh water and found out how soap affects the surface tension on a penny.  Currently, we are working on the metric system.  Students were able to use the QR Reader on their devices to find the answers to several metric problems.  We will be finishing up the first chapter by Thursday, September 19.

Academic Literacy

In Miss Smith’s Academic Literacy class, students are reading non-fiction, informational texts and learning how to identify the main idea and supporting details, and they will soon learn how to efficiently summarize a text.  Just this week students began writing their own memoirs.  After completing the first draft, students will choose one category on the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide (focus, content, organization, style, conventions) to be the focus of their revision.  Students will select a revision goal that they wish to achieve within this category, and they will reflect on how well they believe they accomplished this goal.  Once their memoirs are completed, students will analyze their own writing to identify the main idea, supporting details, and write a brief summary of their memoir.

English

Ms. Suppa's 8th grade Language Arts classes discuss in small groups how informational texts convey ideas in a clear and interesting way. 

Health

In Mrs. Couch’s health class, students are working on their social health while completing a student search.

Math

In Mrs. Lee’s class, we are learning and having fun in math. 

News from 7-O

Team 7O Science

Last week in science we focused on learning the steps to the scientific method through song.  This week we are learning to write the hypothesis and conclusion all stemming from a scientific question.  The students will be  applying this skill to the penny water drop activity where they will determine which side of the penny can hold the most water.

Mrs. Curry and Miss Carr’s Math classes will be completing at least one assignment each chapter as a team.  One of these assignments will be a “Team Review” and will be scored as Graded Classwork.  The team review can be used as Study Guide for the upcoming test on the chapter.  Team work in our class should look like:

We also often allow students to share their answers on a hovercam/projector.  The students take turns calling on one another to share the next answer.

Mrs. Mahan’s Academic Literacy class is working on identification of main idea in reading passages. We’re reading various passages and looking for clues about what the real point or purpose of the passage is.

 

           Supporting Detail

            + Supporting Detail

            + Supporting Detail

              _______________

         Main Idea

(http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-big-idea.html)

Mrs. McGurk and Mrs. Harnish’s classes are learning about sentence structure by reviewing the parts of speech.  Students are also learning about important reading strategies like talking to the text, skimming and scanning, and finding the VIP’s and MVP’s of a text.  In the next few weeks, students will be blogging about their books.


In Health class, Mrs. Gillis and her students are off to a great start this year!  We have talked about what it means to have a “balanced” health triangle and analyzed our own to see just how healthy we are.  Students created a health pamphlet to illustrate either the things they already do, or want to start doing to be physically, mentally/emotionally and socially healthy.  

  
Mr. Conrad's social studies classes are traveling the world! They recently sent postcards that reflect their understanding of the 5 Themes of Geography using the new Google Chromebooks in class.

PRIDE

It was another great week for our PRIDE program.  6 lucky winners were chosen from 261 PRIDE tickets during Friday's PRIDE drawing!  Congratulations to our winners and to the 261 students who were "caught" doing the right thing.

The winners from last weeks PRIDE drawing.

A PRIDE winner and 3 friends enjoying lunch outside.

On Friday, many staff members got together to show off their PRIDE and their new PRIDE shirts--remember, "PRIDE starts with you!"