News from 7 I

Science With Mr. Schreckengast

Mr. Schreck’s Science classes have been studying Building Blocks of Matter for the first weeks of the second marking period.  The three concepts covered in this unit are:

1. The History of the atom.  In this section, students learned about atomic theorists such as Democritus, Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford, Chadwick, and Bohr.  We studied what each of these scientists discovered to help us have our modern day atomic model.  The students also completed a writing prompt explaining the scientist that they believe had the most influence on the Modern Model of the Atom.

2. Structure of the Atom.  In this section, students learned about the relationship between protons, neutrons, and electrons within the atom.  We also learned about isotopes and ions.  

3. The Periodic Table.  In this section, the students will learn how to read the periodic table.  They will know that it is organized by atomic number, groups, families, and periods and not just randomly placed into a diagram.  I challenged the students to learn the atomic number, symbol and name for several elements on the periodic table.  We made flash cards for them and they are busily studying them.

The students have been very excited learning about the atom and the periodic table, which will lend itself to some very interesting labs in our next unit:  Properties of Matter.

Social Studies with Mrs. Elicker

Mrs. Elicker’s Social Studies classes worked on completing the Landforms GeoQuest Adventure.  This activity was a webquest activity that helped students identify and describe land and water forms throughout the world.  Additionally, students were able to describe how land and water forms were formed and how they affect people and their environment.  Students especially liked working with the National Geographic Maps website that gave them a close up view of the world as well as their own neighborhoods!    

Math With Ms. Therrien

Ms. Therrien’s math classes have been studying integers and fractions.  

INTEGERS:   In this chapter, students learned the rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with negative numbers. The coordinate grid was extended to include all four quadrants. There was an introduction to multiplying and adding variables.

FRACTIONS:  In this chapter, students are learning about the rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions (rational numbers). There have been some new vocabulary terms like “relatively prime” and “rational number”. The fraction chapter incorporates the integer rules as well as problems adding and multiplying variables.

In the next chapter, we will be solving equations.

Health with Mr. Martin

Mr. Martin’s classes have just finished discussing the topic of stress and how students can better cope with and manage the stress they face in their own lives.  Let’s face it; we all know that life can be stressful at times.  Many of our teens are facing an enormous amount of pressure in and out of school related to academics or social issues.  It is imperative that we equip our teens with the skills necessary to face life and deal with life’s stressors in safe and healthy ways.  

Moving forward, we will be talking about other sensitive and dangerous behaviors and ailments some students struggle with in regards to their mental health, such as anxiety and depression and how they affect people.  

I am very aware of the sensitive nature of these topics and will do my part to be sensitive to individuals who may be or may have struggled with these issues in the past.  

I once again encourage all parents and families to talk to your teens about these topics as they play a significant role in their growth and development.  

English with Mrs. Henze

Last week students presented speeches that included a multimedia presentation created in google docs.

This week we have started a unit on word morphology.  Students will be learning about root words associated with the body, 10 common prefixes,  and 10 common suffixes. For each word part, students will be completing a Tic-Tac-Toe Board of activities to help learn the word parts. Whole class activities will also be used to learn in this unit.  For example, today we played Simon Says as a class to learn the root words.

 

In Mrs. Vasellas’ Academic Lit class the students have finished Unit 1 by completing a writing assessment and a test.