News from 7-L

Team 7-L
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Team 7-L Math with Mr. Flay

Students have successfully completed Chapters 1 and 2 and are now beginning Chapter 3. Chapters 1 and 2 introduced Algebra through variables and expressions, equations, and graphs, and integers.  We will continue to build on these basic principals in Chapter 3 as we add operations with rational numbers to the mix!  Kids are doing great and as long as we continue participating in class like this picture shows, we will continue the great success we have already gained this school year!

Team 7-L Academic Lit. with Mrs. Vasellas

In Academic Lit students are working on their final assessment for Unit 1. To prepare they completed a close reading of the poem, "The House."  Students were allowed to use their PD's for vocabulary. 

Team 7-L English with Miss Maxwell

Miss Maxwell's students have been working hard on informative essays and speeches about a variety of choices.  Some students opted to write about spending the day with a person of their choice, others chose to write about surviving on an island, and other wrote about spending a year in boarding school.  Student essays and presentations were incredibly creative across the team. Way to go 7L! Our next unit will be about word morphology. 

Team 7-L Science with Mr. Dellinger

In the last few weeks students have worked on their Atomic Theorist facebook page where students create a fake social networking page of one of the famous scientists that helped form the atomic theory. Students used a template and input images or their scientist, biographical information, and wall posts that would correspond with the scientist.

Students have also been working on the structure of the atom with the help of www.kscience.co/uk/animations/atom.htm interactive website. This helps them to build the first 20 elements of the periodic table and illustrates how the subatomic particles of the atom interact. Students enjoyed this activity and found it very beneficial.



Currently, students are working toward completing their district-required writing prompt for science that involves the atomic theory. Students will be completing this by midweek and then learning about ions, isotopes, and the periodic table through next week with the Unit 2 Test occurring the week before Thanksgiving break.

Team 7-L Social Studies with Mr. Arigo

Students in Mr. Arigo's classes are classifying and categorizing some of their favorite media shows and characters and then applying that grouping knowledge to their newly learned information of geographic landforms.  They will be moving into studying the world's cultures in coming weeks.

Team 7-L Health with Mr. Martin

In health class, we just finished discussing the significant role our culture and media play on influencing teens and their body image.  We discussed many significant health problems and issues affecting our children and youth and how the culture and media are defining how many teens see themselves and what they perceive as beauty.  We have been discussing many issues including:  poor self-esteem and confidence, eating disorders, steroid use, plastic and cosmetic surgery, drug and alcohol use, among other fashions and fads teens are willing to participate in and engage in simply because it is cool or popular and they want to fit in or be accepted. 

Now that we have finished discussing body image issues, we are moving on to discuss the impact stress can have in the life of teens today.  Teens are often facing more and more stress and pressure today and at younger and younger ages.  Some of the stressors teens face today are no different than things we have all faced growing up, but there are also many new challenges and problems that pose a risk to the health, growth, and development of our teens that weren’t necessarily around or at least not as common in the past.  In class, we will help students identify what stressors they are facing in their own personal lives, how to recognize the warning signs of stress before they get out of control, the significant affects stress can have on the health and body, and how to deal with and manage stress in a safe and healthy manner.

I encourage all parents to discuss these important issues with your teens, because they play a significant role in their growth and development.