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News from 7-N

Mrs. Mahan—Academic Literacy

In Academic Literacy, we are just finishing a unit on Author’s Purpose and Viewpoint. Now, we will be beginning lessons on fix-it-up strategies for when we cannot understand difficult texts. One thing we will discuss is how we should have a thing called “inner voice” that helps us comment, reflect, questions, and overall understand the text. This can be compared to football commentators, who give the play-by-play, but who also give us background on the players and comment on the game.

http://whilewestillhavetime.blogspot.com/2010/11/hyping-apocalypse.html

Miss Taylor - Science

Since our return from the holiday break, we have moved from chemistry to physics.  Students are currently studying motion and forces and will shortly get into Newton’s Laws of Motion.  Physics is very math based, so it has been a big adjustment for some students.  Everyone seems to be enjoying the new songs though - including the “speed is distance over time song”!!!

Mr. Josuweit - Math

We are in the middle of learning how to solve equations which is one of the most important concepts of the school year. The students will be learning how to solve and check one-step and two-step equations and even write equations from word problems. The students will also be taking the second round of the CDT’s which will hopefully show some growth since the beginning of the school year.

Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Dansberry-English

I am so excited that have finally reached the reading units for the year! Students have just read “A Christmas Carol” and are working on finishing some other short stories from our textbooks. We are reviewing the literary elements they learned in elementary school and analyzing their impact on each story. CDT testing will continue in February and will give me a good understanding of students’ strengths and weaknesses. We are also hoping to improve our paragraph writing through continual practice!

Mr. Dansberry - Math

Happy New Year!  At this time, both levels are done with instruction and testing of one- and two-step equations.  We’ve already started to discuss ratios, rates, and proportions which will require the students to use their prior knowledge of long division, fractions, and solving equations.  Once students are comfortable with solving proportions, we will use them to discuss distances on maps, finding the missing sides of similar figures, and finding the heights of various large objects using indirect measurement.  Please remind your child to complete Study Island by the end of each month!

Mr. Whiteford - Social Studies

As we wrap up the second marking period, we are also wrapping up our discussion of explorers in Social Studies.  Students worked in groups to learn about a famous European explorer and teach the rest of the class about him.  Some student groups did this with a Google presentation, while others experimented by creating a website using Google Sites.  The students then took a quiz on the explorers, which was made up of questions created by the students.  I’m pleased to announce that the students did fantastic on the quiz, which makes me wonder why they need me since they can teach and quiz each other!  

Next up for Social Studies are a couple of lessons about Native Americans, then we will beginning our study of the American colonies.  We will talk about Jamestown, Plymouth and each of the 13 American colonies before finishing the year with a unit about Pennsylvania.

News from 8-N

8N Blog

Health

We have just finished the male and female reproduction systems.  As a culminating piece, the students completed a Venn diagram as a way to show their understanding of the parts (shown below).  We are now starting lessons on the process of fertilization, pregnancy and birth. 

Academic Literacy

Students have just started their research unit.  They will be participating in debates to help select their topics, choose a stance on their topic, develop a thesis statement, and then begin conducting research on their topic.  Eventually, students will turn their research into a five paragraph argumentative essay.

Science

As 8N scientists, we have been floating down river systems and their tributaries.  As we exit our raft, we will be digging to get to groundwater and how we conserve and protect our water supply...without cutting back on tooth-brushing and showers... 

English

Students just started a new unit, "Craft and Structure in Fiction Text."  As we move through the unit, students will be reading and analyzing the structure of a variety of texts, including poetry and short stories.  Additionally, students will be writing several short answer essays, and the culminating assignment will be a compare and contrast essay.  Students should also be reading their independent novels to prepare for a variety of projects that will require students to apply what has been covered in the unit to their own novels.

Math

Mr. Mikula's 8N math classes will be taking the CDT tests on January 24 through the 28.  Students do not need to do anything special to prepare for these diagnostic tests.  However, they should come to school well rested and have a good breakfast on these days. 

December Study Island assignment has not been graded yet, so students have an opportunity to finish the tests for December if they have not done so yet. 

Social Studies

            Students are currently studying the United States Constitution, and why it is considered a living document.  Starting next week we will be taking an in depth look at each of the twenty-seven Amendments. Each student will be creating and designing a power point presentation, then teaching the class about his/her selected Amendment.  Students will also be looking at scenarios and having to decide if the subject in the situation is protected by the Bill of Rights, and which Amendment the situation is referring to.  Students will learn much about their basic freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.

PRIDE Updates...

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News from 7-O

English

In Mrs. McGurk’s 7^th grade English class, students have been learning about how words are formed by studying prefixes, roots, and suffixes.  We played Root Simon Says to help us remember the roots.

This week, students will be posting on the class blog about their books.  They get to read their classmates’ posts and comment on them with their thoughts and questions.  It’s a great way for us all to learn about great books that are out there just waiting to be read!  Feel free to check it out at http://mcgurkbooks.blogspot.com!

Next, we will be reading some great short stories as we learn about the literary elements, such as characterization, setting, and plot.

 Academic Literacy

Mrs. Mahan—Academic Literacy

In Academic Literacy, we are just finishing a unit on Author’s Purpose and Viewpoint. Now, we will be beginning lessons on fix-it-up strategies for when we cannot understand difficult texts. One thing we will discuss is how we should have a thing called “inner voice” that helps us comment, reflect, questions, and overall understand the text. This can be compared to football commentators, who give the play-by-play, but who also give us background on the players and comment on the game.

http://whilewestillhavetime.blogspot.com/2010/11/hyping-apocalypse.html

Math

In PreAlgebra we have been working on equations and expressions.  We are combining like terms to solve some multi-step equations and simplify expressions.  Ask your student to explain to you why we watched Dr. Seuss’, The Sneetches in Math class!     

                                  

 Mr. Conrad – 7^th Grade Team O Social Studies

Mr. Conrad’s 7O Social Studies classes have been utilizing technology in the classroom.  Students were placed into groups of 3-4 in order to research European explorers.  Students then collaboratively created Powerpoint presentations using Google Drive before presenting them to the class.  We had some fun researching history to find out who really discovered North America first.

Health

Health classes have started a new unit about how to handle first aid emergencies.  Over the next couple of weeks, students will know how to recognize an emergency situation and how to respond.  We will be practicing how to carry injured victims as well as how to control severe bleeding.

Science

The students are learning about how matter can be classified as a solid, liquid, or gas.  The have had an opportunity to see the change in matter at these different websites.

www.harcourtschool.com/activity/states_of_matter/index.html

www.harcourtschool.com/activity/hotplate/index.html

Please take sometime to view these websites with your child, and have them explain what is going on.

News from 8-O

8O Blog

Science:  Students are working on Chapter 15.  Before break we looked at the Water Budget for York, Pa and compared it to another city in the United States.  Students graphed their data using Google Spreadsheet.  We are currently looking at the major river systems in the United States, including the Susquehanna River.  Students are exploring the Susquehanna and its importance to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Math:
**Algebra A/B will be enjoying math, not only during first period, but also during ROAR in order to prepare for Keystones coming up on May 12th. We are currently Graphing Inequalities.
**Algebra A is working on Linear Equations and will be doing PSSA review throughout February and March.
**Prealgebra will be working with Slope and Slope-Intercept Form.
Ask them to show you the slope dance!






Academic Literacy:  Students are finishing up the Craft and Structure unit by writing their own paragraphs using a variety of sentence structure and sentence types.  At the start of the third marking period, we will be starting our argumentative research unit.

 

 


Ms. Suppa’s English Class

The record-breaking cold that we experienced on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 inspired some vocabulary building in English.  Here is a list of synonyms students found for the word “cold.”

arctic        gelid            glacial        raw
frigid            nippy        wintry        numbing
hyperboreal    Siberian        piercing        three-dog night

Students designed a word search, such as the one below by Emma Brady, using fifteen of the synonyms they found.  Pretty “cool” vocab!

Since “cold” is such a boring, overused word, using better adjectives like “arctic” and “bleak” is an easy way to improve your writing.  Adding details is another way to make your writing more interesting.  Check out the student examples in the slide below:

Social Studies - In December, we finished the Revolutionary War and our first Common Assessment in which students had to write a paragraph defending if they would join the Patriots or remain loyal to King George III.  We are now working on the Constitution Unit.  We are learning how the Constitution was established and how the Constitution works.  We continue to discuss current events through the use of political cartoons.  During the third marking period, student will have the option of creating their own cartoons about current events.

In the pictures above students are working on a numbered heads collaborative strategy discussing the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.



Health-
We have just finished the male and female reproduction systems.  As a culminating piece, the students completed a Venn diagram as a way to show their understanding of the parts (shown below).  We are now starting lessons on the process of fertilization, pregnancy and birth.

News from 7-I

7I Blog for January

Science With Mr. Schreckengast

In Mr. Schreckengast’s Science class we are still working on Chemistry Concepts.  We are in the Properties of Matter Unit which includes the following topics:  Classifying Matter, Properties of Matter, and Changes in Matter.  

Classifying Matter

Students worked on identifying and classifying matter as substances or mixtures.  Some of the terms they learned were heterogeneous, homogeneous, compound,element, colloid, suspension, and solution.  The students were given a flow chart graphic organizer to show how these items are connected.

Properties of Matter

Students started out with a lab in this section.  They got to check the mass of an antacid tablet whole, then crush it and see if the mass stayed the same or changed. This introduced Physical Properties to the students, in particular, mass as a Physical Property.  They found out that the mass does not change when the antacid tablet is crushed, proving that mass is a size dependent Physical Property.  Then students learned about the other Physical Properties of Matter by conducting a Treasure Hunt for notes, filling in the graphic organizer.  The students enjoyed finding the answers, since Mr. Schreck hid them in interesting places.  There are pictures below of this event.

Changes of Matter

In this section students will investigate how to identify substances by their physical and chemical properties through a three day lab.

Health with Mr. Martin

Mr. Martin’s classes have just finished discussing the topic of mental and emotional health issues like anxiety and depression and risks and warning signs associated with them and the importance of discussing these issues with a trusted adult in order to get the help and support students need.  

Currently, we are discussing issues related to social health and how we get along and interact with others.  We will be discussing aspects of communication, which includes body language, I-messages, passive, aggressive, and assertive communication, refusal skills, and conflict resolution to name a few.  All of these topics play a significant role in each student’s interactions with others and have a profound impact on the healthy growth and development of our children’s overall health.

I once again encourage all parents and families to talk to your teens about these topics.  

Academic Literacy - Mrs. Vasellas

Students are currently working on completing Concept 1: Point of View by identifying  author's’ purpose. Our next concept will be Text Structure.

Social Studies with Mrs. Elicker

In Social Studies, students are beginning their new unit on Explorers.  The students are working to determine why Europeans were looking to explore new territories and how these expeditions affected the native inhabitants of these areas.  Students will use laptops and other text to research a specific explorer and what the explorer hoped to gain from their explorations to the new world.  

English with Mrs. Henze

On January 8th, classes started the next unit by watching a Flocabulary video titled “The Five Elements of  A Story.”  Throughout the next several weeks we will be reading several short stories and discussing the elements of a story.

On January 6th, all students selected a book from the library for the next book assignment.  Each section was assigned a specific genre to read.

Red--fantasy

Blue--science fiction

Purple--realistic fiction

Pink--realistic fiction

Green--science fiction

Math with Ms. Therrien

Advanced Pre-Algebra students have finished the first four chapters of the book and are working now on chapter 6. This chapter will focus on ratios, proportions, and scale drawings.

We will be working on activities that include finding our ages and weights on other planets and making a scale drawing of either the classroom or a room at home.

Pre-Algebra students are finishing chapter 4. This chapter focuses on solving equations, which is a skill that will be necessary for success in Algebra next year. We are concentrating on how to show correct work and how to check answers. We will be starting chapter 6 soon and will be doing the same activities as the Advanced classes.

At the end of January, everyone will be participating in CDT’s. These are diagnostic tests that help us to determine what skills we should be focusing on to prepare for the PSSA’s in March. Students do not get a grade for these tests.

Information for Parents and Students

Spring Sports Physicals

Attention Students: If you are interested in a FREE SPORTS PHYSICAL for spring sports, stop and see the nurse before February 1^st.

JH Track and Field

Attention all students interested in doing Junior High Track & Field this spring: There will be an informational meeting on Wednesday, January 22^nd during PM homeroom. You must sign-up in your homeroom to be able to attend the meeting in the cafeteria. Students will be called to the meeting by the P.A. system.

Recreation Baseball
 Red Lion Recreation Baseball fliers are available in the main office for interested students to pick up.
 

Classroom Happenings...

Thanks to the snow and a polar vortex, it has been a bit of a challenge to get back in the swing of things since we returned from vacation!  Although it was snowy and cold outside, things were heating up in the classrooms...

Students in Mrs. Park's English classes participated in book chats.  Students really enjoyed the opportunity to 'dig deeper' into their book with the help of their group.

Students in Ms. Heishman and Ms. Behonek's 8th grade social studies classes were using the "Ben's Guide to US Government" website to further their understanding of the different roles of our branches of government.

To test their understanding of the 3 branches of government, Ms. Q's students were sorting facts about each branch into the correct category!

Mr. Conover's math class had to solve math problems correctly in order to solve a puzzle--as if puzzles weren't hard enough on their own :)

Mr. Strayer's classes were preparing for an upcoming test.  Students were working hard completing their study guides because those students who completed the study guides got to use them on the test!

Mr. Conrad's students were giving him a break by teaching the class!  Each group got to present information that they learned about an explorer as the other students took notes to learn more about the explorer.

 Mr. Gordon introduced his classes to the sport of Tchoukball.  Never heard of it?  Check out www.tchoukball.net to learn more.