Ellsworth MS Newsletter
Here's what's happening in MS this week!
January 27, 2020
Dear parents,
Congratulations to Calista Hoeksema, Jurgen Griswold and Cameron Snyder on their accomplishment in the school spelling bee!
ENGLISH
6th Grade: We have finished “The City of Ember” and students have two weeks to complete their projects. Many of them have been working on them during seminar already and some have already completed them. Way to be proactive! Our next unit will focus on writing a narrative story with the essential literature elements such as context, character development, dialogue, plot and all using descriptive and engaging vocabulary. On that note, our vocabulary test will be next Friday.
7th Grade: Projects for “The Giver” were due this past Friday. Projects turned in later than that will be reduced 10% for each week they are late, with a max of 30% reduction. Ask your student if they got their projects done or at least almost done. This week students worked on different points of view for writing and started to outline or brainstorm a plot for a story they will need to write. The story can be typed, written or made into a children’s book. Congratulations to Calista on her win in the school spelling bee and Cam for making it to the final three!
8th Grade: Congratulations to Jurgen! Jurgen is moving on to the regional spelling bee in Traverse City. We will continue working on chapter 8 in our grammar book. This week the focus is irregular verbs. We will also continue reading Soul Surfer.
SOCIAL STUDIES
6th Grade: We are nearing the end of our population unit and we have a short quiz on Thursday. It will include the last list of vocabulary (list 3 in Google Classroom) as well as some main ideas from our population unit. We will be moving on to studying migration and why people move around.
7th Grade: We are nearing the end of our population unit and we have a short quiz on Thursday. It will include the last list of vocabulary (list 3 in Google Classroom) as well as some main ideas from our population unit. We will be moving on to studying migration and why people move around.
8th Grade: This week we watched some videos for Martin Luther King Jr. day so that the students could understand what his main ideas were. We also watched a video on the Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears. Students were unhappy with the treatment of these people and the hurt caused them for no reason. We had a good discussion about both of these subjects and the injustices of both. Your students are thinkers and have strong opinions on things. Ask them their thoughts on both of these subjects.
MATH
6th Grade: 6th graders started a new unit last week exploring negative numbers. They will have a quiz on Thursday. Quiz corrections and retakes for last week’s quiz on GCF and LCM need to be turned in or retaken this week. iReady continues at 45 minutes this week!
7th Grade: 7th graders finished their unit on proportions and percents last week. The quiz will be handed back on Monday. Quiz corrections and retakes for last week’s quiz on percents need to be turned in or retaken this week. iReady continues at 45 minutes this week!
8th Grade: 8th graders began solving equations with variables on both sides last week. They will have a quiz on Thursday. Quiz corrections and retakes for last week’s quiz on percents need to be turned in or retaken this week. iReady continues at 45 minutes this week!
SCIENCE
6th Grade: We have been talking about states of matter and the difference between elements, compounds, and mixtures. We will begin to tie what we learned about matter with energy.
7th Grade: We are currently studying Cell Structures. Ask your student about them and if they are reading 3.2 Text on Cell Structures. The quiz for this will be Thursday. There are a lot of compound words in this unit and students should be reviewing them daily. There will be a cell analogy project that students will need to complete for Friday.
8th Grade: We are currently studying Cell Structures. Ask your student about them and if they are reading 3.2 Text on Cell Structures. The quiz for this will be Thursday. There are a lot of compound words in this unit and students should be reviewing them daily. There will be a cell analogy project that students will need to complete for Friday.
ART
7th Grade: We will be creating coil pots out of clay that will have three different kinds of coils. When complete we should have a container that holds water. If anyone has news papers the art room needs some. Thanks for your support.
PE
8th Grade: Striking and fielding activities will be the main focus during week 4 of PE. Students will also participate in a new invasion game call “conduit ball.” Each day will begin with activities that focus on improving cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility (health related physical fitness).
Please encourage your student to remain active. Teenagers need an hour of aerobic activity 7 days per week and 20 minutes of muscular endurance/muscular strength activities 3 days per week.
SINCERELY,
The Middle School Team
8th English: Amanda Terryberry aterryberry@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6th and 7th English Michele Hinkle mhinkle@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6th Sci, 6-7th SS: Sue Goslee sgoslee@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6-8 Math: Erica Stuck estuck@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
7-8th Science: Clayton Faivor cfaivor@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
8th SS: Laurie Yost lyost@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
Art: Kurt Zimmerle kzimmerle@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
Music: Ashley Ford aford@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
PE: Mark Drenth mdrenth@ellsworth.k12.mi.us