The SMS Express
What are students learning at Springtown Middle School?
Curriculum and Instruction at SMS
7th Grade Math
Data & Financial Literacy
In math class, your student is about to explore two short units of study.
Data Analysis: 3/31-4/14 (Review on 4/12 and Test on 4/14)
Financial Literacy: 4/17-4/21 (Quiz on 4/21)
Interpret & Analyze Data
In math class, your student is about to explore interpreting data. To master this skill, they will build on their knowledge of representing and interpreting data from sixth grade. As your student extends their knowledge of this concept throughout seventh grade, they will learn the following concepts:
7.6F Use data from a random sample to make inferences about a population.
7.6G Solve problems using data represented in bar graphs, dot plots, and circle graphs, including part‐to‐whole and part‐to‐part comparisons and equivalents.
7.12B Use data from a random sample to make inferences about a population.
7.12A Compare two groups of numeric data using comparative dot plots or box plots by comparing their shapes, centers, and spreads.
7.12C Compare two populations based on data in random samples from these populations, including informal comparative inferences about differences between the two populations.
Terms to Know:
○ bar graph: a graph that uses horizontal or vertical rectangular bars to show each category of qualitative data
○ circle graph (pie chart): a visual representation of data, made by dividing a circle into sectors that each represent part of a whole
○ comparison: the process or results of looking for similarities and/or differences among sets of objects or numbers
○ data: a collection of organized facts, usually in numerical form, words, measurements, or descriptions
○ dot plot (line plot): a method of visually displaying a distribution of data values where each data value is shown as a dot or mark above a number line
○ equivalent: equal in value or amount
○ population: a discrete group for the purposes of data collection and analysis
○ problem: a question to solve
○ random sampling: a selection chosen by change and which has no predictability
○ sample: one part of the given population
Financial Literacy - Budgets
Your student will explore budgets. To master this skill, they will build on their knowledge of banking, credit, and future planning from sixth grade. As your student extends their knowledge of this concept throughout seventh grade, they will learn the following concepts:
- I can identify the components of a personal budget.
- I can calculate what percentage each category of a budget comprises the total budget.
- I can create and organize a financial assets and liabilities record and construct a net worth statement.
- I can use a family budget estimator to determine the minimum household budget and average hourly wage needed for a family to meet its basic needs in my city or another large city nearby
Financial Literacy - Application of Percents
Your student will explore the application of percents in finances. Students will build on their prior knowledge of defining different types of taxes from 5th grade and extend this knowledge to the following 7th grade concepts:
- I can calculate the sales tax for a given purchase.
- I can calculate the income tax for earned wages.
- I can analyze and compare monetary incentives.
- I can solve multi‐step problems involving percent increase, percent decrease, and financial literacy problems.
Financial Literacy - Calculating Interest
Your student will explore calculating interest. To master this skill, they will build on their knowledge of fractions, decimals, and percents from sixth grade. As your student extends their knowledge of this concept throughout seventh grade, they will learn the following concepts:
Calculate simple interest on different principal amounts over different time periods. Simple interest is calculated based on the amount of money that is deposited. The formula is based on the amount of money deposited, the interest rate, and the amount of time it is invested.
- I can calculate simple interest earnings.
- I can calculate compound interest earnings.
- I can compare simple interest and compound interest earnings.
7th Grade Reading & English Language Arts
Unit: "Transformations"
In this unit, students will learn about events that alter one’s life, considering what kinds of things can lead a person to make major changes in his or her life. Students will read a variety of texts, including dramas, and view media as they discuss the Essential Question for the unit: Can people really change?
Students will work to answer the questions:
- What are some of the ways you could answer the question: Can people really change?
- What do these texts say about life-altering changes?
- What kinds of things would cause a person to make a major change to his or her life?
- Why do you think turning points are so popular in the media and in books and films?
Here are some key standards students will work toward in this unit.
Comprehension/Response:
- 5.I Monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.
- 6.D Paraphrase and summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order.
Vocabulary/Word Study:
- 2.A Use print or digital resources to determine the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin, and part of speech.
- 2.B Use context such as contrast or cause and effect to clarify the meaning of words.
Analysis:
- 8.C Analyze how playwrights develop characters through dialogue and staging.
- 9.E Identify the use of literary devices, including subjective and objective point of view. .
Composition:
- 10.D.viii Edit drafts using standard English conventions, including punctuation, including commas to set off words
- 11.C Compose multi-paragraph argumentative texts using genre characteristics and craft.
- 11.D Compose correspondence that reflects an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information in a business or friendly structure.
Inquiry and Research:
- 12.J Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.
- 12.D Identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources.
7th Grade Science
Unit 7 - Organisms & Their Environment
Essential Understandings & Questions:
Different conditions of environments around the world support a different variety of organisms.
- In what ways do the conditions of a given environment determine the organisms that can survive in that environment?
- In what ways are organisms and their environment interrelated?
- In what ways are biodiversity, the environment, and the sustainability of an ecosystem related?
Ecosystems naturally tend to return to previous levels of biodiversity after being disrupted.
- In what ways do ecosystems respond to disruptions?
- In what ways do disruptions in an ecosystem impact organisms?
Key Content Vocabulary:
- Biodiversity – variety of organisms in an ecosystem or biome
- Climax community – dominant community of plants and animals that come to live in an area
- Ecological succession – the changing sequence of communities that live in an ecosystem during a given time period
- Limiting factor – a condition or resource that keeps a population at a certain size
- Microhabitat – a small or specialized habitat within a larger habitat
- Niche – the unique role or job of an organism in an ecosystem
- Pioneer species – first organisms to live in an area
- Primary succession – a process that develops a biotic community in a previously uninhabited and barren habitat with little or no soil
- Secondary succession – a process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species
- Sustainability – ability to maintain ecological processes over long periods of time; ability of an ecosystem to maintain its structure and function over time
7th Grade Texas History
(Our next unit is Texas in the Great Depression & WWII beginning 4/17)
Unit 9 - Age of Oil & Reform
This unit focuses on the development of the oil industry in Texas, the advance of reform movements in Texas, and the effects of the First World War on society in Texas. This unit is primarily a study of growing power. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Texas coast was devastated by a hurricane. Rebuilding after the hurricane brought political and economic changes to Galveston and Texas. It was also during the early decades of the twentieth century that the oil industry in Texas began. During this time Texans played a role in national events including the progressive reform movements and the First World War. An examination of early twentieth century events in Texas is important for understanding the broader role Texas was taking in national political affairs.
Unit 9 Vocabulary
• boom and bust cycle – an economic pattern characterized by periods of economic growth and periods of economic decline
• industrialization – the economic development of manufacturing products from natural resources
• petroleum – a thick, oily substance found deep in the Earth, use as a fuel
• prohibition – to ban something, generally refers to the movement to ban the manufacture, sale, transportation and use of alcoholic beverages
• progressives – those who advocate social reforms and legislative programs to improve society
• suffrage – the right to vote
• rural – Country, or country life
• urban – City, or city life Timeline of Eve
8th Grade Math
Unit 10 - Making Connections
In math class, your student is connecting all of the learning from Units 1-9 as we make our final push towards the STAAR test.
Below you will find some resources your student can use at home to work on concepts that may need some extra practice.
Also, please reach out to your student's math teacher if you need additional practice.
8th Grade - Reading & English Language Arts
Unit 4 - "Pushing Boundaries"
In this unit, students will learn about invention, considering concepts such as inspiration and perseverance. Students will read a variety of texts and view media as they discuss the Essential Question for the unit: Why are inventions necessary?"
Through realistic short stories, technological articles, and science fiction, students will analyze and discuss:
- What are some of the ways you could answer the question
- Why are inventions necessary?
- What do these texts say about what compels people to invent?
- Are inventions ever successful on the first try?
- Why do you think inventors and invention are popular subjects in books and films?
Activities and assignments in Unit 4 will help your student meet the following Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Here are some key standards students will work toward in this unit.
Comprehension / Response
• 5.F Make inferences and use evidence to support understanding.
• 5.I Monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.
Vocabulary / Word Study
• 2.A Use print or digital resources to determine the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin, and part of speech.
• 2.B Use context within or beyond a paragraph to clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words.
Analysis
• 7.B Analyze how character's motivations and behaviors influence events and resolution of the conflict.
• 9.F Analyze how the author's use of language contributes to the mood, voice, and tone.
Composition
• 10.B.i–ii Develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by
organizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction, transitions, coherence within and across paragraphs, and a conclusion; and developing an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific facts, details, and examples.
• 10.D.iii Edit drafts using standard English conventions, including prepositions and prepositional phrases and their influence on subject-verb agreement.
• 11.A Compose multi-paragraph argumentative texts using genre characteristics and craft.
Inquiry and Research
• 1.A Listen actively to interpret a message by summarizing, asking questions, and making comments.
• 12.A Generate student-selected and teacher-guided questions for formal and informal inquiry.
8th Grade Science
Unit 8 - Interdependence Among Living Systems
Organisms in an ecosystem depend on and compete for biotic and abiotic factors. Availability of these factors impacts the numbers of organisms and populations present in ecosystems.
- In what ways do organisms and populations depend on and compete for biotic and abiotic factors?
- In what ways might organisms and populations be affected by an abundance or scarcity of biotic and abiotic factors?
Organisms and traits in subsequent populations respond to short- and long-term environmental changes, including those caused by human activities.
- In what ways do short- and long-term environmental changes affect organisms and populations over time?
- In what ways have human activities modified ocean systems?
- In what ways are humans dependent on ocean systems?
Key Content Vocabulary:
- Abiotic – nonliving factors in the environment; physical rather than biological; do not come from living organisms
- Biotic – living factors in the environment; relating to, produced by, or caused by living organisms
- Ecosystem – the living and nonliving components of an environment
- Population – all of the members of a species living in a particular area at a particular time
8th Grade United States History
Unit 11 - Reconstruction
Unit Understandings & Essential Questions:
Rebuilding the Union required addressing political, economic and social problems in the southern states.
- What pressing political, economic, and social problems did the southern states face following the end of the Civil War?
- How was the U.S. Constitution amended because of the Civil War?
- How did the U.S. legislature address the problems in the southern states following the Civil War?
- What conditions were established for readmission of the southern states to the Union?
- What compromise was made to eventually reconstruct the Union?
Reconstruction brought changes in social and economic patterns in the South.
- How did the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments change the United States and the lives of Americans?
- How did some in the South respond to the changes brought about by Reconstruction?
- What was characteristic of the economy in the South after Reconstruction?
- How were the lives of people, including the former enslaved population, living in the South changed by Reconstruction?
- What stayed the same about life in the United States following Reconstruction?
Unit Vocabulary:
Reconstruction – process of rebuilding the Union with the readmission of the southern states
sharecropping – the practice of receiving a portion of the crops in exchange for living and farming on a large estate
carpetbagger – referred to Northerners who moved to the South following the Civil War to take advantage of the unsettled political situation
scalawag – referred to Southerners who cooperated with federal authorities during Reconstruction, often gaining an advantage
homestead – a tract of land with a home on it
For 7th graders looking to jump into Algebra - Placement Tests will be given 5/22-5/23
Algebra I
Unit 6 - Probability & Statistics
In this unit you will investigate univariate data, using statistics and graphs to compare different distributions and to comment on similarities and differences among them. You will also use two-way tables to summarize bivariate categorical data and find a “best-fit line” to summarize bivariate numerical data. You will use technology to calculate a measure of strength and direction for relationships that are linear in form. Finally, you will learn to distinguish between correlation/association and causation.
Essential Questions
- How are dot plots, histograms, and box plots used to learn about distributions of numerical data?
- How can the scatter plot, best-fit line, and correlation coefficient be used to learn about linear relationships in bivariate numerical data?
- How can a two-way table be used to learn about associations between two categorical variables?
- When is it reasonable to interpret associations as evidence for causation?