Ellsworth MS Newsletter
Here's what's happening in MS!
March 16, 2020
Dear parents,
We know that many of you will want your children to have access to educational resources during this extended break. Many teachers have given students access to information that they can use to keep learning during this time. Please read information below and email teachers if there are any questions. Please go outside every day!
ENGLISH
6th And 7th grades- Read and read often! Reading not only fights off the boredom and takes you on a journey but it also helps improve your spelling, grammar and can give you lots of ideas for your own writing. Write some poetry, fan fiction, song lyrics and engage in some journal writing.
8th Grade: One thing that students can do for English 8 is read! Students have been tasked with reading 125,000 words during 4th quarter and they can certainly work on that. To give you an idea what that might look like the 1st Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, is 77,508 words. The longest book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is 257,154 words. Students can find word counts on arbookfind.com and wordcounters.com. If you have any questions, please email me. I will check my email daily.
SOCIAL STUDIES
6th Grade: During our extended break, students are encouraged to practice identification of world countries and US states. If you have access to the internet, there are plenty of sites to assist in practicing these skills. www.worldgeographygames.com and www.quizziz.com are some of the sites we’ve used regularly in the classroom. I also encourage students to identify countries and places that their ancestors have come from as well as places they’d like to visit. I will try to post anything else I find that might be of interest to students on Google Classroom.
7th Grade: During our extended break, students are encouraged to practice identification of world countries and US states. If you have access to the internet, there are plenty of sites to assist in practicing these skills. www.worldgeographygames.com and www.quizziz.com are some of the sites we’ve used regularly in the classroom. I also encourage students to identify countries and places that their ancestors have come from as well as places they’d like to visit. I will try to post anything else I find that might be of interest to students on Google Classroom.
8th Grade: We were just getting into the battles of the Civil War just before beginning our time away from school. I have sent home two things your student can choose to work on, though not mandatory. First is a reading where they talk to the text and secondly is an option out of several things to do two projects. These will not be graded but a fun way for your students to spend their time off and learn some interesting things. Be safe
MATH
6th Grade: Students that were here on our last day were given an iReady sheet of upcoming lessons that are on their path for learning. Your child can keep track on this report of the lessons they complete and bring back to school. If your child was not here, the packet will be mailed to your home. If you have internet, iReady is the best tool for your child to use to continue their growth path. I would suggest at least 20 minutes a day. If internet is not available, a packet was provided of worksheets for your child to use. When we return, we will continue learning how to write expressions from word problems.
7th Grade: Students that were here on our last day were given an iReady sheet of upcoming lessons that are on their path for learning. Your child can keep track on this report of the lessons they complete and bring back to school. If your child was not here, the packet will be mailed to your home. If you have internet, iReady is the best tool for your child to use to continue their growth path. I would suggest at least 20 minutes a day. If internet is not available, a packet was provided of worksheets for your child to use. When we return, we will Begin studying geometry.
8th Grade: Students that were here on our last day were given an iReady sheet of upcoming lessons that are on their path for learning. Your child can keep track on this report of the lessons they complete and bring back to school. If your child was not here, the packet will be mailed to your home. If you have internet, iReady is the best tool for your child to use to continue their growth path. I would suggest at least 20 minutes a day. If internet is not available, a packet was provided of worksheets for your child to use. We finished our lesson last week over transformations. When we return, we will focus on transformations and their congruence properties.
SCIENCE
6th Grade: If you have access to the internet, I posted a link on Google Classroom: Science 6 to CK12 which is an online resource for students to use to learn more about energy and to test their knowledge. (The classroom code is p2zizgs in case there is a student who hasn’t joined it yet). The link is for Chapter 14 which is about energy but they are welcome to explore other topics. I also posted a link for students to try their hand at some interactive simulations. They’ve done some of these in the classroom before so it should be familiar.
7th Grade: Most important for science is reading Non-fiction. We were going to have a quiz on cell division and mitosis, and we will do so whenever we get back, so students can review their reading from class. Here is a link to the text online: https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-life-science-for-middle-school/r143/section/5.1/ All student have access to ck12 online and can go there for additional readings. We will go onto 5.2 text next. I have also posted assignments to ck12 that they should do. I will post more as needed. Please email me if you have any questions or you need more for your students to do! P.S. Make sure your students spend some time outdoors everyday.
8th Grade: Most important for science is reading Non-fiction. We were going to have a quiz on cell division and mitosis, and we will do so whenever we get back, so students can review their reading from class. Here is a link to the text online: https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-life-science-for-middle-school/r143/section/5.1/ All student have access to ck12 online and can go there for additional readings. We will go onto 5.2 text next. I have also posted assignments to ck12 that they should do. I will post more as needed. Please email me if you have any questions or you need more for your students to do! P.S. Make sure your students spend some time outdoors everyday.
ART
6-7-8: Keep drawing and coloring of you can. Try drawing things around your house. Try coloring using different colors to shade with like purple shadows on blue or red shading on orange. This can help make something look 3D with out shading in black.
PE (7th & 8th Grade): 7th and 8th grade PE students had an excellent start to the 4th marking period! I appreciate their work ethic, positive attitude, conduct, and sportsmanship and look forward to our time together after spring break.
Please encourage your student to remain active during spring break. Teenagers need 1 hour of aerobic activity everyday and 20 minutes of muscular endurance and muscular strength activities 3 days per week. Full body activities that elevate the heart rate for 60 continuous minutes is ideal, but the 60 minutes can also be divided in a minimum of 10 minute intervals.
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