Ellsworth MS Newsletter
Here's what's happening in MS this week!
October 1, 2018
Dear parents,
This week on Wednesday we will meet with our houses during seminar. If your child has not told you about their house yet, please ask them!A
ENGLISH
6th Grade: Students are continuing their narrative unit and working on the completion of a one-event personal or fictional narrative. Through the use of example texts and practice, we are working on the following: Engaging the reader, word choice, sensory details, and punctuation used in dialogue. Students are also completing reading logs. Their goal is to read at least one hour per week, or about 10 minutes each day. Many students are exceeding that goal! Please encourage your student to read their narrative book of choice at home.
7th Grade: We have completed NWEA testing for fall so we can move on with our unit on being an outsider. Students will continue to read articles on Commonlit.org and work toward writing an essay before the end of the quarter. In grammar, we will be learning the parts of a sentence. Please remind them to read at least 20 minutes a day at home to meet our reading goals.
8th Grade: NWEA testing is over for the fall and the kids did great! I was really impressed with the effort they put in. We are moving on in our grammar book to work on parts of a sentence. We will also continue our Hero unit. Please remind them to read at least 20 minutes a day at home to meet our reading goals.
SOCIAL STUDIES
6th Grade: We will be starting a unit on Early Humans this week. We will be looking at how archaeologists try to piece together a picture of how they lived from artifacts. Also, I will be awarding prizes for September IXL Social Studies practice this week. I will be doing this each month so remind your student to practice!
7th Grade: We will be starting a unit on Early Humans this week. We will be looking at how archaeologists try to piece together a picture of how they lived from artifacts. Also, I will be awarding prizes for September IXL Social Studies practice this week. I will be doing this each month so remind your student to practice!
8th Grade U.S. History: Students are learning how to use themes of history, including social, cultural, political, geographical, and economic facts, and how those facts affect people. We will continue to use these themes of history in our evaluation of the historical events we learn about. Vocabulary definitions are also being completed for the unit on the early colonies and nation building. We will study these and talk about their meaning and significance throughout the year. This week, we will be learning about Spain’s empires in the Americas and European exploration routes.
MATH
6th Grade: Sixth graders took a quiz on Friday on greatest common factors. This week we will be discussing the least common multiple and how to use it in real life and that will end our chapter. We will have a chapter test covering GCF and LCM on Wednesday.
7th Grade: 7th graders took a quiz on Friday over multiplying and dividing integers. This week we will practice using PEMDAS in real life applications. We will have a chapter test covering integer operations on Tuesday.
8th Grade: 8th graders are learning about scientific notation which is writing very large and very small numbers a special way. We will finish our chapter this week and have a test on Wednesday. Next we will be learning about proportional relationships that exist in real life. An example would be the rising waters in the Hoover Dam are released at an average rate over time. We will be exploring how to graph these kind of events.
SCIENCE
6th Grade: We will be starting a unit on Ecosystems and Biodiversity this week. Students will be creating personal goals for this unit to help them stay on track. Also, I will be awarding prizes for September IXL Science practice this week. I will be doing this each month so remind your student to practice!
7th Grade: We will be continuing our research into severe weather by sharing the presentations students created last week. Also, I will be awarding prizes for September IXL Science practice this week. I will be doing this each month so remind your student to practice!
8th Grade: We will be finishing up our unit on Rocks this week with a test on Wednesday or Thursday. Students will be completing a weathering lab on Monday and Tuesday, designing a procedure to test physical and chemical weathering. You should see your student bringing home and studying their science.
ART
6th Grade: We will be finishing carving our linoleum blocks and learning hot to make prints with them. By the end of the week each student should have several one color prints and some multi colored prints. Your student should be able to tell you what a Brayer is and describe the carving tools and about the different sizes of carving tips. Hopefully they will include how they worked to carve, always pushing the tool away from themselves.
SINCERELY,
The Middle School Team
7&8 English: Amanda Terryberry aterryberry@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6&7th Sci, 6-7th SS: Sue Goslee sgoslee@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6th English Olivia Speicher ospeicher@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6-8 Math: Erica Stuck estuck@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
8th Science: Clayton Faivor cfaivor@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
Art: Kurt Zimmerle kzimmerle@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
Music: Ashley Ford aford@ellsworth.k12.mi.us