Cluster 3
The Place to Be!
November Happenings!
Cluster 3 is racing to the finish line of Term 1. Grades are closed as of Friday, November 4th. All students did a fantastic job! On to Term 2!
Next week is a short week. No school on Tuesday (11/8) for Voting Day and No school Friday (11/11) in observance of Veterans Day. Thank you to all who have served our country!
PLEASE CHECK OUT THESE SMORES!
SPECIALISTS - The Specialist S'more
MS. SORENSON'S CLASSROOM - https://www.smore.com/enhsa
READING CLASSROOMS - https://www.smore.com/5r0sb-reading-classes
Math with Mr. Casiano
Hello,
We are in the middle of our unit on Proportional Relationships. We are understanding the word proportion along with recognizing what that looks like in a Story, Table, Graph or Equation. Students are beginning to use variables and think abstractly about how relationships work. We had a quiz on the first half of this unit on Friday November 4th.
Section 3: Proportional Relationships in Graphs (Lessons 8–10)
Students explore graphs of proportional relationships and use graphs to determine constants of proportionality. This work supports students with the study of slope in Grade 8.
Lesson 8 invites students to explore what a proportional relationship looks like graphically (a straight line through the origin). This is the first time in Grade 7 that students encounter a graph.
Lesson 9 examines graphs of proportional relationships in the context of gas mileage and explores strategies for determining the constant of proportionality from points on these lines.
Lesson 10 helps students connect the steepness of the line to its equation as students use graphs and equations to compare proportional relationships.
Section 4: Using Proportional Relationships (Lessons 11–12)
Students use all of the representations of proportional relationships to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
Lesson 11 invites students to create and connect descriptions, tables, equations, and graphs of proportional relationships.
Lesson 12 asks students to use their understanding of proportional relationships to explore whether baths or showers use more water.
Social Studies with Mr. Kirkclady
This week students have been examining artifacts from Mohenjo-Daro, a city from the ancient Indus River valley civilization in India/Pakistan. From these artifacts, students are making inferences about what these artifacts show about the daily lives of people who lived in this time and place. They will then be working on a project to create a magazine cover that highlights some of these archaeological discoveries from this civilization. Next week we will start discussing how religion and beliefs have shaped people's lives in this area of the world by learning about the central beliefs of Hinduism. Later in the month we will learn about Buddhism and compare/contrast these two religions.
Learning Targets:
- I can analyze artifacts to make inferences about the Indus Valley Civilization
English Language Arts with Ms. Fitanides
Our short story unit is well underway with full class instruction centering around Thank You M'am by Langston Hughes, The Scholarship Jacket by Martha Salinas and Charles by Shirley Jackson. Each mentor text is used as a model to show students specific comprehension strategies for deeper understanding of a text. For example, we look for Aha Moments where characters reflect and learn something which leads us to understand possible themes in the story. Students then continue to read a variety of leveled short stories to practice these comprehension skills with peers before we assess them on their own.
Skills we are focusing on in this unit are:
- -Using signpost reading strategies to help determine important parts of the stories
- -Identifying how characters's actions influence other characters
- -Understanding how setting influences character actions and conflicts
- -Noticing topics that come up again and again that might lead us to themes
- -Evaluating character growth and change and what lessons characters learn
- -Noticing conflicts and how character change as a result of these challenges
- -Determining Aha moments where characters reflect and learn something
- -Identifying author's themes
Science with Ms. Smith
As we continue to investigate the human body, students have been studying the digestive system. A key understanding for students is that the food we eat must be converted into simpler forms in order for the body cells to be able to get the nutrients they need. We continue to go back and forth between the visible human body and organs and the microscopic cells that make them up. Students are learning the accessory organs of the digestive system and how food is turned into nutrients and absorbed into the bloodstream. This is also the basic introduction to chemistry. Looking ahead, we will find out about the nervous system and circulatory systems before we culminate our unit with the frog dissection.
LEARNING TARGETS
I CAN develop a model to describe the food is arranged through chemical reactions forming new materials that support growth and release energy as matter travels through the human body.
I CAN identify the main functions of the digestive system and how it is structured.
I CAN list elements found in organic compounds.
I CAN recognize organic compounds in chemical formulas.