7th Grade Newsletter
January 2019
Happy New Year!
CMS Families:
I hope that you all enjoyed a nice, relaxing winter break. 2nd semester is now underway and 7th graders have much to look forward to in the coming months! Our upcoming "7th Grade Career Day" hosted by our CMS PTA and coordinated by Ms. Meredith Hoban, will be taking place on Thursday, January 10th, 2019! Students will have the opportunity to meet a wide variety of professionals from different fields and areas of expertise. We are super excited and grateful for our students to have an opportunity for this awesome experience!
Wishing you all the very best in 2019,
Mrs. Psalmonds, Assistant Principal
7th Grade Administrator
The Counseling Corner
Ms. Severino, 7th Grade Counselor
Some Helpful Tips to Start off the New Year.....
Handling Homework:
Homework can sometimes be a stressful part of a student’s evening. Here are some tips to make it easier not only for your child, but for you in helping support as well. Think it through: Before your child begins, have him/her make a to-do list. Example: write a poem, read a history chapter and solve 10 math problems. Then, suggest that he/she number the tasks from most to least difficult. This “save the easiest for last” strategy will help your child finish their homework on a high note, perhaps inspiring him/her to get in some extra review/studying. Think about time: Ask your child to consider different time slots he/she can use to get work done. For instance, maybe they could set aside a weekend morning or Sunday night. Also, some middle schoolers may be given time at the end of class on some occasions, as well as maybe in homeroom on some days, to tackle homework. Encourage your child that if they are given the opportunity to get a head start on homework while at school, to do so. The more he/she does then, the more time she’ll have for relaxation and downtime later at home. It would also benefit them by having a teacher available to answer questions. Think positive: Help your middle schooler see homework as a chance to prove their independence by getting their work done on time and doing it by themselves. Boost your child’s confidence by telling them: “Homework gives you a chance to show all that you know.” Give them praise and encouragement when they do just that.
World Language
Ms. Sandreuter & Ms. Pujals
Feliz Año Nuevo! This month Spanish 1B classes will continue work in Lesson 5, titled Las Vacacciones. Students will expand their knowledge of the verb 'to be' by comparing and contrasting the uses of 'Estar' and 'Ser'; additionally, students will learn to use Direct Object Pronouns in Spanish. A New Year's Resolution for 2019 is to study vocabulary consistently, 3-4 x/week, to help advance our proficiency skills 2nd semester. A little Spanish humor: ¿Cómo se llama una vaca perezosa? ¡Vacacciones!
Ms. Davy
German students will be learning vocabulary about careers. They will be able to describe different careers and also read level one texts about this topic. Students should continue to study vocabulary at home for about 20 minutes per night. Frau Davy is looking forward to a fabulous second semester!
Ms. Proctor
French 1B will begin learning different places in the city that one might want to visit. We will also conjugate "aller" (to go), which will facilitate communication about where we want to go and what we want to do. In addition, we will prepare for International Night, which will take place in early February!
Math Department
Ms. King, Ms. Howell, Mr. Sarris
In Math 7, we will be completing our Unit 3: Ratios and Proportions by learning about proportions and percent concepts including tax, tip and discount. Once we have completed our Ratios and Proportions unit, students will continue to apply proportional understanding in the beginning of our Probability unit.
Math 8 students will learn the characteristics of functions. From there, students will focus on linear function characteristics. This unit will include writing equations from graphs and tables, finding slope and comparing linear functions represented in different ways.
Social Studies
Mr. Campbell, Ms. Suggs, Ms. Militana, Ms. Wiggins
In Social Studies we returned from the break to begin our study of personal finance. Students are preparing for their field trips to the Junior Achievement Center at the end of January. The goal of Junior Achievement is to provide financial literacy and work-readiness education through academically enriching, experiential-learning lessons. Students are focusing their learning on taxes, income (net and gross), saving, investing, debit and credit, and how to create a budget.
Science
Ms. Nolan, Mr. Shaw, Ms. McMahon
In Life science, we are starting our Genetics unit where students will perform exciting activities, projects, and labs that will give them an insight on how traits are passed from parents to offspring. For one of our activities, students will test if they are considered super-tasters, depending on if they have the genetic trait which makes them sensitive to Phenlythiocarbmide, or PTC. For one of our labs, students will perform synthetic genetic testing to see how genetic disorders are tracked in families through the use of pedigrees. Finally, students will complete a genetic monster project where they will determine traits through monohybrid crossing.
ELA
Mr. Mendelson, Ms. Gentry, Ms. Wade, Ms. Hales
We are excited to start second semester off with improving our writing! We will work to build our writing through writers workshop where students will work both independently and through conferencing with their teacher, in order to build strong informational essays! The completion of the writing unit will lead us into a poetry unit as we learn how to compare poetry with informational text. Students will strengthen their figurative language skills while learning how to determine the similarities between poetic devices & non-fiction text! We're so excited for this semester-- let's get started!
Reading
Ms. Jennette
This month we will be learning and applying new reading skills through book clubs. We will be diving into themes, characterization, inferencing within a text, comparing and contrasting, synthesizing, and writing about texts while reading historical fiction novels. The students will be able to choose their novel based on their interest and skill level. We are very excited to teach this new unit!
CMS Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award
MLK Humanitarian Awards The CMS Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award will once again be presented to a student, staff member, and a community member. This award will be given out during the month of February in celebration of Black History Month. The purpose of this program is to commemorate Dr. King's legacy of service, justice, and equality, and to recognize individuals in our community that have made outstanding humanitarian contributions. If you know of a student, staff member, or community member that gives unselfishly of their time and energy in an effort to make our world and school a better place, please nominate them for this prestigious award. All nominations are due by Thursday, January 25th and must include your comments and reasons for choosing this person. Please take a moment to fill out the nomination form which can be found @ https://bit.ly/2CRbEIl
PBIS Winter Jam!!!
Congratulations TOP PBIS Points 1st Semester
A special shout out to our TOP 10 finalists for the most PBIS points this semester!!!
TOP 2 OVERALL: Jada-Marie Dada & Alaya Flynn
Upcoming Events:
Our next PBIS rewards day activity is scheduled for February 1st, 2019!
Stay tuned for more details......
No School: MLK Jr. Day January 21st, 2019
Let's continue to work hard, stay positive, and make 2nd semester AMAZING!!!