7th Grade Newsletter
December 2018
Winter Break Is Almost Here!
Hopefully, your child has taken an opportunity to get involved during this 1st semester. I would highly recommend that you support and encourage them to stay involved, become a positive role model for peers, and to strive to earn all PBIS points on a daily basis!
On that note---Our PBIS "Winter Jam" party is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19th, 2018. A total of 610 points are needed to participate!!! Please have your child check his/her PBIS points on a regular basis and follow up with teachers as needed. We sincerely appreciate your support of the PBIS framework designed to build a positive school culture!
Finally, our last day for students this semester is also December 19th, 2018! I know that students and teachers are eagerly anticipating the upcoming winter break. As you and your family head into the holiday season, I wish you all peace, joy, and many opportunities to enjoy fellowship with family and friends! Take care & I'll look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!!
Warm Wishes,
Mrs. Psalmonds, Assistant Principal
7th Grade Administrator
Counseling Corner
The Importance of Attendance:
Being in school all day, every day, helps your child get the most out of middle school. Encourage good attendance with these ideas: Point out that there is no substitute for being in class. Your child needs to be present to hear teachers explain concepts, to participate in group projects and class discussions and to ask questions. Schedule doctor appointments, etc. for before or after school hours whenever possible. It will be easier for your child to get up on time for school if they have had at least eight to nine hours of sleep. Set a reasonable bedtime and make sure they put away electronic devices so they aren’t tempted to stay awake to answer messages or play games. Turning off or putting away these devices an hour before bed can also help to relax their minds before sleeping.
Thank you for your parental support of our effort to make sure all students are at school each day, on time for classes, and prepared for learning!
Ms. Severino
7th Grade Counselor
World Language Courses
Spanish
We’ve been learning how to conjugate the present tense -ar verbs (which is all a fancy way of saying we change the verb endings according to the pronouns). We have also picked up from counting to thirty one and making our way to counting to a thousand. It is also important to learn how to say “I like” or “I don’t like” in Spanish. Stay tuned to your teachers’ emails/websites/messages for updates. Do not forget that midterms are Tuesday the 18th of December.
German
Frau Davy is looking forward to seeing student presentations on famous German people the first week of December. Students will be preparing to take a mid-term exam on December 18. The exam will cover major vocabulary topics, grammar, and culture learned since August. Students will be reviewing in class, but they should also continue to practice vocabulary at home for about 20 minutes per night. Frau Davy is so proud of this fabulous group of students!
French
English Language Arts Grade 7 & 8
In 7th Grade ELA, we will finish the sentence structure unit this week, and will move on to a Drama unit. The students will continue to learn how to demonstrate command of the conventions of grammar and usage when they are writing. Also, we will be conducting a classroom spelling bee before December 17th. The words and the rules will be posted in their ELA google classroom or website. Please continue to monitor your child's independent reading. They should be reading 10 to 20 minutes at home each day!
In 8th grade ELA the students will be finishing with the Night Memoir Unit. Afterwards, they will be working in their Book Club groups to analyze fiction and nonfiction texts.
Math 7 & 8
Math 7 is continuing to work on Ratios and Proportions. We will have a test over the first half of this unit, including the concepts of Unit Rate and simple Proportions before the Winter Break. In January, we will finish this unit with the concepts of proportions and percents. Math 8 students are finishing a Geometry Unit on Transformations, Congruence, & Similarity. They learned the four types of transformations: translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations. This unit also included congruency and similarity. Students can now transform images using coordinates. They can establish facts about the angle sum and exterior angle of triangles, about the angles created when parallel lines are cut by a transversal, and the angle-angle criterion for similarity of triangles. After our Summative Assessment the week of 12/3, we will introduce Functions and start reviewing for our upcoming Midterm, which will take place December 17th and 18th.
Social Studies
Yikes, the end of the first semester is in sight … four weeks and we are a wrap! (pun intended ) As promised, our classroom elections were held before Thanksgiving. Congratulations to all our Presidents and Prime Ministers! We have completed our initial unit and begun Unit Two, SW Asia and the Middle East. This is always such an interesting topic for students. Our first summative assessment for this unit will be Tuesday, December 18th. In January, we will be attending Junior Achievement Finance Park.
Please watch for permission slips from your teacher to come home and consider opportunities to attend/volunteer. The dates are 1/28 for Ms. Suggs; 1/29 for Mrs. Militana and Wiggins; 1/30 for Mr. Campbell.
Science
In Science, we have just started a new unit on reproduction which we will wrap up and finish just before the winter break! Students should have their vocabulary handout completed. Please stay updated through teacher's websites for important updates and curriculum information.
PBIS
CMS students can earn up to 5 Husky Paw Points per class period for demonstrating
the 3 Bs:
Be Prepared (on time & with materials)
Be Engaged (on-task & using technology appropriately)
Be Respectful
Upcoming Reward: WINTER JAM! (December 19th)
Points Required: 610
Reading (Ms. Jennette & Ms. Pritchard)
In our class, we are continuing our work on Non-Fiction texts. We have worked in book clubs on various non-fiction subject titles that students have chosen to read about. Through the workshop model approach, we are tackling summarizing, synthesizing information, and are continuing to locate main idea and details using higher level texts.
Ms. Jennette Reading (6-8)
In our class, we are in the middle of our informational reading unit. We are diving deep into complex texts, studying interesting and new topics, and learning a TON! As a class we are studying genetic engineering and the use of GMOs in our food. Each student as also been reading about a topic of their choice with a partner or a group. As we get closer to our winter break we will continue to apply the skills we are learning to rigorous texts in preparation for our 2nd summative before we leave for break.
Ms. Pritchard Reading (6-8)