MS Newsletter
Here's what's happening in MS this week!
April 9, 2018
Dear parents,
M-Step math testing will be on Wednesday for the 8th graders. If you’d like to try sample sessions at home for math, science, ELA, or social studies, go to the website https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/ and click on M-Step to get started.
ENGLISH
6th Grade: We will lose two class periods this week due to Lancer Leap roll-out and PSAT testing. On Tuesday and Thursday, students will be presenting their book talks for their independent reading project. We will spend Friday starting our research papers from the animal research we conducted before spring break.
7th Grade: Students will be presenting their book talks for their independent reading project on Tuesday and Thursday. We will also be resuming our work on memoirs, which we will finish by the end of next week.
8th Grade: 8th grade English will continue working on our argumentative essay. Students are reading six articles and gathering information on what we can do to improve society. They will take the evidence they found and write an essay supporting the claim.
SOCIAL STUDIES
6th Grade: We’ve been discussing cultural diffusion which is how things and ideas can spread to different cultures. We will be looking at cultural fads next. Also, 6th and 7th graders will be travelling to NCMC in Petoskey on Wednesday to tour the college and have lunch (provided). We will be back after lunch for the last two classes of the day. Part of the tour will be outside, so they should have a coat. They are also encouraged to bring cell phones for an interactive game at the college.
7th Grade: We’ve been discussing cultural diffusion which is how things and ideas can spread to different cultures. We will be looking at cultural fads next. Also, 6th and 7th graders will be travelling to NCMC in Petoskey on Wednesday to tour the college and have lunch (provided). We will be back after lunch for the last two classes of the day. Part of the tour will be outside, so they should have a coat. They are also encouraged to bring cell phones for an interactive game at the college.
8th Grade: Students have reviewed information about Jackson’s presidency, including Native American Removal efforts during his term. On Monday, students will be assessed over this information. We will be further delving into the Mexican-American War and expansion.
MATH
6th Grade: This week we will continue discussing percents and how they affect us in real life, for example, if the human body is 67% water and a student weighs 115 pounds, about how many pounds of that weight is water? We will finish our unit on percentages this week. Expect a test on Friday.
7th Grade: We have finished our module on angles and their relationships to each other. Monday we will review for our test on Tuesday. On Thursday we will begin discussing how to find the circumference, area, and volume of 2D and 3D objects.
8th Grade: We will have Lancer Leap roll out on Monday, so we will miss math and 8th graders with be taking the math M-STEP on Wednesday. Get plenty of rest on Tuesday night! On Thursday we will begin a new unit on dilations, which are images enlarged by a scale factor.
SCIENCE
6th Grade: We are discussing and experimenting with forces affecting kinetic energy which is the energy of motion. We have been constructing ramps to test the speed of “cars”. This week will be adding to our ramps to create hills to see how it affects the motion of the “cars”.
7th Grade: We have been talking about cell division and why organisms create more cells (To grow, to repair, and to replace). We completed a germination lab using bean seeds and we are going to continue to grow them to see how big we can get them.
8th Grade: We have been reviewing facts about our solar system and making models of the distance between objects. This week we will be making a scale model of the size of objects in our solar system. Eighth graders will be starting the M-Step on Wednesday, so make sure they are rested and ready.
SINCERELY,
The Middle School Team
6-7th English: Nic Dziadosz ndziadosz@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
8 English: Amanda Terryberry aterryberry@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6&8th Sci, 6-7th SS: Sue Goslee sgoslee@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
8th SS: Olivia Speicher ospeicher@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
6-8 Math: Erica Stuck estuck@ellsworth.k12.mi.us
7th Science: Clayton Faivor cfaivor@ellsworth.k12.mi.us