Sandwich Middle School
February Newsletter
6th Grade News
Goodbye, January…Hello, February….This month, our 6th graders will stay very busy in their core classes, learning even more amazing skills and content in all our subjects! In Language Arts, all classes will be reading A Wrinkle in Time to prepare for a fun trip to the movie theater to see the new movie version! March 13th will be the date of the trip, be on the lookout for permission slips to come home. Regular LA will also be finishing up our Bud, Not Buddy unit, including a test over the novel and Bud projects! In Social Studies, we are working on our Ancient Rome unit. Science will be exploring the different Biomes. Regular math will be working with perents, fractions, and decimals. They will also be practicing how to find tax, tip and discount. (Real world situations using percents!) AT and ACC will be starting the month working on a map project. They will be traveling in a state using a road map, figuring up gas mileage for "their vehicle", how long it will take to get to each spot and if needed lodging. All this with a map out of an atlas and not their GPS. Don’t forget—we are working toward getting to the Kane County Cougars game on April 11th!! Students must read 200 pages every two weeks to earn a ticket, so be looking for the summary sheets to sign in the upcoming weeks.
Our Students of the Month for 6th grade are Miles Corder and Jillian Ashley—great work, guys!
7th Grade News
With January rolling to a close, we are focused on the growth of America in Social Studies. Having finished our study on the Jeffersonians, we are now ready to address the Jackson presidency. We will examine the evolution of the modern political parties and the impact made on the decisions of the government. In Mr. Horton’s class students have addressed these political discussions via a letter writing assignments on Tecumseh’s stance and the class will reflect on another with the Indian Removal Act. We will be identifying clues and evidence of events that will eventually lead us to a civil war. We will also look into the advantages and disadvantages of our westward migration known as Manifest Destiny.
In science, we are finishing up our Astronomy unit. We are finishing up with the moon and different moon activities. We will finish out the Astronomy unit with a group model project that will be completed in class.
As we begin the back nine of our school year in Language Arts, we will continue to develop new word strategies. Information text and sources will season our readings, as will our experiences with R.A.C.E. response exercises. This month we will analyze text structures, technical passages, and visual components of everyday passages. Yes, there is an art to reading those confusing directions and advertisements. As our writing experiences continue to expand, our expectations for proper grammar will increase, too. Be well!
In the math classes, we just finished up our unit on equations and inequalities. During this unit, the students learned how to solve one-step and two-step equations and inequalities. They also learned how to solve equations with rational number coefficients and how to work backward to problem solve. We are now working on our unit over probability. During this unit the students will learn about simple, theoretical, and experimental probability. They will also learn how to find the probability of compound, dependent, and independent events. The students will also learn how to find sample space, use the Fundamental Counting Principle, and find permutations and combinations. After we finish up this unit, we will be moving onto statistics.
In pre-algebra, we just finished up our chapter on more equations and inequalities. During this chapter, the students learned how to solve multi-step equations and inequalities and equations with variables on both sides. They also learned how to solve equations for different variables and solving system of equations. We are now working on our next chapter over graphing lines. During this chapter, the students will learn how to graph linear equations, find the slopes of lines, and how to use slopes and intercepts to graph. They will also learn how to use point-slope form, direct variation, graphing inequalities with two variables, and lines of best fit. When we finish this chapter, we will be moving on to probability.
Our students of the month this time around will be Owen Sheley and Brooklynn Misener
8th Grade News
In language arts the students are busy preparing for the upcoming PARCC tests. They will also soon be starting the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis. In science they are studying oceanography. In math, students are fully engaged in unit 4 – Graphing reflections, translations, and rotations on the coordinate plane. In history, students are learning about the factors that lead to WWII and what actions were taken throughout the world in response to events of WWII.
Reminder: PARCC testing is coming. Please, make sure your son or daughter gets plenty of rest. A great breakfast to start the day is highly encouraged.
Please double check and make sure that all medical and conduct forms are turned in for those students who will be attending Washington, D.C. in February.
Students of the Month are Emma Krafft and Evan Fraser . We are so lucky to have them as members of our team. They work hard every day, are always polite and always go that extra mile. We applaud your efforts and hard work.
PE News
With the 3rd quarter in full swing, the Physical Education classes are rolling right along. Our classes have just finished up our Floor Hockey/Golf/Fitness Class units and will be moving into our always exciting Olympic Unit. This is a great time for this event for the 2018 Olympics are just right around the corner. We have some students whom we would like to recognize for their outstanding achievements and participation in class. These students are Hailey Hoffman, Chance Lange, and Melissa Pfaff. These students are very helpful in class, participate and an utmost high level, and are very energetic and enthusiastic. Keep up the good work!
STEM News
This month, 6th grade students will continue practicing the engineering design process as they participate in exciting design challenges. They will also be introduced to computer programing using hands-on materials and interactive lessons from “Let’s Start Coding”.
7th grade students will continue exploring design concepts, technical drawing, and computer modeling using TinkerCAD. At the end of the month they will apply their learning as begin their final project of the quarter, the Puzzle Cube Design. They will use TinkerCAD to design and 3D print their final projects.
Finally, this month 8th grade students will be learning more about mechanisms and how they work as they begin using VEX equipment to assemble mechanisms. Later in the month, they will be introduced to the world of programming using RobotC.
STEM Students of the Month
Thank you to Christian Sommers for all your hard work and positive attitude in Automation & Robotics during 3rd quarter!