7th Grade Newsletter
Find out what's going on in 7th grade this month!
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Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!
Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight: Dr. Ruth Gonzalez
Ruth’s parents were both raised in Mexico. “Neither of them had the opportunity to get an education,” she remarks. Ruth grew up in Houston and attended Galena Park High School. Raised in a community in which illiteracy is high and about half the Hispanic students do not finish high school, Ruth and her three siblings all finished high school and attended college, but she is the only one of the four with an advanced degree.” Although my parents didn’t always understand my reasons for pursuing so much education, they are very proud of my accomplishments,” she notes.
In 1980 Dr. Gonzalez joined the Exxon Production Research Company. She completed her graduate work at Rice while working full-time as a geophysical mathematician at Exxon (now ExxonMobil). Her work at Exxon focused on the development of seismic imaging tools for exploring oil and gas reservoirs. In the 1990's she headed a team of researchers who developed technology to turn seismic data into three-dimensional views of rock formations deep inside the earth, thus helping other specialists to decide where to drill for oil and gas. She has also served as an advisor in the Geophysical Processing Department at ExxonMobil and is currently an advisor for the Project Facilitation Team of the ExxonMobil Exploration Company.
Source: awm-math.org and https://mathwomen.agnesscott.org/women/gonzalez.htm
What's New at Meridian?
Upcoming Events
Tuesday September 29th: Progress Report for Trimester 1
Friday September 30- Thursday October 6th: Scholastic Book Fair
Wednesday October 5th: Family Conferences
Friday October 7th: No School for Students
Saturday October 8th: ES Flag Football Frenzy
Monday October 10th: School Closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day
Thursday October 27th: Fall Festival!
Tuesday November 22nd: End of Trimester 1
Fall Sports Season is in Full Swing!
Soccer
Flag Football
Cross Country
Pictured: Chazz Talib-McLeod
7th Grade SY2022-2023 Schedule Overview
Contact the 7th Grade Team!
What's Happening in the Classroom?
Ms. Wojcik - Math and 7th Grade Team Lead
In our Accelerated course, students are finishing up their first unit on congruence and rigid transformations. They've learned how figures move across a coordinate plane, how to identify congruence, and how to make triangles with specific side lengths and angle measurements. Their first unit test is on October 5th. Unit 2 will start on October 7th!
Want to Extend Students' Learning At Home? Have them complete Zearn lessons for 10-20 minutes each day or on the weekends! Students can access Zearn through any electronic device and log-in via Clever!
Email: bwojcik@meridian-dc.org
Ms. Birkhead - Art
Student Artist - Kloe Johnson
Email: ebirkhead@meridian-dc.org
Mr. Delgado - Spanish
We had norm-building activities and discussions in the first few weeks of Spanish class. Students talked about Meridian's Core Values and shared things they wanted to see and hear in class and things they didn't want to see and hear in class. Based on what they said, I created norms and procedures for class. I also created the first rubric I will use to assess their work, participation, and collaboration in class. This rubric scores their participation and their consideration of our norms, because those are essential for practice and for assessing their knowledge and the knowledge of their peers.
In the first few weeks, through active games and activities, students also learned positive adjectives to describe themselves, as well as the colors, articles of clothing, and other phrases that will allow them to have conversations with each other this month. Next month, we will continue to learn vocabulary that will support those conversations and play more Spanish games. We will also begin to explore the culture and history of Latin America.
I update grades frequently on Schoology and leave comments. If you would like to talk with me about anything, you can use this link to schedule a time. I have availability everyday! https://calendly.com/mdelgado24/mdelgado24
Email: mdelgado@meridian-dc.org
Ms. McGraw - 7th/8th Multilingual Learners
As we continue with Unit 1: In or Out: Our Struggle to Belong, students have been engaging in a deep dive into vocabulary terms and an understanding surrounding the theme of belonging and acceptance. Students have been learning how to break down a writing prompt in order to understand what they need to include to answer the question correctly. They are using multiple sources (videos, short stories, information texts) to find evidence needed to support their arguments on this topic. Students can refer to the R.A.C.E model as a template for argumentative writing.
CAPTION: Students composing an evidence based paragraph after annotating the prompt.
A medida que continuamos con la Unidad 1: Dentro o Fuera: Nuestra Lucha por Pertenecer, los estudiantes han estado participando en una inmersión profunda en términos de vocabulario y una comprensión en torno al tema de pertenencia y aceptación. Los estudiantes han estado aprendiendo cómo desglosar un mensaje de escritura para comprender lo que deben incluir para responder la pregunta correctamente. Están utilizando múltiples fuentes (videos, cuentos, textos informativos) para encontrar la evidencia necesaria para respaldar sus argumentos sobre este tema. Los estudiantes pueden consultar el modelo R.A.C.E como plantilla para la escritura argumentativa.
Email: mmcgraw@meridian-dc.org
Ms. Frank - Intervention
In intervention, students are currently exploring a variety of texts, poems, and articles with a focus on the importance of representation. We are discussing the importance of mirrors and windows, which is the idea that students should see a reflection of their identity and experiences in the texts they read as well as have opportunities to read about characters with different identities, experiences and perspectives. Students analyzed graphs and data that highlight inequities in representation across race and ethnicity and discussed the impact this has on our society. Moving forward, we will continue to explore the impact of representation in real world scenarios with a focus on pop culture and political leaders and representation in our government. Throughout the unit, students will have opportunities to analyze data, conduct research, and deepen their written and oral communication skills.
Extend their learning at home:
Ask them what they are learning about school and what thoughts and feelings it brings up for them!
Discuss current examples of representation in pop culture, politics, and everyday life.
Read together or discuss what your child is reading independently.
Encourage your child to practice skills on Lexia or other Clever programs at home.
Email: nniscofrank@meridian-dc.org
Ms. Mendez and Ms. Taylor - Science and Social Studies
During the month of October students will learn how and why the Scientific Method is used as a means to conduct experiments in a standardized manner. They will also learn about Scientific Theories and explain how and if it is similar to the Scientific Method using a variety of research strategies to support their response. They will use this information to engage in lessons about Biological Evolution. Students will be able to construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increases some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
It's imperative that our kids have both a Science and Social Studies composition notebook as we explore concepts in these subjects. These notebooks not only serve as an organizational tool but as a student reference resource as we navigate abstract and concrete topics this year.
Email: rmendez@meridian-dc.org
Mr. Cooper and Ms. CP - ELA
The seventh grade English Language Arts Classroom scholars have been fully immersed in the Amplify Curriculum. They have just about wrapped up their first unit. The seventh grade scholars began with narrative writing to quickly boost their writing production, to learn the foundational skill of Focus and to become comfortable with the key classroom habits and routines they will use all year.
After exploring the details of how they describe their own experiences and emotions, students pay the same kind of close attention to analyzing the details presented in the unit’s core text: Ji-li Jiang’s Red Scarf Girl, her memoir of growing up during China’s Cultural Revolution.
All scholars were tasked with the charge of choosing the most boring moment from their day to describe using vivid techniques. In addition, they were required to give specific, personalized comments to fellow classmates and pinpoint particular details in their writing to explain how the details hit. In this same light, the units' focus rubric is used to assess students' skills for this writing activity.
As the unit progresses, all 7th grade English Language Arts scholars will begin to practice analyzing images for specific details that convey feelings in preparation for writing about how they feel, or their points of view. They will also discover how getting these specifics right can get their readers to laugh, cringe, or nod in understanding. They have begun discussions with their classmates in relation to details they each find in images, and began to explain what they think those details convey.
Email: ccooper@meridian-dc.org
Ms. Smith - Special Education
Email: csmith1@meridian-dc.org
Mr. Surratt or Mr. Q - Dedicated Aid
Email: qsurratt@meridian-dc.org