Due to last week's inclement weather, see the post below for this week's topics.
Also, students are scheduled to be placed in their new RTI groups on Wednesday, January 27.
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Math
This week in math we will be focusing on adding and subtracting linear expressions. This will build on students' prior knowledge of the distributive property, combining like-terms, and integer operations (knowing that when multiplying/dividing, different signs will produce a negative answer and the same signs will produce a positive answer). We will be working from pp. 395-409 in the textbook. Following a mid-week assessment, we will move on to factoring expressions, which will build on students' understanding of greatest common factors and like terms. Science This week in science we will be wrapping up our unit on rocks and minerals by reviewing the rock cycle. This is the process in which rocks change (very slowly) from igneous to sedimentary to metamorphic states, depending on which force (heating, cooling, weathering, pressure) is applied. Students will also be spending a large chunk of their class time on their conflict mineral project - students are working in groups to create awareness for the trade of conflict minerals from Africa. Here are a few articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/business/dealbook/companies-struggle-to-comply-with-conflict-minerals-rule.html?_r=0 https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/ http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/conflict-minerals-company-rankings-0 Groups will be creating their choice of either a presentation/pamphlet/poster/video to explain what conflict minerals are, regions of the world that are involved, the use of these minerals in everyday technology, what is being done to control the trade and hold companies accountable, etc. Finally, VSVS (Vanderbilt Students Volunteering for Science) will return to West End next month for four weeks. Each week they will present a different lesson (always with a hands-on/experiment component) for both science classes. Math
Our 2016 semester will begin with a quick review of the distributive property. Students will use the property to evaluate expressions with rational numbers and variables, as well as being able to simplify these expressions by combining like-terms. Our short week will finish out with an intro to creating expressions and equations from sentences both verbally and symbolically ( ex: seven less than twice a number = 2x = 7 ). Science This year will begin with a new unit on rocks and minerals. Our three days this week will be spent focusing on the vocabulary and properties associated with classifying minerals. Students will learn how to use color, hardness, cleavage/fracture, streak, and luster to determine what type of mineral they are holding. The unit evolves into rocks (a combination of two or more minerals) and their types/properties/cycles. Students will have a quiz early next week. Math
This week in math we will be focusing on the distributive property. We will begin with integers/fractions/decimals and then progress towards using the distributive property with variables. All students should bring their Volume 2 math books each day this week. On Tuesday, the Quarter 2 Benchmark Exam will be administered via laptops. Students will be able to use a calculator for approximately half of the questions. The majority of the questions are from the standards covered in Quarter 2, along with 5 extra questions from Quarter 1. These 5 questions are aligned with the most-missed standards from the Quarter 1 Benchmark. Science This week in science we will be closing out our unit on plants. The focus this week will be comparing and contrasting seed plants and seedless plants. We will learn about how they reproduce, how long they have existed, and how their structures help them survive. Students will need to be familiar with the terms angiosperm, gymnosperm, spore, stamen, pistil, petal, sepal, and photosynthesis. We will have a short quiz on angiosperms and gymnosperms early in the week, and we will spend the rest of the week preparing for next week's Quarter 2 cumulative exam. Students will be given a study guide to assist them with their preparation. Math
This week in math we will be starting our new unit on Integers. We will be focusing on absolute value (distance from zero), zero sum ("opposite" numbers that form zero), as well as adding and subtracting rational numbers. It is important that students know how to visualize these operations on a number line - subtraction means move to the left and addition means move to the right. We will assess on Thursday. Science This week in science we will be working with Punnett Squares to find the probability of an organism's offspring inheriting certain traits. Key terms this week will be dominant and recessive traits, homozygous (same) and heterozygous (different), genotype (an organism's genetic makeup), and phenotype (an organism's physical appearance). We will be assessing on Wednesday and Thursday before moving on to our new unit next week. Math
This week in Math, we'll be continuing our unit on percents. Students will be taking a district-wide practice test on Monday, followed by a review/extension of the percent proportion on Tuesday. Beyond solving one-sentence prompts (ex: What number is 65% of 415?), students will learn how to apply the percent proportion to word problems and real-life scenarios. After an assessment on the percent proportion, we will work through a lesson on percent of change. Science This week in Science will begin with a thorough review of the human organ systems. All students are expected to bring their organ systems guided notes (stapled packet) and textbook to class every day. VSVS (Vanderbilt Students Volunteering for Science) will be presenting hands-on lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday. The final class of the week will begin with an assessment on human organ systems, followed by an intro lesson on genes, chromosomes, and inherited traits. Math
This week in math, we will be applying our understanding of proportionality to the coordinate plane. Students already know how to determine whether a graph is proportional (straight line that hits at (0,0) or nonproportional (not straight and/or doesn't hit at (0,0)), and this week we will work on finding the constant rate of change between two values on a coordinate plane by using the change in Y/change in X method. This will blend into finding the slope of a line and being able to explain what it means. This also involves a solid understanding of unit rate, as many of the slopes they will find will have a denominator of one. Students will be assessed on constant rate of change/slope on Friday. |
AuthorI'm Kyle Bohle and I teach 7th grade science. Categories |