Math
The 7th graders took their check-ins over the area and similarity unit on Monday and Tuesday. Students who finished early worked on completing and catching up on old projects. On Wednesday, they started the surface area unit with a lesson over nets. As a challenge problem students had to draw all 11 nets of a cube. Thursday they found the surface area of rectangular prisms.
The 8th graders started applying the Pythagorean Theorem this week. They solved word problems on Monday and Tuesday, calculated diagonal lengths on a coordinate plane on Wednesday, and solved problems involving 3D figures on Thursday.
The Algebra class took check-ins over the exponential functions unit on Monday, then jumped into the polynomial unit on Tuesday. They covered adding and subtracting polynomials, multiplying monomials by binomials, and binomials by polynomials.
Humanities
Humanities classes dove deep into their novel The Book Thief, getting into the heart of the novel’s narrative between young Liesel, and the man her family was hiding, Max. Students learned about how foreshadowing and narrative work together to tell a powerful story. They also had a tour of the book’s narrator, Death. They used their journals to describe important characters including Death and Rudy.
We began our new project, focusing on the topic of censorship through banning books. Students chose titles and researched their status as banned or challenged. They wrote brief defenses of their books and created book jackets that reimagined their book’s covers.
Theme
This week in Theme, Epsilon students tackled the difficult subjects of the Holocaust and Japanese internment. Students observed photos and heard testimony from those interned and forced into the camps of Europe during World War II. Through the photos and first person accounts, students differentiated between the various structures of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps during the conflict. They also analyzed how organized resistance to these actions resulted in the saving of lives, including those of Oskar Schindler, whose actions were documented in the movie, Schindler’s List.
Students then paralleled the process of Japanese internment in the United States during World War II, through the eyes of Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda, a third generation Japanese-American, whose grandfather and great Aunt survived the camps. They analyzed a special song Shinoda wrote documenting the experiences of Internment called Kenji. Through the words, the students created Six Square graphic novels relating their understanding of the purpose for, conditions of, and the aftermath of Japanese Internment.
At top, students laugh while comparing the length of their world war timelines. Above, analyzing the events of the Holocaust in a Jigsaw learning format.
The scope of the Holocaust was analyzed first in Humanities classes, at top, then in Theme class as students continued their look at World War II.
Friendship day provided a break from learning and studying this week. At top, students prepare their special bags for gift collection. At top, giving friendship day gifts.
