Math:
7th Graders practiced operations with rational numbers all week. Monday they completed multiplication and division application problems. Tuesday they completed mazes to practice multiplication and division. Wednesday they completed a scavenger hunt for rational operations, and an error analysis where they had to find mistakes in pretend student’s work. Thursday they created their own rational operation problems given certain restraints.
The 8th graders completed their unit study guide on Monday and Tuesday, so they could take their check on Wednesday. Thursday they began their linear equations unit with simplifying expressions.
The Algebra students completed a pyramid puzzle on Monday to practice function notation. On Tuesday they practiced domain and range with a puzzle, and determining if relations were functions with task cards. Wednesday and Thursday completed their unit with lessons over zeros and arithmetic sequences.
Humanities:
We continued our deep dive into our novel Uprising this week by analyzing the effects of the general strike by the workers in the story. Students looked at how the strike affected the main characters and what the risks and rewards of the strike were. Students then applied the idea of the risks and rewards to modern immigration.
We also used this week’s vocabulary to focus on parts of speech by having students take their vocabulary and determine how the words could be used as different parts of speech, developing new original sentences and switching them for our language exercise.
Our poetry writing exercise, writing an original sonnet welcoming modern immigrants to America with a focus on the Statue of Liberty progressed well this week, with students spending time crafting their poetry line, paying attention to the meter and rhyme scheme. We look forward to the results of their efforts on Monday.
Theme:
Theme and Humanities took center stage this week as we shifted our focus from Industrialization to Immigration. For the first chunk of our Quarter Projects, we reviewed and outlined the Push and Pull factors for 19th century immigration. In their immigration teams, students then created annotated caricatures of immigrants applying those factors to create the basis for the Immigrants Journey, our project title. They began an immigration travel journal to document information and artifacts from future activities for the project.
Our first major art project commenced this week. Students analyzed the symbols of the Statue of Liberty and discussed how those symbols may look to modern immigrants, comparing them with historical viewpoints. They took those ideas and created their personal vision in mixed media portrayals of the Statue of Liberty today. The results were absolutely STUNNING! We can’t wait to display them!
Theme students dive into the Immigration era of the 19th and 20th centuries as they examine reasons for movement to the US and annotated characteristics of typical immigrants from the period.
Humanities students took time this week to dive deep into the characters’ reactions to the general strike in the novel Uprising. They found passages from the book to show the effects. Students also began to develop their Welcome to America sonnet for modern immigration.
Top: 7th graders completing a scavenger hunt over rational operations.
Bottom: Students practicing communication skills in Ms. Lorrie’s flex block.
At top, Theme students evaluate the importance of the inventions of the Industrial Revolution in an Impact Spectrum. Above, Ms. Amanda helps students with their interpretations of the Statue of Liberty and its symbols for a project to create personal visions of the iconic landmark in mixed media formats.
Students work in Theme class on their personal vision of the Statue of Liberty for their Immigration Journey project. They used the landmark’s symbols and ideas from their Humanities novel Uprising to assess the importance of the statue today.
