Class Updates
4th quarter is underway. I can hardly believe we are on the last leg of the school year; I have so much more to teach. New book report for April has been sent home and I should be receiving the signatures and titles soon. The deadline is May 1, 2012.
6th Grade Math: Students explore ratios in a variety of ways. Students learn to solve proportions and construct scale drawings. Students model percents, and express percents as fractions, decimals, and vice versa. Finally, students find and estimate the percent of a number. Students will use their knowledge of finding ratios, proportions, and percents in all subsequent math courses, including algebra and statistics courses. Knowing how to find percents will aid student learning in science, economics, and business classes, and will also help students be smarter consumers.
7th Grade Math: In chapter 10, Students investigate spatial relations. Students discover the relationships between angles. They use their knowledge of angles to create circle graphs. They learn to classify different triangles and quadrilaterals, and how to construct these types of figures. Students will also be able to use similar figures to find an unknown length. We will also investigate four types of transformations: translations, dilations, reflections, and rotations. We are also working with probabilities. Various ways of representing the sample space or set of all possible outcomes will be explored. Tree diagrams and the fundamental counting principle are two of the methods studied. They are also introduced to combinations, experimental and theoretical probabilities, and compound events.
8th Grade Math: Students shift from visual sequences, such as shapes and colors , to sequences formed by adding or multiplying numbers. They are introduced to functions using the f(x) notation. They extend their ability to graph on a coordinate plane from plotting ordered pairs to graphing linear functions, such as f(x) = 3x - 2. They also learn that an equivalent way of writing this is y = 3x - 2. Near the end of this chapter, students learn to graph systems of equations and linear inequalities.
6th Grade Religion: The students will appreciate the roles and contributions of the judges and the first three Israelite kings. When the Israelites reached the promised land they were attacked by enemies and God sent the judges as great warriors to help them. We will study a few of these courageous people. We will take a glimpse at Saul, David and Solomon as leaders appointed by God to lead his people. Some time will be spent in the Book of Psalms and also Proverbs, since these are attributed to David and Solomon. The students are guided to realize that human leaders may not be perfect, but they deserve our respect, support and obedience.
6th Grade Literature: We are finishing up collection 4 with an author study: Zora Neale Hurston an author who let her imagination take her to far-away places. Collection 5 zeros in on biographies and autobiographies of unforgettable personalities. We will identify and recognize the difference between first-and third-person narration. We will continue to use context to clarify word meaning and we will identify and connect main ideas. The concept of point of view will also be discussed.
Social Studies, 6th grade: Our next unit in Social Studies takes us to the Mediterranean Empires. The Classical Period began with th rise of the ancient Greek civilization Ancient Greeks built city-stats, including Sparta and Athens, and through the conquests of Alexander the Great, spread Hellenistic culture into parts of Asia and Africa. From the Latins came the romance languages. Ancient Rome developed a republican form of government and conquered a vast empire across parts of Europe and Asia. We will study the physical features of ancient Greece, and the importance of the sea in the life of Greek people. We will visit Sparta and the Golden Age of Athens. The importance of gods and goddess and the beginning of the Olympics will be discussed. Rome's geography, and the legend of its beginning will be explained. The form of government, a Republic will be defined and explained. We will look into the major achievements of the Romans and the importance of good rulers. Christianity became the primary religion of the Roman Empire; its connection to Judaism is discussed.What caused this great Empire to decline? Invaders and weakness from within take its toll on this great time in history.
