Classroom News

Winding down, it's a great time of year to reflect upon how far the students have come. They are much better readers and writers than they were when they first entered seventh grade. They are also for the most part more confident, articulate, and reflective than they used to be.

There are only a few more days of school. Seventh graders are excited and happy, but still apprehensive about leaving a secure place for an uncertain one.

We are well into the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, and have been discussing how much freedom we would give up for safety and security. We will have our second quiz, covering chapters 7 through 12, next week.

Our latest independent reading selection was sports or non-fiction. We will have two weeks to read the book before we do a report on it.

The study of adverbs has reached the review stage, in anticipation of the assessment next Tuesday.

Finally, we continue to write using the six traits. This week, we wrote and presented poems for four voices based on the goings-on at Lincoln Hall.

     This week was chock full of ISAT testing, although teachers were able to see most of their students twice.  In Reading, students finished their biographies, and are working on comparing it with a biographical article they looked up on the internet.  They will use both sources of information to develop a "coffee talk" with another student.  Each will dress up as the person they have studied, to discuss early life, career, accomplishments, and legacy.  These talks will take place next week.

     In grammar, we are ending a unit on verbs, and will soon begin one on adjectives.  Vocabulary is proceeding as well, with a review on units 4 - 6.

All of the seventh grade classes have been working on ISAT review packets. The ISAT test will be administered the first week in March. This is a very important test and the results will be placed in the student's permanent record. Both the students and I will be happy when they are over.

On February 8th many of our students participated in a presentation given by math whiz Mike Byster. Mike has been featured on ABC's news magazine 20/20 and he had to leave Lincoln Hall early as he was being interviewed by People magazine. His premise is that if a student can improve his/her memory and following directions skills, that student will be more successful in school. His math "tricks" are all based on finding and utilizing patterns. The students were truly amazed by his presentation and would have liked him to stay longer.
You can find out more information about Mike if you go to www.Brainetics.com.

     The third quarter of the school year finds seventh graders in literature circles reading a novel that deals with genocide.  Most days, students discuss their stories in their groups; often, there is an associated project, such as an alphabet book that students are developing using words from their novels and from their social studies unit.

     Vocabulary continues with both academic practice using the Sadlier-Oxford series, and some activities that use the words in game form, such as a crossword, or a Jeopardy competition.

      The focus in grammar is the study of verbs.  Right now, students are learning the difference between action and linking verbs.  Upcoming topics are transitive, intransitive, and irregular verbs.

What’s Happening in 7th Grade?
    
    We have begun our unit on the Holocaust. Our class discussions have focused on the events in Germany that influenced Hitler’s rise to power. We have also focused on the concept of identity.  What things have defined our identity in our lives?  What factors  have made us who we are? Every day small groups of students have brought to class and have shared some objects from home that define who they are in terms of name, gender, culture, religion, and family. The concept of identity has helped us to understand Hitler’s irrational thinking toward minority groups.
    We have started to read Elie Wiesel’s Night. He had been still a teenager when he was taken from his home to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald. His memories of that experience have unforgettably been recorded in Night.

     This first week back at school has been very productive in Reading/LA.  We continued with the COWS (Computers on Wheels) in the classroom for 40 minutes each day until we finished our science research papers.  The final product contained a title page, a several-page paper, an outline, and a reference page.  Most students were very successful with this paper, which required in-text citations every paragraph.

     In grammar, we began a study of personal pronouns.  Students were asked to memorize subject, object, and possessive pronouns in both the singular and plural forms, and a not-so-pop quiz (students were warned) given on Friday.  

This week, we have completed a vocabulary unit and a brown bag book report while continuing to write our science papers.  When we return to school on January 7, we will complete the paper and print it.

 

Happy Holidays to all.  See you next year! 

Reading Enrichment students are moving forward towards their goals. First period class has finished lesson 4 and is hoping to complete two more lessons before vacation. REWARDS is helping students to attain strategies to improve not only their comprehension, but their fluency as well.

Periods 8 and 9 are moving through REWARDS PLUS. This program differs from REWARDS in that it deals with using the learned strategies through social studies content. Although there are fewer lessons, each lesson entails more work and information, which will take more time than the REWARDS program did. As research shows, practicing new learned information is the key to success and retention. Thank you parents, for your support and monitoring of your child's reading. Keep it up throughout vacation! It does help.

To you and yours, a very healthy, restful, peaceful vacation. See you well rested in 2008!