Hey ⅚ Parents! Thanks for the snacks for SBAC testing! It was great to have a little extra nourishment! The kids always love it!
The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):
We started the week off with our Reading Cafe session and students met for the first time with their new literature groups. For our final session, students will be writing a book review. We also attended the 8th grade challenge presentations this week. All 8th graders are required to complete an independent study with a community connection component and present their work to the Voyager community. We had a wide variety of topics and the 5th and 6th graders asked many great questions. Many of them are already starting to think about topics for 8th grade.
We had a short current events activity on the woman who should be on the new $20 dollar bill. It was an interesting debate. We also had a couple of reading and writing activities: One was about our relationship with Cuba and the other was about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Ask your student about this interesting feud and friendship.
SBAC testing will be in full swing next week. There will be no Humanities homework assigned. This will be a good time for students to catch up on any missing work.
The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room (⅞ Humanities):
We were lucky enough to start our week back from break by watching the 8th graders present their yearlong work on their 8th Grade Challenge Projects. We were all very impressed by the amount of knowledge our 8th graders were able to share in front of an audience of about 100 people! The project topics ranged from photography, sports, cooking, art, fundraising for places like The All Breed Rescue and Habitat for Humanity, and even volunteering with veterans and at shelters. Thank you to all who supported these students in completing this amazing work, whether it was driving them to events, listening to their presentations over and over again, or simply being a backboard for ideas...we thank you!!
By Wednesday our normal class schedules resumed and students picked right back up with where we left off in prepping for our big Business Convention! During our AM time together all companies were able to finish storyboarding their commercials and labeling all of their advertising techniques. Almost all companies are now up and filming as of today, and so far these commercials are looking great. Most students are using their own technology to film and edit their work, and once finished we will have a commercial awards ceremony where commercials will be recognized for “Best Special Effects”, “Best Score”, “Funniest”, “Most Inspiring”, etc. with a “Wezzy” award. We’re hoping to have this fun “red carpet” event next Friday. By that point all of the commercials will be off to their first investors, and we will patiently wait for their investments to roll in! Students will be sharing their commercials with our partner classroom in New Zealand, where students at Blockhouse Bay Intermediate will be able to invest in companies that they feel will be successful. By earning investment dollars students will be able to have extras at their final booth for the convention! Lots at stake here! :)
During the afternoon blocks students have been plugging away at their Ethics and Placement writing piece. This is a 5 paragraph informative/explanatory essay where students have to answer questions such as: What is the mission statement or what are the values of your company? Where are your main offices located? How is your product produced and where does this take place? This essay is really aiming for students to dig into what their company is all about and to start taking into consideration their impact on the world. By having to make decisions around using renewable resources or not, making products in the USA vs. overseas in factories, and taking into consideration hourly wages, quality of life, and cost of living, students are really bridging together our studies from both Humanities classes and Science class.
The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):
CMP8
It was a busy post vacation week in math class. We got back into the thick of systems of equations with learning to find solutions by graphing lines and solving systems algebraically. We found solutions by creating equivalent equations, substituting one equation into another, and by combining both equations in order to eliminate terms. We had to brush up on our PEMDAS and balancing equation skills as we worked this week.
CMP7
We eased into the week with a quick review of all the major concepts of our “Moving Straight Ahead” unit. We created public records and reviewed and practiced linear problems. The test took several days for some, and students took their time to show their work and explain their thinking. We ended the week with beginning a geometry unit called “Filling and Wrapping.” This unit will focus in on volume and surface area of many different geometric solids.
Science 7th/8th
Due to the excellent 8th grade Challenge Presentations, we had a shorter week of science. Reviewing Science NECAP test questions, eliminating false answers and investigating the underlying concept of each question allowed all students to review some important science concepts. We played a fun “speed dating” NECAP question game at the end of the week. 8th Grade Science NECAP takes place Tuesday, May 5th and Wednesday, May 6th. Get plenty of sleep and have a good breakfast!
The Week in Ms. O’s
Math 5: It’s been a busy week of working with a new model for fraction multiplication, the area model of multiplication. Students have been faced with several problem solving situations in which they needed use the area model of multiplication to justify their thinking. We also completed our Spring fluency assessments for multiplication and division and WOW! What improvements! Many students have done very well and are finished taking the tests! Others are still working! Many see this as an exciting challenge to meet. 32/32 in one minute! We will continue to practice this vital skill. Mr. Merrill administered the SBAC to 5th graders. They did a nice job!
Math 6: I asked this class, do you like algebra and the response was hilarious! They are all so into the new math, of solving problems with variables and considering relationships amongst numbers and not actually finding one solution. We are referring to our work with tables, graphs, and now equations as “finding all of the possible solutions that make the expression or equation true.” Even after SBAC testing today, I was getting the sense that we hit this unit right on time for the testing! There was a lot of algebra! And data which is our next unit! :( 6th grade students took the SBAC in my room all day today and most completed the math sections of the test. I wasn’t totally surprised at the rigor of the test - lots of questions demanded 3-4 diverse skills to solve. So it was unusual to see a question that asked for ratios, statistical information like mean, equation writing and unit conversion all in one question. There was a lot of stamina and persistence in the room. Good for them!
Science ⅚: We are wrapping up our Properties of Matter unit this week by reviewing ideas about physical and chemical change and conservation of matter. Our unit is ending with a project, a comic strip project. Students will be working on creating a comic online that sums up one new idea from our unit. They should be creative, but informative. The project is due May 15!
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