Weekly Update 12/6

RICA:

Our research projects were due today.  We will be presenting the powerpoint portion through thursday.  Next week we will begin our first novel "Chinese Cinderella."

Science:

We will be finishing chapter 4 on Monday.  There will be a homework assignment.  Wednesday will be our Chapter 4 Climate test.  We will get our new books one day this week and then begin Chapter 1 in Environmental Science.  Our Chapter 1 test will be Thursday, Dec 16.

Math:

Week of Dec 6 - 10

Math 7:  We will be having a Test this Tuesday on Inequalities(CH 12).  We will then move on to Chapter 4 and work with Coordinate Planes.

Pre-Algebra: We will be having a Test on Ratios, Rates and Proportions this Wednesday.  We will then finish the week working with Percents.

S.S.:

In social studies we will continue studying China and the influence of Confucianism on it government.  We will create Chinese lanterns with nature inspired poetry.  Chapter 14 will be completed including the Mongol invasions and Kublai Khan’s contributions to China’s history.  The week will end with part 2 of the test on chapter 14 on Friday.  Next week we will review for the midterm on Monday and Tuesday and take the exam on Wednesday.  Ms. Gaydos will talk with the class on Thursday about bullying and harassment.  Friday will be a day filled with team activities.  Enjoy the holidays with your family!

Classes Update 11/29

Math:

Week of Nov. 29 – Dec 3

 

Math 7 : We will be continuing in Chapter 12.  This week the students will be learning about inequalities.  What they are and how to solve them?  Look for a test early next week.

 

Pre-Algebra : We will starting Chapter 6.  We will be working with ratios, rates and proportions.  Look for a test early next week.

 

Social Studies:

 

We will begin a new chapter on China including the Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties.  The importance of Buddhism and Confucianism will be explored as well as Chinese achievements.  There will be two creative assignments regarding China due before winter break.  We will take the midterm exam on December 15^th which will include Egypt, India and both chapters of China.  It will be 100 multiple choice questions on scantron.

 

Science:

We are starting chapter 4 (Climate) in our weather books this week.  Students should be studying a little bit each night.  We will have a quiz on Thursday of this week, and our test will be next Wednesday (12/8).  We will then get our new books, Environmental Science, and have our Chapter 1 test on Thursday 12/16. 

 

RICA--

 

This week in RICA we will be finishing up your research reports.  We will learn how to correctly cite and quote information, how to correctly do a bibliography and peer edit our rough drafts.  We will spend the next few days in the media center typing our final drafts and finishing our power point presentations.  Rubrics will be handed out on Tuesday.  Presentations will start on Friday.

 

Happy Thanksgiving Break!

Happy Thanksgiving Break! 

The Captains' wish you all a safe and happy break.

Weekly Update 11/22

Science:

In science we will be watching a highly educational video titled, “Tornado!  Hurricane!  Flood!”  There will be no homework. 

 

Math:

Week of Nov. 15-19

 

Math 7: We will be reviewing for student led conferences and then starting Ch 12 solving two-step equations.

 

Pre-Alg: We will be reviewing for student led conferences and then we will be working with inequalities.

 

S.S:

We will be exploring the Silk Road, the products traded and the diffusion of ideas among the three continents.  The test will be Thursday and we will celebrate with a viewing of Mulan (and make a list of the things we have studied).

 

RICA:

We have been working hard the past 2 weeks on our research projects.  The outline, rough draft and research notes were due today.  When we get back from break we will finalize our final drafts, bibliographies and powerpoints for our presentations.

 

L.A.:

Next week in language arts:

·         We will be reading Chapters 2-5 in The Outsiders

o        We will be looking at characterization and making Wanted Posters for the characters

o        We will also incorporate poetry using Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” poem and creating Two-voice poems of our own.

Welcome

Welcome 7th grade parents to the Captain's student led conferences.  Enjoy the blog, and please let us know if we can help.

Weekly Update 11/12

RICA--
This week we started our research projects.  We Came up with a topic and six research questions to come up with.  We will be going to the media center the next 3 days to look up information about our topic.  Also please remind your child that every friday we have a study island due.  Also we have stems quizzes every friday, and flashcards are available on moodle.

Language Arts--

Next week in language arts:

·         We will be reading Chapters 2-5 in The Outsiders

o        We will be looking at characterization and making Wanted Posters for the characters

o        We will also incorporate poetry using Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” poem and creating Two-voice poems of our own.

 

Social Studies--

We will be exploring the Silk Road, the products traded and the diffusion of ideas among the three continents.  The test will be Thursday and we will celebrate with a viewing of Mulan (and make a list of the things we have studied).

 

 

 

Weekly Update 10/29

RICA:
This week we wrote two interesting papers!  The first paper we wrote was titled "Who am I?"  The students had to write a five paragraph essay about who they are and what inspires them.  The second paper they wrote was a one page "missing scene" from The Lion King.  Be on the lookout for these papers during student led conferences!  Next week we will be preparing for the Chicago trip by playing some Chicago trivia games to get us ready.

Science:

We are starting a new chapter, Chapter 3: Weather Patterns.  We will be discussing Air Masses and Fronts for Monday and Wednesday (since there is no classes Tuesday and Thursday and Friday we are in Chicago.

Math:

In math 7, we will be reviewing how to solve algebraic equations. On Wednesday we will be in the computer lab doing Study Island.

 

In Pre-Algebra, we will have an exponent test on Monday.  On Wednesday we will be in the computer lab doing Study Island.

 

 Bonus:

 

We will be sending home a letter on Monday for parents to sign up for Student Led Conferences. Please return these by November 10th.

Halloween Pictures!!

Weekly Update 10/22

Science--This week in science we are finishing up and starting our review on Chapter 2.  We will have a test on Thursday which will be the last test to go on their first quarter grades.

RICA--We are getting pumped up for our Chicago trip!!  This week we watched the Lion King movie, and drew pictures of what we think the actors will look like on stage when we see the play.  Next week we will continue with our Chicago buildup by perfoming skits of lost scenes from The Lion King, and catching up on our Chicago Trivia!!

Social Studies--We will finish up our preview projects for China and begin the chapter.  The map of China will be due on Monday and students will discover the impact of geography on the history of the dynasties.  There will be a quiz on Friday over the first part of the chapter.

Math--

In math 7, we will be having a test on Ch 1 sections 6 through 9 on Tuesday.  We will finish the week working on solving algebraic equations.  In Pre-Algebra we will be working in Chapter 4 with exponents. 

Reminder to all parents the 1^st quarter will be over next Friday, October 29^th.

Language Arts--

Next week in Language Arts:

·         We will have our biography interviews (presentations) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

o        Students will sign up for a date on Monday.

·         Monster Drawing

o        Students will draw a monster and write a detailed description of their monster.

o        We will trade monster descriptions with another class and draw the monsters using the written descriptions.

o        Students will vote for the winner (original monster closest to the one drawn from the written description)

social studies 10/18-10/22

We will be working on a preview project for China.  Each group will be responsible for creating a poster or powerpoint for their assigned topic.  Presentations will be on Friday and each student is responsible for researching, creating and presenting their part of the group project.  Map of China is due on Thursday.

Attention Captains!

Hello NRMS Captains Students! Girls- there may, if the girls would like to, we will have a girls night out! During this there will be catered food, and girly stuff (things girls would do) NO BOYS ALLOWED! There might be a fee. Boys-there may, if the boys would like to, be a boys’ night out! There will be hot dogs and hamburgers. (YUM!) And guy stuff galore!! Guys, be prepared. Because, NO GIRLS ALLOWED! That might be paradise, for some boys, others not so much. There will be a costume contest. Your teachers will be getting a letter that they will be giving to you with the guidelines. And remember, BRING IN BOXTOPS! Thank you so much!! J J J J

Message From Mr. Connelly

I will be having a college student from Ashland University in my classroom observing me for the next four weeks.  His name is Dave Garewal.  He will be working with small groups during intervention and he will have the opportunity to teach one or two lessons during his time here.

Please save these dates Nov. 17^th  and 18^th  from 4 - 7pm.  These are the dates for our student led conferences.  We will be sending home more information about this in the near future.

Weekly Update 10/11

Science:
Next week we are going to continue with Chapter 2-Weather Factors, focusing on section 3 wind.

Language Arts:

In language arts next week we will:

·         Read a short story, “Charles” by Shirley Jackson

·         Review the elements of fiction

·         Complete a partner “voice” writing

·         Have 2 journal writings

REMINDER:  The Biography project (book read, 20 questions, interview props and questions) is due Monday, October 25!

RICA:

Last week we finished with our last reading strategy, which was the power to transform.  We practiced how to combine all of our reading strategies so far, and transform our thinking into creating new thoughts and ways to look at information.

This week we are starting our research projects for our Chicago trip.  Each group has a topic, which will be one of the places we will visit on our Chicago trip.  Each group needs to research that topic and create a powerpoint presentation. 

Math:

Math 7 :  last week we worked with exponents and scientific noataion   this week we willl be working iwith order of operations with a quiz over both on friday

Pre- alg.  last week we worked with fractions   simplfying and comparing them  This week we will be adding subtracting them.  quiz on wed

Social Studies:

Last week

We examined the two major Indian empires and their influence on surrounding areas.  The impact of religion transforming from one set of beliefs to another and from Brahmanism to Hinduism to Jainism is the preview of what will be happening next with Buddhism.  The week ends with students being asked to bring in two violence articles.

 

This week

Review of Buddhism from last year and discuss its impact on ancient India and today.  Students will learn about the major achievements in ancient India and how it impacts our modern world.  The students will choose one of three study guides and prepare for Thursday’s test.

Weely Update 10/1

Math:

Math 7 we will be starting Ch 1 next week and working with exponents, square roots and scientific notation.

 

Pre–Alg we will be working in Ch 4 and 5  we will be simplifying fractions and comparing fractions and decimals  

 

Science:

In science, we are starting Chapter 2- Weather Factors.  We will be looking at energy in the atmosphere, meaning, how it reaches Earth and how some of it is deflected as well as the transfer of heatà conduction, convection and radiation.

 

RICA:

This week in RICA we learned our 4th reading strategy, which was the power of inferring.  We had to become word detectives and decode different answers from words we did not know using clues. 

Student Council Update

Hello Captains Students! The Student Council Representatives would like to let you know that on Friday, October 1, 2010 is the Spaghetti Dinner from 4:30-7:30. It will be $8 for the adults and $5 for the kids. We would also like to remind you to bring in box tops and pop tabs. We would also like to encourage the teachers and Students to keep our Captains Pod Clean and nice!

 

Weekly Update Friday 9/24

RICA:

This week we started on our third reading strategy for the year.  We spent the whole week on how to visualiz for reading comprehension. We made comic strips fom our social studies books and also took a quiz over all the material we have covered so far.

Social Studies:

Monday: computer review game and in class study guide for test

Tuesday:  chap. 4 test

Wednesday:  begin India, discuss geography and impact on settlement.

Thurs/Friday:  first civilizations in India

Language Arts:

In language arts next week:

• We are having a quiz over “The Hitchhiker” by Roald Dahl on Tuesday.
• We will be review our punctuation unit for our test on Friday
• Writing- we will look at effective introductions and talk about getting rid of some “really bad” words.

Science:

This week we are discussing the layers of the atmosphere, there will be a two part test Thursday and Friday.

Math:

Math 7 is working with integers and absolute value Test this Friday

Pre-Alg is working with solving equations quiz tues and then reviewing decimals

Weekly Update 9/17

Social Studies:

 

We will be exploring the Middle and New Kingdoms of ancient Egypt and their relationship with Nubia and Kush.  God/Goddess paper will be due on Thursday and the test for chapter 4 sections 3,4,5 will be on Friday.

 

Math:

 

Math 7 will be starting ch 2. We will be working with integers, (adding, subtracting multiplying, dividing them)

 

Pre-alg.  We will have a test on tues on CH 2 sections 1-4.  Then we will be solving algebraic equations.

 

Language Arts:

 

In language arts we will:

·         Continue our punctuation unit (semicolons, colons, hyphens, dashes, and apostrophes)

·         Continue reading short stories from Roald Dahl

·         Look at our second writing trait, voice

 

Science:

 

We are continuing our work on the Atmosphere looking specifically at air quality and air pressure.

 

RICA:

 

This week we focused on asking questions while we read.  We went over the difference of quick thinking questions and deep thinking questions and how they help us relate to a story.   We ended the week by playing stems bingo to help review the first 3 weeks of stem words.

Weekly Update 9/10

Science:

In science, we will be starting our unit on Weather and Climate. The first chapter we will be looking at will be The Air Around Us. We will be focusing on the elements that make up our atmosphere.


Language Arts:
 
We will be reviewing comma rules and rules for punctuating quotes.  We will be reading another short story by Roald Dahl.  In writing we will continue our focus on “Ideas and Content”.
 
Math:
 
Next week we will be working with decimals in Math 7. add/sub/mult/div them.  Next week we will be working with combining like terms and solving algebraic equations in Pre –alg.

Social Studies:

We will begin Egypt, chap.4, including geographical influences, relationships with surrounding civilizations and lasting contributions to future civilizations. Egypt map quiz on Thursday and don’t forget the pop quiz surprise.

RICA:

This week we went to the media center and worked on our making connections to reading projects.  The students got a partner and had to make an online poster on glogster.com.  The poster is due on Monday.  Next week we will focus on the power of asking questions reading strategy.  Study Island:  Author's purpose is also due today.

Captains Classroom Corner Update

RICA-
This week we started off talking about context clues and how they can help us find out what words we don't know mean.  We also learned how to use moodle and study island in the media center.  Students have username and passwords, so please ask them for it.  We ended the week by discussing reading connections and how to relate what we are reading to our lives.

Language Arts-Next week in Language Arts:

Hoot test on Wednesday
We will read our first short story by Ronald Dahl
We will concentrate on the trait of “Ideas and Content” in our writing.

Math-Next week in math:
7 we will be finishing up fractions and mixed numbers. Then we will start working with decimals.

Next week in prealg. We will be working with integers.

Social Studies:
This week we worked on the 5 themes of geography and the world map. We also presented our personal timelines.


Next week we will begin the chapter on Egypt and have the world map test on Friday.

Science: 
In science this next week we are continuing our review of the scientific method, controls and variables, and lab safety rules, the students will have a quiz on Thursday over lab safety and the scientific method.

Welcome To The 7th Grade Captains Team

The Captains would like to take time to welcome all of you to our blog site.  On this site you will find information about what your child will be learning about in each of their classes.  When we can will also try to include pictures of what our students are doing in the classroom.  We believe parent communication is vital for student success so please do not hesitate to contact us at any point.

Also on this site you will be able to link to progress book, and a homework calendar so you can monitor your childs grades and homework for each day.  Though this site will not be updated daily, the Captains will try to update as much as we can.  You can check this site for important announcements, so please check it often.

Thanks for helping us make this a positive experience for all.

The Captains:  Team coordinator-Mr. Connelly (Math), Mrs. Garmen (Science), Mrs. Sprunger (Social Studies), Mrs. Lapansky (Language Arts) and Mr. Tresize (RICA)