What’s Happening in SEVENTH Grade Classes:
 Civics (Mrs. Hamilton and Mr. Dippold)
 Students have been studying the 2008 Presidential Elections by studying the political process and current events. Students have learned about the important role of political parties and why people might choose a certain party. Students have also studied the major issues facing the presidential candidates, such as the current wars and the economy. Students have also learned about how to vote, why people do and do not vote and how the Electoral College system works. Through their study, students have created one of the following projects: written letters, created public announcements, videos or posters to demonstrate their understanding of a current political issue. The purpose of the projects was to help inform peers and 5th and 5th graders about the political process and to help reflect on what issues are most important to them.
Math: (Ms. White)
Math 7 students are currently working on their Graphing in the Coordinate Plane Unit. They recently just finished their graphing projects and are now working on translations, reflections and rotations.
Pre-Algebra students finished their Ratios and Probability Unit and have now begun their unit on Variables and Equations. We have begun studying variables and expressions and will begin looking at solving equations shortly.
Algebra I students are bringing chapter 3 to an end after studying direct variation, slope, slope-intercept form, point slope form, graphing scatterplots, finding a best fit line and writing equations of lines. Next week students will begin looking at solving multi-step equations and inequalities.
Math: (Ms. Smith)
Math 7
Students have been measuring and classifying angles of all kinds, along with an intensive look at various polygons and circles. Our focus on these shapes and angles took on a scavenger hunt throughout the school where we found many examples all around us! We just started graphing in the coordinate plane and will begin the 2nd quarter with transforming polygons in the plane using rotations, reflections and translations. Then it’s on to a quick review of decimals, order of operations and other properties of numbers to get us ready for integers! We’re going to be busy!
Pre Algebra
 Students have learned about transformations: translations, reflections, rotations and dilations. We have used the properties of proportions, similar figures and congruent figures to help identify missing sides, side lengths and scale factors. We worked with various polygons and formulas to find the sum of all angle measures within an n-sided polygon, and created our own tessellations! We also learned the Pythagorean Theorem: a² + b² = c², what fun! In the 2nd quarter we are going to be busy with statistics and probability. Soon we’ll know what our chances are of winning the lottery!
Algebra
Students have focused on fractions, writing variable inequalities and equations, combining like terms, and working with statistical data, including using the graphing calculator to work with the data. We have solved equations and functions, and learned to graph both by hand and with our calculators – ask your student to explain the difference between the domain and range of a function, or how to recognize direct variations. Finally, we have learned to write equations using only two coordinate pairs to identify the slope and the y-intercept! In the 2nd quarter we will look closely at working with reciprocals, ratios and rates, and proportions to solve problems. Then it’s on to working with radicals!
 English: (Mrs. Hamilton and Mrs. Ritchey)
Language Arts for quarter one has been a very busy time, we have accomplished so much:
Set up and learned how to use GDP (Daily Grammar Practice) notebooks.
Taken 2 DGP tests
Set up LAN( Language Arts Notebooks) with contents and have completed a number of writing and literary elements assignments
Set up and completed 6 reading log entries…focusing on summarizing skills and supporting opinion statements
Read 2 novels and wrote about then focusing on the idea of choices and consequences
Read 3 short stories and compared the characters and their choices
Read a play and talked about making a choice before having all the information
Read at least 5 poems and responded to them
Completed the summer reading project and presented it orally to class
Participated in many class discussions focusing on the 5 literary elements and the theme of choices
Identified and applied the 5 forms of literary conflict to the stories and novels we read
Quarter two will be equally full. The theme is balance and we will begin the quarter talking about the idea of a utopian society. Students will be writing a 5 paragraph essay this quarter. Keep checking the reading logs and thanks for all the support.
 Science: (Mrs. Doolittle, Ms. Johnson, and Mrs. Ritchey)
Experimental designs and conducting controlled experiments will be the focus the first part of the second quarter. Using mealworms as their test subjects, students will design their own experiments to test a question of interest to them yet one related to concepts within our current unit of study. The experiments will be used to integrate and extend our unit on the characteristics and needs of living things to include ecological concepts including the relationship between living things and their environment as well the types of interactions between living things.
 Spanish 7 (Mrs. Stigall and Mr. Boud)
The students have just finished using prepositions of location in conversations. They have also been reading authentic online sources about bilingual schools in Costa Rica. They will begin with food vocabulary and healthy eating next quarter.
French 7 (Mr. Boud)
Monsieur Boud’s French classes recently finished oral presentations on ma famille using photo albums and powerpoints to talk about their relatives. Students have just created their own French menus which they will use to present a “dialogue au café” skit in small groups. Student began the year creating their own class currency, euros with French themes and expressions, which their teacher passes out for participation.
Spanish 7A (Mr. Boud and Mrs. Barry)
The students have just finished a booklet they created along with an oral presentation called Mis amigos y yo. It was a review of previous lessons where students learned to introduce themselves and talk about age, nationality, physical and personality descriptions as well as what they like and don’t like. In addition, Señor Boud’s students created Spanish-class pesos which are passed out for participation.
Success is Not an Accident!
We appreciate what it takes to be successful and in doing so, we have chosen to recognize and celebrate the success of our 7th graders in a number of ways:
VIP lunches – We will have our first VIP lunch on Friday, 11/7. Two students are chosen by each teacher to be the VIP at a lunch given in their honor. Teachers look for students who are positive contributors each day, support their learning and the learning of others, make the right choices, represent MEHMS and the 7th grade to the best of their ability, and “step up to the plate” each and every day.
Awards Assemblies – At the end of each quarter a special assembly is held to recognize the accomplishments of some of our 7th graders. Individual teachers give awards to students according to their own personal criteria. Team awards, however, are decided by all of the 7th grade teachers and recognize such things as improvement, positive attitude, leadership, school
spirit, and effort.
Good News Referrals – Students hear the word “referral” and they automatically think they’re off to see the principal. We like to use special referrals to share the “Good News” about something a student has done in/out of the classroom. Rather than detention, students receive a week long pass to jump to first in the lunch line J
A Final Reminder…
 Successful students come to class prepared and ready to learn. The end of the quarter is a perfect time to check and replenish your child’s school supplies. Pens, pencils, and paper areusually the items in short supply.
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