Pineau's Daily Digest

January Is Here!!

Hello, I’m a little late this week, but here is the week in review for the Middle School:

7th Grade:

English—We are talking about persuasive writing.

Social Studies—We are working on a DBQ Essay.This is a “document based question” very similar to what will be required on the Regents exams that will be coming in the future.Yes we are working on them in Middle School; it’s a good idea to get used to them.

Math—Still adding steps to our equations.We can combine like terms, use the distributive property, and even work with variables on both sides of the equation.Each time it is just a step or two prior to solving the equation.We will have a test, probably on Friday!!

Science—Plants are exciting, and to help us learn a lot about a variety of different plants, each pair of students will be sharing their knowledge with us through a presentation on Friday.That means all of your work must be done and put together by Friday when you arrive at class.

8th Grade:

English—Same unit.

Social Studies—We have started to get into the Civil War Battles.Writing a few letters about what we have learned life was like in those battles.I’ve heard about some pretty sad conditions during that war.

Math—The class has started working on graphing lines using the Function Rule.Lots of steps to think about, but the graphing part is pretty easy.

Science—The new unit is Geology.The key terms this week are erosion and weathering.Do you know the difference?Weathering is the breaking down of large solid objects by weather conditions and humans.Erosion is the movement of those broken down pieces of sediment by weather and humans.

DON’T FORGET: There is a new list of current events due for Social Studies.There is a group due each Friday starting on January 14th.Please keep track of when you are due, it will come up quickly if you forget!

This is a big week for TESTS so be prepared!

8th Grade—

Science: Astronomy test on Wednesday! Remember longitude and latitude, tides, eclipses, types of planets and, how they move, oh, and tomorrow we’ll talk about the seasons!

Math: Test on Tuesday! Solving equations with variables on one side, both sides, combining like terms and word problems!!

Social Studies:The early part of the civil war is our topic, Friday is test day!

English: Finishing up informational articles. Study your vocab, test on Friday!

7th Grade—

English: Test on Friday on short stories and don’t forget the vocabulary!

Social Studies: We are working on those colony videos.Mr. Mohrien said that he would put them on his blog if you can get them finished on time!! Don’t forget to study where those colonies are on the map, we will have another map quiz on Friday!

Math: We’re learning more about those equations. I see word problems in the packet—might be the next step to learn.

Science: The fun of Bacteria is our current topic. Don’t forget that although some are harmful, others are helpful. Hey—and remember to take all your medicine if you have an infection, don’t help create any more superbugs!

Well, that’s what is going on this week. The winter wonderland outside is quite inviting, but remember that this week we’ll have a lot of tests so stay warm and study!

Hi, welcome back from the Thanksgiving break!

Just to keep you all up to date, I think that I will try to get a message out on Mondays that will tell you the subjects being covered in the classes throughout the week. Now you know that sometimes, things change up during the week, so I can’t guarantee that the topics will be completely consistent.

8th Grade:

Science—Astronomy! Mr. Seigers mentioned that the hardest terms to keep separate were the difference between REVOLUTION and ROTATION.

·Revolution is the movement of an object around a larger object.Think of the earth around the sun or a horse on a merry-go-round.

·Rotation is an object spinning around a point within itself.Think of the earth on its axis or a football thrown with a perfect spiral.

Math—We are still working on Multi-step equations, the process is the same but we are making it a little harder.We’ll be working on finding the answer if the variables are all on one side.The big idea is to write out each step!If you do not write all the steps out the problem will be called INCOMPLETE and you will not get full credit.This is a really big thing on the state exams as well, so get used to it now!!

English— We are going to be finishing up Informational Articles and starting Poems.We finished the first section of vocabulary last week and made a graphic organizer about the terms related to Informational Articles.These should be looked at and reviewed frequently as we know that Mr. Grenier uses them heavily in the test for the unit.Don’t forget spelling and DEFINITIONS from the text are important.

Social Studies—We’ve learned a lot about the reform movements leading up to the civil war.Now we will be getting into the war itself.We are going to get into the reasons for succession and the initial battles, this could get interesting!

7th Grade:

English—Short stories.We finished the first section of vocabulary last week and made a graphic organizer about the terms related to Short Stories.These should be looked at and reviewed frequently as we know that Mr. Grenier uses them heavily in the test for the unit.Don’t forget spelling and DEFINITIONS from the text are important.

Social Studies—We are working on the Middle Colonies this week.This finishes up the list of 13 colonies so we will be having a MAP QUIZ on Friday.Students will need to be able to name and label all 13 colonies on a map.I’ve also heard there may be a really fun activity that will give us a chance to be very creative!!

Math—We are working with equations to solve for the variable (letter).Remember your opposite functions:Addition & Subtraction, Multiplication & Division. The big idea is to write out each step!If you do not write all the steps out the problem will be called INCOMPLETE and you will not get full credit.This includes the check as well.This is a really big thing on the state exams as well, so get used to it now!!

Science—Evolution is our topic this week.The definition of evolution is adapting to the specific environment that you live in.What the main adaptations that have led to change in evolution and therefore caused extinction in species will be our search.

PS--As I was getting ready to send this, Mr. Grenier came to speak to me and gave me a heads up--Unit 3 exams will probably be next week for both grades!!