Grade 7 Science Students Teach about Water Properties

Mr. Reynold's 7th grade science students have been teaching lessons on water and chemistry to classes from the Molin School. 

Small teams of students were assigned topics such as adhesion, cohesion, and capillary action. Each team designed a mini-lesson with a demonstration or short activity. 

Will water stick to...skin?!

A blue tank, a red tank...when water moves what will result?

Molin school students enjoyed the station activities and asked lots of great questions. Nock students learned that teaching a lesson means really needing to know the content well. 

Notes from the stations

Will the sand and water get hot at the same rate?

How many drops of water can you get on one penny? Water is sticky!

Grade 8 Students Read To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee's classic coming of age novel is the anchor text for a current 8th grade ELA unit. ELA teachers Bridget Lesage and Eriko Antos have integrated lessons from Facing History and Ourselves' Teaching Mockingbird project into a unit where students apply reading and writing skills to explore the literary themes and characters of Lee's novel.

The text offers rich characters like Scout, Jem and Atticus and presents readers with important questions about race, social status, and justice. Early lessons are designed to help students understand the historical context of Lee's novel. A scavenger hunt activity introduces students to the history of Jim Crow laws and the impact of the Great Depression on American society.

Here are some of the "big ideas" students are exploring in their study:

1. How do people find the courage to fight injustice and persecution?  When, if ever, should someone rebel against the norm of society?
2. How and why do humans dehumanize others?
3. How are humans vulnerable to lies, manipulation, and intimidation?
4. Where does a person’s conscience come from?  How does a person’s conscience drive his/her behavior?
5.  How does geography shape American consciousness?
6. What is the importance of innocence?  How is innocence lost?
7. Are people born evil or do they become evil as a product of their circumstances?
8. How and why are people unjustly treated in present-day America?
9. What are the characteristics of an American hero?

Using strategies like close reading (students consider the meaning and writing of specific passages in the text), written response and group reflection, teachers are building students' skills in responding to and creating meaning from a literary text. 

Shark Tank Geography Style

Students in Kyle Hildebrand's World Geography class are competing for investor's dollars in a Shark Tank meets Middle Eastern studies project. Teams of 3-4 students are researching the location, language, economy, and culture of countries in the Middle East and applying this knowledge to a plan for a culturally appropriate restaurant.

Students will share their proposals (with optional food samples!) to the Shark Tank judges in three-minute persuasive presentations. The three-minute time limit pushes students to fine-tune their presentations and select only the most persuasive language and arguments.

As a part of the presentation, students will share how their research affected their business plan decisions. Each member of the group will be asked to take a role in the public presentation, allowing for students to practice the important skill of speaking to a group.

We know it is Shark Tank judging week when the smells of freshly cooked foods fill the 6th grade hallways!

Eureka Math in Action

Students in Nina Swain's 7th grade math class were recently working on A Story of Ratios unit. Working in groups of four, students applied their understanding of using "if-then moves" in solving equations.

The Problem
The total number of participants who went on the seventh-grade field trip to the Natural Science Museum consisted of all of the seventh-grade students and 7 adult chaperones. Two-thirds of the total participants rode a large bus, and the rest rode a smaller bus. If 54 students rode the large bus, how many students went on the field trip?

Students were asking questions like: "What represents the total number of participants?" "What can take the place of the word of?"  Using notes from class, coaching from the teacher, and ideas from the group, students were engaged in some excellent mathematical conversations.

Eureka Math lessons encourage students to focus on the process of solving problems and to explore the concepts of math rather than memorize specific problem-solving steps. Below is the summary of the key concepts being addressed in this lesson:

Lesson Summary 

• Algebraic Approach: To solve an equation algebraically means to use the properties of operations and if-then moves to simplify the equation into a form where the solution is easily recognizable. For the equations we are studying this year (called linear equations), that form is an equation that looks like 𝑥𝑥 = a number, where the number is the solution. 
• If-Then Moves: If 𝑥𝑥 is a solution to an equation, it will continue to be a solution to the new equation formed by adding or subtracting a number from both sides of the equation. It will also continue to be a solution when both sides of the equation are multiplied by or divided by a nonzero number. We use these if-then moves to make zeros and ones in ways that simplify the original equation. 
• Useful First Step: If one is faced with the task of finding a solution to an equation, a useful first step is to collect like terms on each side of the equation.