Category Archives: 7th Newsletters

Ms. Wollensak’s Notes – January 30th

By awollensak | Published: January 31, 2012

Congratulations to all History Fair participants.  The most frequent comment at the Open House was “They’re all so good!  How did you pick a winner?”  It was difficult, but the winners are Meghan and Michelle Nelson for Navy Pier, Tommy McGing for Lakeshore Drive,  Caroline Wuerl for Frank Lloyd Wright, Kate Krecek for Morton Arboreum, Krystal Levitske for Robert May and Rudolph, and Lauren Engels and Lauren Addari for the Schedd Aquarium.  Those receiving honorable mention are Matt Ashe and Brandon Dziak, Matt Franklin and Drew Mrazek, Amy Fatora, Sean Heslin, Andrea Serrano, and Cynthia Turza.  Thank you to our judges.  Thanks  to parents for driving students around and prodding them to stay on task!

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7th Grade Religion

By tdillon | Published: January 29, 2012

John the Baptist is a very important figure in the development of our faith and as such we will be exploring who he was as an individual as well as how he bridged the Old and New Testaments.  We will also be looking at the infancy narratives written in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke before we begin to examine the divine and human nature of Jesus.

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7th Grade Science

By tdillon | Published: January 29, 2012

We have begun our biology curriculum with an examination of the history and design of the microscope and will incorporate that knowledge when we take a close look at the compound microscopes we will be using in class.   They will also use these skills when we begin looking at the structure and function of plant and animal cells.

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Rotunno News 01/30/12

By protunno | Published: January 29, 2012

7th MATH So many students in this group are really working hard and their improvement is dramatic. They are always enthusiastic and giving me their best. We have covered more than any other group at this level before and I am proud of their accomplishments. Now we have to keep up the good work to be ready for Terra Nova tests coming up. We are completing Chapter 8 this week and then heading for Chapter 13 for some study of probablity and tree diagrams. This material is traditionally on the Terra Nova test but because it’s at the back of the book we ususally don’t get to it.  So I have incorporated some study now hoping to enlighten the students before the test.  We will be moving around the text as we have to try and complete all the necessary topics for 7th grade common core standards. We are doing a great job to date.  No math help this Thurday (Feb. 2nd) as Ms. Wollensak and I will attend the Naz Scholastic Bowl with 2 teams. If you wish to see me during conferences please send that in with your slip or call the office.

7TH PRE-ALGEBRA We will be completing Chapter 6 on ratio, proportion, and probability  soon with the test being the week of Feb. 9th. Then we will get to some Geometry and Pythagorean Thoerem before the Terra Nova test. I will use the end of February to just touch on anything we have not covered that I think will be on the test. We have done a great job keeping up with all the topics needed in the commom core standards for 7th grade.  The class is dedicated to mastering these topics and all are working hard to stay on top of things. I believe they understand how much time and effort is needed to master an accelerated class so next year will be easier on both of us. I will not be available for math help this Thursday (Feb. 2nd) as Ms. Wollensak and I are attending the Naz Scholastic Bowl with 2 teams. If you want to see me during Parent Conferences please indicate that on your slip or call the office.

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7th Grade Science and Religion

By tdillon | Published: January 13, 2012

Thanks to students, families and FSA for the generous Christmas gifts.

7th Grade Science

We just completed our review of the Fossil Fuels and will now turn our attention to renewable energy source, specifically, solar, wind and hydropower. I anticipate this section will be completed by the 20th of January.  We will then begin our biology portion of the curriculum with a look at the history, design and use of microscopes.

 Religion

We are still exploring the gospels according to Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. To do so we have been using our textbook, information I received from a course given by the Arch Dioceses, and the PBS documentary “From Jesus to Christ”. This video is available to the public via the following links http://video.pbs.org/video/1365214164 and http://video.pbs.org/video/1365348518 . Upon completion of our look at the importance of the gospels we will begin to explore why God called John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus.

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Ms. Wollensak’s Room – January 13

By awollensak | Published: January 13, 2012

Thanks to students, families and FSA for the generous Christmas gifts.

Social Studies

The History Fair is almost here.  Students will bring in their completed exhibits on Wednesday, January 25th.  Parents will be invited to see their student’s presentation.  A schedule to presentations will come home in next Wednesday’s envelope.  All exhibits will be on view for Catholic Schoools Week Open House.   Exhibits advancing to the Regional History will be announced at Sunday’s Open House.

In our text we are beginning Chapter 11.  We are studying the presidency of Andrew Jackson and the US electoral system. 

Language

We are back in the Vocabulary book.  We will have a test on the material in Unit 7 on Friday, January 20th.  In Grammar we are studying pronouns.

Literature

We are beginning to read the novel Lyddie. Set in the 1840′s in Lowell, Massachusetts.  It ties in nicely with Social Studies.

 

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Rotunno news 1/13/12

By protunno | Published: January 11, 2012

7th MATH We had fun with the Geometry chapter and now we are moving to Chapter 8 which involves ratio, rates, slope, proportions and scale drawings. The students have begun working on a computer model of a scale drawing with Mrs. Flickinger and our Geometry work with similar figures gave us some background with ratio and proportions. So I think the next topic will be interesting and successful for this group. I am disappointed in the number of C’s this class is generating, but some of it has to do with poor computing and not general math knowledge. We are running into lots of subtraction errors and careless mental computation. It is always good to practice those skills outside of  math class to keep sharp.  We began Chapter 8 this week so we’ll close out the quarter with one more quiz on sections 8-1 to 8-3. Then the week of 1/23/12 we will continue in Chapter 8 with proportions.  There are only 6 sections to this Chapter so we’ll be finished quickly and then try to hit any other topics needed before the Terra Nova test.

PRE-ALGEBRA Currently, we are in Chapter 13 whose emphasis is Geometry, angles and shapes. We will have one more test this quarter on Chapter 13 next week. Then we head to Chapter 6 for ratio, rates, proportion, similar figures, scale drawings and probability. We will begin this the middle of next week and I will cover sections 6-1 to 6-5 before we take a quiz. This group is starting to show their skills with some great progress. Most students are functioning at an A or B level as it should be. When we are finished with the ratio chapter, we will head for topics needed before the Terra Nova exam. Practice with basic skills is appropriate for this class also, since we don’t focus at all on that in the Pre-Algebra curriculum. 

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7th Gr. Science

By tdillon | Published: December 9, 2011

The students just completed a brief look at the causes of air pollution and global climate change. The timing of our unit couldn’t have been better as it coincided with the United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa. As a supplement to the regular curriculum we also listened to NPR News for the latest information coming from the talks.

Between now and the Christmas break we will begin to explore non-renewable and renewable energy sources.

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7th Gr. Religion

By tdillon | Published: December 9, 2011

We are in the midst of completing our look at how Israel was considered the crossroads of the world at the time of Jesus. We looked at such things as the languages people spoke, their housing and clothing, their home life and leisure time, as well as, the basic structure of the economy. Prior to the Christmas break we will begin to explore the meaning and importance of the gospels, in addition to exploring the similarities and differences between the 4 main gospels.

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Math news-Rotunno (11-22-11)

By protunno | Published: November 22, 2011

PRE-ALGEBRA We have finally completed Chapter 4 and have embarked upon Chapter 5 which is all operations with rational numbers. We will be adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers which are both negative and positive. This is a challenging task no doubt, but I’m confident this group will meet this ordeal head on. They finally did pretty well with those negative exponents and we will revisit that in 8th grade. This is the only math class that meets in the afternoon and that sometimes is difficult as well. Although there will be no assignment over the holiday, make sure they hone those math skills a little. Have them compute the per person cost for the turkey dinner or compute what portion of the pie is left in terms of a percent.  If you are eating out make them figure out the tip or just work some math problems for fun :) Have a blessed Thanksgiving and know that you are in my prayers as I am thankful for you!

7th MATH We are into the 5th chapter of study which is a great pace and currently working on data and statistics. We are studying measures of central tendency (averages), stem-and-leaf plots, box-and-whisker plots, surveys, and a variety of types of graphs. We will complete Chapter 3 after Thanksgiving then head for some Geometry. Have a blessed Thanks giving as I keep you in my prayers and give thanks for you!

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Technology Extra Credit Opportunity: (gr. 6-8)

By tflickinger | Published: November 18, 2011

click to enlarge this photo- retrieved from wikispaces.com

Since the world of technology is constantly changing and more and more technology applications are based in the cloud; students are encouraged to explore Web 2.0 tools and teach the class how the Web 2.0 tool of their choice works.

Technology tools provide oppurtunities for learning to go beyond the walls of the classroom. St. Cletus recognizes that technology integration can and will make learning more exciting while meeting the needs of diverse (visual, auditory, etc.) learners. 

Web 2.0 extra credit is offered all year long. Your child will be given 10 minutes to teach the class about something they learned independently online. If your child is interested in showcasing a Web 2.0 tool they can access this Web 2.0 wiki site or Google “Web 2.0″. Click here for the extra credit rubric and see how their presentation will be scored. For more information on Web 2.0 and their impact in schools read A day in the Life of Web 2.0

Please contact me with any questions, and happy surfing!     ~Mrs. Flickinger

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7th Gr. Religion

By tdillon | Published: October 28, 2011

We are continuing to explore the rich history and religious heritage of the people during the time of Jesus.  We are examining the meaning of the covenant God made with his people on Mount Sinai and the new covenant that was sealed with the Blood of Jesus. We are also discovering the importance of the Temple, the priesthood, and sacrifice to Jewish life and worship.  The belief of Jesus and other Jews that God was present in his people, in the Temple and in God’s law will also be explored.

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7th Gr. Science

By tdillon | Published: October 28, 2011

Student’s will complete and submit their biomes and interaction among living things web quest next week.  After that we will begin looking at energy flow in ecosystems and integrate chemistry into our curriculum by looking at cycles of matter  (water cycles, carbon and oxygen cycles, and the nitrogen cycle).

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Math news (Rotunno) 10/14/11

By protunno | Published: October 14, 2011

7th MATH  What a delightful group! They are diving into all this number theory with prime numbers at the base and doing very well with this.  We are factoring, finding GCF and LCM, simplifying fractions, changing fractions to decimals and vice versa, and ordering and comparing fractions. That is a boat load of material and they are doing it well. We will wrap up Chapter 4 this coming week with a test on Thursday, October 20th. After all this fraction work we will then get to all the operations with fractions. We have completed Chapters 1,2 and 4 plus a little more in this first quarter and I am very proud of that progress. The whole class does a great job a staying involved and participating. Many of them are taking advantage of the after school help and that’s great also. Their positive attitude makes it easy to work with them.

PRE-ALGEBRA We are conquering some mighty algebraic work this quarter and I think we finally have it figured out. Working with the distributive property and like terms was a challenge but we have completed that for now on a good note. We turn to number theory and GCF and LCM with an algebraic twist naturally. We will explore prime numbers, simplifying fractions with variables, and move on to muliplying and dividing terms with exponents both positive and negative. Finally some work on scientific notation will complete Chapter 4.  We will take a quiz after section 4-4 which will be the last week of the quarter and then the Chapter 4 test will be second quarter. I have some real math stars emerging here and I look forward to cultivating more.

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7th Grade – Religion

By tdillon | Published: October 14, 2011

We are completing our look at prominent literary forms of the New Testament and from there we will explore the rich history and religious heritage of the people during the time of Jesus. We will examine the meaning of the covenant God made with his people onMount Sinaiand the new covenant that was sealed with the Blood of Jesus. We will also discover the importance of theTemple, the priesthood, and the sacrifice to Jewish life and worship.

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