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February 18, 2010
MS Curriculum Update - February 10, 2010
Earth Science (6th & 7th)
Curriculum Notes: We are working from the California Science Standards for Earth Sciences, and are currently on Unit 3: Plate Tectonics and Earth’s Structure, which includes the study of plate tectonics, volcano’s and earthquakes.
Classroom Commentary
Activities: Last week, students learned about the impact Volcanoes have on the lives of people who live nearby by watching “In the Path of a Killer Volcano”.
Lab: Students picked one volcano to study in detail, and are making a clay model showing the interior and exterior structure of the volcano. We will be painting and adding more details next week.
Text References: CPO Focus on Earth Science (CPO Science); Chapter 10: Volcanoes
Upcoming tests and due dates: (to be added in future editions!)
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Physical Science (8th)
Curriculum Notes: We are working from the California Science Standards for Physical Sciences, and are currently on Unit Four: Matter and Change, which includes the chemistry of living systems.
Classroom Commentary
Activities: Students are learning about the connections between Chemistry and Biology. This week we are focusing on macronutrients and vitamins. In groups students are creating a healthy daily menu of recipes that meet the USDA guidelines for a balanced diet. We will compile all the healthy recipes into a classroom cookbook for each student to take home to promote healthy eating at home.
Lab: Last week we did two labs modeling and extracting DNA. This week, healthy daily menu of recipes.
Text References: CPO Focus on Physical Science (CPO Science); Chapter 11: The Chemistry of Living Systems
Upcoming tests and due dates: (to be added in future editions!)
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Information Technology
Curriculum Notes: This week starts the new semester and we have some big changes in the computer lab. Classes are now being organized by grade, which is good news for the long-suffering 8th graders who can finally begin work on their Yearbook in earnest! For the last semester they have been working in 3 separate groups, trying not to duplicate work and communicating outside of class. Now they can start to put the project all together and come up with their themes.
Classroom Commentary/Projects:
6th and 7th grades: have finished learning Excel and spreadsheets and have moved on to Web Design. We started this week by talking about how the Internet works (ask your child why it is designed as a web) and tracing the path of a web page from a person typing in a URL into a browser to the page appearing on the screen (it's much more complicated than you might realize). Next week we'll start making our own web pages!
8th grade: Yearbook
References: Check out the Hillcrest Computer Website to see what students are doing, look at the curriculum, or look at past years' work: click on Computer Class under Enrichment or click on the Computer Corner logo on the right side of the school page.
Upcoming due dates: (to be added in future editions!)
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Spanish (6th): Coming Next Time!
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Spanish (7th)
Curriculum Notes: The students just had the first quiz for this semester. We are on chapter four paso uno. Students are learning how to tell what they and others like to do during free time, what is their hobby, and what chores they do at home.
Related vocabulary includes phrases such as: I watch television, I play video games, I walk the dog, I take care of my brother, I like to listen music, etc. They are using the following verbs: to have, to like, and present tense of regular -ar verbs. They are also able to tell with whom and when they are doing these activities in their free time.
Classroom Commentary: The class is doing skits once a week on Tuesdays, wherein they have an opportunity to practice what they have learned during the week. They have lots of fun doing this activity. We also do a lot of conversations in groups of 2 or 3 where they finish by presenting to the group.
Text References: Adelante Primer paso pages: 148-158
Upcoming Tests and Due Dates: (to be added in future editions!)
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Spanish (8th)
Curriculum Notes: We started the second semester with chapter 9 paso uno. The class is learning to tell about giving gifts. For example to find out what gift a friend has in mind for someone else they can ask: What kind of gift are you looking for? Who is the gift for? What are you planning to give to your brother? They are learning vocabulary that helps them have a conversation about what family, friends and themselves likes to be able to find the perfect gift.
They are also learning to ask for directions. For example, asking for and giving directions to downtown they might ask: Where are you? Where is it? Related vocabulary includes words for: next to, to one side of, beside, there, here, near, under, beneath, on top of and far from.
Classroom Commentary: With this class we are doing more conversation. They work in groups of 4 to be able to create a long the conversation. Students love to do this and they challenge themselves to create the best conversation. This class knows a significant amount of Spanish, and they show it in this activity.
Text References: Text book En camino. Chapter 9 Primer paso pages: 130-135
Upcoming Tests and Due Dates: (to be added in future editions!)
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Art
Curriculum Notes: These past few weeks Hillcrest middle schoolers have been working on a “Book Arts” project.
For those of you who have never heard of “Book Arts” as an art form, it is a relatively young (3 decades old), cutting edge field in art that has only caught on in the past decade. This past year Mill’s College expanded their “Book Arts” department to include a program in which students can receive a degree in that field. The field of “Book Arts”, as opposed to conventional “books” - as primarily vehicles for information - is an art form that treats the book as an object of art: often taking highly sculptural forms, that may or may not include text.
Classroom Commentary/Projects: Our current project is a “Flag Book” made with an accordion spine and envelopes as “flags” (pages). The theme of this book is fictional pen-pals. Students were assigned a partner to collaborate with, and instructed to create fictional characters, as well as encouraged to be quite imaginative in their constructions. Suggestions from the instructor included: a pet rock, an alien from another galaxy/time, a wolf, a human, anyone but yourself. Some examples of their wonderful creations are: a rabbi from Israel who writes only in Hebrew, a drop of water who lives in a lake, a secret agent who can tell her pal nothing about herself, and a girl who writes only in “text-speak”.
Other aspects of the project involved drawing a map for their pen-pal to come visit them, making faux-postage stamps from their world, and, of course, building the book structure.
Beginning next week all middle schoolers will be working on self portraits in the style of Pablo Picasso, using acrylic paint on canvas.
Other Notes: These fabulous creations will be on display at Hillcrest’s annual art show in March. Please contact me if you would like to help out in setting up our art show.
Posted by sholli at February 18, 2010 04:05 PM