12/4/20
TGIF…Twin Groves it’s Friday!
What’s Happening at Twin Groves?
6th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced: This month, we will be working on writing a theme analysis and also revisiting the literary elements of mood and tone. We will also begin to examine the author's craft by answering questions like: why did the author put this scene in the story? And investigating how the use of a certain sentence impacts the meaning of the story.
Science: 6th grade scientists are truly feeling like chemists now! We are working our way through chemistry learning about elements, compounds, and mixtures! We’ll also learn about how molecules change state through various physical and chemical changes. In fact, one of our favorite lab activities will take place “White Before Your Eyes!”
SS: After finishing our inquiry into the death of Otzi the iceman, students are going to begin to look at the start of civilization and government in the fertile crescent. The students might not have previously heard of the civilizations of Mesopotamia, but they definitely have been impacted by them. These civilizations showcase groundbreaking achievements in law, agriculture, and writing that have come to shape our world for thousands of years!
Pre Algebra Survey: 6th Grade Pre-Algebra Survey is continuing the unit on rational numbers. Rational numbers include all positive and negative integers, fractions, and decimals. This month we will be focused on multiplication and division of rational numbers and then applying all four operations while solving problems following the order of operations. Last month, we talked about encouraging the students to look for structure. This has definitely shown up in class as the students worked. This month, we’d like for you to encourage the students to be precise in their work. This includes knowing definitions, like absolute value is the distance of a number from 0, including units in answers, and converting to different units as necessary. Thank you for all the help at home!
The students have access to these apps that they should be using regularly:
Math Facts Ninja - For students who need extra practice with their math facts.
IXL - This app covers topics in line with the Common Core Curriculum which the students are covering this year. This program is designed to develop critical thinking skills.
Pre Algebra: Pre-Algebra started a unit on expressions following Thanksgiving and will continue this unit throughout December. Much of the focus on this short unit is using the mathematical properties to manipulate variable expressions and justify their reasoning. Last month we talked about encouraging the students to look for structure. This has definitely shown up in class as the students worked. This month, we’d like for you to encourage the students to be precise in their work. This includes knowing definitions, like absolute value is the distance of a number from 0, including units in answers, and converting to different units as necessary. Thank you for all the help at home!
The students have access to these apps that they should be using regularly:
Math Facts Ninja - For students who need extra practice with their math facts.
IXL - This app covers topics in line with the Common Core Curriculum which the students are covering this year. This program is designed to develop critical thinking skills.
7th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced: This week, we finish up our dystopian book club novels, and we thank parents who made room in the day for quiet reading at home to help their students finish the novel on the class time table. As long as that has become part of your routine at home, why not continue it? Silent reading of any kind is an excellent way to boost students’ reading stamina, test scores, comprehension skills, and general knowledge base. And in the pandemic, it is a germ-free, profitable use of free time! Next week, we focus on tone in informational text and take a CFA to check in on how students’ skills are progressing on this target. All of trimester 1’s targets repeat in either trimester 2 or 3, so watch TeacherEase and Schoology for growth as the year continues!
Science: As we head into our second trimester, students have just finished working on epigenetics and discovering how our environments and life choices shape who we are. We looked at the animal community in particular and discovered how various organisms are impacted at a genetic level from their surroundings. Continuing in our study of environmental impacts on organisms, we will begin working on how animal behaviors and animal structures impact their probability to successfully reproduce.
SS: The inquiry model of teaching and learning about history and social studies involves not only questions, questioning, and analysis, but also the very critical skills of evaluation of sources for their reliability and credibility. This includes every possible outlet of information - books, magazines, TV, radio, online / Internet, and social media. This is perhaps the most vital skill to possess as students continue through their High School years and beyond. Key attributes that we discuss include: relevance to topic, coverage/depth, reliability of publisher/author, accuracy, potential bias, and being up to date. We are taught to drive defensively. Now, in this world of 24/7 news and information, we need to navigate news and information defensively. In regards to content, we are comparing and contrasting the views and perspectives of Patriots and Loyalists during the Revolutionary Years and how that will lead to the Constitution replacing the problematic Articles of Confederation. Political parties will emerge during this time in America, with conflicting views for the future. From there, we’ll examine and make connections to our Constitution and government at the national level, state level, and local level and how anyone can step up to take civic action to make a difference.
Bridge to Algebra 1: With the second trimester starting we are in the midst of a very important unit where we learn about linear functions. We are learning how to calculate slope, writing linear equations, and graphing linear equations. Understanding linear equations is crucial because they are prevalent in many levels of math.
Algebra 1: Our first unit in trimester two has us learning how to use our calculators to find lines of best fit (trend lines) for data. The students are doing wonderfully learning how to do this remotely. There are many steps to get to the calculation and a lot of data that needs to be entered and the need for precision is very high. The students are also going to learn how to calculate residuals by hand and learn how to use the calculator to find those as well. We use residuals to determine if a linear model is the best fit for the data.
8th Grade
Language Arts and Language Arts Advanced: We just wrapped up a busy first trimester in Language Arts! Everyone has been working hard on strengthening their reading skills and improving their written responses to literature. In Language Arts we started our first whole class novel, The Giver, and students have been doing a wonderful job analyzing characters, setting, and the impacts of a dystopian society. In Advanced Language Arts students have been analyzing how authors create suspense and how various structures such as irony impact the theme and mood of a text. In trimester two we will focus on how authors craft informational texts and how different text structures impact meaning.
Science: 8th grade Science is completing the second unit studying relationships between ancient and modern organisms. In December, we will begin to investigate the effect of genetic variation on an individual organism’s probability of surviving. We will look at both classic examples of natural selection including peppered moths during the Industrial Revolution. Students will also study current events such as increase of antibiotic resistant nightmare bacteria.
SS: In Social Studies, students had an opportunity to take part in our New Deal Inquiry assignment that required them to analyze sources that showed the New Deal as having either a positive or negative effect on America throughout the Great Depression. Students had their final opportunity of trimester 1 to write an introductory paragraph, providing both background context and a claim statement that held their position. In addition, students had to identify evidence that supported their claim and provide credibility of their sources, both skills that we will continue to assess in trimester 2.
We have since moved on to our World War II unit, first giving students an opportunity to learn about various dictators that emerged in this era. Students researched various atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo. We will next focus in on Hitler’s rise to power and the Nazi regime’s inhumane efforts to exterminate the Jewish population, known as the Holocaust.
Algebra 1: In Algebra 1, we started off the week with our Statistical Models of Linear Functions unit by gathering data, calculating linear regression models, and making predictions. Students will apply their knowledge of linear functions and make connections to real world situations with scatter plots and linear regression models. At this point, students will feel pretty confident in using their TI-84+ graphing calculator. This will be a great unit to complete before going on Winter Break.
Algebra 2: In Algebra 2, we started off the week with our Radical Functions unit. The students will apply their knowledge from Algebra 1 to take it a step further into our Algebra 2 unit on radical functions. The students will explore how to graph radical functions with transformations, write equations of radical functions based on key characteristics, solve radical functions with square root and cube roots, and find inverses of radical functions.
Monthly Asynchronous Wednesdays
Once per month, beginning in December, students will participate in asynchronous activities for a portion of their school day. The dates for each of these asynchronous Wednesdays are identified below. Students will go through all of their periods on an amended schedule. They will be done with their classes at 12:00PM. Lunch will be from 12:00-12:30PM and the asynchronous portion of the day will be from 12:30-2:30 PM. Teachers will communicate with students to be sure that they understand the expectations for each of these days.
These monthly asynchronous days were created to give students the opportunity to participate in topics that will enhance our current curricular content, and so that teachers have time to collaborate and plan with each other to determine the best way to approach future instruction.
In addition to the December 16th date, the remaining asynchronous Wednesdays will take place on the following dates.
December 16
January 13
February 24
March 17
April 21
SPECIFIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIRST ASYNCHRONOUS WEDNESDAY: DECEMBER 16th
The asynchronous portion of the day will take place in the afternoon. The asynchronous focus for this day is digital citizenship. Students will be engaging in a variety of Digital Citizenship See specifics below for each grade.
Middle School (Grades 6-8): Students will engage in instruction as they typically would until 12:00pm. At 12:30pm, the asynchronous portion of the day will begin and continue through the end of the school day. Students will access the asynchronous work in Schoology. Teachers will communicate with students to be sure that they understand the expectations and communicate where they should access the asynchronous work for each of these days. While we prefer that the asynchronous work is completed during this designated time, please adjust timing based on what works best for your family.
The schedule for 12/16 will be sent out on 12/11 in the Principal's Message.
SHS Foreign Language Placement Information for Languages OTHER THAN Spanish
Stevenson High School is looking forward to meeting and greeting next year's incoming Freshman! Their goal is to ease the transition as much as possible by communicating opportunities with our families. We would like to make sure you are aware of the opportunity to take a language benchmark exam for courses other than Spanish should your student wish to place in an advanced level language course. The following languages are available at Stevenson: Chinese, German, French, Hebrew, Latin, and Spanish*.
Pre-registration opened on Tuesday, November 24. The deadline to complete the exam is Thursday, December 17. Incoming Adlai E. Stevenson High School students interested in taking a World Language course beyond Level 1 MUST complete an online placement exam and register via this link.
This year, SHS offers the AAPPL exam online and ask parents or guardians to assist as proctors. By registering, the proctor agrees to administer the assessment in a supervised and appropriate environment while maintaining the exam's integrity.
Students with no previous class instruction or exposure to the language of interest will not need to take an exam.
Students with previous language instruction or heritage language learners MUST complete the benchmark exam.
*Note: Incoming students from the sender schools currently enrolled in SPANISH will be taking the placement exam through D96 in November/December. These students should NOT register to take a placement exam unless interested in taking another language course.
For more information or questions, please contact Sylvia Lima at Stevenson High School: [email protected]
STEM Opportunity This Saturday (12/5)
Is your middle school student Interested in coding and CAD 3-D modeling? Kids in grades 6–8 are invited to join the STEM Crash Course Zoom hosted by the Stevenson High School Sophomore VEX Robotics Team on Saturday, December 5th.
Workshop times are 9:30–11:30 AM and 1:00–3:00 PM. Club coaches will be present online throughout the event to offer assistance if needed.
See MORE INFO and sign-up instructions to receive the Zoom link. Questions? Contact [email protected]
PTO
Twin Groves Spirit Wear is on sale again NOW through December 14th!
Stay cozy and learn in style wearing the new Colts loungewear. Choose from comfy hoodies, t-shirts, joggers, and pajama pants.
Orders will be available in early January via on-site pick up at Twin Groves. Date and time TBD. For more information and to place your order, visit our PTO Membership Toolkit: Twingrovesmspto.membershiptoolkit.com
Daily Announcements
Please see Twin Groves website for up to date school announcements. The announcements let you know what exciting activities and clubs are going on at Twin Groves. Please click HERE to access the Daily Announcements.