Grade Level Updates - October 2019

Grade Level Updates - October 2019
Posted on 10/21/2019
kids reading6th Grade Update

In the 1st quarter, students are learning about how to be a middle schooler, manage expectations, learn to organize themselves and more. We are so proud of how our 6th graders are adapting to life in middle school!

MATH

Students are studying about 
Area and Surface. They will learn to find areas of polygons by decomposing, rearranging, and composing shapes. Next, they 
will approximate areas of non- polygonal regions by polygonal regions. Lastly, they will represent polyhedra with nets and find their surface areas.

SCIENCE

Students are exploring the fascinating human-machine-- their own bodies and how they work! The investigation starts at the smallest scale, by uncovering the idea that all living things are made of cells via microscope observations. Recently, they investigated what is voluntary and involuntary movement in 
the human body.

ELA
Students have set up their chromebooks and written a letter to their teachers introducing themselves. They are learning to write a rough draft, self-edit their work, go through peer-edits, to produce a final draft. We officially began our Independent Readers initiative! 
They started their first novel, Seedfolks and participating in book club reading The Hunger Games. They are are working to answer our first essential question: “What is a hero?”.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Students are defining what it means to be part of a community, learning about ways to engage with their community. Students created maps of their own community and presented them to the class. Our first unit of study will be Geography, learning about other cultures, physical geography and the role that borders (natural and defined) play in countries.

SPECIAL ED

Students are working and sharing their strengths in reading, comprehension and writing skills. Unafraid to make mistakes, everyone has delved into writing assignments and are thoroughly engaged in reading. They have demonstrated a determination to meet the school goal of reading at least 20 books by the end of the school year.


identity project7th Grade Update

MATH
Students have spent some time reflecting on their Math Identity. We are exploring the questions “What has shaped your identity as a mathematician and as a math students? What are the important math touchstones so far in your life?” They have begun to write, draw, sketch their lineage as well as begin the first unit of study, Scale Drawings.

SCIENCE

Students have been developing their team working skills by conducting small experiments, and refining their ability to work in groups. We began with our thermal energy unit, where the crucial aspects of critical thinking and group work are being explored.

ELA

Students have been participating in our Independent Reading Unit. All students have a goal of reading 20 books by the end of this school year. This is a school wide challenge. At the end of September, students began reading our first class novel, Night by Elie Weisel.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students launched their year 
with the exploration of Identity. In this unit, they are looking to answer the question ‘“Who am I?”, while considering how the world around us can influence our identities’. Students got creative developing their Identity Charts at the Design Lab, and created materials that uniquely represents them.

SPECIAL ED

Students are adjusting to the 
new school year, new faces, the 7th grade floor, new advisories, schedule, locks/lockers, etc. The Office of Student Services Special Educators have helped students transition into a great school year! We have been building our community in Advisories and coaching students on how to get organized. We regularly have independent reading, work on portfolio, participate in circles & reflect on our life experiences in and out of school. Mindfulness and balance is important to all students and staff at Putnam Avenue Upper School!

CHINESE IMMERSION

In Social Studies in Chinese, students are very excited on the learning contents such as Maya, Ancient Greek, Roman, Asia of this school year. In our unit on identity students discussing further on “Who am I?”, and have created identity chart personally. The students will continue to discuss how stereotype, discrimination, prejudice to influence our identities.




8th Grade Update

In early October the 8th grade team kicked-off the Portfolio Project with a session for students and families. Over breakfast, they shared insights, information, examples and Putnam Ave. alumni attended to share their perspective on a student level.

MATH

We kicked off the year thinking about our math identities, what are our views on math, how have they changed over the years, and what we want to work on for the year. Students refreshed their memories on transformation such as translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations. We are now extending our knowledge of similar figures to help build our understanding of slope and linear relationships.

SCIENCE

Students began the year learning about seasons and their role in climate in our first unit entitled “How do Humans Impact the Environment?” Once they explore how and why we have seasons, they will move on to discover what causes climate.

ELA

We started the year with our Independent Reading unit, where students analyze their reading identities, develop strong independent reading routines, set goals for reading and establish a culture of engaged readers in the classroom. They will read in the classroom each day, and are expected to read at home each night for at least 
30 minutes. At the end of this unit, students will play the role of critic by writing a review of an independent reading book of their choice.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students began a new civics curriculum focusing on identity and social justice. Students will be pushed to consider not only how their identities impact their lives, but also how identity affects others, and how we can play a role in increasing the quality of life for all groups. This unit will serve as the foundation for all of the civics oriented work we do this year, and will culminate with an “upstander awareness campaign”, in which students attempt to shed light on some of the injustices that take place in our communities every day.

Special ED 

We started the year with small groups, getting to know our students and coaching them to practice using their executive functioning skills such as chunking assignments, time management & making checklists in class. In Math, students are working on math reasoning routines, applying them 8th grade problems. They are learning to ask questions and analyze problems like mathematicians. In science students began the unit on seasons. In ELA they began with independent reading, and to love the art of writing. Students are learning how to choose books that interest them, and build stamina to stick with them.


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