In advisory, students are continuing to work on their portfolios and reflecting on the core values of the school by taking time to reflect on their grades and set goals for the next quarter. In the coming month, the focus of advisory will be on the core value of balance.
In science, students have finished the first unit of the year about light and how we see and have moved on to the study of chemistry. The unit, titled "How Can I Smell Things From a Distance?" focuses on the particle nature of matter and how substances behave when heated and cooled. Additionally, we have kicked off our "Genius Time" Projects where students will be conducting independent research on a science topic of their choosing. In the picture you can see students building paper towers to engage in engineering practices.
In ELA, students are beginning their own creative writing pieces utilizing the hero's journey narrative structure. Students will create their own heroes and demonstrate an understanding of the "monomyth" by creating a story that fits this framework. Students will work on their dialogue writing and their editing skills, and then they will publish their pieces by choosing from different possible products such as a comic strip or a voice thread.
In math, students will continue their work on constructed responses with an emphasis on reasoning. Students are working to expand their number sense to include an understanding of negative numbers and absolute value in the context of temperature and elevation.
In social studies, students have started to research early humans. This is part of their study in Unit 2: Early Humans. They will be using their research to create a project about an early human they chose. Each project will be an opportunity for them to become an "expert" and teach others about the early human they have chosen as their focus.