7th Grade Parent Newsletter Principal's Message William Bridges said, "Change is an event, but a transition is the process that you go through in response to the change." If your family is part of the upcoming change to the hybrid model that will occur on February 1, pending favorable COVID numbers, the transition has already begun and will continue for quite some time. There will be a number of communications in the coming weeks regarding the details of this change, along with information on the upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences, which will occur on February 11-12. Now is a good time to begin transitioning your wake up time in the morning, remembering the bus pick up time, etc. Remember that transition causes disruption and we are here to help you through it. We got this! Book Club We have a wonderful opportunity for all of you! We are organizing a book group in which all students and their families can participate. The book that we will be reading is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, by Jason Reynolds. It is a history of racist and anti-racist ideas in America, looking back to their European origins and continuing on through today. Meeting date: Thursday, January 21 Meeting time: 6:30 p.m. on Zoom Please fill out this Google form if you plan to participate. Here are a few options for getting the book: Hennepin County Library East Media Center Media Center and Book Checkout During distance learning, books will be available for check out and pick up from the media center. To put books on hold, students should follow the instructions in the video provided in the East Media Canvas course. The books will be set out on tables in the front entryway of the main entrance to the building and available for pick up on regular school days between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. In addition, you may return books in the wooden book return bin that is located inside the main entrance during these same hours on school days. Please check Destiny to make sure that the book(s) are checked out to the student before coming to pick them up. To do this, the student will log into Destiny and see the "my info" tab. Select that tab and then confirm that the book that has been put on hold is actually checked out to the student. There will be times when the book on hold is still checked out to another student and will not be available yet. If you have any questions, please email Beth Benezra. Enrichment Opportunities East now has an Enrichment Canvas page. This page houses academic enrichment opportunities that are open to all students. Our newest offerings include: - Northwestern Center for Talent Development
- Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth
What We've Been Working On - Students have been studying how to use equations to solve word problems.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What is the 4-D process for solving problems?
What We're Working on Next - Students will use "legal moves" to solve linear equations.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What are "legal moves" when you are solving equations?
Notes - Please encourage your student to ask questions and get in missing work before the semester ends and grades are issued. The semester ends January 28.
What We've Been Working On - Students have been studying the three forms of linear equations: standard, point-slope, and slope intercept.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - Write y=7x +3 in standard form.
What We're Working on Next - Students will be studying exponential growth & decay.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - How do you know a relationship is exponential?
Notes - Please encourage your student to ask questions and get missing work in before the semester ends and grades are issued.
What We've Been Working On - Students completed reading our in-class novel, The Outsiders.
- Students began learning standards from our first literature unit of the year, Bold Actions. These standards include: story elements, using text evidence to make inferences, words and phrases, and poetic form.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What was the theme you chose to analyze from The Outsiders?
- How do you know that was a theme from the book?
What We're Working on Next - Students will complete the first literature unit of the year and take an assessment on the four standards: story elements, using text evidence to make inferences, words and phrases, and poetic form.
- Students will begin the first informational text unit of the year by taking a pre-assessment and beginning the standards.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - How are you going to prepare for the unit one literature assessment?
What We've Been Working On - Students started Genetics last week. Students learned about inherited and acquired traits and a variety of vocab words for the unit.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What is an example of an inherited trait?
- What is an example of an acquired trait?
What We're Working on Next - Students will learn how DNA, chromosomes, genes, and traits are connected.
- Students will learn about genotypes and phenotypes.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What is a phenotype?
- What was your favorite trait you added to your monster?
What We've Been Working On - Over the past two weeks we have studied waves of immigration in the late 1800s, U.S. imperialism, and the Spanish American War.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What were some of the push and pull factors for the different waves of immigration to the U.S?
- What are the pros and cons of U.S. imperialism?
- What were the causes and results of the Spanish American War?
What We're Working on Next - We will be looking at the causes of WWI along with major events of WWI.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What does the acronym M.A.N.I.A. stand for and how does each apply to the start of WWI?
Notes - End of semester is January 28. Please continue to check Skyward for the updates in grades. Thanks for the support on the home front.
What We've Been Working On - Over the past two weeks PE/Health classes worked on dribbling (either with hands or feet) and introduced passing. We also had a fitness portion of class which was incorporated with various exercises related to dribbling.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What is one skill cue for dribbling with your hands? Or with your feet?
What We're Working on Next - Over the next two weeks, PE/Health classes will finish passing skills and then move on to shooting skills.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What are some skills I need to know to pass a ball correctly and accurately?
Notes - The end of the semester is January 28. Please check your student's grade in Skyward and reach out to the teacher if you have any questions.
What We've Been Working On - We labeled solfege in the majority of our choir songs a week ago and learned how to sing on words this week.
- We learned the term "soft palate" this week and dynamics last week.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - Which choir song was the most difficult to solfege and which one was the easiest?
- What are dynamics?
What We're Working on Next - Continue to work on our choir songs.
- New projects, recording assignments
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What choir song do you think will be the most challenging to work on?
What We've Been Working On - Working on finishing up the recordings for "Sleigh Ride" and section songs
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What was the hardest part about recording "Sleigh Ride"?
What We're Working on Next - Cut Time
- Rhythm Dictation
- Weekly Fun song-students can recommend what to learn
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What is a song you would like to learn how to play on your instrument?
What We've Been Working On - C Major Scale
- Essential Elements book 1 p 33-35
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - Explain how you know when you are playing in the key of C major and what you have to do to play it correctly.
What We're Working on Next - G major scale upper octave for violins
- G major and C major
- Mixed finger patterns
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - How do you know which finger patterns to play on each string?
Notes - Students should be practicing 20 minutes 5 days a week.
- Having an in-tune instrument is crucial for a student's success. Please reach out to your rental store for tuning if your student can't tune their instrument themselves.
What We've Been Working On - Wood Project work time
- Continue working on Cornell Safety Notes and Tests
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - Explain the process of Sanding your project to completion
What We're Working on Next - Compile all video and/ or pictures to create an iMovie of project from start to finish and Project Reflection
- Final WPM Test
- If time, TinkerCad
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - Why is it important to reflect on your completed project?
Notes - All wood projects were due back to school on Thursday, January 14. If your child has yet to complete it, they should work on it over the weekend and brought to school on Tuesday, January 19.
- There is a $10 lab fee that is associated with making the Wood project. The fee can be made through ePay (on our schools website – a printed receipt would help me record it on a timely basis). If there is a financial hardship please feel free to send me an email.
- All Late work needs to be completed and turned into Canvas no later than Friday, January 22. After that, assignment grade will stay the same.
What We've Been Working On - Over the past two weeks, we continued to talk about personal financing. Students were able to learn how to fill out a check register and keep track of different expenditures. Students put their money management skills to the test and created an outfit with only $200 dollars. Students did a great job of deciding if they wanted to spend all of it or save for the future! We sure have some responsible spending students! We ended before break taking our unit test for Personal Financing.
- We have moved on to our final unit which is our foods unit. Students have been practicing with some kitchen math and measuring as well as taking a look at kitchen and food safety.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What are some of the important things you learned about when going over food safety?
What We're Working on Next - Over the next two weeks, students will get the chance to practice some of the food labs we would have done in class at home. Students will have recipes to pick from or they may find alternative recipes if they would like. We will be talking about nutrition and MyPlate. We will review the guidelines for healthy eating and how to make sure you are getting the right nutrients. Students will have access to my food demos for the recipes they would like to complete.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What recipes are you interested in making?
What We've Been Working On - Writing about what people do with foods
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - What do you do with foods? Your friends? A friend? Us at home?
What We're Working on Next - Writing Assessment about what people do with foods
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What do you do with foods? Your friends? A friend? Us at home?
What We've Been Working On - We are discovering how mistakes are an important part of the learning process.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About What We've Learned - How can a mistake be a learning opportunity?
What We're Working on Next - Procrastination and study tips that work will be the focus over the next several weeks.
Question(s) to Ask Your Student About Upcoming Material - What tips and tricks did you learn that can help with procrastination and studying?
Please mark your calendar and join our next PTO Board meeting via Zoom on Friday, January 22 at 9:30 a.m. The PTO Board is in need of a volunteer to fill the role of Hospitality Chair. Please visit our website for more information about this opportunity as well as the upcoming Screenagers Chapter Club! Have You Traveled Out of State? The Minnesota Department of Health recommends that anyone who has traveled out of state to quarantine for 14 days after arriving back in Minnesota. During those 14 days, it is important that you stay home and watch for symptoms. Culinary Transition to Titan Meal Payment System Culinary Express is updating our point of sale system for school breakfasts and lunches to Titan School Solutions beginning January 4, 2021. Titan provides user-friendly solutions for families and removes the need for personal identification numbers (PINs). We will continue to use Nutrislice for our web-based menus and ordering system for distance learning meals. Please remember that breakfast and lunch are free for all students for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year due to the pandemic. Students will only need funds in their account for the remainder of this school year if they plan to make à la carte purchases. Learn More! Login to Titan School Solutions January Legislative Action Committee The Wayzata Legislative Action Committee (LAC) held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 13 (watch a recording of the meeting). Jim Westrum, Executive Director of Business and Finance, shared a brief on the impact COVID-19 has had on District finances. Andrea Cuene, Cheryl Polzin, and Myrna Sitrin shared a summary of the AMSD Legislative Session Preview that was held Friday, January 8. The 2021 Legislative Session began on January 5 and will end on May 17, during which LAC members will be meeting with Senators and Representatives to advocate for the Wayzata Legislative Platform. The Wayzata LAC is a non-partisan group of citizens that monitors legislative activity as it affects K-12 education and advocates positions on behalf of the district. For more information, please visit the Wayzata Committees webpage or contact Sarah Stensland, your school’s Wayzata LAC representative. The next LAC meeting will be Wednesday, February 10. Screenagers Next Chapter: Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience Filmmaker and physician Dr. Delaney Ruston takes the conversation around screens and teens to the next level with Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER: Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience—a film that examines the science behind teen’s emotional challenges, the interplay of social media, and most importantly, what can be done in our schools and homes to help them build crucial skills to navigate stress, anxiety, and depression in our digital age. Once you have registered, your email address will be shared with the Screenagers organization. You will receive a unique link, that will allow you to view the film twice between January 15 - 27. Registration deadline: January 12 by 7:00 a.m. Financial assistance is available or call 763-745-5200 for more information. Tuesday, February 9, 2021 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Wednesday, February 10, 2021 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Thursday, February 11, 2021 4:30 PM - 8:30 PM Friday, February 12, 2021 8:15 AM - 4:15 PM Friday, March 12, 2021 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Friday, March 19, 2021 10:10 AM - 12:10 PM Friday, January 15, 2021 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Tuesday, January 19, 2021 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Thursday, January 21, 2021 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Tuesday, January 26, 2021 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Tuesday, February 2, 2021 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Monday, January 25, 2021 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Monday, February 8, 2021 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM 12000 Ridgemount Avenue, Plymouth, MN 55441 | 763-745-6200 |