7th Social Studies:

• Why did Sam Houston refuse to take an oath to the Confederacy, and what does his choice tell us about his beliefs compared to most Texans in 1861? 

• How did the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments change the rights of Texans? How did the state government respond to these new federal laws? 

7th Science:

• In what ways is thermal energy transferred into and out of a system?

• What is the pattern of how heat transfers?

• What is the relationship between temperature and kinetic energy? 

7th Math:

Have your student calculate how many gallons of paint it would take to paint their bedroom or any area of your house. 

How many gallons of paint would it take to paint your bedroom? Given that one gallon of paint covers approximately 400 square feet, how many gallons of paint would it take to cover the walls of your bedroom? Use the appropriate area formulas to determine the number of gallons of paint needed. Remember to be mindful of windows, doors, and other objects that do not need to be painted when calculating the area. What types of shapes did you use when determining the area of your bedroom walls?

7th RLA:

Ask your student to tell you how they are learning  about space exploration in their English classes. Have them use examples from the texts they are reading in class. 

8th Social Studies: 

 The Industrial Revolution: Innovation & Daily Life

• The "Game Changer" Invention: We often talk about the Cotton Gin, the Steam Engine, and the Telegraph. Looking at how the Cotton Gin worked, why did a machine intended to make work easier actually end up increasing the demand for enslaved labor? Which of the three inventions do you think changed America the most?

 Social Reform: Justice & Change

• Abolitionist Strategies: Abolitionists used different methods to fight slavery. Some wrote newspapers (William Lloyd Garrison), some gave public speeches (Frederick Douglass), and others took direct action on the Underground Railroad (Harriet Tubman). Looking at the risks involved in the map above, which method would you have chosen if you were alive then?

• The Radical Idea of Voting: At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the most controversial idea wasn't women's right to property or education—it was the right to vote (suffrage). Why do you think men in the 1800s were specifically so afraid of letting women vote, more than any other right?

Then vs. Now: Modern Connections

• The New "Industrial" Revolution: In the 1800s, machines replaced muscle power. Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is replacing "brain power" in many jobs. Do you feel the same fear about AI that workers in the 1800s felt about steam engines, or is this different?

8th Science: 

• What natural events can affect Earth’s climate?

• How do the release and absorption of greenhouse gases influence the climate?

• In what ways are plants and animals affected by changes in climate?

• In what ways is Earth’s surface affected by changes in climate? 

8th Math:

• Students are working with the Pythagorean theorem: a2 + b2 = c2, where a and b are legs and c is the hypotenuse.  

• The sizes of TVs are traditionally measured using the diagonal length from one corner of a TV screen to the opposite corner. By only measuring the length and height, have your student calculate the size of the TVs in your home by using the Pythagorean theorem to determine their diagonal lengths. 

8th RLA:

• Have the students tell you what they are learning about the Holocaust in English class. 

• Students can tell you about the Diary of Anne Frank and what they are experiencing in the drama they are reading.