november 1, 2024 Newsletter

from the irving office

Irving Merch!! Our store is back open with some classic favorites and some new designs (and colors!). These make great gifts for Irving students as well as family members!

Know any Irving alumni? Pass the link along or just surprise them with a nostalgic gift!

SHOP IRVING MERCH HERE!

Computer science - ebeler & tobey

Students in Computer Science 7 are in their Cue Robot unit with a summative assignment called Barrel Racing. Students spent 4 class periods working with a partner to use block coding to program Cue to move around a barrel racing course, with light changes and a sound at the finish line. Within the CUE unit, students use the Cue app on our iPads to block code programs in order for the Cue to do various activities.

contemporary communications - kroenke

Students just finished delivering their speeches about social media and teens with great eye contact. I am so proud of them. That wraps up our Digital Citizenship Unit, so we’ll be moving on to learn about social responsibility and the use of podcasts to communicate.

counseling - fiero

Consistent Attendance is SO important!

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, one study found that the number of public school students who are chronically absent—meaning they miss at least 10 percent of days in a school year, whether excused or unexcused—has nearly doubled, from about 15 percent in the 2018-2019 school year to around 30 percent in 2021-2022. These large increases in absenteeism are widespread: every state for which data were available in this study saw significant increases in rates of chronic absenteeism between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years. Disparities in levels of chronic absenteeism across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines also widened.

Research shows that school absences take a toll on grades and performance on standardized tests. Beyond test scores, irregular attendance can be a predictor of high school drop-out, which has been linked to poor labor market prospects, diminished health, and increased involvement in the criminal justice system. Students who are chronically absent are at higher risk for these adverse outcomes. - White House addresses attendance concerns

If you have questions about your student's attendance or need help improving their attendance, please reach out to me at jfiero@lps.org or 402-436-1214. There are several strategies we can use to improve attendance and support your student at school.

Please also see guidance from LPS regarding attendance policies - LPS - Student Services Attendance

We want your student at school and we are here to help!

english 7 &7D - Johnson

As we have shifted into the second quarter, so too have students shifted from reading into writing. Both English 7 and 7D classes have been hard at work writing a personal narrative. This has included how to recognize plot structure and then to use that structure to outline a story. Students should also have a first draft of their narrative complete by Monday, which we will then develop further through a series of Author’s Craft lessons.

Students continue to explore vocabulary by learning about root words and prefixes and how they add context to understanding meaning.

We also continue with daily reading so that students can strengthen their reading skills. Students are currently reading a book of their choice and keeping a journal of their discoveries.

english 7 & 7d - Rischling

English 7: We are into routine of examining environmental writings and studying Latin bases each day. We are logging the writings we are reading so that we may use them at the end of the semester to write a paper about how daily choices affect our environment.

English 7D: We have read a fair bit into The Martian and I think the students are enjoying it! We pair this with our normal lit circles. 7D has also started Latin and will have their first Latin quiz coming up this week. The Latin quizzes should have no surprises on them as long as students did the lesson and studied it as well as made flashcards for the bases/meanings.

health - beyer & hoyt

Students are finishing Unit 2 over Tobacco and Alcohol Use and Prevention.

Unit 3 students will be learning about exercise and nutritions impacts on their health. This unit will also touch on non-communicable and communicable diseases.

math 7 & 7d - liss & gerl

Math 7 (Regular): We are learning about scale ratios, scale drawings, proportional relationships, and constant rate of change. We will also learn a bit about proportional equations and how that connects to Algebra. We will learn how to factor and use properties of operations to create equivalent algebraic expressions (like combining like terms).

Chapter 4 Parent Guide

Math 7D (Diff): This unit covers scale multipliers, proportional relationships, and percent change. After testing over Unit D, we’ll begin Unit E (CC2 Chapter 8) which covers statistics (gathering, graphing, and analyzing data), as well as geometry specifically angle relationships (examples: vertical angles, supplementary, complementary, etc.).

Chapter 7 Parent Guide

Chapter 8 Parent Guide

pe - haag, essman, beyer, hoyt & mohlman

Students in PE are Learning the activity of flag football while developing and reinforcing basic locomotor skills. Skills tHAT ARE BEING TAUGHT ARE THE CORRECT PROCEDURE TO GRIP AND HOLD THE FOOTBALL, HOW TO CATCH A PASS AND WORKING ON PULLING A FLAG FOR FLAG FOOTBALL.

rewards reading - baker & hughes

Rewards Secondary: We finished up Unit 3 and will be moving into Unit 4 focusing on many reading and writing skills including sentence structure, sentence types, paragraph structure and writing, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.

Rewards Plus: We finished up Unit 3 and will be moving into Unit 4 where we will practice a variety of reading and writing skills surrounding information about the British Empire.

***Please continue to encourage your child to read at home, practice spelling and to practice fluency***

science 7 & 7D - Dresden

Students are half way through our chemistry unit! So far we have identified the culprits in our bath bombs that are causing the bath bombs to fizz. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to dive into what the gas in a bath bomb bubble is made of. As we explore properties of matter, we find out that we can use these properties to test for what the mystery gas is! After we successfully identify the gas, we will start looking at things on a much smaller scale, the molecular level, to figure out how a gas can be made from mixing solids and a liquid together.

Important dates: Lesson 1-5 Quiz Test Friday November 8th

Student teams were able to build their own investigation this week! Ask your student how they designed their investigation to figure out which ingredients caused the fizzing!

science 7 & 7D - Jung

This week we observed different bath bombs and what they do when added to water and then developed individual models and explanations to show what is happening at a scale smaller than we can see. We are working on developing an initial class consensus model, brainstorming related phenomena, developing questions and ideas for investigations to pursue later through experimentation.

Important Date: Chemistry Quiz 1 Fri. 11/15

Social studies - davison & ottley

We are approaching the end of Unit 2, and nearing the start of Unit 3: Medieval Christian Europe. In Davison’s social studies class, our Unit 2 slideshow is due November 8th, which is a Google Slides presentation about a historical figure of the students’ choosing. In class, we have been discussing the Roman Republic/Empire and democracy. We also have Student Vote on October 30th, which will task social studies students with voting for a few things that will be on the presidential ballot on November 5th. We have been relating our discussions about Roman democracy to American democracy and what’s upcoming with Student Vote. Students will vote for presidential candidates, senatorial candidates, House of Representatives candidates, and the paid sick leave ballot measure.

world language - zetterman-pickerel

We are wrapping up our Spanish and moving on to French next week. We will lead with talking about French fashion and move into days of the week, months and numbers. Your student will be able to tell you the day of the week and date in French and Spanish!

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