The sixth grade students participated in a week of enrichment and preview activities as a precursor to a new unit on decimals. They worked on dividing ten-thousands-place numbers by one digit and enjoyed an online Jeopardy! game and assignment based on the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of decimals.

The seventh graders reinforced previously learned concepts this week by working with the multiplication of money and solving equations with one variable. They also reviewed order of operations (PEMDAS) with parentheses. The class will begin exploring a new unit next week entitled "Algebraic Manipulation."

The eighth grade students learned how to construct input/output tables and solve linear equations this week. They also learned how to graph the solutions to linear equations on a coordinate plane. (See photos.) The class will begin exploring a new unit next week entitled "Quadratic Factorization and Equations."

Sixth grade finished up the section on clouds with a test and some outside observation. Their attention will now be turned inward to the spheres and materials that make up the Earth and the extraordinary length of time it takes for all these processes to happen just right. There are a lot of questions right now, but questions can soon be answered, and new curiosities will be fueled.

Animals, weather, environments. The Life Science class is loving their section on the world’s biomes, but it is coming to a close. As a finishing touch, students will each be assigned a biome to become an expert on and present to the class. Our next step will take us into the realm of the smallest things we have found. Everything is made of something, and that something is our next topic of study.

Physical Science is about to blast off into an exploration of astrophysics. This week, students began learning about the formation of planets and galaxies. This section will take them through the formation of stars and, eventually, the planets of our solar system. With a bit of luck, we may even get to see a live rocket launch. Look out, space - here comes TCS.

Sixth Grade
This week, the sixth-grade class concluded work on their second narrative essay. Students carefully revised and edited their writing, checking for grammatical accuracy, spelling, and clarity. They also participated in a peer-review process, reading their essays aloud to classmates and offering thoughtful feedback and suggestions. This collaborative work helped students strengthen their writing and listening skills. The narrative framework practiced here will serve as a foundation as students move on to other forms of writing, including persuasive and argumentative essays.

Seventh Grade
This week, the seventh-grade class launched their poetry unit with a focused study of figurative language. Students explored and practiced identifying similes, metaphors, personification, and idioms. To make the lesson engaging and relevant, they analyzed figurative language in a popular hip-hop song, identifying how imagery and comparisons enhance meaning and emotion. The week concluded with a close reading of Langston Hughes’s powerful poem “I, Too, Sing America,” which sparked thoughtful discussion about voice, identity, and belonging. This unit will culminate in a Poetry Coffeehouse event, where students will share and perform their original poems.

Eighth Grade
This week, eighth graders continued working on their Capstone projects. Students are wrapping up the research and planning phase and transitioning into the digital and visual components of their projects. They are now selecting the medium through which they will present their work, such as slideshows, videos, or other multimedia formats, and beginning to design and develop those presentations. This phase encourages creativity while reinforcing organization, clarity, and audience awareness.

Sixth Grade
This week, the sixth-grade class completed their study of the origins of Judaism. Students learned about key figures such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon, and examined their roles in the development of the religion. They also explored the Jewish diaspora and how Jewish communities spread to various regions around the world, including Africa and the Americas. In addition, students learned about the origins and historical significance of the major Jewish holiday Hanukkah.

Seventh Grade
This week, the seventh-grade class concluded their unit on Islam. Students had the opportunity to see the Five Pillars of Islam illustrated through selected scenes from the film Malcolm X, particularly during Malcolm’s pilgrimage (Hajj) to the holy city of Mecca. The film prompted meaningful discussions about faith, identity, and transformation. Next week, students will present projects focused on important Moorish inventions and innovations, providing an opportunity to showcase both their research skills and creativity.

Eighth Grade
This week, the eighth-grade class finished viewing the film Selma, which depicts the struggle for African American voting rights during the 1960s. While watching, students identified and analyzed examples of the Bill of Rights in action, as well as how the three branches of government interact to bring about change. This activity helped students connect constitutional principles to real historical events and better understand the role of government in advancing civil rights.

6th Grade
Sixth graders expanded their understanding of looping through a series of Star Wars–themed coding puzzles that demonstrated the power of repetition in programming. By using simple loops to replace long strings of repeated commands, students saw how efficient code can solve complex problems with elegance and clarity. This activity reinforced both logical thinking and problem-solving, showing how small structures can have a big impact in computational design.

7th Grade
Seventh graders began to utilize a CSS style guide in conjunction with image usage in HTML, creating a more organized and aesthetically pleasing way to arrange elements beyond simple text. By styling images alongside written content, students learned how layout, spacing, and design choices influence readability and visual hierarchy. This work helped solidify their understanding of how structure and style work together in effective web design.

8th Grade
Eighth graders completed the final step in the basic Java rendering process by incorporating text into their scenes. With the ability to now use text, color, shapes, and sprites within a single workspace, students gained full control over their visual environments. This milestone marked an important step toward building richer, more dynamic programs and interactive game designs.

During this week, 6th- and 7th-grade students reviewed the use of the indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as well as numbers. They developed speaking and writing skills through questions and answers and by creating simple sentences using the grammatical structures and vocabulary learned in previous classes.

The 7th-grade students also played the interactive Spanish game Jeopardy, in which they reviewed vocabulary related to colors, numbers, days of the week, the alphabet, verbs, and nouns. This game also allowed them to learn additional words such as hablar (to speak), cocinar (to cook), la cocina (the kitchen), las papas fritas (French fries), and el pan (bread).

New vocabulary:

• un caballo – a horse

• un pato – a duck

• un hámster – a hamster

• un conejo – a rabbit

• un pájaro – a bird

• un pollito – a chick

• un pez – a fish

• un cerdo – a pig

• un burro – a donkey

• una oveja – a sheep

• una cabra – a goat

• una gallina – a hen

• una vaca – a cow

This week, through reading, writing, and speaking exercises, 8th-grade students continued to reinforce their knowledge of how to express activities they like and dislike using the expressions “I like” and “I don’t like,” along with connecting words (Después de – after, Antes de – before, Pero – but, También – also).

New vocabulary:

• la actividad – activity

• alquilar un DVD – to rent a DVD

• aprender español – to learn Spanish

• la escuela – school

• hacer la tarea – to do homework

This week in Middle School Art, students studied sunflowers through the work of Vincent van Gogh, learning how color can communicate emotion and meaning. They explored Van Gogh’s use of bold, unmixed colors and experimented with contrasting color pairings before reflecting on why he favored yellow flowers on yellow backgrounds. The project blended art history with hands-on exploration of color theory and expression.

This week in Middle School PE, students focused on team-building activities that challenged them to work together, communicate effectively, and think strategically. Through cooperative games and problem-solving tasks, students practiced planning, listening to teammates, and adapting their strategies to reach shared goals. They did a great job in all activities!