The sixth grade students became more adept at their decimal addition, subtraction, and multiplication skills this week through in-class and homework practice. They also learned the rules for multiplying a number by a decimal number that begins with zero or one. They ended the week with more advanced multiplication of two decimal numbers.

The seventh graders began the week with a homework review on adding and subtracting decimals. They then spent two class periods learning how to simplify more advanced algebraic expressions. These expressions were longer, included items like parentheses and exponents, and had several like terms to combine.

The eighth grade students presented their projects in which they were given a linear equation and asked to create a function table and a graph to illustrate their equation. They spent the remainder of the week learning how to find the product of algebraic expressions with exponents and how to expand algebraic expressions.

The sixth grade has started learning about the ancient history of the world. How old is the Earth? How old are the things we see on it? How do we find out the age of something? The class covered all of these questions in the early steps of the geology section. The early history of geological discovery is always fascinating. After all, who knows what a tongue stone is? The sixth grade does.

In Seventh Grade Life Science, the class is excited to finish up the biome section with their at-home project. The class’s scientific history lesson this week focused on the discovery and eventual classification of the microscopic world, science’s first steps into understanding the smallest things that make up everything around us.

Eighth grade is gathering the pieces for their Rube Goldberg machine. While that is happening, the class has moved on to the exploration of space. Physical Science has started learning about the formation of the solar system we call the Milky Way. Perhaps the most difficult part of the year to comprehend, as there is no up, no sideways, and no down, but gravity is everywhere.

6th – This week, the sixth-grade class used the ReadWorks Language Arts website to read and analyze biographies. Students explored the lives of two transformative historical figures, Billie Holiday and Muhammad Ali. After reading, they discussed the lasting impact each individual had on history and culture and completed reading comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding. The class then shifted focus to figurative language. Students studied examples of similes, metaphors, personification, and idioms and practiced identifying each type through a guided activity sheet designed to strengthen and solidify their understanding.

7th – This week was an exciting one in seventh-grade ELA. Students were fortunate to be joined by one of the most prolific poets in the city, who also happens to be TCS’s second-grade teacher, Josh Evans. Josh kicked off our poetry unit with an engaging workshop that guided students through the creative process of writing their very first poem. Students shared their work aloud with the class and were later challenged to continue writing poetry for homework. The energy and enthusiasm were contagious as students expressed themselves through language in preparation for our first annual Poetry Coffeehouse. At this event, students will perform their original poems as well as selections from their favorite poets. Parents are warmly encouraged to attend and enjoy the festivities on February 12th in the music room.

8th – This week, the eighth-grade class embarked on a powerful literary journey as they began reading the classic play 12 Angry Men. Students were assigned multiple characters and participated in dramatic read-alouds of this emotionally and politically charged text. As they read, they made meaningful connections to their History class studies of the Constitution, particularly themes related to justice, civic responsibility, and the role of individual voices within a democratic system.

This week, the sixth graders received an additional stamp on their virtual passports as they traveled from Northern Africa to ancient Mesopotamia. Students examined the development of the Sumerians and explored how they devised ways to manage the seasonal flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. They also studied the many “firsts” of this early civilization, including being among the first to create the wheel and develop a number system based on sixty.

The seventh graders received accolades this week after taking their unit exam on Islam. All students earned either an A or a B, demonstrating strong mastery of the material. They also received another stamp on their virtual passports as they began their unit on West Africa. As an introduction to the unit, students explored twenty of the largest and most influential cities in Africa. They marveled at the beauty and modern infrastructure of these cities, which challenged widely held stereotypes. Next week, students will journey into the study of ancient Ghana.

This week, the eighth graders impressed with high scores on their Constitution unit exam. They then began their new unit on Western expansion, exploring historic revolutions inspired by the American Revolution. Students discussed Vicente Guerrero, the famed Afro-Mexican leader of the Mexican Revolution and the second president of Mexico. Through this study, students began making meaningful connections between global revolutionary movements and the formation of the United States.

6th Grade
Sixth graders continued exploring the power of loops by placing a loop inside another loop, introducing them to more complex yet highly efficient ways to express code. Through this nested looping approach, students learned how repeated patterns can be generated with fewer commands while maintaining clarity and structure. This lesson pushed their computational thinking forward and highlighted how efficiency scales in programming.

7th Grade
Seventh graders began exploring the CSS class system, learning how classes allow style guides to be applied more efficiently across multiple elements. By defining and reusing classes, students saw how consistent design can be maintained with less repetitive code. This concept reinforced best practices in organization, scalability, and clean web design.

8th Grade
Eighth graders worked on a cumulative review project that required them to combine all previous lessons to render a fully captioned scene using color, sprites, and shapes. This project challenged students to plan, execute, and troubleshoot a complete visual composition through code. The result showcased their growing ability to integrate multiple programming concepts into a cohesive and creative outcome.

This week, 6th- and 7th-grade students reviewed new vocabulary learned in previous classes. At the same time, they practiced using the definite articles in Spanish, el, la, los, and las—all meaning “the” in English but used differently depending on gender and number. They also learned the rules for making nouns plural. For example, if a noun ends in a vowel, an -s is added to the end of the word, and if a noun ends in a consonant, an -es is added. In addition, students practiced using cuántos (masculine plural) and cuántas (feminine plural) to mean “how many,” ensuring agreement in gender and number with the noun being modified. Examples included: ¿Cuántos perros tiene Carlos? (How many dogs does Carlos have?) and ¿Cuántas vacas tiene María? (How many cows does María have?)

This week, the 8th-grade students focused on developing their speaking skills through role-playing games. They created simple dialogues, asking and answering questions about what they like to do in different situations, such as when it is cold, hot, raining, or snowing. Students used new vocabulary along with expressions learned in previous lessons. Additionally, the 8th graders are now able to construct sentences using correct grammar.

They also learned to use the preposition de followed by a noun to describe something. This structure functions like an adjective, modifying the noun that comes before it. In Spanish, this prepositional structure is always descriptive of the noun it refers to. Examples included:

El jugo de naranja (orange juice)
El jugo de manzana (apple juice)
El jugo de mango (mango juice)
La sopa de pollo (chicken soup)
La sopa de tomate (tomato soup)

This week in Art, students kicked off Black History Month a little early by exploring the work of artist Romare Bearden. Through a mixed-media collage project, students experimented with cutting, arranging, gluing, texture, and space while learning that landscapes do not always need to be realistic. Using scissors to create shapes rather than drawing, students discovered new and playful ways to assemble images and express ideas. As they worked through this multi-step project, students developed an appreciation for Bearden’s distinctive collage style and his focus on everyday life and landscapes of the American South, deepening both their artistic skills and their understanding of his important contributions to American art.

This week in PE, students kicked off a review of the major team sports they have covered this year, starting with hockey week. Students revisited key skills, rules, and strategies while getting back into game-play mode. Over the next month, they will focus on one activity each week to help prepare for the upcoming league portion of the year. Students will be placed on teams and compete in a mix of all of our team sports throughout the season, building teamwork, sportsmanship, and confidence. The excitement will wrap up with a season-ending playoff, giving everyone a chance to put their skills to the test and celebrate a great year of PE.