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In ELA this month, we will finish our Juvenile Justice unit where students learned about the justice system in the United States, participated in a discussion with District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and read the novel Monster, where the main character is a teenager who is on trial and being tried as adult. To conclude their learning from this unit, students will spend the first couple of weeks in March reading, discussing, and analyzing two nonfiction and current event texts about juvenile justice in the U.S. before synthesizing their understanding in an analytical essay, drawing on and practicing their writing skills. After wrapping up with the Juvenile Justice unit, students will begin to build background knowledge for their next book, Night by Elie Wiesel, which will at the end of the month.
For the month of March, students will take their observations and definitions of percentages and begin to apply them. Tax and tip are real world examples that will allow students to connect what they have been learning about to the life examples. We have spent some time deconstructing the word "per-cent" (for every, one hundred) as well as translating percent increase/decrease scenarios into expressions. Afterwards we will begin a trip into Rational Number Arithmetic. Students will get exposure to the opposite side of the number line (negatives) and will do by exploring how to add and subtract rational numbers.
For the month of March, students will begin their exploration of Ancient China. They will start the unit by looking at how China's physical boundaries, including mountains and deserts, allowed Chinese civilizations to developed in isolation for thousands of years. From their study of early Dynasties, students will then look at the three Chinese philosophies of Taoism, Confucianism, and Legalism. Through these philosophies, students will grapple with one of our year-long essential questions "How should we live?" Finally, we will close our study by looking at the construction of the Great Wall of Ancient China and debating whether the benefits outweighed the costs?
Student will explore Chinese history and three Chinese philosophies. They will be able to describe the origin, core beliefs and spread of Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism. They will apply the teachings of Chinese philosophies to modern situations and issues. They are supposed to write essay, dialogue or short drama as the form of unit project.
Students will begin their unit on roller coaster. We will explore speed and motion along with manipulating materials from our science kits to create roller coasters. Other concepts we will cover is calculating speed, kinetic and potential energy, and conservation of mass.
Students will continue to work on their organization skills - task initiation, time management, class preparation and self advocacy. These skills will be particularly important for those who are transitioning into hybrid learning. Student will continue to meet in small groups to work on their individual goals and objectives in regards to reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. They will continue to practice learned math strategies in order to solve word problems and build their math fact fluency. In reading group, they will work on re-reading and finding evidence within the text to answer comprehension questions find the central idea and theme. In writing small group, students will continue to work on paragraph structure in order to write two body paragraphs.
This month students will finish reading Monster. At the conclusion of reading the book, students will participate in producing a UDL project, in which they will demonstrate their mastery of the novel and the themes that were discussed and analyzed in class. Students will have a plethora of ways to demonstrate their learning and will have the opportunity to work in virtual groups, should they choose. Finally, students will take the school-wide writing assessment on Wednesday, February 24. At the beginning of March students will then write their Monster essay and this assignment will close out the Unit.
Circling back to concepts from Units 1 and 2, students will begin to deepen their understanding of ratios, scale factors and units rates. The last time we explored proportional relationships, it was in the absence of rational numbers. Students will now extend their knowledge of proportional relationships to include decimal/fractional values. Percent increase and decrease is also on the menu for this month. We will look to explore some new tools for making our thinking visual as well as some more Number Talks. Let's see what we discover!
As we enter the month of February students will wrap up the West Africa unit with their final project. Here students will critique popular misconceptions about Africa and its history, through research and presenting through a newscast. Later in the month we will begin our unit on Ancient china. In this unit students will explore the three Chinese philosophers, diffusion of Buddhism from India, and the first emperor of China leading to the building of The Great Wall. This unit will explore the year's essential question of "How should we live?" as it pertains to the government.
Students will complete their project on West Africa and start to explore Asia Culture, especially China. They will learn the development and teachings of Buddhism. Students will study the dynastic cycles that impacted Chinese history. They will be able to describe how the Mandate of Heaven and the warring states period impacted early China.
Students will begin exploring aspects of our solar system. They will not only become familiar with what is existing outside of the Earth but also the universe. This learning will lead to a final project where students can present a specific interests that they have about outer space. We plan to wrap up astronomy and go full speed ahead to physics!
Students will continue to work on their organization skills - task initiation, time management, class preparation and self advocacy. Student will continue to meet in small groups to work on their individual goals and objectives in regards to reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. They will continue to practice learned math strategies in order to solve word problems and build their math fact fluency. In reading group, they will work on re-reading and finding evidence within the text to answer comprehension questions find the central idea and theme. In writing small group, students will continue to work on paragraph structure.
During the month of January students will be reading Monster, both in class and independently. Students will have an opportunity to "act" out different roles, as this novel is written as a movie script. Students will also be completing their second aRead screening to see how much growth they have made as a reader thus far.
This month in Math students will wrap-up their introduction to proportional relationships. Up next we will extend their knowledge of geometry with a study of circles. What makes a circle a circle? Why and how is it different from other shapes. They have been building their understanding of proportional relatinships which will now include "pi" (a circle's circumference divided by its diameter). Unit vocabulary will continue to be emphasized as a solid foundation here will allow students to develop strong reasoning. Area and circumference formulas will also give students a bit of pre-algebra exposure and this usually gets students pumped! Stay tuned.
This month we will start our exploration of West African societies and kingdoms. We will look at the geography of the region and its resources. As we go further into this region's history we will look at the accomplishments of the Kingdoms of Mali and Ghana especially the leaders of Sundiata and Mansa Musa. We will see the influence of Islam in the region and the development of the great libraries in the city of Timbuktu. Throughout this unit, we will look deeper into the year's theme of looking beyond a single story and explore how Africa is often subject to this singular world view.
Students will complete their project on Monothesim and start to research West Africa. They will explore the history and civilizations of Africa, includes West African kingdoms, the religion, culture and trade. Students will choose to make posters or design Africa mask to show their understanding of the civilizations of West Africa.
This month, we will be exploring the mechanics of seasons and what causes them as well as exploring our solar system. We hope to create physical models of the solar system and then begin to dive into a little bit of chemistry. Students will continue to demonstrate their knowledge of our Science concepts through a UDL style of teaching.
Students will continue to work on their organization skills - task initiation, time management, class preparation and self advocacy. Students will continue to meet in small groups to work on their individual goals and objectives in regards to reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. They will continue to practice learned math strategies in order to solve word problems and build their math fact fluency. In reading group, students will build their annotation skills by making text connections and inferences in order to find the central idea and theme. In writing small group, students will work on breaking down the prompt and continue using graphic organizers in order to create solid body paragraphs.
This month students will be taking a school-wide ELA assessment. The assessment will have six multiple choice questions and one essay question. Students will have three hours to read the mentor text and answer all the questions. Additionally, in class, students will be creating their own counter narrative and will have a plethora of options to demonstrate this. Lastly, we will begin building our background knowledge on the book Monster and will be reading and discussing important issues regarding juvenile justice.
This month in Math students have begun exploring the constant of proportionality as found in proportional relationships. There are 3 major components that we'll cover which include representing proportional relationships in: tables, equations, and graphs. Given a rate, students will then generate equivalent ratios to help them make sense of problems and solve them. "Real life" examples include creating/scaling recipes for colors and cooking, calculating speed and/or pace, and contrasting non-proportional relationships.
Students will continue their exploration of Monotheism. Before the winter break, students will engage in their final project for this unit. Here they will choose a method to advocate and promote religious understanding and inclusion within the Cambridge community.
Students will explore Monothesim further. They will study and write reviews on the major teachings of these religions, discuss and share their opinion about the founders of these faiths, and reflect on how these religions shape people's lives. Students will do the Upstanders Project to show their understanding of this unit and express their ideas by writing a short essay in Chinese.
Students will begin documenting their observations of the Moon over the next month. We have been learning about the Moon and it's phases during a month's time.We will then move on from the Moon to tides and then eclipses. Students will strive to understand how the Moon impacts and influences Earth. We aim to make sure students evaluate the relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth in a relevant way.
Students will continue to work on their organization skills - task initiation, time management, class preparation and self advocacy. Student will continue to meet in small groups to work on their individual goals and objectives in regards to reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. They will continue to practice learned math strategies in order to solve word problems. In the reading small groups, students will continue to build their annotation skills. Students will practice completing graphic organizers in writing group in order to create strong body paragraphs.
In ELA students just completed their first academic discussion about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan and discussed the water issue they read about in A Long Walk to Water. In November, we will be working on our counter-narrative series and students will explore the danger of a single narrative and the importance of perspective.
In Math, students are getting ready to end their exploration of Unit 1 (Scale Drawings). The unit contained two major components (scale factor + scale drawings). Students will continue to build their vocabulary and sense making as they journey forward. "Real life" connections include a lesson on using scale and estimation to hypothesize the dimensions of the Apollo Lunar Module, comparing scale and non-scaled maps of the MBTA transit system, as well as creating a scale drawing of a triangular plot of land in Philadelphia.
Students are wrapping up their exploration of the 2020 presidential election and will begin to look at religious understanding through the unit - Monothesim: Beyond the Single-Story. Here students will explore the major beliefs of these religions, the founders and figures of these faiths, and how these religions impact their worshipers’ lives. Students will end the unit with a choice project to promote continued understanding of one aspect of religion and share with the larger Cambridge community.
Students will complete their unit one project on Identity and write their reflections. They will start to explore religions. They will learn how religion influences people's lives and think about how belief shapes our life. They will explore the teachings of Judaism and how it guides the life of the Jewish people. They will also start to explore the teachings of Christianity.
Students are beginning their exploration of astronomy. They are studying how ancient cultures created structures to watch the sky and philosophies about our world and outer-space. Students have also learned about the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei and how his discoveries opened the door to further knowledge about our solar system due to his invention of the telescope.
In our pull-out sessions we have been working on organization skills, as well as learning to manage schedules in and outside of school. In Math we have been working on strategies such as t-charts, double numberlines and tape diagrams, which will be important as we focus on problem solving this fall. To build our reading skills we will be using the RAP reading strategy and RACE writing strategy to build students reading and writing skills.