We are continuing with Unit 1: Community and Belonging. Students have been engaged in our first novel study, The Outsiders, as we practice narrative, poetry, and writing skills. Both on-level and advanced classes will take their Unit 1 summative assessment on Tuesday, 9/22. Students have been given a copy of their study guide this week and have been working on a section each day as their warm-up. This test will be over a cold read (new to them) narrative passage, as well as a cold read poem. It will also cover Unit 1 grammar skills, such as demonstrative pronouns and punctuating nonessential information using commas, parentheses, and dashes. 

ELA teachers continue to encourage students to reach their weekly and monthly Membean goal to increase their vocabulary skills. In addition to weekly Membean homework, students will begin using NoRedInk after Fall Break to complete a weekly homework assignment. 

Upcoming dates:

9/22- Unit 1 Summative test

10/8-10/9- Culminating Challenge writing due

10/9- Membean Summative

September is off to a great start in 7th Grade Interdisciplinary Literacy! This month, we are focusing on the genre of Realistic Fiction!  The students are learning how authors use believable characters, conflicts, and settings to tell meaningful stories. 

We have completed the first third of our shared novel, Restart by Gordon Korman, and students are enjoying exploring the characters and important themes throughout the story. As we continue reading, students will practice making inferences, analyzing characters, discussing their thinking, and supporting their ideas with evidence from the text. We are building strong reading habits while discovering how fiction can help us better understand ourselves and others! 

STANDARD MATH:

In 7th grade Standard Math, we have wrapped up our first unit on The Number System and are beginning our second unit on Expressions and Equations. Throughout this unit, students will learn how to combine like terms, translate verbal phrases into algebraic expressions, identify and apply properties, and solve one- and two-step equations.

Upcoming Summative Date: Unit 2A Test – Thursday, September 24th.

ADVANCED MATH:

In 7th grade Advanced Math, we have wrapped up our first unit on The Number System and are beginning our second unit on Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities. Throughout this unit, students will work with combining like terms, translating expressions, solving equations, and writing, solving, and graphing inequalities.

Upcoming Summative Date: Unit 2B Test – Friday, September 17th

ACCELERATED MATH:

In 7th grade Accelerated Math, we have wrapped up our second unit on Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities.  We are starting our next unit on Ratios, Proportions and Similar Figures.  Throughout this unit, students will work to write and solve proportions and analyze proportional relationships.  

Upcoming Summative Date: Unit 3 Test – Thursday, September 24

Over the next two weeks, our 7th graders are diving deep into the microscopic world of the cell! Students will explore how cells take in essential nutrients, release waste, and keep themselves balanced and healthy.

Here is a quick look at what we will be covering:

• Cell Structures & Waste Removal: Identifying key cell structures—especially the cell membrane's lipid bilayer—that control what enters and leaves the cell. Additionally, how lysosomes utilize exocytosis for the removal of cellular waste.

• Passive vs. Active Transport: Learning how materials move across the cell membrane, comparing passive processes (diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis) with active processes (endocytosis and exocytosis).

• Osmosis & Solution Types: Modeling how water shifts across membranes to balance concentrations in hypertonic, isotonic, and hypotonic solutions.

• Maintaining Homeostasis: Connecting each organelle's role in nutrient intake and waste disposal to understand how cells maintain a stable internal environment.

• Cellular Respiration: Discovering how mitochondria break down glucose and oxygen to generate energy (ATP), and how waste products like carbon dioxide and water are sent to the cell membrane for removal.

• Upcoming Formative/Summative(s): 

  • OL- Cell Transport Quiz 9/22 & Unit Vocabulary Quiz on 10/9

  • ADV- Cell Transport & Osmotic Solutions Quiz 9/24

How You Can Help at Home: Ask your student to explain the difference between osmosis and diffusion or ask them what happens to a cell (egg) placed in salt water versus plain water! We are excited for a great two weeks of hands-on learning and discovery.

Our learners are gearing up for their first summative on Tuesday, September 22.  In class, we are reviewing how to write Free Response Questions (FRQ) and all of the information from the Southwest Asia (Middle East) Geography Unit.  Learners have their Learning Targets in their binder, along with answer keys, graphic organizers, practice questions, and closed notes.  Each student also has a blank study guide and answer key to use for studying.
Online, students have access to Canvas as a resource, which includes Gimkit games and Jeopardy style questions.  Plus, the learners have four complete quizzes in their “Quizzes” section of Canvas to review.  These are excellent study tools.  A few minutes each night to review the material will be essential to developing new study habits and achieving success.
Finally, learners will design a project starting September 23 for another summative grade. 🙂  Their project will be due on Tuesday, October 6, and they will have the opportunity to present their creations to their peers.  We look forward to seeing the amazing projects the kiddos design and beginning a new unit on Southwest Asia History, Government, and Economics in October.

Sincerely,

Mr. Hutcheson, Mrs. Pestorius, Mrs. Wester, and Mr. Whitfill

Physical Education:

Just a reminder, quarter 1 has started! For any student that has PE for 1st quarter, PE Uniform attire is grey shirt and black bottoms. If you have purchased a shirt, shorts, etc. on School Pay; your child will pick this up in class on one of the first days of the quarter. If your child needs a uniform, it can be purchased on School Pay. Please make sure your child has a grey shirt and black bottoms for the uniform as well as athletic tennis shoes for class every day. 

**If you purchased a PE uniform on School Pay this year, but your child is not in PE this quarter, they will received their PE uniform on the first days of the quarter when they have PE.

Please remind your child to lock up all their valuables in the locker room. Lockers and Locks are available for students to use. 

Marketing

Students are working on creating new products and launching an advertising campaign to coordinate. 

6th grade - Oreos

7th grade - Pop Tarts

8th grades - Lay's Chips 

At the end of this unit, we will celebrate with food (because who doesn't love food!) Please help us out by sending in packs of Oreos, Pop Tarts and Chips. We will take any flavors, but the idea is to have an assortment of new limited edition and interesting flavors. Please send in items by next Wednesday, September 23rd. 

DECA

Membership for DECA has closed. Both a parent permission slip and payment were due on September 5th. If your child submitted both of these by the deadline, then they will be invited to the DECA course on Canvas. How wonderful it is that we have over 140 students interested in being a part of this club! So, we truly are at capacity, and we are not accepting any more new members. 

Meetings will be held during a student's flex time. There will be a meeting posted on Student Support Time for students to sign up for. They will not be automatically pulled for the meetings. I will explain this process to the students through their Canvas course. Our first meeting will be next week. 

DECA Cookie Sales -

Cookies will be sold next Friday during Connections. Cookies cost $2.00. We have Chocolate Chip, Carnival (M&M) and Sugar. 

Engineering

In Engineering, the students will be completing three different projects during these nine weeks.  The first individual project is designing a website around a given theme.   The second individual project is creating a specific themed world in Minecraft education.  The third project is working with teams to build a mousetrap car (8th), a paper roller coaster (7th), and a robot (6th).

Chorus

The Lakeside Middle School Chorus will present their Fall Concert on Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00pm at The FoCAL Center.