7th Grade
Welcome to 7th Grade
Current Units of Instruction
ELA Unit 5 - "Moving Forward"
What are we learning?
Writing discussion-worthy questions and responding with proper evidence.
Including follow-up questions within discussions
Connecting our reading to other texts, experiences, and the real world.
Engaging in collaborative discussions
How to debate and use researched evidence to support
How to write a compare and contrast essay
Comparing and contrasting different media
The elements of plot
Narrative writing
What to expect in this unit?
Literature circle discussions
Connecting our reading to other texts, experiences, and the real world.
Show understanding of word meanings (connotative and denotative)
Reading and analyzing fictional literature
Continued practice on sentence types
Comparing and contrasting aspects of a text versus other media
Narrative writing project
Why does this unit matter?
Introduces new skills, as noted above
Allows students to look outside their novels to connect to other media and the real world.
It shows students how to voice their opinions with evidence clearly
PE Trimester 3 Unit 2: Soccer
We will be focusing on the following standards:
Apply basic offensive, defensive, and cooperative strategies in selected activities, games, and sports. (19.C.3b)
Demonstrate the rules and procedures outside, in the gymnasium and locker room. (19.C.3a,21.A.3a,b,c)
20.A.3b Identify and participate in activities associated with the components of health related and skill related fitness.
What to expect in this unit?
You will be performing 1 midpoint check in
You will be performing 1 summative
Concepts learned in Soccer will include:
Passing
Dribbling
Striking
Trapping
4 common soccer positions: forwards/midfielders/defenders/goalie
Soccer concepts including: game play, line markings, throw in, corner kick, goal kick, kick off, and common fouls.
Why I like this unit? Why does this unit matter?
This unit is important as soccer is a world wide sport that is super fun and easy to play. The purpose of this unit is to help students develop their soccer related skills, improve their hand eye coordination, and cardiovascular endurance. Students learn teamwork, communication, and cooperation strategies to become more effective players when on a team. I also love this unit because I enjoy watching the students compete and have fun while engaging in physical activity.
Unit 7 - (Math 7)- Area, Surface Area, and Volume
What are we learning?
Identifying parts of a circle
Finding circumfence and area of circles and semi-circles
Finding area of rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids
Finding area of composite figures
Finding surface area of rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, and square pyramids
Finding volume of rectangular prisms and triangular prisms
What to expect in this unit?
At the end of this unit, students will take a summative assessment and and a complete a performance task to demonstrate their knowledge.
Students will complete IXL skills that align with Unit 7 concepts- these need to be complete by April 4th.
Why does this unit matter?
Students will continue to apply their knowledge of geometry next year as they expand their knowledge to cylinders and spheres.
Trimester 3: Unit 2: Health and Wellness: Healthy Lifestyle Choices
We will be focusing on the following standards:
STATE GOAL 22: I can understand principles of health promotion and the prevention and treatment of illness and injury
STATE GOAL 23. I can understand human body systems and factors that influence growth and development.
STATE GOAL 24: I can promote and enhance health and well-being through the use of effective communication and decision-making skills
What to expect in this unit?
You will be performing a 1 pre-assessment, 1 formative, and 2 summative assessments (all are content based).
You will be participating in activities that improve your understanding regarding Non Communicable Diseases, Human Reproduction and Embryology using reliable resources with factual information in order to make healthy informed decisions.
Why I like this unit? Why does this unit matter?
This unit will set students up for success by guiding the students to understand the importance of identifying the risk factors within our control and not within our control associated with Non Communicable diseases that can reduce short and long term health concerns. They will also be able to identify how maintaining their own health can impact their overall wellness and enabling them to advocate and teach others how to maintain their overall wellness through a non communicable disease advocacy project of their choice,
Science: Chemical Reactions
What are we learning?
Carrying out investigations to gather evidence of chemical reactions.
Using our gathered evidence to support our arguments of chemical reactions occuring.
Modeling the Law of Conservation of Mass in different formats and demonstrating it through investigations.
What to expect in this unit?
Students will be doing many labs regarding chemical reactions. With those we will be modeling the reactions in different ways.
Student will be using evidence in their writing and focusing on supporting and explaining their claims.
Why does this unit matter?
Chemical reactions are a regular part of our daily lives. Learning how matter interacts is a life skill and the Law of Conservation of Mass is applicable to human development and making a sandwich. The ability to support an argument is also going to be a skill that permeates all of the disciplines of science and content areas.
Unit 3: The United States Constitution
What are we learning, and what to expect in this unit:
I can explain why the US Constitution was created.
I can explain the powers of the federal government.
I can explain the powers of the state governments.
I can explain the powers of the local governments.
I can evaluate the effectiveness of checks and balances, federalism, big-state/small-state representation, and separation of powers to help eliminate tyranny from the (3) levels of government.
I can analyze the ‘Bill of Rights’ and explain how these changes can still be seen in our society (communities) today.
I can write an argumentative essay on 'How does the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny?'.
Why does this unit matter?
When writing DBQs in social studies in middle school and high school, students need to be able to research for multiple perspectives, which will help them strengthen their own point-of-view. Students need practice analyzing documents to better understand what the document is telling them and what questions they should be asking that the document may or may not provide. In the end, this will eventually result in students writing a multi-paragraph essay.
Students will end this unit with researching the Amendments (changes) to the Constitution. They will have the opportunity to choose a topic to research for small group debates on whether or not there should be additional changed to our country's governing document. Students will focus on: claim, evidence and reasoning, and warrants.
Unit 2 - Painting (Studio Art)
What are we learning?
I can mix and fade colors
I can make a monochromatic paint value strip
I can use a variety of sizes of brushes and stay inside the lines
I can properly clean my palette, brushes, table and store my artwork in my drawer and drying rack
I can take the time to fix mistakes, and use my class time well
What to expect in this unit?
Students will get a chance to get to practice their paint skills with 2 formatives to build their confidence and try new techniques before starting our summative painting.
Students will get to type a story to accompany their painting. They get to choose a story that they are excited about drawing and painting. It can be a real story or they can use their imagination.
Why does this unit matter?
This unit gets students used to the rigor of middle school art and working on a project for 80 minutes over multiple class periods.
Unit 1 -Taste of FAC
Unit 2 -Taste of FACS
What are we learning?
I can identify the 6 major nutrients, their sources, and functions. NS 9.3.2
I can read, compare, and decipher food labels. NS 9.3.2
I can describe the importance of nutrition and wellness. NS 9.3.2
I can plan and prepare simple, nutritious snacks and meals. FCS 9.6.2
What to expect in this unit?
We will learn about the big six nutrients and what they do for our body.
We will prepare labs that are dense in nutrients.
We will learn how to read food labels.
Why does this unit matter?
With an understanding of nutrition and the ability to read food labels, students will be able make and prepare healthy meals.
STEM App Creators - Unit 1: Let's Create an App!
What are we learning?
I can explore a coding environment.
I can create, deploy, and test an app.
I can identify ways that computing has changed how people live, work, and play.
I can break a complex task into a sequence of small steps.
I can use flowcharts to plan an algorithm and represent conditional statements.
I can write specific, clear, and complete directions to complete a task.
I can create a user interface based on potential user interactions.
I can create appropriate event handlers to respond to user-initiated events during runtime.
I can create, edit, and test algorithms that include conditional statements.
I can use an iterative process to develop an app.
I can debug a program.
I can create an app that uses sprites, animation, and variables.
I can use trace tables to track the values of variables in a program.
I can collaborate and plan within a team.
I can collaboratively design, build, and test an app using the design process.
What to expect in this unit?
Students are introduced to the concept of app development and the MIT App Inventor development tool. They learn about the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, app graphical design, event-driven programming, debugging, and
algorithm creation using variables and conditional logic. They create engaging biomedical science apps and fun interactive games that apply these concepts and use basic user interface features, media, and animation.
Why does this unit matter?
This unit is the foundation for exploring how computing has changed our world, how to collaborate to plan and design apps, and and how to navigate and utilize the course coding site MIT's App Inventor in fixing, updating, and creating functional apps.
Unit 4 - Spanish
What are we learning?
We are continuing to practice reciting "The Pledge of Allegiance" in Spanish. We are also using our previously learned skills with conjugating -ar verbs and are beginning to describe ourselves and others using descriptive adjectives. It is important we have a clear understanding of proper noun/adjective agreement.
What to expect in this unit?
In this unit, through in-class activities, we are activating prior knowledge of the target language while incorporating some new vocabulary. Students will spend time with noun/adjective agreement and then will begin to expand their writing into simple sentences.
Why does this unit matter?
This unit matters because it provides feedback and helps to activate background knowledge for upcoming units. During our 8th grade year, we will continue working with noun/adjective agreement and will eventually be writing detailed paragraphs in Spanish.
Blue Band - Unit 5
What are we learning?
Students are preparing for their third trimester playing test and their end of the year concert. The playing test includes less common key signatures and songs with a variety of sixteenth-note patterns. The concert music includes songs from many different styles.
What to expect in this unit?
The spring concert is here at Westview Hills on Wednesday, May 15 at 7:00 PM with a 6:40 PM warm-up.
The playing test will include formative assessments in Smartmusic and an in-person playing test.
Why does this unit matter?
The playing test will help students become more confident playing various sixteenth-note rhythms and playing in a wider range of key signatures.
The concert music will help students review and learn the ensemble skills necessary to perform songs in various styles.
Gold Band - Unit 4
What are we learning?
Students are preparing for the Prairie State Band Festival, an opportunity to play several pieces of music of contrasting styles for expert judges, and then receive a clinic from one to help them improve as a large ensemble.
What to expect in this unit?
Students will complete a Practice Plan to help them strategize what measures and excerpts of their music most need their attention in their at home practice.
Students will complete formative assessments, both on Smart Music and in person, to help refine specific skills from technique, to 6/8 counting, to articulations.
Students will grow as musicians as they learn to listen and work together as a large ensemble. Their intonation and phrasing will be emphasized throughout the unit.
Prairie State Band Festival -- Saturday, April 13 from 10:30 am - 2:00 pm at Plainfield East High School (busses will be provided; students wear full band uniforms).
Why does this unit matter?
Students emerge from this experience as more mature, confident musicians, and better ensemble players.
- Algebra Unit 8 - Graphing Quadratic Functions
What are we learning?
Students will be focused on graphing quadratic functions in standard form, vertex form, and intercept form. Students will also be using their graphing calculator to graph quadratic functions and find key features of the graph. We will wrap up the unit by comparing linear, exponential, and quadratic functions.
What to expect in this unit?
The unit will consist of formative and summative assessments including a performance task which will involve students taking a picture of a parabola in real life and creating a quadratic equation to model the object. Students will be provided with IXL topics that align with what they are learning in each unit. Some topics will be assigned as homework and others are for students to complete if they need extra practice on a particular topic.
Why does this unit matter?
Quadratic functions can be used to model real-life situations. Students will be working with the vertical motion model.