Friday, March 31, 2017

Fusion Communication: March 31

Hi all,
As Mr. Keblin says, “Winter still has it’s claws in us - and is not letting go!” Other than a happy April Fools, Fusion keeps on keeping on.
8th Grade Only: Career Unit
Career unit is in full swing - about 100% of 8th grade students have completed their career shadows.  Please check in with Mr. Pless if you feel your child will need support for the career unit. Students will begin assembling their posters and building their presentations on Monday, April 3.
Reminder from Nurse’s Office:
Please know that if your child texts, emails or calls you from school due to illness or injury,  it should be from the Health Office. The protocol is that if a child is not feeling well or is injured, he/she is sent to the Health Office. We, with your student,  will decide  if a call home to a parent/guardian is warranted. Please ask your student  if she/he has been to see the nurse first if there is a request to be picked up. Thank-you for your help on this important matter.
Calendar
April 11 - 8th Grade Career Presentations during school hours
April 12 - Delayed Start
April 13 - 8th Grade Career Fair 5:30-6:30pm in Vivace Team Area (all team students are welcome): 8th graders are not required to attend but receive extra credit for doing so.  All posters, artifacts and interactives should be present for fair.
April 24 - 28: April Break - no school
May 16 - Delayed Start


Curriculum Updates
LA
Independent Reading -- All students should return to 30 minutes of independent reading each day now that we have completed our class novels. The goal for all students is to read 2 books in the month of April -- there is no genre requirement this month.
7th - This week we began our information writing unit. Students listened to a mentor text to practice methods for writing about reading. We spent time exploring the note taking methods and discussing our reactions to the story. Next week students will dig into their choice books and begin to planning for their Companion Books.
8th - This week we finished reading our class novel Chains. Students are currently working on a poster project to demonstrate their thoughts on the book. Next week we will start reading articles to get background information for the next writing assignment: Position Papers. Articles are linked below.
Science:
7th:  Students worked very hard this week writing a paper on the human body’s interacting organ systems.  They completed research notes from a variety of sources, evaluated these sources, wrote thoughtful lead and conclusion paragraphs highlighting their human condition they researched, and wrote at least 3 body paragraphs describing the relevant body systems and their interactions.  Their 2nd draft was due today.  Next week, we focus on the endocrine and nervous systems while looking at our body’s response to stress.
8th:   The focus this week was on the properties of a gas.  Students experimented with syringes, bubble wrap and foam cubes to demonstrate the results of compressing and expanding air.  Today they created visual notes of the basic properties and behaviors of gases.  We will have a short quiz on Monday.  Later next week, we explore expansion and contraction of matter that occurs as a result of temperature changes.

Math:
7th: We finished up the Comparing and Scaling unit this week with a unit test on Thursday. We are now beginning our next unit, Moving Straight ahead. This book is the foundation of linear algebra linking stories, tables, graphs, and equations. We will also do some basic solving of one-step, two-step, and multi-step linear equations.

8th CMP: This week, we worked towards developing rules for congruencey for triangles. We will spend some time next week finalizing these and applying them.

Algebra: This week, we developed rules for congruencey for triangles. We had some healthy debate over these and found some caveats with the Side-Side-Angle congruency. Next week will focus on analyzing and performing transformations on a coordinate plane.



SS
7th: This week students continued to develop their entrepreneurial inventions and created advertisements to “sell” their products.  We began to investigate what trade looks like in our discussions about globalization and trade barriers, and we put our knowledge into action in our Sovereign State Game where students traded their inventions, natural resources, and even economic “cards” with one another.  We ended the week looking at the relationship between the economy and geography, a theme we will continue to look at next week.
8th: This week we continued our conversation of the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on culture, especially in the time period known as the “Gilded Age”.  Students investigated multiple aspects of culture - including living conditions, fashion, leisure, and transportation - and were asked to focus on one of any these themes to demonstrate how they perceived the Industrial Revolution changed this part of society, through a mode of representation of their choice.  We  ended the week with a labor union simulation to learn about this process of negotiation born out of the Industrial Revolution.

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Friday, March 24, 2017

Fusion Communication: March 24


Hi all,
So winter continues, but students are focused and learning a lot. See below for all the things happening on Fusion.
8th Grade Only: Career Unit
Career unit is in full swing - about 90% of 8th grade students have completed their career shadows.  Please check in with Mr. Pless if you feel your child will need support for the career unit. Job shadows should have been completed by this Friday.
Reminder from Nurse’s Office:
Please know that if your child texts, emails or calls you from school due to illness or injury,  it should be from the Health Office. The protocol is that if a child is not feeling well or is injured, he/she is sent to the Health Office. We, with your student,  will decide  if a call home to a parent/guardian is warranted. Please ask your student  if she/he has been to see the nurse first if there is a request to be picked up. Thank-you for your help on this important matter.
Calendar
April 11 - 8th Grade Career Presentations during school hours
April 12 - Delayed Start
April 13 - 8th Grade Career Fair 5:30-6:30pm in Vivace Team Area (all team students are welcome): 8th graders are not required to attend but receive extra credit for doing so.  All posters, artifacts and interactives should be present for fair.
April 24 - 28: April Break - no school
May 16 - Delayed Start


Spectrum Sleepout
Congratulations to Mr. Martin and the Spectrum Sleepout crew!  They raised $5400 for the Spectrum Center through this effort.
Curriculum Updates
LA
7th - Students are currently working to complete a Holes poster project this week. Next week we will begin looking at sample companion books and start to plan out students’ papers.

8th - We are almost finished with our class novel, Chains. Next we will begin our study of the Syrian Refugee Crisis by reading the articles linked below. Students will receive an overview on the issue and have the opportunity to write about it from their own unique perspective.


Science
Trout Update:  Thanks so much to the families who fed our fish over the vacation!  They continue to thrive!

7th:  Students are busy writing a research paper!  They selected one human body condition to use as the context for establishing the claim that the human body is a system of interacting systems.  They have identified 3 body systems affected by their condition, and are writing a detailed description of each system.  There are multiple check points along the way to keep students on track with this paper. We devoted plenty of class time this week for writing;  next week, students will be required to keep this project moving forward mostly outside of class time.  The paper is due next Friday.
8th:  Last week, students completed their identification of substances in a mystery mixture through  multiple days of testing and observations.  They submitted their final claim, supported by descriptive evidence of the substances and the chemical reactions.  This week, we focused on the structure and organization of the Periodic Table of the Elements.  Next week, we will explore the properties of gases.  
Math:
7th: We are wrapping up our unit Comparing and Scaling next week with a unit test. We spent some extra time on percents and percent increase and decrease towards the end of this week. Our next unit will be a geometry unit on surface area and volume called Filling and Wrapping.

8th CMP: We are almost finished with the first investigation in the Butterflies, Pinwheels, and Wallpaper unit. We have been analyzing and practicing constructing reflections (flips), rotations (spin), and translations (slide). Next week, we will have a quiz to check for understanding and then move on to congruencey properties of quadrilaterals.

Algebra: We finished with the first investigation in the Butterflies, Pinwheels, and Wallpaper unit where we were analyzing and practicing constructing reflections (flips), rotations (spin), and translations (slide). Next week, will start with congruencey properties of quadrilaterals.


SS
7th: This week we began our economics unit where we have looked at basic economic principles including wants, needs, incentives, consumers, barter, and supply and demand.  We also investigated different economic systems around the world, such as traditional, market, and command economies, and students selected one of these systems for the state they have created in our Sovereign State Game.  Students are now acting as entrepreneurs from their states, creating an invention or business idea they will try to “sell” to their classmates. Next week we advertise our ideas and begin to trade with other states.
8th - This week we continued our conversation about working conditions by starting to look at the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century.  We have looked at the causes and origins of this significant movement and also investigated some of the important technology that made this Revolution possible.  We finished the week with analyzing how the Industrial Revolution impacted culture, starting with massive migration to cities using maps and graphs.  Next week we will continue looking at how the Industrial Revolution impacted culture - including living conditions, the idea of “leisure”, conspicuous consumption - and we will also compare working conditions of this time period with those of countries around the world today.


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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Fusion Communication: March 22, 2017


Hi all,
So much for the Spring. We can’t check on the groundhog - it’s under 3 feet of snow.  Well, some things are a bit more predictable - school is back in session and Fusion continues moving forward. See below for updates and upcoming events.
8th Grade Only: Career Unit
Career unit is in full swing - about half of 8th grade students have completed their career shadows.  Please check in with Mr. Pless if you feel your child will need support for the career unit. Job shadows should have been completed by this Friday.
Reminder from Nurse’s Office:
Please know that if your child texts, emails or calls you from school due to illness or injury,  it should be from the Health Office. The protocol is that if a child is not feeling well or is injured, he/she is sent to the Health Office. We, with your student,  will decide  if a call home to a parent/guardian is warranted. Please ask your student  if she/he has been to see the nurse first if there is a request to be picked up. Thank-you for your help on this important matter.



Calendar
February 24 - close of Trimester 2 report card
February 25 - March 6: Winter Break
March 17 - ½ student day/Parent Conference Day
April 11 - 8th Grade Career Presentations during school hours
April 12 - Delayed Start
April 13 - 8th Grade Career Fair 5:30-6:30pm in Vivace Team Area (all team students are welcome): 8th graders are not required to attend but receive extra credit for doing so.  All posters, artifacts and interactives should be present for fair.
April 24 - 28: April Break - no school
May 16 - Delayed Start


Spectrum Sleepout
Happening this Thursday Night!  Let Mr. Martin know if your child is interested or you wish to make a donation.
Curriculum Updates
LA
7th - We will be watching the movie Holes in class on Monday to celebrate finishing our class novel. Next up -- Companion Books. During our information writing unit students will create Companion Books or guide books to accompany a familiar text. Students are able to use the class novel, Holes to write this paper OR they may choose to revisit an old favorite book. The challenge option is to select and read a new book (students choosing this options should have already started the book and aim to complete it by the end of next week).

8th - We will be wrapping up our class novel, Holes the next week or so. Up next -- Position Papers. We will be examining a social issue (The Refugee Crisis) together as a class. Students will have an opportunity to look at the issue through one of three lenses: Families, Political or World. Each selection will be scaffolded a bit differently. This writing piece will include argument, narrative, explanation and procedural sections.

Math:
7th: We are nearing the end our current unit, Comparing and Scaling. This one has seemed to drag on bit due to the long break and the snow days and half day today. However, we should be wrapping this up towards the end of next week with a final unit assessment.

8th CMP: We have begun a new unit, Butterflies, Pinwheels, and Wallpaper.  This introduces the concepts of and explores coordinate relationships of the different types of geometric symmetry: reflectional, rotational, and translational. This week we worked with introducing reflectional and rotational symmetries and performing geometric constructions of these. We will continue with translational symmetry next week.
Algebra: In order to mirror the current Algebra 1 curriculum at the high school this year, we are adding two new units to our curriculum this year while removing some material that will be covered in later years of high school. We will be using CMP materials in order to do this as our math consultant and curriculum team found them to be more than adequate to cover the concepts.  This week we have begun a new unit from the CMP program, Butterflies, Pinwheels, and Wallpaper.  This introduces the concepts of and explores coordinate relationships of the different types of geometric symmetry: reflectional, rotational, and translational. This week we worked with introducing reflectional and rotational symmetries and performing geometric constructions of these. We will continue with translational symmetry next week.
SS
7th - Students have begun the Economics and Geography Unit. Students continued with the Sovereign State Game - ask about the “Code Red Virus” challenge.  Ms. Menard, the student teacher from Johnson State College, is leading the curriculum the next two weeks.
8th - Students have begun the Industrialization unit - ask them about the videos they have watched about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and “Made in Bangladesh” documentary. Ms. Menard, the student teacher from Johnson State College, is leading the curriculum the next two weeks.


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