Hi all,
Team Fusion is back at for the new year - other than a sleepy Monday and no internet Wednesday, the week flowed well. The new year brings some changes - see in the announcements below some of them.
Appropriate clothing for recess
As you may have noticed, it’s a bit chilly outside these days. Please make sure your child has the appropriate coat and hat to be outside for up to 50 minutes a day.
Penguin Plunge 2017
BRMS is kicking off the 2017 Penguin Plunge effort this week. If you, your child are interested, please go online to the link below and register.
Calendar
January 11 - Two hour delay
January 20 - 8th graders meet with MMU guidance counselors 8-9am (Topic: Transition to high school))
February 8 - Two Hour Delay
Academic Area Update
LA
7th: Students in 7th grade have been reading and analyzing articles on the topic of competitive sports. We are developing note taking systems and examining different types of evidence that writers of argument use to convince the reader. Pro/Con Notes are due next Friday. Students have been adding notes from various articles to these notes this week.
8th: In 8th grade we are wrapping up our reading unit on dystopian literature and moving into laying the groundwork for the next writing piece (literary essays). Students have begun to examine theme within the books they read and we will start next week to pull examples from the text into their writing.
Science
The trout eggs have arrived! We received ~100 eggs from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Roxbury Hatchery, delivered by Trout Unlimited volunteers, on Wednesday. They are nestled in their breeding basket, in a tank with water temperatures of around 45 degrees F! Students will help to take care of these trout over the next 4 months! Feel free to stop by for a peek!
7th:
We returned from vacation reviewing the family tree project (Due Monday!), practicing making Punnett squares to track genotypes in offspring, and playing a fun vocabulary game called Kahoot! Students were introduced to another form of cell division, meiosis, and are beginning to understand the mechanisms of how traits are passed on to offspring at the cellular level. They will create another video next week, this time modeling meiosis. 
8th:
Our re-entry began with an engineering design challenge, using our knowledge of force and motion to design a device to deliver a ping pong ball to a cup in the center of a 6-foot circle without entering the circle! We saw many successful and nearly successful designs! We reviewed Newton’s Laws of Motion through several activities and are now practicing applying these laws by creating models to explain different scenarios. Our unit wraps up in ~ 2 weeks.
SS
7th Grade: Students spent a few classes looking at the nature and function of rules (laws) in their favorite sport then it was off to a feudalism simulation. Students were very mature during the simulation - few hurt feelings and a great deal of laughter while experiencing one of the most repressive systems of government ever created.
8th Grade: The Constitution unit was loosely introduced this week, as students used the iCivics game Branches of Power to learn more about the federal republic system of government. Current events featured a controversial topic - the transgender bathroom law of North Carolina - to focus students on the idea about what government should be responsible for, while allowing student to explore the limits and strengths of civil liberties. Friday’s debate demonstrated the students building more and more impassioned civility.
Math:
7th: We are into the 3rd section of our current unit, Stretching and Shrinking. We are investigating the relationship between scale factor, perimeter, and area of mathematically similar figures.
8th CMP: We are in the process of reviewing for a unit test on our current unit, Looking for Pythagoras. We have been learning the different applications and proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. Out test will be on Wednesday. We have been building a reference packet of review activities that students will be able to use during the test. At the end of January, I will be making math course recommendations for next year. I will be meeting with students in the coming weeks to discuss their recommendation with each student individually.
8th Algebra: We are in the middle of our unit on linear relationships. We have introduced all 3 forms of equations, Standard, Point-Slope, and Slope-Intercept. Next week, we will continue to work to build familiarity with each form and fluency between them. I will be meeting with students in the coming weeks to discuss their recommendation with each student individually.
Thanks, and watch out for the ice - looks like that kind of winter. Stay warm this weekend.
