Mia Kaufman and Josh Kapinos created their cell model using materials all associated with the holidays!

To the left is a picture of a D-Block group showing off its’ completed bridge.

The Blue Team in science completed their plant and animal cell unit with the “Cell-A-Bration” Project.  Students were required to create a 3-D model of either a plant cell or animal cell and all its organelles.  All parts of the cell had to be represented with items that performed a similar function to those cell parts.

English—This quarter students have again been quite busy.  Students completed two book projects.  The first was a scrapbook or newspaper about their novel.  For the next project, students read a historic or realistic fiction novel.  They then wrote a composition about the hardships their character faced and how the character changed or grew because of the hardships.  We also read “A Christmas Carol” and viewed a more recent film version.

 

The next few weeks we will be busy completing a nonfiction book project.  We will be reading and writing about poetry, as well.  We will also be reading and discussing many short stories in our literature book.

 

I am enjoying my first year in 7th grade.  I can’t believe we are halfway through the year.

Following our trip to UMASS in December, all the classes have been reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  We’re learning about World War II and its effect on the children and families in our own country as well as in Europe and Asia. 

 

In science classes students are getting ready for our trip to the McAuliffe Center the week of January 29^th.    In social studies students are learning about Egypt and the Nile, and in English they have just finished a short unit on Amelia Earhart and will be starting a Poetry Unit soon.  MCAS open response questions are an ongoing emphasis since the ELA MCAS will be given during March.

 

Christmas week saw students working on their shopping project in math class and many students became quite proficient at writing out checks and spending as close to their $25,000 as they could.  We are now working on fractions, decimals, and percents.

 

On Friday, December 22^nd , Homerooms 108 and 109 hosted a holiday party for our reading buddies from the Quaboag Children’s Center.  Students created activity centers, presented a puppet show, read stories, and had a wonderful time welcoming the students to Converse.  Homerooms 110 and 111 will have the opportunity to be reading buddies the second half of the year.