TBMS Weekly Newsletter - Issue 25-26.15

SEVENTH GRADE

In social studies, our exploration of Africa is coming to a close.  Students will be examining religion and religious tolerance in ancient Africa before preparing for next week’s summative assessment.  This assessment will be “open notes”; students will have access to all of their work from the unit as they evaluate and edit two passages for content errors.  Our next region of study is Central and South Asia.

In addition to academic support FLEX, students have participated in a variety of math and ELA interventions.  Below is an image from a math intervention that aligns with our work in social studies:

EIGHTH GRADE

Students continue to write essays in English language arts.  They read and annotate passages of significance, discover a theme and a roadmap on a subject, and develop a full stash of five paragraph ideas.  They think, speak, and listen with purpose as they build the reading and writing portfolios we observed together at conferences. In that quarter one part of the portfolio, students honed the core skill of turning a paragraph into an essay; and we build on that structure today as your learners practice how to turn an essay into a letter.  These are core skills across the grade eight Civics and ELA curriculum.  For example, as of the last update, Mr. Noferi shared an important element of student choice and voice in the Universal Design for Learning framework: students could choose to write a “break-up letter” from America to King George as one option in Civics.  The beat goes on in ELA class, where students are writing these days about specific passages culled from their independent reading texts in a ‘letter about literature’ to a TBMS peer or TBMS educator.  Some questions you might ask your student include “What sensory details did you include in the letter’s draft conclusion?” and “What are a few classtime vocabulary words you include anywhere in your letter?”

In Flex, students launched the eighth grade food drive on behalf of Loaves and Fishes right away upon returning from Thanksgiving break.  They designed posters, decorated boxes, and delivered these essential food drive materials to six different grade levels at the school.  At the heart of our service work is an emphasis on how a lot of littles add up to a lot.  Please see the formal P351/Class of 2030 letter in this update, and please consider donating time, energy, and or non-perishables to this important community service project.  Donation boxes are located in each middle school homeroom/Flex classroom throughout the middle school.  Meanwhile, our students also continue to engage with both academic support and ELA and math tiered intervention lessons with full gusto.  For example, last Monday, students learned about Universal Design for Learning elements of choice in their ‘letter about literature’ -- they may write about one, two, three, or even more passages from their choice text to develop and maintain a theme.  Likewise, this Tuesday, students chose to work independently or collaboratively with a peer to solve problems, promote a strong number sense, and improve computation skills.  

UNIFIED ARTS

Health classes have been engaged while learning critical skills! Sixth graders have wrapped up their social-emotional health unit and are onto nutrition. In this unit, students will explore how food fuels the body, participate in a nutrition scavenger hunt, and create menus of their own that showcase balanced nutrition. 

Seventh and eighth graders are in the midst of their personal safety unit, which includes heavy, but crucial topics. Seventh graders recently explored important online safety strategies. Next week, our counselors will teach a lesson from our SOS program, which focuses on recognizing signs of depression and suicide and understanding how to seek help for themselves or others. More information was sent home to families by Kim Faulconer earlier this week. 

Eighth grade has been building strong refusal skills and categorizing common teen scenarios into different areas of safety— emotional, physical, online, and emergency—and discussing healthy responses to each situation. Students will soon be learning about the individual risk factors of substance use and how they are influential to teens. After reflection, students will work in groups to create inspiring campaigns against teen substance use. 

Looking forward, seventh and eighth graders will begin their sexuality education units beginning December 12th. More information will be sent home via email later this week. In the meantime, please feel welcome to contact me with any questions. asteed@psharvard.org  

Wishing all families a wonderful and restful December!