7th Grade MP3 Campus

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Topics: Linear Expressions

Activities: This month we started our linear expressions unit, reviewing order of operations and combining like terms. We took a break to play combining like terms bingo and do some problem solving thinking tasks, which asked students to work collaboratively to solve a mathematical problem. One task was to design an itinerary based on when events were offered and how long they took to complete, also taking into consideration the travel time between events. Students could make choices for their itinerary using whatever strategy they thought best. This task was more about collaborating as a team and using logic to complete a task. When we got back to our unit, we moved onto reviewing single-step variable solution equations.

Teacher Tip or Reflection Questions:

Teacher Info: Mrs. Alexander, halexander@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Personal Narratives, Creative Writing, Book Project Gallery Walk

Activities: During our narrative writing unit, students crafted two stories - one real and one imagined. For both the personal narrative and the creative writing assignments they planned, wrote and edited their work. You can see their writing by looking in their Google Classroom, but I will also be sending home paper copies soon. Students used a rubric and color-coded their papers to ensure they include a hook, dialogue, imagery (descriptive, sensory and figurative language), and transition words. We also reviewed editing techniques to catch as many errors in our work as possible. I have been so impressed with the final product!

Teacher info: Rachel Oscarson, roscarson@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Algorithms, Pseudo Code, Distance & Optical Sensors, Scientist Biographies

Activities: This month we continued the Castle Crasher Unit. I’m thrilled to report that we are getting awesome engagement and participation from almost everybody in the class. It was a BIG step up in technical difficulty and coding logic to code these bots to drive with sensors. We broke it down with pseudocode and we had some problems with the distance sensors being fiddly so we’ve moved on to the next lesson and added the optical sensors in the hopes that the dual inputs will prove less buggy. They've been tenacious rock stars and they’ve definitely built frustration tolerance which is an important skill in engineering. We’ve continued our short biographies of famous scientists series. Some we have covered so far include: Ada Lovelace, Otis Boykin, Alan Turing, Emmy Noether, & Charles Kuen Kao.

Teacher Tip: If students want more coding practice they are welcome to use VR.vex.com and I highly recommend them writing out the pseudo code using comments to help steer the logic of their coding.

Teacher Info: Mrs. Clayton - aclayton@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Choosing roles, Opening Statements, Direct Examination, Cross Examination, Rights of the Accused

Activities: We covered a ton of ground this month in Mock Trials. We assigned roles for the trial which is always fun as it gives students the opportunity to really start planning. We divided the class into two legal teams; one to represent our plaintiff, Decker and another to represent our defendant, The Metro City Police Department. To help make sure all of the students had built an understanding of the facts of the case, we started off the month by working on opening statements. The opening statement will be the first opportunity to present your version of events to the court. It should set the tone for how you will build your case.

Currently, all students are working on crafting witness examination questions. We began by first thinking about direct examination, which is when attorneys question their own witnesses. Students were given templates and sentence stems to guide them through the process and reminded that on direct, witnesses are sharing what they know and attorneys cannot ask leading questions.

Next, we moved on to cross examination. When many people imagine the classic court room drama, like you may see play out on TV or in the movies, they are usually thinking about a cross examination. This is when an attorney for one side gets to challenge a witness from the other. on cross examinations the attorney can (and should) use leading questions. These questions allow the attorney to control the narrative. Again, students used a template with sentence stems to help them build confidence with this process.

In the last week, we took some time to examine the importance of jury trials in our country. Several amendments are intended to protect people who have been accused of breaking the law or violating someone's rights (civil law) because our justice system is built around the presumption of innocence.

Finally, we took some time to learn how average folks like us help to make sure that everyone gets a fair trial through serving on a jury.

Teacher Tip: Ask your student what legal team they have been working with and what role they have to play in our case. Will they be a witness, an attorney, a jury member?

Teacher Info: Don't hesitate to contact me if you have a question.

Jeff Caraco, jcaraco@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Began a study of the cell and the organelles that make a cell operate successfully, Van Leeuwenhoek lab, theory vs law, fertilizer lab.

Activities: Students drew cells in their science notebooks. They learned the difference between a prokaryote and eukaryote cell. Cells were required to have the following included: Cell membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes, vacuoles, and ribosomes. Students re-created Van Leeuwenhoek’s lab, where he first observed “animalcules.” They collected water samples on their own and wrote a lab report on their findings. This year we collected the most water samples I have ever received for this assignment!! Way to go!! Students were able to observe many living microorganisms under the microscope! Students read about the origins of life and learned the difference between a theory and a law. Students began a lab to determine the effects of varying concentrations of fertilizer on plant growth. Students measured (quantitative data) and observed (qualitative data) their plants progress each class period. This lab requires several weeks of observation.

Teacher Info: Mrs. De Waard, hdewaard@meridian.wednet.edu