Middle School Minute
November 3 - 7, 2025
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📕 ELA 📕
Mz. Estelle
ELA students are responsible for completing 60 minutes AND two (2) passed lessons (70% or better) each week on iReady. This reading is for a grade. In addition, students should be reading something of their choosing. We will have a Book Talk to complete this nine weeks.
Please know that in my class, I will be starting to assign silent lunch for students who come to class without charged computers. It is the expectation that students come to class prepared. Please make a designated spot in your house to prepare school materials.
Ms. Stricklin
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Hatchet is the first in a series of five novels by Gary Paulsen (1939-2021), who won a Newbery Honor in 1988 for this gripping tale of survival. The hero of Hatchet and its follow-ups is young Brian Robeson, who must rely on his wits and instincts alone to stay alive in the Canadian wilderness. Preceding this excerpt from Chapter 5, 13-year-old Brian is left stranded on his own after his pilot has a heart attack and their plane crashes in a lake. The excerpt describes the day after the crash.
Skill: Academic Vocabulary - After learning the meanings of ten academic vocabulary words, students will be able to recognize and use them in a variety of contexts.
Analyze - v. to examine the parts of something in detail
Approach - n. an idea or action intended to deal with a problem or situation
Assume - v. to accept to be true without proof
Conclude - v. to decide by reasoning
Context - n. the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event
Derive - v. to reason by deduction; to infer
Indicate - v. to state or express briefly
Interpret - v. to determine and explain the meaning of
Obtain - v. to come into possession of
Seek - v. to try to locate or discover
First Read: Hatchet - After an initial reading and discussion of Hatchet, students will be able to identify and describe character traits and setting details, as well as articulate the conflict that is integral to the story’s plot.
Amphibious - adj. table to live or operate on both land and water
Asset - n. a valuable person, thing, or quality; advantage or resource
Extensive - adj. covering or extending over a large area; great in extent
Motivated - adj. having a strong reason to do something
Obvious - adj. easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
As students read, they will monitor their comprehension by:
Using context clues to make predictions about the boldfaced vocabulary words.
Making connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society. You may use the following sentence frames:
To make connections to personal experiences:
How does this relate to my life?
What were my thoughts and feelings when I read this?
To make connections to ideas in other texts:
How is this similar to other texts I have read?
How is this different from other texts I have read?
To make connections to society:
How does this relate to issues in society?
How is this similar to or different from things that happen in the real world?
Skill: Setting - After rereading and discussing a model of close reading, students will be able to describe how a particular story or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
Character - n. an individual in a literary work whose thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions move the action of the plot forward
Mood - n. the emotional atmosphere of a piece of writing, created through diction, figurative language, and other choices
Plot - n. the sequence of events that take place in a work of literature
Setting - n. the time and place of the events in a work of literature
Checklist for Setting: In order to identify how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes, note the following:
key elements in the plot
the setting(s) in the story
how the plot unfolds in a series of episodes
how the setting shapes the plot
To describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes, consider the following questions:
When and where does this story take place?
How does the plot unfold in a series of episodes?
How does the setting affect the plot? How does it affect the characters and their responses to events? How does the setting help move the plot to a resolution?
Grammar Friday: Assessment #2
iREADY: Students in Regular ELA are required to complete 50 minutes and pass 2 lessons with at least a 67%. Students in Honors ELA are expected to complete 60 minutes and pass 2 lessons with a 67% or better.
iReady Grading - There are three components to the iReady requirements. Here is how I grade iReady Pathway requirements.
3/3 - 100
2/3 - 75
1/3 - 50
0/3 - 0
Ms. Hunter
Ms. Fletcher
Students will work on citing evidence from informational text.
➕➖ Math ➖➕
Mr. Moore
Next week in math, we’ll be learning about Interquartile Range (IQR) and Box-and-Whisker Plots! Students will use data to create visual displays that show how information can be spread out and compared. We’ll explore how to find quartiles, identify outliers, and interpret what data sets tell us about the real world.
Assignments will be in ALEKS, and students should continue completing at least two i-Ready lessons this week. There will be a quiz on Friday covering IQR and box plots.
Thanks for your continued support!
Ms. Whitney
Hello families!
Here’s what’s happening in 7th grade math this week:
📘 Regular 7th Grade Math:
We are wrapping up our work with integers and beginning to explore rational numbers, applying our understanding of positive and negative numbers to decimals and fractions. Students will take their Mid-Unit Assessment on Monday, so please encourage review over the weekend. Afterward, we will continue applying our knowledge by working with decimals in real-world contexts.
📘 7th Grade Accelerated Math:
Students are beginning an exciting new unit on Proportional Reasoning. They’ll dive into understanding unit rates, ratios, and proportional relationships in tables, graphs, and equations. This week, we will take a unit test on Similarity, Dilations, and Slope, so reviewing class notes and practicing problems at home will be a great support.
🧮 How You Can Support at Home:
Ask your student to explain their thinking when solving a math problem—this helps build deeper understanding.
💬 Parent Engagement - Question of the Day:
"While we’re out running errands, can you tell me if the prices we see are proportional? How would you use unit rate to decide the best deal?"
Thanks for all you do to support our mathematicians! Let me know if you have any questions.
Ms. Cuff
Each week in math, we will continue working on refreshing previously learned skills and standards to remediate weak areas and achieve mastery for all students. These reviews will be included in the lesson as well as bell work, before strategies, cooperative learning and partner work. Next week we will continue with relations and functions (domain, range, functions, evaluating functions), linear and nonlinear functions, slope/rate of change. The students must complete 2 iReady math pathway lessons each week. This will be worked on in and out of school (homework). Have an amazing week. :-)
🧪 Science 🧪
Mz. Estelle
In science, we are using our online textbook as only a limited number of printed copies were supplied with our AMSTI kits. The textbook is available at Carolina Science Online. Username is: Estelle Student; password is: password123.
Not required but fun: SciStarter’s Citizen Science November: https://scistarter.org/calendar
Please know that in my class, I will be starting to assign silent lunch for students who come to class without charged computers. It is the expectation that students come to class prepared. Please make a designated spot in your house to prepare school materials.
Mrs. Thrasher
Ms. Plummer
This week we will continue our study dealing with physical and chemical properties of matter. We will also begin looking at chemical equations, compounds, chemical bonding ( learning how to count atoms and balance chemical equations in all Physical Science classes). Please make sure that your student comes to class prepared to work individually and collaboratively.
📜 Social Studies 📜
Mrs. Hester
November 7 - WWI begins
Mr. Garner
Mr. Hughes
🎭 Fine Arts 🎭
🤡 Clowns - Ms. Stricklin 🤡
New Performance Date: December 7th at 1:00pm has been added to the calendar. We have been invited to perform at the Orion for one of their winter/holiday events.
Makeup Design Class: Clowns’ makeup has been ordered. I will reschedule as soon as it arrives.
Join the Remind: https://www.remind.com/join/aaa2526
The next costume parade is on November 13 and 14th . There will be a Signup Genius sent in the Remind.
If you missed the Music Competition Parent meeting. Check the website for more information https://www.whyaaa.org/ms-stars--clowns.html
Please continue to bring in caboodle checklist items.
Rental/Fabrication Forms were sent home two weeks ago with students. I need to know whether you plan to rent or make your costume. If you plan to rent, you can pay the $20 rental fee in cash, checks made payable to AAA, or on myschoolfees.com.
🤩 Stars - Ms. Stricklin 🤩
New Performance Date: December 7th at 1:00pm has been added to the calendar. We have been invited to perform at the Orion for one of their winter/holiday events.
Join the Remind: https://www.remind.com/join/aaastar84
If you missed the Music Competition Parent meeting. Check the website for more information https://www.whyaaa.org/ms-stars--clowns.html
Please continue to bring in checklist items.
Rental Forms and Contracts were sent home with students that have not turned in theirs. Please, sign and return. Make sure you have paid your rental fee. You can pay the $20 rental fee in cash, checks made payable to AAA, or on myschoolfees.com.✍🏻 Creative Writing - Mrs. Hester ✍🏻
Save the Date: Open-mic - January 22
🧰 Theatre Tech - Mr. Stricklin 🧰
We are currently working on Scenic Design. The kids are drafting designs for the stage, elevation view and floor plans.ly.
🎭 Theatre - Mr. Feemster 🎭
Theatre 1: As we conclude our scene study lesson in Theatre 1, students are engaging in a character analysis exercise. Each student will create a one-pager about a character from Skid Marks: A Play About Driving. This activity allows them to delve deeper into character motivations, relationships, and development, enhancing their understanding of the play and their performance skills.
Intro to Theatre: In Intro to Theatre, we are wrapping up our exploration of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales with a similar character analysis exercise. Students will each create a one-pager focusing on a character from the stories. This creative task encourages them to think critically about character traits and how these contribute to the humor and storytelling style of the play.
Upcoming Performances: Willy Wonka Jr. Don't miss out on the magical journey of Willy Wonka Jr., opening from November 7-9. Tickets are available now at WhyAAA.org. Join us for a delightful adventure into the world of pure imagination
💃Dance - Ms. Fuqua 💃
🎻Strings - Mrs. Peck🎻
🎵 Band and Choir - Mr. Snodgrass 🎤
Choir:
The Huntsville All-City Choral Festival was awesome this year! It took place at Trinity United Methodist Church on Tuesday October 28th. Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand from the University of Maryland conducted the middle school mixed choir and Mrs. Joy Xu from Auburn University conducted our 6th grade choir. It was a fantastic festival/concert. We had two 8th grade students who were nominated for the Huntsville Outstanding Choral Student Award. The students were Mollie McKinney, nominated for Outstanding Soprano/Alto, and Caleb Jones, nominated for Outstanding Tenor/Bass. Caleb Jones won the Outstanding Choral Student Award for Tenor/Bass. We are very proud of Mollie who represented us well and Caleb Jones for being the middle school Outstanding Tenor/Bass in the city of Huntsville. Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the 2025 annual Huntsville All-City Choral Festival.
On Thursday October 30th, we had 147th and 8th grade students who auditioned for the Alabama All-State Choral Festival. We are very proud of these students for auditioning. All-State is the highest choral honor in the state and we hope these students did well. If chosen, this festival will take place in March of 2026 on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, AL.
Band:
Continue to encourage practicing (Advanced Band). Playing in class alone is not enough. Now that All-City and All-state auditions are over, and I'm able to be at school, we are going on an all out campaign for (Beginning Band) students to learn the lines and spaces of the staff, learn their correct fingering/slide positions while continuing our breathing warm-ups. Practice sheets go home on Monday and Tuesday.
🎨Art - Mrs. Jackson 🎨
Students in all Visual Arts classes have embarked on their 'Insect Reduction Prints' project, exploring the technique of multi-layered printmaking. Last week, they began carving their first layer, and this week they will print it. They will continue to carve and print two additional layers, resulting in a vibrant, multi-colored print of an insect of their choice. We are thrilled to see their completed works!
Media Arts: Claymation Project
Media Arts students have teamed up to design characters and sets for their claymations. This week, we will start building the characters and sets. We are eager to begin the photography process for stop-motion animation!
Support the AAArt Department!
Don't forget to purchase your AAArt Department merchandise! Check it out at https://www.ladybugzdesigns.com/collections/aaa-art-department
📆 Attendance 📆
6th Grade Updates
Please review the 6th Grade Behavior Essentials