Cluster Four Update

Hello Cluster 4 Families,

We just recently finished up our unit on measuring circles. In this unit, students practiced not only finding circumference and area of circles, but also of complex shapes involving different fraction-sized circles. This end-of-unit assessment was put in as a grade for Trimester 2.

The unit we have just begun is connecting back to proportional relationships from unit 2 while also introducing the connection to percentages. Students will apply what they have learned about proportional relationships to solve problems involving fractional quantities and percent change.

Below is a breakdown of the current unit we are in.

Section 1: Percentages as Proportional Relationships (Lessons 1–7)

Students use tape diagrams, tables, and double number lines to represent proportional relationships involving fractional quantities and percentages. Students also practice writing and using equations of proportional relationships involving percent change. This prepares students to explore exponential functions involving percent change in high school.

Lesson 1 builds on what students learned in Grade 6 about visualizing and calculating the percentage of a number as they analyze colorful mosaics and build their own.

Lesson 2 builds off of what students learned about constants of proportionality in Unit 2 to compare relationships that involve fractional quantities in the context of recipes.

Lesson 3 continues this thread as students use constants of proportionality as tools to determine unknown values in proportional relationships, some of which involve fractional quantities. This is a strategy that students may use throughout the unit.

Lesson 4 combines three concepts: 1) percentages from Lesson 1, 2) determining unknown values using tables from Lesson 3, and 3) tape diagrams from Grade 6. Students visualize what it means to increase or decrease by a percentage, and use that visual to help them calculate unknown values. They see both tape diagrams and tables used to represent percent increase and percent decrease, and they use these representations to solve problems.

Lesson 5 asks students to represent situations involving percent increase or decrease using equations and to make connections between different ways to write that equation.

Lesson 6 explores the same relationships with a different tool: the double number line. Students practice calculating the original amount, the new amount, or the percent change given the other two quantities.

Lesson 7 continues to develop students’ fluency in calculating the original value, the new value, or the percent change given the other two quantities. This is the first lesson in which students experience multistep percent problems, which will set them up for success when they make sense of tax and tip in Lesson 8.

Section 2: Applying Percentages (Lessons 8–12)

Students interpret and solve problems about real-world situations involving proportional relationships and percent change.

Lesson 8 begins by asking students to apply what they've learned in the first section of the unit to solve multistep percent problems in a common context: sales tax and tip.

Lesson 9 is the first of two lessons examining minimum wage. Students use their sense of fairness to decide whether or not existing systems for paying restaurant servers are fair. They then design their own pay system.

Lesson 10 continues to examine minimum wage as students analyze how costs have increased over time compared to wages and think critically about what it means for college and minimum wage to increase by dramatically different percentages over time.

Lesson 11 looks at a different aspect of applying percentages: percent error. Students consider why percent error is useful and practice deciding whether or not a measurement is within an acceptable percent error.

Lesson 12 is an opportunity for students to generate and answer their own questions using real-world data involving percent increase or decrease.

We are engaged in our study of South and Central Asia! The essential questions -- which truly connect across geographic region and historical time period -- are as follows:

• How does where you live influence how you live?

• How do belief systems reflect and influence society?

• How much influence do leaders have over the success of a society?

We are halfway done with Section III: Post-Harappan Developments in South Asia, which largely focuses on the religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Students will continue to practice and develop their vocabulary and information reading and writing skills. Please encourage your kids to read independently at home. It helps them understand what they’re reading in Social Studies class.

The four sub-sections of this unit are as follows:

I. Geography of South and Central Asia ✅

How do geography and climate influence the development of societies and the lives of people in South and Central Asia?

II. Harappan Society ✅

If you were a curator, which three artifacts would you choose to communicate what is most important about Harappan society?

III. Post-Harappan Developments in South Asia

What are the origins and essential beliefs of the religious traditions that developed in ancient South Asia?

IV. Kingship and Golden Ages in Ancient India and Central Asia

How did the Mauryan Empire use philosophical ideas and belief systems to guide its leadership? Who created the Golden Ages of India and Central Asia?

In Social Studies class, students are also expected to work on their written communication skills. To that end, they are always expected to use the free, embedded spell check tool in the Google Suite of tools. Last week, we reviewed common vs. proper nouns and when to capitalize them appropriately. Please encourage your children to push themselves in their writing. Basic written communication skills are essential for success in all realms of work.

NOTE on GOOGLE CLASSROOM in SOCIAL STUDIES:

In Social Studies class, we depend on Google Classroom as an essential organizational tool for success. On the opening page -- the “stream” -- I post the daily class agenda. On the “classwork” page, I post all of the materials needed for class: slideshows, videos, handouts, forms, and reference materials. If a student is absent from class for any reason, they may check our Google Classroom and catch up pretty easily. I also categorize work by “Must Do,” “Should Do,” and “On 🔥” to work toward more self-pacing and differentiation. There are many larger assignments that are scored directly in Google Classroom and then re-entered into PowerSchool.

We are now in term 2 and have begun to learn about chemistry. Students segued from biology to chemistry by focusing on the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Students did well unpacking these two important scientific processes and have already had their first quiz for this term. This week we are looking at physical and chemical properties and using that information to determine practical uses for various materials. Next, we will dive into pure substances and begin to examine elements and atoms.

Chemistry Learning Targets:

1) Recognize that there are more than 100 elements that combine in a multitude of ways to produce compounds that make up all of the living and nonliving things that we encounter.

2) Differentiate between an atom (the smallest unit of an element that maintains the characteristics of that element) and a molecule (the smallest unit of a compound that maintains the characteristics of that compound).

3) Give basic examples of elements and compounds.

4) Differentiate between mixtures and pure substances.

5) Recognize that a substance (element or compound) has a melting point and a boiling point, both of which are independent of the amount of the sample.

6) Differentiate between physical changes and chemical changes.

Students made glucose molecules using LEGOs then combined their glucose to make starch.

In ELA, we are launching our first novel studies unit. We will read “The Outsiders” as a mentor text, then follow with a book clubs with students reading different books with similar themes. “The Outsiders” is a classic - a novel read by many generations and an often-named favorite book by students. To provide a balance, our book club books will address similar themes with more current contexts, diverse characters and issues of our times. In this unit, we will focus on characterization, how the elements of a story influence each other, and them. We will practice citing evidence from the text in short essays to build writing through the unit.

Our daily homework for ELA is to read! By term 1, many students have established the habit of reading 20-30 minutes a day - bravo!. For term 2, we will be reading class novels. Many days, students will begin a chapter in class and will finish the chapter on their own. On days a student doesn’t have pages to read in our class novel, they will continue reading in their independent reading books. We will continue to track and celebrate independent reading, but it will not be assessed this term. Please support your student by helping them set aside time at home to read and talking with them about what they are reading.

THE OUTSIDERS - Learning Outcomes

Grade 7 Reading Standards for Literature [RL]

RL1

RL2

RL3

Grade 7 Writing Standards [W]

W1

a. I can introduce a claim and organize the reasons and evidence logically in paragraphs and sections.

b. I can develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

c. I can use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.

The ELA class began a new informational unit based on toxic pollution. Through vocabulary study and review of text structures, the class will focus on the effects of toxic waste on land, air, and water. By discussing the author’s purpose, students have connected background knowledge to better understand the reading.

“The Outsiders” based on a coming-of-age story between two rival gangs, has gripped the class with the likes of Ponyboy, Johnny, and Soda Pop. Students explored the 60’s lifestyle of fast cars, hip fashion, gangs, and cool slang. Leather coats, Corvairs, and bad decisions pulled the students into the fold of the greasers and the Socs. Currently, we are making our way through chapter three turning pages with much anticipation!

Learning Targets

• Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole.

• Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience