
February Weekly Update
Week of Monday, February 5th - Friday, February 9th, 2024

February Update
Note from the Principal
The middle school is almost done with testing. The staff and I have started to look at the data to determine intervention needs and figure other areas of strengths and weaknesses in our curriculum.
As a reminder, the Middle School has a new administrative assistant, Jill Elliott. Please call or email her at elliottj@dist3.org with any questions or concerns about absences or building usage.
General Updates
Upcoming Dates
February 7 - 8th Grade Pictures
February 16 - No School
February 19 - No School
February 28 - End of Second Trimester
March 6 - Second Trimester Report Cards Available
Physical Education
The first week of February, students will be rollerblading (thanks to the PTO for sponsoring this event). Students will be participating in our badminton and basketball units later in the month.
Our New Recycle Initiative Starts January 5th!
Did you know:
Plastic bottles require up to 450 years to dissolve.
90% of the cost of bottled water is the bottle itself.
80% of plastic bottles never get recycled.
38 million plastic bottles go to landfill each year in America alone.
With that being said, Fox River Grove Middle School will begin a recycling program that will encourage students to recycle their plastic bottles. To get the ball rolling this program will be a fun competition among grade levels. Each month, grades will compete against each other to collect the most plastic bottles. The winning grade will receive a prize at the end of the month. Special recycle bins will be in each grade-level hall making it easier for students to recycle. ***Please note that we ask students to only recycle empty bottles and remember, we ultimately encourage students to bring a reusable water bottle to school. Good luck and may the most bottles be collected!!
7th Grade Roller Skating
6th Grade Bucket Drums
6th Grade Solar Ovens
Clubs and Activities
Track and Field
Track & Field will be starting on Monday February 26. Athletes need to have a current physical on file in order to participate.
Jazz Band
The Jazz Band had its first rehearsal on Tuesday, January 30th. This ensemble will perform at Cary Grove High School for the Combined Jazz Concert on Wednesday, March 20th at 7pm.
Band
All 6-8th grade band students are encouraged to participate in the Solo and Ensemble Festival at Cary Junior High on Saturday, March 9th. All entry forms and payment are due to Ms. Schneyr by Friday, February 2nd.
Art Club
Art Club meets every Tuesday after school. Students in grades 7th and 8th are invited to participate.
6th Grade Solar Ovens
8th grade Roller Skating
8th Grade Literature Projects
Grade Level Updates
5th Grade
General: Please ensure chromebooks are fully charged when students come to school.
Lit: Students will be starting a new novel, Esperanza Rising. We will be focusing on the theme of human rights and working on literary comprehension and response skills.
GW: Students will write a “Compare and Contrast” essay on the animals of their choice.
Math: In 5th grade math, we are wrapping up long division. Our next unit of study will be division with decimals.
Science: Students will analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability of organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
SS: Students will begin the “Road to the Revolutionary War” unit.
STEM: Students will be working on coding and creating a robot to help clean up environmental disasters.
Art: Students will learn about the element of art value. Students will have time to learn and practice a variety of drawing and shading techniques that culminate in a final drawing at the end of this unit of study.
6th Grade
Lit: As we finish our novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, we will start to prepare for our Cinderella unit. This unit looks at different styles of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, that has been told throughout not only different time periods but also throughout different countries and cultures. Each student will have responsibilities within their small group and will be encouraged to use their class time wisely to ensure they get everything completed on time.
GW: Students will continue working through the Pronouns unit and then begin a unit on Persuasive writing.
6th Math: Students are beginning our chapter on Algebraic Expressions, learning how to identify, factor, and evaluate them.
6th Acc Math: We are nearing the end of our ratios, rates and proportions unit. In February students will complete their second benchmark. After the benchmark we will begin working with percents.
Science: Students will Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.
SS: Students will wrap up their unit on Genocides before learning about Ancient India. Building on the current content of the chapters and the continued understanding of the events of the region, students will engage with readings and learn about different cultures, events, and religions.
Music: Students will be finishing their Album Cover project and starting their Music Soundtrack project. To finish the trimester, we will begin our multi-week unit on the ukulele. Students will learn the parts of the ukulele, learn the names of the strings, and learn how to pluck strings and strum basic chords.
Art: Students will learn about the element of art value. Students will have time to learn and practice a variety of drawing and shading techniques that culminate in a final drawing at the end of this unit of study.
Health: 2nd trimester students will be learning about the Muscular and Skeletal systems. At the end of the month, students will be doing their Health Advocacy Slide Show project.
7th Grade
Lit: We are wrapping up The Outsiders in the next few weeks. We will follow up the novel with the movie. This allows students to compare and contrast the story in different media forms. The next unit will be A Long Walk To Water which is based on a true story and set in Sudan. It will be part of a new ELA program we are piloting.
GW: The students finished the pro/con research papers and are now using those to script a debate. The debates will begin this week. Vocabulary.com continues as we bring in words from our novel units. Once done with debates, we will delve in to parallelism in writing.
7th Math: Students are nearing the end of our chapter on Ratios & Proportions, learning how to identify proportions, write, solve, and graph them.
7th Acc Math: Students are wrapping up their second benchmark. Our next unit of study will be reviewing rates, ratios and proportions followed by percents.
7th Algebra: In Algebra we continue to work on systems of equations and inequalities. Our next unit of study will be exponential functions.
Science: Students in science will continue learning about genetics and evolution, as well as discovering how similarities and differences in bone structures have changed over millions of years. Students will also partake in the dissection of a squid, with the focus on looking at how structures have changed over time based on adaptations to an organisms environment.
SS: Social Studies students will continue learning how the United States came together after the Revolutionary War and became more united under a central government.
STEM: Students are working on learning CAD software and the 3d Printer.
Art: Students will learn about the element of art value. Students will have time to learn and practice a variety of drawing and shading techniques that culminate in a final drawing at the end of this unit of study.
8th Grade
Lit: We will be piloting a new ELA curriculum that allows students to explore new literature while refining their skills in areas such as figurative language, theme, and characterization. Our new novel will be Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall.
GW: In Grammar and Writing, we are finishing up our Characterization Essays. In the upcoming weeks, we will begin researching choices for our career unit. We will also be jumping back into grammar with a review of adjectives and an in-depth study of verbs and verbals.
8th Math: Students will be learning about exponents and moving into surface area and volume.
8th Algebra: In Algebra we continue to work on systems of equations and inequalities. Our next unit of study will be exponential functions.
8th Geometry: Students will be learning about quadrilaterals and taking the Semester 1 final on 2/11 and 2/12.
Science: Students will further engage with the rock cycle, water cycle, and various other processes that change our planet. After that, students will be learning about natural disasters and the impact that volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, and other catastrophic events have on various countries.
SS: Students will learn about the consequences of WW 1. After that, we will learning about an exciting era in American history, the Roaring 20’s, followed by the Great Depression.
Health:SS: Students will continue to learn about the four dimensions of Health. We will also learn about the need for a nutrition plan in our daily life
Spanish: Spanish students are working on a culminating activity for our Weather/Seasons & Clothing Unit. Working in small groups, the students are creating a seasonal video that highlights the learned vocabulary. Coming soon: more work with descriptions (adjectives!).
STEM: Students will be learning about coding and creating their final project to show case all of their skills they have learned this trimester.