Welcome back from Spring Break. I hope you all had a fun and relaxing break. This week students received their Geometry assessments. Starting March 30th students have two weeks to visit with me, practice and re-assess. The new unit we started this week is Sample and Inference. Students began to understand that a probability is a number between 0 and 1 and that it represents the likelihood that an event will occur. They were also able to interpret a probability as the proportion of the time that an event occurs when a chance experiment is repeated many times.
Science with Mrs. Gnojewski
Lab Report Due on Tuesday, April 7th.
-Demonstrate ability to create a complete, coherent lab report
-Create a model that shows how energy is reflected, absorbed and/or transmitted by different materials
-Ask questions to clarify how human activity has contributed to climate change and suggest strategies for mitigation
This week in addition to being busy taking ELA SBACs, students worked diligently to complete their lab reports. These reports are due Tuesday, April 7th. Here are a few documents that might be helpful in completing the labs:
Lab Analysis Examples
Students also explored changes in the Antarctic Ice sheet. Here is a link to learn more about how polar ice is changing.
Astronomy with Mrs. Gnojewski
This week in astronomy students wrapped up their research for their inquiry project. Students will begin presenting on Monday. In addition, we continued our exploration of the structure and processes that operate in the sun. Finally, students learned about the New Horizons mission that will arrive at Pluto this summer. On Wednesday, April 8th, students will take a summative assessment over the circumpolar constellations and the structure of the sun. Check out the links below to learn more.
Structure of the Sun
Seventh Grade Art with Ms. Newstadt
Art students are continuing to explore the theme “A Sense of Self & Identity” via sculpture projects in wire and clay (Alexander Calder wire portraits, sculptural clay “busts” using a can as an armature, and three dimensional clay animal totems).
We explored the idea of photographic "Selfies" as self portraits, and we are working on mixed media explorations and creating unity in composition.
Art Field Trip To Boise Art Museum (BAM) Next Week
7th Grade Artists will visit BAM for a second time next Tuesday, April 7, or Thursday, April 9, from 11:00 am - 1:30 pm. Monday/Wednesday kiddos will visit on Tuesday, and Tuesday/Thursday kiddos will visit on Thursday (we may stay at the park behind BAM through 4th period that day). Please have students bring their bicycles (plus appropriate attire/light backpack/bike lock/bicycle helmet, etc.), drinking water, and a lunch on their scheduled visit day, as we will ride to the museum via the Boise River Greenbelt Bike Path. Entrance to the museum is free of charge. Please email or call me with questions and/or if you are interested in chaperoning the museum visit. Thanks!!
Fitness with Mrs. Stelzner
Workout #1 was a Tabata workout that follows the traditional :20 work/:10 rest interval per exercise followed by a :30 rest in between rounds after repeating each round 2x.
1a) plank up/downs
1c) wide fly push-ups
2a) mountain climbers
2b) Russian twists
3a) squat jumps
3b) double-tap sit ups
3c) military push ups
4a) high knees
4b) reverse lunge with ab twist
4c) side lunge
Burn out round: :60 plank, :10 rest, :60 plank
Workout #2 focused on muscular endurance by walking to a park along the greenbelt to play a game of Ultimate Frisbee. The teams were small with multiple games happening at the same time to increase the likelihood of having contact and success with the Frisbee. We will continue to build on this sport through the end of the year incorporating drills and strategies while increasing our catch and throwing success rates.
Health with Mrs. Stelzner
Students- are you continuing to work on your research project? You have one class period to work on it this week and your presentation will be Wednesday or Thursday, depending on which day you have Health. Please have your presentations finished by the beginning of 4th period on your specific day.
Humanities with Mrs. Axtman
This week we continued our studies of the big ideas in the Middle Ages by reading and learning about Medieval weapons, building catapults, and through a fantastic activity using learning stations teaching about the Black Death that was made by one our very own students, Julene! MAJOR shout out to Julene. She independently came in inquiring about teaching a lesson about medieval times to the class. I gave her a topic, and she used Spring Break to set up learning stations that students visited to simulate the spread of the Bubonic Plague through Medieval Europe. Along the way, students collected beans (either red or white) from each country they visited, and in the end, students with red beans were dead from the plague! 1/3 to 1/2 of the class ended up picking a red bean, which is what happened in the Middle Ages! During the Middle Ages, historians say 1/3 to about 1/2 of people died from the plague in just two short years. Way to bring history to life, Julene! Your commitment to learning and inquiry about our subject is exactly what an IB learner looks like!