Middle School Weekly 1/27/2020

Middle School Updates

Week ending January 31, 2020

5th Grade

Religion: We are continuing to explore the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This week we will be focusing on what Scripture reveals to us about the Eucharist and how the Word of God can help us to gain a deeper understanding of our faith.
History: We have begun with the formation of the US Government. Students are divided into groups and are working on Lessons they will present on Monday.
Language Arts: We are continuing to organize an essay that discusses the various virtues demonstrated in the two biographies we have selected. We will also be practicing various writing conventions as we work on improving our grammar skills. We are diving back into our vocabulary books as we continue to expand our lexicons. We are continuing our practice of penmanship with our cursive review.
Science: We are learning about the types of water on Earth and looking to solve the problem that we are finding about the cleanliness of freshwater.
Math: We are finishing up our assessment on various decimal operations. When we have completed this, we will move onto multiplication or division of decimals or adding and subtracting fractions. We are continuing to practice our problem solving skills as we tackle word problems.

6th Grade

Religion: In religion this week, the 6th graders looked more in depth at the creation story and read some commentary about Genesis 1 that helped us to break it down further. We had some great discussions!
History: This week, we began to study government and citizenship. We are starting by looking at country borders and different ways countries work together. Next week, we will begin looking at world governments.
Language Arts: In language arts this week, we spent some time practicing writing a quality hook for an essay. We will continue to break down the pieces of an essay next week as the 6th graders prepare for their next big essay, which will be a persuasive essay that will discuss some topics they have been learning in science.
Science: We are beginning our study of the human body systems, looking at how the body’s that God gave us are infinitely better than anything we could design ourselves. This week focuses on the integumentary system, followed by circulatory system.
Math: We are continuing our work with algebraic expressions and operations with algebraic expressions as this is a fundamental skill. A few of us are continuing our work with the areas of various polygons and composite figures. Some of us are refreshing our skills with finding ratios and rates and applying them to real-world situations. The rest of us are reviewing concepts with 3D shapes and finding surface area and volume.

7th Grade

Religion: We are continuing to study Salvation History, reviewing how the Bible has presented us with God’s revelation of his love to humanity and to each student. We are working through the prophets this week with students researching and presenting each topic.
History: In social studies this week, the 7th graders began learning about the history of early Africa, including hominids and the Stone Age. They finished the week by creating timelines, on either hominids or the Stone Age, that detail the evolution of their given topic.
Language Arts: We have begun reading The Cay by Theodore Taylor. We are working on reading for details! Vocabulary returned this week and we are finishing up our Rediscovering the Saints projects.
Science: We are beginning our study of the human body systems, looking at how the body’s that God gave us are infinitely better than anything we could design ourselves. This week focuses on the integumentary system, followed by circulatory system.
Math: We are continuing our work with algebraic expressions and equations and operations with algebraic expressions and equations as this is a fundamental skill. A few of us are exploring slope and linear equations and how this relates to ratios and rates. The rest of us are continuing to apply our knowledge of slope to graphing linear equations.

8th Grade

Religion: We are continuing to study Salvation History, reviewing how the Bible has presented us with God’s revelation of his love to humanity and to each student. We are working through the Prophets this week with students researching and presenting each topic.
Language Arts/History: This week, we began prework for our upcoming book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is #1 of the top 100 books of all time. We also have completed Vocabulary and worked on our history projects. We continue to learn about our US Government and the formation and application of the Constitution. We presented our posters and information – we are working on our presentation skills: eye contact, not reading from posters, etc.
Science: Students are exploring minerals and rocks, with identification labs and notes on the differences between the rocks in the rock cycle.
Math: We are continuing our work with algebraic expressions and equations and operations with algebraic expressions and equations as this is a fundamental skill. We are also continuing to explore line relationships between parallel lines and transversals.

Important Dates

Science Olympiad Practices- Tuesday and Thursdays 3:30-4:30

January 26 – February 2, 2020 Catholic Schools Week

January 26, 2020 Catholic Schools Kick-off Mass – 11:00 am OLL Pancake Breakfast

January 30, 2020 Drama Production 7:00 pm

February 4, 2020 National Geography Bee 10:00 am Forum

February 7, 2020 Corpus Christi Chess Club Begins – 3:30 – 4:30, Mrs. Koster’s Classroom, 4th – 8th Grade Invited.

February 17 & 18, 2020 No School Mid-winter Break.

February 22, 2020 Crusader Toss – Sign up today. All are invited and encouraged to attend.

February 25, 2020 PSAT Testing – 8th Grade, 8:30 – 12:00 pm

February 26, 2020 Ash Wednesday Mass at OLL