7th Grade
October/November Website Update
Religion:
The seventh graders have all received their parts for their All Saints’ Day Mass, and have been practicing as much as possible. We continue to move forward on the New Testament text book as well, and we are focusing on trying to understand and grasp the concepts of Divine Inspiration and Mysteries of Faith. We are also trying to finish up our “All About Me” presentations. I believe we have about eight of them left. It has been an extremely busy time.
Our All Saints Day Mass is at 10:00 a.m. on November 1st . Please come if you can and join us in celebrating the Saints, especially our classroom Saints. We will continue our study of the New Testament throughout November. We’ll focus on the fact that Jesus was a Jew, and that, to fully understand him, we need to understand the time, the culture, and the traditions. We’ll also focus on the regions that existed at the time in which Jesus grew up and traveled throughout His ministry.
Math:
The seventh graders continue their Pre-Algebra studies with concepts such as solving for unknowns using inverse operations in equations with positive and negative numbers, solving formulas given all but one piece of information, and solving for Area and Perimeter. The students are just beginning to apply the concept of solving for unknowns to inequalities and graphing the solution. They will be moving into applying equations and inequalities to verbal expressions and solving. In November we will be reviewing Factors and prime factorization and applying this review to greatest common factors and least common multiples. We will also review Powers and exponents and apply this knowledge to multiplying and dividing monomials. Finally in Ch. 4 the students will be introduced to negative exponents.
8th Grade
October/November Website Update
Math:
The 8th graders continue their Algebra studies with review of concepts, such as solving for unknowns using inverse operations in equations with positive and negative rational numbers.
Most of the students learned square roots for the first time this year. They started with perfect square roots and learned about the classifications of numbers in the Real Number System. Next, they were introduced to simplifying radical expressions (no calculators allowed) and operations with radical expressions. Finally, the most recent topic we covered was Pythagorean Theorem. Many were quite challenged, and it is a difficult concept for most of them. They hung in there, though, and always gave their all.
We are now beginning a new chapter. We will be applying our review of solving for unknowns to multi-step equations and formulas. We also will be applying some algebraic concepts to geometry with complementary and supplementary angles, as well as solving for missing measurements in triangles. We are also working hard in the High School Entrance Exam (HSEE) class to complete our preparation for the high school entrance exam in January.
7th Grade
September 6, 2011
Welcome back, students and parents, to a new year at OLG. For those of you who may be new to our school, I extend a warm welcome. I am sure you will find, as I did 7 years ago, that this community we have at OLG is like a family and is very helpful and supportive. I was and still am extremely impressed at how supportive the staff and faculty are, as well as the parents. My experience so far has been amazing, and I can only hope that the new families to OLG have a similar experience.
I hope you all had a wonderful summer. I myself enjoyed every moment of it. I know it is hard to say goodbye to those lazy days. Believe it or not, it is hard for the teachers too. Hopefully we enjoyed and appreciated every one of our free days and are ready to move on to a new and exciting year. Seventh grade brings on a lot of challenges, but we are well rested and ready to take them on as a team. teamwork and organization are the keys to “Happy Days” in the 7th grade.
If you are a new student to seventh grade, don’t be too nervous, at least about your teacher, because I am really new to all of the seventh grade students. They have little prior classroom experience and/or interaction with me. The truth is, you are all in the same boat when it comes to being familiar with me. I do look forward to getting to know you – each and every single one of you! Since you are all new to me, we will begin the year with what I call an “All About Me Project.” This will give me and the other students an opportunity to get to know you a little better and maybe find out a little bit about what “makes you tick”. After all, what better project to do than one in which you are talking about yourself and all the things you like, and why “You” are special. I will be presenting my project to the children next week and their presentations begin on Tuesday, September 13th. I always enjoy them immensely and learn a lot about each and every student. The children are usually very creative in their presentations and in the past have seemed to really enjoy completing the project.
We will also be preparing for our All Saints Day Mass very soon. I will have students pick their top three choices for what they would like to do in the prayer service. I do my best to give them one of their top three choices, but unfortunately it is not always possible.
I am very excited about this school year, and I am hoping to pass my excitement on to you. I look forward to seeing all of you on September 12, 2011 for Back to School Night (orientation) at 6:00 p.m. in the seventh grade classroom.I will introduce the details of this project and will be showing you my own all about me project as a sample and a way for you to get to know a little bit about me.
In Math we have been reviewing all our rules for fractions, and we have been working on our posters of verbal expressions that translate to mathematical operations. We have also been reviewing order of operations and will begin reviewing the rules of operations using positive and negative integers. We will shortly be diving into the world of pre-algebra.
Included below are the course outlines for both Religion and Pre-Algebra. These descriptors outline the curriculum in these courses for the entire year.
Religion 7th Grade
The religion program for seventh grade has two major units. The first semester we will be focusing on the New Testament and deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ. The second semester will focus on Liturgy and Worship. We will discuss faith in action, and young people will be encouraged to take part in individual or communal service projects to be carried out throughout this course. In addition we will be studying St. Francis, the patron saint of the 7th grade. The continent we will be focusing on in the 7th grade is Africa. Part of our study of this continent will include how we can share our fortune with those less fortunate. We will, hopefully, be working with missionaries who are in charge of a school in Uganda and be participating in a project for those students. I am also hoping to have some other guest speakers involved in public health and missionary work in Africa come and visit our classroom as well. We will also spend some time discussing family life.
Seventh grade will be in charge of the All Saints Day Mass. Our parish Masses are held the Wednesday of the second full week of the month. Please make certain that dress uniform is worn on Mass days.
New Testament: A course on Jesus and His Disciples
This course allows young people to rub shoulders with the culture of Jesus and his time. It also will help young people appreciate the Catholic understanding of Scripture.
Liturgy and Worship: A course on Prayer and Sacraments
It is through the Church’s liturgy and the seven sacraments that Catholics celebrate all that God has done for us. If young people are to be strong and faithful followers of Christ, they must make the liturgical life of the church their own.
Family Life: RCL Benziger Family Life
Pre-Algebra 7A/7B
Concepts to be covered:
Number Sense:
- Understand properties of, and compute with, rational numbers expressed in a variety of forms.
- Use exponents, powers, and roots, and use exponents in working with fractions.
Algebra and Functions:
- Express quantitative relationships by using algebraic terminology, expressions, equations, inequalities, and graphs.
- Interpret and evaluate expressions involving integer powers and simple roots.
- Graph and interpret linear and some nonlinear functions.
- Solve simple linear equations and inequalities over the rational numbers.
Measurement and Geometry:
- Choose appropriate units of measure.
- Use ratios to convert within and between measurement systems.
- Compute the perimeter, area, and volume of common geometric objects.
- Know the Pythagorean theorem.
Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability:
- Collect, organize, and represent data sets that have one or more variables.
Mathematical Reasoning:
- Make decisions about how to approach problems.
- Use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions.
8th Grade
September 6, 2011
I would like to welcome parents and students back to a new year at Our Lady of Grace School. It sounds as if we all had a blessed and wonderful summer. We had a great school year last year, and I look forward to another wonderful year with your children. I have great expectations this year with your children. I have experienced the amazing things of which they are capable, and I know they will be great leaders.
I am very excited about this school year and I am hoping to pass my excitement on to your children. I look forward to seeing all of you on September 12, 2011 for Back to School Night (orientation), beginning at 6:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please call me (X29) or email me at mbeeche@olg.org
In Math we have been reviewing all our rules for fractions and we have been working on our posters of verbal expressions that translate to mathematical operations. We have also been reviewing order of operations and will begin reviewing the rules of operations using positive and negative integers. We will shortly be diving into the world algebra, reviewing many of the algebraic concepts we learned in seventh grade. The students will encounter a higher level of difficulty in these equations and come in contact with more of those dreaded variables.
Included below is the course outline for Algebra. This outlines their curriculum for this course for the entire year.
Algebra 8A/8B
Symbolic reasoning and calculations with symbols are central in algebra. Through the study of algebra, a student develops an understanding of the symbolic language of mathematics and the sciences. In addition, algebraic skills and concepts are developed and used in a wide variety of problem-solving situations.
Some of the concepts to be covered are:
- Identify and use the arithmetic properties of subsets of integers and rational, irrational, and real numbers.
- Understand and use such operations as taking the opposite, finding the reciprocal, taking a root, and raising to a fractional power.
- Solve equations and inequalities involving absolute values.
- Solve multi-step problems, including word problems, involving linear equations and linear inequalities.
- Graph a linear equation and compute the x- and y- intercepts.
- Derive linear equations by using the point-slope formula.
- Understand the concepts of parallel lines and perpendicular lines and how those slopes are related.
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide monomials and polynomials.
- Apply basic factoring techniques to second-and simple third-degree polynomials.
- Solve a quadratic equation by factoring or completing the square.
- Use the quadratic formula to find the roots of a second-degree polynomial and to solve quadratic equations.
- Understand the concepts of a relation and a function.
- Graph quadratic functions and know that their roots are the x- intercepts.
- Use properties of the number system to judge the validity of results, to justify each step of a procedure, and to prove or disprove statements.
