Dear Parents,
My name is Mary Riley and I am the new 7th grade
homeroom teacher and 6th, 7th and 8th grade
math teacher. I taught in the
The 7th graders will be changing classrooms pretty much all day. They received a schedule on the first day, but here is an abbreviated one:
8:30-9:15 PE (Mon. Wed. Fri.) Mr. Evans
9:15-10:00 Religion Mrs. Lunn
10:00-11:30 Literature/Language Arts Mrs. Schwartz
11:30-12:15 Social Studies Mrs. Christianson
12:15-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-1:50 Math/Science Ms. Riley/Mr. Fairbank
1:55-2:45 Math/Science Ms. Riley/Mr. Fairbank
The students were randomly divided for math and science, so half of the class has math at 1:00, while the other half has science. At 1:55 they switch. I do see the entire class on Tuesdays from 8:30-9:15. They have music on Tuesdays at 1:00 and computers on Thursday at 8:30.
Below, you will find information about some their classes.
I look forward to meeting all the parents this Friday at curriculum night.
Mary Riley
LITERATURE
Last week, the students received 2 handouts explaining the independent reading requirements for 7th grade. In short, the expectation is that each student will read a minimum of one book (at his/her reading level) per month and take an A/R test before the last school day of each month. Please take a moment to read over these guidelines. Today, I had the students plan out how many pages/chapters they would need to read each night to accomplish their goal. Many students are planning to read more than one book (this earns a ‘B’ grade) so that they may earn an ‘A.’ There is no weekly reading log this year. So students will need to keep to their plans in order to meet the end of the month deadline. Please periodically check with your student to find out how he/she is doing. Finally, we will begin a unit on short stories this week and reviewing the elements of a story.
LANGUAGE ARTS
This week marks the start of our regular spelling schedule:
Pretest given and homework assigned on Monday, Homework due on Wednesday, test
on Friday. In addition, we started the
Root of the Week today. On Mondays, I
will present a new Greek or Latin root.
The students have a worksheet they will need to complete by Thursdays
which requires them to find 3 words that contain the root of the week. They must define each word, indicate the part
of speech, and use each word correctly in a sentence. The students will be sharing their
autobiographical poems they wrote last week (they will be up in the hall for
Curriculum Night, be sure to look!).
Finally, the students will begin their first writing assignment. In honor of September 11th, they
will be writing on the prompt “What is Courage?” This won’t be due until next week.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
7th Grade Social Studies
11:30 – 12:15 M – F
Mrs. Christianson
9/10/07
Welcome 7th Grade Parents! I am thoroughly enjoying your students. I appreciate their willingness to participate as well as their interesting and thoughtful contributions to our discussions.
We began our study of World History by learning about the
ancient civilization of Cahokia, a prospering metropolis that thrived near what
is now
We forge on this week to the Byzantine Empire, Justinian I
and his wife, Theodora, the Muslim Empire and may begin to examine
MATH
The students will begin working out of the book this week, completing the first four sections. This year, there will be a quiz every Friday, and I will be sending home a progress report every two weeks. The first one will be sent the week of September 23.