Damian Powell
7th Grade Assistant Principal

and Athletics Administrator
 

Dear 7th Grade Parents,

Our 7th Grade Team is off to a fantastic start this year. Students are thriving academically and building meaningful, sustained relationships with their teachers and peers.  Our students are embracing our teacher-driven Common Expectation Initiatives, creating an environment for teaching and learning. We’ve had Student of the Month celebrations, Student-Led Conferences (students taking ownership for their learning through setting goals and monitoring their own progress), Solar Eclipse study and observation and a Color Walk to benefit school programs and hurricane relief. Your students have participated in a lot of great activities. Fun and learning extend into our classrooms daily as well!

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What We Are Learning

Human body systems are the focus in Science. After learning the different body systems, their organization and how they rely on each other to do a job, students will have the opportunity to see first-hand how those systems are arranged in complex organisms. Wednesday, Oct. 18th, will be the famous 7th-grade frog dissection! 

Language Arts students are enhancing their reading and writing skills using the Lucy Calkins, Units of Study Series. It’s built on the “best practices, and proven frameworks developed over decades of work in thousands of classrooms across the country and around the world.”  Our teachers, equipped with state-of-the-art writing workshops that help students meet and exceed global standards, are thrilled to have this new resource. For the past three weeks, students have been working on "The Write Stuff" in all 7th-grade language arts classes. The new curriculum has called for each student to work on a new component of narrative writing at least three times a week.  Feel free to look through your student's writer's notebook to see all the fun ideas that have made their way to paper!

Students are learning to apply properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions in Math.  Ultimately, students should be able to analyze and solve multi-step linear equations upon completion of the current unit. Teachers find that relating these equations to student-created illustrations of a triple beam balance on the board allows students to understand the importance of a balanced equation. More importantly, the kids love it when they can display their learning in creative ways while collaborating with peers.

In Social Studies students are collaborating on crafting provocative critical thinking questions to create energetic discussions as they analyze and compare the various forms of government in Southwest Asia through primary resources.  Students connect their learning outside the classroom by analyzing current news of the region and how decisions of foreign governments impact not only their citizens but also the decisions of the U.S. Government and our relationships with these countries.

We are incredibly proud of our students on the 7th Grade Team! The grade level will hold a “Honor Stroll” on October 20th for students who maintain an A/B average. We will update the list of eligible students by October 19th. Students will enjoy the great outdoors with friends as they walk around the track, listen to music, throw a ball around or just informally hang out with their teachers. All in all, we want to celebrate our students for their hard work while helping them to cultivate positive relationships with their teachers and peers. Encourage your child to keep their grades up so we can have an “Honors Stroll” day above all others!!

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Athletics Update

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We are excited about this upcoming Athletics Season. Head Boys Basketball Coach Dunn and Head Girls Basketball Coach Deloach are looking forward to a stellar season. Students are encouraged to stay on top of their grades so they can try out for the team. Potential players have been sharpening their skills during intramurals, working on moves and strategies with Assistant Basketball Coach Riley in the mornings. Girls tryouts are from October 16-20 and Boys tryouts are from October 23-27. Come on out!

Cheerleading has started off strong! We are twenty girls strong, and they are working diligently in preparation for their half-time routines-perfecting their stunts and tumbling sequences. Coach Ross says, “our girls are super excited to show off their skills at our November 10 Pep Rally!” Comets are ready to SOAR!!