Middle
October 2, 2020
Seventh-grade French Students Study Sounds
Jacky Kalubi, Middle and Upper School French and Spanish teacher, recently taught her seventh-grade students different sounds in French. Students first practiced the pronunciation of nasal sounds, including an, en, in, on, and un. Kalubi would say the sounds and selected students to repeat or identify the sound she pronounced. Kalubi told students that in the English language, there are no nasal sounds. “When you speak in French, you have to be really light on your tongue,” she said. Following the lesson, students also practiced saying words with silent letters. Kalubi wrote the word on the board, then students would write the word on their iPads and cross out the silent letters.
Demo Teaches Eighth-graders Science Lab Safety
Eighth-grade science teacher Ken Revell recently taught students about lab safety with a demonstration stressing the importance of wearing goggles in the lab. “Safety is always a concern in science, but it has been elevated to new levels with the advent of COVID-19,” Revell said. “The demonstration showed students the protective properties of splash goggles.” Revell sprayed acetone onto a Styrofoam manakin head, which was wearing goggles. “The Styrofoam dissolved wherever it came into contact with the acetone. The face and forehead of the manakin were completely dissolved, but the region under the goggles remained untouched,” he said. “This gives the students a dramatic visual of the function the goggles serve.”
Algebra Students Study Proportions
How many packets of sugar are in a 20 oz. soda? As part of their study of proportions, math teacher Kristina O’Connor asked her algebra students to find the answer to this question during a recent lesson. After watching a commercial that aired in the state of New York, students were asked three questions: 1.How much sugar is in a 20oz bottle of soda? 2.What is your guess? 3.What information do you need to know in order to answer the question? Students brainstormed aloud and gave estimates of the number of packets in a soda. They then determined the mathematical information they needed to find their answers. O’Connor then showed students two nutrition labels, one for a bottle of soda and one for a packet of sugar. Students used the nutrition labels to figure out the proportions, which they wrote on their plexiglass desk dividers.
Design Thinking Students Practice Techniques
As part of the preparation for an engineering project in the Innovation Lab, seventh-graders in Karen Glum’s Exploring Engineering and Design class recently practiced cardboard design and attachment techniques such as scoring, relief cuts, tabs, and gussets. This semester, students will build working flashlights out of cardboard. They will also develop user-profiles and personalize their flashlight to fit their user’s wants and needs. “The flashlight project incorporates the most important element of design thinking—empathy,” Glum said.
History Students Learn About Government through Civics
Seventh-grade history students learned the intricacies of lawmaking during a recent lesson in Doug Huff’s class. Students logged on to iCivics, a website that teaches civic education, to play LawCraft. “We are currently studying the branches of government and the game provides an excellent way for the students to learn the lawmaking process,” Huff said. Seventh-graders navigated the steps taken when crafting a law. They selected a district to represent, reviewed letters from their virtual constituents, and drafted a bill. Throughout the game, students learned the relationship between a political office and its constituency, as well as the connections between a law and its values.
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Five Stingers from the Class of 2024 signed their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college.
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