Friday, January 10, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 1/10/14

Welcome Back Dynamic Team!

Upcoming Events:           Jan. 10th – Term 3 grade reports mailed
                                       Jan. 20th  - MLK Day, School not in session
                                       Jan. 25th – Hixson Adult Trivia Night



Important Information:
   Hixson’s trivia night is Saturday, January 25th. Tables are going quickly! Registration forms will be mailed with your child’s report card or you may visit www.hxtrivia.blogspot.com to register online. We are still collecting items for the silent auction, especially for our team basket. Alternatively, if you would prefer not to purchase an item, we would be happy to accept any monetary donation that may be used to purchase items for our baskets.

Hixson's Adult Trivia Night is coming up on January 25th.  Click here for a link to all the details.  We are asking parents to contribute items for two baskets to be auctioned off per team.  Dynamic’s theme is Home Sweet Home.  We are requesting items such as Lowes/Home Depot gift cards, gift cards for Bed, Bath, and anything other items that can be used to make home a sweeter place.

If you would like to activate your Edline account, please contact Mr. Daniels or Mrs. Pettid for your activation code.


English –


Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math-

The students really worked hard the first semester (grades are updated), please check the portal. This week we continued to learn some geometry concepts (with application) that are usually on standardized tests. Next week we will start in a new unit in the math book (Stretching& Shrinking) which is about understanding similarity. 


Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –
Welcome back to the second half of 7th grade Dynamic Systems Science! We have stormed into our weather unit this week! LOL   The students took the pretest, “What Do You Know about Weather,” on Wednesday and Thursday. The second semester the students will be developing skills to use and interpret text resources. I was out of school on Thursday and Friday this week for a funeral. The students were using a science textbook to take notes, develop vocabulary and answer questions about the “Causes of Weather.” The textbook sections over: Air Pressure, Heat Energy, Winds, and Moisture. Below are the questions they investigated.
Air Pressure (pg. 10-14)
1.  What is air pressure?
2.  How does increasing the density of a gas affect its pressure?
3.  As altitude increases, how does air pressure change?  How does density change?
Heat Energy (pg. 36-39 & 42-45)
4.  List three forms of radiation from the sun.
5.  What happens to most of the sunlight that reaches Earth?
6.  What happens to the energy from the sun that is absorbed by Earth’s surface?
7.  Name three ways that heat can be transferred.
8.  How do the three types of heat transfer work together to heat the troposphere?
Winds (pg. 46-52)
9.  How is wind related to air temperature and air pressure?
10.  What is the difference between local winds and global winds?
11. What is the primary direction of the winds in St. Louis, MO which is the major influence of the weather  at our 38.6 ° N. Latitude?
Moisture (pg. 54-60)
12.  How does water in the atmosphere condense?
13.  What type of air can hold more water vapor?
14.  What is the difference between humidity and relative humidity?  

Next week the students will begin recording weather data and understanding the kinetic temperature concept.

Standards based grading (please see bulleted list below) has been very beneficial for student learning and achievement! I have been delighted about the students’ increased focus on learning! Please review with your student about their learning experiences in Science and about their achievements with developing their skills creating data tables and graphs, identifying independent variables, dependent variables, and constants, and writing hypotheses and conclusions.
C = Can perform some or most the skill independently.
B = Can perform all important aspects of the skill independently.
A = Can transfer the skill to a new situation or set of circumstances never seen before, or make a prediction about something which has not been tested.

Below are the first two weather learning goals.
Goal 1:  Student can analyze data, including maps, and construct and use models to develop understanding of the factors that control weather.
4
Student demonstrates innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal, such as
  • Student will analyze air mass movement and weather data.
3
Student will
  • explain changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) in terms of air mass movement.
  • explain possible weather in terms of data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments.
2
Student will:
  • identify cause/effect relationship between changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) in terms of air mass movement.
  • interpret data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments to identify possible weather.
1
Student will:
  • match changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) with air mass movement.
  • match data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments with possible resulting weather.


Goal 2:  Student can analyze data, including maps, and construct and use models to develop understanding of the factors that control climate.
4
Student demonstrates innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal, such as
  • Student will analyze unequal heating and rotation of the Earth and cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
3
Student will
  • differentiate patterns of regional climate caused by different factors. (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)
2
Student will:
  • identify cause/effect relationship between factors and regional climate.  (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)
1
Student will:
  • match factors with resulting regional climate.   (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)

If you have any questions or comments please let me know.

Dynamic Science Course Website


Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels -
daniels.mark@wgmail.org


314-918-4603


Social Studies –

Students are getting back into the swing of things in Social Studies.  We began our shortened week by comparing and contrasting Athens and Sparta.  We will continue to look at culture in ancient Greece and will focus our attention next week on art and architecture.


After school help is available in my room every Tuesday until 4:00
 


Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org
314-918-4602

Please visit the following links for more information:
Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/

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