Cross-curricular Unit: Endangered Species

Spartans students are investigating endangered species as part of a cross-curricular unit. 

In English class, students are writing a research paper that focuses on one endangered animal. 

All Spartans wrote a performance task about the burrowing owl in language arts and currently are reading the novel Hoot to discover how the characters in the book take action to save this endangered animal.

In Science, students are studying the reasons that species become endangered and threatened.  In the upcoming weeks, they will give an informal presentation about their discoveries.

7th Grade In-House Field Trip

Spartans will attend a special presentation by the Pittsburgh Aviary on Friday, May 3, 2013.  This will be a culminating experience for our cross-curricular unit on Endangered Species.  

Spartan Team T-Shirt Day 3/8/13

Hey Spartans!  Don't forget to wear your team T-shirts (or a blue and gold shirt) tomorrow 3/8/13! 

Digging Deeper: Genetics

Spartans, while our class time with genetics has ended, those of you who enjoyed the topic are encouraged to explore the website we used in class:

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

Let me know if you find anything you'd like to discuss further!

During this morning's Olweus Classroom Meeting, students talked about how cyber bullying can be hurtful because we often say things online that we wouldn't say in person.

Our 8th grade student leaders challenged the students to say something nice about the person next to them while passing around a ribbon.  Everyone held on to the ribbon as it passed.  Then, they were challenged to say something nice about anyone in the room, therefore making a criss-cross of the ribbon throughout the room.

When everyone had received two compliments, the ribbon was cut.  Each student got to keep a piece to remind themselves about the nice compliments that they received.  They are encouraged to look at this piece of ribbon whenever they are feeling down and need a boost.

Great job, Spartan students!

This Friday's Assembly

This Friday afternoon, there will be a holiday assembly with a basketball tournament, holiday activities, and several students getting to pie a teacher in the face!  Make sure that you are able to attend this assembly by ensuring that you have all your work turned in for every class and that you are maintaining your excellent Spartan behavior this week.  It'll be an afternoon you don't want to miss!

Attention Algebra Connection Students

Upon the remaining days of school before our Christmas Vacation, students are reminded that we will have a series of three quizzes (December 10, 14,18) pertaining to our Algebra unit.  With two weeks remaining, prepare to finish strong!

Thanksgiving Charity Dodgeball Game

On Wednesday, November 21, CMS will hold its annual Charity Dodgeball assembly in the afternoon.  Students may be a part of their homebase team by bringing in the signed permission slip and a $2 donation to the Canonsburg-Houston Food Pantry by tomorrow, Friday, November 16.

Even if they do not wish to sign up to participate, students may still attend the assembly on Wednesday, as long as all of  their classwork is made up.  Make sure you check with your teachers and ensure that you are caught up so that you can enjoy our afternoon assembly!

English Grammar Units

In English class, we are just finishing up our review unit on nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.  This unit is culminating in a chapter test today.  Students had the opportunity during yesterday's class to complete a practice review quiz, work on a review packet, ask questions about any confusing terms/items, and complete some games to review.

We will begin focusing on our next mini-unit on Monday.  This will be a unit covering verbs and adverbs.  We break Chapter 3 into two parts (verbs and adverbs & prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections) to make it more manageable for the students.  The verb and adverb unit will be finished before Thanksgiving break!

REMINDER:  A great tool for English is Edmodo.com.  Students have an account here.  They can find resources for studying, games we've posted to be used for review, and can even interact with myself and Miss Kaczmarek by asking questions that will post on our personal accounts. 

CMS Writing Guide Blog

I just wanted to take a moment to share the CMS Writing Blog with all of you.  This has many helpful tips on a variety of topics.  These should take your writing to the next level!  Please visit the Writing Guide as often as you wish to get help!

cmswritingguide.blogspot.com

Also, here is a link to an e-book copy of our CMS Writing Guidelines.  This will be a valuable resource to you in your middle school years and beyond!  Consider bookmarking it!

CMS Writing Guide