We have made it through our first full week of school. Your middle schoolers have been wonderful. Here are some tips for meeting the physical needs of your middle schooler from a blog written by Suzie Dalien.

“Boys and girls in this age range benefit greatly from significant physical activity. It can be an organized sport or something you’ve committed to doing regularly as a family.

The more activity, the better. Challenge your child to push their limits. The exercise boosts the “happy” chemicals in their brains, helps them sleep well, and provides a daily sense of accomplishment.

Speaking of sleep, a good night’s sleep is hard to come by for middle schoolers. They are growing, their brains are working overtime and they are trying to keep up with their friends (socially and academically). According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, kids this age need 9-12 hours of sleep each night.

Here are our tips on a bedtime routine.

That can be tough to do with homework, after-school activities, and social life. Help them out by setting a regular bedtime that allows for at least 8 hours of sleep. You might also want to limit screen time in the hour or two before bedtime.”

Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:

What’s happening in Science?

Seventh graders blasted into their Astronomy unit this week! They contemplated if resources should be invested into colonizing other planets or if scientists should focus on protecting our home planet. They learned about the Biosphere II experiment that took place in the 90’s where eight scientists tried to live in a dome for two years to mimic what it would be like to live on another planet without resources. They are now working on a mini project about the planets and satellites in our solar system to research and advertise which planets and satellites would be a fun vacation destination. Next week they will contemplate which planets could possibly support life. They will also start watching the moon and study its phases.

What’s up in Math?

In Math we have been working with the transformation of objects: moving, rotating, reflecting. We’ve been learning to find the point of rotation and how to label objects as we continue to transform them through successive steps. Next week we will be moving into dilations, where we will be changing the size of objects based on sets of rules.

What’s happening in ELA?

Seventh graders have had a successful first week of ELA. They have all selected a realistic fiction book to read. They have also completed Week 1 Grammar activities. Your students have  learned four new vocabulary words and have identified nouns, pronouns, prepositional phrases, and articles. Seventh graders are also able to use grammar correcting symbols in their writings. Finally, they have been taught how to log their reading by actually writing about their reading. Students will turn in their reading logs every Friday. Their reading logs will be assessed and returned to them on Mondays. Finally, every Friday they will have a grammar quiz covering the concepts they practiced that week.

What’s going on in Social Studies?

This week the Seventh Graders had so much fun interacting with each other and learning class expectations and more about their peers! On Friday we were able to dive into content with some fun pre-assessment activities on the Native Americans. 

Next week, the students will take it back just a little bit into the first ancient civilizations in America, and then transition into the Native Americans! We will be learning a variety of vocabulary for this unit, so expect a lot of vocabulary practice this week! 

Important Dates:

September 5th- Labor Day, no school

September 21st- Middle School Curriculum Night, 5:30-6:30