Monthly Newsletter - South Fayette Township School District

News & Notes
South Fayette Middle School
February, 2015
Sixth Grade
Submitted by
The Sixth Grade Team
Culture, the knowledge, beliefs, customs, and values of a group of people, is the main focus of
our first Social Studies Unit: Foundations of Social Studies. Within this unit, students have the
ability to take a look at their own culture and gain a respect for cultural diversity by learning
about other cultures. To begin this unit, students had to do research on their own nationalities.
Students discovered that some people in the class shared the same nationalities, while others
were the only ones in the class with a specific nationality. This activity allowed the students to
recognize that it is their ethical responsibility to respect cultural diversity within our world. With
this information in mind, the students will create culture bags to share their own cultures with the
class. The culture bags will be composed of many primary sources that relate to the students’
cultures.
To extend on our cultural development, students in both Social Studies and Science classes had
the opportunity to also celebrate Black History Month. The main focus of our celebration
included the study of famous African American figures that had an impact on our daily lives.
Students were assigned a famous figure and had the chance to research and learn about their
figure. Once the students gained information on their person, they then were able to create a
“Culture Cube” illustrating their research. While using an online Cube Creator, students
displayed important facts, quotes, and the influence that their person had on our world today.
As we enter the second semester, students switch between Social Studies and Science classes.
We begin science studying the energy of sound and light waves. We begin our unit on sound
waves learning about the incredible story of Ben Underwood. Ben has used echolocation since
he was very young when his eyesight was taken due to cancer. Students will then attempt to
“Block the Rock” music. They will design a box with different materials in order to sound proof
the music being played from an iPod. This is to simulate their brother or sister playing their
music too loud in the room next to them.
In mathematical functions, students have been working with function tables, function rules,
equations and inequalities. Students have been able to solve one step equations, and
inequalities. Additionally, we have spent time graphing functions and inequalities. Both of
these chapters target skills from the Expressions and Equations content standards. All of the
classes have been working on H.O.T. (higher order thinking) questions and STP (standardized
test practice) questions. These types of questions focus on problem solving skills and higher
order thinking which are more challenging for students.
Entering the second semester, students have begun presenting their Hat Speeches. Students
created a story that appeals to an audience grades Kindergarten through second grade, as well as
a hat which symbolizes their story. We have also begun reviewing and interpreting various types
of figurative language. This includes personification, simile, idioms, metaphor, alliteration, etc.
Figurative language plays a big role in the novel Tuck Everlasting, which is our next novel unit
of study. We will be exploring the effects figurative language has on the story: its characters, the
setting, and its themes.
Seventh Grade
Submitted by
The Seventh Grade Team
In pre-algebra students completed chapter 7 on algebraic expressions. Students used the
distributive property to multiply and factor expressions. Then students combined like terms, and
added and subtracted binomials. Our next chapter will be solving multi-step equations. We will
work through one, then 2-step equations and finally solving multistep equations involving the
distributive property, combining like terms, and variables on both sides.
In algebra students are working on inequalities and absolute value on number lines and functions
on coordinate planes. Students will be solving inequalities, translating inequalities, and solving
real world examples.
Seventh grade language arts classes have been reading the short story Three Skeleton Key written
by George G. Toudouze. Throughout this horror fiction text, various literary elements and
devices are employed by the author such as foreshadowing, suspense, and allusion. Students
were first asked to identify the key characteristics of these topics and then challenged to identify
not only their occurrences in the story but also the author’s purpose behind their usage.
Additionally, students continued their examination of both narrative and informative/explanatory
essays through PSSA practice activities that require the students to brainstorm, compose, revise,
and edit essays in accordance with the Pennsylvania State Standards.
Seventh Grade Social Studies classes are exploring the earliest colonies of the Americas to better
understand the events leading up to the birth of the United States. Students will understand the
impact of colonization on European and native cultures and will apply this knowledge in writing
and discussion based activities. Further, students will use their knowledge of North American
geography to create a Geo-3D project. These projects are visual representations of a real
geographic location where students indicate key details such as altitude, major landmarks, and
important resources. The final product is essentially a three-dimensional map of a student’s
chosen location.
To celebrate Black History Month, students will spend two days engaging with material that will
help them better understand the challenges faced and accomplishments made by African
Americans throughout US history. This will include active elements as well as discussion and
research-based presentations about an assigned figure or event.
Students are currently working through the electricity and magnetism unit in 7th grade science.
They have completed inquiry labs on both magnets and electromagnets. Using information
gained from these activities, students explained the relationship between electricity and
magnetism. Students will now be using that information to complete the electromagnetic fishing
pole project. In this project, students are asked to build a working electromagnet to move 30g of
paperclips in 30 seconds. The class competitions was held on Friday, February 20th.
Eighth Grade
Submitted by
The Eighth Grade Team
In science, students have wrapped up their Simple Machines unit by designing Rube Goldberg
machines. We are now studying Astronomy in which students will investigate how our universe
and solar system formed. In addition, students will track the phases of the moon in their Moon
Journals in order to learn why our moon looks so different day to day. Lastly, students will study
the causes of day and night, tide changes, and seasons.
For our Poetry Unit, 8th grade students have been engaged in studying how authors use a variety
of poetic techniques and literary devices to express their thoughts and feelings. Types of poetry
being explored include free verse and lyric poems. Students have been able to apply their
knowledge of poetic techniques to create winter or spring themed free verse poem projects.
Additionally, students have been honing their analytical thinking skills by composing text
dependent analysis essays to demonstrate their interpretation of author’s use of tone in poems
that present two very different sentiments about the winter season. Now that students have
reviewed the parts of speech, our grammar instruction is focused on using verbs correctly by
mastering irregular verbs, active and passive voice, and verb moods. During February, we will
examine the role of complements in sentences and will proceed to study the functions of various
types of phrases in writing, such as verbal, gerund, and appositive phrases.
In 8th Grade History, students are beginning a unit on the Civil War. Students are engaged in a
project based learning inquiry, where they may choose to create a product from a number of
tiered projects based on their level of interest. Some examples include: creating a poster of Civil
War Medicine, researching stops on the Underground Railroad to create a map and a chart of
relevant people and places, and filming a documentary on the role of women in the Civil War.
Throughout the month of January, Honors Geometry students finalized work with congruent
triangles and began a unit on relationships within triangles. First, students learned about triangle
midsegments, properties associated with midsegments, and the application of these properties in
the coordinate plane. The next portion of the unit focused on special lines within triangles and
their points of concurrency. These included perpendicular bisectors of the sides, angle bisectors,
medians, and altitudes. Not only did students learn how to construct these segments, they
studied and applied the various properties of their points of concurrency, including finding the
center of gravity of a triangle. Similar to previous units, emphasis was also placed on linking
algebra with the newly learned geometric concepts. The final portion of the unit were extended
into February where students examined triangle inequalities.
In Algebra, students continued their work on the Linear Functions unit. The next portion of the
unit dealt with using different linear models, the first of which was slope-intercept form for a
linear function (y = mx + b). After mastering the concept of how changing the slope and y-
intercept affects the graph of a line, students were asked to write equations in slope-intercept
form from a variety of scenarios. These included writing equations from tables, writing
equations when given two ordered pairs, and writing equations from lines graphed on a
coordinate plane. They were also expected to be able to graph a line when given an equation in
slope-intercept form. An emphasis was placed on application problems that linked these
concepts to real-world situations. Students then moved on to study standard form (Ax + By = C)
for linear equations. They first compared real-world scenarios to determine when the use of
standard form was more efficient than slope-intercept form. Students practiced writing equations
in standard form and focused on the process for graphing by finding the x- and y-intercepts. This
work carried on into February, where students also touched on using point-slope form before
moving to the study of parallel and perpendicular lines.
Foreign Language Department
The Foreign Language Clubs sponsored a Carnaval/Mardi Gras/Karneval celebration for all
middle school students in the gym on Wednesday, February 11. Featured were language-themed
games and foods, a juggler, a cake walk, costume and mask competitions, face painting and door
prizes!
The Foreign Language Clubs took a trip to Seven Springs Ski Resort on Friday, February 20th.
The New Student Hallway Art Exhibit on Display
There is new student art exhibit on display throughout the middle school. There will be artwork
in the halls and in the glass cases. The most recent 12-week “big idea” from fall 2014, “Dreams
and Fantasy” inspired the students to create all kinds of projects. Some of the projects on
display include the following: The Thematic Art 8 classes learned about Surrealism and
Salvador Dali and were inspired to create seascape drawings and then added magazine pictures
using the collage technique to create a surreal scene .The 8th grade classes also contributed a pen
and ink piece to a Mystery Grid Drawing featuring four surrealist artists, Salvador Dali, Sandy
Skoglund, Rene Magritte, and Joan Miro. The Thematic Art 7 classes who meet for a semester
created Surreal painting based on a line they wrote down during a “stream of consciousness” or
“automatic writing” activity. The 8th graders also created watercolor paintings from “automatic
writing” The 7th graders also created a clay sculpture using the surreal traits of juxtaposition,
transformation, or a form where the “laws of nature” are reversed. The Thematic Art 6 classes
created paintings based on a “two verb and a noun” phrase. Students randomly selected words
from a box of verbs and nouns to form their phrase. The students also created a “bio-portrait”
drawing on their work portfolio showing who they are through drawings depicting their favorite
things and interests. Hope you find this new art show very entertaining!!
Family & Consumer Sciences – The Science of Baking
Baking is chemistry! Not all students believe this until they get into the kitchen to actually
experience it. In Mrs. Roseto’s 7th grade classes the students learned about the science of baking
by creating their own quick breads, yeast dough and homemade cookies.
Students learned
about the role of leavening agents such as baking powder and baking soda when preparing quick
breads such as muffins and biscuits and how to activate and grow yeast to make pizza dough.
They were able to observe carbon dioxide form which caused their products to rise at room
temperature and in the oven. In the science of baking cookies students learned how cookie
dough changes with heat into a browned crispy treat through a series of chemical reactions
involving steam and air when the dough reaches 212˚ F. Followed by the Maillard reaction that
occurs at 310˚ F which develops flavors in the cookie and finally carmelization occurs at 360˚ F
which causes browning to occur. In addition, students learned that the salmonella bacteria that
can be in eggs is killed at 136˚ F and that it is not a safe practice to consume foods with raw
eggs. Science is sweet!
Media Literacy
What do you want to be when you grow up? 8th grade students are exploring this topic in Media
Literacy. Using the site pacareerzone.org, students completed an interest profiler. Based on this
assessment, the site gave each student a personalized list of possible occupations based on
interest. Some of these suggested careers were new and eye opening, while others just made us
laugh out loud. Students then narrowed down their list to one career to research, finding
information about job responsibilities, salary, work schedules, and required education. Finally,
students created a Want Ad for a company in their field and a corresponding resume about
themselves to get their dream job!
UNESCO Club
The UNESCO Club sponsored a collection drive for an orphanage in Haiti. We collected
toiletries, baseball caps, and hair accessories for girls. They were delivered at the end of
February by a South Fayette parent. Members of the UNESCO Club sorted the donations and
made individual toiletry bags for the children. Items in the bags included: toothbrushes,
toothpaste, bar soap, shower gel and shampoo. We had an excellent response from our middle
school students.
Take a stand..lend a hand…VOLUNTEER!!
South Fayette Middle School Lion Hearts Club
February Newsletter
MLK Day 2015
As all students in the South Fayette Township School District had the day off of school on
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students from the middle school took the initiative to partake in this
day of service for the fourth year in a row. The middle school students were joined by
administration, staff, and high school students at the Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg, PA.
Students volunteered by cleaning the various areas of the Hosanna House. Thank you to the
following middle school students for their participation in MLK Day 2015: Lauren and Luke
Arnowitt, Abbie Duncan, Rebecca Finnie, Manish Manivannan, Amara and Mattea Marrese,
Emma Niapis, Ariana Quam, Natalie Rickert, Riley Supan, Leah and Maya Yaquinto. Thank you
to Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Clayton for their support and assistance on MLK Day as well!
Winter Fun at Country Meadows
Do you want to build a snowman??!?! Members of the Lion Hearts Club assisted the staff at
Country Meadows as they hosted the Winter Olympics during January’s visit. Students also build
a snowman outside of the cafeteria so the residents were able to have a friendly sight outside to
look at. Thank you to all of the Lion Heart Club members who attended this visit. Thank you to
Mrs. Rugani and Mrs. Zullo-Hutton for their assistance as well.
Upcoming Events:
The LHC is partnering with the American Heart Association to host a RED OUT to support the
AHA. Members of the LHC are selling “It’s Your Life” shirts and hosted a RED OUT on Friday,
February 27th where students and staff were encouraged to wear red. February is American Heart
Month.