Upcoming Events for November 2011

Wednesday,November 2, 2011:

8^th Grade Letters about Literature

Thursday, November 3, 2011

7^th Grade English: Introduction to WordMasters: Analogies

Monday, November 7, 2011:

ELP Walk-In Conferences 4:00-7:00

Tuesday, November 8, 2011:

8^th Introduction to WordMasters

ELP Walk-In Conferences 4:00-7:00

Wednesday, November 9, 2011:

7^th WordMasters

ELP Walk-In Conferences 4:00-7:00

Thursday, November 10, 2011

ELP Walk-In Conferences 8:00-11:00

Monday, November 14, 2011

8^th WordMasters

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

AMC-8 (Algebra and Geometry students take in class.

Other interested students take in the Media Center)

ELP Lunch: Paper Plate  Geometry

Thursday, November 17, 2011

7^th WordMasters

Learning @ Lunch –Virtual Reality

Monday, November 21, 2011

8^th WordMasters

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

7^th WordMasters

8th Letters About Literature

Letters About Literature 
Rough Drafts Due on Wednesday, November 2, 2011!

300-600 word Reader's Response
Typed in readable size 12 font
Double Space
type word count in footer

We will review the judges rubric and share our letters and begin peer editing in class on Wednesday.
Bring your typed letter to class.

October Learning @ Lunch Reminder

Math Challenge Group October 2011

The Math Challenge Group will meet tomorrow (October 25) during math classes to explore arithmetic with positive and negative numbers in other bases. 

8th Grade Letters About Literature Project

            Letters About Literature is a national writing competition sponsored by the Library of Congress. Last year over 70,000 students wrote letters. Iowa provided 2,253 entries from 85 classrooms.

Your assignment is to write a letter to an author about a book that influenced you, changed your view, or had an impact on your life. This project is a response to the book - not a book report, book review or fan letter. The book can be fiction, nonfiction, a play, short story, essay, or poem.

Your letter must be between 300 and 600 words and represent your very best thinking and writing.

Your Letters About Literature letter will replace an assignment in English class. Please talk with your English teacher about the specifics of the exchange. Class participation, homework completion and your final letters will be shared with your English teachers.

You will meet in the ELP room on the following dates to work on this project. Please bring all necessary materials to the ELP room. Check in with your English teacher first and then come to the ELP room as soon as possible.

Wednesday, October 19: Introduction

Wednesday, October 26: Book and author selection due

Wednesday, November 2: Rough draft due

Wednesday, November 16: First revision due

Wednesday, November 30: Permission slip due.  Second revision due.

Wednesday, December 7^th: Third revision due

Wednesday, December 14: Final draft due. 

Mark-Recapture Simulation on 9-27

During late September the 7th grade life science classes used the Lincoln-Petersen mark-recapture method to estimate the caterpillar population on the AMS campus.   Ms. Kurrles' and Mrs. Glenn's life science classes explored the foundations of this method on September 27. The classes were mixed together and split according to comfort level in math.  All of the students did a simulation of the mark-recapture method (paper turtles or paper fish, marked and recaptured).  The students who are less comfortable with math followed a more structured approach to analyzing the simulation data and those who are more comfortable with math discussed the proportional reasoning involved in this method and solved the proportions on their own.  The mathematics behind this method is closely tied to what the 7th graders have been studying both in 7th grade mathematics and in 7th grade algebra. 

ELP Learning@Lunch: Black Holes

On Tuesday, October 25, 2011 ISU Astronomy graduate student Sarah Willis will discuss black holes and other astronomical objects during 7th and 8th grade lunch.  Bring a hot or cold lunch to the ELP room and learn about our amazing universe!

Math Challenge Group September 2011

The Math Challenge Group is a small group ELP activity for students in 7th grade mathematics.  The group is open to all students who show strong performance in mathematics, and selection for the group is based on academic records and observations of classroom performance.  Students come out of their math classes once or twice a month to participate in this activity, which replaces the classroom work for the day.  Homework for Math Challenge may be assigned and should be done instead of (not in addition to)  the classroom homework assigned on that day.  It can be turned in to the classroom teacher (Mrs. Smith, Mr. Alden, or Mrs. Friedrich). 

During the first two meetings on September 16 and September 23 students experimented with LEGO model bicycles to develop an understanding of bicycle gearing.  They measured the distance the model went for different gear combinations, and graphed distance against the number of teeth on the front sprocket for a rear sprocket containing 40 teeth and a rear wheel of circumference 25 cm.  They were asked to find an equation for distance versus the number of teeth on the pedal sprocket as their homework assignment. (Data:  distance 5 cm for 8 teeth, 10 cm for 16 teeth, 15 cm for 24 teeth, and 25 cm for 40 teeth). 

Parents of students who have ELP on their class schedule will be able to look at Infinite Campus for updates on Math Challenge Group activities.  Scores are not given for these assignments, but attendance and homework completion, as well as concept mastery, will be recorded. 

Science Fair Seminar: Experimental Design

Students working on Science Fair projects are encouraged to come to the ELP room during homeroom (Period 3) on Friday, October 7 for a seminar on designing experiments.  Topics will include what to measure to answer the research question, variables to vary and variables to control, and how to make the measurements.   Eighteen different questions have been submitted by thirty-three students working in groups of 1 to 3.  Where possible progress on these projects will be recorded on Infinite Campus. 

ELP Lunch: Paper Plate Pyramids

Come to the ELP room during lunch and use your geometry skills to build a giant pyramid out of paper plates!  Tuesday, October 11 and Friday, October 14.