Ms. Alexander and Mrs. Berry are our Science Teachers

8th grade mystery cookie lab

7th graders dissecting chicken wings 

6th graders making models of Earth-Sun relationship to explain photosynthesis

8th grade students participated in a Mystery Christmas Cookie Lab where they performed different tests on six white powders to determine which mixture of three powders contained the ingredients for cookies. We are exploring chemical reactions, which leads us to figure out how surface area, concentration, and temperature affect the rate of chemical reactions.

7th grade students finished up the skeletal and muscular systems. This week they performed the Chicken Wing Dissection where they explored the connections of the musculoskeletal system. We are moving onto the digestive system and continuing with more body systems including the circulatory, respiratory, nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. 

6th grade: Earth-Sun-Moon 

We are exploring what makes up the Solar System. We are investigating the causes of day and night, eclipses, seasons, and tides. Throughout the unit, students use their newfound knowledge to answer the question: How have observations over time changed different models of Earth in space?

We encourage you to discuss this topic at home with your child. Here are some ways to connect learning at school to home:

-     Discuss any cultural connections or stories from your family background related to space, objects in space, or changes observable on Earth such as the seasons or tides.

-     Observe the Moon and discuss how it changes appearance throughout the month.

-     Discuss what your life would be like without seasons. Would any of your family habits change?

-     If you could live on another planet, what planet would it be and why?

Ms. Katherine Alexander, Mrs. Anne Bostwick &

Mrs. Dawn Yates are our Computer Science Teachers

COMPUTER SCIENCE

6th graders recently finished the PBS Nova Cybersecurity Lab where students learned about coding and developed an understanding of cyber threats and defenses.  Now students are learning about ciphers like Morse code to help them better understand language used by computers.

7th graders are finishing a big project where they created movies using Scratch! This project required a lot of creative problem-solving, trial and error, and hard work. Ask your student to show you their movie.



After our movie project, we had some time to experiment with Finchbots, little robots we have on loan from Bird Brain Technologies. We learned how to make the robots move, make sound, and light up. Some students even figured out how to make the robot respond to sound.

8th graders designed, built and coded a mini golf course for students in grades K-5 to play. Each golf hole had at least one obstacle that moved.

Sixth-graders recently concluded their genre novel studies, and worked together to write and perform a scene from their novels for "Reader's Theater." Currently, students are learning about topic and theme in literature, and will be reading a few short stories to apply those skills.

Seventh-graders have been working on completing the reading NWEA since returning from break. To help your child show growth on the NWEA, encourage students to work on their Personal NWEA® MAP™ Growth study plan on IXL or spend at least twenty minutes a day reading. After NWEA is completed, we will look closely at Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech focusing on his use of figurative language and persuasive techniques.. 

Eighth-graders have been working on completing the reading NWEA since returning from break. To help your child show growth on the NWEA, encourage students to work on their Personal NWEA® MAP™ Growth study plan on IXL or spend at least twenty minutes a day reading. After NWEA, eighth graders will continue working on identifying verbals (infinitives, gerunds and participles) and types of verb moods (subjunctive, interrogative, indicative, conditional, and imperative). 

Above: Examples of blackout poetry created by seventh grade students using a page from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.   

Below: Students practiced verbals by playing games similar to Battleship and UNO

The sixth grade students are reading through the book of Genesis. We have wrapped up the second creation story and sin coming into the world. We have had skits, and studied religious art. Up next, the 6th graders will read Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel, and Noah. 

Our seventh graders will begin their study of Theology of the Body. Theology of the body comes from John Paul II’s 129 papal audiences given on Wednesday afternoon over a five-year period from 1975 – 1982. In short, Theology of the Body simply means that our bodies teach us about God. Since we have been created as male and female (body and soul) in the image of God - and God is love - then it matters what we do with our bodies. Our bodies express something tangible about how love is meant to be given and received. This is a theology of human anthropology and it applies to every person, no matter what age or state of life, because we all have bodies that express our gift of self in ways as modest as a smile or as glorious as dying on a cross.

The eighth graders are learning about Mary and the saints, as they descent their selection of a Confirmation name. The term saint comes from the Latin word Sanctus, meaning holy. Saints are people who have led an exemplary holy life dedicated to Jesus Christ. The Church recognizes the holiness of these individuals and honors them with the title “saint.” If you make it to heaven then you, too, are a saint - whether the Church recognizes you publicly or not. We are all called to be saints!

All Service Opportunities can be found HERE 

After returning from Christmas break, eighth-graders have reviewed the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and learned about a few Landmark Supreme Court cases. Their Constitution Test took place on Wednesday, January 17th. After learning about the Constitution, eighth-graders will proceed with the "Early Republic" unit to learn about the president who set the precedents as the first POTUS.

After the long Christmas break, 7th grade students finished researching information about an African country of choice and presented it to the class. Our next unit will be Imperial China. Students will study the political, economic, and foreign policies of the Song, Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Students will research the many inventions and discoveries made during imperial times and write a paper on how these inventions have shaped our life in modern times. 

Sixth-graders finished delving into the mysteries of ancient Egypt, and are now progressing through ancient India-focusing on its geography, the mysteries of Mohenjodaro, and about two important world religions that began in ancient India, Hinduism and Buddhism.

7th graders presenting their research on an African country of their choice

Above: Story written and illustrated by 8th Grade Student, Gabriella Parrish

Below: 8th Grade Máscaras de Ladrón

Eighth grade is working on Unit 20, Los Ladrones (thieves). Students wrote their own original story about a made up criminal and used their creative skills to decorate masks for their “ladron”. 

Seventh grade is working on Unit 13, La Descripción Personal (personal descriptions). Students will become familiar with character traits vocabulary through communicative activities and will write compliments for their classmates through a scaffolded writing activity.

Sixth grade is working on Unit 3, Panamá. Students continue to learn through comprehensible input that includes storytelling and story asking.

Our 6th graders are just getting into another project. We are talking about one of our favorite artists, Georgia O’Keefe. We do many different projects with Georgia O’Keefe because she did many

different styles of paintings. She seemed to adapt her paintings to her surroundings, but she was always consistent with her paintings being BIG! The students will be taking a small piece of watercolor paper and they will be making a very large flower. The watercolor techniques will be very important in this project because the piece is not that big, so they must take their time and paint carefully. The small details in the flower will be seen if they do the technique correctly. This is one of my very favorite projects!

Our 7th Graders are diving into clay this month and making their very own mug! We were inspired by some fun mugs that included animals and how they were attached. They have some requirements they must meet, but they have a lot of freedom as to what they will choose and how they will attach their features. One important element of their mug must include either a detailed handle or have 3D elements coming off of the mug. After they researched, they wrote down their steps and they had to draw out their mug and color it. When the mug is glazed and completed, we will return to the sheet and see what changes they made or did they make exactly what they set out to do!

The 8th graders have been working hard. Students have wrapped up American Folk Art and learned about focal point. Up next, the elements of art, and students will begin their shoe drawings

Congratulations to the many musicians who participated in the Saint Pius X Lessons and Carols and the January Christmas Concert. It was a beautiful celebration of the birth of our Lord! 

The Advanced Band enjoyed performing Christmas songs for Preschool and 4th grade last month. We even had some teacher guest conductors!

Middle School students are beginning to learn their music for the March Concert and the ISSMA Band Contest. The contest, on March 15th, requires three selections of varying styles: an overture, a march, and a lyrical song. Each song challenges the bands with a technique or musical concept that they will work to master over the next few months. 

6th and 7th grade students continue to work on decoding, reading and writing rhythms in 6/8 time and are expanding their rhythmic knowledge with new rhythmic combinations. While we are working on these rhythmic skills we are exploring ways to accompany melodies that we are singing using bass lines and/or melodic ostinato patterns.

8th grade students have begun decoding melodic phrases that contain the pitches Do, Re and Mi. They are exploring ways to accompany and harmonize these melodies using other notes from the scale to create bass lines, secondary melodies and melodic ostinato patterns.  

All middle school music students continue to develop their musical language through listening journals by analyzing and describing music using appropriate vocabulary. So far they have analyzed music for dynamics, tempo, instrumentation, texture, articulation, mood and timbre.

8th Grade - Will begin some balance and team building activities as part of our tumbling unit. Focus will be on communication, teamwork, and safety while also using the benefits of muscular strength and endurance to achieve different balances.

7th Grade - Will begin a Floor Hockey unit. Students will be comparing the similarities and differences of Floor Hockey and Ice Hockey. Focus will be on skills, concepts, rules of the game, and stick safety.

6th Grade - Will begin a Bowling Unit. Students will be using their prior knowledge and skill set to improve their bowling form and accuracy while also learning how to keep scoring without the help of a computer.

Course 1: The 6th graders are in the midst of a study of ratios. We are talking about different types including rates. Students will be calculating unit prices and comparing which store can give them the best deal on a particular item. It's usually an eye opening exercise for students to see that just because you get more, doesn't mean it's the best deal. 

6th Prealgebra - How tall do I need to be to ride a rollercoaster? How fast is too fast on the tollway? What is the most amount of money I want to spend? All of these real-life scenarios require the use of inequalities, which is our next topic. We will be representing them with variables, graphs, and words.

7th Course 3 - How do we measure the middle of a data set? What might be misleading about this graph? The 7th graders have been studying different data sets - - from bar graphs to histograms to scatter plots - - and analyzing that data to answer real-life questions. Next up....geometry!

Need motivation for your 7th grade Algebra student to do their chores? Consider offering them the following options: if you do your chores every day for the next month I will either give you $10,000 or a penny on the first day, two pennies on the second, three pennies on the third, and so on. By the end of this next unit on exponents, your children will know which option to choose!

8th Geometry - How can we find heights of objects that are too tall to reach? Similar triangles can be very helpful in estimating distances, and in this unit our 8th graders will learn to find distances using just a ruler and a mirror. 

Course 3: The 8th graders are in a short unit all about scientific notation. We then begin a deep dive into functions. We will spend time comparing linear vs nonlinear functions, what they look like in a table, graph, & equation. 

The Positive Behavior Plan is off to a great start! Students have been carrying around cards where they are collecting signatures for being caught being good. This could be anything from helping out a classmate, to picking up after someone else at lunch, to being quiet going in and out for recess, and the list goes on and on. Signatures can then be redeemed for prizes at the store. We would love your help stocking our store! You can find the WISH LIST HERE.

• JANUARY 20 - EUCHRE NIGHT
• JANUARY 28 - OPEN HOUSE
• FEBRUARY 2 - MIDDLE SCHOOL DANCE
• FEBRUARY 10 - CASINO NIGHT
• FEBRUARY 23-24 - DESCENDANTS THE MUSICAL

The Casino Night Silent Auction Committee would like to personally invite you to attend Casino Night at our school on February 10th from 6pm-11pm. Let's get our friends together and make it a fun night! Please look over the sign up genius and consider donating a gift card or lottery ticket. We appreciate your help! The proceeds for the silent auction go to our 8th graders trip to Washington, D.C.

If you would like to volunteer to work the auction on the 10th please contact Maureen Rousseve, or if you want to help with the gambling, you can sign up here. 

We hope to see you February 10th!