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PIEDMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL

an IB World School

Talent Development News

Volume 1, Issue 23 March 18, 2013

6th Grade Math

In only a few short months the EOGs will be upon us, and then the end of the school year. How time flies! As the year progresses, we find ourselves involved in even more exciting learning opportunities and experiences. Currently, our students are working within the geometry Common Core State Standard to master area of triangles and rectangles. Students are extending this knowledge to irregular figures which can be deconstructed into triangles and rectangles to calculate the area of the original irregular shape. To help our students grasp this concept, we have worked with square tiles, polygons cut-outs, different sized grid paper, and some objects found right in our classrooms: floor and ceiling tiles, windows, desk tops, etc. Finally, through the use of the CMP2 curriculum, we connected the concepts of area and perimeter to bumper car floor-plans that an amusement park like Carowinds would use to design a great ride for visitors. Soon we will be moving into surface area (termed “nets” in the Common Core State Standards), volume, and working with the coordinate plane.

Prior to our geometry unit, students spent time honing their skills with fractions and decimals. Being able to fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals and fractions has turned into skills that the 6th grade math teachers are constantly challenging students to apply to everyday situations. Our 6th graders are realizing that fractions and decimals pop up everywhere: money, time, distance, weight, geometry applications (to name a few)…even in calculating their own grades. Students have worked hard to master these fraction and decimal operations without relying on the calculator on their cell phone…a feat that some adults still struggle with!

Outside of math class, Piedmont students have been busy as ever during the 3rd quarter: working on The Lawn Boy Project and the IB Love of Learning Project (facilitated through Academic Enrichment class), finishing up Spring MAP testing, having fun at our 6th grade Valentine’s Day dance, engaging with technology through BYOT, participating in 6th block clubs, acting in the Spring musical Into the Woods, completing 20 community and service hours, all while working hard in core and encore classes. It is safe to say that students, teachers, and parents deserve some upcoming rest and relaxation during Spring Break!

6th Grade Language Arts

How do I understand and appreciate poetry? Why do humans create poetry? How can words represent ideas and feelings? This quarter’s MYP Unit questions explore the themes of creativity and written expression. Students will reflect on various poems to interpret their meanings and to discuss how figurative language and sound techniques are used in poetry. Human Ingenuity will be our focus as we look at the elements of poetry and discuss how poems are created and our desire to read and to create poetry.

We will explore many famous (and not so famous!) poets such as Lewis Carroll, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Gary Soto, Carl Sandburg, Maya Angelou, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Basho, Issa, and Edward Lear. In class, students will read and practice writing Limericks, Haiku, Concrete, Free Verse, Cinquain, Two Voice, Bio, Ballad, Ode, Narrative, and Acrostic poems. These original poems may be incorporated into the culminating Poetry Slam! Students will write and present original poems. Each poem will be a different type of poem and illustrate a different type of literary device. Each poem will include a reflection allowing the poet to think about and to share the creation process.

Students are encouraged to read as many different poetry anthologies as possible during this quarter in order to expose themselves to a wide variety of poets and types of poetry. Active Reading Strategies for reading poetry are to preview the poem and read it aloud a few times, to visualize the images, to clarify words and phrases, to evaluate the poem’s theme, and to let your understanding grow! Please encourage your 6th grader to practice these reading strategies while reading poetry and perhaps share some of his or her favorite poems with you. Do you have any favorite poems you would like to share with your 6th grader?

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PIEDMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL, an IB world School

Talent Development News

Seventh Grade Math

Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer. ~Carl Sandburg, “Arithmetic”

As many of our 7th graders know, squeezing out that extra effort in completing homework paid off big for them on Friday, March 8. Over 130 students attended a dance Friday afternoon March 8 for completing all homework assignments, in all academic areas over a three-week period. Kudos to those 7th graders in attendance!

As we head towards the end of the 3rd quarter our students are finishing our unit, Moving Straight Ahead, on linear relationships. We have been identifying, writing and graphing linear relationships. Many of our students are becoming very proficient in using the TI-84 Plus graphing calculator leading to a deeper understanding of linear equations. We started the quarter learning about integers and why 3 - (-3) = 6 and not 0. We have made great strides towards mastering that concept but all need to hone our skills with continual practice.

March 14 we will celebrate Pi Day, a constant that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (hence 3.14159… and so on.) Students will celebrate Pi Day in “their” most creative way by creating a t-shirt, poster or banner, write an original poem or short story, original song or short movie of their choice. Students will then present their creations in class.

As we move closer to 4th quarter and the EOG’s, we will focus on volume and surface area and end with concepts of probability. Students will continue to prepare for the EOG through numerous opportunities; for example Penda, Study Island and Castle Learning.

~7th Grade Math Team~

Seventh Grade Language Arts

In 7th grade Language Arts we finished working on the infamous Pigman Mock Trial. Students read the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel and took what we call “Attorney Notes”. Classes were separated and given the responsibility of either defending or prosecuting the novel’s protagonists (John and Lorraine). The prosecution team tried to prove that the main characters contributed to the death of an elderly man, Mr. Pignati. The defense team tried to prove that there were other factors that contributed to his death. The two teams had to use argumentative and persuasive skills throughout the entire process.

During the trial, students played the role of the novel’s characters. Some students were given the role of clerk, video technician, bailiff and photographer. Three students earned the roles of assistant lawyers, while one student earned the prestigious role of head lawyer. The teams used “outside of the box” strategies and ideas to persuade the jury, which was made up of 8th graders who participated in the trial last year. The winning classes earned the privilege to attend a walking field trip to the Mecklenburg County Courthouse. While there, students toured the building, learned about the history of law in Mecklenburg County and, if lucky, they were able to sit in on a real case.

Students also improved their writing skills with daily grammar activities focused on conventions, sentence structure and paragraph structure. They put their writing skills to use using the web based program, Write Source. During Black History Month students were given daily writing prompts focused on the importance of the contributions of African Americans throughout history.

We also focused on nonfiction using the theme “Shark Week”. Students read stories and articles about sharks. Using the information they researched, students wrote a comparative expository essay.

The next unit of study will be on poetry. The culminating project will be the creation of a Poem Catcher. This is a book of original poems written by the students. At the end of the unit, students will perform a spoken word poem in something we call the Lyrical Lounge.

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PIEDMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL, an IB World School

Talent Development News

Eighth Grade Language Arts

We have enjoyed yet another successful quarter with eighth grade students in Language Arts. We began the quarter with a close reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Students rose to the challenge and used sophisticated reading skills and strategies to decode the language. Students began to use the text as a way to explore our unit question: How does society expect me to act and how does that impact who I am?

Additionally, students created fabulous sets and costumes in the classroom using the design cycle. Although they had limited supplies and very limited time, the projects turned out great and showcase our creativity and problem solving skills. Students will use the sets and costumes in their own mini performances.

Shakespeare To Go, a group of traveling actors, came to Piedmont and performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Later, we broke up by language arts classes and worked with the actors to create our own mini-performance of the play. Students had an excellent time while working on their acting and gaining a better understanding of the text.

Students also wrote a literary analysis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where they had to incorporate and defend a claim based on the themes in the text. They had to put all we have learned this year to the test—paragraph development and organization, incorporating textual evidence, writing a thesis statement, etc. Students worked very hard on these argumentative essays, and the hard work will help them go to high school more confident and prepared.

The eighth grade language arts team anxiously awaits our next unit and the 4th quarter.

Eighth Grade Math

Virtual school students are half way through Geometry. They are working on modules and so far so good. It has not been as hard as they thought. Wonder what next quarter will bring. Please make sure your virtual student is aware that they also have to take the 8th grade EOG.

Our Math 8 students are really working hard on the Common Core Standards. This quarter we concentrated on systems of equations. They learned how to take one equation and substitute it into a second. A system of equations can have one answer – a point, no answers – parallel lines, or infinitely many answers – the same line. Students also started the geometry unit. They worked hard on transformations, learning about rotations, reflections, translations and dilations. Currently students are working on angle measures. They are using the Triangle Sum Theorem to find angles of triangles. They are using the fact that when two parallel lines are cut by a transversal that some very interesting angles are formed. Soon they will use formulas to find the volume of cones, cylinders, and spheres.

Algebra 1 full year students worked on radicals, those pesky exponent rules and polynomials. Students have added and subtracted, multiplied and divided polynomials. Remembering all the rules for exponents has been difficult. Did you know to properly write an exponent there can’t be any exponents that are negative? Also any number or variable raised to the zero power is 1, does not matter how big or how small. Students also learned two new concepts not taught in algebra before – completing the square and the vertical motion model. Ask your student what these are!

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PIEDMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL, an IB world School

Talent Development News

PIEDMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL

an IB World School

Talent Development News

1241 East 10th Street

Charlotte, NC 28204

Phone: 980-343-5435

Fax: 980-343-5557

E-mail: piedmontopenmiddle@cms.k12.nc.us

Website:

Piedmont … You Know … We Care!

TALENT DEVELOPMENT TEAM

• Academic Facilitator

Dawn Johnston

• 6th Grade Team

Language Arts Math

Karen Bailey Paul Booth

Molly McCarthy Aaron Kolla r

Shelley Lyttle Sara Suckstorff

• 7th Grade Team

Language Arts Math

Megan Whitting Karen Gorman

David Milligan Angela Davis

Cynthia Brown Susie Palgut

• 8th Grade Team

Language Arts Math

Tyler Grieves Cheryl Lamb

Kelly Davis Janet Delery

Kelly Hanson Stacey Callahan

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Mission Statement

Piedmont exists to inspire in its students a passion for learning and a commitment to personal integrity and academic excellence. Students demonstrate self-confidence and creativity, are open-minded and inquisitive, and display a sense of social responsibility and global awareness.

What is Talent Development?

The Talent Development Program for gifted services is based on consultation and collaboration between the talent development and classroom teachers. They work together to meet the needs of the high achieving student.

Program Benefits

• Gifted education and general education are related, connected and integrated.

• Out of class sessions are scheduled when needed most.

• The pace of learning is enhanced.

• High achieving students receive more challenging tasks within the classroom.

• Classroom and TD teachers work together to maximize student learning.

Did you know?

• Research on the TD Program indicates that students receive at least three times the amount of services using this model compared to the old pullout, once a week program.

• The TD model is most effective when high achieving students are flexibly grouped together based on their instructional needs.

• Every school has a Talent Development teacher.

• The TD teacher at your child’s school can tell you how they work with your child and your child’s teacher.

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