6th / 7th grade

As we enter this last grading period of the year, we have a lot of important assignments to finish up. Many of these will make up your formal work samples for a number of  subjects for the year, so we’ll spend a good deal of time refining them.
Volcano Research Essays 6th & 7th grades:

Rough drafts due Monday May 13. Final drafts due Friday the 17th.

Volcano models are due Monday May 20. These will be mainly built at home and brought in on the 20th. On May 22 we’ll be exhibiting the models (and watching them erupt!) at our annual Spring BBQ.

Our speeches on these volcanoes will be given during the week of the 13th. We’ll start Monday and will finish by Friday at the latest (I don’t expect it to take that long, though).

8th grade:

Lord of the Flies Literary Analysis Essays
Rough drafts due Monday May 13. Final drafts are due on Thursday the 16th.

6th & 7th grade Earth Science students:

Here are some links to get you started on your volcano research. Click yourself silly!

Try these sites for great volcano info:

Alaska Volcano Observatory

Cascades Volcano Observatory

The Electronic Volcano

Michigan Tech Volcanoes Page

Volcano/Earth Science-Oriented Servers

US Geological Survey Volcanic Hazards Program

Global Volcanism Program (GVP)

Volcano Watch Newsletter

Volcano World

Here we have some beautiful shots of Sage 6th & 7th graders being Super Smart at Starbase!

We used computer simulations to model pressure and velocity of fluids.

We used chromatography to separate components of various inks.

And we experimented with the solubility of a variety of fluids.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our Literary Criticism unit with another installment of the King Arthur legends!

It’s been a busy time in the 6th & 7th grades! Our Earth Science studies have included plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes. We modeled seismic waves using Slinkies and observed the differences in wave patterns based on the original direction of movement.

Our Earth Science studies have now moved on to volcanoes, so expect some wonderful research projects and erupting models this spring!

We’ve been attending STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) days at Starbase, an educational outreach project of the US Department of Defense, and we are lucky enough to have one at

Kingsley Field. Each Wednesday for six weeks (we’re two weeks in so far) we’ll be exploring chemistry, physics, robotics, and engineering. And we have a lot of fun doing it!

Speaking of fun, we’ve been enjoying the spring weather too. The school garden is gearing up: some seeds have been started in the greenhouse, the soil’s been turned and manure added, and last year’s leftovers pulled out for the compost heap. 

And sometimes we just have fun:

6th and 7th grades are studying climate in Earth Science this week. Here’s a great video we’ll watch on how the Earth’s tilt causes changes in season.

Sage Sixth and Seventh graders have been reading Lois Lowry’s famous dystopian novel The Giver. Here they are discussing forms of government and the pros and cons of each in English class.

Hello Sage 6th, 7th, and 8th graders! I hope everyone has had a restful and happy vacation. Here’s some of what we’ll be doing our first week back.

8th grade English students will continue with Animal Farm. Please make sure you’re saving all your returned assignments; we’ll refer to them when writing analyses of the novel.

6th and 7th grades will begin studying ancient China as our next world history unit. Here’s a peak at part 1 of Engineering an Empire: the History of China, a documentary we’ll be watching in class:

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013!

6th and 7th graders spent the last three weeks of the grading period researching the Paleolithic Era, ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent, and ancient Egypt. The kids then created timeline displays detailing their findings. Here are a few examples of the process:

Brought to you by Sage 6th & 7th grade scientists!

Behold…

Up close with the ozone layer: the greenhouse effect

all the layers of the atmosphere

Our second grading period ends Friday November 16. The middle school students at Sage have been hard at work and are producing impressive projects.  Happening this week:

• We will not have new spelling assignments this week in Language Arts.
• 6th and 7th graders will continue to research, write, and assemble Time Line presentations for our Ancient History studies on the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
• All 6th through 8th grade students are putting extra time into independent reading and will finish up Accelerated Reader tests this week.
• In 6th and 7th grade science, we’ll wrap up lab reports for our recent observations of cloud formation and dew point; we’ll then complete cloud classification posters.
• Expect to receive updated progress reports on Tuesday in advance of upcoming report cards. This will be a busy week!