MATH 6

Expressions and Equations Overview Summary

• This unit begins with one-step equations. Students will represent these relationships with tape diagrams and linear equations. They will determine whether a value makes an equation true or false and define what it means for a number to be a solution to an equation. Students will also expand their understanding of fractions and explore situations where the numerator or denominator is not a whole number.
• The next section of the unit introduces “hanger diagrams” as a way to solve one step equations. Students will also write equations to represent situations and interpret solutions in context. Some of these situations will involve percentages. Students will also identify values of variables when two expressions are equal. Students will write linear expressions such as 6w - 24 and 6(w - 4) and represent them with area diagrams noting the connection with the distributive property. They will also use the distributive property to write equivalent expressions.
• The third section of the unit focuses on exponents with fractions, whole numbers, and variable bases. Students will evaluate expressions using substitution and will determine if numerical expressions are equivalent and explain their reasoning.

MATH 6+

Rational Numbers and Rational Number Arithmetic Overview Summary

• In this unit, students are introduced to signed numbers, simple inequalities, and plotting points on the coordinate plane in all four quadrants. The unit begins with work around signed numbers. Students look at positive and negative temperatures on a vertical number line and then at examples of positive and negative numbers to denote height relative to sea level. Students will plot signed numbers on a horizontal number line and determine if those numbers are opposites. They learn that the absolute value of a number is its distance from zero and that opposites have the same absolute value.
• In the second section of the unit, students begin adding and subtracting rational numbers. They will start with changes in temperature and elevation and represent these changes, first with tables and number line diagrams and then with addition and subtraction equations. Students will become more fluent in computing sums and differences of signed numbers as the unit progresses.
• The third section of the unit focuses on inequalities. Students will graph simple inequalities in one variable on a number line. Students will develop an understanding that situations involving inequalities may have infinitely many solutions. They will also graph and interpret situations in context.
• The fourth section of the unit focuses on the coordinate plane. In fifth grade students only plotted points in the first quadrant, but in this unit they will graph in all four quadrants. They will determine based on the data set the most appropriate choice for scale and extent of a set of axes. They will correctly determine the quadrant of a given
• In this unit, students review how signed numbers are used to represent quantities in the real-world, such as temperature and elevation. Students learned in our previous unit that rational numbers include all positive and negative fractions. Throughout this unit, students will extend their knowledge from fractions to operating with all types of rational numbers. First they begin this work with tables and number line diagrams, and gradually move to working with expressions and equations involving addition and subtraction.  Using what they learned, students will write equivalent numerical expressions, for example, and . − 9 + − 3 and − 9 − 3 Once students become more fluent with addition and subtraction expressions, they will explore multiplication and division by solving problems about position, direction, constant speed, and constant velocity. Students use number line diagrams in this unit to see that numbers that are additive inverses are located the same distance but on opposite sides of the starting point. This supports students with computing products and quotients of signed numbers. They apply the relationship between multiplication and division to all rational numbers.

ELA

• In this unit, students are involved in a study of how an author develops point of view and how an author’s perspective, based on his or her geographic location, is evident in his or her writing. Students will begin reading Carl Hiaasen’s Flush, a high-interest novel about a boy whose father has been arrested for sinking a casino boat that was polluting the ocean by pumping sewage into it. As they read the novel, students will also read excerpts of interviews with Carl Hiaasen in order to determine how his geographic location has shaped his perspective, and how his perspective is evident in Flush. Through close reading of these texts, students will learn multiple strategies for acquiring and using academic vocabulary. At the end of the unit, having read most of the novel, students will analyze an excerpt of text for evidence of Carl Hiaasen’s perspective. Students will continue working in a small group with Mrs. Santos to help with standards assessed.

SCIENCE

• This month in Science, students will classify rocks based on their physical characteristics and explain the rock cycle, including how ongoing processes in the lithosphere change rocks over time. They will also explore soil by describing its properties such as color, texture, particle size, and moisture. To conclude the unit, students will learn about soil conservation and explain how both human activities and natural events impact soil quality.

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Students have begun their next unit on politics and government. The Politics unit introduces students to the various forms of government that have emerged in our world throughout time. As students study the beliefs and practices that shaped authority and the formation of government systems, they will compare government structures, leadership, requirements of citizenship and the evolution of laws in various civilizations.  They will also learn how these factors contributed to the rise and fall of civilizations.

MATH 7

• In this unit, students will solve two-step equations that may involve the distributive property. Likewise, students will solve two-step inequalities with rational numbers. Students are reintroduced to tape diagrams and connect these with equations. They work with problems that require them to match tape diagrams and situations, draw tape diagrams for specific situations, and match both situations and diagrams with equations. Students learn to represent situations using two different forms of equations.

Math 7+

• In this unit, students are asked to build on their work in Grades 6 and 7 with expressions and one-variable equations to further develop their ability to write and solve equations in one variable. Students are asked to write situations to represent known and unknown quantities using equations, expressions, diagrams, tables, or other forms of expressions to demonstrate their understanding of the material. The final section of the unit focuses on systems of linear equations in two variables. Using previous work, students review that points on a line are solutions to the associated linear equation. Students categorize two linear relationships and their graphs into three categories: no intersection, exactly one intersection, and the same line. As students explore these 3 categories, they also explore the meaning of solutions to a system, such as parallel/no solution, not parallel/exactly one solution, and same line/infinitely many solutions. Students conclude the unit with the knowledge that the solution to a system is a pair of numbers that make both equations true and are also coordinates that lie on the graphs of each linear equation.

ELA

• In this unit, students closely read three extended excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. They continue with the same routine that was introduced in Unit 1; it is designed to allow all students to understand this complex text. For each excerpt, the teacher reads the text out loud while students read silently. Next, students do a second read to make sure they understand specific words and literal meaning, then a third read in which they grapple with questions that require more synthesis and analysis, focusing particularly on how Douglass uses language and on those parts of the text that relate most directly to his purpose in writing. Finally, students meet in groups of three to complete an Excerpt Analysis note-catcher, which includes the narrative arc of the excerpt as well as the ways in which this excerpt conveys Douglass’s position. In their analysis of the Narrative, students build on the work from Unit 1 about how authors use word choice and figurative language to convey meaning, and they help construct a word wall that showcases some of Douglass’s powerful language. In their work with the author’s purpose, the focus of the textual analysis essay, students continue to refer to the Shining a Light anchor chart from Unit 1. The work with narrative arc is new in this unit; it is launched with the reading of Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery 1 at the beginning of the unit. It is not an assessed skill; rather, it supports students in understanding the events of the Narrative and serves as a scaffold for the performance task in Unit 3—a children’s book based on one of the excerpts. The Mid-Unit 2 Assessment focuses on students’ ability to independently analyze a new excerpt of the Narrative, with a particular focus on understanding the words and language used and how they contribute to meaning. The end of unit assessment is an on-demand extended essay about how Douglass conveys his purpose and distinguishes his position from that of those who defend slavery. This essay is similar to the essays in earlier modules, with several days devoted to rereading, analyzing textual evidence, and planning the essay. However, unlike the essays in earlier modules, this essay is not revised: Students use their notes and outlines to write a single draft over two days in class. 
• Students will continue working in a small group with Mrs. Santos to help with standards assessed.

SCIENCE

• Students are comparing the structures and functions of plant and animal cells, including major organelles (cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and vacuoles). We will then wrap up our “Cells” unit by learning  the hierarchical organization of multicellular organisms, from cells to tissues to organs to organ systems to organisms!
• We will then move into our second to last unit, “Genetics." This unit will take us through the middle of the 4th Quarter.

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Students are currently learning about the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution changed the way society and technology interact in the modern age. Daily life changed drastically during this period, and by the end closely resembled daily life now (work week, middle/working classes, urbanization). Science and technology expanded their influence on all people, especially with transportation (steam engine, trains) and communication. The economies of developed nations shifted from an agricultural model to a manufacturing model, changing the way we created and distributed goods.

MATH 8

• Students continue their work with area and volume from Grades 6, 7, and 8, and extend their knowledge into new figures such as cylinders, cones, and spheres. Students use estimations of volumes of all types of three-dimensional figures, measurements of parts of three-dimensional figures, and their geometric abilities to compare and apply their volume knowledge to the development of the volume formulas for the set of new figures introduced in Grade 8.

MATH I

Systems of Equations and Inequalities

• In grade 8, students wrote equations for linear relationships from various representations. Students also solved systems of equations by graphing and inspection in their previous coursework. Students’ prior experience focused on understanding that the solution to a system of equations is a coordinate point which satisfies both equations simultaneously.
• Building on students’ prior experiences, this unit begins by introducing students to the idea of constraints and systems of inequalities through a real-world context. Students work within the context of starting a small business. The business context of pet sitting underlies much of the work of the unit. Students refine their strategies for finding the most profitable business outcomes while they build understanding with respect to constraints and systems of equations and inequalities. The first lesson of the unit reviews much of the work students did in grade 8. Then, in the first full learning cycle, students focus on writing and solving individual inequalities in two variables by graphing them as a shaded half-plane on a coordinating grid. Students are then introduced to graphing a system of inequalities on the same coordinate plane to show the solution set. In the final learning cycle, students transition from solving systems of inequalities to systems of equations. They extend their strategies for solving linear systems to include elimination.

Quadratic Functions

• In this unit, students develop an understanding of quadratic functions by using them to model patterns and real-world contexts, and by examining their rates of change while comparing and contrasting them to linear and exponential functions.
• In the first three lessons, students surface ideas about quadratic functions by analyzing a visual diagram. Students create tables, graphs, equations, and recursive and explicit function rules to describe the function. This work mirrors the work done in the first unit of this course when students were introduced to arithmetic and geometric sequences. Similar to their work in Unit 1, students will show the rate of change for a quadratic function in all the representations. These lessons are designed to build an understanding that quadratic functions have linear rates of change.
• In the last three lessons, students identify the key features of quadratic functions including: domain and range, increasing and decreasing intervals, and a minimum or maximum point. Students also compare a quadratic and exponential function to help them determine, in the long run, which function will yield the higher output. Lastly, students are given a mixture of linear, exponential, and quadratic functions and asked to identify each relationship.

ELA

•  Continue to read A Mighty Long Way and learn about the 14th Amendment  and the Plessy v Ferguson court case. 

• determine the meaning of words and phrases in the text
• determine the central ideas of an informational text
• determine an author’s point of view or purpose in informational text.
• analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation
• express my own ideas during discussions
• build on others’ ideas during discussions
• analyze how specific dialogue or incidents in a plot propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision
• effectively engage in discussions with diverse partners about eighth-grade topics, texts, and issues

SCIENCE

• Students started March by taking their 2nd Science NC Check-In. Scores do not count toward their class grade, but will be posted in Infinite Campus for reference. 
• We will be wrapping up our Earth Science portion of the year within the first two weeks of March, and then move into our Life Science units. The first Life Science unit, Biological Evolution, will build on our new knowledge related to Earth’s geological timescale and fossils. Students will learn how to use comparative anatomy and the fossil record to infer evolutionary relationships. We will also build on what was learned about genetics in 7th grade, by investigating and modeling natural selection scenarios.

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Unit 5 examines North Carolina’s transformation in the New South, focusing on industrialization, urbanization, and economic change, along with the experiences of women and African Americans. Guided by historian Francis B. Simkins’ concept of the “trinity of southern progress” (industry, good roads, and schools), this unit highlights technological and agricultural developments while addressing the struggles of marginalized groups and the rise of white supremacy in shaping North Carolina’s history. As a summative assessment, students will determine if North Carolina was truly engaging in ‘progress’ during this time.