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What's going on in middle school ?
The Month Ahead
Week of January 12, 2026 Math Homework: Math Minute 60-63
Thursday, January 15: District Benchmark Tests
Monday, January 19: Holiday No School
Tuesday, January 20: Teacher PD No School
Friday, January 23: Middle School Dance (5:30-8:00)
Lesson Plans
Each morning, students begin their day with a focused "Do Now" activity designed to ease them into the school day with purpose and calm. Currently, they are practicing cursive writing during this time, building both fine motor skills and cognitive connections. Learning cursive supports muscle memory, improves hand-eye coordination, and strengthens students' ability to read historical documents written in script. It also engages different parts of the brain than print writing, promoting better retention and flow in written expression.
Self Awareness
Self-awareness is important in middle school because it helps students understand their thoughts, emotions, strengths, and challenges during a time of big changes. When students are aware of how they feel and how their actions affect others, they can make better choices, handle conflicts more calmly, and build healthier friendships. Self-awareness also helps students recognize how they learn best, set personal goals, and take responsibility for their behavior, which builds confidence and prepares them for future success in school and life.
In fifth grade, students work on modeling fractions and learning how to add and subtract fractions with both like and unlike denominators, which helps them understand how numbers relate to each other in real-life situations. This builds strong number sense and prepares them for more advanced math concepts. Adults can support learning at home by using everyday examples—such as cooking, measuring, or sharing food—to talk about fractions, asking children to explain their thinking, and encouraging them to draw models or use fraction pieces. Practicing patience and focusing on understanding rather than speed helps students build confidence and accuracy with fractions.
In sixth grade math this week, we are working on learning how to divide fractions by understanding what division means, using visual models, and applying the “keep–change–flip” method to divide a fraction by another fraction or whole number. They practice turning whole numbers into fractions, simplifying before multiplying, and checking their answers with estimation to make sure the result makes sense. Families can help at home by having students explain the steps in their own words, using simple objects (like measuring cups, pizza slices, or drawings) to show how a whole can be split into fractional parts, and practicing real-life examples such as dividing recipes, sharing items, or comparing portions. Encouraging quick daily practice with small problems and asking, “Does your answer make sense?” helps develop confidence and accuracy.
This week our 7th graders are working on adding and subtracting integers, focusing on understanding positive and negative numbers on a number line and using rules like “same signs add and keep the sign” and “different signs subtract and keep the sign of the larger absolute value.” We’re practicing with real-life situations such as temperatures, bank accounts, and elevation changes to help build fluency and confidence.
To help at home, families can talk through simple everyday examples (“If the temperature drops 5 degrees from –2°, where does it end up?”) or let students explain the rules in their own words. Quick number-line sketches, integer card games, or practicing on IXL (optional) are also great ways to reinforce the skills.
In eighth grade, students learn to solve linear equations and understand cases with one solution, no solution, or infinitely many solutions, along with how slope describes the rate of change between two variables. These concepts connect to real life through situations like comparing phone plans, budgeting, tracking speed over time, or understanding how costs increase at a constant rate. Parents can help by discussing everyday examples that involve change and comparison, asking students to explain their reasoning, and encouraging them to connect graphs and equations to real-world situations rather than just focusing on getting the answer.
Now that students have completed their helmet lab reports, they are moving into Sprint 3, which focuses on the cell system and how cells work together to keep organisms alive. Parents can reinforce this learning at home by encouraging students to explain what they know about cells and their parts, using simple analogies such as comparing a cell to a factory or a city. Watching short educational videos, looking at images of plant and animal cells, and connecting cell functions to the human body—like how cells need energy or remove waste—can help deepen understanding. Asking questions and showing curiosity supports students in building confidence and scientific thinking.
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