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What's going on in middle school ?
The Month Ahead
Monday, March 9 Math Homework for the week 3/9, 5th and 6th, 7th and 8th
Monday, March 9 Science Homework for the week of 3/9.
Wednesday, March 25 1/2 Day-No School, Parent Conferences
Tuesday, March 31, April 2: ELA VTCAP Test
Lesson Plans
Science Lessons
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, this week we are working with Daily 4, which means a math questions, vocabulary question, SEL question and checking in on their current mood.
Mistakes are for Learning
This week in 7th and 8th grade, our SEL focus is persistence, which means continuing to try even when something feels challenging, frustrating, or takes longer than expected. We are helping students practice sticking with tasks, trying more than one strategy, learning from mistakes, and using positive self-talk like “not yet” or “one step at a time.” Persistence is an important life skill because it builds confidence, strengthens problem-solving, supports academic growth, and helps students manage frustration and stay motivated—especially as expectations increase in middle school. Families can support persistence at home by praising effort and progress (not just correct answers), normalizing struggle as part of learning, encouraging students to try independently for a few minutes before asking for help, breaking larger tasks into smaller steps, modeling perseverance out loud, and celebrating small wins along the way.
This week in math, fifth graders are working on multiplying fractions by whole numbers and converting customary measurements such as inches, feet, yards, cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. Students are learning how to use visual models, repeated addition, and number sense to understand fraction multiplication, while also practicing how different customary units relate to one another and when to use each one. Families can help at home by having students explain how they solved a fraction problem, practicing simple real-life measurement conversions while cooking or measuring around the house, and asking questions like, “How do you know?” or “Can you show that another way?” These small conversations and hands-on examples can build confidence and help students connect math to everyday life.
This week in math, sixth graders are working on integers in the real world by exploring how positive and negative numbers are used in everyday situations such as temperatures, elevations, bank accounts, and gains or losses. Students are practicing how to identify, compare, and represent integers in meaningful contexts so they can better understand how numbers above and below zero work. Families can help at home by pointing out real-life examples of integers, such as checking the weather, talking about money gained or spent, or looking at sea level on maps, and asking students to explain what the positive or negative number means in each situation. These simple connections can help students see that integers are useful tools for understanding the world around them.
This week in math, seventh graders will be working on the distributive property by learning how to break apart expressions to make them easier to simplify and solve. Students will practice using the distributive property to multiply a number outside parentheses by each term inside, helping them build a stronger understanding of algebraic thinking and problem solving.
Families can help at home by asking students to explain each step as they solve a problem, encouraging them to check that they multiplied every term correctly, and having them practice with simple examples such as 3(x + 4) or 5(2 + y). Talking through the process out loud can help students build confidence and deepen their understanding of how the distributive property works.
In 8th grade math, students are beginning to learn about slope, which describes the steepness of a line. We talk about slope as the rise over run, or how much a line goes up or down compared to how far it moves across. Students will practice finding slope from graphs, tables, points, and equations.
At home, families can help by asking students to explain what slope means in their own words and to describe whether a line is positive, negative, zero, or undefined. You can also have them look for real-life examples of slope, like ramps, hills, stairs, or roofs. Encouraging students to practice graphing points carefully and checking their subtraction when using formulas will also help build confidence.
A great question to ask at home is: “How do you know if a line is going uphill or downhill?” Even a few minutes of talking through their thinking can make a big difference.
As we prepare for the science state test during the second week of April, students will be reviewing multiple standards each week in class and again through homework to help reinforce their learning. This week, we are focusing on invertebrates, heat transfer, and the skeletal system. Students will be building their understanding of animal classification, how heat moves through conduction, convection, and radiation, and the structure and function of the human skeletal system.
Parents can help at home by asking students to explain what they learned, reviewing vocabulary together, discussing real-life examples such as animals without backbones, how heat moves while cooking or warming a room, and how bones protect and support the body. Encouraging students to talk through their thinking and complete homework carefully will help strengthen both understanding and confidence.
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