Language Arts

e wrap up 2025, we are delving into the legal world of To Kill a Mockingbird! Your students got to hear from a fabulous DU Law professor this past week and will participate in a Mock Trial about a hate crime the week we are back from Thanksgiving. We hope to inspire some future lawyers who will fight against systemic racism, and for social justice, like Atticus Finch did. Speaking of social justice, your student has now been assigned a supplemental novel relating to this unit theme, and they should be able to tell you which literature circle book they are reading. The lit circle novels must be finished by Thursday, December 18th, and they will have checkpoint quizzes along the way for each third of the book. Once we finish TKAM, they will write a culminating essay arguing whether or not Atticus Finch is a hero– a question that asks them to consider to what degree a hero is defined by his or her times and circumstances.

As always, please ensure your student is reading 100 pages per week (on average) in an independent reading book. If they are on iReady, they must complete 4 lessons per week to keep achieving cumulative totals, to avoid staying in at recess. Their progress in both iReady and independent reading will be a grade on their report card.

Please reach out if you have questions: rachel_sommer@dpsk12.net; erin_brauer@dpsk12.net.

Algebra

Throughout December, students will be working through Unit 5: Solving Multi-Step Equations. This unit builds on the algebraic skills developed in 6th and 7th grade and prepares students for the level of rigor they’ll encounter in high school math. Leading up to this unit, most students have been independently practicing equation-solving and tracking their progress in class.

Each lesson introduces a slightly more challenging skill, culminating in students solving multi-step equations with variables on both sides. If your student misses class, please encourage them to check in with their math teacher to stay caught up.

 Pat_Mahoney1@dpsk12.net 

Integrated II Math

We are - believe it or not - over halfway through the quadratic functions content of this school year. In Unit 3, we have continued to work on some of the more mechanical parts of working with quadratics including using the ZPP to solve for roots, solving for two values of x algebraically with square roots, and even factoring standard form expressions into factored form (so that we can use the ZPP!). We’ve also touched on the conceptual understanding of imaginary numbers as we explored those different methods of solving. If you want to have a fun math conversation with your student, ask them what they learned during the video we watched on the invention of imaginaries! We will have our third Unit Exam when students are back from Thanksgiving break, a semester final (midterm) right before break, and then finish up quadratics around January 26th before we move into some more geometry. 

Science

In December, students will be wrapping up their projects on sound. When we return from Thanksgiving break they’ll develop and test their final sound absorption prototype, and write a proposal to the school on how we could decrease the most sound in our stairwells. Once that unit is complete, we’ll pivot to a mini-unit on space. Students will explore the earth-sun-moon system to learn about lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, as well as the seasons. In addition, students will dive into gravity and its role in the motion within galaxies and the solar system. Finally, students will research a constellation or star to wrap up the unit before heading into winter break. 

Feel free to ask your student about their sound absorption prototypes and what they’re learning about the sun, moon, and stars!

Social Studies

In December, your students will begin by reflecting on each other’s Revolutionary War Identity Podcasts, listening to two episodes from groups different from their own and noticing how storytelling choices, historical evidence, and identity come together. After this brief reflection period, we will return to our schoolwide novel Stamped Remix to learn how to identify and write complex, universal themes. Students will analyze several chapters, practice crafting theme statements, and begin developing the ideas they may choose from later in the year when they write and publish their children’s picture books. This month continues to build the literacy, critical thinking, and historical skills that help students understand how identity is shaped, and how they can communicate those ideas clearly through their own writing.