News & Notes
South Fayette Middle School
May, 2017
Sixth Grade
Submitted by
The Sixth Grade Team
For Science, we are concluding our study of Chemistry with the following units: Changes in Matter
and the Periodic Table. Through our study of changes in matter, we explore not only the three
basic states of matter, but introduce the children to objects that are hard to classify; like colloids.
Students are able to connect real-world examples to our in-class discussions through labs and
projects. As our year comes to a close, we finish with the periodic table. From learning about the
origins of the table, to real-world applications; we arm students with the necessary knowledge to
be successful in their future years as scientists at South Fayette.
In Language Arts class, students began their study of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen by completing a web quest
to explore the climate, wildlife, and natural resources of northern Canada. It is in this remote wilderness
setting where the protagonist, fourteen year old Brian Robeson, must learn to survive after the small plane
in which he was traveling crashes. In preparation for their reading, students also completed an on-line quiz
as a fun way to test their own survival skills knowledge. With Hatchet, the focus of classroom discussions
and activities has been on applying the elements of literature we have learned throughout the year to analyze
plot and theme. Students are also exploring how the protagonist's character is developed by the author
through the use of third person limited point of view. We are paying special attention to writer's craft as
we discuss Paulsen's unique literary voice.
Lights, Camera, Action! The 6th graders have been busy writing, producing, and editing
infomercials to “sell” inventions, innovations, and achievements from our ancient civilizations that
we have been studying all year! The students had to research one invention, innovation, or
achievement from a civilization then create a storyboard and write a script before starring in their
own infomercial. They worked in groups for this project and some even made props to help sell
their product. The students used the Media Center in the Middle School to film in front of the
green screen and then either used a Green Screen App on the iPads or iMovie to edit their final
production. They enjoyed watching each other’s infomercials and learned a lot about how the
innovation, invention, or achievement impacted the lives of the ancient civilizations as well as how
they continue to impact our lives today!
Students in the Math Functions classes have just completed a unit in which the answered the
essential question; Why is it important to carefully evaluate graphs? In this chapter they learned
to construct and analyze line plots and histograms. They learned to display and interpret data in
box plots and describe a data distribution by its center, spread, and overall shape. The students
can now draw and interpret line graphs and select an appropriate display for any given set of data.
Students in the pre-algebra class just finished working on a unit in which the answered the essential
question; how can you determine congruence and similarity? Students began this unit by
examining relationships between pairs of angles and examined relationships of angles formed by
parallel lines and a transversal. They also worked on finding the missing angle measure of a
triangle by its angles ad by its sides. Classifying polygons and determining the sum of measures
of the interior angles of polygons was next! When finished with determining how to find angle
measures, out students then used transformations, translations and reflections on a coordinate plane
to determine congruency and similarity.
Seventh Grade
Submitted by
The Seventh Grade Team
As we wrap up the school year, we are finishing our remaining topics in each class. Pre-algebra
is finishing up formulas with Chapters 12 and the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will continue
working on area, volume, and surface area of two-dimensional and three-dimensional figures.
Students are also finding the length of a missing side of a right triangle and the distance between
points on a coordinate plane. Students will also learn about Scientific Notation. Lastly, students
will be working on review for the final exam.
The algebra students are finishing up quadratics from Chapter 9, and radical functions and rational
expressions from Chapters 10 and 11. Students are also working on their review for both the
Keystone Exams and the final exam.
Seventh grade language arts classes are beginning their examination of the short story “Three
Skeleton Key” written by George G. Toudouze. This fictional horror piece highlights multiple
forms of figurative language, including allusions. Following our study of “Three Skeleton Key”,
we will transition to the narrative poem "The Highwayman" written by Alfred Noyes. Throughout
this text, various poetic devices are employed by the poet such as imagery, simile, metaphor, and
onomatopoeia, just to name a few. Students will examine how the use of these devices, along with
the plot features of the narrative poem, work to develop the poem's characters. Students will
analyze the poet's development of mood throughout the text. Finally, the students will read and
analyze Roald Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter." This story demonstrates Dahl's
fascination with horror and leaves the students surprised by the unexpected plot twist.
The year comes to an end with a great deal of activity for the 7th Grade History students. During
the dates of May 2-5, students presented the Living Wax Museum theme of “America: A
Revolutionary Journey”. Each of these days, more than 45 students depicted different historical
characters from the time period of 1700-1815. Following this event, students interactively learned
about the post-Revolutionary growth of the United States of America: from the presidency of
George Washington through the War of 1812. Project-based learning taking place will be in the
form of group teaching and the designing of iMovie trailers highlighting major events that
impacted the early growth and development of the United States.
This month students will be working in our genetics and heredity unit. During the genetics unit,
students will focus on the basics of genetics, the scientific study of heredity. Students will begin
by completing a webquest on Gregor Mendel, the “Father of Genetics,” that helps to introduce
them to Mendel’s hereditary experiments focusing on the research of the traits of pea plants.
Students also learned how traits are passed from one generation to the next, and how sex cells are
formed within an organism. Projects will include a family trait discovery activity and creating
models of “alien bugs” based on a set of genetic traits from two parents.
Eighth Grade
Submitted by
The Eighth Grade Team
In History, the year is drawing to a close with the unit on The Rise of Corporations, and the Men
Who Built America. The unit correlates to the popular series that aired on the History Channel,
and fits perfectly with the Pittsburgh CLO production of Steel that students were treated to as a
result of their fundraising early in the school year. The series is rich in local history, with characters
such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, George Westinghouse, along with other famous innovators
like John Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Students learn about
the rise of labor unions, and the importance of innovation as America became a world power
following the Civil War.
Eighth grade English students have concluded both their grammar study and review of the various
modes of writing. Currently, students are engaged in reading and discussing Lois Lowry’s
dystopian novel The Giver. The unit began with a study of the characteristics of both literary
utopias and dystopias, which afforded students the background knowledge necessary for in-class
debate of these traits as they apply to the novel. Character development, plot diagramming, and
Lowry’s use of literary devices are being analyzed through classroom discussion and Socratic
seminar. Students are pondering the essential questions “Is utopia attainable?” and “Why is
freedom a crucial aspect of society?” through their analysis of the protagonist’s own desire to stand
up for his beliefs. This example of dystopian literature set in the future examines ideas related to
the development of societal norms, the rights of the individual versus the needs of the society, and
what place individuality has in the construct of a larger, cultural identity. Through their analysis
of this text, students further prepare for future study of dystopian literature at the high school level
when they read George Orwell’s 1984 in their ninth grade English class.
During the month of May, Honors Geometry students will be finalizing their work with circle
properties then transitioning to a unit that covers measurements of figures and solids. In this new
unit, students will first use their knowledge of circle properties to study circumference and arc
length and then move to area of circles and sectors of circles. They will then work on finding the
areas of polygons before beginning work with geometric solids. Students will explore geometric
solids through defining key vocabulary terms and studying the characteristics of prisms and
pyramids. After developing a working language for geometric solids, students will find volumes
of prisms, cylinders, pyramids and cones and will discover the connection between the volumes of
these figures. Finally, students will conclude the unit by finding both surface area and volume of
spheres and discover how the surface area formula for a sphere can be derived from its volume.
After their work with solids, Geometry students will end the year by preparing for their final exam.
Algebra students will continue to work with a variety of topics during the month of May, including
a review of exponent properties, simplifying square roots and radical expressions, and working
with polynomials. Students will first learn how to classify a polynomial based on the number of
terms and the degree, and will then shift to adding and subtracting polynomials, which involves
combining like terms. After mastering addition and subtraction, students will move to multiplying
monomials, monomials and polynomials, and eventually multiplying polynomials and using the
FOIL method. Next, students will practice the skill of identifying the greatest common factor and
least common multiple of two monomials, which will then help students with the process of
factoring polynomials. All of the work on polynomials will be accompanied by preparations for
both the Algebra I Final Exam as well as the Algebra I Keystone Exam.
Foreign Language Department
The Spanish, German, and French clubs had a soccer tournament where 6th, 7th, and 8th grade
students played elimination rounds on May 23rd , 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
Special Needs Department
Learning Support
The life skills classroom recently visited the Sturgeon Volunteer Fire Department. The chief at the
department taught a fire safety lesson and allowed students to tour the trucks. They also learned the
qualifications to be a volunteer firefighter and the different roles volunteers can take on. One of our students,
Brian Kisner, just recently became a volunteer at that fire house. He showed us his “60 second drill” which
requires him to put on his gear in 60 seconds or less and explained to his classmates what he does while at
training.
Enrichment
6 Grade Enrichment
th
The 6th grade Language Arts Enrichment students from Quarter 3 made some new friends this year
with the Extended Day Kindergarten classes. Students from 6th grade were paired up with
Kindergarten students to create a Buddy Book. They interviewed their buddies and wrote a special
short story with them in mind. They illustrated the story and put together a book that they were
able to share with their Kindergarten buddies. The reading party was held on April 20th in the
Elementary School Extended Day rooms.
Math 24 Challenge
On May 5, 2017, West Jefferson Hills Middle School hosted its annual Math 24 Challenge at their
municipal building. Approximately 100 students from local school districts came to compete in
the strategic game. Congratulations to our South Fayette participants: Zoe Koutavas – Platinum
category; Siddhartha Khajanchi , Priya Matreja, and Alexander Hall – 7th /8th grade division;
Anisha Ganesh and Nick Patel – 6th grade division.
Special Areas
A New Hallway Art Exhibit is on Display.
There will be a new student hallway art exhibit going up, just in time for Celebration of Excellence,
highlighting artwork by students in Mrs. Lally’s, 2nd semester and second term 12-week classes
from the 2016-17 school year. This school year the “Big Idea” in art that relates to the 2016-17
operational goal of Exploration and Inventiveness is Exploring the Past…Inventing the Future.
All art exhibits are inspired by this year’s big idea. The 12-week classes feature artwork by the 6th
and 8th graders, the 7th graders have art for a semester. The 6th graders were the first class to
participate in an art history driven class entitled Popular Art 101. 6th graders learned about famous
works of art and artists, with a special emphasis on the artists of the Renaissance, who were later
portrayed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They created an art portfolio drawing showing two
or three examples of famous paintings and later created a tempera painting based on the
personality (mask) colors of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. The 8th graders created an art
portfolio featuring drawings that are based on objects, humans, or an environment and used
pen and ink to collaborate on a Mystery Grid Drawing with each class doing a person who
is an innovator or inventor. These people are: Jonas Salk, Hedy Lamarr, Leonardo DaVinci,
and George Westinghouse. The 8th graders also created watercolor paintings of new or
redesigned symbols for APPS (applications), or a hologram image. The 7th graders in the
second semester created drawings from the view of a time machine flying in space into the
future using atmospheric perspective. Please take a look at the show when you have a moment,
you will be impressed by the talent of our students! There is also work in the offices and downstairs
in the food court.
Library News
The spring book fair took place in the library during the week of May 4. Members of the library
club worked hard to create an oz-some book fair based on the chosen theme "The Wizard of Oz."
Students created posters, announcements and decorations for the book fair, and were responsible
for setup, running the cash register, and clean up! The book fair was a success, earning about
$2000 for the library. Thanks to all who shopped at the fair!
National Junior Art Honor Society News
The National Junior Art Honor Society is going into the busiest time of the year. A field trip to the
Mattress Factory was planned in May. In early May, the RAKU Kings returned to demonstrate
outdoor ceramic firing methods, just in time for Mother’s Day. Be sure to check out the recently
painted windows in the cafeteria, they are bright and colorful, celebrating the spring season.
Lion Hearts
Thank you to the following Lion Heart members who participated in the annual Township Clean
Up Day on April 28th: Rachel Black, Zach Betz, and Jonathan Colombo. Thank you to Mrs. Black
and Mrs. Colombo for lending a hand to clean up the community!
The last Country Meadows visit was May 20th from 1:30 to 3:30. The staff at Country Meadows
excitedly hosted a pizza party for the Lion Hearts to thank them for all of their service for the
school year!
Last Lion Heart Club meeting was held on May 30th from 3 to 4:20.