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7th Grade Team News - Reading, L.A., Science, & Social Studies
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Volume No. 4 Issue No. 1 September '99
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Language Arts – Mr. Poremba
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Mr. Poremba is a graduate of Western Illinois (BA) and Concordia (MA) Universities. He has taught at Peacock for ten  years. In addition to his academic duties in the seventh grade, he is looking forward to his first year of coaching the seventh grade boys’ basketball team. He has served as the eighth grade coach for a number of years.
So far this quarter students have studied common grammar problems. They have also written an introduction of themselves and two pieces in conjunction with other departments: a persuasive paragraph on whether the United States should adopt the metric system and an explanation of their health data.
Students will turn in their first book reports of the year on October 4. The assignment is to write a character analysis. On October 26, students will turn in their fable writing portfolios.
"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."Sir Richard Steele
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Social Studies – Mr. Peel
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- Mr. Peel, a graduate of Trinity College in Deerfield, IL, earned his Master’s degree from Northern Illinois University.
 He is the seventh grade social studies teacher and teaches American history from exploration through the Civil War, world geography, and economics (including the Stock Market Gametm and Junior Achievement’s Project Business with the Itasca State Bank).
This year students began studying migration over the Bering Strait land bridge and early European explorations.
The exploratory classes have begun a comparison of three different methods of investing (buy and hold, get rich quick, and dollar cost averaging in a fully diversified mutual fund) and are using line graphs and computer spreadsheets to chart their progress.
If you were unable to attend curriculum night, please visit our website at http://itasca.k12.il.us/ school/peacock/team7
to get the entire social studies curriculum and homework nights and test days for the entire year! The district’s site is easy to navigate thanks to our webmasters (Mr. Travis and Mr. Cousineau) who have won numerous website awards!
(P.S. the password for Greenstuff Economics is Peacock.)
Ms. Kaye, a graduate of the University of Illinois with a Master’s from National College of Education, is the general mathematics and pre-algebra teacher. Ms. Kaye has worked with all grade levels during her Peacock career.
An ongoing goal for all math students is to apply math skills and concepts to real-life situations and other subjects. Besides studying estimation and operations of whole numbers and decimals, all seventh graders practiced using the metric system and created computer spreadsheets and bar graphs to compare health data obtained in health class. Geometry classes have created artistic tessellations, showing the repetition of geometric shapes and angles. Other projects include geosquares to calculate perimeter and area, mathematician reports, and power point presentations.
By the end of September, each seventh grader will conduct a mini-survey and report their findings creating line, bar, and pie graphs. Hopefully, students will apply graphing techniques to other classes’ future projects and reports.
Mr. Larsen is in his third year at Peacock. He is a graduate of Metropolitan State College in Denver, CO, and has completed sixteen graduate hours at Northern Illinois University.
This first quarter students will be learning what science is and what makes it different from the other fields of study. Students will learn the scientific method and how it is used to solve scientific problems, tools used in science, measuring in the metric system, and laboratory safety and procedures. Once the students become experienced with using equipment such as the microscope, graduated cylinder, the bunsen burner, etc., they will begin their investigation of Earth science.
This year health will be taught during the exploratory block. Students have just completed a unit on the three aspects of health: the physical, the social, and the mental/emotional. Students are currently working on personal responsibility and decision making. During this course the class will be covering communicable diseases such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. If there are any specific questions or concerns about what will be covered or if you would like to request that a student be exempt from this unit, please feel free to contact Mr. Larsen at ext. 584.
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