Muriel Stark 7th and 8th Grade P: 952-474-5181 x43 E: muriel.stark@oslcs.org Read Full Profile »

Grades 5-8 at Our Savior Lutheran School are departmentalized. Grade 5 is the transition year into the middle school. This means that students will have several teachers during their school day that are specialists in a particular field of study. In order to maintain a family-like atmosphere, each class also has a home-room teacher charged with monitoring the overall academic, social, and spiritual progress of individual students as well as the class as a whole.

Religion

Contemporary Issues is designed to be taught to students in grades 7 or 8. This course has been prepared to help equip students with the guidance, power, and comfort of God’s Holy Word as they face the challenges of living and sharing their faith in an adversarial world. Contemporary Issues provides opportunities and activities designed to assist students in applying God’s Word to their lives today. Students will also participate in either an Old Testament or New Testament course in which God’s word is studied and applied to their growing faith.

Language Arts

Literature
Middle school students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade continue their course of study in reading through an in depth study of literature. Through the use of a carefully selected anthology, students study various forms of essay writing including persuasive and informational essays. Students study biographies and autobiographies. Various forms of genre include short story, novellas, poetry, and drama. Students discuss author’s view points, biases, the use of facts verses opinion, and first – person narratives in contrast to third – person narratives.
As students work through the anthology they also study the author’s development of the plot. They study the elements of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. They also look at character motives and characteristics. Students explore the use of literary tools such as foreshadowing and flashback.Students develop skills in short answer and essay writing while organizing information in story maps, Venn diagrams, and charts of various forms and purposes.Each lesson introduces students to new vocabulary words and definitions. Students work many activities to develop their knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, word analogies, word roots, and word origin.

English
The seventh grade will communicate proficiently in writing through using: general skills, including grammar, parts of speech, usage, mechanics, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary. They will also work on speaking and listening skills, study skills, thinking skills, and writing skills in the areas of opinion writing, narrative writing, and research projects.

Spelling
Students will learn the basic spelling principles by using phonetic or vocabulary principles. Students will also broaden their vocabulary as they learn to spell new words. They will learn vocabulary skills, such as context clues, antonyms, and synonyms in order to understand the meaning of new words. Weekly tests will be administered to measure student’s proficiency in spelling.

Pre-Algebra

The seventh graders will compute with integers, fractions, decimals, percents, markups and discounts. They will work with simple and compound interest. They will work with formulas involving perimeters, areas, surfaces areas, and volume. The seventh graders will also work with graphing; ratios, rates, and proportions. They will graph linear and nonlinear functions and determine slopes of lines. They will work with measures of central tendency – mean, median, and mode.

Science

In 7th grade we take the time to do a more in depth study of the earth. Our world is a constantly changing world with moving tectonic plates that cause earthquakes and volcanoes. Wind and rain reshape the land. Weather is predictable and yet unpredictable. We are learning new and amazing things about ocean depths and the vast universe that open our eyes to a Creator who is beyond comprehension. Even though our world and our understanding of our world is constantly changing, His love and daily care for us never changes. Classes are interactive, cooperative, and include many demonstrations, activities and up-to-date technology resources.

Art

The students are exposed to a wide variety of art media and techniques. Art allows students to express their creativity. The students will be exposed to various art forms including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and design.

World Geography

World Geography provides a unique step-by-step way to help students learn where the world’s countries, major cities, and major landforms are located. The curriculum also teaches students about the world’s regions, global issues, and differing cultures. The goal is to motivate students by making them more aware of the world around them.

Technology

Students continue to develop an appreciation for the variety of programs and information available through computers as they work with the following activities: Internet research, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.