The Trojan Times was last updated at 12:17 pm on January 28, 2008.

SOUTH TAMA MIDDLE SCHOOL TROJAN TIMES
February, 2008

Reminder: The Middle School will accept no flower, balloon, etc. deliveries on or around Valentines’ Day.

REMINDER TO ALL PARENTS:  The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) is scheduled for February 4-8, 2008.  There will be a letter with testing details included with the report cards.

Oh, boy.  Once students understand math, the teachers start putting letters with it! Now, solving for one letter in one equation is one thing, but two equations with TWO unknown values represented by letters?   How is a person supposed to approach it?  Ask an algebra student.   Algebra students are learning 4 different ways to solve these systems of equations.  Can you solve the following?  
What values for x and y make BOTH of these equations true?
4x - 3y = -26 -8x - 6y =  28
How about these two?
3x + 2y = -28 -6x + 8y = 32
Before the end of the year, 8th grade math students will know how to do the above problems, too.  Right now, they are working on using the distributive property and combining like terms.
What does the letter represent in -7 (y - 8) - 2y = 11? How about -3 (x - 14) + 1x = 12?
Ask an 8th grade math student.  He or she can solve it, no "problem."  HA, HA, HA!

As we begin the second semester, the seventh graders are involved in a variety of academic activities.  See if you can match the class to the activity.

1. language arts           a. from Mao Tse Tung to John Travolta
2. science                b. learning How To Build a Fire
3. math                  c. cells through the looking glass
4. reading                d. expression, equation, operation, variable
5. social studies           e. If You Give a Pig a Pancake

If you answered 1-B, 2-C, 3-D, 4-E, and 5-A, you are correct.  Here's a more specific translation. Students in language are reading Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire", while algebra is the topic of the week (month?) in math.  IF You Give a Pig a Pancake is one of the many books Mrs. Upah is using to teach students the art of summarizing.  Identifying objects through the microscope is the focus in science class, and Mr. Walker insists he is not trying to imitate John Travolta in class.  The students are simply shifting from the study of China to the study of Greece (Oh, that Greece!).

In seventh grade study skills the students have been introduced to the “Seven Healthy Study Habits” and the three different learning styles. The “Seven Healthy Study Habits” focuses on the seventh graders to 1) Be organized, 2) Set goals, 3) Stay focused, 4) Practice good time management, 5) Get good rest, exercise, and nutrition, 6) Take good notes and use graphic organizers, and 7) Be prepared for tests and quizzes. First, the students were assigned to write eight goals and to make a schedule to evaluate their time. The students learned how being organized and getting good rest, exercise, and nutrition effects staying focused. As the term continues, students will be exposed to different note taking techniques and graphic organizers that they can use independently in any class. Finally, the term will end with test-preparation and test-taking skills. For utmost success, the students will need encouragement from home to stress the importance of trying his or her best in school and to practice the “Seven Healthy Study Habits.”

Tech Pathways is a twelve week exploratory class that meets two days of each six day cycle for a total of 20 class periods. All 6th, 7th, & 8th grade students have this class sometime during the school year.  Tech Pathways is a computer generated class which includes 8 modules.  The class is designed for each student to complete 3 modules during a tri-semester.  The modules are: Aerodynamics, Animation, Auto Simulaton, CAD, CNC Mill, Electricity, Flight Simulation, and Introduction to Technology.  Students should be able to complete all of the Level I modules by the time they graduate from the Middle School.  Some 8th graders may complete 1 or more Level II modules.  Ask  your child what modules they have taken this year.    

After the holiday break the sixth grade language arts classes completed their second writing assessment.
Currently they are reading the novel HATCHET by Gary Paulsen.  In reading, the students are starting
a biography unit.  They will be reading non-fiction stories about famous people - such as Martin
Luther King Jr. and Grant Wood.  Social studies students have been reviewing American history from
the Revoluntionary War to World War II.  They have now turned to look at Canada's history and
government.  Students will be comparing the parliamentary democracy system of government with our
own representative system in the weeks ahead.  The sixth graders have just completed their study
of nature’s cycles in science. They explored various ways how the cycles affect us in our daily lives.
Next up in science is the study of the human body systems and how the organs work together.