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Extranet Site
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7th GRADE Seventh grade is a dynamic time in a child's life -- students are truly in the middle of the middle! The seventh grade team at EMS works to capture this exuberance by changing themes, activities, projects and publications each year according to the interests and affinities of our students. But, common threads from year to year include investigations of democracy, cell theory and genetics, the power of persuasion, writing skills, international relations, economics, and resources -- as well as math, computer skills, crafts, and language. Students have many opportunities to work and learn together as a part of a collaborative team, and also as an individual. In the fall of 2004 we visited Monticello and Montpelier in our neighboring state of Virginia, and in the spring of 2005 we went to our own North Carolina mountains for some outdoor adventure activities as well as poetry and genetics studies at the Carl Sandburg Historic Site in Flat Rock. Here are some examples of recent 7th grade themes: Our ZOOM! theme had students zooming in to closely observe elements of systems, how individual elements work together as a whole, and how variations in systems allow us to classify and order our world. Students became experts on a self-selected "tiny" environment, while using microscopes and other laboratory skills to make presentations. In TIPPING POINTS, we were influenced by the acclaimed modern thinker and critic Malcolm Gladwell's best selling publication of the same title. Students inquired: What is the relationship of cause and effect? How do the "pushes and pulls" of social and physical forces drive change in the world? Students investigated democracy, persons who acted as "tipsters," or agents of change, and simple machines. DECISIONS, DECISIONS! was a theme centering on these essential questions: How do we assign value? What is sustainability? How are resources allocated? Students generated cost/benefit analyses based on an issue of their selection, and then built on this analysis to write a well-supported persuasive essay in support of one clear point of view. Students hosted a day of panel discussions, exhibitions and all-around enlightenment at Exploris Museum to conclude this theme. DIPLOMACY allowed students opportunities to prepare to host our visiting exchange students from our sister school in Hiroshima, Japan. Seventh grade! It only happens once.
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