Author Archives: Jonell Williams

Early Middle School Science

In our early Middle School Science class, we will lay foundations for research, exploration, and scientific study skills. These foundational principles will also guide good study habits and scheduling disciplines.

As we focus on our earth, we will discover the general properties of the earth’s land, seas, skies, and solar system.  While studying the earth’s crust, we will learn about minerals, rocks, and the rock cycle.  Earthquakes and volcanoes will reveal plate tectonics. Rocks will reveal fossils and the creativity of our God as well as the catastrophe brought on to create those fossils.

From this catastrophe, we will learn the wonder of water with polarity, hydrogen bonding, heat capacity, and oceans and freshwater sources.  Fresh water in the air will open up tremendous learning about our atmosphere and weather. As we reach the top of our atmosphere, the course will end with two chapters on space, one that covers the solar system and one that covers the universe as a whole.

Students also get hands-on experience with waves, gases, wind, water purification, cloud formation, the Coriolis effect, precipitation, and acid/base interactions.

Instructor: Gus Carey guscarey1@gmail.com

Materials: TBA

7th Grade English

Course Description

This class will survey three areas of English Grammar that are often deficient in high school writers: 1.) sentence structure/ parts of speech, 2.) punctuation/capitalization, and 3.) spelling. 

The sentence structure/parts of speech portion will address issues concerning complex sentences, verbs, dangling participles, fragments, independent vs. dependent clauses, etc. The punctuation/capitalization section will focus on when to use commas vs. semicolons, apostrophes, hyphens, quotations, etc. along with the ten rules of capitalization. Lastly, the spelling component will center around the most misspelled words of middle school students, addressing challenging words like ei vs. ie, compound words, hyphenates, Latin roots, or challenging suffixes such as able/ible or ance/ence. This course will prepare your student for 8th grade English Grammar and Composition. 

Instructor: Vickie Schell 919-205-3533, classicalvickie@gmail.com 

Curriculum

Frequently Misspelled Words 6th-8th Grade https://a.co/d/g93WEY9

Spectrum Language Arts Grade 7 https://a.co/d/gvgiLtB

Fix It Grammar Level 3 https://a.co/d/3I0xHgk

6th Grade Math

DESCRIPTION:

The 6th grade curriculum will be presented in a guided notes format. The teacher will use manipulatives (when applicable) and class participation that includes answering out loud, writing on the whiteboard, and group activities to make math more fun and engaging. The curriculum is divided into 8 units including: whole numbers and operations, integer operations, rational numbers, expressions and properties, equations and inequalities, proportional relations and percents, measurement and geometry, data, and statistics. For more details, see below. Each unit will have parent checked homework and quizzes and teacher graded unit tests. There is also an option for spiral review extra credit assignments. Test corrections are also required for any test grade below 94% and can raise the test grade. There will also be occasional warm-ups to begin classes and mini pop quizzes that will sometimes be graded or used as an informal assessment to communicate with parents. Students have fun through the weekly “get to know you more” prompts like sharing your favorite food, what do you like to do for fun, and hidden talent type questions. 

A syllabus will be provided with each week’s lessons that will be covered and the required homework assignments. Canvas will be used to post grades and Google Classroom will be used as a hub for syllabus, periodic messages for students/parents as well as videos for missed classes. Homework should take 1-2.5 hours per week depending on the student’s ability. Parents are required to check homework. Binders will be checked on occasion unannounced. 

Teacher: Vickie Schell, classicalvickie@gmail.com, 919-205-3533

PREREQUISITES: Completed 5th grade math with 75% proficiency and mastered multiplication facts 1-12 in a timed manner (approximately 40 mixed facts in 1 minute). Students who have not successfully completed 5th grade math are not recommended to take this course. Please use this link to assess your child. https://docs.google.com/document/d/11F-xzE9q8OyjHRqWr8RBUqjWfnLE3u3_OwmafKvW-dw/edit If they get below 75% and you still feel they should be in the class, please contact the teacher.  Summer tutoring is an option to get them ready if they are close. 

MATERIALS AND TEXT:

We will be using Gina Wilson’s 6th Grade Math Curriculum/All Things Algebra. It is very structured and boxed out for organization. Each lesson includes guided notes and homework. You will be able to purchase a binder that includes the curriculum from the teacher.

Materials needed: calculator, purchased binder, ruler, and protractor. 

Early Middle School Math (6th/7th Grade Math)

The early middle school math curriculum will be presented in a guided notes format.  This class is a precursor for Pre-Algebra.  The teacher will use manipulatives (when applicable) and class participation that includes answering out loud, writing on the white board, and group activities to make math more fun and engaging. The curriculum is divided into 8 units including: whole number operations, expressions, equations and inequalities, ratios/proportions/percents, fractions, introduction to geometry, integers, decimals.  See below for more details. Each unit will have parent-checked homework and quizzes and teacher graded unit tests. There is also an option for spiral review extra credit assignments. Test corrections are required for any test grade below 94% and can raise the test grade. There will also be occasional warm-ups to begin classes and mini pop quizzes that will sometimes be graded or used to communicate with parents. Students have fun through weekly “get to know you more” prompts like share your favorite food, what do you like to do for fun and hidden talent type questions. 

A syllabus will be provided with each week’s lessons that will be covered and required homework assignments. Canvas will be used to post grades and Google Classroom will be used as a hub for syllabus, messages for students/parents as well as videos for missed classes. Homework should take 1-2.5 hours per week depending on student’s ability. Parents are required to check homework. Binders will be checked periodically, unannounced. 

The teacher is available for quick help throughout the week via text (anytime) or FaceTime (scheduled). 

TEACHER: Vickie Schell classicalvickie@gmail.com  919-205-3533

PREREQUISITES:

Completed math in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and havemastered multiplication facts 1-12 in a timed manner (approximately 40 mixed facts in 1 minute) with 75% proficiency. Summer tutoring is an option to get them ready if the need is present.  This course is a prerequisite for Pre-Algebra.

MATERIALS AND TEXT:

We will be using Middle School Math All Things Algebra. It is very structured and boxed out for organization. Each lesson includes guided notes and homework. You will be able to purchase a binder that includes the curriculum from the teacher.

Materials needed: purchased binder from instructor