Middle School Scholastic Magic

End of the Number Line
By Austin Wilhite
Sports Editor
 
            This quarter the eighth graders learned how to graph and solve quadratic equations, along with rational expressions. Mrs. Kinchen reinforced these new skills by giving the eighth grade students Simple Solutions, homework, notes, and constantly repeating what the students should be learning. The seventh graders began learning about geometry, angles, and transversals to prepare them for eighth grade. Mrs. Kinchen reinforced these skills by giving out more projects to the seventh graders and having the students constantly working on them.
            In addition, Mrs. Kinchen gave a test about every two to three weeks, which usually covered one main concept. Before she gave out these tests, Mrs. Kinchen recorded videos that covered the concept on the test and uploaded them to Google Classroom, so the students can use them to study whenever they get the chance. Mrs. Kinchen also uploaded a list of IXL skills that could be used to study for the students’ finals. Both the seventh and eighth graders ended the school year with a mathematical bang!

Finishing the Year in Faith
By Abigail Bowring
Layout/Design Editor
 
            This quarter in the theology classes, the seventh and eighth graders used the YouCats, the Bible, and their textbooks to learn about their faith. In seventh grade, they learned about the life of the Church after the Resurrection, Pentecost, the Communion of Saints, and Mary. The seventh graders made a poster comparing the Passion and Death of Jesus in different gospels. The eighth graders participated in a Seder Supper, like the one Jesus celebrated almost 2,000 years ago. Both grades attended their separate Human Dignity presentations. As everyone moves up another grade, the eighth graders will move on to high school. Mrs. Hartfiel, the students’ theology teacher, says she hopes these graduates will always keep scripture, tradition, and reason they have learned at SJPII throughout their lives.

Dissecting Science
By Thomas Whitson
Features Editor
 
            The seventh graders in Mrs. Palmer’s science class are ending the school year with style. You can bet many of them are excited for the end of the school year, but Mrs. Palmer still has them working diligently. During the fourth quarter, they have gone over protein synthesis, Gregor Mendel, evolution, and Charles Darwin. The one thing they have struggled with throughout the whole school year is analyzing data completely. Mrs. Palmer hopes that they can fix this, because they are one of the most capable classes she has ever taught, she said.
            There was no science final in her class so that came as a relief for the seventh graders. One of Mrs. Palmer’s favorite things this year was the new technology. She uses Chromebooks whenever she can. She had the students do virtual labs, webquests, and different simulations on their Chromebooks. The students seemed to enjoy the new technology as well. Mrs. Palmer says that they will have one big end of the year activity. It is one of the most fun, yet disgusting, activities yet. It is the dissection of a frog. Mrs. Palmer is looking forward to seeing how the students will perform in this activity.
There was one big experiment this nine weeks and that was the Bean Bunny genetics experiment. Mrs. Palmer loves her students to review by studying bits every night and also reviewing vocabulary. Mrs. Palmer says that if you understand vocabulary, you can speak the language of science. Overall, Mrs. Palmer said that this seventh grade class was one of the most well-prepared classes she has ever taught, and that they definitely exceeded her expectations for the year.
                               
See You in Seventh Grade!
By Elizabeth Dang
Editor and Chief, John Paul II Times
 
            This year is coming to an end, and the list of what the sixth graders learned in theology and social studies is endless. The sixth graders have grown and are ready for seventh grade. In social studies, the students have been focusing on the location of cities and capitals around the world. Mrs. McBee helped the students prepare for these major grades by breaking the test down and having practice tests and pre-quizzes. In theology, the class has been reading the story of Jacob. Mrs. McBee wants the students to understand the story, relate it their life, and to know God forgives us and our mistakes.
            The students learned so much during this quarter to help them to enter the next school year, from organization to integrating their old knowledge to help them learn more about that subject. Mrs. McBee hopes that the students did not only learn about social studies and theology, but how to handle responsibility and how to use prior knowledge to help them in class. The sixth graders have done an amazing job at keeping up with the fast pace of middle school, and we can’t wait to see them grow even more in seventh grade!
 
Tales from Seventh Grade
By Janea Thibodeaux
Editor in Chief, The Spirit

            The seventh graders in Mrs. Bowring’s language and literature classes have been diligently working this quarter to finish the year off right. In language, the students studied verbs and wrote research papers. They used their Chromebooks to find information for their research papers, study vocabulary, take quizzes on Google Forms, and complete their warmups. The students wrote stories using picture and writing prompts in their warm ups. In literature, the seventh graders learned about poetry, folktales, legends, and fairytales. They then applied their knowledge of fairy tales and used Hero’s Journey, a writing technique. The seventh graders struggled with turning their homework in on time and penmanship in this quarter. Mrs. Bowring assisted them by reminding them to write any assignments down in their planner and making them rewrite any papers in which their handwriting was hard to read. To prepare her students for eighth grade, Mrs. Bowring helped her students be responsible for their own actions. The seventh graders finished the year strong.
 
Night! Night!
By Elizabeth Dang
Editor and Chief, John Paul II Times
 
            This school year has come to an end for the eighth graders and they have grown so much, not just in their size, but in their writing. In language, the students have focused more on writing, being able to express their opinion and support their ideas. Mrs. Drewes taught and reviewed 22 lessons that will be tested on their finals, including timed writing and persuasive advertisement.
            During this last quarter, the students read a Holocaust memoir of Elie Wiesel and his experience in a Nazi German concentration camp in a book called Night. The classes discussed each chapter together and were quizzed to make sure they fully understood each chapter. The eighth graders have also learned the different types of poetry and analyzed the meaning of poems. The students have learned so much during their last quarter, and we can’t wait to see them grow even more in high school!
 
Making History
By Maggie Pierce
Senior Editor
 
            Ending the year with a bang, Mrs. Berrie’s seventh and eighth grade history classes finished off by learning about wars. Seventh grade learned about World War I and the Great Depression in Texas history. Eighth grade finished the textbook and learned about the Civil War and Reconstruction in U.S. History. Toward the end of the quarter, both grades spent a week working on a study guide that was over everything they have learned to prepare for their history finals. The seventh and eighth graders have had a successful year in Mrs. Berrie’s classes, and Mrs. Berrie wants the eighth graders to take confidence with them to high school, because they have learned the skills they need!
 
Hands-On
By Diana Basaldua
Layout/Design Editor
 
            The eighth and sixth grade science teacher, Mrs. Cueva, is ending her first year on a good note! She’s been making sure the students know everything they can about science.
            In sixth grade, Mrs. Cueva taught the students about geologic time and fossils. To teach them how fossils are formed, she had them make their own fossils. She also used a model of a football field to help them understand the concept of geological time. They’ve also done many hands-on projects and foldables. Meanwhile, the eighth graders are learning about chemistry, atoms, and the periodic table. The eighth graders made a periodic table to find the patterns and trends of the elements’ placement on the table. To see how atoms bond, these students also created models of bonds using candy and toothpicks. Mrs. Cueva likes to do a lot of hands-on projects with all of her students because she believes that watching what happens will help reinforce their knowledge.
            As far as the workload goes, Mrs. Cueva tried to give her students homework at least once a week to make sure the students are remembering what they are taught in class. For tests, she gave the students different types of tests to meet the needs of all the different students and also to prepare the eighth graders for high school. When the year ends, Mrs. Cueva hopes that her sixth graders learn that they are only a small point in the history of the world and that they are small compared to the universe. She wants the eighth graders to know what they need to know for high school. Mrs. Cueva had a great year with her students!
 
Diagramming Their Way to Seventh Grade
By Emily Colgan
Photo Editor
 
            Grammar, mastery, spirals, and active learners. All of these describe Ms. Festa’s language and literature classes. In language, they have been working on their grammar, active and passive voices, subject and action verbs, direct objects, coordination conjunction pairs, and diagramming. In literature, the students have been working on their lexicon, vocabulary units, and reading different styles of writing. For the fourth quarter projects, the students worked on writing their own psalms. They wrote to their deacon, Deacon Preston Quintela, who is going to be ordained soon.
            Furthermore, attention to technology was a big part the sixth grade. They used their Google Chromebooks in class. The students also used websites such as IXL and Vocabtest. They used vocabulary in their ongoing life so they must continue mastery and spend ample time studying.
            When talking about studying, Ms. Festa said that being prepared for a test starts with being an active learner in class. Also, studying consists of quality, not quantity.
            Good luck in seventh grade next year!
 

 
Adding to Their Knowledge
By Ignacio Perez
Senior Editor

            This quarter the sixth graders have been working hard until the last day of school. They learned about the area of shapes and the circumference of circles. They also learned about geometry. They worked in groups the whole quarter. They did assignments together and talked about different math concepts. Mrs. Harvey prepared them for their final by giving a review and working on it in class. They also went over past subjects to help them remember them for their final. They also watched videos that Mrs. Harvey posted on Google Classroom to prepare them for the final. They also used IXL to review and learn throughout the quarter. She assigned many things for homework including that life-saving review, Simple Solutions, and assigning textbook pages to work on. She gave them homework every night to prepare them for the rest of middle school. This quarter really added to the math students’ knowledge.