News from Lakeside Junior High School

by Lakeside Junior High School Staff

January 30, 2012

NEWS FROM LAKESIDE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Music - Mrs. Koops

The junior high class has been watching “West Side Story”. This is a much different movie-watching experience than most of these students are used to, because this movie is a musical. Along with dialogue, the movie also uses singing and dancing to tell the story. The 5^th-6^th grade classes are working in their textbooks, as well as learning a little bit about Handel’s “Messiah”. All classes are back in the swing again after a much appreciated Christmas break.

Mrs. Gasper

The reading classes finished reading several interesting literature pieces before Christmas break and have now delved into other types of text including persuasive and technical. The classes have been analyzing pieces of text for the author's position, underlying assumptions, and the use of sound evidence instead of propaganda.

We have continued study of the word roots, prefixes, and suffixes that each class will need to know for the state assessment test. To practice, we have had several "Beach ball" competitions and "Flyswatter" games.

Mr. Jones

The 7^th graders have started their Kansas History class. The first few chapters explore the Kansas landscape before being settled by the Europeans. We will focus on the many different Native American Tribes that once dominated our state. During these studies, we will watch, Dances With Wolves. This will really show the students how the Natives and Europeans interacted with each other. We will look at the variety of animals and plants that used to be prevalent throughout our state. Finally, we will study the influence that Europeans had on the development of our current state.

8^th Grade American History

The 8^th graders are going to be headed west over the next few weeks. The Oregon and Santa Fe Trails will be something to focus. As these settlers moved west, they settled areas along the way. The students will be seeing how this movement affected both Native Americans and African Americans. As we move ahead, we are going to see how the issue of slavery begins to divide our country. Then we will head into the Civil War era to finish our studies.