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as to other curricular areas.  Success and understanding depend on the students' careful reading of the textbook.  Pre-checks are available that will help students focus on problems still needing attention.
• The school year began with reviewing, reading, and writing numbers in different forms: words, decimals, fractions, percents, powers, and scientific notation.  The order of operations and the coordinate plane were also reviewed.  Early algebra work has now begun by translating word phrases and algebraic expressions.  Formulas in geometry and in spreadsheets are now being used; the results will be graphed and compared in Excel as well as on graphing calculators.
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• MathCounts - Mrs. Johnson
• Groton will again host the first Aberdeen Area MathCounts competition of the 2013-2014 school year on Wednesday, October 2.  Practices for seventh and eighth graders are held on Tuesday mornings, beginning at 7:45 a.m.  In order to prepare for competitions, it is important that students complete the MathCounts worksheets, study the vocabulary list, and come to practices.
• MathCounts is a nationwide coaching and competition program for middle school students  that promotes success in mathematics achievement.  It encourages good problem solving skills and provides opportunity for learning additional math concepts.  During the school year, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students have the opportunity to participate in area competitions that consist of various types of individual and team tests. 
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• English 11 - Mrs. Hanten
• Junior English involves the study of American literature - poems, short stories, essays, speeches and novels.  Included in their literature study is the improvement of their grammar and usage through various writing assignments. They also complete a thirty lesson vocabulary series throughout the year, along with practicing DOL (Daily Oral Language) to improve their proofreading skills and review grammar and usage.   We began the year with a favorite novel of many students - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  We are currently studying the novel, along with various non-fiction historical texts about the time period.   New to the junior English curriculum this year is more of a focus on non-fiction writing, as that is a big part of the new common core standards.  Juniors are doing an analysis of a current news article four times each quarter.  Junior English students are also required to read independent, Accelerated Reader novels as part of their final term grade.  Students may choose from a lengthy list of novels by a wide variety of authors and including various genres.  Students are encouraged to choose novels that will challenge them

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