(Continued from page 7)

•
• Spanish II - Mrs. Kippley
• Spanish II students have just finished with the first of several oral presentations in Spanish.  They presented their proposals for theme parks and were required to deliver the presentation in the future tense.  It went very well for all of them in spite of their apprehension.  Our next unit covers more vocabulary and verbs that pertain traveling.  We will go over air travel and hotels specifically.  This unit will be very useful for those students who are considering travel abroad in college.

• Conceptual Chemistry - Mrs. Kippley
• Chemistry students are currently studying the types of chemical reactions that exist, as well and how to manipulate those reactions which are in dynamic equilibrium.  Dynamic equilibrium means that the reaction can proceed in favor of products or in favor of reactants. They will continue to use their understanding of both covalent and ionic compounds in the upcoming units, even as we switch gears to investigate more closely the inner workings of the atom and its electron configuration.
•
• Earth Science - Mrs. Kippley
• The 8^th graders are still working hard on their eCybermission projects since the deadline is quickly approaching.  Once they submit their experiments a panel of outside judges will evaluate their work and potentially award one group with a savings bond for college!  Our regular curriculum work has us investigating weather and the atmosphere as well as how the Sun ultimately produces the weather patterns that define our seasons.
•
• Algebra I - Mrs. Johnson
• The Algebra I students have recently completed a chapter using algebra to describe patterns of change.  Graphing calculators have been used extensively to compare linear and exponential functions and their graphs.  Students have learned how to identify constant increase/decrease or exponential growth/decay situations by examining equations.  Given a set of ordered pairs, they have also graphed the results and obtained regression equations for them.
• The second semester will continue with the study of powers and roots.  Algebraic expressions containing products, quotients, powers, square roots, and cube roots will be simplified.  Students will encounter the use of negative exponents and the formula for determining distance in a plane.  The study of quadratics, linear systems, and polynomials are yet to come.
•

(Continued on page 9)