MFS Quest

By: Maansi, Dhru, and Himanshu

As our school year comes to an end, we are finishing up our last assignments in Quest. This week, we started off with a follow up on the Global Challenge Project. We learned about how we should not make assumptions about other cultures. Then, we read an article that had an example of cultural “othering.” The article was about the conflict between a missionary and an isolated tribe of Indians known as the Sentinelese. After reading and annotating this article, we went back to one of our previous projects, and did one last Socratic seminar. We tried to answer the question, “How can respect and assumptions affect how we approach the Sentinelese people?” To end our week, we were given our final assignment in Quest. We have to write a letter about the progress we made and the new things we learned in Quest. After we finish this, we will read the letter again when we start eighth grade. We have to answer certain questions, such as, “When have you experienced academic discomfort or academic adventure?” Academic discomfort is a time when something was particularly stressful or challenging for you. Academic adventure is a time when you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new, like taking on a very challenging topic for a research assignment. We were given an outline to organize our thoughts for the questions. Overall, this week was very productive and interesting.

• Maansi

Picture of organizer

Bruvik (Himanshu):

In Quest Science, we did several activities that were in relation to Newton’s Laws. One of these activities was the construction of balloon rockets. We created these by pushing a string “track” through a straw and taping a balloon to that straw.  We then let go of that balloon and watched it propel forward. We used this as a way to demonstrate Newton’s Three Laws in action. Additionally, we learned about friction, as well as kinetic and positive energy. We applied this with the rockets by demonstrating how they had potential energy, stored while at rest. Then, once they were in motion, that energy would become kinetic energy, propelling the balloon forward. Also, the friction caused by the balloon moving against the air worked to slow these makeshift rockets down. Once we had wrapped up this experiment, we watched a program from the Discovery channel called The Future. We watched an episode about futuristic technologies being developed. These included things like sky offices, personal jetpacks, and planes that operated as cars. We also learned about how people can transmit their presence to places they are not in via cameras and software. Many of these projects are finished or currently in development. So, to sum it up, this week in Science was a slower, more casual week than ones previous.

Watching “The Future”

Balloon Rocket Lab

• Himanshu

Gornto (Dhru):

           This week in Mr. Gorton’s class we spent a lot of time analyzing two short stories. The first one was called “Dead Men’s Path”. This short story is about a man who is the new head administrator for a school. While he had been an administrator for the school, he found out a secret that was happening with the villagers. He wanted to change the way the school had been run. Since the villagers were taking dead bodies in to the path behind the school. We had a great discussion about this story and other small details of the head administrator wife not liking her husband’s job. After we had finished discussing “Dead Men’s Path” we had started the second short story. The story was called “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan. The story is about a Chinese girl who loved an American boy who is the son of the minister. One day her family called them over for dinner and she started crying. This was because of how the boy would not like her family or her after seeing the food they cook or her family in general. We had a good analysis and discussion of cultures and food. We also shared times that happened to us. For example, if you don’t want someone to come to your house just because of your culture. The end of the year is almost upon us and we spent time analyzing short stories through the whole year. We have gotten so much better at it.        

• Dhru

Proofread by : Hannah and Jewell

By: Sophia , Jack , Colton

Proofread by:Remi, Asha, and Hannah

Monday: 5/20/19- Sophia

Today in Quest, we continued to work on our Global Challenge Project. The groups are in different places, so every group was doing something different. Some group tasks include finishing research, working on the visual aid, writing the pitch, practicing their presentation, or any other finishing touches. Tomorrow we have a practice presentation in front of the tenth-grade environmental science class for feedback before presenting to our assigned professional on Thursday.

My group is a global health group focused on outbreaks of pneumonia in India. Today, two out of the four of us worked on our solution, making a website and Instagram to promote the importance of getting vaccinated, especially for pneumonia in India. The other two of us worked on our poster, which will serve as our visual aid along with our website. Our group will continue to prepare for our presentations for homework.

Tuesday May 21, 2019- Colton

Today every group made their practice pitches to tenth-grade students. Before every group gave their pitch they had one class period to rehearse and make any needed adjustments to their projects. Every group made a 5-10 minute pitch then were given feedback on their overall project, solution, problem, and presentations. My group made our pitch to Mr. Kimberly and some of the students from the 10th-grade Environmental Science class. We got feedback on the cons of our project and how to make our case more sellable to the experts. After every group presented we got feedback from our own peers and teachers. In the following class periods, we used our feedback to make adjustments and improvements to our presentation and project.

My group is focusing on on the water crisis in Uganda. My group and I came up with a possible solution to the problem called the Omniprocessor. The Omniprocessor turns unclean water into clean drinking water for the people. The Omniprocessor evaporates the water and separates the sludge from the water. The steam is put through a cleaner and the sludge burned to create power. After the vapor is cleaned, it is bottled and handed out to the people in need. We presented our starting pitch and got good feedback for our final on Thursday.

Wednesday: 5/22/19- Sophia

Today in Quest, we are finishing up our Global Challenge Project. We continued to use the feedback from yesterday’s practice pitch to improve our projects. For some groups, the presentation to the expert is tomorrow, and for some, it’s Friday. This meant that most groups were finishing posters, (or other visual aids) adding information, or preparing and practicing their presentation. Everyone is making final touches to their project before the actual proposal to the professional arrives.

My group received lots of feedback from the tenth-graders, so we had a lot to do today. One piece of feedback was to directly state our problem and solution to ensure that it is clear to everyone. This encouraged our group to spend our first Quest period, making adjustments to what everyone said. We made it more clear what our problem and solution are and added more information to make our presentation longer. Now, all we have left to do before our pitch on Friday is finish our website (part of our solution) and practice a bunch.

Thursday 5-23-19 Colton

Today we presented our final pitch for the Global Project. Our expert in the topic was Alex Stark, a alumni of MFS 2006. Both of the water groups went to Mr. Greenberg’s room first period to present. The other group made their pitch on algae as a natural filtration. After they presented our group was up. We made our pitch about the Omniprocessor in Uganda. Mrs. Stark gave feedback to our idea and asked questions about it. I was really proud of both groups seeing what everyone’s hard work had turned into.

The following two Quest periods we spent filling out reflection sheets. There was a sheet on our group progress. The other sheet was an individual reflection sheet which asked us our opinion on the project and what we would do next time. The Global Project taught me to build an idea to a full scale project.

Friday 5-24-19 Jack

Today in quest our grade was finishing up the Global Challenge presentations. My groups topic was hunger. We specifically focused on Chad a country in Africa. Our solution was to make a protein bar so kids could get more nutrients. Our expert that we presented to was named  Katie, she was all the way out in Colorado. But my group went yesterday, today we were working on a Global Challenge wrap up packet.

This packet had group questions and individual questions. First my group did the individual questions were everyone answered the questions by themselves. These questions were mainly focused on what did you improve on during your time doing the Golabel Challenge and what was the hardest part about the Global Challenge. These questions took up our first quest period so in the second period we did the group question. These question were mainly focused on what feedback you got. So my group answered all of those question.

Then in the time we had reaming in the last quest period we proofread our work. I liked this project a lot, I think in the beginning when all the teachers were explains it it sounded a lot harder than it was. I improved on my writing and collaborative work skills.

Monday – 5/13/2019:

Section X’s first Quest period of the day, and week, was Quest:Science. We handed in our case about Sir Isaac Newton. After taking notes about Newton’s Dark Secret, we started writing a case. We were pretending to share our knowledge with a friend who knew nothing about Isaac Newton. This case was for Newton being one of the greatest scientist who ever lived. We had to include evidence from the film to support our claims. Also, in this writing assignment, we described his life. For example, his challenges and triumph. The requirements were two paragraphs minimum, each paragraph must be at least ten sentences, and one picture of Sir Isaac Newton. We could use any font, color and size. This writing assignment let us be creative.

Next, Section X had Quest:Humanities with Mr. Gornto. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we talked about a dystopian story. This story is called The Lottery. The other sections might have discussed it on different days, but 7X did it on Monday. We split into groups and answered questions about The Lottery and how it could relate to The Giver. After discussing with our group, we shared our answers with the class. Every group shared out.

Our last Quest class on the day was Quest:Humanities with Mr. Greenberg. During Mr. Greenberg’s class, we worked on our thematic maps. Some thematic maps are choropleth, isopleth and topographic. All the maps focus on different things. For example, choropleth maps contain areas that are shaded differently according to statistics, while an isopleth map is a contour map that shows smooth continuous information. On Tuesday, our thematic maps were due, so Mr. Greenberg gave us time in class to work on the map and map analysis.

-Katherine 7X

Tuesday – 5/14/2019: Hannah

Section Z’s first Quest period was, Quest Humanities. Over the weekend we had to read a dystopian story called, The Lottery. It was about a community who does the lottery. The civilian who “wins” gets stones thrown at her. We discussed our thoughts on the story and we connected it to the another book we read, The Giver. We discussed questions and comments. We also read over some discussion questions like, what historical events could have sparked the inspiration to write this story? Here are two quotes from students after reading The Lottery. Dinah said, “The lottery gave us insight on how tradition may be continued for many reasons, even though it may not be morally right.” Leah said, “I really enjoyed reading the Lottery because it was challenging to compare this story to events that occured in our history. It was interesting to go deeper into thought on the story and it’s true meaning and why the author chose to write it the way she did.”

Next, Section Z had Quest Science. In science we continued our lab on bubble gum chewing. During the lab we had to time ourselves and count how many chews we did in each interval of time. We tested it multiple times for consistency. After we got the numbers we calculated how fast we chewed in each interval. After we completed the lab, we watched a Bill Nye video on motion. When we completed the video we answered a series of questions about the laws of motions.

Section Z’s last Quest period was Quest Humanities. Our thematic maps were do this day. We discussed the information provided from the maps we researched. We talked about the analysis questions we had to answer. We discussed what we learned from each map, what kind of map it was and how other people can use this map. After our discussion, we reviewed and talked about everything we’ve done over this school year revolving around our geography portfolios. Then we wrote a log about our thoughts on our geography portfolio.

Wednesday – 5/15/2019:

   For the first Quest block of the day, the whole seventh grade met in the Dining Hall Commons and Mr. Greenberg explained to us more about what the global challenge was. The Global Challenge is where we pick a significant problem in the world like, hunger, and come up with a solution to end that problem using the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Two Eighth graders came in and told us what they did last year during the global challenge and told us their solutions to their problems. We were assigned our groups, topic, and what Quest classroom we will be working in for the next week. For the next two Quest Blocks we got to work on our Global Challenge.

Proofreaders –  Ava , Tori

Thursday – 5/16/2019:

Today was the second day of the Global Challenge. We split into our groups for all three class periods. Some groups were in Mr. Gornto’s room, some were in Mr. Greenberg’s room and some were downstairs with Ms. Bruvik. We sat at a table with our group and discussed our workflow. After writing down our workflow, the teachers looked at it and approved it. We spent the rest of the periods working with our group. The groups made a lot of progress and continued making progress the next day. Our classmates were hard at work.

-Katherine 7X

Proofreader(s):

Friday – 5/17/2019: Hannah

Today was the third day of the Global Challenge. We worked for all morning in order to finalize our ideas for our final presentation. On Friday we worked on ideas on how to solve the problem we were focusing on. We researched who is already bringing awareness to the problem and their steps of action. The teachers rotated rooms so we got to hear different feedback from all three Quest teachers, and did a brief presentation of our problem and solution to them.

Proofreaders: Ava, Grace

Monday 5.6.19: Ryan

 On Monday, some students finished up their speeches in Mr. Greenberg’s class. Some of these were about cancer research and homelessness. There were also two students giving feedback to each presenter. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we discussed the Giver and the previous week’s readings. We also completed a log entry. In Mrs. Bruvik’s class, we read articles about baseball bats and strategies to help the environment. Some of us worked in groups to complete this.

Tuesday 5.7.19: Ryan

In Mrs. Bruvik’s, we continued our work in the science articles. In Greenberg, we discussed the problem with Koalas in Australia. They are underpopulated, and we went over some different maps to figure out how and why. We also went over some examples of words that we thought when we thought of Australia. Some of these included Crikey, Steve Irwin, and crocodiles. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we presented our Giver images. We had to find an image that, abstractavely, connected to the theme of the book. One example is this orange in a sea of apples.

Wednesday 5.8.19: Charlie

In Quest Humanities on Wednesday, (Mr. Greenberg’s class) we had to figure out where Koalas live in Australia. The activity called for a group of four people. Each group had to trace four maps of Australia. The individual maps were based on the rainfall, temperature, forestation, and geography. After the groups were done with that they tapped the maps together, and where everything would match up is where the Koalas live.

In Mr. Gornto’s class, we highlighted our literature circle essays, and discussed them individually with Mr. Gornto. There were four highlighting colors: Blue was for essay analysis, Green was for text evidence, Yellow was for your essay focus, and Pink was for spelling errors.   

In Ms. Bruvik’s class, we finished watching a movie on Sir Isaac Newton. The documentary was on Newton’s life and his greatest accomplishments. After that was over we filled out a worksheet about the upcoming global challenge.

Thursday 5.9.19: Nick J

In Mr. Gornto’s class, we highlighted key parts in our essay while we waited to conference with Mr. Gornto about it. In the conference, he reread our essay, we discussed it with him, and told us what we could improve on. In science, we did the Bubble Gum Lab. In this lab, we were chewing bubble gum and saw how many chews we could get in 30 seconds. Then we graphed it to see how many more chews we could get each time. In Mr. Greenberg’s class, we did the did Koala mapping. We traced certain maps on wax paper about topics such as the rainfall, temperature, or physical landforms in Australia. Then, we put all of them together to see where in Australia the Koalas lived.

Friday 5.10.19: Nick J

In Mr. Gornto’s class, we finished the up the essay conferences. After that, we got assigned a short story reading assignment. This story was named “The Lottery.” It was about a utopian society with a dark secret… Every year they would go through an event called The Lottery. One citizen would be chosen to be put to death.

Finally, in science, we wrote a short response about some questions regarding Sir Isaac Newton. One of these responses was, “Make a case about why you think that Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists ever.” After watching a short movie about Isaac Newton’s life we answered the questions in class. In Mr. Greenberg’s class we started working on our thematic map project. We would choose a topic that we were interested in, and then chose a map that related to that topic. One student’s map was about the child mortality rate in India in 2015, another was about marine pollution, and yet another displayed asthma rates by city in the United States.

By Ryan, Nick, and Charlie

Proofread by: Laurence, Dhru, Sonia

By:Dinah, Kira, & Jewell

Monday, 4/29: Kira

Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg, we worked on our speeches using the organizers we had filled out to aid in our preparation. We all had to find a way to inspire our peers to get involved with the topic we had chosen prior to writing our essays. Before the three day weekend, we had to write an essay based on a change maker in a field of our choice. We have centered our speeches around the same topic as our essays. Today in Humanities with Mr. Gornto, we talked about the meaning and the message of the Giver, our current class book. We have all finished reading the Giver and are now trying to analyze the text and understand the deeper meanings that rest behind the words. We have started to take on the larger questions that partly are based on what the message of the book truly is and how much ethics comes into play. Today in Science, we have started a new unit on forces and motion. In class, we started a lab that includes six inquiries that will help us become more familiar with this new topic. They challenged us by making us think about what common actions use such important forces.

~Kira

This is a speech organizer that was filled out by one of the students in section Y.

~Kira

This was just one of the inquiries we had to complete in class.

~Kira Patel

Tuesday, 4/30: Dinah

Humanities with Mr. Gornto on Tuesday consisted of an open discussion about the narrative arc of the novel we are reading, The Giver. In other class periods we have meticulously gone over the main theme(s) of the book, characters, takeaways, and many other things within those categories. Section Z had this discussion for an hour, which gave us plenty of time to make a narrative arc and even have a deep conversation, (some classified it as a debate,) about what the climax of the novel is. Second, Section Z had Mr. Greenberg’s Humanities class, which we spent continuing to write our speeches that will start to be presented this coming Friday. Some topics being focused on are journalist rights, use of plastic straws, and animal abuse. Ethos, logos, and pathos have been staples of the speech-writing process; we have to include all three persuasive-language tools into our speeches. The handout given as a guide and a checklist for students evaluating others when giving their speeches is pictured below. Section Z had Quest: Science last period on Tuesday, where we started our “Forces and Motion” lab; (our start date was delayed a day because we didn’t have science on Monday). Aside from challenging each partnership to think critically, we also had to use teamwork skills to do all of the fun inquires successfully.

This is the sheet given to us that includes ways of how to include ethos, logos, and pathos in our speeches.

~Dinah

Wednesday, 5/1: Kira

Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg, we helped each other peer review our speeches. Our final speech is due Friday which is when we start our presentations. Each person’s presentation is about two minutes long, so we will most likely take two class periods to finish all of the speeches. Today in Humanities with Mr. Gornto, Section Y discussed the Giver and the most important parts of this book. While doing this, we reviewed and discussed the climax and structure of the narrative arc of the text. Today in Science, we learned about different forces and what they each do. During this discussion, we touched briefly on the history behind some of these forces as well. We also started a movie on Isaac Newton, and wrote down some of his more well-known accomplishments. He is just one of the scientists we are now studying.

~Kira

This is the CD case for the movie we watched in class.

~Kira

Thursday, 5/2: Dinah/Jewell

Today in Science, we continued the movie about Isaac Newton. We wrote down accomplishments and background information about Newton, and discussed them at the end of class. This movie revealed a lot of things about Newton that most of us didn’t know, along with restating important facts about him that showed that he was a pioneer in the world of science. In Humanities with Mr. Greenberg we listened to, timed, and proofread each other’s speeches in small groups . Classmates gave each other advice on how to make their speech stronger, maybe by adding emphasis on a certain word, or pausing after an important sentence to let the information stated sink in. In Humanities class with Mr. Gornto, Section Z was able to ask Mr. Gornto any questions they had regarding the final project for The Giver, and was given the rest of the period to work on the project itself. It was a beneficial work period, as many kids are on different stages of the project, and this was a chance for kids a little behind to get a good thirty minutes of working time.

~Jewell & Dinah

Friday, 5/3: Dinah/Jewell

Today in Science, for Section X, we continued our discussion on the Isaac Newton Movie. For Section Z, we had a double science period. These made all of the students happy, especially since Section Z missed science for Meeting for Worship on Thursday. For the first science period, we worked on our 4th quarter Quest self-reflections. Students assess themselves in different categories, then give it to one of the three Quest teachers who gives the student feedback, and returns it to and conferences with the student. For the second science period, Section Z worked on a “Different Types of Scientists” crossword puzzle. This seemed like it would be easy at first, but every student can tell you that it was no small feat to complete. Do you know the name of the scientist who, “studies blood and its diseases”? In Humanities with Mr. Gornto, we talked about our final project for The Giver, which is due on the coming Tuesday. We have to find or create an image and describe how the image connects with a theme of the book. Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg we presented our Spotlight speeches to the class. Each of us was assigned a number earlier in the week and we went in the order of the numbers we had received. Each section got through about ten speeches and each person was assigned someone to critique. The people who went got assigned a log due on Monday and the people who will go on Monday will have the same log due on Tuesday.

~Dinah & Jewell

Proofread by: James, Bella D, Elise

BY: Kailyn, Makayla P, and Noah

---

Monday  4/22

We had a rough draft of our research paper due on this day. We all got partners and we peer edited each others papers. Then we planned our nexts steps moving on in this paper. We then moved onto Mr. Gornto’s room. We went over the book that we are reading, The Giver. We have to annotate and then discuss what we read for the day. In Mrs. Bruvik’s room, we had a substitute teacher. We just had a productive silent study. In other classes they did periodic puns because we were currently working on our periodic table project.

– Kailyn

Tuesday 4/23

In Mr. Gornto’s classroom, we got to work on anything that had to do with The Giver. We were assigned vocabulary words for the book. Some students worked on that while others read more of the story and annotated. We also had some time to work on a log response. The question for Log #5 was, “Why isn’t there pain in Jonas’ community? Do you think this is a good idea?” After this, we had time to work on corrections for our spotlight essays. The essay was due the next day, so this time was very useful. For the hour block, we got to choose which humanities classroom we wanted to be in. If students wanted to work on their research essays, they worked in Mr. Greenberg’s room. The rest of us worked on assignments related to The Giver in Mr. Gornto’s room. These three periods were very useful and productive. In science we had to finish up our periodic table boxes. Everybody helped each other to get the job done.

-Noah

Wednesday 4/24

On Wednesday we put on the finishing touches to our Spotlight project essays and learned about Ethos, Logos and Pathos. In Mr. Gorntos class we continued with the discussions and reading of the giver. Then, during our Quest science periods, we finished up any periodic table elements that weren’t done. After that, we set up the periodic table in the gym for SEE on Thursday.

-Makayla

Thursday 4/25

On thursday we had something called SEE. SEE stands for Science and Engineering Expo. Every grade from 5th-12th makes different science projects. It is for half the day and each class has a period to walk around and another period to present their projects. There were many interesting projects. Some people did escape rooms, while others presented research they did on eye color. Our jumbo periodic table was set up against the wall in one of the gyms. We all had the chance to show off our elements. We did not have a lot of class time this day. Each section had one class of quest. This period was a silent quest work period. Once SEE was over, we all had to clean up our projects. After clean-up, we went on to our next class.

-Kailyn and Noah

Friday 4/26

On Friday we had a guided study hall in the quest period with Mr. Gornto. In the Quest period with Mr. Greenberg we reviewed our packet about Ethos, Logos, and Pathos which are all Greek words. Ethos means character, logos means logic, and pathos means emotion. In our Quest Science blocks, we did an engineering challenge about cup stacking, resilience, and persistence. The challenge pushed everyone to their limits by giving us a specific amount of cups to build the highest tower. We only had a specific amount of minutes to do so. It made us all learn team building skills and persistence to keep trying after your tower fell.

-Makayla

Proofread by: Tori, Dinah, Makayla , Katherine

Monday- In Quest Humanities on Monday we have been working on the beginning of our projects. One of the projects we are working on is called the spotlight project. In Mr. Greenberg’s class we are all researching a person or a organization that has made a difference in the world, or is making a difference in the world. In Mr. Gornto’s class we have been reading a book called “ The Giver”. The Giver is about a community that is not like ours. Everything is the same in that community, the community lives without conficts, inequality, injustice, and none has any opinions, but one boy named Jonas. He is different from the rest of them.

In Quest science we are working on our S.E.E project. Ms. Bruvik gave every student  two elements from the periodic table. Our first steps were to research and study our two different elements. -Maisah

Tuesday–  In Quest Humanities on Tuesday we continue working on our projects. For our spotlight projects we had a due date. We had to have some of our sources shared to Mr.Greenberg by the 16th of April. Mr.Greenberg wants us to stay on task for our due dates. A lot of us started working on our outlines and rough drafts that day. In Mr. Gornto’s class we were analyzing and annotating the book we were reading in class.( The Giver) This is a great book to talk about. The Giver makes our minds think about how the world isn’t so bad as we think it is. It shows us that we shouldn’t take little things like music, singing, dancing, love, and opinions for granted.

In Quest Science we do some more research about the two elements we were received and start sketching our work on paper. Ms.bruvik wants us to become very familiar with our Elements, so she wanted us to have so many different facts for our Elements. While some people were still researching, some were creating the boxes we need for our Periodic table project.

       -Maisah

Wednesday– In QUEST Science, all sections (X,Y,Z)  continue working on our SEE project. This year, the seventh grade has been working on our periodic table. Ms. Bruvik wants us to have life-sized periodic table features, each seventh grader was either still researching there element, or they start preparing/setting up to start their life-sized periodic table.Some students started preparing their boxes, and covered them with colorful paper, and maybe a 3-D image, among other things.On Thursday,April 25th they will be displayed

.

In QUEST Humanities, all sections have been working on our Spotlight essays. These essay were mainly written in Mr.Greenberg’s class. The essays are focused on an event or person. We then write a essay based around how these people changed something about our world in a positive way. On Wednesday Mr.Greenberg made sure we all took notes on our event, person, or organization. He wanted us to make sure we had our outlines in order and that we really dug deep into our information. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we have been reading and annotating The Giver. We have also been talking about a “Utopia” and what that could mean. Also the normal participle classwork and English is incorporated.

-Bella

Thursday– This Thursday on April 18 we have been continuing many activities. We have just started The Giver earlier this week with Mr. Gornto. We have been reading by ourselves at home but when we come to class we participate in very engaging discussions. Mr. Gornto usually starts us off with a question and we discuss that and it leads into another topic. In Mr. Greenberg’s class we have been researching for our Spotlight Project. It is a project where we research a worldwide problem and someone who is doing something about it. Some of the main problems that I have seen among my fellow students are animal abuse or hunting, lung cancer(smoking and vaping), and sports injuries. In Mrs. Bruvik’s science class we have been making a project for our science and engineering expo. We as an entire grade are making a giant periodic table as part of a game. This was a very exciting and productive week for 7th Grade Quest.

     -Nick

proofreaders – Olivia, Laurence,Grace,

No school Monday

Tuesday

Today in Mr. Greenberg‘s class, we got our Asia map and we also got a new project. The Spotlight project. We needed to find one person or a group of people that are solving a problem in the world. I like this project because we get to choose a problem that we feel like is interesting and look into it more. In Mrs. Bruvik’s class, we played periodic table bingo using the elements  in the periodic table. In Mr. Gornto’s class we got book The Giver and started reading it. Those are the things we did during Quest on Tuesday. – Leo

Wednesday

On Wednesday in Mr.Gornto’s class we worked on grammar. We checked a worksheet about participles and participle phrases within individual groups and then went over any questions we had with the whole class.Towards the very end of class we had some silent time to read our newest book “The Giver”. In Mr. Greenberg’s class we started working on our spotlight project. For our spotlight project we need to write an essay about about an issue we feel passionate about or what to learn more about, for example recycling or racism. Also, we need to include someone who has influenced or changed the issue. During class we picked our essay topic and wrote a proposal for it. Finally, we started researching for a person who has affected or is working to change the topic. In Quest science we went over the parts of an atom.

                                         -Marina

        Peer editor- Ava  

Thursday

The whole week in Mr. Greenberg’s class, we had a chance to work on our maps of Asia. We had to label the 50 capitals and states, color the map, and then turn in. With our Science Engineering Expo on its way, as a collective grade, we started to research for our SEE projects. SEE is a chance for grades 5-12 to showcase science projects on a subject the science department in that grade decided on. Every year, the 7th graders get a chance to make a large scale version of the periodic table. Each member in the 7th grade gets two elements to research about. We had to find ‘Who founded the element’, ‘What the element can be found in’, and The physical and chemical properties. We are given an about 24 inch box that we can display our work on. During SEE, we will stack the boxes up according to the periodic table. My two elements are Americium and Sodium. Americium, similar to most elements at the bottom of the periodic table, is explosive. Sodium is found in many household items such as salt and baking soda. In Mr. Gorntos’ class, we had a deep discussion about the book we were going the read. The Giver by Lois Lowry, is a book about the perfect society that was never questioned or looked at twice, until Jonas rebels. The story continues on the follow the main character Jonas, on his journey of questions. – Leo

Friday

In Mrs. Bruviks’ class on friday, we had time to start research on our SEE projects. Most students found the information needed, and did external research over the weekend. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we had a very elaborate discussion about on a worksheet related to the book we are reading. The book is heavily based on an institutional society, the worksheet displayed rules/ commonalities throughout people’s everyday life in the story. Some were reasonable while others were outrageous. The class had to write if we agreed with the statements or not, and over the weekend, we had to write why in our log books. In Mr. Greenberg’s class, we continued our spotlight project, researching more information about our person. Some work on the draft essay was prepared, and thinking about writing the essay, we started to put our information in order.

-Tori

Proofread by Grace

Monday 3/18/2019:

On Monday in Mr. Greenberg’s Quest class, we had our final Socratic Seminar about the topic we chose the week prior. Each section had its own question ranging from serious topics to not so serious topics. My section’s question was: How has the US approached international issues with violence? Specifically, in Vietnam. Section X’s question was: What impacts do wealth and technology have on modern warfare and the people involved? In Mr. Gornto’s Humanities class we were given time to write our essays based on our lit group’s book. In Science, we finished a worksheet where we had to spell words using abbreviations for elements on the periodic table. We also had to figure out where elements are found in the earth and what they can be used in. Monday was a busy day in Quest.

By: James

Proofread By: Haila, Dinah

Tuesday 3/19/2019:

In Quest Science, we watched a video of a really energetic woman talking about where elements can be found, and what makes up an element. In Mr. Gornto’s Humanities class, we were given more time to work on our essay. However, in Mr. Greenberg’s Humanities class, we reflected on all of our previous Socratic Seminars. The night before we were tasked with completing the log: Reflect on your experiences over the past several weeks learning about and engaging in Socratic Seminars. How do you think this experience has strengthened you as a learner and your class as a learning community? Describe what left the most lasting impact on you (new skills, challenges, articles read, and/or questions). My section decided that Seminar helps with public speaking because you have to present your ideas in front of a group; using evidence from the text, and preparing for essays. I think all in all people enjoyed seminar more than a regular class which made this unit fun.

By: James

Proofread by: Dinah, Haila

Wednesday 3/20/19:

Today in Quest: Humanities, both Greenberg and Gornto, we worked on our book group essays. The goal of this project is to write an essay to answer a question your group agreed on. The question must be tied to character, theme, or another main idea. Today, some people finished their essays and were having other people proofread them. Other students were still finishing up their drafts and reading them over themselves. Some groups’ questions are: How have Xian Li-Lin and her father, Xian Zhengying, changed over the course of the book? (Makayla B., Isabella B., Katherine, and Maggie); How does friendship affect survival in The Passage? (Noah and Bella D.); and How does Memory find out the truth of her parents’ murder? And how does the absence of the killer affect the book? (Haila, Moses, Marina, and Nick S.). Although everyone did their own essay, there was a lot of proofreading and combined work in groups, and some between groups. In Quest: Science we had a study hall, which gave us even more time to work on our essays. Overall, today we worked hard on our essays in all three Quest periods.

By: Maggie

Proofread by: Haila

Thursday 3/21/19:

In Mr. Gornto’s Quest Humanities today, everybody was hastily working to finish the literary groups essay that was due at the end of the day. We had to write in the third person and in the present tense. The essay was on the reading groups that we had been working with for the past two weeks. Others who had finished their essay were helping peer edit other students work. If students had done their essay and did not peer edit they would use that time to do work in a grammar book. These pages were not due immediately, but we will come back to them after spring break.

In Mr. Greenberg’s Quest Humanities, we had the time to finish the grammar work that we still had to do. We had a conjoined class with Mr. Gornto during this period. People working on their essays would go to Mr. Gornto’s room, and if you had finished that you would go to Mr. Greenberg’s classroom. If you had finished both the essay and the grammar, Mr. Greenberg would give you an article to read. It was an update on Climate Change. If you read the blog quite often you will know that we had a six week unit where we learned about Climate Change and its effects.

In Mrs. Bruvik’s Quest Science, we played periodic table bingo. Section Y missed Quest science for Meeting for Worship. We have been working on the periodic table for two to three weeks. We have been learning the uses of these elements and their names for the past several weeks. If a student won in bingo, they would receive candy if they wanted.

By: Nick Mandrackie

Proofread by: Haila