Dear Benjamin Logan Parents,

Hello! It’s starting to feel like spring outside as the weather begins to warm up and the sun starts to shine a little bright-er. The spring will be a very busy time around Benjamin Logan Middle School.

Our winter sports teams just completed another great sea-son. We want to thank everyone who was able to come out and support those teams as they represented our school with pride. Again, we want to thank all the student athletes for the hard work that they put in over the winter season.

Several of our middle school students were selected to represent our school and have their art displayed in downtown Columbus. Hailey Kennedy was chosen as an exhibi-tor for the 39th Annual Young People’s Art Exhibition sponsored by the Ohio Art Education Association. Alanna Gibson, was chosen as an exhibitor for the 39th Annu-al Youth Art Month Exhibition sponsored by the Ohio Art Education Associa-tion. Your student’s artwork will be displayed in the Youth Art Month Exhibition at the State Teacher’s Retirement Systems (STRS) building, Columbus, Ohio. The art-work will be on display from February 16th to March 23rd, 2019 during normal busi-ness hours. We are very proud of these students and are excited that they have the opportunity to have their art on display.

8th grader, Isaac Napier has qualified for the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee! 51 spellers have qualified for participation in the Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication Region I final local spelling bee on March 23, 2019 at Ohio Universi-ty Main Campus - Nelson Commons. These spellers attained a score of at least 25 on the online test. Isaac also won the county spelling bee. Congratulations to Isaac!

We want to thank everyone that was able to support the Parents and Teachers for Students during the “Good Clean Fun” detergent fundraiser. All orders and money are to be returned to the school by Friday, March 8. Pick-up dates are Friday, April 5 from 3-6pm and Saturday, April 6 from 9am-noon. All pick-ups will be in the middle school commons.

As the weather starts to change, this will be a great chance for everyone to recharge and get ready for the last push before the end of the school year. And as always, please don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions at all. Have a great start to your spring season! Thank you for your continued support of BLMS! GO RAIDERS!

Scott Frederick,

Scott Frederick

BLMS Principal

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7

M ARCH 2019

GET IN THE GAME!

BLMS MARCH NEWSLETTER

MARCH

IMPORTANT

DATES

1: Inspirational Speaker - Jim “Basketball” Jones Assembly

5: MAP ELA testing, grades 5 - 8 After School Detention 6: 2 Hour Delay-Teacher PD EDGE Meeting 3-4pm Math Minds Tutoring 3-4pm 7: Study Tables 7th & 8th Grade Art Club 8: End of 3rd Nine Weeks Spring Picture Day Good Clean Fundraiser Orders Due 10: Daylight Savings Time Begins (Spring Forward One Hour) 12: MAP MATH testing, grades 5 - 8 After School Detention 13: Japanese Calligraphy Lesson EDGE Meeting 3-4pm Math Minds Tutoring 3-4pm 14: MAP SCIENCE testing, grades 5 & 8 Study Tables until 4:30pm 15: PBIS REWARD 18: BOE Meeting 7pm 19: After School Detention 20: 8th Grade Trip to OHPCC 9:00 am EDGE Meeting 3-4pm Math Minds Tutoring 3-4pm 21: Study Tables 7th & 8th Grade Art Club 26: After School Detention 27: EDGE Meeting 3-4pm Math Minds Tutoring 3-4pm 28: Study Tables until 4:30pm Green Tea Ceremony 7th & 8th Grade (10:08 - 10:45)

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7 P AGE 2

All About the 8th Grade

8th Grade Math

We are finishing up the first section of our

Geometry unit. We have been working on

Transformations. Transformations are

movements of a figure on the coordinate

plane by a translation (slide), reflection

(flip), or a rotation (turn). Students will learn that these

types of transformations do not change the shape or size

of the figure so the pre- image and image will always be

congruent. Another type of transformation that students

will use is dilations. It will change the size of the shape,

either larger or smaller by a scale factor. With this

transformation, students will learn about figures just

being similar instead of congruent. Students will be

having a test over this section this next week, so please

encourage your student to study! In the next section of

this unit, students will understand how two angles are

formed when a transversal cuts through parallel lines and

how those angles form either congruent or supplemen-

tary relationships and that all triangles

add up to 180 degrees. Students will also

be able to explain why they have a right

triangle using the Pythagorean Theorem.

Math: Mrs. Mitchell & Mrs. Mayes

Algebra 1

I am not sure where this year has gone. It

has certainly flown by. Algebra 1 students

have been looking at exponential func-

tions and will finish up this unit by the

end of the week. We should be taking a

unit assessment on this material early next week. We will then

be diving into polynomials which will lead us to quadratics.

Quadratic equations are actually used in everyday life, as when

calculating areas, determining a product's profit or formulating

the speed of an object. Quadratic equations refer to equations

with at least one squared variable, with the most standard form

being ax² + bx + c = 0. The letter X represents an unknown,

and a, b and c being the coefficients representing known num-

bers and the letter a is not equal to zero. Students will be gra-

phing quadratic equations, going from one form to the other

and of course will also be factoring these equations. We will

probably be spending about 3-4 weeks studying quadratics.

Please continue to encourage your student to work on Khan

Academy at home. This allows them to

press forward a bit to get them a head

start on what’s to come.

We have moved quickly through our science unit. Students have learned about theory of plate tecton-

ics and how the heat Earth’s interior relates to various landforms. We also taken a look at how

weathering, erosion, deposition are important in shaping Earth’s surface. We finish the unit by learning

how to interpret and topographic

In February, all 8th grade students were given a opportunity for extra credit. By completing page 77 their interactive

notebooks, students may earn up to extra credit points. Video resources are provided Google classroom,

but students may also use the to research the topic. Once the page is completed, it be shown to

Mrs. Smith in order for the extra credit to

Science: Mrs. Smith

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7 P AGE 3

All About the 8th Grade

Eighth ELA

s t u d e n t s h a v e b e e n

h of

and decode passages

using the

how to cite multiple sources

h

essays in

which

h

ELA: Mrs. Scheiderer & Ms. Rodriguez

English 9: Students are gaining many critical

literary as well as valuable life lessons from our

study of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

After demonstrating proficiency in writing a liter-

ary analysis, English 9 students have been working

on non-fiction writing and mastering the art of

rhetoric. Students have also been reading a wide

variety of rigorous texts including many seminal US documents

and famous speeches, writing informative as well as narrative

responses, and conducting discussions and debates in class. Vo-

cabulary building and independent reading has continued along

with preparing for end of the year assessments. Our focus in

both English Language Arts courses is to prepare our students

for a successful transition to the high school.

of March, students will United of

from and it outside

will War, Trail.

Social Studies: Mr. Vermillion

Washington D.C. Students have picked their for trip

to be together as a group of four

ute

Students

received an invoice last month that provides the total

cost and parents need another copy, please contact the

office cost for trip this is $395 and money

must be turned in April will also be a

meeting at 6:00pm on April 10 at

the Benjamin Logan Middle School.

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7 P AGE 4

All About the 7th Grade

Why do doors in public places open outward instead of inward? Why do we have those funny-looking nozzles hanging from our ceilings in our classroom? Why do we have to have fire drills so often?

Our students pondered these questions and more at the start of our unit on historical nonfiction and historical fiction as they read all about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1925. This tragic event, that took the lives of 146 young workers, sparked changes nationwide to make all workplaces, and eventually all public places, safer in the event of

a fire. Students not only learned about the fascinating facts of this event, but they also learned a great deal about how authors approach topics differently in their tone, perspective, and purpose. They then took it a step further and read how Margaret Peterson Haddix tackled this topic in her historical fiction novel, Uprising. Ask your child what s/he learned about this event!

As we wrapped up this unit, we asked our students to pick a historical topic of their own to research and turn what they learned into a short historical fiction narrative. Ask your child to share his or her story with you!

Next up, we’re gearing up to write argumentative essays. We apologize in advance for helping your child to

amp up those argumentative skills--an area they already surely excel in! Your child

will be choosing a controversial/debatable topic and then researching both sides be-

fore writing a well-crafted essay on their chosen side. Ask your child what they’re

writing about!

ELA: Mrs. Furlong & Mrs. Smith

Math: Mr. Butler & Mr. Braddock

In 7th grade mathematics we have been focusing

on geometry. Students have discovered formu-

las for area, surface area, and volume. The stu-

dents then worked problems showing them

how these formulas relate to

the “real world”. Students also

manipulated basic geometric

shapes to build castles.

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7 P AGE 5

All About the 7th Grade

In Social Studies, we are just finishing a unit on Africa. Most recently, we have been discussing the Atlantic Slave Trade. Students learned the motivation for slav-ery, and how it impacted the Americas and Africa. Students were shocked to learn about the treatment slaves endured from start to finish, including the trip across the Atlantic which is known as the Middle Passage. Students also read a poem

about the Slave Trade and created their own poetry to reflect what they had learned about the subject. Please read some of the below works produced by some of our 7th grade students.

Next, we will be getting back into European history. We will cover the Medieval Period and the European Reissuance. Students love this part of the year, because we talk about the Black Plague, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Christopher Columbus to name a few.

Finally, once again thank you for the pleasure of working with your children. If you have any questions or

concerns, please contact me by phone (937-599-2386 Ext. 3212), by email (wolfr@benjaminlogan.org), or

in person.

Social Studies: Mr. Wolf

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 7 P AGE 6

All About the 7th Grade

In 7th grade science we recently finished our unit on weather and climate. We discussed

the many elements of weather and the tools and technology that is used to monitor the

weather. We talked about the factors that influence weather such as weather fronts, air

pressure, wind patterns, jet streams and ocean currents. We ended our unit on weather

by learning about the different climates of the world, how climates

could change and what to expect with a changing climate. We are currently discussing the

relationships between the Earth, moon and sun. The focus of our discussions being on the

phases of the moon, solar and lunar eclipses and tides. We will finish the year learning

about Earth’s ecosystems, matter and energy.

Science: Mr. Elsasser

Jim Basketball Jones: Inspirational Speaker