7th Grade

STAAR TEST - Monday May 14, 2018 Mathematics 

STAAR TEST - Tuesday May 15, 2018 Reading 

Students will be working on Math REVIEWS for STAAR!

Students will model the effects

 of human activity on groundwater 

and surface water in a watershed. 

Students will model the effects of 

human activity on groundwater and 

surface water in a watershed. 

Students analyze the effects of weathering, erosion, and deposition on the environment in ecoregions of Texas. 

Students will predict and describe how different types of catastrophic events impact ecosystems such as floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes.

Students will observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession such as in a micro-habitat of a garden with weeds. 

Students will observe, record, and describe the role 

of ecological succession such 

as in a microhabitat of a garden with weeds. 

March 19- March 23

Student will demonstrate and explain the 

cycling of matter within living systems such as in the 

decay of biomass in a compost bin.  

Students will demonstrate and explain

 the cycling of matter within living systems such as 

in the decay of biomass in a compost bin. 

Students will diagram the flow of energy through 

living systems, including food chains, food webs, 

and energy pyramids.  

Students will examine organisms or their 

structures such as insects or leaves and use 

dichotomous keys for identification. 

Students will observe and describe how 

different environments, including microhabitats in 

schoolyards and biomes, support different 

varieties of organisms. 

Students will explain variation within a population or species by comparing external features, behaviors, or physiology of organisms that enhance their survival such as migration, hibernation, or storage of food in a bulb. 

Students will also investigate and explain how internal structures of organisms have adaptations that allow specific functions such as gills in fish, hollow bones in birds, or xylem in plants. 

Peppered Moths 

• Before the Industrial Revolution, the  majority of peppered moths were white bodied in Great Britain.  Their body color helped them camouflage against light-colored trees. The bark was covered in lichen.  There were not as many black-bodied moths because they did not camouflage well in the environment.  
• The Industrial Revolution caused widespread pollution and soot.  The soot covered tress and killed the lichen.  Now the light-colored moths were not easily camouflaged.  Instead, the dark-colored moths were hidden when resting on the tree bark.  
• After the Industrial Revolution, predators easily spotted the light-colored moths and so white-bodied moths were easy prey.  Because the dark-colored moths were camouflaged, they survived and reproduced more black-bodies moths.  

Students will continue to identify some changes in genetic traits that have occurred over several generations through natural selection and selective breeding such as the Galapagos Medium Ground Finch (Geospiza fortis) or domestic animals. 

January 22-26, 2018

 

Students will identify some changes in genetic traits that have occurred over several generations through natural selection and selective breeding such as the Galapagos Medium Ground Finch (Geospiza fortis) or domestic animals.

 

Evolution by Natural Selection Lab

Students will define heredity as the passage of genetic instructions from one generation to the next generation.

Students will recognize that inherited traits of individuals are governed in the genetic materials found in the genes within chromosomes in the nucleus.