Kateryna McCloskey

7th & 8th Grade
952-466-3379
[email protected]
About Mrs. McCloskey: I grew up in Ukraine, and after meeting my future husband, I moved to Minnesota, where I made my home. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, cooking, and hiking. I especially love summer camping trips with my family and our two dogs. I enjoy teaching middle school because it allows me to inspire young students at an important time in their lives. Their creativity and energy make each day exciting. I love seeing the “lightbulb” moments when they finally understand a concept. It’s rewarding to help them explore their interests and watch them grow in their faith.
Favorite Thing About Zion: My favorite thing about Zion is how safe my children and I feel around here. Every student here is special and important, part of the family. This is a great place to receive a high quality education based on Christian principles and values.

7th & 8th grade curriculum

Social Studies/World Geography
  • Both The History of the United States and World Geography are taught in 7th and 8th grade. The History of the United States explores the Reconstruction Era, Westward Expansion, the Industrial Age, and the Twenty first Century. In the World Geography course, students learn about physical and human geography and geographic information systems (GIS). Students also learn about ecology, conservation, and environmental policy of the countries around the world. 

​Math
  • In 7th grade, students learn beginning geometry skills including polygons, area, perimeter, volume, and circumference. They also learn algebra skills like exponents, roots, the distributive property, order of operations, graphing lines, scientific notation, measures of central tendency, and solving algebraic equations and inequalities. 
  • In 8th grade, students learn basic algebra skills that include but are not limited to functions and relations, linear equations, polynomials, inequalities, systems of equations, probability, absolute value, and radical expressions.  

Music
  • All seventh and eighth graders are involved in the school choir. They are also given optional choices of participating in music. They may choose to continue lessons on the ukulele or recorder. These are done during recess times or before school. They may also choose to be in tone chimes. They learn to play both sacred and secular songs on "bell-like" instruments. This group also plays in church services four times a year.

Language Arts/Literature
  • Throughout the two years, students will learn and review the parts of speech, such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, and complements. They will also learn about subject-verb agreement and usage, modifiers, prepositions, conjunctions, phrases, clauses, and complex sentences.
  • ​Various writing assignments are included in this subject. Students will learn to write essays, short stories, character sketches, compare and contrast, participate in debates, and learn public speaking. 
  • Students will alternate between the Literature textbook, which includes excerpts from famous stories, essays, poems, folk tales, plays, biographies, and novel studies. Some of the novels read are A Wrinkle in Time, The Giver, The Outsiders, The Diary of a Young Girl, and others. Three to four novels are read each year. 

Science
  • In 7th and 8th grade students study Life science and Physical science. Topics covered in life science include cells, genes, DNA, classification of living things, simple organisms and plants, animals, and ecology. Topics in Physical Science include study of Matter, Energy, Waves, Atoms and Periodic Table, Chemical reactions, and Forces and Motion. Students have a chance to participate in hands-on labs, where they use a variety of scientific tools. 

Spelling
  • Each week students receive a spelling list of twenty-five words that share something in common. Examples of spelling units include compound words, irregular plurals, double consonants, words from other languages, commonly confused words, and words with Latin or Greek roots. Students also learn the definitions of each word to increase their vocabulary. Tests are given at the end of each week.  ​

Spanish
  • Our students will be using Duolingo, which has organically become the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world with more than 170 million users. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Everyone learns in different ways. For the first time in history, Duolingo can analyze how millions of people learn at once to create the most effective educational system possible and tailor it to each student. The ultimate goal is to give everyone access to a private tutor experience through technology.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS
Zion Lutheran school admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
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