Week of March 23

TA’s Notes:

8th Grade DC trip money is due April 1st!  The final cost is $285.00.

After school with Ms. Sherman:

The Week in Mr. Merrill’s Room (⅚ Humanities):

This week, students spent a lot of time working on their Narrative Writing pieces. Their writing pieces are very strong, and students have been having fun using their creative skills to write inventive and interesting pieces. We will finish them up next week, as students get feedback from their peers, make edits, and self assess. For the Revolutionary War, students have been working hard on researching their group topics. Next week, they will finish up their google sites dedicated to their topics, and they will walk along their “freedom trail”, using iPads and QR codes to make their sites come alive!

The Week in Ms. O’s Room (⅚ Math & Science):

Math 5:  We continued practice with multidigit multiplication by doing a lot of repetitive practice on the front end of each class period. Many more students are finding success with the standard algorithm for multiplication.  Don’t be afraid to lob one in during a post dinner conversation!  We dug deeply into new strategies for division and are slowly progressing towards the standard algorithm for division.  This week we connected the ratio table to the partial quotient strategy.  If you view the model in the picture below, your child might be able to help you bridge one strategy to another.

Math 6:  Deeper investigations into Variables and Patterns …  As we continue to use tables and graphs to ask questions, find solutions, and compare one set of data to another, students are becoming fully proficient in how to graph a set of data and how to create a set of data from a graph.  We analyzed situations where a graph might be a better representation than a table.  Also we were introduced to data in a journal format and had to try and figure out how to make a set of data from notes.  All of the learning in this unit focuses on a group of students starting a bike tourning business.  This has provided the glue for all of our problem solving.  We also began graphing our water chemistry from the trout aquarium, which allowed to begin telling the story of “what is happening and why”, as well as the results of those chemical changes.  Interesting stuff!

⅚ Science:  This week we were heavy on investigations and on models.  Our week was spent heating and cooling liquids, then solids, then gases.  How could we build a model that explains, on a molecular level, what is happening in a thermometer, with a brass ball that has been heated, and with air when we warm it up?  Below is a snapshot of some early ideas of modeling that allow us to understand the “nano” level of molecular movement.  

Students watched a fun video last week...they loved it.  See link if you have a ½ hour.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-vkMGqkMQ&safe=active

The Week in Ms. Wesnak’s Room (⅞ Humanities):

This week has been filled story-telling!

Our morning classes have been focused on work for our Memoir Writing Project. Each day students were given in class work time to complete their 5 paragraph memoir. We talked about how using detail is important in a memoir, but that a memoir can become too wordy if you are using too many details that are not truly important to the focus and development of the story. Students practiced using their “writing filter” by coming up with 6 Word Stories. The most famous 6 Word Story was written by Ernest Hemingway. He wrote, “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” We discussed what made this a story, and we tried to create our own 6 Word Stories. This activity challenged students to pick out the details that mattered because they were only allowed to use 6 words. We also did a mini grammar study on the ever-feared semi-colon. Students learned the most common way to use a semi-colon, which is to join together 2 independent clauses. We watched a fun instructional video, practiced as a class, and had some independent practice as well. Students will be asked to use this newly developed writing practice in their memoir. The week ended with a partner peer edit, and the classes sharing out great examples of detailed/5 senses writing.

During the afternoons our classes took our final journey back in time to World War 2. Students performed their World War 2 Point of View projects, and they have been fantastic! Due to these projects we have had a wide variety of “guest speakers” in our classroom. Students took on the roles from World War 2: U.S. soldiers, teacher, mothers, a spy, russian soldiers, german soldiers, families in hiding, presidents, scientists, and pilots. These projects were impressive with the students use of costumes and props. Through thoughtful and creative performances students carefully shared their gained knowledge from our World War 2 studies. We wrapped up the performances on Friday and were even able to begin work on our next unit: The Business Convention! Students are getting really excited for this trimester long project, and I can’t wait to get started!

The Week from Ms. Q’s Room (⅞ Math & Science):

CMP8

This week began with the completion of our Function Junction Unit Test.  We left function notation to reexamine algebraic equalities in a new unit called “Say it With Symbols”. Using the distributive and commutative properties we worked to solve more sophisticated algebraic expressions.  We plan to do only a few investigations in this book to increase our level of solving equations of all types of problems.(quadratic, linear and exponential)  It is also a great review of showing the steps we use for solving multi-step problems.  We will be taking a pause from math as we begin our SBAC testing.

CMP7

Students worked on using symbols(variables)  to represent a variety of numbers in i algebraic equations.  We used drawings and variables to balance equations with  pouches and bags from the country of Montarek.  As a class we are learning a variety of strategies to balance equations and the important practice of showing our steps.    Next week we will be pausing math work  to take the SBAC test.

Science 7th/8th

Creating light stations for Friday’s light experiment lab was the order of business this week.  Each small group pulled a light concept from the “Cylinder of Fate”.  These topics included diffraction, reflection, refraction, electromagnetic spectrum, concave and convex lens, mirrors, 3-D, optical illusions,  and polarized lenses . We will be taking a pause from science as we begin our SBAC testing window.